Don Singleton tagged The Anchoress who tagged newton and Jeanette who tagged me.

This is for you Jeanette.

Ten years ago:
I moved back to Illinois from Vermont.
I sent my daughter (oldest) off on a bus by herself.
My son (middle) turned 1 and learned to walk.

Five years ago:
My second son was born the day before his sister’s tenth birthday.
My grandmother passed away a few weeks after her 94th birthday which was the day after my daughter’s birthday.
My daughter had surgery to have a vagus nerve implant implanted.

One year ago:
I transferred from the local community college to a four year university – doing it online. I should be done in another year.
I started this blog (anniversary date coming up next week)
I followed the “61^st Minute” closely.
I followed the election closely.
I celebrated the results.

One day ago:
I went to the library to pick up book 2 of Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series Bearing an Hourglass (second time around).
The littlest one checked some books out with “my berry own liberry card!”
I spoke with the insurance company about a little accident we had in a parking lot last Thursday. The other car was uninsured and backed into me while I was backing out. No injuries, just a little damage to the bumper.

One hour ago:
The insurance guy came by to take pictures and give me an estimate for the bumper replacement.

Five favorite snacks:
Mounds bars
Goldfish
fresh fruit
cheese
cottage cheese with a tomato (diced), olive oil, and raspberry vinegar.

Five songs I know the words to:
The theme song from Gilligan’s Island
The theme song from Green Acres
We will Rock You by Queen
O Holy Night
Amazing Grace

What would I do with $5 million dollars:
Buy a bigger house, invest, give to charity and the church.

Five places I would escape to for a while:
Back to Ireland
Get to Scotland and see more of England
The Atlantis Resort
Try a cruise
Find a place for some “mommy” time.

Five things I would not wear
a thong (I’m with newton on that one)
those really low jeans, so low that your hip bones (or even more) show.
a tattoo
a piece of pierced jewelry that goes anywhere but on my ears
high heels

Five favorite TV programs
Lost
The Closer
Arrested Development
Battlestar Galactica
Blue Collar TV

Five Greatest Joys
my faith
my husband
my children
my friends
my two dogs and three cats

Five Favorite Toys
Darth Potato (I still have to get me one of them)
my computer
power tools
dvd burner
a Blackberry sounds like it’d be cool.

Five people you’ll tag
I don’t have five people to tag so I’ll tag Lady Jane at A Lady’s Ruminations – she’s always worth checking out.

Bill O’Reilly asked Condi Rice if she was hurt by Bush haters calling her a shill.

She said:
“Why would I worry about that? The fact of the matter is, Bill, I’ve been black all my life, nobody needs to tell me how to be black.”

Welcome Michelle Malkin readers! Please look around.
Welcome Anchoress readers! Please look around.
Welcome Polipundit readers! Please look around.
Ian Schwartz has the video

DirecTV has designated channel 100 for Hurricane Katrina.

This will be a channel for news, information and messages. To post a message, send an email to katrina@directv.com or send a text message from your text message capable cell phone to 48433.

Information available on the Hurricane Katrina Information channel includes:
• Transportation infrastructure – road closures throughout the Gulf Coast region
• Counties/parishes in the Gulf Coast region that are able to assist evacuees
• Special needs shelters – the location and phone numbers of special needs shelters in Louisiana
• Shelter openings throughout the Gulf Coast region
• Relief agency contact information, including phone numbers for the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and Feed the Children
• Insurance company contact information

Good for you DirecTV!

Fox News just reported an AP wire report that says that Mike Brown has resigned as Head of FEMA.

He is making the move in the “best interests of the agency and the best interests of the President”. (Via Shep Smith, Fox News)

From the Susan M. Torres Fund website comes this very sad news:

With great sadness, we are asking for your prayers for the repose of the soul of 5 week old baby Susan Ann Torres. She passed away last night after surgery for a perforated intestine. Please include in your prayers a request for the peace and comfort of her family, especially Jason Torres, who has had a very difficult past several months.

Via Michelle Malkin

Our prayers are with the family. Baby Susan and Mommy Susan are now together in heaven.

President Bush’s Remarks During Tour of New Orleans

Just a snippet – but I thought these remarks were worth it.

Reporter1: Mr. President, we, there is a belief here after two weeks on the ground that FEMA let the people here on the ground down and perhaps in turn people could get evidence of what it’s done to your popularity and perhaps FEMA. Do you think that your management style {couldn’t hear} in this particular scenario let you down…

President Bush: Look there’ll be plenty of time to play the blame game. That’s what you’re trying to do.

Reporter1: No, I’m trying to…

President Bush: You’re trying to say somebody’s at fault. Look. And I want to know. I want to know exactly what went on and how it went on. And we’ll continually assess inside my administration. I sent Mike Chertoff down here to make an assessment of how best to do the job. He made a decision. I accepted his decision. But we’re moving on. We’re going to solve these problems and there’ll be ample time for people to take a look back and see the facts. Now, as far as my own personal popularity goes, I don’t make decisions based upon polls. I hope the American people appreciate that. You can’t make difficult decisions if you have to take a poll. It’s been my style ever since I’ve been the President. And of course I rely upon good people. Course, you’ve got to as the President of the United States. You set the space, you set the strategy, you hold people to account. But, yeah, I’m relying upon good people. That’s why Admiral Allen is here. He’s a good man, he can do the job. That’s why General Honore is here. And so when I come into a briefing I don’t tell them what to do, they tell me the facts on the ground and my question to them is, ‘Do you have what you need?’

Reporter2: Did they misinform you when you said that no one anticipated the breach of the levies?

President Bush: No, what I was referring to was this: When that storm came by, a lot of people said we dodged a bullet. When that storm came through at first people said ‘Whew.’ There’s a sense of relaxation. That’s what I was referring to. I, myself, thought that we had dodged a bullet. You know why? Because I was listening to people, probably over the airwaves, that said the bullet has been dodged. That’s what I was referring to. Of course there were plans in case a levee had been breached. There was a sense of relaxation at a moment, a critical moment. Thank you for giving me a chance to clarify that.

The President was then asked about where he was when he learned of the breaches.

President Bush went to say that he had signed the emergency orders prior to the storm hitting.

7 meg file, broadband is best for viewing.

Music – Enya, Only Time

grab a box of kleenex – this is as powerful now as it was when it was made.

America Attacked

Per the AP, Mike Brown has been relieved of his Katrina Relief duties but is still the head of Fema.

According to Fox News, Vice Admiral Thad Allen of the US Coast Guard has been put in charge of Katrina Relief efforts.

Updated

When I first heard about the planned memorial for the heroes of Flight 93 it sounded wonderful, windchimes for each person killed in the terrorist hijacking of the plane.

But at the time, there wasn’t a picture of what it would like.

Now there is:

How could anyone choose this particular design? Don’t they realize what the crescent means as a religious symbol? Didn’t they think about what the terrorists were representing when they committed their heinious acts? Why does it look like they are honoring the terrorists?

Update: Make it a circle. A circle is all encompassing. A circle is never-ending. The symbology of a circle will better memorialize the Heroes of Flight 93.

For more see:
Michelle Malkin
Little Green Footballs
Captain’s Quarters
JunkYardBlog
Zombie Contact addresses here
The Waterglass
Save the GOP
Thinklings
Sensible Mom
Real Clear Politics picture with Islamic State flags for comparison