Politics, and my adult children

My daughter, of who I am inordinately proud of, thinks that I am scandalized by the fact that she and her husband both profess to be Republicans. I’m actually pleased that she's thinking for herself.

While I am usually not in agreement with the GOP, I am not a Democrat. I have donated to the Dems, because they’re the party out of power, and because there’s really no other valid political voice available in the US. But, I think that both parties are really just two sides of the same corrupt coin. (Bush & Co. are an exception; they are truly radical and extremist – the most so since FDR. They are wanting to create an unlimited power executive branch with no oversight or counterbalance from Congress, the courts, or the media.)

My son, of whom I am inordinately proud, is at college, has stood up to disapproving instructors when he expresses knowledgable criticism of Ann Coulter. This is not a popular position in one particular big Southern university. It displeases them that he's read his Ann Coulter, straight from the books.

The man's got guts.

Hurricanes

It is hurricane time again. Ernesto, going from a nothing to a contender to a nothing again; now just a blobby area of rain, with the potential to become a contender again, has been wavering drunkenly, targeting everything from the Atlantic Ocean to the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. When I got up this morning, the expectation was that Tampa would have a hurricane, on Wednesday. By the time I got home tonight, it was now looking as though the east coast of Florida would get the hurricane, after a trip through the Everglades. Now it's back to Tampa again or more precisely, Orlando and Gainesville.

This is the way hurricane season works, you know; something big and bad is out there, and it's coming, but is it actually coming toward you or near enough to you to affect you or just generally somewhat waving in your direction and then go on to victimize somebody else.

Ramses II part 2

There are several levels of my awe and astonishment about the project of moving the statue of Ramses II to its new resting place.

There's obviously behind this project, a respect and reverence for the history of the country, in this case, Egypt. Sure, this may well be due to the fact that respect for history is codified in Egyptian law. Still, there is the impulse to treasure history and to keep it alive, even if it had to be given the weight of law.

There is also my awe and respect for the people themselves to actually get together to do this difficult project.