1478 Can't someone shut Jesse up until this is over?

Do we need another disaster of hot, racist air in an already volatile atmosphere? Does this man know how to do or say anything helpful? He's terrified apparently that he will lose his base if blacks catch on to his game.

" "It is racist to call American citizens refugees," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, visiting the Houston Astrodome on Monday. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have expressed similar sentiments."

1477 Katrina Bush

That's the name of a 33 year old evacuee from New Orleans who has arrived in Columbus, Ohio with 25 members of her extended family, and a few other non-relatives. The family had evacuated their homes and gone as a group to a hotel to ride out the storm. After three days they were rescued from that building by volunteers in a boat and dropped on a highway where they spent the night. Eventually, after some horrific experiences, they made their way to the evacuation center in Baton Rouge. There she heard someone named Dave from Ohio announce that he would take people back there to start over.

Katrina Bush and her son settle in at a Best Western in Columbus, Ohio

Dave Whinham and Brent Crawford own apartments and a real estate firm and have set these families up for a year, rent free, in one of their facilities and will help them get jobs. A group of Columbus residents met them with cheers and applause when they arrived. They traveled here on a bus supplied by our church, Upper Arlington Lutheran which had sent it down loaded with supplies. I don't know if Whinham and Crawford are connected with UALC, but sometimes private concerns can act more quickly and effectively than government agencies overwhelmed with other needs.

The larger group relocation to three major Ohio cities has been postponed. Someone has decided moving people to northern cities or to cruise ships may not be the best way to recover from this trauma. However, there are stories of people in Zanesville and Hilliard who just got on the internet and found people willing to relocate. There's a new hurricane baby in Zanesville with lots and lots of god parents.

1476 Hurricane Mythology and the Media

This researcher must get discouraged. Henry W. Fischer III investigated how the media covered Hurricane Gilbert(1989) and Hurricane Georges (1998), 10 years apart, and found pretty much the same thing:

"Why does belief in the disaster mythology continue to plague us? Regardless of research findings (for example, see Fischer, 1998) many still believe panic flight, martial law, psychological dependence, looting and other forms of deviant behavior, price gouging, disaster shock, contagion, and the mass sheltering of a majority of the would-be victims are all symptomatic of a community's disaster response. Mass media has been found to be a prime reason for the continued perpetuation of the disaster mythology among laypersons and emergency personnel. A quick response grant supported work by this researcher ten years ago resulting in a case study of how the media presented the world with a picture of the community response to Hurricane Gilbert. While most national and local, print and broadcast reporters were found to subscribe to the disaster mythology, their reporting was observed to vary nevertheless. Why? The Gilbert study findings suggested that the local print and broadcast media were more likely to share in the altruistic role of the victim, resulting in a desire to help their communities successfully respond to and recover from the hurricane. As a result, the local media tended to essentially turned news management over to local officials-reporting what local officials stated with respect to community needs and response. If the local officials were accurate, the reporting was accurate. On the other hand, national reporters were found to be guided by a different norm; they appeared to seek to provide their audience (who were not co-victims) with a picture or story of what typically occurs in a hurricane. As such, they created a scenario based upon their perception of reality. These reporters maintained control over news management and, as a result, created a story line reinforcing the disaster mythology."

So the looting stories in the media were the President's fault? In 1989?

"Looting is perhaps the behavior most expected by the public and officials. Police departments usually talk about the fear and incidence of looting, the media report stories of its occurrence, and governors call out the National Guard to "protect against" it. Potential victims or survivors often report that they will not leave their homes because they fear looting. They paint signs which read: "DON'T LOOT OR WE'LL SHOOT!" While looting does sometimes occur, concern over it far exceeds the rate at which it actually takes place. Unfortunately, excessive time and resources are often expended on looting which could be better employed in mitigating against and responding to higher priorities."

Anyone want to guess how Prof. Fischer's next study will turn out?

1475 Dear Nancy Pelosi

Before you move on to the big investigation in which you will find President Bush guilty of failing black and poor people, maybe you could start on a smaller story. Today the USAToday reported the sad story of Linda Bowie, her grandchildren and her mother (no mention of who or where the children's parents are). By the time Ms. Bowie made it to the Superdome last Wednesday pushing her mother (Ms. Herbert) in her hospital bed, she was stopped by a group of men (I'm guessing they were African American, but only because Rev. Jackson says everyone who evacuated there was) guarding I-10 with shotguns, pistols and AK-47s. The story is on 4A in print, or here.

