When I took office, only high energy physicists had ever heard of what is called the Worldwide Web.... Now even my cat has its own page.

Bill Clinton (1946 - ), announcement of Next Generation Internet initiative, 1996

Good morning, Netizens...

WARNING! Some sensitive people of either political persuasion may be easily offended by this morning's pictures of the day, a regular feature of Community Comment and the Virtual Ballroom. These images are, if nothing else, a graphic demonstration about an underground society that has existed on the Internet for a number of years in which various unsung graphic artists, using Photoshop or The Gimp graphic editors to great effectiveness, often parody and make fun of the images and public figures of our time. Some of these images are, at best, controversial, while others simply humorous. However, now that both candidates for President of the United States have been selected and the respective campaigns set off into an uncertain future in November, I felt it worthwhile to see some of what I thought were incredible examples of political humor taken to the nth degree.

Today's picture of the day, comes to us from about.com's excellent (and sometimes ribald) collection of humor about John McCain Humorous McCain moments and, at its worst, are terrible Photoshop chop jobs and at their best, some of the funniest humor you can find online about John McCain.

In this portrayal, which shows McBush, a clever bit of photo-cloning between George Bush and John McCain, which may be closer to the truth than some Republican allies would like, but which Democrats quickly grasp upon as further ammunition to use against the McCain campaign.

Of course, no good political cartoon would be worth its salt unless you took on the opposition, so here is a link to the Humorous Obama moments with my favorite:

This purportedly is a picture of an actual parade float in Germany. My God, is that really the way Germany perceives our political processes? It may take me a week to stop laughing over that one! For what it might be worth, apparently this purloined picture was taken of an actual parade in Germany, and I submit as my proof, this somewhat-grainy but still legible video:

Video of the actual parade

(Disclaimer: The images and pictures used in this message remain the property of their respective owners as claimed by the authors on the above web sites.

Dave

This week's theme: Words that appear to be misspellings.

recision or rescission (ri-SIZH-uhn) noun

   An act of canceling.

[From Latin recision (cutting back), from recidere (to cut back), from caedere (to cut).]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=recission

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

  "Democrats want to limit cancellations to the first 18 months of coverage and require insurers to obtain approval from regulators before revoking a policy. Schwarzenegger wants to let insurers keep the recision option but impose new rules intended to thoroughly vet people's medical histories."
   Jordan Rau; Health Insurance Ambition Narrows; Los Angeles Times; Aug 4, 2008.

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Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a month before she marries him and what she thinks of him a year afterward, and you will have the truth about him. -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956)

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Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/recision.mp3

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Dave

Good morning, Netizens...

After several misfires at getting this text, here is the full unexpurgated text of John McCain's speech to the Republican National Convention from last night.

Thank you all very much. Tonight, I have a privilege given few Americans — the privilege of accepting our party's nomination for president of the United States. And I accept it with gratitude, humility and confidence.
In my life, no success has come without a good fight, and this nomination wasn't any different. That's a tribute to the candidates who opposed me and their supporters. They're leaders of great ability, who love our country and wished to lead it to better days. Their support is an honor I won't forget.
I'm grateful to the president for leading us in those dark days following the worst attack on American soil in our history and keeping us safe from another attack many thought was inevitable; and to the first lady, Laura Bush, a model of grace and kindness in public and in private. And I'm grateful to the 41st president and his bride of 63 years, and for their outstanding example of honorable service to our country.
As always, I'm indebted to my wife, Cindy, and my seven children. The pleasures of family life can seem like a brief holiday from the crowded calendar of our nation's business. But I have treasured them all the more, and can't imagine a life without the happiness you give me. Cindy said a lot of nice things about me tonight. But, in truth, she's more my inspiration than I am hers. Her concern for those less blessed than we are — victims of land mines, children born in poverty and with birth defects — shows the measure of her humanity. I know she will make a great first lady.
When I was growing up, my father was often at sea, and the job of raising my brother, sister and me would fall to my mother alone. Roberta McCain gave us her love of life, her deep interest in the world, her strength, and her belief we are all meant to use our opportunities to make ourselves useful to our country. I wouldn't be here tonight but for the strength of her character.
My heartfelt thanks to all of you, who helped me win this nomination and stood by me when the odds were long. I won't let you down. To Americans who have yet to decide who to vote for, thank you for your consideration and the opportunity to win your trust. I intend to earn it.
Finally, a word to Sen. Obama and his supporters. We'll go at it over the next two months. That's the nature of these contests, and there are big differences between us. But you have my respect and admiration. Despite our differences, much more unites us than divides us. We are fellow Americans, an association that means more to me than any other. We're dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal and endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. No country ever had a greater cause than that. And I wouldn't be an American worthy of the name if I didn't honor Sen. Obama and his supporters for their achievement.
But let there be no doubt, my friends, we're going to win this election. And after we've won, we're going to reach out our hand to any willing patriot, make this government start working for you again, and get this country back on the road to prosperity and peace.

