Stephen Colbert Smokes the Prez

Colbert headlined this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, attended by, among others, George Clooney, Ludacris, Karl Rove, the First Lady and the president.

Broken down at E&P:

WASHINGTON A blistering comedy ?tribute? to President Bush by Comedy Central?s faux talk show host Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night left George and Laura Bush unsmiling at its close.
[…]
As he walked from the podium, the president and First Lady gave Colbert quick nods, unsmiling, and left immediately.

More coverage at Washington Post.

Watch it streaming via C-SPAN, or a generous chunk of Colbert below (grabbed from c&l).

I may not have cable, but I do have the internet. Gems from the Colbert report are regularly available here at Comedy Central.

The “Old Man” is Getting On

Neil YoungThere’s been a bigtime buzz in the air since last week’s news that Neil Young is to release a “war” album including a track titled “Let’s Impeach the President.”

Wait no longer, the sneak peak is here in full, and apparently it’s a must-hear.

Revealed in today’s New York Times:

Critic’s Notebook: Neil Young’s ‘Living With War’ Shows He Doesn’t Like It
By JON PARELES

Mr. Young’s new album, which is available to download for free online, is irate, passionate, obstinate and definitely worth a click.

The Canadian-born Young told the Times:

“If you impeach Bush, you’re doing a huge favor for the Republicans,” he argued, speaking by telephone from California. “They can run again with some pride.”

They can run, but they can’t hide.

Young’s official website is streaming Living With War, the Living With War Blog has extended coverage, including a CNN interview.

LAFD: FireBlogging for the 21st Century

I may be relatively new to Los Angeles, but I was knee deep in rss feeds upon arrival – and soon after getting in rhythm with the Metroblogging LA feed, I became aware that Brian Humphrey, spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department, actively publishes the LAFD News & Information Blog.

I’m not aware of other FD blogs, though there is a “firehouse forum“, but the LAFD Blog puts an end to the “do blogs really matter?” question. The LAFD blog is not only chock full of public service safety reminders and police-report rescue911 style recaps of deadly highway wrecks… it is one of the finest and purest examples of the PURPOSE weblogs serve.

Blogs tell it like it is, and no exception here, as Mack @ LA Voice pointed to this week. LAFD has posted a video (to Social Distortion’s cover of “Ring of Fire”) that will have you running to test your smoke alarms and buy backup 9-volt batteries

You may not hear it on the radio, and the paper won’t come until morning… but after being motionless in your ride on the 405 — moreso than usual — you can find out ASAP (via rss feed to mobile, blackberry/treo, pda or surfing at home) that the fire department was responding to a man who was killed when a construction rig flipped over at LAX. Or something.

Also: LAFD on Flickr.