"A neighbor found a boat. He and others dismantled the bed, floated it to Interstate 10 and reassembled it atop the elevated roadway. He then went back for the mother and the others. That was Tuesday. No rescuers came. So the small band disassembled the bed and took it back to Herbert's apartment and repeated the exercise Wednesday — repositioning Herbert in her bed atop the pavement.

Desperate, Bowie and her 13-year-old grandson, Kailen, took off for the Superdome on foot. "When we walked up," she recalls, "all the ... guys, they're lined up across I-10 with AK-47s and shotguns and hand pistols. And they said, 'You can't be up here.' I explained the situation to one of the guys, and he said, 'You go talk to that guy.' When I walked up to him, he just looked at me for a while.

"I said, 'Mister, I have a serious situation here.' He said, 'What's the matter?' And I explained it all to him. I thought my mother'd had a stroke. And he said, 'Well, let her die.' "

So she left, found a sympathetic soldier who got her mother evacuated by helicopter to a hospital. She returned to the Superdome with her grandchildren which she says was filled with people scalping food and drugs, fighting, murder and rape.

I think this is a very serious story that you, Rainbow Jesse and Prophet Elijah Cummings of the Black Caucus need to investigate. This is the reason thousands chose to stay in their flood ravaged homes and are disobeying the Mayor's eviction notice. They knew the Superdome's reputation as a hurricane shelter, and NO ONE wanted to be there. This story stinks, but the smell doesn't lead back to Washington DC, or Crawford TX, or even to RFKjr and the environmentalists screaming global warming. This is a failure at the local level, a failure of "Biblical proportions." Get to it Nancy; you've got a real story here.

1474 When did the Red Cross arrive?

It hasn't. Marty Evans was interviewed on Fox tonight about specifics of aid, and volunteers. The Red Cross was not allowed into New Orleans by the Louisiana Homeland Security. In case you're the type who doesn't trust Fox News to get it right, here's the statement from their web page. She also spoke on the Larry King show on CNN.

Louisiana couldn't guarantee their safety, nor did they want people remaining there, so although this sounds a bit crazy to us, I suppose it makes sense to them. From their web page:

"Access to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

The Red Cross has been meeting the needs of thousands of New Orleans residents in some 90 shelters throughout the state of Louisiana and elsewhere since before landfall. All told, the Red Cross is today operating 149 shelters for almost 93,000 residents.

The Red Cross shares the nation’s anguish over the worsening situation inside the city. We will continue to work under the direction of the military, state and local authorities and to focus all our efforts on our lifesaving mission of feeding and sheltering.

The Red Cross does not conduct search and rescue operations. We are an organization of civilian volunteers and cannot get relief aid into any location until the local authorities say it is safe and provide us with security and access.

The original plan was to evacuate all the residents of New Orleans to safe places outside the city. With the hurricane bearing down, the city government decided to open a shelter of last resort in the Superdome downtown. We applaud this decision and believe it saved a significant number of lives."

Keep in mind, it is the Governor of Louisiana who gives orders to the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Agency (gets its money and training from FEMA), and it was that decision that kept the Red Cross food and water from the evacuees.

1473 Will the Democrats regret calling

loudly for investigations so quickly before leading Dems can get their stories in sync? Nancy Pelosi D-CA is crying for Brownie's scalp (FEMA) and a Task Force. Who set this up, anyway? Why is FEMA in Homeland Security? Well, it was a prominant Democrat, whom I happen to like, and once was running for President.

"Senator Lieberman is Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and former Chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, the Senate's principal oversight Committee, with responsibility for reviewing "the efficiency and economy of operations of all branches of government." Under the chairmanship of Senator Lieberman in 2001 and 2002, the Committee focused on the nation's homeland security, on corporate accountability, and on the Bush Administration's weakening of environmental regulations. Committee legislation enacted into law under Senator Lieberman's leadership includes laws creating the Homeland Security Department, establishing an independent commission to examine the causes of the September 11th attack, and facilitating the transition to electronic government, by requiring the federal government to make more information and services available to the public online. The Committee also has jurisdiction over many aspects of federal government management, the federal civil service, federal government procurement, the U.S. Postal Service and the District of Columbia." From Senator Lieberman's home page.

