From Paul Krugman:
Here’s what McCain has to say about the wonders of market-based health reform:
"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."
So McCain, who now poses as the scourge of Wall Street, was praising financial deregulation like 10 seconds ago — and promising that if we marketize health care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!
McCain's plan sounds perfect to me. What do you think?
With thanks to the Weird Rabit.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
New Roads, La. (Since We're On The Subject)
The Randall Oak
Here's a bit of information on New Roads from the LSU Agricultural Center. Pictured above is the Randall Oak, a HUGE tree that is over 300 years old. The tree is on the property adjacent to ours. The story (legend?) is that James Ryder Randall wrote the words to "Maryland, My Maryland" under the tree, while he was Professor of English at Poydras College, which was once located on the property. One day, I'm going to post a picture of the tree with a person standing near it to give you a true sense of how large the trunk actually is.
The Pointe Coupee Parish Courthouse
Listed on the National Historic Register, this building was originally built in 1902 of Romanesque Revival architecture. On the grounds is a statue of Major General John Archer LeJeune, World War I hero for whom Camp LeJeune, North Carolina is named.
I like the turrets.
Thus endeth the geography lesson.
Support Bishop Clumber!
You must go, do not hesitate, go right now to the In Support Of Bishop Clumber website! It's important! As Bishop Clumber says:
Do you have a comment of support for Bishop Clumber or The Real Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh? Please email ozzie dot clumber at gmail dot com with your messages, knowing that they will be shared with him, and also may be posted to this site.
I'm going to leave a message of support. What about you?
PS: The name of the person that you email to support the former Episcopal bishop of Pittsburgh, Robert Duncan, is Malarkey. I'm not joking. You can't make this stuff up.
The Wash (After Gustav)
Shown below is the result of our misbegotten idea to run the washer on the generator. The washer stopped half way through the cycle, with the tub full of water, and we had to hand wring the whole large load and hang the wet, half-clean laundry anywhere we could find a spot. Shown is the front porch and the small entry porch on the side.
See the mops in the corner of the porch in the second picture? We had to borrow mops from the neighbors, because water blew in under and on the sides of the three doors shown in the pictures. Next time around those will need to be boarded up, because the doors are not a tight fit in the frames.
That is a pathetic looking load of laundry - embarrassing, really. Why am I publishing this?
See the mops in the corner of the porch in the second picture? We had to borrow mops from the neighbors, because water blew in under and on the sides of the three doors shown in the pictures. Next time around those will need to be boarded up, because the doors are not a tight fit in the frames.
That is a pathetic looking load of laundry - embarrassing, really. Why am I publishing this?
Gustav In New Roads
These pictures from the aftermath of Gustav in New Roads, Louisiana, were taken AFTER the initial clean-up. I didn't have the presence of mind to take pictures before the clean-up started.
Big Tree Down
Across the highway, which runs in front of the house, you can catch a glimpse of False River, the oxbow lake that was once a part of the Mississippi River, but was cut off when the river changed course.
Gathered Piles Of Tree Limbs
In the center rear of the picture, those are not bushes growing, but piles of fallen branches.
Persimmon Tree Down
Ripe Persimmons On Fallen Tree
The fruit at the top of the tree would never have been picked, because it was a very tall tree. The good news is that the folks who like persimmons had a field day.
Big Tree Down
Across the highway, which runs in front of the house, you can catch a glimpse of False River, the oxbow lake that was once a part of the Mississippi River, but was cut off when the river changed course.
Gathered Piles Of Tree Limbs
In the center rear of the picture, those are not bushes growing, but piles of fallen branches.
Persimmon Tree Down
Ripe Persimmons On Fallen Tree
The fruit at the top of the tree would never have been picked, because it was a very tall tree. The good news is that the folks who like persimmons had a field day.
Friday, September 19, 2008
How Sarah Palin Was Elected Governor
From the The Raw Story:
In perhaps one of the strangest twists to date in the story of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a video now shows the governor crediting her electoral success to a preacher who claims to successfully hunt witches.
The speech, shown below, was filmed in June. Palin describes the visit of Pastor Thomas Muthee to the Wasilla Assembly of God in 2005.
....
In 1988, Pastor Muthee and his wife traveled to Kenya after being "called by God." Setting up shop in the basement of a grocery store, they claim to have brought 200 people "to God" and away from the town's "spiritual oppression."
