Well, well, well - now it turns out that the story about vandals who broke the lock on the gate to that road was a fabrication. I apologize for insinuating that beer-drinking yahoos ought to be blamed for this.
It was the local authorities who had neglected to secure the gate. Was it carelessness, or simply a low priority, due to other concerns? We need to know.
Meanwhile, up on Mt. Hood, the families of the lost hikers are still putting a brave face on things, but, now that they've been out there for a week, and with a record-breaking storm about to hit in a few hours, things are not looking good.
Finally, on Thom Hartmann's radio show this morning, there was an Islamist scholar discussing the distribution of Sunni and Shia throughout the middle east. Everyone knows that the Saudi royal family is Sunni - that's no secret - but did you know that the majority of the population is Shia? That was news to me. Given the long-suppressed hostility towards the royals in that country, it's easy to visualize a coup that would institute yet another Shia government.
Another surprise - Syria, Iran's closest buddy in the area, is predominantly Sunni, not, as I would have expected, Shia. I supposed that makes sense, since, after all, Damascus was the original Islamic center, before Bagdhad was even founded.
It's a complicated world out there, and a stormy one, too. Karen, unfortunately, had to drive to Eugene for a hearing this morning - she just left the house a half-hour ago. Later this afternoon, when the wind and rain really hits, she will be driving back to Portland. Fortunately, she took my Subaru, which has better tires and traction than her Matrix. It will be a relief to see her arrive safely, late this afternoon.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment