Pajiba

Economic and environmental disaster taking place in the Gulf Coast? Perfect time to have a party!

(I know it had been scheduled months in advance. But still, wouldn't you have pushed it back a week, just to be safe?)

Either I'm drunk or he's really funny or both.

Dry...like mah gin!

Stephen Colbert is the reason they got Leno this year. No way they're gonna let anything that pointed behind the mic again, no matter what the political stripe

Because as bad as the Gulf Coast situation is, it ain't national.

The oil spill is expected to hit the Gulf Stream and get carried across the Florida Peninsula and up the Eastern Seaboard.

Yep...not national.

Pushing it back is a nice gesture, but it would be a cost more to delay.

"That's correct. The oil spill effects several states, and several of them have declared a state of emergency. But a majority of states are not directly effected right now. There will be an economic impact, but that will take time to propagate to the rest of the country. As of right now? Not a national emergency."

This is an interesting take on the term "national emergency". We can agree that at the moment, the spill is located only near several states, yes? Ok, good. So, these states have huge fishing, and tourism industries, yes? These industries, if we are to enlarge the focus of our judgement-telescopes, probably have people and industries dependent upon them in several more states, yes? In turn, the money these industries generate spills into other industries like, say, banking, housing, transportation, why the list is nigh on endless. This ever increasing scope of effects does in fact effect the entire country and -GASP- other countries around the Gulf.

And while you are correct in assuming that, as of this very moment, perhaps those industries haven't felt the effects of the spill, there are these people called investors, both foreign and domestic. See, they put money into industries they think will make them money. And when they see something like this, my bet is that a lot of stock options in Bubba Gump Shrimp, inc. were sold, to give an example. Or perhaps people might be less confident in, say, investing with BP given the huge cleanup costs they are going to incur as a result of what may be an even larger spill than Exxon Valdez. Perhaps.

But you're right. Stocks can't possibly change value in a single business day or have long lasting ramifications that effect the entire country almost immediately.

And you are also correct in the implied belief that not every state in the union is currently on fire. So you are right. This is not a national emergency right now. But I have a question for you:

When can we declare the emergency? We waited with bated breath.

Now, who wants to write a paper on the artistic treatments of the Devil in relation the book of Job for me?

That's correct. The oil spill effects several states, and several of them have declared a state of emergency. But a majority of states are not directly effected right now. There will be an economic impact, but that will take time to propagate to the rest of the country. As of right now? Not a national emergency.

By that reasoning, terrorism is a NYC problem only since that's where the failed car bomb was found -- on Times Square.

Pushing it back is a nice gesture, but it would be a cost more to delay.

Well he was in Louisiana today defending his administration's response. The cost now is going to get measured in how much of a political hit he could take. Remember how Dubya was raked over the coals after Katrina?

Jeez, do you think if they cancelled the party, all those guys would grab a mop and head to the coast? Life goes on. He's the President, not the night manager at S-Mart.

I'm mean, how dare all of you sit there reading and posting and commenting when there is AN OIL SLICK COMING RIGHT FOR US!

Some idiot set a car on fire in New York? Big fucking deal.

Business as usual is how you show strength.

The fact that the WTC is still a crater 9 years later is how you show yourselves to be a nation of whiny victims.

The fact that the WTC is still a crater 9 years later is how you show yourselves to be a nation of whiny victims.

Actually, it just shows how hard it is to get anything built in NYC. A friend of mine wanted to renovate her NYC apartment. The actual renovation only took 3 weeks. The paperwork/NYC bureaucracy to begin the kitchen/bathroom renovation took 5 months, and that was a tiny one-bedroom apartment in an already existing structure. Imagine what is going on in regard to rebuilding an entire section of downtown. Sadly, I fully expect it to be a crater for another 4 years at least.

I really don’t care for the existence of the White House Correspondent’s dinner. As if politicians and journalists aren’t congratulating themselves enough already - circle jerk is right. Get back to work (AKA pretending to care about the welfare of US citizens.)

Leno reminds me of the comedian/ventriloquist/lounge singer who shows up at nursing homes to entertain the residents. You know who I'm talking about, right? He's the guy who shows up fifteen minutes before his gig, probably wearing a Hawaiian button-down or a rented tux or striped shirt with armbands..unloading his props from his minivan. He's there under the auspices of providing stimulation and recreation; hoping to build a rapport with his audience. Instead..the reality is, he's there because the activities director's original guest fell through: the lady from the animal shelter and her patient, friendly therapy dog, Max.

And everyone knows that the crowd had waited all week for Max.

(Also, kudos to "The Office" line in your header)

Okay - hate to start out snarky - haven't read the article yet, but I quickly scanned the comments to see if anyone had pointed out the it is the White House Correspondent's Dinner - not Correspondence dinner. Thank you for letting me tell you that.