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...but Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an ass. He manages to politicize the hurricane while at the same time gloating over the misery of the people in Mississippi affected by the hurricane.
Of course, as Bryan Preston points out, actual climatologists are saying these hurricanes are part of a natural cycle.
One more thing...the Kennedys and other rich environmentalists are hypocrites. (Via an LGF commenter.)
Regarding this (found via Conservative Grapevine via Relapsed Catholiic):
I would rather live as a slave on my knees......then die on my feet as a warmonger.
Well, that's all right for you, but I'd rather not do the former, if you don't mind. That's the problem with you pacifists -- you want to drag everyone else down with you and deny them the right to self-defense. And I won't even comment on the laughable and blasphemous "Cindy is better than Jesus" statement.
Also, one more random thought: if Bush is such a dictator, a fascist and a Hitler, like the moonbats say, then why are Cindy Sheehan and her group free to protest near the President's home in Texas? Why aren't they in prison? Why haven't they been executed? Dictators imprison and execute their political opponents. Just because you don't agree with someone doesn't make them a dictator or a fascist or a Hitler.
And while on the Sheehan subject, I recently ran across this blog: Sweetness & Light. It is dedicated to examining the Cindy Sheehan circus and the way the media is hyping it.
I was mistaken in this post when I said that disabling trackbacks for an individual post is a new feature. What can I say? It was late and I forgot that that feature was there all along. I will say that it's more noticeable now on the entry page. And it gave me an idea...
I decided that I will disable the trackbacks on posts if there are no trackbacks after three weeks. I already close or turn the comments off on posts after three weeks. If a post already has trackbacks, they will stay enabled, because otherwise they will not display. I think this will cut down on some of the trackback spam attempts. Even though MT-Blacklist and SpamLookup keeps them from getting through, it still puts a load on the database.
Now, I wasn't about to go back through three years worth of posts and disable trackbacks on them one by one. So I modified the databases with SQL commands using the phpMyAdmin interface my host provides*. First, I made sure MySQL supported nested queries, because I remember that a long time ago it didn't. It does now.
Then, after making sure my logic was correct using SELECT queries, I used two UPDATE commands (since I had to make changes to two different tables) to find all the entries with no trackbacks and disable trackbacks on them. I went into MT and did a rebuild and everything worked great.
*I DO NOT recommend messing with the MT databases unless you know exactly what you're doing. Since I work with SQL databases for a living, I do know what I'm doing. Still, I was very careful before proceeding.
On TV and on various blogs, I've been reading about and watching footage of the devastation in Mississippi, particularly in the Gulfport/Biloxi areas. I heard on TV that there were bodies everywhere and the dead may be in the hundreds. The casinos were completely wrecked, which of course is a major source of employment in that area.
Although the worst fears about New Orleans didn't come to pass, there are other places in Louisiana that have been devastated.
There is much suffering in the areas hit by Katrina and they need help. The Command Post has a whole list of links to agencies that are helping the victims of this disaster.
Update: Bene Diction posts about the frustration expressed by Metroblogging New Orleans about how the major networks don't understand the gravity of the situation. As is pointed out, this may be the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
Update 2: The waters are rising in New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana is telling everyone to get out:
A full day after the city thought it had escaped Katrina's full fury, two levees broke and spilled water into the streets of New Orleans on Tuesday, swamping an estimated 80 percent of the bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city, inundating miles and miles of homes and rendering much of New Orleans uninhabitable for weeks or months.
I'm going to attempt to upgrade to the latest version of Movable Type. I hope I don't regret this...
Update: Everything went very smoothly. Before upgrading, I removed the SpamLookup plugin, since it is built into MT 3.2. I also applied this patch to MT-Blacklist to prevent possible problems.
The new version of MT has trackback moderation. This will really help with the occasional problems I've had with SpamLookup blocking legitimate trackbacks. Instead of being blocked, trackbacks that are suspect for some reason can go into a moderation queue. Also, now you can turn trackbacks off on individual posts just like you can comments. That will come in handy!
