Weekly Rants, Raves, and Whatever

*It's Saturday morning, September 24, 2005, and Hurricane Rita has come ashore on the Gulf Coast. Thankfully, the storm damage does not appear to be as severe as many feared it might have been, and that sent the news media into a deep depression.
NBC's John Roberts stood in the lobby of his hotel as wind and rain raced through broken windows, and bemoaned the "inch of water" on the floor. He was probably more upset that the hotel's room service was out.
Over at CBS, Tracy Smith was doing her best to knit her brow and find the dark cloud in the good news, constantly intoning that the storm "wasn't over yet". Her co-host Russ Mitchell was more upbeat, and so will probably be relegated to covering John Kerry's latest Bo-Tox injections and Dick Turban's rants against the US military.
The rest of the country will spend some time offering thanks.

*Speaking of events that the news media will drool over, Cindy Sheehan and her anti-American cohorts will spend much of this weekend protesting the Iraq liberation, America's Armed Forces, Israel, George W, and the number of shoe stores in shopping malls across this capitalist, decadent, evil country. Musical entertainment will be provided by Joan Baez, who hasn't had a hit since Dien Bien Phu! "Hanoi Jane" Fonda will probably show up to hawk her book and condemn the greedy country that provided a pampered life to the daughter of a movie star and ex-wife of one of the richest men in the world. She probably spent the week at Tiffany's picking out the perfect accessories for protesting with the masses.

*Kudos to elected officials and public safety officers for their great work since multiple disaters struck the Gulf Coast almost a month ago. While politicos were running their mouths, a lot of regular folks were out on the front lines, repairing storm damage, tending to the needs of their neighbors, and risking their own health without a word of complaint. This Mississippi Highball is for you!

*Congrats to Judge John Roberts on his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation victory, with approval by the full Senate expected next week. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she'll lecture the new Chief Justice on the importance of "finding enlightenment" in documents other than the US Constitution, including those from other countries. My own advice to Chief Justice Roberts is to tell Justice Ginsburg: "Thanks for your input. Now kindly sit down and shut the hell up!".

Hurricane Rita

This afternoon, Wednesday, September 21, Hurricane Rita graduated to Category 5 as it churned westward into the Gulf of Mexico. A mandatory evacuation has been ordered for Galveston, Texas, and let's hope and pray more people decide to err on the side of caution than did those in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Listened to a discussion by a meteorologist from Accu-Weather this p.m., and he predicts (as of this writing) the storm will make landfall about 60 miles west of Galveston. That would still make it a very serious storm, but would at least spare Galveston and Houston from bearing the brunt of a direct hit. Water temps in the Gulf are around 90 degrees, which is apparently ideal for percolating monster storms.
Hang on everybody, hurricane season doesn't die down until the end of November!
In a kind of weird twist (bad pun), the Space Center in Houston is shutting down due to Rita, and Ground Control for the International Space Station now resides in Russia. Haven't heard whether that agreement also covers the Astros, Texans, and Rockets!

Super Bowl Rematch

This Sunday, September 25, the St. Louis Rams and the Tennessee Titans will square off in the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. Titans' coach Jeff Fischer will have his team fired up to avenge the Super Bowl loss his team suffered to the Male Sheep.
The big question is, which Rams team will show up for the game? Will it be the cocky, swaggering 'Greatest Show on Turf', or the shadow of itself that has surfaced so far this young football season? A season-opening loss to the mediocre 49ers didn't inspire much optimism in the Gateway City, and the narrow victory over Kurt Warner and the Arizona (formerly St. Louis) Cardinals doesn't have anyone getting in line for playoff tickets.
When Air McNair and the Titans line up on Sunday, there will be fire in their eyes. They still sting from that Super Bowl loss, and they'll be out to garner whatever satisfaction they can get from beating, and beating up, the Rams.
If you watch the game, key in on how the St. Louis Special Teams play. If they cover punts and kickoffs well, and if they block for their their own receivers, the Lambs can topple the Titans. If they don't, and Steve McNair's offense starts each possession with good field position courtesy of the Rams, it'll be a long afternoon for St. Louis fans.
Also watch Rams QB Marc Bulger. If the offensive line protects him and blocks for RB Steven Jackson, the Jones Dome will be rockin'. If not, Jeff Fischer will get a little bit of that bitter taste washed out of his mouth.

