There are serious topics like What exactly is Clamato?

As some of you have seen since November, I quite often use this space to discuss current affairs that are generally effecting the nation.... Today is no different. As usual first and foremost let me quickly wish my parents, and my stepsister Beth and brother in law Rusty best wishes on their respective wedding anniversaries... Also Happy Birthday to Granpa Jake... Now on to the matter at hand.

I was going to discuss what the Democrats need to do to retake Congress, and mention the current frontpage of Time magazine about the threats of global warming, but something of great import to both Elizabeth and me caught my fancy at the last minute.... CLAMATO. Elizabeth explained to me what Clamato was, and it frightened to the point of looking it up.

I worked for a brief period with Carnival Cruise Lines and on more than one occasion (2 I think), customers asked me if we stocked Clamato on the ships. I've never had Clamato, and thought it was probably some club soda version of Tomato Juice, because while that was a bad mix in my opinion the other obvious thing Clamato could be was even worse. I was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong, now not as wrong, as if I had said there is no Civil War in Iraq, or there is no such thing as global warming. I would say that both of the above assertions are unfortunately wrong.

I wish I were wrong about Iraq, ( where they are averaging 33 murders a day), or global warming, where the ice caps are melting at an alarming rate, but unfortunately I am wrong about Clamato.... and of course who won the Presidency in 2000.

A step in the right direction

This is the type of thing the Right did in the 80s to build the grassroots that is helping them now.... It is good to see the Dems doing it now.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/3/22/192915/592

The more things change....

Everyone down here in Miami is doing well... Cassie is walking up a storm, Elizabeth and I are just trying to keep up. We will be traveling up to New Orleans, that is so hard for me to say... Up to New Orleans... Down seems so much more normal, and to Atlanta over the summer for various family functions, weddings, reunions and the like. The stampede of my generation (in there early 30s) to the altar continues as I imagine it has in ages past. Other personal bits... nothing terribly amazing to report, just living life one day at a time, and learning to appreciate the blessings I have recieved , in a loving and wonderful family. We are happy and healthy, that is quite a bit more than most in the world.

In regard to some political commentary, I find much of what is going on in the world today to be astonishing. Take for example the state of Missouri, please.... OK enough with the bad one liner... Here is an article about the decision that Missouri's legislature has decided to restrict all public funding for any sort of contraception.
Now, as I sit here early on a Saturday morning it may seem obvious to me, but this seems remarkably counterproductive. I believe the goal is to lessen "illegitimate" pregnancies
. If you lessen these pregnancies you lessen the cost to the taxpayer, because, I imagine, the argument follows that "illegitimate" pregnancies will more likely require more funding from the state either through DCFS, or through the need to terminate the pregnancy.
As I read the article it was clear to me that the goal for the right wing was abstinence. For whatever reason this had escaped me or at the least slipped my mind.

This is a wonderful goal, as is world peace. However, I think it is about as realistic. Not to mention as we pursue world peace, we should not disarm, and quit pursuing alliances for mutual defense. Rather than banning all contraception distribution through public health services, why not fully fund afterschool and jobs programs for the cohorts that are most likely to be promiscuous. Give them something to do as an alternative to the activity you want to make extinct.


More later

Wonderful Op Ed in the Washington Post

Periodically, the Louisiana Recovery Authority shares opinion pieces and news articles that describe the major issues in Louisiana's hurricane recovery. The following editorial can be found at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR2006031001876.html Looting From Louisiana Editorial Washington Post Saturday, March 11, 2006; A18 FOR THE FIRST time since Hurricane Katrina ravaged their homes more than six months ago, residents of New Orleans's flooded neighborhoods this week started hoping again. The state of Louisiana launched a program that could provide homeowners with grants designed to cover the gap between the real cost of reconstruction and the funds they have already received from insurance companies and the government. The program, which was worked out in consultation with the White House, is not extravagant: It covers only residential property, it is capped at $150,000, and it is designed to work in concert with a zoning plan so that people are discouraged from rebuilding in unsafe areas. On Wednesday, the state started accepting applications: Immediately, calls (to 1-888-762-3252) and online applications (at http://www.housing-la.com/ ) began roaring in. And no wonder: The state expects that upward of 100,000 people will be eligible to receive funds. Whether they all will get money is another question, since this week Congress took a step toward ensuring that some don't. While Louisianians were dialing in and logging on, the House Appropriations Committee took up on Wednesday the $4.2 billion that the administration requested to complete the funding of the program -- and refused to designate the money for any one state. Texas wants some. Mississippi probably wants some. And when other states start thinking a bit harder about their Katrina-related costs -- schoolchildren educated, evacuees housed -- they may start wanting some, too. But for once, this $4.2 billion is not a sum plucked out of the air. It is the figure that the White House, the state and the city figured would be needed, along with money already allocated, to make the compensation program work: It is a precisely calculated sum, tied to the number of flooded houses, the amount of insurance money paid out and the actual costs of reconstruction. If the House insists on carving money out of it for others -- as it has done with other hurricane funds -- these calculations will be thrown off completely. No doubt Texas and Mississippi do still have financial needs, but they should meet them in other ways. If the country, and the Congress, want New Orleans to revive, they should leave this one chunk of funding for Louisiana alone. © 2006 The Washington Post Company

Louisiana Recovery Authority | P.O. Box 94004 | Baton Rouge, LA. 70804-9004

This was emailed to me and I thought it was worthy of sharing

More later...