The source of the oppression? Witchcraft, Muthee says. When researching the community, they found that a woman named "Mama Jane" ran a divination clinic that drew a large following in the town.
“We prayed, we fasted, the Lord showed us a spirit of witchcraft resting over the place,” Pastor Muthee said.
Read the rest and watch the video of Sarah Palin's speech at The Raw Story.
Keith Olbermann had the story tonight on Countdown. He said that Jeremiah Wright (Obama's former pastor) looked like Fr. Flanagan next to Pastor Thomas Muthee. You can't make this stuff up.
More on the story of Mama Jane, the "witch" from The Christian Science Monitor.
In perhaps one of the strangest twists to date in the story of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a video now shows the governor crediting her electoral success to a preacher who claims to successfully hunt witches.
The speech, shown below, was filmed in June. Palin describes the visit of Pastor Thomas Muthee to the Wasilla Assembly of God in 2005.
....
In 1988, Pastor Muthee and his wife traveled to Kenya after being "called by God." Setting up shop in the basement of a grocery store, they claim to have brought 200 people "to God" and away from the town's "spiritual oppression."
The source of the oppression? Witchcraft, Muthee says. When researching the community, they found that a woman named "Mama Jane" ran a divination clinic that drew a large following in the town.
“We prayed, we fasted, the Lord showed us a spirit of witchcraft resting over the place,” Pastor Muthee said.
Read the rest and watch the video of Sarah Palin's speech at The Raw Story.
Keith Olbermann had the story tonight on Countdown. He said that Jeremiah Wright (Obama's former pastor) looked like Fr. Flanagan next to Pastor Thomas Muthee. You can't make this stuff up.
More on the story of Mama Jane, the "witch" from The Christian Science Monitor.
About Those Oil Rigs That The Fish Love
From Forbes:
WASHINGTON (AFX) - At least 20 oil rigs and platforms are missing in the Gulf of Mexico and a ruptured gas pipeline is on fire after Hurricane Katrina hit the region, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a source from a US Coast Guard unit operating in the area.
'We have confirmed at least 20 rigs or platforms missing, either sunk or adrift, and one confirmed fire where a rig was,' Petty Officer Robert Reed told AFP.
The missing rigs were in the Gulf of Mexico, Reed said, citing Coast Guard overflights of the area and information from oil companies.
Post-Ike Response, Gustav Response Continues
From the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana:
We will be delivering food and supplies to hard-hit Lafitte Thursday and Friday. And Saturday, a team of volunteers from throughout the diocese will be going to Bayou du Large to begin gutting. If you'd like to join us, please contact Pete Nunnally at (504) 259-1417 or pnunnally@edola.org.
We're also working with local parish leaders and exploring partnerships with local organizations to distribute supplies where they are most needed in Terrebonne and LaFourche Parishes, and we also continue to work with Mother Gay in Plaquemine in our continuing Gustav response.
Since Ike hit, deacons have been delivering sandwiches and goods to Lafitte and Crown Point, while the Office of Disaster Response has been distributing water, bleach, and gloves to Bayou du Large, as well as assessing gutting needs to be addressed Saturday.
Trinity School and Country Day School have collected canned goods which they will deliver to Lafitte, and the Mobile Loaves and Fishes truck will also be sending sandwiches to Lafitte. In addition, we have been fielding offers from churches throughout the New Orleans area to help out wherever needed with chainsaw debris clearing.
Outside of our diocese, the Diocese of Kansas is prepared to deploy small teams to our diocese to volunteer.
We continue to respond to the needs of our diocese, and we thank all of you who give of your time and money to help us in this effort.
We will be delivering food and supplies to hard-hit Lafitte Thursday and Friday. And Saturday, a team of volunteers from throughout the diocese will be going to Bayou du Large to begin gutting. If you'd like to join us, please contact Pete Nunnally at (504) 259-1417 or pnunnally@edola.org.
We're also working with local parish leaders and exploring partnerships with local organizations to distribute supplies where they are most needed in Terrebonne and LaFourche Parishes, and we also continue to work with Mother Gay in Plaquemine in our continuing Gustav response.
Since Ike hit, deacons have been delivering sandwiches and goods to Lafitte and Crown Point, while the Office of Disaster Response has been distributing water, bleach, and gloves to Bayou du Large, as well as assessing gutting needs to be addressed Saturday.
