Gulf Storm Watch - 070831a

Uh, oh. Remember this post from just a few hours ago? Now take a look:


It's now Tropical Depression 6, or "Felix". Whie the NHC has the track forecast westerly, almost following the track "Dean" took a few weeks ago, some of the "spaghetti models" posted here forecasat a more northerly hook, passing between the Yucatan and Cuba.

Stay tuned.

Second Amendment, Meet Checkbook.

OK, I've made up my mind. This will be my next "big boy toy" purchase:


I want a good, proven rifle, and I've always been partial to the HK-91 in 7.62mm NATO (.308). It's been 25 years since I shot one, but the HK is accurate, reliable, with lots of spare parts available, and (if I remember correctly) not too hard on the shoulder.

Why? Two reasons: First, I want to have (and shoot) a big-bore rifle again; and second, private citizens having something like this at home drives the limousine liberal types stark-raving nuts.

Anyone out there have any recent experience with the HK-91? Comments are open.....

What, Me Vote?

According to nola.com, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund offered this rationale for filing suit to stop the recent purge of voting rolls in Louisiana:

"Many of the people were not aware that they were registered to vote elsewhere and intend to return to Louisiana, said defense fund attorney Kristen Clarke."

C. B. Forgotston responds:

"Any person who doesn’t know the state in which they registered to vote is simply too dumb to vote ANYWHERE."

I couldn't agree more. I'm wondering - are the Dems still trying to find a way to make John Breaux eligible for the governor's race?

The Management Speaks....

To: My readers (all 12 of you).

From: Clifford.

Re: Comments.

They are turned on again. Seems the "rant back" e-mail address at the bottom of the page was hard to find. We'll deal with the spam as it appears, but if it gets too much we'll have to find other options.

So comment away, my loyal public.

The Myths Of Katrina - The Gulf Coast Is Suffering From A Lack Of Leadership.

The third and last of ReasonOnline's Myths of Katrina. Myth Three: The Gulf Coast is suffering from a lack of leadership. It's not that the leaders aren't there, they're just not the folks collecting a government paycheck.

Link to Myths One and Two is here.

UPDATE: You know Red Stick Rant readers are an elite bunch ('cause the bunch ain't real big), but did you know you are also better informed, too? You were aware of the ReasonOnline post mentioned above a whole day before the Blogfather himself cared to share it with his readers. All I can say is..... heh.

Defining Poverty Upward.

Having been on Episcopal mission trip to Honduras, I have seen poverty - houses with dirt floors, no running water, three people living under some tin and plastic between two factory buildings, a hole in the ground surrounded by some boards and plastic for a toilet. People making $2.00 a day. Children who can't go to school. That's poverty. This, this is not poverty:

Forty-three percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.

Eighty percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.

The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)

Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 31 percent own two or more cars.

Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.

Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.

Eighty-nine percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and more than a third have an automatic dishwasher.

The report is lengthy, but read it all. And remember these things when multi-millionaire lawyer John Edwards starts preaching on his "two Americas" theme. We actually seem to be winning the war on economic poverty. Poverty of the spirit, though, is a whole other fight - and in that we have not been as successful.

Ghosts Of Anbar III.

Michael Yon's latest is up: Ghosts Of Anbar III.

Go here for links to parts I and II.

Gulf Storm Watch 070831

Eastern Caribbean. Maybe nothing; maybe not.


Never hurts to keep checking.

Go Fig-ya!

A little something off the wall to begin the weekend......

The two videos below are from my other hometown, Boston, and the TheGuyFromBoston (tag line - "I got the balls to say what you're thinking") These are DECIDEDLY NOT WORK SAFE!!, so you have duly been warned. (Use headphones...)

TheGuyFromBoston ruminates about the morals of Congress. Or lack thereof. I can't confirm his stats, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

TheGuyFromBoston explains how to talk Boston. And why you can't "Pahk Ya Cah In Havaad Yaad". He left out my two favorites, though: "Peabody is pronounced "Pee-bud-ee", and the City of Quincy is pronounced "Quwin-zee", but the President is still John "Qwin-see" Adams. Oh, and I'm and "Aaak-ee-teck". It's wicked pissah!

Hattip: My buddy Karl.

iPhone: Two Months On.

