Listening to rain

It's Friday night, August 1, and I'm listening to the rain and and hoping for a cooler start in the morning. It has been so hard to walk with my poles because of the humidity. I did swim laps this afternoon so I got some exercise.

Health care reform

Here is my suggestion to the Democrats on health care reform. Scrap the 2000 page bill which nobody understands and start anew with incremental steps: 1. No disqualifications for pre-existing conditions, 2. Plug the "donut hole" in the Medicare drug program, 3. Enact tort reform. Once these reforms pass then add to the reform incrementally. Furthermore the White House, not Congress should write the bill.

Watching the Cowboys and the Vikings. Finally it's warm--77 right now at 2:30 PM. I just can't watch anymore misery from Haiti. Some interesting stories of survival but so much death and destruction. I can't understand why we couldn't fly in more heavy equipment to effect rescues. Installed Office 2007 yesterday. It works fine. I will but Windows 7 next month.

February 9

Barack Obama speaking in Maine. Huckabeee winning Kansas. All kinds of political news. Obama seems to be striking a responsive chord in Maine talking about health care. Why would Huckabee stay in the race against insurmountable odds? Could he be angling for a VP bid? That would be a strange combination, McCain and Huckabee! Both Obama and Clinton are claiming to be undogs in the Democratic race. Actually the longer Obama and Clinton fight it out attention will not be centered on McCain. How about Bush hugging tornado victims in Tennessee? That seems strangely familiar to New Orleans. I don't think they can count on lots of federal aid.

Friday, February 8

Finally Friday! This has been a difficult week with so many students out of school. Eight kids missed my test yesterday. I have been on the verge of a cold but so far so good. It seems every day there is news of another shooting. We were remarking that it seems that all the shooters are men until today when two students were killed by a female shooter. I'm reading an blog about an English World War I soldier whose grandson is compiling letters from his grandfather about his experiences on the Western Front during World War I and posting them on his blog at Blogger.

Saturday Morning

Another week gone by. With all the bad weather up north I'm glad I'm in SW Florida where the breezes are balmy and the living is good. The Hindu Temple of SW Florida is progressing. lots of noise and dust in the neighborhood. This week was productive in spite of all the events that distracted the classroom. Next week should be reasonably normal. I transitioned to the 20th century on Friday. We covered McKinley's last days and then characterized Teddy Roosevelt. Our floors are finally finished. The rest of the wood was installed last night. It looks great. Super Tuesday should be interesting. I still haven't made up my mind between barack and Hillary. I see in Barack Obama the spirit that moved me in 1960 to vote for JFK. We need a new spirit to move America. McCain just does not have it. Just his support of Bush's policy on Iraq is enough to turn me off. What a great debate the other night. I loved the question about the "dream ticket." i really can't see Hillary as VP. Well, on to shopping and the library.

A Brokered Convention?

Brrr. It made me chilled just watching yesterday's games in Foxboro and Greenbay. I'm thankful I'm in Florida. It warmed up to 76 here today and may approach 80 tomorrow. Next week is the Florida Primary for both the Democrats and Republicans. We will vote in spite of the fact that the Democratic votes won't count because of the early primary. Wouldn't it be interesting if both parties fail to have a clear winner going into this summer. Maybe a dark horse candidate would emerge. How about the scenario that Al Gore woul be that Democratic dark horse