Five years after Hurricane Katrina, I see no point in revisiting the misery of that week for me and my family, for venting outrage over the government response, or weeping over the wound New Orleans suffered. Instead, a  list of a few things I lost in the storm, and miss still.… Read full post »

When I heard President Obama was delivering a speech to all American school children, I did what I usually do under such circumstances — I turned on Fox News and waited for further instructions. Authorities recommended keeping my children home for their own safety, so that’s what I… Read full post »

Rule number one in business: Don’t insult your customers. (Spoiler alert: More vulgar version of this rule below.)

When Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey argued in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that American citizens do not have “any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter . . . . [… Read full post »

Though I am no pop culture analyst, the death of Michael Jackson has been on my mind for the last week. Just a few scattered observations. Jackson isn’t the kind who inspires coherence anyway.

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Some commentators have tried to put Jackson up against the Beatles and Elvis. In terms of… Read full post »

Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s choice to the Supreme Court, is an affirmative action appointment. That is, she was nominated in part because she is a woman and a Hispanic.

Nor is there anything wrong with that. Diversity is important in any high-level government position, and that especiall… Read full post »

Today President Obama gave the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame, to considerable protest. Obama’s planned presence at Notre Dame has been an issue in the Catholic community for months, only surfacing in the general media in the last week or so. Ever since the announce/… Read full post »

John Madden, a fixture in NFL broadcasting, has retired. Though I like Madden, I was never the huge fan so many commentators on cable and sports blogs seem to be. People are never so effusive with their praise as when a recognized figure suddenly bows out.

For me, Madden was once… Read full post »

For the last two years, I have been lifting weights. Not as consistently as I would like to, but regularly enough to make that boast mostly true. Prior to that, my interest in iron could be more properly called a dalliance, dating back to my college days, when I befriended a… Read full post »

Nepotism. It’s a word in the dictionary, I swear; and people used to consider it an insult. It means using family connections to get jobs, usually at the expense of those poor bastards not lucky enough to be conceived in the back seat of a Rolls Royce. At least, back in… Read full post »

While reading through the November 15^th issue of American Family Physician, I happened across a peculiar advertisement. Neither a pharmaceutical nor a medical product ad, it had political overtones, and thus seemed oddly out of place. It stopped me because its subject was a topic of particular… Read full post »

Two years ago, in its relentless drive to deliver always the low price, Wal-mart rolled out its now famous $4 drug plan. The approach was simple – all Wal-mart pharmacies nationwide would offer a slate of generic drugs for $4 cash. Though the plan was straightforward and seemed benefici… Read full post »

This may seem peculiar, but one of my fondest-but-craziest desires after this long presidential campaign is to see Barack Obama appoint John McCain to his cabinet.

Before anyone readies the flame mail, hear me out. This idea first crossed my mind as I watched McCain give his concession speech. It was… Read full post »

I’m going to go out on a limb and admit that I am anti-abortion. Nor do I mind using the term anti-abortion instead of pro-life. Pro-life means nothing to me. Everyone likes life, just as we are all pro-money and pro-sunshine. Call me anti-abortion as you like, but in return… Read full post »

On October 15, the Jackson Clarion Ledger reported an odd fact about Mississppi absentee ballots -- you can't mail one in with a single 42 cent stamp. This, it turns out, is because the envelope the state provides for voters to mail in their ballots is larger than the standard first… Read full post »

Random thoughts on the debate.....

Overall, I think Biden won the debate on points, but Palin at least appeared to hold her own. Voters who were predisposed to vote Republican will feel more comfortable in doing so now. So overall, Palin stopped the bleeding more than Biden advanced his cause.… Read full post »

Today Wachovia is going down. One more of the top ten banks in the nation, in the dust bin with all the others -- Bear Stearns, Lehman, Washington Mutual, Countrywide. I get this sinking feeling that, as bad as I think things are, they are actually worse than that.

Which is… Read full post »

I'm the type of guy the Republicans could have if they really tried. I live in the South, the reddest of Red Country. I am Catholic and anti-abortion, like low taxes, and tend to agree with Jefferson's statement: "That government is best that governs least." I don't trust political do-gooders, and… Read full post »

I’m not having nightmares these days, but I’m not exactly sure why not.

When it comes to traumatic events like Katrina, usually everything is fine on a day-to-day basis until there is a trigger, and then it all comes back. Saturday, I felt just such a trigger.

I was driving home in the… Read full post »

 We devoted Wednesday morning to getting our smashed car window repaired. The dealership was busy, and we waited several hours for the mechanics to finish the job. In the waiting room all the televisions were tuned to Katrina coverage. Unfortunately, as the other customers watched they talked ab… Read full post »

Tuesday was the beginning of the nightmare. Monday was expected — a terrible storm landed and there was great damage. Tuesday was supposed to be the Day After, the day to hear about heroic rescues, damage assessments, and assurances that we were back on the path to normality. That is not… Read full post »

This whole town does look like whatever hope becomes after it begins to weary a little, then weary a little more. But hope deferred is still hope. I love this town. I think sometimes of going into the ground here as a last wild gesture of love —… Read full post »

This is the third of my series of eight posts on my experiences with Hurricane Katrina. Please see the August 26th post to start from the beginning.

Six thirty AM I was awakened by the sound of hammering. George and Juan were back, boarding up the window directly above the… Read full post »