Looking back on the Great Deluge

I'VE STORED NEW ORLEANS in my memory bank. That was the Big Easy of the 1970s for this reporter when the then-vibrant Louisiana city was filled with jazz, colourful residents and the flavour of a thousand Cajun delights for every palate.
There was jam-packed Bourbon Street and the smells of hospitality that supposedly would last an entire lifetime as I savoured the NFL's Ultimate Excess, known as the Super Bowl.
It was even before the Superdome had been officially opened and long before The Great Deluge and the five hours of hellish torment known as Katrina, which ripped into the soul and the spirit of New Orleans along with 150 miles of coastline.
That was only two years ago -- August 29, 2005 -- when the hurricane slammed the area with 150-to-180-mile-per-hour winds, ripping and tearing and putting 80 per cent of New Orleans under water and creating massive gaps in the supposedly protecting levees.
While a bevy of columnists, including this one, and authors of renown have flooded the bookshelves with sordid stories of the devastation, none has been more articulate and poignant that Douglas Brinkley, an imminent professor of history at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Brinkley has pieced together a portrait of despair and the human drama in his HarperCollins' 736-page book entitled, The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
In a blurb from the book's contents, it reveals not only the essence of the hurricane, but of the storm-surge flooding in which it submerged a half million homes as well as "the human tragedy of government mis-management, which proved as cruel as the natural disaster itself."
Brinkley takes issue with the city's mayor Ray Nagin, whose evacuation play favoured the rich and healthy; Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco's lack of leadership in a time of extreme troubles; as well as then FEMA director, Michael C. Brown, who seemed to lose sight of his real mission in a mish-mash of mistakes.
However, there were inspirational, if not downright gritty accounts of survival, interspered in Brinkley's account and one that caught my eye was that of editor Jim Amoss and his New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper staff.
While I wouldn't be so bold as trying to match Brinkley's prose concerning the newspaper's crisis of that fateful day, this is my take after reading one of the chapters:
* Now the Times-Picayune office is located a quarter mile from the Superdome and on that Tuesday morning there was about three feet of water at their doorstep when editor Amoss gathered his staff and the word in everyone's mind was evacuate since there had been a breach on the 17th Street Canal levee.
In quoting Amoss, who remains as the major paper's editor today, "We had to make our move quickly before it became impossible and we were trapped in this building and couldn't function."
As a veteran of countless newspaper traumas, this columnist believed he had seen and heard it all until reading Amoss' recollection of how the Times-Picayune staff piled into a dozen delivery trucks while dirty and filthy water splashed around the fenders and threatened to seep into the engines, thus ending the journeys in short order.
In continuing the hazardous trek to higher and much drier ground, Amoss was quoted as saying, "The thought we might stall in the middle of the deluge and have no option but to drag these people into the water, had me on edge."
But after crisis after crisis across the Mississippi, Amoss and his group landed in the Cajun community of Houma and then Baton Rouge, and, finally, at Louisiana State University where he was able to "commandeer" the LSU journalism building through the assistance of its Dean, Jack Hamilton.
The venerable Louisiana newspaper was able to put out electronic versions on Wednesday and Thursday of that chaotic week, according to Brinkley, and by Friday, Sept. 2, 2005, there was a print edition from Houma, which Amoss called, "a weird-looking paper because their format is different from ours. It stayed that way for two weeks."
While Brinkley published his account in 2006, the crisis surrounding New Orleans continues, almost on a daily basis and the anger and despair was evident as U.S. President Bush arrived on the second anniversary of the great tragedy. This was coupled with a grand jury decision to clear respected Dr. Anna Pou and two nurses, who were accused of murder by injecting four different patients in their care with two different drugs.
Although Dr. Pou and the nurses, Cheri Landry and Lori Budo, were cleared, the tragedy remains and raises questions in ethics.
The storm of 2005, which took more than 1,000 lives, may have passed, but the heartache surrounding New Orleans and the Great Deluge might never go away. Not in our lifetime.