Who should have bussed those without transportation? Whose responsibility was it to have food and water for people evacuated to the Convention Center and Super Dome? Chertoff wasn't suppose to hand out water bottles. The Democratic Mayor, Ray Nagin, should've at least been in town.

Whose responsibility was it to call for help from the Federal government, and said, I'll get back to you in 24 hours? Would you, Nancy, put the President on hold like a crank caller? The Democratic Governor, Ms. Blanco, did.

So Nancy, honey, cool it. We've already got enough women pols making our sex look like dithering bird brains. You're setting the movement back. Let your buddies circle their wagons and reload. And put Jesse Jackson and Sean Penn and the Hollywood Monday morning quarterbacks back on the bench.

1472 The CYA attitude in government

Technically, I've been on the "dole" most of my adult life, because I worked in tax supported university libraries. However, working for the state government only six months was the real eye opener for me. Dr. Sanity today clips pieces from a variety of sources, but also comments:

"This "pseudo-action" is the hallmark of government on all levels, from the local to the federal. From NASA to FEMA to the Post Office. Somehow, all these agencies are able to transform huge amounts of money from the taxpayers into the appearance of doing something, when in fact, they fiercely resist any change, any improvement, any suggestions. They remain fixated in granite from their points of origin, determined not to adapt or change with the times. This attitude is insured by the creation of new levels and levels of bureaucracy after every crisis or failure."

When I worked for the State of Ohio I rubbed shoulders with some of the best and brightest of my whole career. Brain cell for brain cell many surpassed the people I knew at the university. There was an energy and desire to serve there that I never saw in academe. However, there was another group of "hangers-on" in those offices who literally sat in their offices behind closed doors with absolutely nothing to do, hired by someone because their daddy had contributed to the party. There were others who were fabulous in appearance and oratory, but were ethically and intellectually challenged. They wouldn't have known a 40 hour work week unless you introduced them at a party. Yes, pseudo-action: "transforming huge amounts of money into the appearance of doing something" is probably what happened in New Orleans at the parish, city, and state level and in DC at the Congressional and agency level.

1471 Blanco told President "24 hours"

Mayor Nagin told CNN today that Governor Blanco needed 24 hours to think about the proposal the President made for taking over the disaster control on Air Force One. Sounds like he's getting tired of being blamed for the chaos in the response. I'm guessing that soon both Bush and Nagin will stop being gentelmen and let the lady have it. I don't know about you, but if the President of the United States told me, "This is what we'll do," I wouldn't put him off with a "24 hour thinkathon." It wasn't a marriage proposal.

CNN report recorded here, but I heard it on the radio.

1470 The No Pork Challenge

Today I suggested items that the different states could contribute to disaster relief, including Jesse Jackson's mouth for waste removal. But on September 1 Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has "challenged members of Congress to block funding for unrelated pork projects in its aid package for hurricane recovery, and to help offset the bill’s cost by returning the $24 billion worth of earmarks in the recently enacted highway bill."

This would most likely be that $233 million dollar bridge to no where in Alaska that will benefit no one and may even hurt the locals.

It continues: "Congressional leaders expect to negotiate an emergency supplemental spending bill when Congress reconvenes next week. Hurricane Katrina has been called the most expensive disaster in the country’s history. One expert said that federal aid could top $30 billion, which will add to the $331 billion deficit predicted for fiscal 2005.

“In the past, Congress has shortchanged our troops, disaster victims, and taxpayers by including self-serving pork projects in emergency spending bills,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said. “Maybe this time, the widespread devastation and loss of life will shame them into forgoing egregious spending that will hinder recovery efforts and add to the deficit.” "
Don't count on it, Tom. Pork buys votes and builds highways that are naming opportunities.

"Emergency supplemental bills have become a magnet for pork because they do not count against House and Senate budget caps and such bills are always signed by the President."

The announcement then lists the additional funding requests that made it into supplemental bills.

Than back track to this site's database and look at Louisiana for the various years. As a keyword, try "Army Corps of Engineers," or just the word "water."