Good morning, Netizens...

Here is a brief update with regard to the people trapped in Gaza City where Israeli forces are refusing to allow protestors to leave Palestinian territory peacefully.
British journalist and peace activist Lauren Booth, right, sister-in-law of former British premier Tony Blair, who is now an international Middle East peace envoy, attends a protest against the Israeli siege in Gaza City on Wednesday. Booth said today she is trapped in Gaza as Israel refuses to let her leave the Palestinian territory she entered aboard a protest boat. (Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)
(September 03, 2008) Getty Images

Dr. Bill Dienst, an emergency room physician in Washington, went to Gaza on one of the boats that broke the Israeli siege of Gaza last month, and is likewise trapped and being held hostage.

One must simply ask, why are the Israeli forces holding these peaceful protesters captive? What do they stand to gain from this?

Dave

Before you contradict an old man, my fair friend, you should endeavor to understand him.

George Santayana (1863 - 1952)

This week's theme: Words that appear to be misspellings.

ressentiment (ruh-san-tee-MAH [the final syllable has a nasal sound]) noun

   A feeling of resentment and hostility accompanied by the lack of means to express or act upon it.

[From French ressentiment, from ressentir (to feel strongly), from sentir, from Latin sentire (to feel). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sent- (to head for or to go), that is also the source for send, scent, sense, sentence, assent, and consent.]

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

  "It is fair enough to say that Gass intends Kohler as a representative modern middling man seething with ressentiment."
   Robert Alter; The Tunnel; The New Republic (Washington, DC); Mar 27, 1995.

  "Don is an extraordinary amalgam of ressentiment and rage."
   Carl Bromley; The Limeys; The Nation (New York); Jul 9, 2001.

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If a man should importune me to give a reason why I loved him, I find it could no otherwise be expressed, than by making answer: because it was he, because it was I. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)

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Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/ressentiment.mp3

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Dave

Good morning, Netizens...

Who wrote the speech for Governor Sarah Palin that was delivered on the floor of the Republican Convention last night? It wasn't Sarah Palin, but this man, Matthew Scully.

Matthew Scully's home page

In case you don't recognize the name, he has worked for George W. Bush for five years, and was part of the team that wrote every major speech of Bush's first term of office, including the speeches that followed 9/11. Scully has also written for vice presidents Dick Cheney and Dan Quayle, presidential candidate Robert Dole, Arizona Governor Fife Symington, and the late Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey to name a few. A former literary editor of National Review, his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The National Post of Canada, among other newspapers and magazines.

This is presented to deter any misconceptions that Sarah Palin really knows how to “pack 'em in” when it comes to authoring a speech, or that she knows the issues forward and backward. No, the John McCain Campaign brought in one of the best speech writers the Republican Party owns and he and Governor Palin huddled together for two days in a motel room writing her speech.

Wouldn't it be refreshing if Presidential (and Vice-Presidential candidates were forced to write their own speeches?

Dave

Good morning, Netizens...

As I was watching Governor Sarah Palin step through her paces last night, eventually delivering her canned speech before an ecstatic convention floor, I was utterly amazed at how this tiny infant managed to remain asleep throughout the entire raucous event. The thought continually bubbled up, upwanted, in my mind, why would they bring an infant, to the floor of the Republican National Convention? What purpose did it serve?

