A belated Happy Labor Day! How odd that, just after the third year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, The Big Easy faced Hurricane Gustav, a potentially dangerous Category 2 hurricane. As I began writing this week’s report on Monday, I was watching a canal levee, reinforced after Katrina, overflowing into the 9th Ward of New Orleans. The first levee break in the Katrina disaster was partly the result of a barge slamming against a levee wall, and there was a barge bobbing around in the canal during this latest hurricane. I would have thought that, having made that mistake once already, the people “in charge” would have moved all the big boats out of harm’s way. As it turned out, New Orleans came out of this one relatively unscathed, but the question is, what will happen if another Category 3 or higher strikes? Watch out for Hanna, Ike, and Josephine, now brewing in the Atlantic.
Last week, Republican presidential nominee John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate, and that decision left many political pundits baffled. Most Americans had never heard of Palin before McCain picked her, and McCain admits he’d only met her one time previously. Perhaps that’s a good thing, disgusted as most voters are with the status quo. Still, after eight years of enduring a president who let the church rule the state, I’m not sure swing voters are going to embrace a creationist for V.P. Add to that the fact that Palin’s 17 year-old daughter is pregnant, and we may have some potential media problems. Public perception is everything, right? Was it Honest Abe who made the observation: never over-estimate the intelligence of the American voter? Humorist Bill Maher was talking about that very subject in a recent television interview. We can complain all we want about the quality of our elected officials, but we, the voters, are in large part to blame for the candidates we generate. We are the boneheads who buy the argument that offshore drilling is going to solve the energy crisis, or that a carbon tax will resolve the global warming crisis ... or that having a pregnant 17 year-old daughter in some way confirms that Ms. Palin would not be a qualified Vice Presidential candidate. We’re the ones who focus on a candidate’s personal life while ignoring their qualifications. Anyhow, she’ll be speaking at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul tonight, and I’ll be interested to hear what she has to say.
My reports may be a little shorter in the next several weeks. There is a lot going on in our lives right now and it is distracting me from what I love to do, namely to write. For the past two mornings, I helped apply stain on our new pine floors (on the second floor). I suppose the builder doesn’t need my help, but I wanted to put my mark on the house and they agreed to let me do so. It's difficult to believe that summer is over already. I was reminded of that fact as I followed a school bus to our temporary house this morning.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Last week, Republican presidential nominee John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate, and that decision left many political pundits baffled. Most Americans had never heard of Palin before McCain picked her, and McCain admits he’d only met her one time previously. Perhaps that’s a good thing, disgusted as most voters are with the status quo. Still, after eight years of enduring a president who let the church rule the state, I’m not sure swing voters are going to embrace a creationist for V.P. Add to that the fact that Palin’s 17 year-old daughter is pregnant, and we may have some potential media problems. Public perception is everything, right? Was it Honest Abe who made the observation: never over-estimate the intelligence of the American voter? Humorist Bill Maher was talking about that very subject in a recent television interview. We can complain all we want about the quality of our elected officials, but we, the voters, are in large part to blame for the candidates we generate. We are the boneheads who buy the argument that offshore drilling is going to solve the energy crisis, or that a carbon tax will resolve the global warming crisis ... or that having a pregnant 17 year-old daughter in some way confirms that Ms. Palin would not be a qualified Vice Presidential candidate. We’re the ones who focus on a candidate’s personal life while ignoring their qualifications. Anyhow, she’ll be speaking at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul tonight, and I’ll be interested to hear what she has to say.
My reports may be a little shorter in the next several weeks. There is a lot going on in our lives right now and it is distracting me from what I love to do, namely to write. For the past two mornings, I helped apply stain on our new pine floors (on the second floor). I suppose the builder doesn’t need my help, but I wanted to put my mark on the house and they agreed to let me do so. It's difficult to believe that summer is over already. I was reminded of that fact as I followed a school bus to our temporary house this morning.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
2 comments:
I admire your willingness to listen to the Repiglicans - after the last eight years I can't imagine any reason to bother - except laughs!
lol I do agree with the last post, but to not listen would be ignorant. How else are you going to point out their errors with out the history:P
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