Ray Nagin On His Way Out of Office (Finally!)
Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin, the infamous New Orleans mayor whom failed to execute a preexisting evacuation plan in advance of Hurricane Katrina and left school buses in low-lying areas to be flooded out (versus being used to evacuate citizens), is term-limited, resulting in Saturday's landslide victory by Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu, the city's first white mayor since his father Moon occupied the office around 30 years ago, and sister of Senator Mary "Louisiana Purchase" Landrieu. (Yet another political family dynasty--Kennedy, Bush, Gore, Bayh, Cuomo, Biden, Daley, Udall, Romney, etc. You would figure out of 308M people, there would be a little more diversity of political talent out there...)
Yet Another Alarmist Climate Change Myth Debunked
The 2007 IPCC award-winning climate change report, in addition to the refuted Himalayan glacier meltdown hypothesis, included another alarmist prediction, i.e., that northern African rain-fed farming would be halved by 2020, which other scientists are now questioning. My question is what kind of scientific vetting was done on the 2007 report, and why has it taken until 3 years after publication of the report for other scientists to come forward to challenge alarmist assertions?
Now to Cap Off the Dems' Road to the Mid-Term Elections: More Illinois Scandals!
Scott Lee Cohen spent millions of dollars to gain the Democratic nomination for the largely ceremonial position of lieutenant governor last week, vaulting over competition (including at least one state lawmaker); he announced yesterday his intention to resign after reports surfaced over alleged steroid-induced spousal abuse while married to his former wife (not to mention being sued over child support: how pathetic is it that someone spends $2M to win political office while allegedly owing his ex-wife $54,000 in unpaid child support?) Then there's the matter of a former girlfriend, convicted on charges of prostitution...
With the coming attraction of the Blagojevich show trial, the Democratic nominee for Obama's old Senate seat, Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias was attacked during the Democratic primary campaign by a reformer (David Hoffman) whom raised questions over Alexi's family-affiliated Broadway Bank, which allegedly loaned convicted influence peddler Tony Rezko (remember Obama's friend whom helped him get a great deal on his mansion?) over $1M. If squeaky clean GOP Congressman and Senate nominee Mark Kirk can't win the Senate seat with a Scott Brown-style campaign in a change election year given sticky high unemployment in Illinois this fall, it's difficult to see how or when the GOP can stage a comeback in Lincoln's home state...
Political Cartoon
Gary Varvel might also point out (with the government trending to pay over 50% of health care costs by 2012 given 17.3% of our GDP last year and Obama's massive trillion-dollar deficits) that the baby could end up paying off the costs of his own delivery!
Musical Interlude: Country Pop (70's/80's)
Kenny Rogers, "Coward of the County"
Johnny Lee, "Looking for Love"
Ronnie Milsap, "Smokey Mountain Rain"
