There is yet another hurricane headed for the United States. It is named Wilma, the last name on the list for this year. If we have more storms deemed worthy of naming, we'll have to use Greek letters for the first time ever. Wilma currently is blasting some Mexican resorts before lumbering into the Gulf of Mexico. It is predicted to take a sharp easterly turn and blast Florida before hurrying into the Atlantic and succumbing to a chilly death.

The mayor of New Orleans is continuing his rebuilding efforts, just determined to have the finest casinos to grace his moldering city. No doubt they will be built on high ground and fit to withstand hurricanes so the gamblers can lose their shirts without losing their lives.

His battered levees are still patched but not truly repaired. I suppose someone will get around to that eventually. In the meantime, Congress is resisting efforts to withdraw funds from pork barrel projects to divert it to the hurricane devastated areas. I heard that some people were actually willing to give up a project to benefit the hurricane survivors and they are still getting the pork anyway.

Never let it be said that the liberals in Congress willingly stopped to consider that there might be a limit to the available tax monies so that disaster victims should be given a higher priority than political bribery in hard times. They are blaming the war in Iraq for the current deficit spending ballooning like the hurricanes over the overheated Gulf waters. Even the sight of proud, brave Iraqis voting for a new constitution in defiance of the insurgents doesn't seem to impress the big spenders that there is some good coming out of the war.

Another interesting story was that the New Orleans district attorney is running out of funds and manpower to deal with the looters. I don't know what they have left to loot. One would think the city had been thoroughly pillaged by now. However, the restaurants and bakeries are reopening for business, so they are rejoicing at the rebirth of fine cuisine amongst the mayhem.

I marvel at the way the United States has lost a great deal of just plain common sense and decency towards one's fellow citizens since kicking God and the Bible out of the schools. If that caused children to clarify their values to rise to a higher moral ground as adults than when prayer started the school day, it isn't readily apparent in New Orleans or the Congress. It isn't clear anywhere else where people are making up their own rules according to humanist faith in the goodness of mankind's judgment, either.

Our local weather continues to be unseasonably warm, more like July than October on many days. Another cold front is dropping the temperatures to more moderate levels tonight, but we are notably behind on rainfall. I'm still running the hose on the yard and keeping an eye out for wilting plants.

The citrus trees and the lavender plant arrived and have been potted. They're tucked in among the houseplants still enjoying the terrace sunshine. It hasn't cooled down enough to start bringing the plants in at night for fear of frost. The roses think it is summertime and are making another flush of blooms.

I've got another sweater nearly finished. I'm hopefully looking for a second box of free yarn from Coats and Clark. I checked on my records and noted that the first box arrived in early October last year, so I might get another one soon. They are supposed to come once a year according to what the company has to donate.