John Roberts nominated for CHIEF Supreme Court Justice...Hunh??

President Bush nominated John Roberts to succeed Chief Justice Rehnquist as the next Chief Supreme Court Justice.

Right now, I'm feeling like I'm walking down busy Peachtree Street and there is a big pink elephant sitting in the middle of the intersection. Everyone's just walking by, paying the sight no mind. But me, I see such a thing and I must ask the obvious questions... (Hey, I have to admit that it's a strange analogy).

But that's the closest I can come to describing how I'm feeling about this whole John Roberts nomination.

Is it just me? Does anyone find this just a tad bit odd?

Can President Bush really nominate him to the highest position on the highest court?

Isn't this like skipping from the first grade to the seventh grade?

You know what this is like? It's like a sixteen-year-old freckled face kid walking into McDonald's to apply for an entry level job... And he gets hired on the spot. However, he doesn't get the entry level job. They throw a three-piece suit on him and make him the regional manager.

Aren't the other justices who have been on the bench of the highest court of America for the last umpteen years just a tad bit upset about this? Isn't there some type of seniority system in place?

Does John Roberts have enough experience for the job?

Does anybody care if he has enough experience for the job?

Or am I just missing something here?

Hmm... I wonder...

And I'll continue to ponder.

The Hurricane Katrina Disaster and Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower... An Eerie Resemblance?

A couple of years ago, I read The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. It is one of my favorite books. Maybe even one of the best books I've ever read.

For those of you who don't know, Octavia Butler is the premiere black female science fiction writer of our time. She has written twelve novels, mostly centered on human-alien symbiotic relationships, paraspsychological matters, and genetic issues.

Two of those twelve novels, Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents (collectively known as the Parable Series) are a bit of a detour from Butler's usual fair. The Parable of the Sower is a novel which details what happens when the United States of America, the most powerful country in the world, slowly becomes, because of governmental neglect of environmental, economical, and sociological concerns, a third world country.

(Do you see where I'm going with this?... Hold your horses.)

The Parable of the Sower describes a time from the year 2015 to 2030 commonly referred to as The Apocalypse, or "The Pox" for short. It is a terrible time, where food, water, shelter, transportation, electricity, telecommunication, and other life essentials are scarce. Could you imagine a time when water costs several times as much as gasoline? Well, that was the type of craziness described in this book.

This book is written as a fictional autobiography in the form of a diary or journal (sort of like the Diary of Anne Frank). The protagonist is a 15-year old African-American teenage girl named Lauren Olamina. Lauren details the happenings in and outside of her community. Oh, her community, by the way, consists of a small neighborhood surrounded by a protective wall composed of cement, glass, and razor wire. Such small walled communities are essential for keeping out looters, crazed drug addicts, rapists, thieves, and killers. Even the police are not trusted. They are much worse than the criminals at times.

Eventually, the criminals get through the wall and destroy her entire community. Many in her community are killed, including members of her family. She and a few people in her community must now leave.

They become refugees.

They scavenge for food and water. They must sleep in the bushes and hills at night and take turns keeping watch for criminals. It is a time when it is best not to look clean. That makes you a target. And if you're a woman, it's best to look and dress like a man so you won't be raped.

Lauren and the other refugees from her neighborhood start walking from the Los Angeles area to Washington state. Along the way, she meets many other refugees who join her crew. Lauren eventually goes on to start the religious cult EARTHSEED, a religion based on the idea of "God is Change". The writings in her journal, which consists of various ideas and poetry, become the center of the religion, collected in a book entitled Earthseed: The Books of the Living. They settle in a remote area in Washington state and the commune begins to grow. The Parable of the Talents continues the story...

I thought of the novel The Parable of the Sower while watching the Hurricane Katrina tragedy unfold. It's the only thing I've ever read that remotely resembled (on USA soil) what is happening now. Especially when the media began referring to these people as refugees. And all the while, I've been thinking about how Octavia Butler described some of these same situations, including government incompetence, in the Parable Series. I know she must be shaking her head in disbelief knowing that she wrote something somewhat prophetic, even though it was meant to be mere fiction.

