Just a short note on Gustav.  The best source of information on what is happening in New Orleans is The New Orleans Times Picayune at nola.com.  During Katrina, the paper listed neightborhood by neighborhood reports and blogs to lead rescuers to trapped people and aided in the rescue of people and pets.  Their home page currently has evacuation guides and a place for parish by parish reports and updates. If you have friends or relatives in New Orleans, pray for them and keep informed at the Times Picayune. 

I just watched Bobby Jindal hold a press conference to prepare the city for what is to come and what is planned to recover from the storm.  I was totally impressed by his planning and foresight into the situation.

Hugh Hewitt has a post at Townhall.com this morning talking about the attacks on Sarah Palin by the fringe (and not so fringe) left.  It is unbelievable.  He also talks about her record on reforming government.  If (according to the Democrat talking points) she has no experience, how come she has accomplishments?  If Barack Obama has experience, where are his accomplishments?

Also, on the RedState blog, there is the joking comment by the former Democrat Party Chairman Don Fowler that the hurricane headed for New Orleans demonstrates that ‘God is on our side’.  When millions of people’s lives and livelihoods are at stake, joking is not appropriate.  Michael Moore sees the hurricane as a sign that there is a God in heaven (see Business and Media Institute).  I believe Americans have more class than to put up with that kind of trash talk and stupidity. 

Let’s talk about the issues and changes that we need to make to strenghthen our economy.  Let’s talk about energy independence in an achievable way.  Let’s talk about pork-barrel spending and government waste (under Republicans and Democrats).  Let’s talk about the money “borrowed” every year from the Social Security Fund and spent on other things (Congress opted out of Social Security in the 1960’s– so they don’t really have a personal reason to save it).  Let’s look at how Barack Obama spent the money in the Annenberg Challenge.  Let’s look at what John McCain did with earmarks over his years in the Senate (he NEVER sponsored one).  Let’s look at how Sarah Palin governed in Alaska.  Let’s look at Joe Biden on spending.  These are the questions we need to be discussing.  Let’s look at the record–not make silly statements and attack people for no reason.

GIVE ALASKA THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE–SUPPORT DRILLING IN ANWR!!!!!

See link.   A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words (or in this case 2,000).

Just a few comments on the hurricane that is heading for the Gulf Coast.  One of my children and her husband own a house in New Orleans.  They lived there from 2003 until last July (they are military, so they don’t get to chose where they live).  They love New Orleans and hope to get back there when they retire. 

Anyway, just a few memories of Katrina.  The military ordered my daughter and son-in-law out of New Orleans on the Saturday before Katrina hit, and they left with a two-year old, a five-month old, and two cats.  They were relocated to Kansas City with about seventy-five other military families.  A local church ‘adopted’ all the dislocated families, gave the children backpacks filled with beanie babies, and helped individuals in so many ways it would take days to list them.  They were able to return to their house two days before Thanksgiving.  They were extremely fortunate–they lost some siding, some roof shingles, a swimming pool, and a refrigerator.  Their next door neighbors were able to get into their house the following May; they lost nearly everything.  When it was time for my daughter and her husband to be transferred out of New Orleans (last year) their then four-year old said to them in a very worried voice, “Will I be able to bring my stuff this time when we move?”  Their story is nothing compared to the destruction that happened around them, but even what they went through had a strong impact on their children.  We need to pray for all the people who live on the Gulf Coast–for their safety and for the unseen impact that this storm will have on their lives.

Mark Steyn has a commentary at The Corner on National Review Online about Sarah Palin that is wonderful.  I won’t even try to paraphrase it.  It makes great reading.

There is a little more information out there this morning on Sarah Palin.  Power Line has a few entries on her by John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson, and The Wall Street Journal Online has an article by Fred Barnes about some of her accomplishments in Alaska in the area of reform.  From what I have been reading, her nomination will bring the conservatives back to John McCain at a time when he was in danger of losing them.  She is definitely a ‘Washington outsider’ and as much of a maverick as he is.  They seem to be the penny pinchers we could use in Washington right now!  It’s nice that he chose a woman, but frankly, I am more impressed by the fact that she is a reformer who does not back down.  This lady looks very sweet and gentle, but in terms of dealing with corruption, she shows how she earned her high school basketball name “Sarah the barracuda”.  She also has no qualms about going after corruption in either party.   That’s fine with me.

