New Orleans dodged a bullet, as the Big Easy received only a glancing blow from Hurricane Gustav. My impression is that people at all levels learned some tough lessons from Katrina, and those lessons were put to good use in preparations for this storm. Politically, this may change some attitudes about the Administration and the GOP. The Feds learned from their mistakes, and the heads of FEMA and Homeland Security seemed to have their acts together. Meanwhile, the Republican Governor of Louisiana seemed to do better than his Democratic predecessor although, to be fair, he gained from the benefit of hindsight, as did the Democratic Mayor of New Orleans.

Now, here comes Hanna and her (brothers and) sisters. We could see Hanna smacking into the East Coast followed by Ike hitting Florida, or some other combination, but it appears that we are entering an active phase of the hurricane season. Now we will see if the good performance in preparation and evacuation we saw in Louisiana can be repeated in the Carolinas (or wherever Hanna strikes).

Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant. Will this turn off Evangelicals? Byron York doesn't think so, based on talking with some of those folks at the GOP convention. I don't think this will have much of an impact on the public, unless prominent surrogates for the Obama campaign debase themselves the way the lefty bloggers have been doing. I don't think that will happen.

Sunspot activity reduced to zero in August. If some theorists are correct, this could be the start of an extended period of minimal sunspot activity, which they believe could impact climate here on Earth by making things cooler, perhaps much cooler. The irony of this is, as noted Science Fiction writer Jerry Pournelle has pointed out, that our greenhouse gas emissions may keep the Earth from slipping into another Ice Age.

According to this report, Dutch intelligence says the U.S. will attack Iran's nuclear facilities soon. I don't believe it.

Ralph Peters says our soldiers have achieved a victory in Anbar Province, Iraq. Could it be that when voters go to the polls in November, their most recent memories will be of an effective Federal response to natural disasters at home and a change in strategy and tactics that resulted in a victory in Iraq?