Looking back on the Great Deluge

I'VE STORED New Orleans in my memory bank. That was the Big Easy of the 1970s for this reporter when the then-vibrant Louisiana city was filled with jazz, colourful residents and the flavour of a thousand Cajun delights for every palate.
There was jam-packed Bourbon Street and the smells of hospitality that supposedly would last an entire lifetime as I savoured the NFL's Ultimate Excess, known as the Super Bowl.
It was even before the Superdome had been officially opened and long before The Great Deluge and the five hours of hellish torment known as Katrina, which ripped into the soul and the spirit of New Orleans along with 150 miles of coastline.
That was only two years ago -- August 29, 2005 -- when the hurricane slammed the area with 150-to-180-mile-per-hour winds, ripping and tearing and putting 80 per cent of New Orleans under water and creating massive gaps in the supposedly protecting levees.
While a bevy of columnists, including this one, and authors of renown have flooded the bookshelves with sordid stories of the devastation, none has been more articulate and poignant that Douglas Brinkley, an imminent professor of history at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Brinkley has pieced together a portrait of despair and the human drama in his HarperCollins' 736-page book entitled, The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
In a blurb from the book's contents, it reveals not only the essence of the hurricane, but of the storm-surge flooding in which it submerged a half million homes as well as "the human tragedy of government mis-management, which proved as cruel as the natural disaster itself."
Brinkley takes issue with the city's mayor Ray Nagin, whose evacuation play favoured the rich and healthy; Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco's lack of leadership in a time of extreme troubles; as well as then FEMA director, Michael C. Brown, who seemed to lose sight of his real mission in a mish-mash of mistakes.
However, there were inspirational, if not downright gritty accounts of survival, interspered in Brinkley's account and one that caught my eye was that of editor Jim Amoss and his New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper staff.
While I wouldn't be so bold as trying to match Brinkley's prose concerning the newspaper's crisis of that fateful day, this is my take after reading one of the chapters:
* Now the Times-Picayune office is located a quarter mile from the Superdome and on that Tuesday morning there was about three feet of water at their doorstep when editor Amoss gathered his staff and the word in everyone's mind was evacuate since there had been a breach on the 17th Street Canal levee.
In quoting Amoss, who remains as the major paper's editor today, "We had to make our move quickly before it became impossible and we were trapped in this building and couldn't function."
As a veteran of countless newspaper traumas, this columnist believed he had seen and heard it all until reading Amoss' recollection of how the Times-Picayune staff piled into a dozen delivery trucks while dirty and filthy water splashed around the fenders and threatened to seep into the engines, thus ending the journeys in short order.
In continuing the hazardous trek to higher and much drier ground, Amoss was quoted as saying, "The thought they we might stall in the middle of the deluge and have no option but to drag these people into the water, had me on edge."
But after crisis after crisis across the Mississippi, Amoss and his group landed in the Cajun community of Houma and then Baton Rouge, and, finally, at Louisiana State University where he was able to "commandeer" the LSU journalism building through the assistance of its Dean, Jack Hamilton.
The venerable Louisiana newspaper was able to put out electronic versions on Wednesday and Thursday of that chaotic week, according to Brinkley, and by Friday, Sept. 2, 2005, there was a print edition from Houma, which Amoss called, "a weird-looking paper because their format is different from ours. It stayed that way for two weeks."
While Brinkley published his account in 2006, the crisis surrounding New Orleans continues, almost on a daily basis and the anger and despair was evident as U.S. President Bush arrived on the second anniversary of the great tragedy. This was coupled with a grand jury decision to clear respected Dr. Anna Pou and two nurses, who were accused of murder by injecting four different patients in their care with two different drugs.
Although Dr. Pou and the nurses, Cheri Landry and Lori Budo, were cleared, the tragedy remains and raises questions in ethics.
The storm of 2005, which took more than 1,000 lives, may have passed, but the heartache surrounding New Orleans and the Great Deluge might never go away. Not in our lifetime.
***
ACCORDING TO SCHOOL DAZE: Discovery Canyon Campus, an elementary school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has banned -- tag -- on its playground. Yes, it's true, those dreaded words "You're IT" could, possibly, reduce squabbles, according to some wise (?) school officials!

