from an old Air Force guy

Friday, October 13, 1775

Philadelphia — a meeting of the Continental Congress

This resolution:

 

Well, it’s 451 pages long (pdf).  Did you read it?

Did those politicians in Washington did before they voted on it?

How does THIS grab you in a no-earmarks-no-pork-we’ve-got-to-do-this-NOW bill?

What are we going to do about this out of control government and when do we do it?

So the bailout plan has passed.

And as of a few minutes ago, a CNN online Quick Poll showed:

The $700 billion bailout plan is:

A needed fix for the economy	28%	46880
A political payout to Wall Street	72%	119191
Total Votes: 166071

The politicians represent whom?

They simply don’t care what the citizens think.  The politicians know better what’s good for us.

Bullshit.

We enjoyed an evening at the opera Monday night and already have tickets for the next one.  There we were, casual dress (well, I dressed up — I put socks on — that’s how she can tell), in comfortable theater seating, large Coke in the cup holder and large popcorn in the lap.

Actually, I had a polo shirt on rather than my usual T-shirt, so I was far more dressy than I realized.  I suppose, though I’ have to shave a point or two off because it was an Ironman 70.2 polo shirt from the event a couple of years ago. 

From a reporter whose identity I’ll protect by not naming same:

Meanwhile in Iberia Parish, the high water caused a barge to break loose and collide with a bridge on Weeks Island Road.

The barge apparently pushed through and knocked out the entire middle section of the bridge. As you can imagine, that section of LA 83 is now closed.

It is the only way drivers can get to Weeks Island so anyone trying to get in or out of there will have to take a detour route.

No word on when the bridge will get fixed.

http://www.nola.com/hurricane-ike/index.ssf/2008/09/lack_of_cooperation_vexes_resc.html

Lack of cooperation vexes rescuer in Terrebonne
by David Hammer, The Times-Picayune
Saturday September 13, 2008, 10:48 PM

DULAC — Gunning his rescue boat down the inundated main drag in the fishing village of Grand Caillou, state Wildlife and Fisheries agent Joe Arnaud can overcome anything Hurricane Ike throws his way.

But there’s one thing he says he can’t get over: people who aren’t willing to be saved or to cooperate with rescuers.

On Friday night and Saturday morning, Arnaud and his boat saved 33 people from Ike, which caused more destruction in lower Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes than 2005’s Hurricane Rita, the last major hurricane to pass to the west and bring devastation to the two parishes.

http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl091308mlrita.73080431.html

Two dead, thousands of homes flooded in Terrebonne
08:24 AM CDT on Sunday, September 14, 2008
John DeSantis / Houma Courier

HOUMA – Hurricane Ike so far has flooded more than 13,000 buildings and 200 miles of road in southern Terrebonne, affecting roughly 20,000 residents, parish officials said today.
 
Two days of strong south winds coupled with Hurricane Ike’s storm surge turned Terrebonne Parish roads into lakes, flooded homes in bayou communities and city neighborhoods and claimed two lives authorities said were storm related.

Flood tubes vandalized in Des Allemands

by The Times-Picayune

Thursday September 11, 2008, 10:35 PM

Flood tubes along Bayou Des Allemands that St. Charles Parish officials hoped would stave off potentially rising water swept in by Hurricane Ike were vandalized Thursday, according to St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne.

The tubes, valued at $20,000 appeared to have been slashed with knives, Champagne said in an e-mail to residents. The parish is renting the tubes from a vendor.

“It is most unfortunate that these senseless acts of vandalism now jeopardize the property of the residents in Des Allemands,” Champagne wrote.

From the August issue of Airliner World:

Boeing 727 ‘Abandoned’ at Hanoi

  A Cambodian-registered Boeing 727 –XU-RKJ — is under threat of being scrapped at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport in Vietnam after amassing more than six monthsworth of parking charges.  It arrived from Siem Riep in Cambodia in November 2007 requiring maintenance but this has never been carried out and the authorities have tried to trace its owners.