I wondered several times, as raucous demonstrations erupted around where the baby slept in Cindy McCain's arms, how a baby would sleep with all the applause and screaming delegates present? Call it being jaundiced or perhaps overly-distrustful, but could it be possible they handed the baby a mild tranquilizer mixed in with its pablum just before arriving at the Convention?

Furthermore, I mused over how much of a distraction it was. Did American television viewers or the members of the Convention demand that all of Sarah Palin's progeny be present on the stage when she completed her acceptance speech? If you were a candidate about to give an acceptance speech on national television, would you bring your baby to the show, or would you hire a wet nurse to tend him until afterward?

I did not learn a damned thing about Sarah Palin last night, other than how well she and various members of her extended family, including Cindy McCain, conducted their business while the tiny infant seemingly slept unaware of the high drama unfolding around him. Tonight all I learned about Governor Sarah Palin is how well she handles a Teleprompter, and I give her passing grades for that. I learned very little about the McCain campaign's assessment of its political standing with women, or working families, or social conservatives. Whether you're learning what Sarah Palin really thinks or feels is anybody's guess. That represents the most troublesome aspect of Vice-President Sarah Palin to me, because she is now one heartbeat away from the Oval Office and I still know very little about her.

I did note that Palin's speech entirely ignored the needs and wants of middle-class families, but after all, this is the Republican National Convention. I didn't expect they would waste any valuable time on the teleprompter talking about that or any other valuable social causes.

Dave

Good morning, Netizens...

Here is the text of Governor Sarah Palin's speech before the Republican National Convention last night:

Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored to be considered for the nomination for Vice President of the United States...

I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.

I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election... against confident opponents ... at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions ... and met far graver challenges ... and knows how tough fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.

It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.

With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.

But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.

They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.

Good morning, Netizens...

Jerry Reed has passed away.

The old adage that the older one becomes the more familiar faces seem to pass on or simply fade away has come true yet again this morning. Actually, the death of actor and consummate guitar player Jerry Reed took place Monday, but that seems irrelevant at this point in time. One of my true heroes has left the building, and now he'll be playing music with some of the other greats whose lives touched “The Guitar Man” in various ways.

Most people will always remember Reed for his priceless portrayal of the movie character Cletus Snow in Smokey and Bandit. You would think that I would remember the three movies for Burt Reynolds star value, but I have never had much of a thing for stars. My memories of Smokey and the Bandit was always personal, for me. I was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama waiting for a load at a truck stop and simply mouthed off to the wrong group of bikers and got my butt kicked but good. After all, they were taking a leak on the shiny new chrome wheels on my Peterbilt that I had just bought that afternoon. I should have kept my mouth shut, but I had just spent a lot of hard-earned cash to buy a brand-new set of those status symbols, shiny chrome wheels that any self-respecting trucker would love to own, and here were a bunch of greasy, filthy bikers-from-Hades peeing on my truck. It cost me a good sum of money getting parts of my body put back into its proper places at the hospital.

I never did forgot that beating, but the first time I saw Smokey and the Bandit I nearly screamed for joy for Jerry Reed (AKA Cletus Snow) climbed behind the wheel of his Kenilworth in "Smokey and the Bandit," covered in blood after getting his butt kicked by a bunch of bikers. Then he turned the wheel of the rig and aimed for their motorcycles, and he paid my debt of honor to those bikers in full. If I hadn't been so preoccupied with seeing through both black eyes that were swollen shut at the time, I'm sure I would have done the same thing.

It was a real jolt knowing that Jerry Reed is gone. People that are bigger than life aren't supposed to leave life behind.

Rest in peace, Jerry. I hope there are some good guitar pickers over yonder.

Dave

Good morning, Netizens...

It should be noted that a Skagit County Sheriff's Deputy Ann Jackson and five others died yesterday and a Washington State Patrolman injured by this guy in the picture, Isaac Zamora, 28. You can read the rest of the story here

Shooting in Skagit County

It seems important to me since Skagit County Sheriff's officer Anne Jackson, 40, had tried to help Zamora and his family in the past in dealing with Isaac's mental health issues. It was and now is painfully obvious that Isaac Zamora needed mental health treatment, whether he wanted it or not.

