Update

1. I feel cheated that Tim Russert passed away. Call me selfish, but the left and America really needed him this year, holding politicians "feet to the fire," as MSNBC's Chuck Todd said last night on Keith Olbermann. Now, without Russert, some of the pressure and some of the challenge of running for office is gone and I believe we're going to suffer as a result. Yes, I feel sad for the man and his family, but I also feel sad for his loss in a professional capacity. America is worse off.

2. The flood water is rising and so the University of Iowa is shut down for the next week. I'm off work (with pay) until at least June 22. I'm going to spend my time writing and working on sandbags with my fellow Iowa City residents. We went down for a few hours today before the storms of the afternoon hit and volunteers were told to leave.

3. Watching Cedar Rapids KCRG, they were showing footage of home along the Iowa River in Coralville. "Frankly, they should have expected it," the voice over said. In my anger, I called KCRG, who tried to convince me that that's not what I saw on their network. Finally, we figured out that the woman thought I was talking about the crawl on the screen. "No," I said, "that's what you're on-air person said."

"Oh."

Well, fuck you anyway, KCRG lady. Now I'm on you for the rest of the night: every time you say something about the poor deserving what they got for building near water, I'm calling you out on it. Your number is neatly in my contacts now.

In other flooding news, an evangelical church has been hit with some of the worst flooding. At least those folks won't try and convince us that Jesus flooded Iowa City due to sin because they were hit first. Of course, I'm sure they'll find a way.