Hardware store Heaven

I tell ya, there's nothing better than spending some time at a hardware store. I'm talking a fun visit here, not one involving plumbing or wallpaper. Just perusing all the tools, power and/or hand tools, is one of the best things a guy can do. Every time I go, and I go often, there's some new gadget that busts loose a bolt, trims a piece of wood, or cuts, digs, or scrapes the soil.
I'm not a fan of the big wharehouse-type stores with their 3 miles of floor space and 700 rows of Chinese duplex outlets. I like the smaller stores, especially Sears Hardware stores, because they've got a good selection at reasonable prices, and the majority of their Craftsman tools are made in the USA out of real forged steel (mmm........forged steel). The only complaint is that they recently added appliances to the stores, which takes up valuable floor space. Who needs a refrigerator with ice dispenser in the door when there are 12-inch compouned miter saws or 2-stage, oil-less air compressors to drool over?
So the next time you feel down, bored, or just need a little time with chrome-finish, offset box-end wrenches, head out to the hardware store. I guarantee it'll put a smile on your face and some new goodies in your toolbox.

Weekly Rants, Raves, and Whatever

*I'm getting a little tired of the Hurricane Katrina survivors that the media chooses to put on TV. The majority slander the President, demand compensation from their fellow citizens, and generally sound like whiners and complainers. It's probably an attempt to portray the US as rascist and evil, but the networks aren't doing evacuees any favors. If a lot of Americans feel as I do, it's got to make it harder to elicit charitable contributions when recipients do little more than growl at their benefactors.

*Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee haven't done well against Judge Roberts, and that's a good thing. What's really annoying is that they can't even come up with their own questions! Rather than pandering to abortion-rights groups, race-baiters, and environmental wackos, maybe they should pick up a copy of 'Selecting Supreme Court Justices for Dummies'.

*Officials in New Orleans say they want guns out of the hands of criminals, which is good. They want to go about it by disarming honest citizens, and that's nuts! Let's see, a flood hits a major American city. Panic ensues, the local cops split, the people are left to fend for themselves against Mother Nature, rapists, looters, and gang bangers, and the average New Orleanian is asked to submit like a lamb to the slaughter. This rant really ties in with my earlier rant about the evacuees. If you wait for the government to take care of your needs, the government will decide what your needs are and whose needs get filled. On the other hand, maybe Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin don't want the people they abandoned to the tender mercies of criminals to have access to weapons when they come a-calling!

Breaking News.....

I have just received word from a confidential source that the New York Times will be renamed "The Clinton Cuckold" in a move intended to secure the 2008 Democratic Presidential Nomination for the junior senator from the Empire State. The editorial staff and management will also be shuffled in order to best serve Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign strategy.
Columnist Maureen Dowd will be replaced by a trained parrot named 'Polly Cracker', and scribe Paul Krugman will depart in favor of a homeless guy who has a better grip on reality!
Former President Bill Clinton will head the Lifestyle section, a position many say he was born for, and Bill's VP Al Gore is rumored to be the paper's new astrologer.

North County Blog vows to stay on the trail of this story, and is in negotiations with ex-CBS anchorman Dan Rather to affirm the veracity of the details. Stay tuned.

Got Da Blues Over Da Blues

Hockey season is set to resume after a year's hiatus. As if things weren't rough enough for the average NHL team after the strike/lockout, the St. Louis Blues are without their two All-Star defensemen. Chris Pronger is now in Edmonton, and Al McKinnis retired. Pronger could make some dumb mistakes and take some stupid penalties, but when his head was in the game he was the best, and his passes to the forwards were things of beauty. McKinnis was just an awesome defensive player, and had a slapshot that could dent a battleship. He's a Hall-of-Famer for sure.
We also lost forward Pavel Dimitra, who always showed tons of potential but never quite lived up to it.
Those of us who bleed Blue now have to pin all our hopes on Doug Weight and Keith Tkachuk, two high-priced players who have yet to string together several good games in a row. I think I'd have been tempted to dump most of the veterans and go with a bunch of younger players, but the team is for sale and a commitment from Bill Laurie to the future of the team is about as secure as a Wal-Mart employee's pension. Oh well, maybe the new owners will dump GM Larry Pleau and finally bring a real hockey mind to lead the Blue Note. How I long for the days when enforcer Tony Twist would skate out to beat the opposing team's goon into a bloody pulp, or mighty mite Kelly Chase would fight a player twice his size to protect his teamates. Twister and Kelly, wherever you are, this Bud Light's for you!

The 2005 Most Valuable Player Award goes to...

It's the middle of September and the Major League Baseball regular season is drawing to a close. According to the scribes, the contest for Most Valuable Player is between mighty Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals (cheers, loud applause) and some guy from the Cubs. They've got the right team and a great player in Albert, but if I had my say I'd choose the Red Birds' utlity players who have filled in so well for Scott Rolen, Larry Walker, and Reggie Sanders. John Mabry, Hector Luna, Abraham Nunez, So Taguchi, and John Rodriguez have played inspired baseball, and are a major reason the Birds have run away with the NL Central Division title. These super-subs deserve all the accolades the great St. Louis fans can throw their way.
Now, on to the World Series and avenge last year's loss to Beantown!