I resent the fact that the end-users of the VA and the mental health system are among the homeless most in need of intervention and care. Is the mental health system in Washington State as broken as it appears?

Dave

Good morning, Netizens...

In another of David Horsey's excellent political cartoons from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, we see yet another view of Sarah Palin. It seems, according to the cartoon qualities that Horsey has seized upon several times this week, the Republican die-hards consider Palin “interesting”. Many others continually refer to her purported lack of experience or the controversy surrounding her ex-brother-in-law. Others are carping about the entitlements and earmarks which Palin has brought to her town. Just this year, she sent to Sen. Ted. Stevens, R-Alaska, a proposal for 31 earmarks totaling $197 million — more, per person, than any other state. So, I suppose that if one is searching for a controversy, they probably can find one in Sarah Palin's past, but I also hasten to point out nearly every politician walks that same pathway.

On the right, we have a picture of Sarah Palin taking the oath of office in Wasilla, Alaska in 1996. As they say, she's come a long way, baby. From beauty queen, to small-town Mayor, then Governor and now Vice-Presidential candidate. I consider that a significant amount of movement.

It should be noted that Alaska pays $1,200 cash to every Alaskan. In addition, each Alaska resident gets an annual dividend check, about $2,000 this year, from Alaska's oil-wealth savings account, known as the Permanent Fund, now fattened to more than $35 billion. Perhaps residents of Alaska view entitlements and earmarks a bit differently than other states.

When you examine both Governor Palin and her husband, I find it more interesting that he prefers the official title of “first dude” than various other titles that have been suggested for him. One presumes that this title could be transferred to the husband of the Vice-President of the United States then, couldn't they? Somehow that title could go either way, depending upon circumstances, but I like it.

There is also a fair amount of controversy about Democrat female crossover voters who will vote for Palin strictly on the basis of her gender. How significant is the voting for former Hillary Clinton voters? There is apparently a groundswell of female voters who apparently are leaving the Democratic Party for Republican headquarters in the aftermath of Hillary losing a bid to Obama.

Sarah Palin is interesting, to say the very least. The real question of the day is will she add interest to the John McCain campaign, which according to all the polls, is trailing the Obama campaign at the present time? Is she an asset or a liability?

Those are the questions foremost in my mind. By all means, feel free to add more of your own remembering that tonight, Wednesday, Governor Palin will address the convention, and thus perhaps things may change.
Pictures courtesy of AP
Dave

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.

Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC)

This week's theme: Words that appear to be misspellings.

dissert (di-SUHRT) verb intr.

   To speak or write at length on a subject.

[From Latin disserere (to arrange in order), from dis- (apart, away) + serere (to join). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ser- (to line up), that is also the source of words such as series, assert, desert (to abandon), desert (a dry sandy region), sort, consort, and sorcerer.]

Here are various words with similar looks and sounds, some related, some not:

dessert (di-ZUHRT), as in "fat-free dessert", from French desservir (to clear the table) desert  (DEZ-uhrt), as in "the Sahara", from Latin deserere (to abandon)

desert  (di-ZUHRT), as in "to desert the army", from Latin deserere (to abandon)

desert  (di-ZUHRT), as in "to receive just deserts", from Latin deservire (to serve zealously)

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

  "There is no small amount of allure in hearing Evan dissert brusquely on his rationale for keeping certain women in the game."
   Scott Feschuk; Reality Chicks; National Post (Canada); Jan 15, 2003.

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Like a lawyer, the human brain wants victory, not truth; and, like a lawyer, it is sometimes more admirable for skill than virtue. -Robert Wright, author and journalist (b. 1957)

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Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/dissert.mp3

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Dave

Good morning, Netizens...

A pair of really stupid people walk along the Industrial Canal flood wall in the Ninth Ward in New Orleans, Louisiana September 1, 2008. REUTERS/Dave Martin (UNITED STATES)

A short time later, the water was knee-deep throughout most of the Ninth Ward, and although the levee was never breached, these two could easily have been washed into the flood waters had they been walking down the same area a few minutes later.