Although New Orleans was hit very hard, it was spared the total devastation that many were predicting. This is probably because the storm weakened some and turned a little more eastward before making landfall. Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama were hit hard. Looking at pictures of Mobile on TV reminds me of what Ivan did to Pensacola.
Katrina flooded many low-lying areas here in Pensacola, and there are power outages. I got my power back and my sister got hers back. However, my boss called me and told me that the power is off at work and that if they don't get it back on before tomorrow, I don't have to go to work. I'm supposed to call the switchboard and check tomorrow.
I'll need to take the morning off tomorrow anyway so that the painter can do an estimate at my house. Also, I have to get to the drug store and get the rest of the Valtrex that they owe my Mom (they didn't have enough on hand to fully fill her prescription). She just took her last one and she needs it to keep the shingles from getting out of control.
So everything is getting back to normal...busy as usual...
I wanted to post earlier, but the cable was out for several hours this afternoon. It's overcast and a bit windy. It rained for a short time earlier. Other than that, the weather hasn't been that bad yet. From what I understand, we will get tropical storm force winds here in Pensacola and that the worst of it will be later tonight and tomorrow.
This storm is a Category 5 and it is heading straight for New Orleans. I'm afraid that this will be catastrophic for that city. The situation is very grim. Here is another post at Wizbang that drives home the gravity of the situation. Please pray for the people of New Orleans and neighboring Mississippi as well.
Here is a satellite picture of Katrina. Click for larger view. I heard that the eye is 30 miles across.
It's hard to believe how ugly and callous some people are. I remember when this sick missive* was posted last year not long before Ivan hit my area. And people like this guy are supposed to be the enlightened, sophisticated ones.
*Oh, and Mr. Wolcott, as someone who survived Hurricane Ivan last year, (and as someone who knows two people who lost their homes because of Ivan) let me assure you that there is nothing phony about my indignation. Also, let me share some twinkling thoughts with you. Many trees gave up their lives so that my fence that was destroyed could be rebuilt. And I had to have a new roof put on my house, and I'm sure all kinds of wicked things were done to poor Gaia to accomplish that. May those thoughts warm that shriveled thing you call a heart, you insufferable snot!
Update (8/29/05 - 7:05am): We have been having quite a few gusts of wind and some rain as well. The power has flashed a few times. They say we'll get the worst weather when the eye passes over Mississippi.
Update (7:45am): Simply ridiculous...a left-wing pesthole blog, which I will refer to as "the Daily Kooks" and will not directly link, is actually trying to make this hurricane into a partisan issue. They accuse the National Guard of not being in New Orleans and they blame the eee-vil Bushitler for it. However, the National Guard is there, in the Superdome and elsewhere. Oopsie...nice try, Kooks. Let me add that the National Guard were a tremendous help here in Pensacola after Ivan. I don't know what we would have done had they not been here. From what I understand, many of these guys had just returned from Iraq, and yet here they were, helping us.
Update (8:15am): I still have power and I'm still listening to the wind, which is picking up quite a bit now. My sister lost power at her house. If you want to understand the effects this hurricane is going to have on the already high gas prices, read this excellent essay at Hog on Ice.
Update (8:55am): Lost power...will try to check in later when I can!
Update (2:25pm): I'm back! The power is (hopefully) back on for good. It came back on briefly a little after noon, but went off again within a few minutes. We are still getting some gusts here, but things seem to be starting to taper off. I don't have any damage. Just a few small tree limbs fell.
It looks like she's going to go into the Gulf and swing north after going over South Florida. Right now, they have her tracking well to the east of Pensacola. However, things could change in the next few days. Also, the water in the Gulf is hot, so she will certainly get stronger.
It seems like every time I have plans and things I need to take care of, a hurricane or tropical storm disrupts everything. On Monday, I'm supposed to have someone come out to my house and do an estimate on painting some rooms. Also, I'm afraid my Mom, who had shingles for several months last year, may be having a relapse. If she's any worse tomorrow, she's going to the doctor even if I have to drag her there. If she needs medication, we need to get it before the storm hits, if it comes here.
Update (8/26/05): Now they've inched Katrina's track closer to us.