It’s been just over two months since I got one of Mr. Jobs’ latest playthings, so I think it’s time to do a quick “how-do-I-like-it-so-far” post. (My earlier posts are here, and another here.) For those with A.D.D., here is my conclusion up front: I love it. Go get one.

And I do love it. Besides it’s cooler-than-all-get-out looks (which I keep covered with one of these goofy silicone covers ‘cause I’m a klutz) it’s darn decent phone. Let’s take a look at the features one by one:

OPERATION
Click on, touch screen, go. Couldn’t be simpler. And the screen is excellent, even outside in direct sunlight. The tapping and dragging with your finger really does become second-nature. Even the two–finger double tap or drag versus the one finger variety. The mechanical controls are easy, though the sound/ringer silence switch can be hard to operate with the silicone cover on. Minor issue, really. The keyboard is pretty good once you get used to it. And the “intuition” AI works well. I have come to rely on it, and it makes typing on such a small keyboard workable. The one big “Gurr” annoyance I have is the headphone jack. OK, I know Apple had to go to a smaller diameter jack housing to keep the iPhone as thin as it is, but c’mon guys – an adapter would have been nice for those who have after-market headphones or, like me, plug it in and run it through the audio system in my car. My solution was to whack about 3 millimeters of the plastic off of the bottom part of the jack so it would seat to the correct depth. So far, so good, but it’s not quite what I should have to do to get this to work. My other, all be it minor “Grrr”, is that the phone sometimes gets, well, brain-farts - and freezes up for up to 30 seconds. This especially happens right after you take off the charging stand. If you do a reboot, the problem stops for a while, but it eventually comes back. Syncing the iPhone is as simple as setting in the charging cradle. iTunes does the rest. I’ve had no problems with that so far.

PHONE
As I’ve said before, it's light years better than the Treo. I’ve had only a few dropped calls, and it will even work in most interior spaces. The Treo, on the other hand, would drop a call if you went under a tree branch. Without leaves. I really like the Bluetooth capability, too, which allows the phone to be linked through my car’s audio system for hands-free use.

E-MAIL
This works OK, and seems to sync with our Outlook server at work but for one thing – if you delete an e-mail from the iPhone, it does not delete them on the server when it syncs. Minor problem if you are talking about being away from your desk computer for a few hours or a day, but more than a few days and this can be a real annoyance when you get back to your desk. It may be a setting I do not know about, but for now it is a real pet peeve.

INTERNET
After having that rump browser on the Treo, having (nearly) full-blown Safari in your pocket is great. (“Is that browser in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? Oh, it’s a browser….”) But the ‘Net on the iPhone is Slllloooooooooow with ATT’s EDGE. I mean, slower than dial-up slow. I heard somewhere that there is a major iPhone software upgrade coming in October that will correct some of this (G3, perhaps??). I sure hope so. If you can hook onto a wi-fi network things speed up to tolerable levels. For some reason, Safari on the iPhone will not display Flash or YouTube, which seems very surprising. Especially the YouTube embeds. It’s more annoying than critical, but considering what you pay for the thing…..

IPOD
Oh, wow. Oh…… Wow. And, it works great with the Bose ‘Sounddock’, too. If you set it on ‘Airport’ mode though, the Bose controls don’t seem to work. (Or, is it vice-versa. I can’t remember.)

OTHER GOODIES
I use ‘SMS/Texting’ only because it seems to be the preferred method of communication for my 13-year old daughter. Works OK.
The ‘Calendar’ syncs fine with Outlook, but it has a limited selection for setting alarm times. Sometimes I need to set an alarm for 1:45 before the event. Weird, I know.
‘Photos’ is wonderful. I have every darn family image in my pocket, and I’m going to be a real annoyance at my wife’s family’s next Christmas reunion.
‘Camera’ is OK, but I already have a 4 MP digital in my day-timer for construction photos, so it’s redundant for me.
‘YouTube’ is a waste as far as I am concerned. Bad image quality, craps out constantly, and a lot of videos are “unavailable”. What’s with that?
‘Stocks’ I initially ignored, but I entered some stocks and now watch them daily. Call it voyeuristic capitalism.
After the main four apps, ‘Maps’ is for me THE most useful app on the iPhone. I have used it to get around in all sorts of places and find all sorts of locations in the US since June, and the ability to have the address, phone number and website (if they have one) in one click is nothing short of amazing. There is very little that the iPhone database has not found (it found my old apartment in Florence, Italy, with no trouble). This app could easily put AAA out of the map business. The satellite image feature in ‘Maps’ really impresses folks at dinner parties, but I haven’t found it to be as useful as I initially thought. But it is good for close-in navigation in a strange place.
‘Weather’ is cute, but logging into a dedicated website is much better. Though, knowing what the highs and lows will be in Florence, Italy is kinda neat. Again, great for dinner parties.
‘Clock,’ ‘Calculator,’ and ‘Notes’ are useful and not much to complain about. I do wish the calculator had a ‘Clear Entry’ button along with the 'Clear All' one.
‘Settings’ is a fine control panel; easy to use and simple to set.


