James loves to help me paint! We're painting the porch. It's not the best picture but I love the look on his face.

Chips-Ahoy!

The other day I found whole grain Chips-Ahoy! cookies at Walmart. I looked on the Nabisco website but there was no mention of them. I don't know how much healthier they are than normal cookies, probably not much at all, but they taste good and I prefer whole grains in my food if I have a choice.

Another product I like is Barillo Plus pasta. I never tried a side by side taste test but I serve it to my family and they don't know the difference. It tastes good. If anything, it tastes better. I don't buy anything else anymore.

9-11

I wish I could say we had learned the lessons of this tragic day but it is painfully obvious that this country - collectively - just doesn't get it. We don't have the backbone to do what it will take to put this threat down for good, at least not yet. I just hope the day we come to our senses it will not be too late.

"Last time I saw it all coming and cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention. Up till the year 1933 or even 1935, Germany might have been saved from the awful fate which has overtaken her and we might all have been spared the miseries Hitler let loose upon mankind. There never was a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated such great areas of the globe. It could have been prevented in my belief without the firing of a single shot, and Germany might be powerful, prosperous and honored to-day; but no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool. We surely must not let that happen again."

--Sir Winston Churchill
Mar. 5, 1946 - Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri

Bush Derangement Syndrome

Craige McMillan hits it: Bush Derangement Syndrome - not!

"PC says some truth can never be investigated, because it might be found to be true. Thus in the realm of PC science, only a "correct" hypothesis may be investigated, lest some uncomfortable and politically unacceptable truth be discovered."

That about sums up political correctness and it's one of the reasons science cannot be trusted to find the truth. Science is a tool and it's only as good as the person using it.

"Bush Derangement Syndrome is the beginning of a very pure form of evil that the world has rarely seen - one that, like its forbearers, will destroy both those who are its victims - and those who are its perpetrators. This hatred is being channeled by some in power in this and other countries, for their own gain. As with their predecessors, they will find that they do not control it."

I wouldn't call it Bush Derangement Syndrome, the Bush hatred is a symptom of a much larger problem, but the evil he speaks of exists and seems to ebb and flow through the world like the sickness it is. It is in the beginning of an upswing now and the very people in it's grips truly believe they are free and not infected. Fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Some related articles: What New Orleans shows by Joseph Farah

He writes about our losing our ability to govern ourselves.

"The Founding Fathers knew that even the best designed government wouldn't work if the people were not righteous, moral and God-fearing - if they didn't love liberty and cherish it."

That is more true than you ever imagined. The closer the people adhere to The Perfect Law of Liberty, the more there will be true freedom. A lawless people must be governed with a heavy hand.

Also a good read: Too many takers in New Orleans

Governor and Mayor Still Not In Gear

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin don't agree on the mandatory evacuation of the city of New Orleans ordered by the Mayor. Maybe the Governor needs 24 hours to think about it. Of course, it's still Bush's fault.

Accurate Weather

I've been very impressed with the hurricane forecasting by Joe Bastardi from AccuWeather.com. He called Katrina accurately, including the flooding of New Orleans, on FoxNews before it hit and I watched him forecast Ophelia, also on FoxNews, before it was anything to speak of - now a tropical storm.

Gilligan is Off the Island

Bob Denver passed away September 2, 2005.

All the Fish in the Aquarium of the Americas are Dead

That's something I had not heard from anywhere else. Not that it's so important when compared to the human tragedy still playing out, but I visited that aquarium in New Orleans and it had some really nice fish. I heard the animals at the New Orleans Zoo are OK, but I forget where I heard it.

Where did I hear about the aquarium? Right here: The Interdictor. He's blogging from New Orleans.

Update: New Orleans' aquarium mostly killed off

He Knows

I bought James a set of Godzilla figures on eBay but I didn't tell him about it. It came in the mail yesterday and I hid it in my room so when he got home he wouldn't see it until I was ready to give it to him. When I went to pick him up he got in the car and said, "I know you got me a Godzilla." He kept saying it. Usually, he asks if I will get him one or asks if I did. This time he knew. I didn't let on and I asked him about some other things on the way home. When we got to the house I went to the kitchen and he went down the hall. A minute later he comes out with the box, proud as can be.