Update (8/26/05 - 11:00pm): The latest tracking and computer models show it going towards the Louisiana/Mississippi border area. It will probably make landfall as a Category 4. Even if we don't get a direct hit, things will get pretty nasty here if we are on the eastern side of the storm.
Today I found out that my job will not be moving to Millington, TN after all. I never got around to doing any BRAC posts making the case for why moving the IT functions at my command would be a really, really bad idea, especially since the infrastructure would be staying here anyway. I wasn't even sure if it would be appropriate for me to post about it, but I figured that blogging about it would be no different than writing a letter to the editor or something. Nevertheless, I only posted about this situation once before.
After the deliberations, the BRAC list that they come up will be sent to the President by September 8. He will either approve or disapprove it by September 23. If he disapproves it, the BRAC Commission has to make changes and resubmit it. Here is a FAQ that tells how the whole process works.
Anyway, needless to say, I'm very relieved. Thank you to everyone who prayed about this situation.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Dr. Robert A. Moog, the inventor of the Moog synthesizer, died Sunday. Here's more commentary by Ed Driscoll, via Dean Esmay.
As a tribute to Dr. Moog, who was profoundly influential on modern music, I have put three tracks from Autobahn by Kraftwerk in the radio blog. This album was released in 1974. (My Dad had an 8-track of it when I was a kid.) Included is the title track in its complete 22+ minute glory.
Yes, I know it's been too quite here lately, but I've been enjoying my break and I have been pretty busy. In the meantime, Dawn Eden has lots of interesting stuff on her blog:
My point here...is that words are useful; even, betimes, vulgar words are useful. To forswear the use of vulgar words altogether is to promise silence in advance of a time when only vulgar words will suit the subject matter.
I'm still mostly on hiatus, but I wanted to point out this very wise post from the Anchoress about the degeneration of political discourse in this country. Now, I admit that I'm as guilty as anyone of falling into the "Grunting Philosophy". But there is something about constant rage and outrage that ends up making you feel tired and burned out. This is pretty much how I feel, which is why I don't like to talk about politics anymore.
I know it's a cliche to say, "read the whole thing", but I'm saying it anyway. ;-)
Update: Another very wise and sensible post by Varifrank about Cindy Sheehan (via the Anchoress). I completely understand what he is saying about what grief can do to a person, because I've seen it in my own family. You want to blame someone. You want revenge on people who you blame (justly or not) for the loved one's death. Or you blame yourself. You torture yourself with "if onlys". Some people work through the grief. And some spend the rest of their lives mired down in it and spinning their wheels. Unlike the mother in this Buddhist parable, they spend the rest of their lives clutching their dead child and looking for those mustard seeds. (Parable link via Relapsed Catholic.)
As you may or may not know, my dog Coco passed away three days after Christmas last year. I was heartbroken, and I didn't know when I would be ready to own another dog.
The past couple of months, I wished that I could have another dog to love. But I didn't go and look for a dog mainly because I was afraid my beloved but grumpy cat, Felix, would be too upset with the presence of another dog. He loved Coco, but he had known Coco since she was a puppy (Felix is over 14 years old).
So, I figured if I was meant to have another dog anytime soon, that God would bring the right dog into my life. Well, that happened this past weekend.
On Saturday, my sister was driving down a busy highway between her house and mine and found a skinny, terrified female Black Lab standing in the middle of the road. She had obviously just weaned some puppies, because her teats were hanging down. My sister could not leave this poor dog to be possibly hit by a car (cars had been dodging her), so she called the dog and she jumped right in her car. My sister took the dog to her home.
Later that day, my Mom and I went over to my sister's house to see the dog. I found a skinny but beautiful, gentle creature with a sleek, black, shiny coat. She was a bit skittish at first, but when we spoke gently to her and petted her, she automatically trusted us.
This dog, even skinny, is a big dog. My sister said that she would keep the dog if we didn't want her, but that we were welcome to take her if we wanted to. My Mom and I discussed it. My Mom was reluctant, but I proposed that we just give her a chance -- that we bring her to my house and see how things work out. The main thing I was worried about was the cat.