Wow!  This is an interesting choice.  I haven’t finished my homework, so I don’t have a lot to say, but (as usual) I have a few observations.  This lady looks like a lady.  She is obviously successful–in Alaska she has a reputation for being a reformer and coming against special interests–even when they are Republican.  She has a record of accomplishment, so the charge of inexperience is a little ridiculous.  How many people have been able to list concrete accomplishments of either Barack Obama or Joe Biden?  I am also concerned about how nasty this campaign is going to be and the fact that it got there quickly.  John Roberts at CNN has already posed the question of whether or not she is neglecting her special needs child in order to run for or be Vice-President.  That is beyond tacky.  She is also a lady who has had to work her way up to where she is.  I’m impressed.

I have to admit I like the idea of two people in the White House who have a history of fighting against earmarks and excess spending.  McCain and Palin are the type of people who will hang unto the government dollar until the eagle grins. They just don’t like government spending!!!

David Brooks has an op-ed piece in The New York Times today that is wonderful.  It lightly captures the essence of this whole presidentail race (from the democrat side), and makes great reading.  I never thought I would cite something from the New York Times.

Charles Krauthammer has a great editorial in Investor’s Business Daily regarding the lack of people standing up at the Democratic convention talking about having seen Barack Obams’s ability and listing his actual accomplishments.  It makes for interesting reading.  Barack has a hugh fan club, but it seems as if none of the members of the club can explain why they are fans!

Stanley Kurtz was interviewed tonight on Hugh Hewitt on the subject of the Annenberg Challenge.  If you missed it, you can go to Townhall.com podcasts and hear the interview.  The basic points are 1) Obama has evidently not been truthful about the closeness of his working relationship with William Ayers, 2) there are questions of how a large amount of money was poured into the community for education and no visible results were seen, 3) there are questions as to the administrative decisions made about where the money was directed.  I’m sure we will be reading more of this as Stanley Kurtz continues his search through the seventy linear feet of files.

I have the feeling that some people in the Obama camp have taken on the persona of the old Mafia Dons.  According to ABC News one of their reporters was arrested in Denver for standing on the sidewalk taking pictures of big Democratic corporate donors and lobbyists.  The reporter was on a public sidewalk and was not treated well by the police.

I don’t know if you are as tired as I am of hearing the media tell us what an awful president George Bush has been, but I’ve had enough.  Evidently I am not alone.  There is an article in The American Thinker which gives a brief, but honest, chronology of the Bush years.  When you see it all spelled out, it is impressive.

The transcript from Meet the Press page 3 is linked here.  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stated that the Catholic Church’s position on abortion has not been consistent over the years.  She describes herself as a devout Roman Catholic who believes strongly in the right to abortion.  The Archbishop of Denver has issued a reply.  Fox News has the story.  I’m not sure how much of the mainstream media has carried it, but the whole dust up is interesting reading.

Jim Geraghty at National Review Online has a gerat summation of the treatment of the Clintons at the Democratic Convention.  It’s interesting reading.  This could come back to haunt the Democrats in 2012.

I love it.  Townhall.com has a picture of a pro-life message on a hillside in Denver.  Pro-lifers are attempting to erect the Guiness Books of World Record’s largest protest sign in Denver this week.  Follow this link Jill Stanek for pictures and story of the message.

There are a few pictures on Power Line showing some of the protesters in Denver.  These are scary people.  I do not dispute their right to protest, but I do wonder what they actually want.

Over the past month of so, I have been hearing stories about China drilling for oil off the coast of Cuba (therefore off the coast of Florida).  While I have not been able to totally substantiate these stories, I have come up with some information. At factcheck.org there is an article on this subject.  This is what is stated: 

“Cuba has leased exploration blocks to foreign companies for areas as close as 60 miles off Florida’s southern coast. A 2006 New York Times article said China was one of the countries that had negotiated an offshore lease. But experts quoted recently by The Associated Press say none of the companies involved are Chinese and all are only allowed to explore for now, not drill in the region. Another exploration deal was announced between Brazil’s state oil company, Petrobras, and Cuba. The deal would allow Petrobras to explore in Cuba’s offshore territories in the Gulf of Mexico, with a potential drilling start-date in two years.”