1469 Jesse Jackson and the N Word

Many states are offering assistance to the hurricane area. My dream would be that Ohio could loan (dump) its Republican Governor Taft and Republican Senator Voinovich to fill in for some of Louisiana's inept Democrats. As poor as they are, they'd be an improvement. I'd like to see Alaska donate the money for its bridge to nowhere (serves 50 people and costs about $233 million) to restore some of the bridges in Mississippi and Louisiana. West Virginia will be feeding and housing in some families, but how much better if they could donate some good old boy pork for highway rebuilding--they could be called the Robert Byrd highways just as easily in Alabama or Mississippi as West Virginia. More pork here to throw in the pot.




Robert Byrd Dam in West Virginia





I'm not sure what state claims Jessie Jackson, but where ever it is, my sympathies. Would you please donate his mouth to funnel all the cesspool water out of the flooded areas? The N Word I'm thinking of is Narcissist. Mr. Jackson is the biggest Me, Me, It's all about Me, guy around. It's all about Me especially when Me is a one person speaks-for-my-race sort of guy. The drivel coming from his mouth during this tragedy is just beyond belief. Let's put that mouth to better use for waste disposal.

1468 On planning for a hurricane disaster

Over at Captain's Quarters I noticed this link to the Emergency Preparedness Plan for the City of New Orleans.

There are phrases in this Plan familiar to all of us who have ever been a member of a task force charged with coming up with a plan. About 20 years ago I worked for the State of Ohio as a planner and had to put together a plan that showed the various "agencies" under that department were all heading the same direction. Never having done anything larger than a small task force report for a small library problem I was baffled about where to begin. Then I discovered by reading through similar reports that all I needed to do was find out what each agency was already doing and then add the words: provide, maintain, participate, develop, ensure, conduct, test, disseminate, facilitate, etc., along with lots of "train" and "education" words, and then add a time line that fit within the period of time that political party would be in charge. It's almost a miracle how you can meet your plan deadline quickly. So I was not surprised to see phrases to nowhere in the plan.

"Coordinates, facilitates and encourages"

"develop evaluation procedures"

"sponsor and coordinate"

"shall work in conjunction with"

training in "appropriate plans and standard operating procedures"

"required to develop and implement"

This report even has trifectas: "Develop adequate educational materials for dissemination" and "consult with other city departments and agencies in development of appropriate bulletins affecting their activities." Ah, the faith this country has in education, especially if it stays on a paper plan.

However, writing a plan that describes the disaster is not the same as being prepared for the disaster, and that appears to be where Nagin's administration failed:

"Certain hazards, such as a hurricane, provide some lead time for coordinating an evacuation. However, this can not be considered a certainty. Plus, the sheer size of an evacuation in response to an approaching hurricane creates the need for the use of community-wide warning resources, which cannot be limited to our City's geographical boundaries. Evacuation of major portions of our population, either in response to localized or citywide disasters, can only be accomplished if the citizens and visitors are kept informed of approaching threats on a timely schedule, and if they are notified of the need to evacuate in a timely and organized manner. If an evacuation order is issued without the mechanisms needed to disseminate the information to the affected persons, then we face the possibility of having large numbers of people either stranded and left to the mercy of a storm, or left in an area impacted by toxic materials."

1467 New Orleans Police collapsing?

I've read that Mayor Nagin of New Orleans is going to send some of his police to Vegas for a break. I hope that is a cruel, right wing rumor. But things don't look good for him:

"Reeling from the chaos of this overwhelmed city, at least 200 New Orleans police officers have walked away from their jobs, and two have committed suicide, police officials said yesterday.

Some officers told superiors that they were leaving, police officials said. Others worked for a while and then stopped showing up. Still others, for reasons not always clear, never made it in after the storm."

Story here from Seattle Times, but is from the New York Times. I think it is too much "he said, she said," to be solid news, but that's NYT for you. I came across this article looking for the one where the NYT praised Congress for resisting flood control excesses, and I passed by the photo of all the buses underwater that the mayor didn't use, and the story about how the President had to plead with the Mayor Saturday night [before the hurricane hit] to get him to give a mandatory evacuation order. Some of these stories are so beyond belief you just don't know how to go about researching them.

1466 You can choose your tribe

You can't choose your parents but you can choose your Tribe--the guys in the white hats, Bill says.