We brought her to my house on Sunday afternoon. I walked her into the back yard and she immediately started rolling in the grass. She seemed hot, so my Mom got a hose (since we were about to give her a bath anyway) and she was very eager to be wet down -- she just loved it. We gave her a bath and she seemed to really enjoy it. To make a long story short, everything has worked out wonderfully and we have decided to keep her.
While my cat gave her the evil eye and hissed if she tried to bump noses with him, he did not run away and hide or anything. (Felix is not a house cat -- he lives on the back porch and in the back yard.) Yesterday, he slapped at her and even chased her, but I noticed this evening that he seemed to be more at ease with her. The dog seems to pay more attention to my cockatiel Monkeyboy than to the cat. This naturally scares the bird. We tell her "No!" when she goes near the cage, and she turns away.
I took her for a vet visit yesterday and she got her shots and they took blood from her to test for heartworms. She seemed wobbly on her back legs the first couple of days after my sister found her, but they checked her legs and found nothing wrong. She seems to be walking more normally today. At the vet, she weighed in at 83 lbs. The doctor estimated that she is about 3 or 4 years old.
I found out today that she does have heartworms, so she will need to be treated for them over the next few weeks. I'm giving her antibiotics right now, and they will start the treatments next week. I want to get her spayed, but I will have to delay that until after she is rid of the heartworms.
I don't know what kind of a life she had before my sister found her, but I have a feeling it wasn't a good one. I've been checking the lost and found in the paper and haven't seen anything. I don't think I will.
I named her Betty and here are some pictures. Click on the pictures for a larger view.
Betty is a wonderful dog. She's very sweet, affectionate, smart and she minds well. Thank God my sister found her and saved her from an awful fate. And thank God for bringing her into my life.
I feel that it's time for me to take a bit of a break from blogging for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. I may post some frivolous, fun items here sometimes, so I won't be totally silent. It's just that I've got so many things to do, and I need to quit procrastinating and do them.
For instance, I need to finish a few repairs to my house left over from Hurricane Ivan. Mainly, I need to get my living room, dining room and kitchen repainted, since there are still water spots on the walls and ceilings from the roof leaks. I want to get some other rooms repainted as well. I also need to make sure there's no mold growing in my attic. I don't think there is, but I want to make sure, since I also had some leaking around the fireplace chimney that I recently had fixed. Fortunately, I've still got a little of that insurance money left, plus a home equity line.
I'm going to see about getting some hurricane shutters for my house, although even if I decide to get them, they won't be able to install them until December. I know it's going to be obscenely expensive, but that's what home equity lines are for.
I need to get my car fixed. It has been running hot and has started leaking antifreeze more and more.
I need to finish up work on some websites for my sister -- one professional and one personal.
I also need to clean up the dumping ground for miscellaneous stuff that I call a closet. The same goes for a spare bedroom that is supposed to be a study.
And I've got a bunch of books that I want to read. I may post my thoughts on them if the mood strikes me.
I want to get started again on this project on my faith journal.
So, check back once in a while for an occasional frivolous post or a post about whatever book I'm reading. Other than that, I'm on semi-hiatus for the time being.
Babalu Blog is a Cuban-American blog that focuses on exposing Castro's regime for what it really is. The main poster is Val Prieto, but there are some other posters helping him out right now as he takes a break. In a recent post, Mora asks the so-called Pastors for Peace, "What god do you worship, Pastors?"
What purpose these frauds could have by paying tribute to a cold blooded killer like che [guevara] is well beyond what I can fathom. Perhaps they are being trotted around by castro to confuse Cuban people who are long deprived of any knowledge of God or religion. These pastors are here to tell Cubans that their god is che and that this is how to be religious. There's something utterly repulsive about this near-satanic spectacle. People of God may forgive brutal killers; they may turn the other cheek; they may sacrifice to make up for the killers' deeds. But they sure as heck don't pay tribute - TRIBUTE! - to monsters who hated God. And who, as che did, made a special venomous effort to murder those who kept their faith in God as authentic Christian martyrs.
Well said. And I find it more than a little incongruous that these pastors are supposedly for "peace", but yet glorify a man who liked to torture and murder people (especially Christians).