I have two questions.  First, if other countries are doing the preliminary work for drilling off our coasts, why aren’t we?  Second, who is likely to be more environmentally responsible in drilling off America’s coast, Americans or other countries (who has the best environmental record on drilling?)?

One of the problems with news and information on the web is that it is very easy to change.  History and comments can be erased with a simple highlighting and tap of the delete key.  For example,  Newsbusters is showing a Friday evening version of Joe Biden’s Wikipedia entry compared to its Sunday morning 11 am version.  Somehow the year 2004 has disappeared.  What happened in 2004?  Joe Biden suggested John McCain as a running mate for John Kerry.  Now when you think about it, I’m not sure which party is more damaged by that information, but to me, the interesting thing is that it has disappeared from the website.  Thank goodness that someone had the thought to copy the website before it was deleted.  This sort of selective information editing really worries me.

We all live very busy, fast-paced lives, and because of this, it is easy to miss substance in our news and grab the soundbite (Oreo Cookie) instead.  One example of this is the often repeated “Bush lied, people died.”  Well, it’s catchy, and some people believe it, but what is the truth?  There is an article in The American Thinker that takes us back to that time in history when the decision was made to go into Iraq.  It is a rather long article, but worth the read.  There is a lot of information that has gotten lost in the soundbite.   But I will admit, I LIKE Oreo Cookies!!!

OK.  Barack Obama named Joe Biden as his VP.  Let’s look at a small portion of the record.  Joe Biden is the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  He was opposed to the troop surge that has given us victory in Iraq.  “I totally oppose the surging of additional troops into Baghdad, and I think it is contrary to the overwhelming body of informed opinion, both people inside the administration and outside the administration,” Biden told reporters Tuesday. He said he plans to hold hearings for his panel next month in a bid to influence the president’s decision.  This quote is from a Washington Post article on December 27, 2006. 

When I mentioned the choice of Biden for VP to one of my houseguests this weekend, she commented that he was on the ticket so that Obama would not have to get his hands dirty in the campaign.  Watch for some nasty attacks on John McCain coming from Joe Biden with Obama saying “it wasn’t me–you’ll have to talk to the VP candidate about that remark”.

There are some other pretty high negatives for Joe Biden, but I will post more after I do some homework!!!

According to the Power Line Blog the records of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge will be made public Tuesday.  There is no way to tell if the records have been sanitized, but Stanley Kurtz is on it, and I am sure we will hear more about this.  To me there are a few observations–a lot of money was spent and the quality of education did not improve.  Hmm.  Maybe we should look at what the welfare state has done to families in the inner cities and what the welfare state has done to the concept of personal responsibility (oops, the lack of personal responsibility actually permeates a lot of our society at this point).  We need more of Bill Cosby and less of Al Sharpton.  We also need to know what organizations received money from the group.  If we are ever going to get our state, federal, and city budgets under control, we need to spend–but spend wisely.

I know that this is the silly season as far as politics is concerned, but it seems to me that we have forgotten how to debate issues and to treat people with respect.  I heard a pro-Obama add today criticizing McCain for the number of houses he owns.  What has that got to do with anything?  Where was the criticism of the number of houses that John Kerry owns?  It is fair to expose past actions of the candidates that expose character traits, but why are the people running the campaigns focusing on trivia?  Both of these men have policies and votes on past issues, we need to see those votes, not trivial pursuit.  The house issue may have been brought up because the Chicago press has raised many questions about the purchase of the Obama’s house.  The best defense is a good offense, but I really think the whole ad was dumb.

There is an article in The American Thinker by Thomas Lifson that further opens up the Annenberg controversy.  There seem to be many unanswered questions in Barack Obama’s tenure with the group.  A lot of money was spent to improve education, and education was not improved.  It seems upon initial research that much of the money wound up going to radical groups that had no relationship to educating children.  As of now, the records are still being kept from public view with no real explanation given for the secrecy