Diane, Ted, and Curly Joe!

There's a new "Dawn of the Dead(heads)" now showing in our nation's capital. Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, and Diane Feinstein star as zombies attempting to eat Supreme Court Justice nominee John Roberts' brain. Reading from a script worse than Ishtar, the 3 Senate Stooges are making bigger fools of themselves than I'd have thought humanly possible.
I think Biden is the pick of the litter. With talk radio constantly replaying his remarks during Ruth Bader Ginzburg's hearing, where he forthrightly defended her right to refuse to respond to questions concerning issues that might come before the Court, Plagiarizing Joe insists that Roberts must respond or the Republic will collapse. Maybe Mr. Biden is planning for another unsuccessful bid for the presidency, and needs the support of NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and the rest of the baby killers to jump start his campaign. (Note to Joe: Quit while you're ahead. A wasted mind is a terrible thing to lose!)
In comparison, Judge Roberts appears thoughtful, forthright, and way smarter than his inquisitors. I think the only person capable of pulling the Democrats' Oldsmobile out of Chappaquidick is Howard Dean. If anybody can make these three look better in comparison, it's Howlin' Howard.

Top Ten Questions for the 9/11 Commission

The 9/11 Commission asked a lot of questions during its existence, but I've thought of a few I can't remember them asking. Here are my Top 10:

10. Why is Al-Jazeera still on the air?
9. Why does the news media keep trying to discredit the passengers' actions on Flight 93?
8. How come Democrats and RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) are so concerned about the
legal rights of terrorists?
7. Does Saddam wear boxers or briefs?
6. Why do people not want us to fight for oil yet not let us drill for oil in our own country?
5. What qualifications did the Commission members have to investigate the worst terrorist
attack in our nation's history?
4. In the War on Terror, just whose side is Dick Durbin on?
3. Why do we still associate with countries known to support terrorist groups?
2. Why do liberals hate Christians but excuse the outrages committed by Islamic fanatics?
1. Why does the Left want photos of dead US soldiers shown on television while fighting to
keep images of the 9/11 attacks off the air?

On the 4th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on US soil, let's start asking our elected
leaders to actually fight the War on Terror instead of running their mouths about the rights
of murderers. There's a scarred piece of land in Pennsylvania marking the spot where a brave
group of average people sacrificed themselves to keep a small band of fanatics from obliterating the US Capitol. Does the Blame America First crowd ever think of those folks? Do they even care? Let's Roll!!!

Katrina: The Political Storm

Hurricane Katrina has come and gone, and much of the Gulf Coast of the United States has gone along with it. Hundreds of thousands are homeless, tens of billions of dollars of property damage have occurred, and the nation is just coming to grips with the magnitude of challenges the region will face in rebuilding.
Of course, not everyone was stunned into quiet disbelief. Race-baiters and hucksters of all kinds, from opportunity-seeking politicos to looney Hollywood lefties, have attacked the relief effort as rascist and representative of the indifference of middle-class America to the plight of the poor. Celine Dion, the noted philanthropist, wailed to Larry King that looters should be allowed to touch the things they could never touch under normal circumstances. Somehow, I don't think she'd let them touch her or her Grammys, or invite evacuees to stay with her on her palatial estate. The Quebec native is typical of elites who speak reverently of the poorer segments of American society but never actually associate with poor people.
Jesse Jackson and Cynthia McKinney opined about the resemblance of storm shelters to the holds of slave ships and concentration camps. Fortunately, while the "activists" ran their mouths ad nauseum, relief workers from all parts of American society worked tirelessly to help their displaced fellow citizens begin the long process of rebuilding their lives. In the first 10 days following the massive storm, more money was donated to charities than the first 10 days after the 9/11 attacks and the Tsunami combined! So much for the hustlers' cry of a rascist America.
That isn't to say we couldn't have done a better job in the early days of the disaster. Local and state officials in Louisiana bungled the pre-storm evacuation and were clearly shell-shocked by the storm's destruction. Federal officials worried too much about appearing overbearing in their dealings with local officials and lost precious time intervening with support and supplies. Even the attack on New York and the Pentagon in 2001 hasn't altered America's reluctance to trust the national government to assist without taking over.
As painful as it was, Katrina's wrath can help the United States be better prepared for the next disaster. If the nation can avoid internecine political fights, move beyond racial politics, and remember that national disasters and terrorist attacks are our real enemies, not each other, then America will have learned a priceless lesson purchased at a terrible cost.