Registration of the aircraft, which carries ‘Air Dream’ titles, was officially cancelled last year.  The airframe’s owner — Royal Khmer of Cambodia — eventually contacted the airport and negotiations are under way to fly it away, though bu mid-June maintenance had still not been carried out.

“I was just thinking, this Gustav is proof that there is a God in heaven. To just have it … planned at the same time, that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans for Day One of the Republican convention, up in the Twin Cities, at the top of the Mississippi River.”—-Michael Moore

Subtitle:  “How safe is your always-ready shredder?”

We have been fortunate to have never suffered a major damage event anywhere we have lived.  Bayou Renaissance Man has not been so blessed.

He is now experiencing “the system” of how things work after a fire.

I highly encourage you to read, despite the fact that it will never happen to you.  It wouldn’t ever happen to him, either.

But it did.

Here

I’ve grown less and less fond of the Olympics over the years due to many factors.

The Black Power Salute of Mexico’s 1968 games, for which the guilty ones still state no regrets even now in 2008; the 1972 Munich terrorism and massacre of Israeli athletes; the advent of professional players competing; so many doping scandals in so many levels of competition that finding such at the Olympic level isn’t really a scandal anymore; and better results through equipment design rather than human endeavor; well, the cleanliness, purity, and honesty of the games was lost for me a long time ago.

News reports of Randy Pausch’s death are circulating now.

If you haven’t heard his lecture or read his book you can get a start here and here.  And if you’ve heard the lecture but not read the book, I suggest you get the book.  Yes, it of course contains the lecture, but there is more there.  It is also somethnig you can pass on to others.

I’ve been very fortunate in my life, but will admit to thinking wishful thoughts as I listened to and read his words.

Gone at 47.  Very much too early, but he’s reached out to many many people.  I hope they were listening.

Got up very late this morning.  Wasn’t much of a night last night.

Had a seafood platter for lunch and then to the insectarium this afternoon.  The place is really a good visit, with its combination of humor, truly ingenious displays, and displays done in beautiful artistic fashion.  There is plenty to see and plenty to learn there and if you get your parking ticket validated there is a $5 discount on parking at several nearby locations as shown on their web site.  The place is an excellent balance between multimedia presentations, live displays, mounted displays and interactive displays.

From Jefferson:

So, let’s see…

Crab quiche (got the recipe!), seafood gumbo with garlic bread and more crab quiche, canoli to die for (and probably will because of the dietary contents).  That was all home cookin’ thanks to my sister.  Well, except for the canoli.

Then there’s summer squash and crab meat soup, but to call this a soup seems disingenuous.  The squash gives it a distinctive but soft flavor and color, and the crab meat was so thick it was almost fork-able.  Unfortunately this was from Whole Foods, so no bringing the recipe home for this one.

Found this in my draft folder a few minutes ago.  I have no idea why it’s been sitting there, but it has been doing so since April!!!

Maybe that was one f my better ain pill evenings — it was a month and 5 days after my last surgery.

Yeah, that’s it.  Blame it on th epills…

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Mostly Cajun has been posting some pretty good Cajun humor of late, in addition to his wide range of interesting subjects (want to see one hell of a circuit breaker?  Go there!) and when I got this in an email a few minutes ago, I thought I’d add it to the blogosphere. 

No matter how optimistic he is, when a man reaches sixty it is more difficult to cling to
the idea that he is middle-aged.  He stands at the threshold of old age and senses the increasing speed of time’s winged chariot.  Intimations of mortality grow stronger.

Robert Coram in  Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art of War

From Jefferson:

Driving through rain is a part of travel. 
So is driving through driving rain.

This morning was another story, however.

Our little spot on the world map, here at my sister’s house in Jefferson, was very special.  We had our very own color on the evening news weather maps — we got six inches of rain in roughly two hours today.  Most of the rest of the New Orleans got three or four inches.  And the pumps for this area were apparently inoperative the whole time. 