Still, the amount of damage caused by Hurricane Gustav was not anything similar to what had been expected.

Dave

If you have any doubts that we live in a society controlled by men, try reading down the index of contributors to a volume of quotations, looking for women's names.

Elaine Gill

This week's theme: Words that appear to be misspellings.

prorogue (pro-ROHG) verb tr.

   1. To discontinue a session of something, for example, a parliament.

   2. To defer or to postpone.

[From French proroger (to adjourn), from Latin prorogare (to prolong or defer), from pro- (before) + rogare (to ask). Ultimately from the Indo-European reg- (to move in a straight line, to lead or rule) that is also the source of
regime, direct, rectangle, erect, rectum, alert, source, and surge.]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=prorogue

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

  "Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera told The Sunday Times, 'I did not go to Parliament since it was prorogued on May 6.'" 
Manmohan to Meet Pillayan; The Sunday Times (Colombo, Sri Lanka); Jul 27, 2008.

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So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable. -Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)

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Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/prorogue.mp3

Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/prorogue.html

Dave

"How can a woman who just had a baby and also found out her 17 year old daughter is now pregnant handle the job of Vice President - and what happens when she is suddenly the President?"

The problem I have with those questions Jeanie is that I highly doubt anyone would ask them of a male VP candidate. And that bothers me a lot.

Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff.

Frank Zappa (1940 - 1993)

If you use spellcheckers in your day-to-day affairs, you know they are not a panacea for cacography (bad spelling). We all have seen spellcheckers approve "their" where "there" was intended, and learned the hard way that there is no substitute for good old eyeballing.

This week's AWAD will feature five words that are spelled only slightly differently from many everyday words. Let's look at these words that render your spellchecker less effective.

therefor (ther-FOR) adverb

   For that; in return or exchange for something, e.g. "placing an order and sending payment therefor".

[From Middle English therefor, from there + for. The word 'therefore' arose as a variant spelling of this word.]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=therefor

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

  "Thrice thereafter the temple was rebuilt, each time greater and more elaborately than before, but always on the site of the original shrine, though men forgot the reason therefor."
   Robert E. Howard; The Bloody Crown of Conan; Del Rey; 2004.

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Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear. -Harry S. Truman, 33rd US president (1884-1972)

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Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/therefor.mp3

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Dave

Good evening, Netizens...

In this AP photograph, President Bush holds a birthday cake for John McCain in Glendale, Ariz., Aug. 29, 2005, the day Katrina made landfall in Louisiana. He spent the evening, while people were dying in Louisiana and Mississippi at McCain's birthday party. Hurricane Gustav will be all different, we are told.

Having Bush show up at the convention at all was going to be a bit touchy, but now that Bush and Cheney have been scrubbed from the speaker's rostrum, things may get simpler. Some have observed Bush was scrubbed to avoid handing Obama the election on a platter and simply have him take the oath of office by default. After all, can you imagine Bush taking the speaker's rostrum to cite how wonderful things have been in his term of office while Gustav blasts what is left of New Orleans into splinters and piles of dead bodies?

Getting Bush off the speaker's rostrum makes the Republican Convention almost tolerable.

The one other thing we won't have to tolerate during Gustav that we had to put up with during Katrina:

Heckuva job, Brownie. (George W. Bush)

Dave

Good afternoon, Netizens...

The Republican National Convention will convene tomorrow, as planned, but today Rick Davis, Campaign Manager for the John McCain Campaign stated in a press conference a short time ago that only the business aspects of the convention will be conducted tomorrow. Due to Hurricane Gustav, all other convention business, including roll call, have been temporarily suspended.

Davis stated that he could not make “any commitment past 5:30 tomorrow afternoon” due to the unpredictability of the hurricane heading for the Gulf Coast tomorrow. However, he repeated his statement that Republicans will “put on the best possible convention as possible, given the circumstances.”

Davis also noted that delegates to the convention from the Gulf States were already on a chartered plane heading home to be with their families and/or get them out of harm's way.

Dave

Good afternoon, Netizens...

