Hurricane Gustav, Golf, and Politics

Blog readership: we have been in serious conversations with Homeland Security, FEMA, the Governors of the Gulf coast states and of course the Republican National Convention. We decided to go forward with our Golf game on Sunday after assurances from Secretary Chertoff and others that hurricane preparations were in place . They appreciated our offers to help but said that knowing there would be a blog to read would be of tremendous support to the first responders, National Guard and volunteers who are dealing with Gustav.

Rich and I played with 2 invited guests -- good friends from the community - Les and Jeff. They have children that grew up and have been friends with Daniel since 2nd grade. There is not much to report about the golf game. It was a beautiful day, it took a reasonable 4.5 hours and we all had more good shots than bad.

Frankly, our thoughts about Gustav was an unspoken concern. I'm convinced that I was in the sand as much as I was (first two holes -I found sand traps and that set the pattern for me for the round) because I was thinking of the need for the Levis to hold and the bags of sand used to reinforce them. Les' son was evacuated from Tulane University -- his older son was a junior in Tulane during Katrina. (Ben was fortunate to ride out Hurricane Katrina in Spain). Les had the presence of mind to tell Michael to make sure he threw out the milk and any other perishables in the refrigerator before he left. I don't know about others -- but I would not have thought of that --- and on behalf on many readers -- thank you Les for this very helpful hint.

The good news is that New Orleans was not directly hit -- but certainly was and continues to be impacted by gusting winds, heavy rains and some minor flooding. We continue to be on alert and ready to respond to any requests for our services. Our thoughts are with those affected by this Hurricane and wish G-d Speed as people return to their homes. A special note of gratitude and
our appreciation to all the people who are working this event.

This blog tended to stay 'apolitical' during the primaries and now the Conventions. However, it behooves us to recognize the historical moment -- Come Jan. 09, for the first time in our Nation's history, we will either have a Black man as our President or a woman as our Vice President.
Our best wishes go out to both vice presidential candidates -- who have sons being deployed to Iraq in the next few months. Let's give a special 'shout out' to Governor Pallin's 17 y/o daughter who is pregnant and whose intention we are told is to have the baby and marry the father. I'm sure the Governor will say that her daughter - should not serve as a role model for other teenagers -- having unprotected sex (we speculate) and getting pregnant. I believe that Paris Hilton's younger sister - I think she is 16 years old - is also pregnant, planning on having the baby and marrying the father. We will use the power of this blog to get these parenting teenagers together, perhaps a with the 17 or so teenagers from a High School in Massachusetts who also got pregnant, for a 'kumbaya' experience where they can feel the love, (the safe kind of love) and draw support from each other.

Next week is a reunion -- the fab four is back!

until then -- lesson learned -- even girls from good evangelical families are not immune from the 'sirens of sex' --- yet perhaps lack the available birth control information.

other lesson learned -- it's harder to make birdies and pars if you leave the puts short.