pursuing tzedek

are two actors/comedians/celebrities who i really admire. give 'em hell harry, one third of spinal tap, the voice of half the characters on the simpsons, creator of 'leshow' on npr, is also a resident of new orleans who has been bringing the media to task for the past year on their failure to adequately cover new orleans. recently, he has been all over the story of the army corps of engineers' culpability in design flaws of the levees and flood walls that were breached. see, for example, this exchange with/about brian williams of nbc news, or his recent exasperation that the msm isn't even really covering the corps' latest colossal mea culpa.

laurie david, for those who don't know her, has been a one-woman campaign against global warming. married to larry david of seinfeld fame, her becoming an environmentalist was a gradual affair. her activism has grown from encouraging her friends in hollywood to buy priuses, to now single-handedly convincing al gore to turn his global warming traveling slide show into a documentary, and then producing the film.

just imagine this sales pitch: Babe, it's a movie about global warming. Starring Al Gore. Doing a slide show. With charts. About "soil evaporation."

if she can make that sound exciting to the american public, she's got my vote. once i finish my papers, it's definitely on top of the to-do list.

i love it when celebrities use their powers for good and not for evil...