Grumps' Grumblings: Vick and other Bad Boys

CHURCHES ACROSS North America must be full of recent converts. That thought was prominent after hearing Michael Vick had found Jesus during his moment of contrition before howling crowds and dead dogs.
Now, this lowly scribe wouldn't cast any stone (even the first one) at the falling Atlanta superstar, however, he followed up his statement of "Dogfighting is a terrible thing and I reject it ... I found Jesus and turned my life over to God" with "I think that's the right thing to do as of right now."
Whatcha mean by saying as of right now, Michael?
Vick had been indicted on July 17 along with three other defendants on "charges of violating federal laws against dogfighting." He pleaded guilty; suspended indefinitely by the NFL and will appear before The Judge on Dec. 10 for sentencing. He could get anywhere from a year to five years in the slammer.
A few columns back I listed a number of sports figures such as Mark Bell, Eric and Jordan Staal, Chris Chambers, Jose Offerman, Tim Donaghy, and, of course, Vick, who had been caught in a web of trouble of their own making.
However, just the other day, I uncovered a list of 308 arrests and citations as of April 22 "involving NFL players since 2000," and compiled by Brent Schrotenboer, Erin Hobbs and Merrie Monteagudo of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Since April the list has been updated and 22 more names were added bringing you until Monday of this week. Perhaps, more names will be added this week. If I were a betting man, I'd count on it.
In August, these names stood out:
* 8/27/2007 -- Lance Briggs, Chicago Bears LB. Charged with leaving the scene of an accident after crashing his 2007 Lamborghini (valued more than $300,000) into a pole and leaving it on side of a Chicago expressway. Court date Oct. 4.
* 8/23/2007 -- David Boston, Tampa Bay Bucs WR. Arrested, charged with DUI after police found him passed out behind the wheel of vehicle in Florida. Pending.
* 8/5/2007 -- Anthony Hargrove, Buffalo Bills DE. Arrested charged with resisting arrest, harassment and criminal mischief after allegedly striking a police officer outside a nightclub.
Other names which glared from the San Diego Union-Tribune list included:
* Terry (Tank) Johnson, Chicago DL. Tank was pulled over for speeding, arrested for "DUI impaired to the Slightest Degree" in Arizona on June 22. He was released by the Bears three days later. The case was dropped when he registered 0.72, under the legal limit of 8.0. His football future is still in doubt.
* 6/22/2007 -- Adam (Pacman) Jones, Tennessee Titans CB. Charged with felony coercion stemming from February melee and shooting at Las Vegas club. Oct. 29 preliminary hearing.
* 5/10/2007 -- Steve McNair, Baltimore QB. Arrested, charged with being the owner of a vehicle operated by a drunken driver. McNair was a passenger in his truck. Charges dropped after driver had his DUI charge reduced to reckless driving.
* 3/21/2007 -- Chris Henry, Cincinnati WR. Cited for three traffic charges, including driving with a suspended license, vehicle impounded.
* 3/18/2007 -- Joey Porter, Miami LB. Misdemeanor battery charge at Las Vegas casino vs. Levi Jones. Pleaded no contest, $1,000 fine. NFL fined him three game cheques ($141,176).
In backtracking, on Feb. 27, Vick was cited for trespassing after fishing at a private lake in Virginia, a misdemeanor. The citation was dropped.
While Vick's name has been prominent in the past few days, another Atlanta player, DT Jonathan Babineaux, was arrested on Feb. 19 on charges of felony animal cruelty.
According to a Gwinnett County, Georgia police report the 286-pound Babineaux was held after his girlfriend's dog, Kilo, apparently died of blunt force trauma.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE (From Uncle John's Bathroom Reader): These are snippets from real church bulletins -- "This afternoon there will be a meeting in the south and north ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends." ... "A bean supper will be held Saturday evening in the church basement. Music will follow."
PRIMETIME PROVERBS (From The Addams Family): Morticia Addams: "Now Pugsley darling, who could be closer than a boy and his mother?" Pugsley Addams: "A boy and his octopus?" Morticia (smiling): "Hmmm ... Perhaps." ... From The Bullwinkle Show -- Aesop, Jr. "There's no fuel like an old fuel!" Aesop, Sr.: "Hmmm ... I gas you're right."

