Wednesday Dottles

1. I can only shake my head in horror and disbelief over the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Poor New Orleans! Poor Rob! It's nice to know, at least, that America's worst natural disaster is enough to pry Bush out of his 5-week vacation and return him to Washington where, of course, he is now further away from the situation. (Today's Washington Post reported that Bush's job approval rating has sunk to 45% in the lastest WP-ABC poll. Only 37% of the respondents approve of the job the Republican-controlled Congress is performing.)

2. And speaking of the situation in Iraq... I saw a bicylist resting by the side of Rt. 29 this morning with a large poster propped against his bike that read: War Is Not The Answer. How quixotic. Rt. 29 is the biggest north-south route through Howard County. During rush hour the average speed on Rt. 29 is only about 85 miles per hour. Most people are going so fast there's no way they could read the sign.

3. I come into my building at work each morning through a little used basement door. When I grabbed the handle today I saw through the corner of my eye what I thought was a blob of dirt sitting on the door handle. Turns out it was an eastern gray treefrog sitting there. I checked on it at lunch. Still there. I wonder where he came from?

4. Science education takes a hit. A recent poll conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 64 percent said they were open to the idea of teaching creationism in addition to evolution, while 38 percent favored replacing evolution with creationism. The poll found that 42 percent of respondents held strict creationist views, agreeing that "living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time." Bah.

5. I found a 1928 "U.S. Note" $5 bill in my change yesterday. Think it's worth anything?
K-