HOW ARE WE DOING ON OUR ERNESTO PANIC THIS MORNING?

As I see it, Ernesto has just turned into a huge rain shower.  The meter readers are describing it as a "weak tropical storm."  But wait!  We do have one death!  A woman in Miami was killed when her car hydroplaned on a wet road.  She hit a palm tree.  So I guess Florida's official state of emergency for this rain storm was justified.

We have two groups of disappointed people.  The global warmistas and the media.  The media -- especially TV -- are miffed because they won't have millions of people glued to the tube to see all of the devastation.  The global warming crowd is even more upset because here we go ripping right into September and we haven't had one single solitary hurricane hit the U.S. yet! 

Well ... there's still time.  In the meantime its nice to know that the people of Florida have stocked up on toilet paper, bread and milk.

HIRE MORE BAGGAGE HANDLERS?

I heard America's best morning radio newsman (that would be Scott Slade on Atlanta's News/Talk 750 WSB, by the way) talking about the airlines new baggage woes this morning.  It seems that more people are checking luggage these days and at least one airline, Delta, is considering hiring additional baggage handlers.

Hold on!  I think I can help here.  You don't have to hire new bag busters.  Just get the ones you're already paying to do their job efficiently and quickly.

I can't speak for handlers at other airports ... though Las Vegas seems to be the worst.  But I've noticed something rather odd here in Atlanta ... Delta's home.  Watch the bags coming off the conveyor belt onto the baggage carousel.  Why, pray tell, will you see an eight to ten foot gap between each bag?  If you have two busters unloading bags onto the conveyor belt from the baggage carts there should be no way you get a large gap between each bag.  You should be able to keep the belt reasonably full ... small gaps ... with only one buster at work. What's going on down there?  I can just picture some union bag buster slamming a bag on the belt -- scratching himself --- another bag ---- pick his nose --- another bag --- shout out to a friend --- another bag --- stretch --- another bag --- yawn --- another bag ---.  Get the picture?

Put a camera on the baggage handlers and TV monitors at baggage claim.  Watch how fast those bags hit the carousel then.

BOORTZ WRONG AGAIN

Well .. I was wrong.  Yesterday I said that amid all of the hand-wringing over the 1st anniversary of Hurricane Katrina you wouldn't find one news source that would detail the damage done by Katrina evacuees in other cities.

Last night on Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume they did just that.  They handed out some statistics on the increase in crime in Houston, Texas directly attributable to Katrina evacuees.   Since Katrina Houston has experienced a 17% increase in homicides.  No less than 34 murders have been committed by Katrina debris.  The price tag to Houstonians for the increased crime related to Katrina debris is around $18 million.

Remember .. no good deed goes unpunished.

BROWNIE THE BUSH-BASHER

With the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina under our belt, the usual suspects have been making the rounds in the media to analyze the current situation.  We've gotten our share of interviews with the mayor of the Chocolate City, Ray Nagin as well as the governor, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.  President Bush is also making the rounds down there for photo ops and so forth.

But out of all this, a new media darling has emerged:  former FEMA Director Mike Brown.  Brown, who was fired for his incompetence, has remade himself into sort of a victim....and is seeking to revise history, deflect blame and portray himself as a victim.  His new message:  I was doing my job and the whole debacle was Bush's fault.  In other words, "Brownie" has become a Bush-basher. 

And the media is eating it all up.  In Mike Brown, the left and the mainstream media have found a new hero.  Here's one of the guys who was on the inside....a member of the Bush Administration...and now he's blaming Bush!  On to a pedestal he goes, his every word being reported as if it's gospel. 

Here is just a sample of some of Mike Brown's greatest hits.  Regarding the lackluster federal response, he said: "There was no plan.  Three years ago, we should have done catastrophic planning."  He also complained that his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff "would not give me the money to do that kind of planning."  Aww..poor baby.  No matter what happened, it wasn't his fault....somebody else caused the problem.  Not Mike Brown.

And what about all those times during the Katrina response that he said everything was just hunky dory?  Well, he now says those were just White House talking points and he regrets repeating them.  How convenient.  Did Mike Brown ever do anything wrong?  Doesn't look like it.  Besides, if you really want to know how good Mike Brown was at his job, just ask him.

If you're bored, read all 928 pages of Michael Brown's emails [huge pdf file] from that time period.

CNN'S BATHROOM BREAK

Yesterday CNN was carrying a speech by President Bush about the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.  Somebody decided, in their infinite wisdom, to leave open the microphone of CNN anchor Kyra Phillips.  And what was she doing during this time?  Well, she went to the bathroom. [video]

Poor Kyra.