I've been asking myself a few questions, and I asked myself these questions back when I first read the novel. And now, in the wake of what's been going on for the past week, I'm still asking myself the same questions. What would happen if an event occurred which devastated the entire West Coast of the USA? Or, God forbid, what would happen if there was an event, natural or otherwise, that devastated the entire USA?

...And we all became refugees?

Food, water, gas, money, jobs electricity, etc., are scarce or nonexistent. Imagine that.

Chaos, panic, and crime would take over most likely.

I experience discomfort if a storm knocks out the electricity in my home for an hour. And let's not talk about my attitude when I leave my cell phone at home by mistake. (Isn't it funny how so many people consider a cell phone a "must-have" these days?) What would happen if I'm without life's real essentials (water, food, shelter,etc.) for a few hours? A few days? A week? A month? A whole year? How would I act? How would I conduct myself?

I don't know. And I hope to God I never find out...

American Refugees? No... Citizens of the United States of America

I went to Church this morning, as I usually do on any given Sunday...

I noticed that we had more visitors than usual. I thought to myself, "Hmm... must be some family reunions in town."

No these were not relatives in town for a family reunion...

These were people who escaped and/or survived the Hurricane Katrina Disaster.

My pastor asked them to come up to the front of the Church. They filed out of their seats and slowly went up to the front.

There had to be at least two hundred of them.

Black. White. Asian.

People that look like they could be my next door neighbor. People that look like the people I work with. People that look like people I ride the train with on my commutes to and from work.

"That's a lot of people," I said to my sister Kay.

Then I realized that this was only a mere fraction of those affected by the terrible disaster. A fraction of a fraction, really.

Then my pastor said something that astounded me, and made me proud...

"We will no longer refer to these people as American Refugees. These are citizens of The United States of America."

He prayed for the people, afterwhich we, the congregation, were allowed to go up front, give them money, hugs, and words of encouragement...

I realized then how much this new term "American Refugee" has disturbed me all week. Such an unusual term, it is. American Refugee? In the richest, most prosperous country in the world? What an oxymoron.

I'd never heard this term before. I remember as a child hearing the term "Vietnamese Refugee". I even went to graduate school with a guy who was a Vietnamese Refugee as a child. (Oh, the crazy stories he told of life on the run!). I vaguely remember the term Cambodian refugee, and all the pictures of the chaos going on in that country.

But American refugee?

Those two words shouldn't be put together in the same sentence.

These are people that look like you and me. They pay taxes just like you and me. They vote just like you and me.

They live in this country... just like you and me.

A man from Mississippi who had lost everything to the Hurricane Katrina disaster sat behind me at Church. I had a chance to talk to him for a moment.

I never saw such pain in a person's eyes. I almost broke down in tears just talking to him.

I had taken money out of the bank on Saturday. I'd been trying to budget, since I'm about to close on my new home in the next couple of weeks. I have developed the habit of getting a set amount of money out of the ATM for the next week, and making myself live off of it.

I gave it all to this man. I figured he and his family, these citizens of the United States of America, needed it more than I did.

I looked at the news this afternoon. Looks like the media has stopped using this term "American Refugees". They are now using the term "Hurricane Evacuees."

This sounds a little better to me. More appropriate. More humane, at least.

But I would feel better if they called these people what they really are...

Citizens of these United States of America.

Dear President Bush...

Dear President Bush,

Thank you so very much for cutting your month long vacation at your wonderful Crawford Texas ranch short by two whole days in order to fly back to Washington, D.C. and address the the near apocalyptic devastation left by Hurricane Katrina. That was so nice of you to do that, being that you're our president and all.

I know, I know. It's okay that you wanted to stay hidden, tucked away at your ranch. Why, I don't blame you, you know, with Cindy Sheehan, that dead soldier's mom, lurking somewhere nearby, ready to take a baseball bat to your head. If no one else understands your fear, I do.