CONCLUSIONS
All things being equal I could have gotten another phone that does almost all of these things almost as well at a lesser cost. No argument there. But the iPhone does them without the “almost” factor, and it does them elegantly, to boot. I am continually amazed how tight the integration is between functions and applications. They really thought this one out. I must say that this is one Apple product that truly seems to have lived up to it’s hype, and one where I’m not regretting having the 1.0 version.

The Myths Of Katrina -"New Orleans" And "The Gulf Coast" Are Synonymous.

The second of RaseonOnline's The Myths of Hurricane Katrina. Myth Number Two: "New Orleans" and "the Gulf Coast" are synonymous.

Here is the first one: Myth Number One: A lack of federal money.

The Episcopal Church (tm) And Their Edifice Complex.

Via Ontario Emperor, I came across this tidbit from the former chaplin of the United States Senate, Dr. Richardson Halverson, when asked where his church is:

"The church where I preach is all over the city. It’s driving buses, serving meals in restaurants, having discussions in the Pentagon, deliberating in the Congress.' He knew exactly where his church was, and he went on and on with his lengthy listing. Then he added, 'Periodically, we get together at a building on Fourth Street, but we don’t spend much time there."

That, to me, is the best description of a church I've heard in a long time. So why is The Episcopal Church (tm) pouring hundreds of thousands into litigation to keep buildings? People may leave, says the The Episcopal Church (tm). They don't seem to care too much about people ("breeders" especially). But a "congregation" must stay. OK, who then is the "congregation"? The rocks and stones themselves?? When there are no more people, does the "congregation" still exist? There are more than a million fewer souls in the US calling themselves Episcopalians than there were 30 years ago, and more than a hundred thousand members have left since 2000 alone. Some entire dioceses are now smaller than your Baptist Church up the street. Is that a growing Church?? You can count all of the "congretations" you want (The Episcopal Church (tm) claims more than 7,000), but if the average congregation is only about 200 members, often elderly and hanging on because of an endowment or financial aid, is that really an accurate picture of our health as a Church?

No, but it makes those who are at the head of this sinking ship feel better. Iceberg? What iceberg?

Declarations, Constitutions; It's All The Same, Right?

From Instapundut - Proof positive that passing a basic civics class is not a requirement for a creative writing degree. An Editor(!) at the new New York Times puts this in print:

"But that’s to care for them as human beings, under that other constitutional right — to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." (emphasis mine)

I suppose that's in the Constitution around the "wall of separation between church and state" right they are always harping about. (Actually, it's in here.)

Another National Piece About New Orleans.

Another New Orleans post is up at ReasonOnline. It covers two points I have been making for a while now.

First, if anybody is ultimately to blame for New Orleans' problems with Katrina, it's the French:

"As one scientist said after Katrina, "A city should never have been built there in the first place."

And second, there is precedent here for how things may well play out - that of Galveston and Houston:

"Historian Douglas Brinkley, writing in The Washington Post, fears the Bush administration is trying to do to New Orleans what was done to Galveston, Texas, after a terrible 1900 hurricane. "Galveston, which had been a thriving port, was essentially abandoned for Houston, transforming that then-sleepy backwater into the financial center for the entire Gulf South," he says. "Galveston devolved into a smallish port-tourist center, one easy to evacuate when hurricanes rear their ugly heads."

Which means, I guess, Baton Rouge has a very bright future.

Two Bits Of Good News.

According to this article from Reuters:

"The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said."