Thanks to NPR, I finally have a copy of Palin's speech which was given by her at a rally in Dayton, Ohio. The reason this speech was not cited, as were Obama's, is that it was not an acceptance speech, but rather a speech before a rally. As such I did not construe it to be nearly as important as her acceptance speech will be when given during the Republican Convention, when or if that takes place. Here, then, is the speech Sarah Palin gave during a rally:

And I thank you, Sen. McCain and Mrs. McCain, for the confidence that you have placed in me. Senator, I am honored to be chosen as your running mate. I will be honored to serve next to the next president of the United States.
I know that when Sen. McCain gave me this opportunity, he had a short list of highly qualified men and women, and to have made that list at all — it was a privilege. And to have been chosen brings a great challenge. I know that it will demand the best that I have to give, and I promise nothing less.
First, there are a few people whom I would like you to meet. I want to start with my husband, Todd. And Todd and I are actually celebrating our 20th anniversary today, and I promised him a little surprise for the anniversary present, and hopefully he knows that I did deliver.
And then we have as — after my husband, who is a lifelong commercial fisherman, lifetime Alaskan — he's a production operator. Todd is a production operator in the oil fields up on Alaska's North Slope, and he's a proud member of the United Steelworkers Union, and he's a world champion snow machine racer. Todd and I met way back in high school, and I can tell you that he is still the man that I admire most in this world.
Along the way, Todd and I have shared many blessings, and four out of five of them are here with us today. Our oldest son, Track, though, he'll be following the presidential campaign from afar. On Sept. 11 of last year, our son enlisted in the United States Army. Track now serves in an infantry brigade. And on Sept. 11, Track will deploy to Iraq in the service of his country. And Todd and I are so proud of him and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform.
Next to Todd is our daughter Bristol; another daughter, Willow; our youngest daughter, Piper; and over in their arms is our son Trig, a beautiful baby boy. He was born just in April. His name is Trig Paxson Van Palin.
Some of life's greatest opportunities come unexpectedly, and this is certainly the case today. I never really set out to be involved in public affairs, much less to run for this office. My mom and dad both worked at the local elementary school. And my husband and I, we both grew up working with our hands.
I was just your average "hockey mom" in Alaska. We were busy raising our kids. I was serving as the team mom and coaching some basketball on the side. I got involved in the PTA and then was elected to the City Council and then elected mayor of my hometown, where my agenda was to stop wasteful spending and cut property taxes and put the people first.

Good morning, Netizens...

We always want to keep an eye on potential problems. While an area extending from Texas to Mississippi are evacuating and taking other precautions for Hurricane Gustav, which is making its way through the Gulf, making what appears to be a dead-on shot at the Louisiana coastline, there are other potential problems which may impact our lives, even here in the Inland Northwest.

In this morning's NOAA satellite photograph we can see the huge Hurricane Gustav, which is presently moving Northwest of Cuba rebuilding itself after crossing over land to what hurricane forecasters suggest may become a Category 5 hurricane shortly before it makes landfall Monday evening. Lagging slightly behind it is Tropic Storm Hanna, which is still in its formative stages. Further out in the Atlantic, numbers one and two respectively, are two more tropical depressions, as of yet unnamed, that have the potential to become hurricanes.

Oil production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico as well as inland in Mississippi and Louisiana have shut down, which will drive the price of sweet crude oil upward, even as the price of gasoline locally has been showing signs of dropping. Some forecasters are predicting we could see prices dramatically spike upward if Hurricane Gustav turns out to be as intense as some are saying.

Tropical Storm Hanna, on the other hand, is showing signs that it will maintain a course along the East Side of the State of Florida and may strengthen into a Category 3 or 4 hurricane by late tomorrow. However, predicting the paths of hurricanes is an imperfect science, and thus Hanna could veer into the Gulf and follow the path that Gustav is presently predicted to follow.

The stage is set. We have a multitude of potentially-devastating tropical storms queuing up in the South Atlantic, and one huge and potentially-deadly hurricane taking aim at the U.S. Gulf Coast after ravaging parts of Cuba and Haiti.

This bears close observation. We may end up paying at the gas pumps for the unpredictability of Mother Nature, not to mention sheer pandemonium along the Gulf Coast.

Dave