New Orleans will be situated on the northeast side of Gustav, the worst quadrant of a tropical system..
PRAYERS FOR NEW ORLEANS.. PRAYERS FOR THE
GULF
COAST
All the news unfit to print for Sunday, August 31, 2008
11:30 WRAP..
The big three, FOX NEWS, MSNBC, and CNN have gone wall to wall with Gustav coverage.. The main focus of the nets appears to be on New Orleans. Advice of experts appears to have been heeded.. Officials say that 90% of the townspeoples have gone.. Somewhere. Hopefully safe..
Bobby Jindal, Ray Nagin, and George W. Bush have warned of dire circumstances at this critical time before Gustav comes on land..
THE NEW GUIDANCE RUNS SHOW A SLIGHT LEFT TURN AFTER 12 HR WITH A LEFTWARD SHIFT IN THE LANDFALL POINT ON THE LOUISIANA COAST. THE NEW FORECAST TRACK WILL NOT FOLLOW THIS SHIFT YET...AND THUS LIES NEAR THE EASTERN EDGE OF THE GUIDANCE ENVELOPE AND THE PREVIOUS FORECAST TRACK THROUGH 48 HR. AFTER 48-72 HR...THERE IS MAJOR DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN THE DYNAMICAL MODELS ON WHETHER GUSTAV WILL RECURVE INTO THE WESTERLIES...STALL OVER LOUISIANA OR TEXAS...OR TURN SOUTHWESTWARD. SINCE THIS KIND OF SPREAD FREQUENTLY PRECEDES SLOW MOTION...THE FORECAST TRACK WILL CALL FOR A SLOW WESTWARD MOTION AFTER 72 HR.
McCain has been rumored to be thinking of speaking to the convention via satellite.. Perhaps the week will be shortened due to the potential deadly impact of Gustav..
Hockey moms and soccer moms unite? The possibilities of Palin
AP Photo/Heath Family Now that America is getting to know Sarah Palin--and quite possibly John McCain is getting to know her, too--questions are arising along with a certain pop-cultural "VPILF" pile-on online..
McCain seems to have chosen Palin on a gut instinct.. Not knowing her, he had to rely on what he knew about her, or at least what he was told about her..
I envision a sort of awkward meeting.. perhaps he's not too sure what to think of this strange-accented Northern gun-toating snowmobiling 'hot' Governor-ess from a state very few people even think about when the speak of "America." It's a huge gamble..
Did she get vetted? The PEOPLE magazine cover this week on the new McCain/Palin team looked strange .. McCain seems able to 'strange up' any situation he's in, though. He looked like a proud grandfather at a baptism for his grandchild.. Palin the happy mom of 5.. The risky gamble..
State politicians up in the North are stunned at the Palin choice, too.. State Senate President Lyda Green said she thought it was a joke when someone called her at 6 a.m. to give her the news.. "She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"
I also read one story in which the author mentioned that McCain "fingered" the Alaska governor for his VP choice.. .. perhaps now that we have a female Vice President it may be necessary to watch the verbs we choose? Be careful, editors...
The sidewalk is a little nervous this morning.. The latest guidance from computer models show a storm intense in the Gulf.. ready and poised to strike the United States.. That's the most important story of the day and most likely the week.. A few other news events taking place around the world:
...Cleaning up the streamers after the Labor Day parade...
Sitting here in Avalon, looking at the pouring rain Summertime has come and gone and everybody's home again Closing down for the season, I found the last of the souvenirs I can still taste the wedding cake and it's sweet after all these years
These are the last words I have to say That's why this took so long to write There will be other words some other day But that's the story of my life
There's comfort in my coffee cup and apples in the early fall They're pulling all the moorings up and gathering at the Legion Hall They swept away all the streamers after the Labor Day parade Nothing left for a dreamer now, only one final serenade
And these are the last words I have to say Before another age goes by With all those other songs I'll have to play But that's the story of my life
And it's so clear standing here where I am Ain't that what justice is for? Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn anymore
Stack the chairs on the table tops Hang the sheets on the chandeliers It slows down but it never stops Ain't it sweet after all these years
And these are the last words I have to say It's always hard to say goodbye But now it's time to put this book away Ain't that the story of my life
Gustav is winding up in the Gulf.. preparations are underway across the South.. Hurricane hunters watching for signs of the big storm becoming a Cat 5, something that is now expected in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico..
