State of the Nation

This is a new idea I came up with, but I am going to model it a little differently from the weekly Presidential speech of the same name. I was actually inspired by the late Alistair Cooke, who had the BBC World Service show "Letter From America", a weekly 15-minute look at the American nation, which ran from 1946 until his death earlier this year. That is a mindboggling and amazing feat!

The biggest thing on American minds right now is the Presidential Election. With some 40-odd days to go, the biggest issues remain Iraq, homeland security and taxes. The Gallup poll says Bush has a 13 point lead on Kerry, but in reality it's much closer than that. Smear campaigns, tv ads and low-brow-beatings dominate lunchtime discussions.

Those in the Southern states meanwhile are preoccupied saving themselves and their possesions, as hurricane Ivan rumbles into town. What dratted luck, so soon after Charlie and Frances you'd say. But the meterologists say it's not about luck - there's been an increase of nearly 1.5 degrees C in the past few years, leading to the current spate of big storms and hurricanes. Apparently there's more to come too!