Monday - August 29, 2005

Light Blogging Today

Sorry folks, but there will be light blogging today. I was up late last night checking on friends along the Gulf Coast. E-mails quit coming in around 2:00pm yesterday then started up again late last night as everyone found hotels in Memphis, Shreveport, Meridian and Birmingham. I overslept this morning and had to rush to make a 9:00am optometrist appointment. My eyes are still dilated and weirded out. I’m at work but I have several meetings this afternoon. Perhaps Frank can jump in if he has time.

In case you missed it, the “Storm Of The Century” jigged right and passed just to the East of New Orleans, sparing that city the worst. There are several holes in the SuperDome and 3-4 feet flooding. Gulfport and Biloxi got the brunt ot the winds and storm surge. All my firends and former co-workers at Tulane University, the US Navy’s Port Authority, the US Navy’s Space Warfare Information Systems (Lakefront) and the NASA Stennis Space Center were evacuated out Saturday and Sunday. The authoritys did an outstanding job of making sure everything was done in an orderly fashion.

My guess is that Waveland, Bay St. Louis and Long Beach got the worst and are probably flooded out and totally destroyed. Stephen Ambrose (author of “Band Of Brothers”, “Saving Private Ryan") used to live in Bay St. Louis about a mile from where I used to live down there. I’m proud to say I have his autograph on a few books in my library.

Here is a special message to all my friends down there who are hiding out in hotels far inland: today’s weather in St. Louis is bright sunny skies, temps in the upper 70’s, 10% humidity and a fair breeze. The weather is here, wish you were beautiful. 

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/29/2005 at 12:35 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Personal •  
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I’m Glad I Left

I woke up this morning and decided I made the right decision to move two years ago. If not, I’d be at ground zero right now. You see, I was living in a little town called Long Beach, Mississippi and working at the NASA Stennis Space Center. Long Beach is just to the west of Gulfport, halfway to New Orleans and the huge NASA reservation is due north of there about 20 miles inland, just across I-10. I lived and worked in that area for over two years and madea lot of friends. I hope they all made it out safely because the eye of Hurricane Katrina is about to pass over them with 145 mph winds ....

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Hurricane Katrina turned slightly to the east before slamming ashore early Monday with 145-mph winds, providing some hope that the worst of the storm’s wrath might not be directed at this vulnerable, below-sea-level city.

Katrina, which weakened slightly overnight to a Category 4 storm, turned slightly eastward before hitting land, which would put the western eyewall - the weaker side of the strongest winds - over New Orleans. But National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield warned that New Orleans would be pounded throughout the day Monday and that Katrina’s potential 20-foot storm surge was still more than capable of swamping the city.

Katrina, which a day before had grown to a 175-mph, Category 5 behemoth, made landfall about 6:10 a.m. CDT east of Grand Isle in the bayou town of Buras. The storm hammered the Gulf Coast with huge waves and tree-bending winds. Exploding transformers lit up the predawn sky in Mobile, Ala., while tree limbs littered roads and a blinding rain whipped up sand on the deserted beach of Gulfport, Miss.

Katrina’s fury also was felt at the Louisiana Superdome, normally home of professional football’s Saints, which became the shelter of last resort for about 9,000 of the area’s poor, homeless and frail. Electrical power at the Superdome failed at 5:02 a.m., triggering groans from the crowd. Emergency generators kicked in, but the backup power runs only reduced lighting and cannot run the air conditioning.

About 370,000 customers in southeast Louisiana were estimated to be without power, said Chenel Lagarde, spokesman for Entergy Corp., the main energy power company in the region. At the hotel Le Richelieu in New Orleans’ French Quarter, the winds blew open sets of balcony doors shortly after dawn. Seventy-three-year-old Josephine Elow pressed her weight against the broken doors as a hotel employee tried to secure them.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/29/2005 at 07:45 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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   Sunday - August 28, 2005

Perfect Storm?

