Katrina, Two Years Later: Today marks the two year anniversary of hurricane. A lot of things have changed since then, a lot has not. New Orleans still suffers with rebuilding because of incompetent people in power. Insurance companies still aren't holding up to their obligations. The mayor promised to rebuild it as a "chocolate city", but now twice as many whites are living there as before, so that didn't work out too well either.

Of course if you have read my rants against the incredibly poor prognosticators at the National Hurricane Center then you are aware how I feel about that. They forecast more hurricanes for the following year (2006) because of global warming but there were far less. Then they said that this year would be worse (again with the global warming), and there have been less. The revised their predictions by one less severe hurricane, but here on the anniversary of Katrina we have had 5 named storms, in 2005 this time of year we were on 11. So we have less than half of 2005, but I guess the brilliant minds at NHC know more than I do and despite their terrible track record at figuring these things out they will come up with an accurate prediction soon. Who knows, maybe they know that the storms are just waiting for the fall. But, that means that we have to have 10 hurricanes in the next 10 weeks. That should keep the good folks at CNN busy.

Breaking News (via CNN): Rep. Larry Craig announced he isn't gay. Can someone explain how this is breaking news? Interesting sure, but not what I would call breaking news. BTW, I am not gay either, do I get a press conference to announce?

Love that Leftist-Biased Journalism! I saw the following picture on CNN a couple of days ago (within the last week). The caption read "Do I look like a terrorist to you?" I found this VERY interesting because we really don't know what a terrorist looks like. This young lady appears to be sweet and innocent, but how do we know? Have women worn bomb vests and blown themselves up? Sure, even one pretending to be pregnant.

So today when I read an article chronicling an arrest warrant for the "lady" below, I though of the young lady above. The picture on the left is for Saddam Hussein's daughter, Raghad Hussein (no I didn't make up that name). How is she different from the one on the top? The difference is the one on the bottom has lots of money to fund rocket propelled grenades to kill our troops. So when someone wearing a headscarf asks if she looks like a terrorist, I would have to say yes. If you wear the clothes of a terrorist I am going to have to think twice. If you think that is wrong then talk to Raghad, she is the one enforcing this stereotype.

The Difficulty of Truth: My mom always taught me that if I couldn't say something nice that I shouldn't say anything at all. I have always tried my best to live by this philosophy, and even done so here (with the exception of the many hypocrisies of one particular politician). But tonight I was faced with a reality that really shocked me. I was reading a blog about pork spending in the last congress (the same that currently has a 18% approval rating). I have always been fascinated by how this stuff gets shoved through. Ms. Pelossi promised that the new Democratically controlled congress would be more open and honest and promised to reduce pork. For this reason (alone) I was glad to see a leader finally take such a stand, especially since she was talking about my money. It included a $2 million "porkmark" for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure in Johnstown, Pennsylvania by John Murtha. Turns out that no one could prove that this place even existed so it failed.

But what really woke my up was that 50 different bills were introduced to block either individual porkmarks, or strip the appropriations bill of all of them. And some good folks sat there with their score card and tabulated how each congressman voted. The Club for Growth posted some interesting results of those who voted to do away with the pork and those that didn't.

• Sixteen congressmen scored a perfect 100%, voting for all 50 anti-pork amendments. They are all Republicans.
• The average Republican score was 43%. The average Democratic score was 2%.
• The Democratic Freshmen scored an abysmal average score of 2%. Their Republican counterparts scored an average score of 78%.

So much for change. Reminds me of line by The Who, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

So while I might feel a bit of joy at seeing that the Republican's scored better than the Democrats, I was saddened to see my favorite conservative, Ron Lewis, scored 4%. Here is how the honorable men of Kentucky scored:

Davis, G. (R-KY-4) - 12%
Lewis, R. (R-KY-2) - 4%
Whitfield (R-KY-1) - 4%
Chandler (D-KY-6) - 2%
Yarmuth (D-KY-3) - 2%
Rogers, H. (R-KY-5) - 0%

My dad has been saying for sometime that it is time for a change, but that it isn't going to happen with the current two party system. I am starting to wonder if he is right. Twenty years since Roe V. Wade, millions of babies killed - no change. 12,000,000 illegal aliens in the country and the congress and senate can't pass a bill to do anything about it. Spending in congress going through the roof, and it gets worse every year. If I had the money I would run for congress myself.

