Eight Feet Deep

For the last 30 minutes I have been hearing this plane flying around. I’m used to helicopters since I’m only two blocks from St. Elizabeth hospital. But this airplane sounded unusually low and unusually noisy.

Once it appeared flying directly overhead (really low) I could see that it is a fast twin-engine job and is spraying, what I hope is for mosquitoes. We’re in deep doo if they aren’t spraying for mosquitoes.

I heard the other day that the local mosquito control district had detected several mosquitoes in their sampling around Beaumont (Texas) with West Nile Virus. The critters hadn’t been too bad lately because because it had been so hot and dry. But with the rain we’ve had they will likely be coming out in their typical Southeast Texas, saber-tooth fashion. I’ve been forgetting to put on the DEET the last two mornings I’ve gone for a walk. I think I will remember tomorrow morning.

I really like a good thunderstorm. But I don’t particularly like one at 4 o’clock in the morning. Nature was in the kitchen this morning banging her pots and pans which caused me to enter a state of levitation as well as wakefulness. I never really did get back to sleep after that. But I don’t want to bore you with my insomnia.

As I write it is thundering outside. We are on the very outer fringe of Hurricane Emily, according to the National Weather Service office in Lake Charles, La. And I don’t mind it at all because it has hidden Old Sol and made temperatures just a little more bearable here.

Thunderstorms can be downright frightening but they also are a magical piece of nature’s handiwork. It is just uncanny the amount of energy involved in putting on a little light-and-thunder exhibit. Just how much energy, I don’t know for sure. I’ve seen different figures like 10 times the energy of the first atomic bomb. Regardless, T-storms are bursting with juice and can cause some serious clam bakes.

On this day full of nature’s energy I leave you with a little weather/airline humor:

After the airline pilot had managed to land his plane — albeit bumpily — following a descent through exceptionally heavy weather, he came out of the flight deck to bid his passengers farewell as they gratefully entered the jetway on their way back to terra firma.

The most memorable comment he received was from a little old lady who asked him politely whether he would please satisfy her curiosity on just one point: “Did we land, or were we shot down?”

Judge John Roberts

It’s the last time I trust the Washington rumor mill. Ha! Only joking. As you may or may not know, President Bush nominated U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia, Judge John Roberts to succeed Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court. Thus, all the speculation about a somewhat moderate woman candidate is obviously kaput. He’s definitely another white guy, but also being another white guy I don’t suppose I should hold that against him.

Where he stands with respect to interpreting the law versus party politics is something I guess we will just have to find out if he is confirmed by the Senate. What Senate Democrats will do is probably what Senate Republicans will do — bloviate. Anyway, the big day for GW has come. How many more justices he gets to nominate only time will tell.

I just hope there isn’t a repeat of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. I don’t think I drank Coca-Cola again after that for a long, long time.

The Supremes

I know, I know, Richard Pryor’s quote didn’t last 24 hours. It is because I was visited in my sleep by the ghost of English teachers past. Of all the grammatical blunders I’ve made in my life, the one of which I am least guilty of committing is a double negative. You know, like in the Pink Floyd song “Another Brick in the Wall:”

“We don’t need no education … “

Perhaps not but if you had the English teachers I had you certainly wouldn’t use the words “don’t” and “no” in the same sentence. Pryor’s line is spoken in character and thus is funny. But somehow I just have this aversion to using the DN. Damn English teachers!

I chose the new quote because a)It kind of fits my philosophy of writing, and b)the buzz is making the rounds this morning that President Bush could name his choice for Supreme Court justice to replace Sandra Day O’Connor. Justice, get it? Oh well. It will be interesting to see who Bush chooses. A lot of speculation is going on that he will name a woman and that woman may be Edith Brown Clement of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The Fifth handles federal appeals cases for several states including Texas and Louisiana. Clement is known to be a strict constructionist but might be palatable to Democrats because of her stated willingness to recognize the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade.

But the right wing should fear not. There is still a lot of time left in the Bush administration for another justice to retire or die and for the president to appoint a raving-ass nut job. Also, picking a Supreme Court justice has proven to be a little like forecasting hurricanes. They may appear predictable but appearances can be deceiving. A number of justices who were picked by a president of one party may often vote, God forbid, their interpretation of the law rather than the party line.

We never know what that wacky U.S. Senate will do either. So it could be some pretty good political theater. Or else, some wretched political crap. It all does depend on your point of view, Lou.

Pryor not dead yet
We go from the bizarre world of the late Richard Brautigan to the equally bizarre world of Richard Pryor for our new saying. Do I have a thing about the name “Richard?” Well, I happen to know this guy named Richard. He’s really an okay guy once you get to know him.

The latest saying comes from Pryor’s “Mudbone,” the wino philosopher, in a rich tale ranging from a trip to Peoria from Tupelo, Mississippi, on a tractor (on one tank of gas) to the voodoo lady Miss Rudolph (like the reindeer)who had a monkey’s foot around her neck and a three-legged monkey. That monkey didn’t give her any trouble, by the way.

That routine never ceased to make me explode with laughter. The same can be said for a lot of Pryor’s work. I think the line about not getting to be old by being a fool is kind of instructive, especially coming from Richard Pryor. The man endured a truckload full of obstacles in his life — some of his own making and others not — that probably would have beaten down or killed many other individuals.

His biography starts with his being raised in his grandmother’s brothel in Peoria. He was raped as a child, then later molested by a priest. Pryor endured segregation. He later became a drug addict, set his self on fire, had two heart attacks and finally in 1986 was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Man, talk about your material!

I guess humor helped Pryor transcend a lot of his demons. And that humor has brought me no small amount laughter over the years. For that I am eternally grateful.

MS has left Pryor unable to perform anymore. But he points out on his Web site that while being down, he is still not out. Or as he so eloquently puts it:

“I ain’t dead yet muthaf****r!”