How did he know that?

Nouvelle Orleans

Here's an interesting little article about how New Orleans was created and why it sits so low.

The City Below Sea Level

Tickets for Sale - Cheap

Everybody wants a deal. Where can I buy discount tickets? It's the most asked question in this area. Basically, you can't - not legally. There is no way to tell if the tickets you buy have been used or not and people get taken all the time. Buy only from a legitimate source.

Black Market For Park Tickets Is Dark Side Of Orlando Tourism

They Were Well Warned

Here's another article, Gone with the Water, that lays out precisely what happened to New Orleans during and after Katrina - written before the disaster. It was well known that it was only a matter of time before this happened. They should have had buses lined up to get people out of there before the hurricane. They also should not let people live in those low lying areas again. Name it Lake Orleans and leave it at that.


But rebuild they will.

Bible Verse of the Day

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Ecclesiastes 8:11

My thoughts while watching coverage of the looting and violence going on in New Orleans. It's a symptom of underlying problems in society these days. One of which is not teaching kids right from wrong - they teach that there is no right or wrong to our children, it's all relative. Another is not executing justice and necessary vengeance against evil acts.

R.L. Burnside died September 1, 2005 at a hospital in Memphis.

"Blues artist R.L. Burnside, who redefined the blues genre by incorporating indie rock acts and hip-hop production, died September 1, 2005, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Burnside was born November 21, 1926, in Harmontown, Mississippi, and spent most of his life in the north Mississippi hill country, where he worked as a sharecropper and a commercial fisherman and played guitar at weekend house parties. In 1968, noted folklorist George Mitchell recorded Burnside for the first time."

The Lost City

I keep hearing they want to rebuild New Orleans and I can see preserving the French Quarter and around that area, which I believe is on higher ground than the rest of the city, but to have so many people living below sea level - essentially in the bottom of a drained lake - doesn't really make a lot of sense. Of course, people don't always make decisions based on sound judgement and who am I to say what they should do.

Here's an article from Dec. 2000 that looks at New Orleans from an insurance perspective: The Lost City of New Orleans?

Very interesting, especially considering it is from 2000.

Unbelievable

Check out some of the pictures coming out of Louisiana/Mississippi. Just incredible. There are a couple of pictures of dolphins in a hotel pool but it doesn't say why or how they got there. Storm surge?

I watched the hurricane coverage pretty much all night Sunday and around 5am I heard a reporter in the French Quarter saying it wasn't as bad as they were saying it would be and New Orleans was getting off easy, yet the hurricane was still a few hours from reaching New Orleans. I couldn't believe it. The hurricane is not even there yet and he's acting like it's not going to be that bad. I wonder what he thinks now?

You'll find a lot of interesting Katrina links here - scroll down the page.

Home of the Brave?

Question Marks and Exclamation Points

"The question is whether we have the patience when it takes longer and costs more than expected. Would this generation of Americans have stayed more than the decade long course that spanned the time between the Declaration of Independence and the ratification of the US Constitution? Would this generation tolerate the hundreds of thousands lost in World War II and the financial burden that went with it?"

Keep Them in Your Prayers

I feel bad for all those in the path of Katrina, whether New Orleans or not. South Florida didn't fare very well and it was only a category 1 storm - now a category 4. I sure don't want to go through a hurricane again.

Beware the U.N.

Endangered Sovereignty

"The time to halt this diplomatic rake's progress is now - and to do so on the principle that Americans are a self-governing people. If Tony Blair is prepared to surrender Britain's democratic sovereignty to either a European government or a U.N. committee, that is a matter for him and the British people. American democracy needs no external examiners."

Weird

I just checked in a minister named Jim Jones. He even looks similar to the other Jim Jones but with lighter hair. If I were him I think I would change my name.