A very mixed Monday

Today's post is a mix of "Good News and Bad News" -- which, if we think about it, is the way of every day. The hard thing is to keep a decent perspective, and to regularly stay connected to the subjects in which I have a continuing writing interest. As a result Mondays for South by Southwest are labeled "SW-Space-Travel-Mon." Here are my thoughts about today's mixed bag:

We celebrate a hero - Today is a national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This will be the first year that the King children are now the oldest generation in that family. The USA Today carried the story, headlined, "King's daughter honors parents in Ga." School children all over the nation are out of school; many workers have the day off. And where I live most of us will be at home because it is too bad to get out. It is a shame because our city had a number of events planned for "MLK Day," a day that reminds us of activism, of progress and of peace.

We try to keep warm - The regional news is about a very big ice storm that has knocked out power, brought out the sand trucks, and turned plans on their heads. And it set many of us to worrying. For those of us whose children and grandchildren no longer live with us, worrying about their safety and well-being is not unusual. My 90-year-old mom still worries about me, and that is not a bad thing, as far as I am concerned.

We worry about Iraq - The Iraq situation , in my mind and with Michael J.W. Stickings at The Reaction, is just awful. To add to the sense of impending failure, today we read the headline, "Saddam aides executed" in the Financial Times. The U.S. House and Senate are out today, but they still need our help to deal with the awful situation in Iraq. Tomorrow I will post some ideas of others, and links for citizens to use, as we let them know how we need to be represented regarding these issues.

We check in on NOLA - Every now and then we see a headline about the Gulf states. One recent one reported a huge award to hurricane home owners from an insurance company. We see the streets full of people protesting crime in New Orleans. And we get great fun as we see the New Orleans Saints professional football team be successful. I quote from the deseretnews:

"We've got a lot of hard work that needs to be done. The Saints coming in and winning the way they have has just lifted all of us," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Sunday. "It's lifted us emotionally, and it's energized us. "It's given us hope."
The Saints will play the Bears in Chicago next Sunday for the NFC championship, another chapter in the most unlikely and heartwarming story of the NFL season.
. . . When Hurricane Katrina stormed through Aug. 29, 2005, it looked as if the Saints might break New Orleans' heart once again. Dislocated like so many residents, the Saints moved to San Antonio, and many feared that's where they would stay.
But the team returned and has been the one thing that's held the city together when everything else conspires to pull it apart.

Following are a couple of links that provide more current news about what is happening in New Orleans. A group of bloggers post at Metroblogging New Orleans. And here is a "Hurricane news" summary of what is currently happening in New Orleans: CrankyCronos.com.
We check in on NASA
The current International Space Station Status Report is from a NASA news release. And here you can vote on your favorite space images. It is good to close with NASA news; "space" always helps me regain my perspective.

Technorati tags: current-events war events miscellaneous news news and politics sports New Orleans MLK