Trinity School and Country Day School have collected canned goods which they will deliver to Lafitte, and the Mobile Loaves and Fishes truck will also be sending sandwiches to Lafitte. In addition, we have been fielding offers from churches throughout the New Orleans area to help out wherever needed with chainsaw debris clearing.
Outside of our diocese, the Diocese of Kansas is prepared to deploy small teams to our diocese to volunteer.
We continue to respond to the needs of our diocese, and we thank all of you who give of your time and money to help us in this effort.
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!
I was overwhelmed by the prayers and good wishes and kind words on my birthday, my friends. I'd like to answer each of you who left a comment, but that's not possible. We had not planned our celebration of my birthday for yesterday since Grandpère was out of town. It's a good thing we didn't, because the power problem came up.
He missed all the fun of the power outage. I spent much of my day on the phone with the power company, doing the number punching to get to the service that could help me and then punching in my phone number and account number or shouting into phone to a technology voice with no person behind it. You all know what it's like.
In between my dealings with Entergy, I'd peek into my blog and read the lovely comments, and that lifted my spirits immensely. Thanks to the bloggers who posted about my birthday, even MadPriest, who seems to have "lost" his post rather quickly. I was fortunate to get someone to come out yesterday to set up my temporary power supply until the workers can find the bad spot in the wire, dig up the yard, and put in another splice. I had to pick up my grandchildren at school, and I just knew that the repairmen would come while I was gone, but they did not. So for now we are set.
I used my laptop a good bit yesterday, but I like my desktop much, much better. I feel so cramped using the laptop. Also, I'm browsing with Explorer, which I do not like, but I have heard of a few problems with using Firefox with Vista, so I have not downloaded it yet. So far, Vista seems fine. I haven't run into any bugs yet, although I've heard of the problems that others have.
He missed all the fun of the power outage. I spent much of my day on the phone with the power company, doing the number punching to get to the service that could help me and then punching in my phone number and account number or shouting into phone to a technology voice with no person behind it. You all know what it's like.
In between my dealings with Entergy, I'd peek into my blog and read the lovely comments, and that lifted my spirits immensely. Thanks to the bloggers who posted about my birthday, even MadPriest, who seems to have "lost" his post rather quickly. I was fortunate to get someone to come out yesterday to set up my temporary power supply until the workers can find the bad spot in the wire, dig up the yard, and put in another splice. I had to pick up my grandchildren at school, and I just knew that the repairmen would come while I was gone, but they did not. So for now we are set.
I used my laptop a good bit yesterday, but I like my desktop much, much better. I feel so cramped using the laptop. Also, I'm browsing with Explorer, which I do not like, but I have heard of a few problems with using Firefox with Vista, so I have not downloaded it yet. So far, Vista seems fine. I haven't run into any bugs yet, although I've heard of the problems that others have.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Brownout!
Well, I'm having an interesting morning day. I had a partial power outage in my house. Some rooms had power, others did not. Then the electricity came back on, but in brownout mode where the outage had been. The brownout scared me more, because of what weak power can do to appliances and computers. I was working at my computer when I lost power.
I've been on the phone several times with the power company, Entergy, not the best company, with their punching numbers game, and I've been in touch with the electrician, who is due here shortly. Grandpère is out of town, of course. He misses all the good stuff.
Several years ago, my neighbor cut the main line that brings electricity to my house. (The utilities are buried.) Since then, the power company has come twice to repair the line. It could be that again, or I suppose it could be something in the house wiring. What fun! Dim, bright, dim, bright. Should I switch the main breaker to "off"?
I'm on my laptop connected through DSL through my phone service.
UPDATE: The electrician came, and it's definitely the power company's problem.
I've been on the phone several times with the power company, Entergy, not the best company, with their punching numbers game, and I've been in touch with the electrician, who is due here shortly. Grandpère is out of town, of course. He misses all the good stuff.
Several years ago, my neighbor cut the main line that brings electricity to my house. (The utilities are buried.) Since then, the power company has come twice to repair the line. It could be that again, or I suppose it could be something in the house wiring. What fun! Dim, bright, dim, bright. Should I switch the main breaker to "off"?
I'm on my laptop connected through DSL through my phone service.
UPDATE: The electrician came, and it's definitely the power company's problem.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)