I Embrace Thee! I woke up this morning filled with anxiety because I thought that I had forgotten to do something, then found it. I didn't check my e-mail for the past two days so I got slammed this morning, 75 e-mails. Turns out about 20 were personal that I needed to read, 2 that were URGENT, and a couple that were important and required my immediate attention.

One of the things that came to my Inbox this morning was a letter from my sister regarding my Facebook page. I got a couple people who added me as friends, but I really haven't spent any time there and don't know if I have the time to put the energy into it. I currently do a weekly podcast (Search on iTunes for The Homeschool Dad), do this blog, and now working up my homeschool dad blog at TheHomeschoolDad.TheDigitalLife.net. I am trying to make this a regular place for note for homeschool dads, we'll see if anything comes from it.

The podcast is really picking up a lot of subscribers and it is such a joy to get notes from dads from all over the US. There are a lot of homeschool kids, so there have to be a lot of homeschool dads as well. Kind of makes sense.

Besides the two blogs, the podcast, and a regular daily purging of e-mail, I Twitter. That has been a lot of fun because I can send a Twitter and my family sees it. Some reply, most don't. But at least I can share what is going on with me at the moment.

Text messaging continues to be one of my favorite technologies. I can send quick little notes to my wife and kids all day long. I think that if I had to give up anything text messaging would be one of the last to go (iPod being the very last).

Why the iPod as the last to go? It keep me company, keeps me informed, keeps me entertained. I am a rare individual in that 95% of my iPod usage is for podcasts. I love podcasts! I currently subscribe to about 35 podcasts, some daily, some weekly, a couple that are just there from time to time. I have 4-5 that are video. When the pod is charged I can easily go all day without a recharge. I sync at the office and listen on the way home, I sync over night so that I can catch up on the way in. How great is that? I have a couple thousand jazz songs for those nights when I just want to chill, but my iPod keeps me so busy. I am currently on my third set of earbuds and really need to replace them soon. Anybody got an extra set?

The loss of common sense in America: I think that I could dedicate every blog to some of the incredibly stupid things that I see every day in our country. But today I just see something that makes me want to scream. An illegal alien was arrested in California based on a ten year old deportation order and sent packing. Apparently hundreds of other illegals are lighting candles and calling on all workers to protest her being sent out of the country. I WISH that I had someone like this working for me. It would be their last day of work. She was found guilty of using a fake Social Security ID and still was able to stay here year after year. Okay, so she had a child in this country, good for him! But we are a society of law, and if you break that law there is a punishment. If you don't like the law and want all illegals to be able to stay then vote for someone (like Bush) who would put up with that. But while the law is the law then it must be obeyed. It really is that simple. No person has the right to disobey that law just because they don't like it. Al Capone made a fortune in alcohol sales because of a law that said you couldn't have alcohol. When the law was repealed did we let all the boot leggers and moonshine runners out? No, they had broken the law. (I know, they got Scarface on tax charges, but that was a ruse).

If we ever get a president with some backbone, he will enforce the law of the land. When there is a rally to protest the legal deportation of someone who came into this country illegally and committed a felony while here, then ICE should just surround the place and start looking for greencards. All others get a free trip to Tijuana.

Hypocrisy Part III: John Edwards reminds me of the very worst of politicians. They are epitomized by those are self serving but pretend to serve the people. Edwards certainly isn't the only one, but he is the most extreme. From $50,000 speeches on poverty, to $400 haircuts, this guy is the worst. This week's latest is just too bizarre to be true, but it is.

Mr. Edwards decided to launch his presidential campaign in the 9th ward of New Orleans, an area hardest hit by Katrina. It was symbolic for him for the poorest of the country and those that he said were not served by the Bush administration. He stood there with shovel in hand proclaiming that he would help those in need the most.

This week it was revealed that he has invested heavily in a company that does foreclosures. Not too uncommon to invest in a company such as this except that they specialize in foreclosures of properties in New Orleans that have suffered from Katrina. So the very people that this guy is saying that he is trying to serve he is helping to put out on the street, and profiting from it. Truly amazing. But he still continues to be a viable candidate and has the admiration of millions.