Don't forget about Ring of Fire

WITH HURRICANE DEAN sweeping into Mexico, another even more deadly disaster appears to be waiting in the wings, and one that could zero in on the Pacific coastline of North America. And that's the devastating Ring of Fire.
Certainly, there was the recent 8.0 earthquake and its aftershocks which occurred in Peru, but the 'Ring' has the potential of erupting once again and most have forgotten its last occurence despite the fact it lashed out in December 2004.
In case, you've forgotten about it, this is what I wrote midway through 2005:
***
WARNING! : If you live on the west coast of North America, your life is in danger, for a mountain of molten lava and water is about to engulf your cities from San Diego to Los Angeles to San Francisco to Seattle to Vancouver to Alaska.
A plot for another 'disaster' movie for summer release in 2005?
Possible, but it could also become a reality.
An AFP story out of Mount Talang, Indonesia in late April reported that "massive quakes have stirred two huge volcanoes from their slumber and sent shockwaves reverberating along a vast and volatile region known as the Pacific "Ring of Fire."
One of those volcanoes is known as "Son of Krakatoa."
That "Ring of Fire" has caused grown men to quiver, for the history books recall the massive volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883; and most recently the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.
The Ring's arc stretches from Chile, north to Alaska and then west to encompass Japan, Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands. No one, or not one thing is safe.
Then, of course, in late December 2004, the Ring came to life with a 9.3 quake off Indonesia and the accompanying tsunamis which claimed upwards of 300,000.
Television was quick to react to such a massive disaster and in early April, 2005, a two-hour "docudrama" -- 'Supervolcano' erupted on the Discovery Channel. It was time to head for hills.
It happened in Yellowstone National Park, but before you rush out to buy disaster insurance, it did happen 2.1 million years ago. And that's a lot of zeroes.
However, it's not that far fetched to envision another cataclysmic event, perhaps not at Yellowstone, where in the movie such Montana cities such as Bozeman and Billings were buried under deadly ash.
I remember the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980 and the ash which covered cars and houses as far north as Vernon and Oyama. It took weeks for me to clean off my car.
'Yellowstone' and its 'Huckleberry Ridge' eruption blew out an estimated 600 cubic miles of lava and ash, enough to fill a cube measuring 8.4 miles on each side and enough to bury the state of Wyoming in 38 feet of debris. In comparison, the total ash and debris from Mount St. Helens would have filled a cube 0.6 miles on each side.
There are those that believe the Ring of Fire is just the shifting of plates in the Pacific. Then there's the Biblical point of view for such grave dangers facing the West Coast of North America and it has to do with former U.S. President George Bush and the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon giving away "God's Chosen Land of Israel" to the Palestinians.
In Bill Koenig's 'Eye to Eye', a 384-page in-depth study of the consequences of dividing God's Covenant Land, citing the major "land for peace" efforts and the 29 corresponding catastrophes or events from October 30, 1991 to December 13, 2000 and then the 20 corresponding catastrophes from March 31, 2001 to November 4, 2003.
Koenig also explored the major catastrophes or events that transpired when Presidents Bush, Clinton and George W were in office, beginning with the Madrid Peace Conference of October 30, 1991 to November 4, 2003.
In addition, Koenig outlines the top 10 natural disasters ranked by FEMA relief costs; the three largest insurance events in U.S. history; four of the seven costliest hurricanes in U.S. history; plus three of the four largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.
Whether you believe such catastrophes are just coincidences or part of a divine intervention in man's decision to give away The Land, there's little doubt something earth-shattering is going on and that includes the Indonesian disaster of December 2004.
"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea." (Luke 21:25)

