Just Thinking, Sunday October 17th

 I enjoy Sundays in the fall. It is my day to watch some good old "American" football -and these days I usually get to see my "Saints" in action. I have been a Saints fan since the early 80's. I was living in Dallas, Texas and traveling to New Orleans on business every other month. One Sunday afternoon I was in "The Big Easy" and a friend invited me to go see the Cowboys and the Saints play. The Cowboys were number one that year and the Saints were 2nd to last. When I got the the stadium I was struck by the fact that in spite of how everyone knew it was going to turn out, the Saints fans were there in huge numbers -many wearing paper bags over their heads, but still there. I figured any fans that loyal deserved to have a winning team and I have been routing for the Saints ever since. It took a while, but the last couple of years have given us some really great football to watch...


I was just thinking.... I am not too confident about how things are going to work out in the coming mid-term elections. I seem to remember a Republican Party that got swept into office under fairly similar conditions back in the 90's curing Clinton's mid-term. Remember the original "Contract with America" and all that? How did all that work out? As I recall we wound up with 8 years of George Bush and the start of all this government expansion and spending..... so much for political promises. If it is done better this time it will only be because we (the people) are watching much more closely than before. Let's hope, anyway......

The wheels of justice turn agonizingly slowly sometimes. I noticed that an Article 32 hearing (the military equivalent of a Grand Jury Hearing) is just now starting for Major Hasan, the Army officer that shot all those poor soldiers at Fort Hood. Before being transferred to Fort Hood, Hasan reportedly worried colleagues. He embraced a literal reading of the Quran. Long before the attack, peers and supervising officers observed that Hasan made extreme statements about his Muslim faith, including his belief that the U.S was at war with Islam. He reportedly argued that Muslims should be allowed to leave the military to avoid having to fight fellow Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. He told relatives that he felt harassed as a Muslim and tried to leave the Army before being assigned to Fort Hood for a war-zone deployment. After the Fort Hood attack, a review commissioned by Defense Secretary Robert Gates found missed warning signs and a lack of "appropriate judgment" in Hasan's supervision as a medical student, intern and psychiatrist in training. Though details were not released, a public summary cited discrepancies between Hasan's performance and his personnel records. The review recommended that his superior officers be held accountable. 

Megan C. Taylor, 20, and Donna Toure, 34, were booked into the Hamilton County jail Monday night on charges of soliciting prostitution

Cincinnati police say a prostitute called them for help when her customer refused to pay for services rendered. When the woman summoned officers to a Camp Washington motel on Monday night, she told them to get there fast because hostages were being held at gunpoint, according to Hamilton County court records.But when police arrived, they arrested two women on prostitution charges.Megan C. Taylor, 20, and Donna Toure, 34, were booked into the Hamilton County jail about 8 p.m. on charges of soliciting prostitution. Taylor faces an additional charge of inducing panic for allegedly making the phony report. Both women also were wanted on open warrants for other, unrelated charges such as assault and child endangering, court records show.

On this day in 1781 Cornwallis was defeated at Yorktown and in 1989 an earthquake in SF (6.9) cancels 3rd game of 86th World Series - kills 67

Live Long and Prosper....