Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

The Hanley Report from the west side of Houston

Until about noon today it was pretty calm here. The wind is only about 15
knots now (1400) from the north and no change in the storm track is
expected. On the west side of Houston we are only expecting 60-70 mph
sustained winds. Not even hurricane strength. It was pleasantly cool this
a.m. With a very slight breeze. Actually felt Fall-like, a little. After 9
a.m. though, back to typical Houston weather, hot as Hell on the 4th of
July.

All storm preps finished. House is buttoned up. Wife is trimming pets'
toenails, and daughter getting ready to give pup a bath. We all plan to
take showers late this afternoon, since it might be a couple of days before
we can do so again. But I'm a little bit better than 50% we won't even
lose power. Just planning for it.

Even with the breeze it is still very hot and oppressive. Now Rita's a Cat
3, winds of 125 mph. The worst news might be the expectation of two days of
rain.

Some neighbors went out and found the local liquor store (Specs) open for
4-6 hrs and since they were already tired of sandwiches, they went in.
Found tamales, cheese, crackers, lots of food snacks. And then saw the
local sports bar was open. They went in and he intends to be open
throughout the storm. He has a generator and lots of liquor. But it was
cold inside the bar compared to outside, so my friends had to go back to
their house to get the wife a sweater! And the gal next door is so bored
when my wife sent me over to check on her, she asked for a stick of butter
to make cookies. She got it and peanut butter cookies are on the way!

I expect I'm in the right neighborhood.

I just got my last French door covered. The Rescue Mission through me a little behind, but I figure there will be time for sleep when this thing hits. Looking at the latest satelite shot, it looks like Louisiana is already getting a lot of rain besides what is going on in New Orleans. The video of the levee waterfall was much more impressive this time. Fox reports that even the mayor is saying they will be lucky to get half the population back. I think that number may be optomistic. Even at half it will make a big impact on Louisiana politics. Neither Landrieu or Blanco could have been elected with half as many people in New Orleans. Louisiana is also looking at possibly losing a congressional district in 2010.