When is it news?: I heard a great talk show rant about what is news and what isn't? Some stories merit some attention, but we have become a nation that sits on the edge of our seats for news that really has absolutely nothing to do with us. Take the miners in Utah, a terrible thing to be sure, but why is it breaking news when the second holed drilled to reach them finds nothing? Please don't get me wrong, this is a tragedy for all of the families involved and is news for that community. But we have CNN taking us into the mine, giving hourly updates as the progress of the drills, and daily press briefings by the mine operator. During all this same time a mine disaster happened not too far from here in Indiana where three men died. Again sad, but it was a footnote on the days news and we move on.

I subscribe to CNN's Breaking News service so that when a breaking news story comes out I get alerted via SMS. Cool feature, but it is amazing what they consider breaking news. Just this morning I have see a breaking news story about Presidential Advisor Karl Rove resigning and a new tropical depression forming. Rove's resignation is certainly newsworthy, but I am not sure that I would characterize it as breaking news. Unless you live in the White House, this isn't necessarily significant. The Bush haters are cheering, the rest are shrugging this off wondering who the replacement will be.

The formation of the tropical depression is being hyped because the numbers are so low this year and they need to be high to justify the forecasts against global warming. It is now mid August and we are a solid 3-1/2 months into the season and have yet to have a hurricane. In 2005 we already had 3 hurricanes, and this week would show us the 4th, plus 5 other named tropical storms. Certainly a busy season, a part of the busiest. But the next year (which was to be the worst yet) didn't provide the first hurricane until August 24. Interestingly to me, they had to add an "unnamed storm" after the season as if to justify their existence.

Now if this is the first of the many, many hurricanes that are to hit the United States, then it is news. If this develops into something serious, we need to take note. But when it is 5 days until it hits the Caribbean and at least 9 days to hit the US, how is this breaking news?

Another Record Broken, Who Cares: Tonight another great record was broken and I really don't care. It will likely come out in the press in the next year that the overpaid athlete who broke the record did so with the aid of drugs, just like last years Tour de France winner, and the guy who was leading it until he got booted this year. Another multi-millionaire in football is being tried for dog fighting and it looks like he is going to get some hard time.

Ever since Pete Rose admitted betting on baseball I have totally lost all my enthusiasm for professional sports. Don't get me wrong, I love a good football game on Monday night, but I really don't care who is inside the jersey. I get a little more excited when Peyton Manning is playing (one of the few professionals without baggage to date), but besides Peyton I really don't care at all. The ONLY former professional athlete that I can think of whom I respect is Steve Largent. I wish that he wasn't a talking head for the CTIA, but everyone has to make a buck. Would have preferred to see him run for Senate. Hmmm, Vice President Largent, kind of has a nice ring to it.

So congrats to the multi-millionaire who will soon be seen doing a perp walk in bonds.

The Maddening Freedom that is the Internet: This week Congress established some basic rules to establish who is a Journalist and who is not. I suspect that the root of this issue is the California blogger who spent a ton of time in jail because he wouldn't give up a video tape that he had, claiming that he was protected as a journalist. The House basically said that if you receive any money from your blog you are considered a journalist, but if you don't then you receive no such protection.

So, since I receive no money for this blog, and in fact no one really cares what I have to say, I am unprotected as a journalist. But, I am protected under our government's free speech.

This idea of free speech is a good thing, even if some times it makes little sense. Let me give you an example. What if the government is covering up something? Isn't it great that we can talk about that? But the problem comes when anyone can say anything and it has no basis of truth. This is the world of the conspiracy theorists.

Yesterday I was listening to the radio and heard two things that really made me wonder. The first was a guy who called to say that the bridge collapse was the fault of President Bush because he had diverted funds from bridge work to pay for the war. Didn't take long for someone to try to blame the President. Besides the Cindy Shehan wannabe, I did hear a great new conspiracy, this one from Russia (a country that doesn't allow for the same levels of freedom of speech). This one was fascinating. The theory that a research station in Russia detected a burst of ELF (extra low frequency waves) at the same moment as the bridge collapse, and that the burst was located at almost the same spot as the bridge. Well, the story follows that there is a college just a mile from the bridge is a college, Ausburg College, which is well known for its research in ELF weapons.

Here is the rub. If you try to search out the facts you will quickly find that there is a college named Ausberg which is indeed about a mile or so from where the bridge collapsed. And if you look (here) you will find that indeed a group of students did meet in 2003. But the leap from some students meeting on ELF 4 years ago to the destruction of a bridge is a far reach. But, isn't it grand that someone can post stuff like this, just in case?

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1026.htm