Those 'Bad Boys' now flood sports pages

TIME HAS PASSED me by. It's true, for when I was knee-high to a grasshopper, my heroes were athletes of superlative character. Oh, some might have sipped the grape once too often, but their untarnished names were rarely seen in the daily paper.
No, the standard line was about living clean and eating your hearty breakfast cereal and following in the footsteps of your heroes, whether it be football, or hockey, or baseball or even the so-called pseudo-sport, pro wrestling. Even the villains of my day had a sense of honour.
However, something changed in sports as well as our entire civilization in the 1970s or later.
Now, before I continue with this diatribe and you start yelling for this Ol' Fogey to stop pontificating, let's review the topics in recent sports pages:
* Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mark Bell has pleaded no contest to drunk driving with injury and hit-and-run charges in California. Acquired by the Leafs from the San Jose Sharks, Bell, who could have spent three years and eight months in prison, has to serve at least four months behind bars next summer, after the 2007-08 NHL season has ended.
* Carolina Hurricanes star Eric Staal and his brother, Jordan Staal of the Pittsburgh Penguins, were arrested on disorderly conduct and "obstructing the legal process." It seems the brothers and their pals were celebrating at Eric Staal's bachelor party at a resort in northeastern Minnesota. It was reported that some of the party-goers "gathered on a nearby highway and began harassing motorists."
* Chris Chambers, a former Pro Bowler and Miami Dolphins' top receiver, will plead not guilty to driving while impaired, according to his lawyer. Apparently, Chambers was arrested on July 14 after being pulled over near Charlotte, N.C.
* Adam (Pacman) Jones. The suspended Tennessee Titans cornerback, who has tried his hand as a "wrestler" and now plans to launch a hip-hop career, still has a dubious record of five, or six, different arrests hanging over his head. According to an AP report, Pacman is under indictment in Las Vegas "on two felony counts of coercion stemming from a February fight at a strip club that left a bouncer, a former wrestler himself, paralyzed."
* Jose Offerman, a former MLB all-star infielder with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox, went wild in the minors the other night -- bonking the opposing pitcher and catcher with his bat. The AP story said Offerman, now with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, was charged with two counts of second-degree assault with Bridgeport Bluefish catcher John Nathans sustaining a concussion while pitcher Matt Beech had a broken middle finger.
* Prince Fielder, the Milwaukee Brewers' top slugger with 37 homers, suspended for three games. It seems the fired-up first baseman had a close encounter with plate ump Wally Bell while arguing a third strike and bench coach Dale Sveum had to restrain him. Incidentally, Fielder's Brewers are smack dab in the middle of the NL Central chase with the Chicago Cubs.
* Breshetta Clark, a former Memphis Grizzlies administrative assistant, is suing the NBA team and the team's engineering director Carl Howard Parker, for $3 million. Clark, according to another AP report, claimed Parker sought "sexual favours while her husband was away on military duty."
* Michael Vick, the starry Atlanta Falcons quarterback, has turned from Sunday's hero into a villain, seemingly, overnight because of federal dogfighting conspiracy charges. While his lawyers and the prosecutors were still wrangling at the time of this writing, Vick faces five years in prison and a fine of up to $250.000, if convicted.
* Tim Donaghy, the former NBA referee, has pleaded guilty to felony charges, for betting on games in which he officiated. He faces 25 years in prison. He was released on a $250,000 bond.
So whatever happened to runs, hits, errors, etc., etc. or passing percentages or ...?
It's my guess those days are over and might never return. That's sad.
THAT'S SO MUCH B.S.: And you thought I was talking about Bud Selig, did you? Thursday, the baseball commissioner patted New York Yankees' Jason Giambi high on the backside when he should have planted a solid kick farther down, and said Giambi didn't deserve any punishment for taking those 'roids of ruin. After all, JG has been acting like a saint with his numerous charitable acts, so let's show him some charity. Now, excuse me, Bud, while I throw up.
ANOTHER GRAPPLING DEATH: The shock hasn't worn off since hearing Brian Adams, aka Demolition Crush, had died earlier this week. While the cause has still to be determined, insider Eric Cohen, on his about.com website, wrote that Adams left the WWE in 1994 after being arrested for possession of steroids and a stun gun. He later retired following a serious spine injury.
BEFORE THEIR TIME: Some well-known names from the wrestling fraternity that have died since 1985 before the age of 50: Chris Von Erich, Mike Von Erich, Louie Spiccoli, Art Barr, Gino Hernandez, Jay Youngblood, Rick McGraw, Joey Marella, Ed Gatner, Buzz Sawyer, Crash Holly, Kerry Von Erich, D.J. Peterson, Eddie Gilbert, The Renegade, Owen Hart, Chris Candido, Adrian Adonis, Gary Albright, Bobby Duncum Jr., Yokozuna, Big Dick Dudley, Brian Pillman, Leroy Brown, Mark Curtis, Eddie Guerrero, John Kronus, Davey Boy Smith, Johnny Grunge, Chris Benoit, Rick Rude, Bruiser Brody, Big Boss Man, Earthquake, Biff Wellington, Dino Bravo, Curt Hennig, Junkyard Dog, Andre The Giant, Bam Bam Bigelow, Big John Studd, Hawk, Sherri Martel.