That's guns in private hands, not any military weapons. And it seems we like it this way. According to Alphecca, a nationally organized gun-control rally in PC Seattle drew only two participants. Other rallys in other cities had but "dozens", including the one in Washington DC. Only one appears to have had more than 100.

Now you know why the Dems are not publically pushing a new assault-weapons ban.

The Mayor Gets A Helping Hand.

"OK, Ray, now that I've pulled this out of your ass, maybe you can see things more clearly."

I know, I know. But sometimes these things just write themselves. And after the somberness of today, a little levity is most refreshing.

The Myths of Katrina - A Lack Of Federal Money.

ReasonOnline has posted the first of a series called The Myths of Hurricane Katrina. Myth Number One: A lack of federal money.

Read it all. If you are not already reading ReasonOnline regularly, I recommend it highly.

29 August - Day of Days

The people in each generation - and each place, I suppose - have one day, and one event, which divides their lives. A “before-blank”, and an “after-blank”. For the Greatest Generation, no doubt that was 7 December – Pearl Harbor. For Boomers, 22 November – the day John F. Kennedy was killed – was their day. For everyone down here in southeast Louisiana and on the Mississippi coast, that day is today - 29 August – the Day Katrina hit.

There were lots of events today in New Orleans to “commemerate” the Katrina disaster, complete with speeches, ceremonies, and politicians earnestly trying to look earnest. There were (thankfully) church services galore. In Lakeview alone I counted no less than seven TV vans today, so I guess it’s time for our “tragedy” to get another 15 minutes before Brittany, or Paris, or some congressional sex scandal, gets top billing again. In one sense I am glad the rest of the nation gets reminded that there is still much to be done down here. But I’m also embarrassed by how much remains even to be started, two years later, and by how badly our leaders and government have handled the crisis. This should NOT be a crisis two years down the road. Should this area be whole again by now? No. The damage was too great to heal in that time. But we should expect - no, demand - more from our government than the finger pointing, posturing, buck-passing and excuses we’ve had so far. Where are the road repairs? The infrastructure repairs? The safe streets? What happened to the expensive master plans y’all hyped last year? So much of what’s been done to date has little to do with government efforts, and much to do with the work of individuals - one house or business at a time - or by concerned individuals banding together. The citizens seem to have a can-do attitude, but the government seems to have a can’t-do one. Think I’m kidding? Just try to get a Building Permit problem resolved at City Hall. That’s if you can get someone to even answer the phone. Until the government, and especially the City and State governments, either get on board - or get out of the way - we will be about where we are a year from now. And that, folks, will be the real tragedy.

If you want to do something to “commemorate” today, here are some suggestions: Give blood; pray; send a few dollars to these folks, or these good people; pray; join one the many church mission teams that come down here from all over the country to help clean up and renovate (or buy some supplies for them); pray; or last, but not least – if you live in the City of New Orleans would you please run for Mayor in a couple of years.

UPDATE: Someone suggested folks in New Orleans commorate the day by taking a handgun safety / self-defense course. Considering this number, can't say I blame him.

UPDATE: Or a survival swimming course.......

And Another Quick Note From The Management....

Still very busy here - a project hits the streets tomorrow, and I have a site meeting in New Orleans (of all days!!) to review progress on the demolition of the old State Police Troop B buildings at Veterans Hwy. and West End Boulevard. (I'm the architect for the rebuilding project there.)

Please take a moment today and remember what happened on 29 August 2005. And ask the Lord for His strength - a lot of people down here still need it.

More tonight. Promise. See you then.

.10 for One.

OK, State Senator Walter Boasso left the Louisiana GOP to run for Governor as a Democrat. His "Cardboard Campaign" has him just now breaking into double digits - and he's leading the Democratic field! Not exactly a smokin' result..... IMHO. And today State Treasurer John Kennedy - one of the few pols in state government generally seen as haveing any competence at all - is leaving the Dems for the GOP.

Don't know about you, but I'll take that trade.

And who do the uber-lefties at DailyKos blame for the switch? The man behind everything that is wrong with the world today (including, I believe, dandruff): Karl Rove. Really. I've never been a conspiracy nut, but I think the Kos Kiddies may be onto something here. When our vacuum cleaner went on the fritz the other day, I swear I saw Rove cheesing it out our back door just before it died. The man must be truly diaboloical. If he is, in fact........ just a man.........!! [queue sinister organ music here]