Hurricane Katrina - 90,000 Square Miles of Damage

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is the most terrible disaster I've ever witnessed on TV in my life. I was in the 1989 Loma Piereta Earthquake here in Oakland and the SF Bay Area, and that was not bad by comparson, because the damage was in certain areas, like the Marina District of SF, or the Cypress Freeway (which collapsed), again here in Oakland. I also helped my high school friend Val and her parents move out of the sudden war zone that was their neighborhood during the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire. That was a local trajedy.

But, according to White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan ( www.whitehouse.gov.) , the destruction of Hurricane Katrina incompasses a 90,000 square mile area.

Now, to comprehend how big that is, it's the size of three states. There are over 1 million people homeless. One of those people is my friend Melissa Detwiller, who lost her home and possibly her three cats. She and her husband Danny lived in New Orleans, and are now in Houston. She's a competitive bodybuilder and has a website. Help her by becoming a sponsor. Just click: ( www.melissadettwiller.com -- that takes you right to her sponsor page.

A Big Republican Mess

Hurricane Katrina is also a test for the Bush Adminstration. It's going to have to -- geez, all these folks screaming and chanting for help in New Orleans on CNN is terrible -- pull some troops from Iraq and other areas of the World. Why? Just watch CNN and listen to the reports of people crying for help, of the total lack of any one of authority around to even give a reassuring pat on the back. And of course, there's the looting. Yes, there are people and resources coming from around the country. But they tax the need for those same resources in their home areas.

Plus, once they get down there, they're in an area almost totally covered by water and with no power or communications, from what I've learned. Cell phones -- which work with towers nearby -- don't work. If you've got a satelite phone, you're in good shape. But how many people do?

If the Administration -- if the President -- doesn't show the resolve to change his course to focus on this matter, the Republican Party will not soon recover.

Pat Robertson - Thanks for The Lesson!

On Tuesday, Pat Robertson stated that if Venezualan President Hugo Chavez thinks the US is going to assasinate him, we might as well do it. There was no mistaking that.

Now, I like Pat and have watched his show on many occasions, particularly when I was small. But even then I felt like he was trying to mold me into a Republican. I've watched Pat long enough to be able to tell when he's serious. It's when he shakes his head slightly but rapidly from side to side as he talks. He did that on Tuesday. He meant what he said.

Man, I didn't even know who Hugo Chavez was until today! Thanks Pat.

Also, Pat got it wrong: Chavez is not a dictator. He was recently reelected. The problem is many of his viewers will not investigate that fact, they'll just eat it hook, line, and sinker. ...and become Republican. Geez.