Melissa bought Mei Mei some funky little plaid cloth igloo thing, since, you know, we spoil the cat. Luckily, unlike some of our other efforts to spoil her, she loved this one. Before Melissa even got all the way into the apartment with it, the cat was trying to get into it. In the week-or-so since we got it, the cat has been sleeping in it nearly every afternoon. I guess we (well, Melissa) did good.
The only problem is that now we’ve got another piece of cat junk sitting around. Oh well.
Mayor Ray Nagin (D-New Orleans) is indirectly responsible for over 1,000 deaths.
In 2005, as the category-5 Hurricane Katrina approached his city—much of which was located on land below sea level—he failed to order a mandatory evacuation until less than 18 hours before the hurricane made landfall. He failed to mobilize established evacuation plans, failed to provide buses and other governmental means to evacuate those who couldn’t leave on their own, and ordered those who had stayed behind to gather at a ‘shelter of last resort’ in the Louisiana Superdome without having provided sufficient food, water, and sanitation for the people who came. In the aftermath, his government went missing in action, leaving the entire relief effort to state and federal authorities that were designed to operate at the behest of the local government, not in its absence.
And, incredibly, the people of New Orleans re-elected him in 2006. Personally, I’d have preferred to charge him with a thousand counts of involuntary manslaughter and dereliction of duty.
Thankfully though, it looks like Nagin might have learned his costly lesson. As Hurricane Gustav bears down on the New Orleans area, potentially destined to repeat Katrina’s 2005 devestation, Nagin has ordered an evacuation of his city more than 36 hours before the expected landfall. Obviously, I hope that New Orleans doesn’t get slammed again after they’ve spent three years rebuilding, but at least if the city gets hit anybody who dies will have died because they chose not to leave, not because their city government failed them.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ), presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, announced today that he has selected Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) as his Vice Presidential running mate.
This selection lays the groundwork for an historic election. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), the Democratic Presidential nominee who is mixed African- and European-American, would be the first non-white President. Governor Palin would be the first female Vice president and is only the second female VP nominee by a major party (following Representative Geraldine Ferraro [D-NY 9th] in 1984) .
Palin, a gun-owning, ‘hockey-mom’ mother of five (including one newborn with Down syndrome and an oldest son being deployed to Iraq in the United States Army), is known as a reformer who rose to the office of Governor in Alaska following a series of political scandals in that state. She quickly ‘cleaned house’ and initiated a series of major political and ethical reforms. Palin has maintained consistently high approval ratings in Alaska, and is considered a social conservative (more in-line with the Republican base than McCain, who is considered a moderate).
Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has been formally nominated by the Democratic Party as their Presidential candidate to stand in the November general election against presumptive Republican nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Obama has been the presumptive Democratic nominee since securing a majority of party delegates on June 3, but Democratic National Convention delegates have now made his nomination official.
Senator Obama is joined on the Democratic ticket by Vice Presidential nominee Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), who Obama announced as his VP pick on Saturday.
Obama, who is mixed African- and European-American, is the first biracial major-party Presidential nominee. If-elected, Senator Obama would be the first non-white President.
Hey, just wanted to drop a quick post letting you all know that posting will be light this week. I’ve done a pretty good job since April (and the Website 20 launch) of posting at least five entries per week, which was my goal, but it’s probably just not going to happen this week. I’m planning to resume normal posting next week.
First, I’m in the midst of training for a new position at work, so for the next few days I don’t have much flexibility with my hours during the day.
Second, I’m not going to go into a lot of detail here, but there has been an unexpected death locally in my extended family. That has had me (and will continue to have me) tied-up whenever I’m not at work.
If you are desperate for something to read in the mean time, check out some of the sites I enjoy on the links page.
Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.
