The L.A. Times front page had a photo of Los Angeles today that looked like Mordor.
Wednesday was a great day to be a firebug here in Southern California. I woke up that morning to a warm day, already in the 80s, and windy. The forecast called for abundant sunshine, 87° F and "light and variable" winds. That's not what I saw. It was blowing hard, dry and hot. I just knew there were a few arsonists who woke up excited about their opportunity to set fire to some dry brush. Inevitably, one or more of them actually started fires.
I'm not glad not to be living in the hills on days like that.
I'm also glad I don't live in the 909 or the 951. I always thought that traffic was the worst thing about the 909, but it turns out that the air will kill you there. Pollution in the Inland Empire has been found to cause much higher incidents of a variety of ailments. I believe it. I just found out my cousin, who moved to Riverside a year after she got married, has been suffering from asthma for several years. She never had it as a kid. Coincidence? I doubt it.
That's all the more reason to stay in the OC rather than sell and use the money buy a mansion in Riverside or San Bernadino County.
I can't much stand listening to Congressional hearings. Just a minute of two of the testimony from Brownie this week sent my blood pressure north. Yes, it's true that local government did a lousy job in Louisiana, but that doesn't even come close to making Brown a qualified or competent FEMA director. And that lack of competence was painfully obvious both in his performance after Katrina struck and in his pathetic denials of responsibility during the hearings.
The question askers are little less pathetic. Watching politicians demand straightforward answers to their questions to Judge John Roberts was a fantastic irony last week. "Go ahead and continue to not answer the question," said former presidential candidate Joe Biden, as if he has ever delivered a straightforward answer to a question himself.
Say, isn't Biloxi 71% white? And isn't Gulfport 62% white? So, um, how come the white supremacists in the Bush administration didn't do them any better than those poor black parts of New Orleans?
I was reading this syndicated article in the OC Register the other day called Take Steps Now to Protect Assets. It began: "You've worked hard all your life to accumulate a little personal wealth. One frivolous lawsuit could wipe it all out."
Man, I really wish it was that easy. Could you imagine how incredibly weathly I would be if I could just target some hard working rich dude, file a frivolous lawsuit against him and leave him destitute after taking all he had worked his whole life to accumulate? I'd have more money than Bill Gates.
In addition to being a great time to be a Trojan, it's a pretty good time to be an Angels fan. The Angels have made the postseason twice in a row, and three times in four years. They previously made it to the postseason three times in their first 40 years. And they have their first 20-game winner since 1974, leaving Cleveland as the team with the longest stretch without a 20-game winner. I'm so glad Disney sold the Angels to an owner who wants to win.
Now I can sit back and watch the weekend unfold, wondering who the Angels will play and when. I'm remotely rooting for the Yankees to be the opponent, because that makes it possible that the Angels will be playing the White Sox while I'm in Chicago in a couple of weeks.
I can't imagine much more fun than rooting for the Angels in Comiskey Park.
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