Weekend Report

My daughter called me at work on Thursday to report that the minivan ('96 Villager with 248,000 miles on it) was in the driveway hissing. It turned out to be caused by a busted radiator hose, compounded by my daughter's failure to keep an eye on the engine temperature gauge, and her failure was caused by my failure to drum that notion into her.

On Friday, the dealer reported that I could get a remanufactured engine installed for a mere $6900, or they could redo the top end for $1500, which would still leave the rest of the engine (and the transmission, etc.) at risk for sudden breakage. Slammed once again by major sticker shock, I told him I'd have to think about it.

Saturday, I declared the minivan to be dead, rented a car, and set out to try deciding what kind of vehicle to get to replace the Villager. Another minivan (I really love my Villager)? Nope. Can't afford one. A pickup truck? It could be handy. Really handy. A fuel-efficient car, since I put around 40,000 to 50,000 miles per year on the car I use for my commute? Maybe.

I spent the weekend looking at Consumer Reports online and hanging out with friends, so tonight I turned on Fox News to see what had been going on in the world while I wasn't looking. But it was Hurricane Rita all the time. Except for a few minutes for a "breaking" update from Natalee Holloway's mother. I guess Hurricane Rita put the rest of the world on hold or something.

WorldNetDaily wasn't much more helpful. Lots of Hurricane Rita, including an article on Barbra Streisand claiming global warming to be the hurricane culprit. Lots on the anti-war protest and the anti-anti-war protest.

I finally found what I was looking for over at Hugh's website. He summed up recent events this way:

The confusing of genuine national gloom over the devastation on the Gulf, weariness over a second hurricane blow and the ongoing violence and loss of life in the GWOT with a political trend is the worst sort of analysis. Even six months from now, and certainly six years from now, September '05 will be one of the crucial moments in the Bush presidency, but not because of his start down a long decline, but because of the elections in Afghanistan, the adoption of a draft Constitution in Iraq and its endorsement by the Ayatollah Sistani --the most crucial bit of news not widely absorbed this past week-- the placement on the SCOTUS of another GOP Chief Justice, keeping the judiciary's number one post in solid hands for many years to come, and a nomination to the Court yet to come will mark September '05 as a month where difficult decisions made long ago began to show the sort of undeniable success that not even a partisan media could distort.

The [Washington] Post focuses on the fact that social security reform stalled in the face of the Senate Democrats refusal to engage in the policy discussion. From early this year I have been arguing that the debate was a win-win for the president. Either he got reform, or the country got a clear picture that its most serious domestic problems cannot be solved unless an obstructionist Democratic Party is punished at the polls in '06, especially in Senate races in Florida, West Virginia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and Washington State. Realignments aren't quick, and the framers set up a system that allowed for "last stands" by obstructionist factions. The Democrats are "stuck on stupid," to use the phrase that defined September as well as any other, and the wags who are burying the president refuse to deal with the realities of the political trends over the past six years.

I count on Hugh to break through the gloom that emmanates from the maninstream media like an all-encompassing fog. With his eternally positive outlook, he illuminates the truths (or hopes) that would otherwise remain obscured.

Now that I know that the world is safe for the moment, I can take my dog Abby outside one more time and go to bed.