Houston refugees leaving Austin

Heading back to Houston...no menagerie. PETA sucks. Several "accidents" from geriatric "dogs."

Leonidas at Thermopolae

Thanks, Mike.

Texas should deny/refuse federal financial assistance....

I know Perry can't do it politically, but how great would it be for the most capitalistic state to do it on its own.

Houston evacuation routes jammed

We'll be hearing complaints when this is over about the delay in reversing the inbound lanes of the evauation routes. Thirty minute drives are taking hours. Gasoline is almost impossible to find and some folks are running out of gas just sitting in traffic.

We're planning to take back roads south and west and work over to Austin. Three cars, four adults, one toddler, four dogs, and a cat.

Civil War terminology

Recently the left was all up in arms because Roberts had replaced the term "Civil War" with "War Between the States," clearly indicating his disdain for Civil Rights and a desire to turn the clock back 150 years. The first thing that popped into my mind was that if he truly had such feelings, he’d have replaced it with "The War of Northern Aggression." It is one of those terms that always makes me laugh when I think about how my fellow southerners try to rewrite history.

Paul Greenberg reminded me today of a somewhat more delicate way southerners have of referring to the conflict, "the Late Unpleasantness."

Is it time to turn my back on W?

I know that in a time of war and a time of one very recent and one pending national, natural disaster, this is probably the most inopportune time to discuss this but I am not the only one concerned about federal spending. Someone once apologized to drunken sailors for the comparison of their spending habits to those of the federal government.

Count me among Noonan’s dinosaurs; we’ve got to help pay for these things by revisiting the Transportation Bill and/or MORE TAX CUTS, if we can possibly get them thru. At least b---h about the spending as you sign the bills, Mr. President. Wring your hands. Complain.

Not turning my back yet; the war is too important. The tax cuts (now any discussion should be phrased as increases) are too important.

The Katrina relief efforts are too important (if they are done properly...a test to see if you really are a compassionate conservative, Mr. President...I have no doubt about the former, it is the latter that concerns me). We've screamed bloody murder for thirty, maybe fifty, years that handouts are not the way. Now is our chance to do it right. Get these folks on their feet and turn 'em loose.

Continued prayers for those along the Texas coast.

Rita bears down on Texas, blogger sees opportunity

As Rita - now the third strongest hurricane on record - marches toward Texas, this Houston blogger, who lives in Evacution Zone B, must decide whether to leave by 2 am as mandated by the Plan (yes we have one and it is being implemented) or stick around for the lootin'.

Did Reid really say/mean that?

From that conservative bastion, The Washington Post, Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said, "The president is not entitled to very much deference in staffing the third branch of government, the judiciary."

That is a quote, the article rightly points out, that may come back to bite him.

Katrina v. Rita

Check out the coverage at the Houston Chronicle, particularly the "recommended routes" and other evacuation coverage. The entire Texas Gulf Coast seems prepared to go. Did NO have similar plans and coverage? Of course I realize that Texas has the benefit of having recently witnessed Katrina, but they couldn't have thrown all this together in three short weeks while simultaneously helping out those from LA.

Being a Texan I also know that many more will evacuate today than would have pre-Katrina...hindsight being 20/20 and all.

Hurricane tracking is notoriously difficult and Rita might not even come close...still I'm impressed. My prayers are with those along the coast.

Ted Turner: master logician

Thanks to Radioblogger for the transcript from Blitzer:

TT: Have you ever been to North Korea?
WB: No. I've never been to North Korea.
TT: Well, you know, at least go up there and look in their eyes and have a chat with them, before you accuse them of...
WB: I've made several requests, but they haven't let me into North Korea.
TT: Then go on your vacation.
WB: Maybe if I go with you the next time.
TT: All right. I took Christianne Ammanpour with me this time.

Madeleine Albright had that chat (and dance as I recall) and look how well that turned out.

Clearly, I'm to examine the timber in my own eye before judging the mote in another's but I don't think that has much to do with logical discourse.

Chrisopher Hitchens v. George Galloway, no contest

"I did not have the lepidopteral presence of mind to point out, at that moment, that butterflies pupate from sturdy and furry caterpillars."

I wish he had. Hitchens' review of himself worth reading. Love this guy.