From New Orleans, or to be more accurate, Jefferson:

After a leisurely breakfast at the motel in Biloxi yesterday and our two nights reduced to only one, we left by way of highway 90 along the coast. 

2008 seems to be a special year for me and I really hadn’t realized that until just a few weeks ago.  Of course special things happen every year in most people’s lives, often without being noticeable at the time, but the more I think about this year the more I realize how special it is.  And yes, it has a lot to do with Father’s Day.

Earlier this month, Ruth celebrated her birthday.  Yes, we all have birthdays every year, but this was the big six-oh.  Let’s face it, some are just more noteworthy than others.

From Biloxi:

I felt it a bit when I got up this morning, but didn’t think much of it.  Just a bit of a pull, nothing more.  We ate a leisurely mini-breakfast at the Hampton Inn where staying, read the paper afterward, and finally made our way out to the car.  Eglin is such a large base that it is easier, quicker, and shorter to go through the base than to go around it, so we did so and topped off the gas tank on the way through.  We intended to go through the base and Ft. Walton Beach, onto the highway along the coast to Pensacola, and finally join I-10 only when we had to at that point.  From there on it was to be interstate to Biloxi, a reasonably short run.

Hello from Niceville.

We picked up the rental car at 0645 Wednesday, just a few minutes early.  Definitely a good deal.  The Hertz Florida drive away program is a good deal as-is, but with the free upgrade it’s even better.  $79 a week for two weeks, no drop-off charge, and we have the comfort of a brand new Mercury Marquis.  When I saw it my first thought was that it was going to eat our wallets in gas, but not so.  On the road at 75mph it runs between 24.4 and 24.8 MPG.  That’s what our Hyundai Elantra gets with not nearly as much comfort or space!  And the VERY powerful engine is turning under 2,000 RPM at 75 MPH, which surprised me.  It doesn’t reach 2000 RPM until 80 MPH.  Overdrive can be a good thing.  The only negative is that the CD player won’t play MP3 files, a clear indication of the vehicle’s target group.

Hardly a day that goes by that I don’t read of a law enforcement officer losing his life in the line of duty.  It can be dangerous work that goes from the routine to the chaotic in the blink of an eye.

We are in the midst of National Police Week and in a few minutes, at midnight, I’ll go outside and lower the flags in front of the house to half staff for National Peace Officers’ Memorial Day.  The sun will rise in the morning on those flags at half staff as it also rises on the thousands of graves of fallen officers.

So I’m just wondering why my Caller ID shows “Restricted — number unavailable” when the VA calls with their electronic humanoid to remind me of an appointment…  Restricted?  Why?  Are people really going to try calling back to that Sci-fi voice to discuss the reminder?

And that would be the appointment for which I made a blood donation yesterday morning.  Well, it should be counted as a donation.  5 tubes worth.

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In changing the intent, format, and size of what was before “just” a chronology of my military career I have found that the new intent has created a tremendous workload. 

Crystal recently had a garage/yard sale.  She has posted twice about it, once pre-sale and once post-sale.   They are both interesting, and the second is a hoot.

If you have ever had a garage sale, have had thoughts of doing so, or know of anyone contemplating same, these are each a short must-read.

Pre-sale here.

Post-sale here.

And sorry, Crystal, not even for 5 bucks.  I already have one.  In fact, I just shrink wrapped it for the attic again until next time.  I’ll put it up there when I can go up a ladder again, in about 6 months.

OK, up front, I’m telling you there is quite a bit of reading to be done here.  Well, not really here, but at the places I’m going to suggest to you.

See two articles below.

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Finally!  The for-everyone (or is it no one?) pill is now available.

You really need to read the patient information sheet to see if it’s right for you and that information is available here.  You do always read the patient information completely about any medication you take, don’t you?  I must admit the EFTS side effect has me a bit concerned, but…