I bet it wasn't even your decision to cut your vacation short, was it? Thank goodness for those knowledgable advisors and pollsters standing around you!! I bet they were whispering oh so quietly in your ear, "Um, excuse me Mr. President, but the entire Gulf Region is now in third world status. You should say a word or two, maybe even head back to Washington a day or two earlier."

Yes, I know. I realize that most of the people devastated by this disaster are not your constituents. I mean just look at them. Many of them don't even have cars! They really don't count in the long run, most of them being poor and all, do they? Why should you concern yourself with something that doesn't help you politically?

You've done so much to help other countries. That 87 billion dollars for the war against terror is something to behold. All that money that was raised for the tsunami victims was amazing (and you spearheaded that so fast, didn't you?) Not to mention the wonderfully priced gas in Iraq (0.05 cents per gallon-what a bargain!).

And I like what you said the other day: Something to the affect of "Don't buy gas if you don't need it." Gee, I hope your special friends aren't upset with you for that comment. (You can just tell them you were just kidding... They'll understand!)

What's your approval rate right now? 40%? That's an all-time low isn't it?

This may even stop your approval rate from the nosedive it's currently in!

Yes Mr. Bush. Thanks for taking care of all the problems of the world.

Now it's okay to take care of the problems in your own house.

Trust me, it really is okay... I think the American people would appreciate it.

I know I would...

Gas...How High Will It Go? Part III

I said it...

And you know I said it...

Right in a post I wrote (Gas... How High Will It Go? Part II) on August 26, 2005, a mere five days ago.

I knew this was going to happen...

But I didn't know it would happen so fast. I know it has sent somebody's weave spinning...

Gas Prices in Atlanta shot up.

This morning, a gallon of regular unleaded gas cost $2.59. When I left work today, the price of regular unleaded gas went from $2.59/gallon in my neighborhood to $3.99/gallon.

Why did this happen?? It was reported on the evening news that the two companies that supply gas to Atlanta, Plantation Pipelines and Colonial Pipelines, are not operational. These companies' refineries are down due to the power outages in the state of Mississippi.

A rumor about this phenomenon was going around today. E-mails were sent out. Phone calls were made. The word spread. Panic broke out.

It was if someone had lit a match and threw it into a dry forest.

My friend Lady Tee called and said that her boss made her leave her job early this morning and go fill her car tank with gas. I kind of just blew it off. Ignored it completely.

As a result of pipeline difficulties, the price of gas shot up anywhere by as much as $0.70 to $1.40 per gallon of regular unleaded gas. News Radio 750 AM reported that there was a gas station in Deklab county (Decatur, GA) that even went so far as to charge $4.59/gallon for regular unleaded gas. (Some fool on my street is charging $5.99/gallon for premium unleaded gas. I didn't need any gas, but I wanted to go into that mini-mart and give that idiot a piece of my mind...but thankfully, I decided against it...)

So Georgia's governor, Sonny Perdue, did the right thing: he signed an executive order today to activate a price gouging law. In other words, he declared a state of emergency, thereby freezing gas prices at the current price, which on the Atlanta's southside looks to be about $3.99/gallon for regular unleaded gas.

Shocking. I would have never thought I actually would see the price of gas jump that high... that fast!

One gas station near me (the BP on the corner of Old National Highway and Flat Shoals Road in College Park) did the right thing. They only increased the price of regular unleaded gas to $2.79/gallon. As you can imagine, everybody and their mama was lined up at that station. The gas station directly across the street from that station was charging $3.99/gallon. That gas station's parking lot and pumps? You guessed it? VACANT!!

I found a good website for Atlanta gas prices (www.atlantagasprices.com/). Check it out if you live in Atlanta.

Me? I'm a little perturbed that some of the gas station owners would take advantage of a desperate situation.

But at the same time, I can't complain too much.

...I'm thankful that I have a car to put gas in.