Dangerous liaisons now threaten Israel

BENJAMIN NETANYYAHU is a realist. The former Israeli prime minister is also confrontational in his statements and considers Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a serious threat to the world's existence.
He also believes Ahmadinejad has his evil eye centered on "wiping Israel off the map" and after annihilating the Little Satan (Israel), the next target would be the Big Satan (the U.S.) and, with nuclear capabilities in the next few years, this may not be just the hallucinations of the former mayor of Tehran, but could become a reality.
On June 17 in Yediot, Netanyahu wrote: "We live in the world of radical Islam and of missiles. This is the gist of the gathering storm around us. Every piece of territory that we unilaterally evacuate is being taken over by radical Muslim forces, who then direct their missiles at us under the guidance of Iran."
Bibi followed this up with appearances on American TV in which he reiterated that Iran and its "apocalyptic" madman was directing the steps of Hamas (meaning "zeal" in Arabic), which as David Dolan described in his informative book, Israel at the Crossroads, was a militant offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood movement called the Islamic Resistance movement.
At the time of this writing, an overwhelming fear has spread across the Middle East for these vile thugs have overwhelmed Gaza (now known as Hamastan) and could soon gather the West Bank in its clutches..
That fear has caused Egypt's Hosni Mubarak to call an urgent summit with invitations sent out to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, now camped in the West Bank after being kicked out of Gaza, the present Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, and Jordan's King Abdullah.
In recent days, Olmert met with U.S. President Bush and, in turn, raked up as much as $86 million in weaponry for Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, who had in the past, been scorned as a weak controller of a corrupt regime. He's also one who funded a terror group, al- Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which teamed up with Islamic Jihad, in committing suicide bombings in Israel.
Now, Abbas is the "pet" of, at least Bush, when to most he's been called "Arafat in a $1,000 suit."
While Bush has called Abbas "the presidents of all the Palestinians" and "a reasonable voice amongst the extremists," it appears the U.S. president is not setting his standards very high.
On the other side, in the Hamas' camp, they seized millions of dollars in U.S. weaponry and equipment when the Fatah and Abbas scurried off to the West Bank.
According to Aaron Klein of World Net Daily, the stockpile left behind included "dozens" of mounted machine guns; approximately 7,400 American M-16 assault rifles; about 800,000 rounds of bullets; 18 armoured personnel carriers; seven armoured military jeeps; "tens" of armoured civilian cars, including pickup trucks and magnums; eight massive trucks equipped with water cannons for dispersing protests; and 14 military-sized bulldozers.
Fatah strongman Mahmoud Dahlan told Reuters that Hamas may overrun the West Bank as well and seize even more American weaponry being promised in Washington.
"If serious reforms are not undertaken in the security forces it would be easy for Hamas to take over the West bank," Dahlan said.
With such groups as Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda along with such states as Saudi Arabia, Syria and, of course, Iran, leading the "hate Israel," parade, the possibility of these extremists going on a murderous Middle East rampage appears to becoming a reality -- and soon.
An.interesting note, Israel is also concerned with the news that Russia, yes Russia, has, or is about to deliver, advanced MiG-31 fighter planes to Syria, which will carry guided missiles.
As Dolan also wrote in recent days, if "Western indifference" continues to hold sway, the collapse of the pro-Western Hashemite monarchy in Jordan is a possibility as well as Mubarak's rule over Egypt.
While the world watches with bated breath, the manoeuvrings of not only Bush, Olmert and Abbas will be analyzed, but equally scrutinized will be those from the dark side from Ahmadinejad to Bashar Assad of Syria and those controlling Hamas such as Ismael Haniyeh.
The looming question has to be: How long will the U.S. and Israel fund Abbas' Fatah organization? And, secondly, will Bush and the Americans go to "war" against the militant Islamic hordes now surrounding Israel?
Only time will tell.