Gustav's impact: Tides reaching at least 9-12 feet above normal and winds potentially of Category 3 status, or at least 111 mph, as it slams into the coastline of the Gulf.. Widespread flooding expected.. 6 to 12 inches of rain. .low line areas will be affected by the massive rains .. there will also be isolated tornadoes..
Tonight's hurricane watch statement to New Orleans appears eerily similar to Katrina three short years ago:
"A POTENTIAL STORM SURGE OF 15 TO 20 FEET WILL BE POSSIBLE NEAR AND TO THE RIGHT OF LOCATION OF LANDFALL OF HURRICANE GUSTAV. A STORM SURGE OF THIS MAGNITUDE COULD RESULT IN EXTENSIVE FLOODING AND POSE A THREAT TO LIFE AND PROPERTY
TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS WILL POTENTIALLY IMPACT COASTAL AREAS OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA DURING THE PRE DAWN HOURS MONDAY MORNING AND SPREAD INLAND ACROSS SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA AND ACROSS COASTAL MISSISSIPPI MONDAY MORNING. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE ALONG PORTIONS OF THE COAST BY MID MONDAY MORNING AND SPREAD INLAND TO SOME AREAS MONDAY AFTERNOON AND MONDAY NIGHT"
HAVOC AT THE GOP CONVENTION: WHO WILL ATTEND, WHO WILL CANCEL? McCAIN/PALIN TO GO TO MISSISSIPPI
The Republican party is set to start its convention Monday--just as Hurricane Gustav (and then Hanna) make major headlines in the Gulf of Mexico.. Tonight, as Governor Bobby Jindal says Gustav could be worse than Katrina and Mayor Ray Nagin is telling New Orleans residents to be 'very scared' of Gustav, questions persist as to who will be speaking at GOP convention.. The POLITICO details a scrambled mess .. President George W. Bush, officials say, will most likely not be at the convention.. There are even plans that John McCain may deliver his acceptance speech via satellite..
According to the POLITICO report tonight, McCain was scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech Thursday but now may do so from the devastation zone if the storm hits the U.S. coast with the ferocity feared by forecasters..
Three years after Katrina devastated Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other areas in the South, New Orleans is feeling deju vu all over again. Late Saturday Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, the city most destroyed by Katrina's force in 2005.. And now today, as America celebrates Labor Day weekend with parades and streamers, millions across the South prepare for what could be a will most likely become an intense and dangerous Category 5 hurricane.. Aimed for somewhere along the Gulf Coast..
We can only hope and pray that the path of Gustav will keep New Orleans out of the most harm (*although looking at long range models, Hanna may also be a fear*).. but today we are learning that those who stay in New Orleans during Gustav will have on shelter .. Police with bullhorns going through the streets of the city this weekend announcing that if you don't leave now, there will be no shelter, you are on your own.. The doors of the Superdome are going to be locked this time around.
GUSTAV EXPLODING IN GULF; THOUSANDS EVACUATING FROM NEW ORLEANS, OTHER CITIES; UNCERTAIN PATH AS NEW COMPUTER MODELS COME IN
PHOTO: AFP Weather is not an exact science, but when you are just getting over a major hurricane three years ago and see another on the horizon, you want exact..New computer models are showing a frighteningly strengthening Gustav in the Gulf.. Exploding into a powerful category 3 storm--some weather forecasters expect a cat 4 before it's over, a few have worried aloud that a Cat 5 storm may not be out of the question.
President Bush has declared a state of emergency in Louisiana--and Texas. The latest projected path shows landfall 2am Tuesday Southwest of New Orleans--however new models shown on the Weather Channel this morning show a curve at the last minute away from the United States and back South into the Gulf! Possibly strengthening even more..
As the storms gets stronger, nonessential oil workers in the Gulf have been evacuated.. Worries over $4 a gallon gas for Labor Day--even $5 a gallon if the storm hits Gulf oil fields and causes widespread damage..
And it's not over after Gustav--Hanna is next. And "Ike" is in its making off the coast of Africa..
Ladies and gentlemen, and readers of all shapes and sizes: Gas up the cars before Tuesday. This could get bad...