This little fellow’s name is #42040 and he is a floating moored weather buoy about 64 nautical miles south of Dauphin Island and Mobile, AL. He is currently reporting 33 foot waves pounding his little yellow behind every 14 seconds (this is what they mean when they refer to “storm surge"). He is going to have a very rough night tonight. Aren’t you glad you aren’t him? Poor little #42040. The worst is yet to come for him. Let’s see how long he can keep sending uplinked satellite data to NOAA. Anyone want to make bets on how long he can hold together?

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 10:26 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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Exodus

If you think traffic in New Orleans is bad right now, take a look at the mess in Baton Rouge, thirty or forty miles North of the Big Easy (live from WBRZ webcam). Reports from Louisiana State Troopers are that traffic on I-10 is moving at 20 mph, a snail’s pace while the storm closes in behind them at 12 mph. The people in these cars have to follow the roads. The hurricane is making its own road as it goes. Who will win this race ....?

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 08:22 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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Jesse Jackson Goes To Venezuela

As Pooh used to say, “Oh, bother!” Al Sharpton is down in Crawford snuggling up to Cindy Sheehan and cozying up to her crowd of bansheehanites and you probably thought the Moonbattery couldn’t get any worse this weekend, didn’t you? Well, you thought WRONG!

Not to be outdone by his fellow race warlord, Jesse Jackson decided to take a little trip down to Venezuela to console dictator (and Castro butt-buddy) Hugo Chavez. Jackson’s message (delivered to a fawning media) was that Ol’ Hugo is a really nice guy and we need to stop all this talk of popping a cap in his ass. In fact, Jesse thinks the FCC needs to kick Pat Robertson off the air for suggesting such a thing and should also be locked up (and probably tortured) ....

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)—The Rev. Jesse Jackson offered support for President Hugo Chavez on Sunday, saying a call for his assassination by a U.S. religious broadcaster was a criminal act and that Washington and Venezuela should work out their differences through diplomacy. The U.S. civil rights leader condemned last week’s suggestion by Pat Robertson that American agents should kill the leftist Venezuelan leader, calling the conservative commentator’s statements “immoral” and “illegal.”

Jackson urged U.S. authorities to take action, and said the U.S. government must choose “diplomacy over any threats of sabotage or isolation or assassination.” “We must choose a civilized policy of rational conversation,” he told reporters at a news conference. Chavez, a self-styled “revolutionary,” has repeatedly accused President Bush’s government of planning to overthrow him. He warned Friday that some American leaders have considered killing him.

U.S. officials have repeatedly denied such claims. Robertson’s comments last week have increased already tense relations between Caracas and Washington. He called for Chavez’s assassination on his TV show “The 700 Club,” saying the United States should “take him out” because the Venezuelan leader poses a danger to the region. Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a supporter of Bush’s re-election bid, later apologized.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission “must prohibit such threats on the airwaves,” said Jackson, who arrived Saturday for a visit along with members of his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. “I hope the FCC does not remain silent regarding what Robertson said,” Jackson added. Representatives of the U.S. government have expressed concern that Chavez and his close ally, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, are fomenting instability in Latin America. Chavez and Castro deny it, instead blaming the United States for meddling in the affairs of Latin nations.

In a speech to Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jackson said every country has a right to self-determination, and touched on subjects from poverty to Martin Luther King Jr.’s role in the civil rights struggle of American blacks. “Though our histories are burdensome with pain and often bitter memories, we must have the strength to get ahead and not just get even,” Jackson said to a rousing applause from Venezuelan lawmakers.

Jackson later met and shook hands with Chavez during the Venezuelan leader’s weekly radio and television program. “Reverend Jackson, you can be sure that we will continue fighting for the ideas of Martin Luther King, for Christ the Redeemer’s idea of loving one another and building a society of equals through our peaceful and democratic revolution,” said Chavez. He told Jackson he wanted to discuss the possibility of sending oil at preferential terms to poor communities in the United States.