The Champ's last night at the fights

ON THE NIGHT of April 11, 1981, Joe Louis stared blankly as Larry Holmes and the late Trevor Berbick circled each other in the Las Vegas ring. It was the last fight he would ever see; for hours later he would be dead.
However, as I watched the great champion from the past, no more than 20 feet away, I knew he was in another world, that of dementia.
However, Louis wasn't the only one to have suffered from what was once called "punch drunk" syndrome or "dementia pugilistica" or "chronic traumatic brain syndrome."
There have been others, who have seen their great skills diminished or wiped out such as Sugar Ray Robinson's Alzheimer's and even Muhammad Ali's Parkinson's.
If you'll indulge me to reflect on the past, this is his obit from those sad April days of 1981:
"They wheeled out The Champ one last time. Joseph Louis Barrow was placed in a gold casket and flown from Las Vegas to Washington, D.C. His body will "lie in rest" at the 19th Street Baptist Church prior to burial at Arlington National Cemetery on the instructions of Ronald Reagan.
In death, Joe Louis, who was born May 13, 1914, in a cabin near Lafayette, Ala., has gained more respect from the U.S. government than while he lived. Arlington National Cemetery is usually the burial plot for American heroes. Joe Louis was one of them, but his own government didn't treat him that way. His tax bills were larger than the national gross of some European countries.
Of course, Uncle Sam waited until his days as heavyweight champion were nearly over before sending him the bills. An honest man, he tried to keep his head above water by first turning to wrestling and, in later years, he played host and greeter at Caesars Palace in Glitter Gulch.
Joe Louis was one of the few people associated with boxing who remained untainted. For boxing, as a sport, is about as corruptible as the Spanish court circa 1400. There usually is no way to get near it without getting tainted.
The underworld always loved it. It was easier to fix than a World Series, it kept you in touch with the riffraff as well as high society, and it was a perfect place to invest your rum-running profits.
It's been said that boxing is a refuge of drifters, grifters, guys who have done one to 10 for shooting their wives, and just got out of prison in time to kill again. It's not a sport, it's a rabble, according to the great, late Jim Murray,
Of course, The Champ stood above the pettiness of James Norris.
He had seen it all. The bad times, particularly, his own, including strokes, heart attacks and then was confined to a wheelchair and wheeled out on special occasions such as title fights like the one on April 11, 1981 when Larry Holmes scored against Berbick.
As we said at the start of this column, he stared at the ring that right, probably remembering his own career. During the period of 1937 to 1950, he defended his heavy crown 25 times.
In the middle of the Holmes-Berbick fight, I noticed as his entourage wheeled The Champ to one of the exits. Early on April 12, Joe Louis suffered a fatal heart attack in the bathroom of his Las Vegas home.
With seven days, there was a funeral in the same ring where he had watched Holmes and Berbick.
"Let's hear it for The Champ," cried a voice from the ring and the crowd responded.
They had wheeled him out one more time. And now he'll be buried in Arlington. It's unfortunate that the U.S. government hasn't been so considerate while Joseph Louis Barrow was alive."