"Only a few minutes ago, I had the delightful opportunity to read the comment of a fellow who said he wished that white, middle-class, racist, conservative cocksuckers like myself could have been herded into the Superdome Concentration Camp to see how much we like it. Absent, of course, was the fundamental truth of what he plainly does not have the eyes or the imagination to see, namely, that if the Superdome had been filled with white, middle-class, racist, conservative cocksuckers like myself, it would not have been a refinery of horror, but rather a citadel of hope and order and restraint and compassion.

That has nothing to do with me being white. If the blacks and Hispanics and Jews and gays that I work with and associate with were there with me, it would have been that much better. That’s because the people I associate with – my Tribe – consists not of blacks and whites and gays and Hispanics and Asians, but of individuals who do not rape, murder, or steal. My Tribe consists of people who know that sometimes bad things happen, and that these are an opportunity to show ourselves what we are made of. My people go into burning buildings. My Tribe consists of organizers and self-starters, proud and self-reliant people who do not need to be told what to do in a crisis. My Tribe is not fearless; they are something better. They are courageous. My Tribe is honorable, and decent, and kind, and inventive. My Tribe knows how to give orders, and how to follow them. My Tribe knows enough about how the world works to figure out ways to boil water, ration food, repair structures, build and maintain makeshift latrines, and care for the wounded and the dead with respect and compassion.

There are some things my Tribe is not good at at all. My Tribe doesn’t make excuses. My Tribe will analyze failure and assign blame, but that is to make sure that we do better next time, and we never, ever waste valuable energy and time doing so while people are still in danger. My Tribe says, and in their heart completely believes that it’s the other guy that’s the hero. My Tribe does not believe that a single Man can cause, prevent or steer Hurricanes, and my Tribe does not and has never made someone else responsible for their own safety, and that of their loved ones.

My Tribe doesn’t fire on people risking their lives, coming to help us. My Tribe doesn’t curse such people because they arrived on Day Four, when we felt they should have been here before breakfast on Day One. We are grateful, not to say indebted, that they have come at all. My Tribe can’t eat Nike’s and we don’t know how to feed seven by boiling a wide-screen TV. My Tribe doesn’t give a sweet God Damn about what color the looters are, or what color the rescuers are, because we can plainly see before our very eyes that both those Tribes have colors enough to cover everyone in glory or in shame. My Tribe doesn’t see black and white skins. My Tribe only sees black and white hats, and the hat we choose to wear is the most personal decision we can make." [Permission to use given for personal use, and I'm obviously making no money at this]

There's much more by Bill at Eject, Eject, Eject. Read what he says about pink and grey. Very interesting.

1465 New Orleans and Houston

When New Orleans had such a head start and is better located, why did Houston pull ahead years ago. One word says Thomas Lifson. Corruption.

"Many years ago, an oilman in Houston pointed out to me that there was no inherent reason Houston should have emerged as the world capital of the petroleum business. New Orleans was already a major city with centuries of history, proximity to oil deposits, and huge transportation advantages when the Houston Ship Channel was dredged, making the then-small city of Houston into a major port. The discovery of the Humble oil field certainly helped Houston rise as an oil center, but the industry could just as easily have centered itself in New Orleans.

When I pressed my oilman informant for the reason Houston prevailed, he gave me a look of pity for my naiveté, and said, “Corruption.” Anyone making a fortune in New Orleans based on access to any kind of public resources would find himself coping with all sorts of hands extended for palm-greasing. Permits, taxes, fees, and outright bribes would be a never-ending nightmare. Houston, in contrast, was interested in growth, jobs, prosperity, and extending a welcoming hand to newcomers. New Orleans might be a great place to spend a pleasant weekend, but Houston is the place to build a business.

Today, metropolitan Houston houses roughly 4 times the population of pre-Katrina metropolitan New Orleans, despite the considerable advantage New Orleans has of capturing the shipping traffic of the Mississippi basin.

It is far from a coincidence that Houston is now absorbing refugees from New Orleans, and preparing to enroll the children of New Orleans in its own school system. Houston is a city built on the can-do spirit (space exploration, oil, medicine are shining examples of the human will to knowledge and improvement, and all have been immeasurably advanced by Houstonians). Houston officials have capably planned for their own possible severe hurricanes, and that disaster planning is now selflessly put at the disposal of their neighbors to the east."