Since taking office in 1999, Chavez has survived a 2002 coup, a 2003 strike and a recall referendum last year. He is up for re-election next year, and recent polls suggest he has a 70 percent approval rating.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 05:37 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Outrageous •  
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Hurricane Katrina Update

The following message is being brought to you as a public service by the Mainstream Media in cooperation with the political leaders in Louisiana and Mississippi and under the guidance of FEMA ....

CATASTROPHE! WE’RE DOOMED! MIND-BOGGLING DAMAGE! SEVERE FLOODING! BUILDINGS DESTROYED! ENTIRE CITIES LEVELLED! MILLIONS HOMELESS! NEW ORLEANS RENDERED UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS! CITY FLOODED! TRILLIONS IN DAMAGE! CALAMITY! CATACLYSMIC EVENT! NEVER BEFORE IN HISTORY! INTERSTATES CLOGGED! MILLIONS FLEEING! DISASTER OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS! HUMAN TRAGEDY! DEATH AND DESTRUCTION! NATIONAL EMERGENCY!

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 05:13 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Stoopid-People •  
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General Patton Wants To Speak To You

Phil (TuffBeingRight blog) sent me this link to a fantastic Flash video. It’s a unique concept and a message you really need to see. Go ahead. Grab your M-1, polish those boots and get that uniform in shape, soldier. See what General Patton’s Ghost has to say to the modern generation ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 04:42 PM   
Filed Under: • Terrorists •  
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Hey Skipper, Slow Down!

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 01:36 PM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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Moonbat Quote Of The Week

As reported here and all over the media, the anti-war protestors camped out with Cindy Sheehan in Crawford were joined last week by supporters of the President and the war in Iraq. They setup camp (Fort Qualls, named after the organizer’s son, Marine Lance Cpl. Louis Wayne Qualls, 20, who died in Iraq last fall) across from “Camp Casey”, where Sheehan and company are ensconced with caterers provided by Ben & Jerry’s. The new arrivals requested an open-air debate with the Bansheehanites and their response could have been the motto for the entire Left ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 12:43 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Stoopid-People •  
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All You Need To Know About New Orleans

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 12:15 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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All You Need To Know About Katrina

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 11:21 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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Home Stretch

Oh well, it looks like all of us Cubs fans will have to bide our time and patiently wait for next year. In other baseball news, can somebody explain to me how one state (Missouri) manages to contain both the best team in baseball and the worst?

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 06:03 AM   
Filed Under: • Sports •  
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Resale Value

_{Steve Breen—The San Diego Union-Tribune}

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 05:51 AM   
Filed Under: • Economics •  
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   Saturday - August 27, 2005

Weirdest Headline Of The Week

Question: when you go to look at new cars, do they let you test drive them by yourself?

Answer: No, ‘cause they’re afraid you might not come back.

As one prosthetics company in Iowa recently found out, the same rules should apply to artifical legs ....

Man Fitted For $17,000 Leg Runs Off Without Footing Bill

(DES MOINES REGISTER)—The suspect fled on foot - an artificial foot.

Police say a customer who tested a specially designed prosthetic leg at a Des Moines supplier walked away without paying the $17,000 bill. Spectrum Prosthetics and Orthotics, 1900 Ingersoll Ave., reported the theft this week. Sgt. David Murillo said the man came in on Aug. 19 to be fitted for the leg, which included some special features.

He “was allowed to take it for a couple hours to ensure that the fit was proper,” a police report said. But, Murillo said, the man just kept walking.

“We’d been working with him for about a week,” said Todd Schweizer, one of the owners of the company. “We were trying to meet his needs.”

Detective Robert Lewis said store officials have a cellular telephone number left by the man, but no one answers. Lewis attributed the five-day delay in reporting the crime to employees’ belief that the man would return. As days went by, that appeared less likely, Lewis said. The detective checked out an address listed for the customer, but no one answered the door Thursday.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/27/2005 at 02:22 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Odd-Strange •  
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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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