You'd think that two years after the slow-as-molasses response that President Bush was justly criticized for in the wake of Katrina, that he would have learned from his mistakes and treated the most recent California fires the way a leader should: quickly, decisively, and compassionately. Instead, he flew out to Cali on the fourth day of the fires (progress from the five days that it took him to set foot in the Gulf Coast......

It's been two years since an American city was destroyed. The above clip is a teaser of a video podcast series produced and promoted by entertainment icon Quincy Jones and pop guy Usher who have teamed up with Habitat for Humanity in order to urge Americans not to forget the victims of the hurricane. Think about what happened two years ago and think of a way to help. Editor Tony Pierce drove to New......

The LA Times has nominated five books in each of nine different categories for the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. In the weeks leading up to the Festival of Books where the winners will be announced, LAist will take a quick look at each category and will wax poetic on a few favorites (or least favorites) along the way. The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley......

- There are twice as many men than women with IQs over 120. Not so fast, Dubya - The Independent - Police taser an 11-year-old in a Jonesboro, Georgia middle school - WSBT - Just in time for Christmas! A perfectly preserved dinosaur nest containing 22 fossilized eggs of ancient dead baby dinos will go on auction tomorrow here in LA - AP - Just in time for Kwanzaa! Own Jessica Alba's bra -......

A Love Ends Suicide - In the Disaster (Metal Blade) Alice Donut - Fuzz (Howler) Audioslave - Revelations (Epic) Beyoncé - B'Day (Columbia) Goatwhore - A Haunting Curse (Metal Blade) Grizzly Bear - Yellow House (Warp) Hem - Funnel Crowd (Nettwerk) Honkytonk Homeslice - Honkytonk Homeslice (digipak; Sci Fidelity) Horse the Band - Pizza (EP; Koch) Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death (EMI) Jars of Clay - Good Monsters (Essential) Jucifer......

When the Levees Broke HBO, tonight, 8pm The easiest thing that Spike Lee could have done in tackling the documentary about last year's tragedy in the Gulf Coast was pile-on to the Bush and Brownie bashing. He could have put a Michael Moore hit piece on FEMA and the President and also thrown the New Orleans Mayor and Louisiana Governor under the bus. Lord knows there were enough witnesses, enough news reports, and enough......

As you've probably heard, oh, a jillion times, today is the 100-year anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake. People tend to call it the 1906 earthquake, which seems a little obvious when we mention that it's the 100-year anniversary. Speaking of obvious, the California Field Poll did a little study to gauge Californians' thoughts on natural disasters. Guess what tops the list? Righty-ho, earthquakes! According to the poll, which was taken earlier this month,......

With Mardi Gras around the corner, LAist thought we’d mention a pretty cool EP to benefit the other La -- the folks in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast still suffering from the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. REM’s Michael Stipe has corralled a few musician friends to record a benefit EP, “In the Sun.” What’s different about this CD is that it’s five versions of the same great song -- “In the......

The devastation of Hurricane Katrina to the Gulf Coast is almost unfathomable even to people who are there. I've noticed that many of my friends here in Los Angeles, while sympathetic to the destruction they see, don't know what it is like to live through a hurricane. I (I'm dispensing with the editorial "we" for this post) grew up on the Gulf Coast, in Houston, Texas, so I do know about hurricanes, though those......