1464 All dressed up with no place to go

Florida nurse/librarian still waiting for a response from Louisiana. Is Baton Rouge under water too?

1463 Where to point the finger next?

Watching the blame game heat up has caused me to look a little closer to home. I'll toss out some thoughts, but although I'm a "problem solver" by nature, I confess I see the problem in my own backyard, but have no solution to offer, and I'm not using that term idiomatically. I mean the backyard I see when I look out my living room window.

First, I'll digress, as is my pattern. I grew up near the Rock River in northern Illinois. Every spring I would see the flooding, and even as a child I wondered, "Why do people live there?" Same thoughts went through my mind this past week while watching the New Orleans tragedy. Of course, in drier weather as we drove by those same homes perched on stilts next to the Rock River, I would draw my own child-like conclusions seeing the automobiles sitting on concrete blocks in the yards, the mounds of trash, the junk yard dogs barking at us, and the pasty skin color of the children in their shabby clothes. Yes, as a child my conclusion was these people were so poor that there was no place else for them to live but near the water. "They" made those poor people live there. That they wanted to be there, didn't want the confinements of town life, zoning and rules, never even crossed my mind. Here is a recent report on that river with good maps and great photographs. It is available on the web in a pdf form, but I can't seem to get it to load.

I haven't lived there for many years, but when I am in that area I see that people still want the calming beauty of the river area even though there is still some flooding (more controlled now). Only now, most of the shacks are gone. The homes are definitely upscale, just like here in central Ohio where people build gorgeous homes between Route 33 and the Scioto River; homes that sit on stilts or high foundations, property surrounded by walls to push the flooding problem further down stream; houses that require evacuation when the ice flows break and back up at the dam, built some years ago to relieve flooding in our area, but which probably creates problems down stream.

Every city on a river must have dozens of conflicting jurisdictional reports from finger pointing officials--and we have two major rivers flowing through Columbus, bordered by dozens of suburbs. And we have creeks. When we lived on Abington Road there was a creek one house away. The only name I ever heard for it came from a 90 years old I knew in the 1970s--Evans Ditch. It had been created by contractors for run off. But the area was lovely until the terrible storm in the early 1970s when every house (except ours) had 2 or 3 feet of water in the basement. We had no basement. The Ditch was repaired, people built stronger rip-rap to keep water from their yards and basement, and water began to back up further north where there was new building. It was called Turkey Run in that area as I recall, beautiful but often flooded.

We have that creek (Turkey Run Watershed--I'm not sure it is a "real" mother nature creek, or a man made creek for run off) surrounding our condo complex. Our view from every unit is spectacular because of the creek. There are huge trees and wild life, right here in the middle of the city--the scene refreshes our spirits and the air.

Our association takes care of our side. Even so, I'm not sure what our erosion control that we pay for through our assessments is creating further down stream as it flows into Columbus, past the hospital complex and into another jurisdiction. When I walk along the creek, I can see that the other side, bordered by maybe a dozen different properties with near million dollar homes is eroding badly. Those people are on a steep ravine, and although they enjoy the same trees we do, they probably cannot see the creek and the erosion because they wouldn't be able to get to it without great effort. Our side, however, is helpless to control their behavior, like blowing all their leaves into the creek, or not trimming the dead wood.


Deer seen from our unit

1462 Is it yard sale time

Or packing for college? Or sending clothes to relief agencies? Title of a rap song? My broken zipper post is getting a lot of hits. But even on a slow day it gets at least one or two.

1461 He can spell, punctuate and protect himself

AP photographer Jessica Leigh caught this boarded up building sign:

"Don't try. I'm sleeping inside with a big dog, an ugly woman, two shotguns and a claw hammer."

Obviously, a well educated person who doesn't plan to evacuate or put up with looters.

It's not where I first saw it, but here's a version.

1460 A touching scene

This photo of five year old Tanisha Blevin and 105 year old Nita LaGarde 105 being evacuated is one of the best I've seen. It was on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch, but has appeared elsewhere. Eric Gay, AP is the photographer.

A new wine for old drinkers

American Daughter has a post about a new wine for seniors. I'm not sure how many people will enjoy it, but I laughed.