Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" was released on DVD today, and it's proving to be a big seller. Unfortunately it's also generating a lot complaints.
Many people are finding themselves unable to watch it because the hole in the middle keeps healing itself.
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Damn Foreigners
So I wake up this past Sunday morning, and one of the first things I hear on the news is that Tropical Storm Gaston is pounding South Carolina with 70 mph winds. And my immediate reaction is to almost choke on my Pop Tart (Frosted strawberry)(Thanks for asking).
Now I like to think that I keep up with current events and breaking news. So to suddenly hear about some near-hurricane that seemingly came out of nowhere took me very much by surprise. For example, professional meteorologists were warning us about Bonnie and Charley almost a week in advance. And even now, they're already predicting death and destruction from hurricane Francis even though it's still at least five days away from making landfall.
So to repeat: How did Gaston sneak up on us like this? Did it suddenly just pop up out of the ocean, yell "Boo!!" and start tearing up trailer parks? Shouldn't the Bush Administration have been protecting us?
More importantly, what the hell kind of name is "Gaston?" Is that a boy's name or a girl's? And what nationality is it? I'm betting no natural born citizens of South Carolina are named Gaston. In fact, if you ask me, it sounds kind of... FRENCH!!!
All day yesterday, the weather people were predicting that Gaston's remnants would come through DC. One to three inches of rain, they said. In fact, that's what the forecast was in Richmond, VA as well: one to three inches.
Well, as it turned out, we didn't get ANY rain near DC. Not a drop. And the same thing happened with both Bonnie and Charley a couple of weeks ago. Both storms were supposed to come through DC and wreak havoc with massive amounts of rain. And in both cases, we got squat as both of them went off to our east.
On the other hand, poor Richmond--about 100 miles south of here--got soaked with over a foot of rain yesterday afternoon and evening (Survivors' stories). Some of the pictures coming out of the downtown area were absolutely amazing, with cars floating merrily down the middle of normally busy thoroughfares. Many people ended up spending the night at work when the sudden, completely unexpected deluge turned the streets into major tributaries of the James River.
Good thing these meteorologists weren't responsible for forecasting the presence of WMD's in Iraq.... Then again, perhaps they were.
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---------------Michael Ramirez, Los Angeles Times
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