Categories
Photography Weather Weblogging

End of the season

The states bordering Missouri have been blasted by some unusual weather including an outbreak of tornados. It was interesting watching the storms fold around St. Louis, leaving us virtually untouched. This city really is located in a sweet spot, escaping most of the weather outbreaks, at least for now. The only impact on us was a little rain and enough wind to knock the leaves off the trees. Fall is over for the year.

fall photo from tower grove

Speaking of Fall, my friend Chris Locke isn’t the only weblogger in the neighborhood with a birthday this month. The great thing about birthdays is no matter how old you are, a birthday is always better than the alternative.

black and white photo of an old tree

Up with life, but down with gravity.

Categories
Political Weather

What’s the weather in Iraq

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Hurricane Lili sputtered to a category 1 when it rolled into the US — enough to inflict damage, but not to the extent of first speculations, when Lili was a category 4 hurricane.

Unfortunately, as much as I wish that Congress would have stood strong, forcing President Bush’s category 4 bluster down to category 1, or even tropical storm status, yesterday’s news conference with Bush and several congressional leaders show this isn’t going to happen. As the Boston Globe (and other publications) reported, all the little political ducks in congress — including Senator Gephardt from Missouri I’m ashamed to say — have lined up behind our little soldier.

There is really nothing, now, to stop Bush — a man who’s justification for war is suspect when one reads Saddam “tried to kill my dad” — from invading Iraq.

Certainly not a Congress who would push through a resolution stating that Bush only need inform them of an attack within 48 hours after it’s occurred. Hell, I can inform them within 24 hours of an attack and I don’t have the CIA and the military in my pocket. And to give the President a blank check to invade Iraq if he, he mind you, determines that diplomatic efforts have failed, is nothing more than a washing of Congressional hands; absolving themselves from any responsibility of the actions while reaping whatever pale benefits they might be able to scavage from their acts of inaction.

Both the Congress and the Presidency of this country are fast becoming nothing more than characterizations of our worst fears: a paranoid, megalomaniacal president with delusions of grandeur, only held in check by a weak and ineffectual Congress.

Too bad Lili didn’t hit Washington DC, instead — that area could have used the fresh air.

Update Mark Fiore sums this whole thing up for me. (Thanks Michael)

Second Update:This also fits this occasion: Norm Jenson’s Asshole of Evil. Norm also pointed out Flight of the Chickenhawks.

Categories
Weather

Cause and effect

A record number of salmon were killed in the Klamath River in Northern California, and the administration refuses to acknowledge that the cause was water diverted to help farmers in Southern Oregon. Though the administration was warned that to divert the water would result in death to salmon who use the river for spawning, the administration trotted out its tame team of politically friendly scientists to say there is no cause and effect relationship between less water and fish dying.

These are probably the same scientists who say that there is no global warming, though today’s temperature in this region is 20 degrees warmer than normal for the first week of October, and massive droughts impact on those parts of the world that aren’t being drowned by unprecedented flooding.

Categories
Weather

The Dog Days

Well, wasn’t I in a melancholy mood before retiring yesterday? I blame it on the dog days of August.

This time of year, the Dog Star–Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major–starts appearing in the sky just before dawn for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, after hiding behind the sun for most of the summer. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that it was Sirius in combination with the Sun that causes so much of the heat we feel at this time of year. Those crazy Greeks and Romans.

Regardless of how we got the term, these days are the worst of our summer and it shows. The Southern Hemisphere webloggers are just going to have to carry the rest of us for a week or two.

Categories
Weather

T-storm

The storm rolled in this morning, sending thunder ahead in warning, like the drums of a potentate’s caravan.

Boom. Boom. I’m coming

BOOM. BOOM. Getting closer!

I got out of bed and stood at the bedroom window, watching the winds whip the trees, the flashes of lightning, and the heavy rain. I’ll never tire of thunderstorms.

About a month ago a t-storm took out the computer of a friend of my roommate, this with the machine plugged into a surge protector.

Two weeks ago a co-worker of my roommate got a call from the security company that monitors his home: his home was on fire. He raced home only to find a mess where his home was. Lightning had hit a copper pipe attached to his gas furnace and caused the furnace to blow up. Luckily, no one was home.

Thunderstorms. I really love them. However, it’s not a good idea to take a shower in a storm, talk on the phone, play golf, or work on the computer. After all you never know when you’ll be