PEOPLE magazine placing the McCains and Palins on the cover.. the new happy family of politics.. Maybe.. but I noticed watching the talking heads that, for even those that really dislike VPILF candidate Sarah Palin, they are having lots of trouble being critical. Being very careful.. Besides Keith Olbermann..
Authors Jim VandeHei and John F. Harris explain the six things that the Palin pick says about McCain: He's desperate; he's willing to gamble — bigtime; he's worried about the political implications of his age; he's not worried about the actuarial implications of the age issue, he's worried about his conservative base; and at the end of the day, "McCain is still McCain," marching to his own beat..
But on the heels of Obama's convention address, the most amazing political speech since Lincoln addressed Gettysburg during war, McCain needed some good press. Sure, he only met Palin once or twice, and sure, maybe her husband is not even a Republican, and sure, maybe she wasn't quite sure what a Vice President did.. And for a candidate that just turned 72 trying to distance himself from George W. Bush, what could be better than a PEOPLE magazine cover with his new attractive young Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin?
Ron Paul isn't permitted to speak at the upcoming Republican convention, but that is not stopping his supporters from continuing their Ron Paul Revolution..
GUSTAV A DANGEROUS HURRICANE; FEARS THAT STORM COULD STRIKE AS A CAT 4
Today is the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.. As memorial services played out in New Orleans to mark the tragic events of three years ago when the state, local, and federal government all failed, a new storm (and maybe 2) on the horizon is causing fear along the Gulf Coast.
And fear, again, three years later, in the city of New Orleans..
Hurricane Gustav, now over open water, is set to explode into a hell storm in the Gulf of Mexico..
A discussion statement tonight from government forecasters: "DUE TO THE NOTABLE MODEL SPREAD LATE IN THE FORECAST PERIOD...IT IS ONCE AGAIN IMPORTANT TO RESTATE THAT IT IS SIMPLY NOT YET POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE EXACTLY WHERE AND WHEN GUSTAV WILL MAKE FINAL LANDFALL"..
THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT 1100 PM EDT..
Palin's husband is a member of the Steelworkers union, but tonight the union has issued a press release from USW International President Leo W. Gerard on the Palin choice takes away some of those union hugs.. We'll see how long the McCain camp uses the union line..
You've heard of MILFs, maybe FILFs.. sure getting creative, aren't we? And when I heard McCain only met Sarah Palin one time, I thought.. it must be her hair?
Maybe it's that she's apparently the national GILF, as many are calling her.. a Governor I'd like to .. well, you know.
And I imagine that soon, a search on Google for Sarah Palin *with safesearch turned OFF of course* will show a lot more creative views and superimposed heads of Palin on various contorted bodies..
MSNBC has been criticized this week for its coverage of the Democratic National Convention, moderated mainly by COUNTDOWN's Keith Olbermann..
But ignorant to the critics, Olbermann went furthest during live post-Obama speech coverage last night.. Calling the AP a failure.. Calling out Charles Babbington.. telling him, directly, "Find new work."
REUTERS PHOTO Until today, Alasksa Governor Sarah Palin was unknown in the lower 48 states..
The Obama campaign wanted today to be all about Barack.. the speech, the 75,000+ in attendance at Invesco, and the 40 million record viewers watching on television around the world..
But instead of typing and talking about the monumental speech last night given by Obama, the media quickly turned its attention to the world's best kept secret until about 10:50am today: John McCain's vice presidential pick..
The 'hockey mom' and tough governor often took on her own party.. she opposed the bridge to nowhere.. (however, she is until scrutiny in her state now after firing someone that did not fire a state trooper..) .. she also hid her pregnancy from the public until about 8 months.. she opposes abortion--tested by her youngest child, born with down syndrome. She wanted to keep her baby.. Her oldest son enlisted in the military and is headed to Iraq..
Rumors today that John McCain really didn't know Palin.. perhaps it's a surgical strike against the Democrats, a hopeful play in the year everyone wants change.. And the year everyone is talking about that glass ceiling..
Revealed tonight on Hardball, Palin and her husband was a fan of Pat Buchanan back in 1996..
She's a lifelong NRA member.. She was a runner up for beauty queen.. Her husband works in oil. She likes basketball and hockey..
The Republican party is set to start its convention Monday--just as Hurricane Gustav (and then Hanna) make major headlines in the Gulf of Mexico..
