In spite of watching the NOVA tornado special last night, I had none of the tornado dreams to which I�m prone, though I fear speaking too soon. The very words �tornado alley,� �supertwister,� and �Fujita scale� have been tumbling about in my brain today. Now and then I taste them on the tip of my tongue and swallow them down again. I�m mildly afraid I might just shout one of them in a meeting today. (�So what would you like to see on this cover?� �SUPERTWISTER!�) Or tonight, as I sit in a quiet room with 40 other people, flipping through children�s achievement tests, fighting the need to move and talk. I could just whisper, �Fujuta scale� and see if anyone notices.
To the point. Tornadoes. Now there�s another reason I�m delighted to be living in town, where I can always find a basement in which to take cover. We�ve already had rain of some sort 20 of the last 30 days in March. And sometimes storms. The season�s just beginning. Perhaps I went to the local public radio/tv station�s tornado seminar one too many times, but while driving on the highway during heavy rain or thunderstorms is no big deal, I�m terrified of finding myself stuck on the highway, in the path of a tornado, with nowhere to go. And it was little reassurance to know the farm on which I lived had already been hit by a tornado once. The do strike the same place twice.
Yep. But, uh, don�t worry. I�m sure you�ll be fine. But you should remember, tornadoes can strike any state. At any time of the year.
Air America Radio is supposed to start today, and while I�ve seen some schedules posted for show times, I can�t find anywhere where I can listen online. Several news sources indicated they�ll be streaming from their Web site, but it�s not rolling yet. I�m quite curious to hear what Franken will have to say for 3 hours every day.
I read somewhere (too lazy to find my source) Al said the radio venture will be deemed a tremendous failure if Bush is re-elected. Al, darling, the radio thing will hardly be the largest failure if that happens. When Bush and his camp are sidestepping any sort of responsibility for their (in)actions every day, when they�re resorting to vicious personal attacks against Richard Clarke, instead of countering with facts and details, when they�re pressuring the FEC into passing laws violating First Amendment rights, when they're claiming to have stimulated job growth, instead of causing job loss, when they�re trying to stifle the democratic right to debate and to question the governing parties, well, we�ll have much bigger problems than losing a radio station, should he somehow be re-elected.
I hope Nader�s right. I hope the only votes he takes are votes from disaffected Republicans.
Bugger. Why must everything be so manic �round these parts? Perhaps the lack of sleep and its friend, lack of exercise, are moving in for an extended stay.
If anyone�s watching The New Americans on PBS, I�ll miss the final installment tonight. I�d love a report.