225. Wednesday Rambling

Yesterday the Leader of the Free World dropped in along the Right Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606 and gave a pep-rally to some business-types over in New Albany, Indiana. Suffice it to say, amongst the hand-planted guests, he encountered no problems, no questions or comments unbecoming or unanswerable. Outside the Grand Theater the situation was different. It included one couple from Elizabeth, a few miles southwest of New Albany on IN 11, whose son has very recently been shipped out to Iraq. They came with only one question for the president, "Why?" It is a question he can not or will not answer. He did throw some mud on the 110th Congress saying "The majority was elected on a pledge of fiscal responsibility, but so far it's acting like a teenager with a new credit card." Kettle meet pot. Never has an administration led America into such deep debt by borrowing than his, exceeding even the free -borrowing and -spending Ronald Reagan of a generation ago. America has so abused its credit card privileges that some foreign owners of our debt are beginning to write it off an unpayable. That is shameful and for the president to lecture anyone on budgetary restraint is beyond belief.

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On a lighter note, and closer to home, lights - hence the lighter note - are being strung amok in the civic park opposite the Jefferson County Court House in preparation for this year's Light up Louisville festivities, held the Friday evening after Thanksgiving. You will recall last year's oversized Christmas Tree tumbling into the roadway and electric lines, and having to be airlifted by a United States Military helicopter. No such federal involvement this year - they must be busy overseas fighting a war we shouldn't be in with an ending date no one knows of. But, I digress.

This year's tree is an artificial one, one which has stood in previous years in other places in the festival area while a real-live one stood in the fountain circle in Jefferson Square. Facade-ness in Metro government has apparently reached even our Yule celebration.

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Finally, the weather. It has been at or close to 70 degrees for the last three days, with occassional showers. Today it is expected the temperature will rise to 67 degrees. Pretty good for mid-November. This is akin to the Indian Summer some people have written of in the past. It will come to an end tonight as temperatures fall back into the 50s.