“…earlier this year the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked the potential damage to New Orleans as among the three likeliest, most castastrophic disasters facing this country. The other two? A massive earthquake in San Francisco, and, almost prophetically, a terrorist attack on New York City.” – 2001, Houston Chronicle
Saturday Night Live had an opening sketch that sticks in my mind. In it, Bush wins the 2000 presidency and he’s commenting on the state of our nation: “The Great Lakes are on fire – even I know that’s not good.” On September 11, 2001, 2,819 died in a terrorist action on our soil. Bush […]
One of the reasons we drove to Boulder was to remind ourselves of the vastness of this great country. Miles and miles of little more than telephone line. Maybe a house. Maybe a gas station. Dirt road intersecting the highway. Even in the most remote areas, someone has a house. With electricity and a phone. […]
Jen and I just returned from Boulder, Co via Rapid City, SD and Kansas City, MO and I wanted to send out thanks to everyone helping to make it a fantastic journey through the midwestern states. In roughly chronological order, I’d like to extend a big thank you to: Jen for booking the hotels and […]
Should the CPB continue to receive tax payer dollars? On one hand, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds some of the most well known American culture icons – Sesame Street, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Nightline, among them. Programs and lessons that shaped my childhood and the childhoods of everyone I know. On the other […]
Last night, Jen and I watched All the President’s Men, off the Netflix. It’s the screen adaptation of the Watergate investigation starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Woodward & Bernstein, or “Woodstein”. Considering the whole thing went down months before I was born, my understanding of Watergate is ethereal at best. The movie is […]
Overheard at the Dunn Bros in downtown St. Paul: “It’s like gambling, losing all that money at the gas pumps these days.” Complaining about gas prices is like complaining about a bad haircut. Each of us has the power to change the impact it has on us. In the case of cars; drive less, use […]
This morning, NPR had a segment on Homeland Security requiring illegal immigrants to wear electronic monitoring ankle bracelets (read the comments). Yes, I’m all for reducing the load on the detention centers and allowing the immigrants to contribute something to America while they prepare an asylum claim. This program needs to be closely watched. Closely. […]