Sept. 1, 2015

Dear Hildie:

I know what you mean about mixed metaphors. Recently there was a newspaper column by Chante Warren, who wrote that her mother always said, “Little pictures have big ears,” and she went on to wax eloquent about little pictures.  The sad fact is that around here the news reporting is abysmal. I watch mainly Channel 9 and none of those people can write a decent news story. They throw in “alleged” like an all-purpose adjective. And the other day one said, “The house that was set on fire twice is believed to be arson.” Well, Jeez, who else would have set it on fire but an arsonist? The news media in this town are strictly bush league.

I was listening to Dick Cheney on an interview at noon. My God, why does anybody care what that bum has to say? He has absolutely no shame It’s hard to imagine anybody that rotten. At least Huey Long, rotten as he was, had a sense of humor.

I have a book on the aftermath of Katrina, by Gary Rivlin. I look forward to seeing what he has to say about the re-building effort(s). I’m sure some of them worked but others were boondoggles. I was amazed that W went to the 10 year “ceremonies.” He should be so ashamed to show his head anywhere that Carlsbad Caverns wouldn’t be deep enough for him. Of course, we (and many others) profited from the aftermath, in terms of a raft of work. That’s about all played out now. I guess FEMA will refocus its inept efforts on the fires out west. I was watching Jindal on TV yesterday—He was claiming he reduced state expenditures by a third, reduced the size of government, etc. He never once said that when he came in there was a huge influx of federal money for hurricane relief and that the “reductions” he’s bragging about were the natural result of the money having all been spent and no longer being available from Washington.

Take care.

Love,

M