On the TV during the president's speech, viewers saw President Bush standing in front of an American flag, talking about his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.  But what viewers heard over the top of the speech was Kyra Phillips heading into the commode, speaking to a co-worker and talking about (evidently) her brother's controlling wife.  You hear it all....Phillips relieving herself, zipping up and everything.  This went on for at least a solid minute, which is an eternity in the world of live television.

Anyway, CNN has apologized and says the whole thing was a mistake.  But it makes you wonder....because this isn't the first time they've done something to a broadcast covering the Bush Administration.  Remember the Dick Cheney speech with the big X over him?  Given the duration of the open microphone in the bathroom, one just has to be a wee-bit curious as to just how much of an "accident" it was.  Perhaps some audio engineer with an axe to grind looked the other way? Ahhhhh ... probably not.  But who knows?

One thing's for sure:  things sure are going to be frosty around the Thanksgiving table this year at the Phillips household.  Calling your sister-in-law a "control freak" on national television will do that.

Gotta love it.

THE PUBLIC HAS IT RIGHT

There is a new poll out that says 62% of Americans think there will be another terrorist attack in the coming months.  Only 37% were not worried at all about another attack, and those are no doubt all liberal Democrats.  At any rate, this is a good sign.  Because the odds of another terrorist attack are quite good.  Our Islamic terrorist enemies are never going to stop trying to kill us all until we destroy their will to fight and kill.   It's a good sign that the public at least recognizes this.

But in the same poll, another interesting statistic emerges.  It turns out 60% of those polled believe that said authorities should sound single out people who look "Middle Eastern" for additional security screening at airports and train stations.  Finally...the public gets it.  Too bad the TSA, who is more concerned about political correctness and searching little old ladies, does not.  But at least this is progress.

So what does the public know that government does not?  That 60% knows the enemy we are fighting on the War On Terror and they know what they look like.  All of the 9/11 hijackers were Muslims of Middle Eastern descent.  All of the plotters foiled in the recent UK terrorist airplane plot were the same.  This isn't rocket surgery.  To let, for instance, somebody from Iran breeze through the metal detector while the TSA searches some retiree from Nebraska's shoes is insane.  But it happens everyday.

So maybe with a little public support, we can start racially profiling airline passengers.  Does this mean every Arab Muslim is a terrorism?  Absolutely not...in fact, the overwhelming majority are not.  But as recent history has shown us, just about every terrorist is from the Middle East and is a Muslim.  That's all we need to know. 

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

This title is a must for any well-stocked redneck library. Ah, the classics. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Dr. Walter E. Williams notes that the attack on private property rights didn't just begin with the Kelo vs. New London, Connecticut Supreme Court decision.  Williams has several other examples.  Did you know that foie gras is banned in Chicago?

An Iraqi architect is upset that he had to change out of a shirt that said "we will not be silent" in Arabic and English on it before boarding a flight from JFK to California.  Too bad...when you consider who usually hijacks airplanes, it makes perfect sense that airline passengers could be more than a bit uncomfortable with that.

Boulder, Colorado DA Mary Lacy takes full responsibility for the John Mark Karr debacle, but says he was dangerous and needed to be checked out.  The governor, on the other hand, calls the whole thing the most expensive DNA test in Colorado history.  Lacy is out the door in 2008, thanks to term limits.

The president of Iran is challenging George W. Bush to a televised debate.  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has until tomorrow to stop enriching uranium, according to the U.N. Security Council.  Then what will happen?  Probably nothing.

Slate columnist Christopher Hitchens has written an excellent piece about the Valerie Plame non-affair.  He goes over the whole controversy and says there is proof that an Iraqi diplomat did try to buy uranium in Niger, despite the lies of Joe Wilson.  Don't miss this one.

I bet Kofi Annan didn't expect this reception.  The U.N. Secretary-General was booed when he toured Hezbollah-controlled areas in Lebanon.  But he's on their side!  What happened here?  Perhaps those doing the booing are a bit confused.

This is an interesting development.  Former Republican member of Congress and 1996 Republican Vice Presidential nominee Jack Kemp is going up to Connecticut to campaign.....for Joe Lieberman.  Democratic wishes continue to be dashed in the state...Ned Lamont is still 12 points behind.

John Stossel, taking note of all the back-to-school sales the stores are running, says it's long past time the schools had competition themselves.  But, sadly, the teacher's unions and their buddies in the Democratic Party are doing everything in their power to stop it.  Why?

President Bush took quite a hit in his approval rating for his administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina.  But Fred Barnes notes that it didn't have to happen that way.  Barnes offers three things the president could have done to curb the Katrina fall-out.

Did you know that one of the Islamic terrorist tools of the trade is an ambulance?  That's right....terrorists use the emergency vehicles to sneak around suicide bombs, among other things.  Michelle Malkin has more.

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