Moving Day

Just as August 18th was my last full day in the old apartment, September 18th is my last day with this blog. I've already converted my links. But for those of you linking directly here, here's a new page to update your bookmarks:

http://speaking.kenkerns.com

Entitled "Ken Is Speaking", the blog uses WordPress as its managing software, and it is much more flexible than Blogger is. The new blog will probably see more regular posts from me, and hopefully you'll see the benefits of the change with time.

Thank you for being loyal readers, and feel free to continue doing so. I have some interesting projects coming up with my writing and my politics, so please stay tuned over at "Ken Is Speaking".

Roberts to get a free pass?

Not to sound critical, but I believe Judge Roberts will get a largely free pass in the debate and vote in the Senate. Even if one or two Republicans vote against him (Specter or Chafee), I think enough Democrats are satisified by his side-step in the hearings on issues like abortion that they'll let him through. Why? Well, Katrina played a role, to be sure, as the country's attention moved to disaster recovery. But it's also respect for Rehnquist (whom Roberts clerked for), and the notion that there's still O'Connor's seat to fill when Roberts takes over as Chief Justice.

My prediction? Around 73-75 votes in favor unless the liberals throw a fit, in which case I'd guess 65-67 in favor.

Age and Politics

I recently looked at the demographics of Congress. Here is what I found:

0 Senators age 30-39
15 Senators age 40-49
30 Senators age 50-59
32 Senators age 60-69
23 Senators age 70 and over

1 Representative age 25-29
17 Representatives age 30-39
92 Representatives age 40-49
177 Representatives age 50-59
121 Representatives age 60-69
31 Representatives age 70 and over

That is, no one in the Senate and only 4% of the House is under 40 years old, even though about half the country is that old or younger. Meanwhile, 55% of the Senate and 35% of the House is over 60 years old.

Is the Congress where politicians go to retire?!?

Blog Move Is Coming

Not much has been going on here. My cats clearly love the better space, wall-to-wall carpeting, and ground floor setting of my new apartment. Whatever makes them happy helps me be happy, so that's cool.

The main thing going on that I can post about is that I am very close to making a formal move and retitling of this blog. I am going to shift from a Blogger-powered one to one functioning through WordPress. It'll allow me to categorize my posts and make it easier to add links, publish the posts, and add extra content in sidebar/sidepages.

Once I've got it ready to go, it will be up live. I'll move this blog to the archives after that.

Look for these changes before too long.

Journalists Are Disaster Groupies

Yesterday morning, while getting dressed for work, I listened as CNN's reporter - can't remember who it was, described New Orleans in horrific detail. He even commented that a dead body was lying in the street and had been for the entire time he's been there (that is, for days).

Now, journalists must be disaster groupies. Why else in the world would a man in the middle of a disaster, fully capable of helping, just stand there and stare at a dead body and then tell everyone on national television that the body's not going anywhere?

Morons.

If you're in New Orleans and can help, you should be. Don't whine self-righteously that nothing's being done down there.

While you're at it, viewers of this blog should direct contributions to the Red Cross.