"This is 10 percent luck, 20 percent skill, 15 percent concentrated power of will. Five percent pleasure, 50 percent pain, and 100 percent reason to remember the name."

It is hard to differentiate between spring and summer here, but I'd say the latter has definitely arrived with a bang this weekend. Saturday it was 88, perfectly clear and beautiful. Yesterday, closer to 90 and clouding over. Today, raining and brutally humid. If I ever leave this place, that is one thing I will absolutely not miss.

On to the news.

The city of New Orleans swears in a new mayor today, Mitch Landrieu, its first white mayor in more than three decades. The last white mayor in city, about two-thirds black, was Landrieu's father, Maurice. For those political types like me, who immediately said "I recognize that name," yes, he is the brother of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu.

Are his views on offshore drilling on par with his sister's, who got a bill opening up 8.3 million acres in the Gulf to oil exploration? Well, probably not today. Talk about walking into a beehive. Landrieu assumes his role of mayor amidst a natural disaster, though those are coming one after the other in the region these days.

Right now, according to someone in the area (couldn't figure out just who said it), the best case scenario is another week of what Florida Governor Charlie Crist called a, "volcano of oil." That said, I've been paying very close attention to this, as you can imagine, and I've yet to see someone definitively say that any one thing they are doing is actually going to stop the flow of oil. I'm guessing we'll still be dealing with the flow for quite some time, after which the cleanup will begin.

That cleanup may well extend all the way to the east coast.

Said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Meet the Press yesterday: "We are already preparing a campaign for a major restoration of the Gulf Coast." Again.

Now, I realize I ask this question pretty much every week, but no one ever answers. When, if ever, have we seen a time period where disasters hit with such frequency? Earthquakes are shaking the planet every day it seems. There was on in Arkansas last week. Arkansas. The Gulf Coast has been getting absolutely tortured by natural disasters, mostly hurricanes. Now, what is poised to be the worst oil spill in US history creeps toward the coastline by day. Tornadoes and other storms killed about a dozen people in Tennessee and Mississippi over the weekend. Two coal miners were killed last week, just three weeks after 29 were trapped in a West Virginia mine, all dying.

Someone apparently forgot to tell two car bombers that it wasn't April anymore, when they hastily parked near Times Square. The idea that these oft-used insurgency tactics could land on the busiest street in America is plenty to get your attention, I would think.

But seriously, who even remembers that Haiti is still digging itself out from an earthquake? We used to get breaks to recover and prepare for the next thing. Not anymore. There is no need to remember "where you were when that happened." Just pull out your calendar; chances are something happened today.

I am not trying to create fear amongst all my readers, Fox News does that just fine. This is just an honest question: has there ever been a time period like this? Where each day is so unpredictable, and each catastrophic event as devastating as the last? Or do we just sensationalize each thing more? Usually, I would say the latter. However, at least 42 people have died in energy disasters in the last month. More oil is going to be spilled in the Gulf that the total average in the US in 1990. If this spill hits the Exxon Valdez number, it will 10 times the average spill total in the US today. Port au Prince is destroyed, as are parts of Chili. Oh, and let's not forget that the Ninth Ward is still in ruins from Hurricane Katrina. And that is just the Western Hemisphere.

All of this and I have yet to mention the recent horrifying details of men in China going into schools and stabbing children. Sadly, the most frustrating part of the story in China isn't even the children (that is more terrifying), it is the way the Chinese government covers it up.

Maybe this is sad, or just a reflection of how frequent these types of headlines have become, but I have come to expect these things everyday. Which is why I ask, when was the last time the world was like this? The Cold War? Ever? Or is my being an American and living here shielding me from the fact that many other places have been like this forever?

It was almost fitting that last night I sat down to watch "The West Wing". It is by far my favorite television show ever, and the episode I watched last night is why. In September of 2001, the show was preparing to open its third season, complete with the president announcing he was going to run despite never disclosing to the public that he has MS. Then September 11th happened. Many people channeled their emotions through different skills they have, and Aaron Sorkin, the show's writer, was no different. He sat down and pulled off the most clutch, masterful piece of writing I've maybe ever seen.

"Isaac and Ishmael" was the title of the special episode that aired in place of the season premiere. It was a play, done specifically to talk about terrorism. Now, you might say that terrorism is not what I've been talking about this entire post, but that isn't the point. This is: about midway through the episode, a group of kids is peppering Sam Seaborn (played by Rob Lowe) about why he thinks terrorism has a 100 percent failure rate. A girl then say to Lowe, "they still do it. Their failure hasn't stopped them." You can tell she is stuck in this American principle that, when something doesn't work, you stop trying it (ah, if only more Americans actually lived by this policy). Lowe is unrelenting, however, and just says that's how it is. So the girl, all of 17 maybe, asks Lowe, "what do you call a place where the pizza place your sitting in could just blow up at anytime?" Without missing a beat, Lowe responds: "Israel."

So yes, maybe we are simply getting a small taste of what many places in the world already face everyday. And maybe we should recognize that our lives, while unpredictable and often frustrating, are still relatively safe and free of worry. My biggest problem this weekend was staying cool as the temperature rapidly increased. My life is not difficult, even compared to those who live in the same relative comfort I do. It's like Josh Lyman (played by Bradley Whitford), says in the same episode: "My government salary may not be much, but I still make more than the guy whose job it is to stand in front of the bullet. How do I tell him I quit?"

I'm going to work for that guy.


Links:

- I was honestly going to link the video from the Correspondents dinner, where everyone gives funny speeches and Washington talks about how awesome it is. However, Jay Leno (who I considered not even bolding) was so not funny that I refuse to put it on my blog. Adamantly refuse. Obama's best joke was something like: "Unfortunately, John McCain couldn’t make it. Recently he claimed that he had never identified himself as a maverick. And we all know what happens in Arizona when you don’t have ID."

Obama also joked that, while his star may have fallen some in the past year, so has the media's, and said that Senator Scott Brown is a special kind of politician, since rarely do you find one with nothing to hide. He was obviously referring to the nude centerfold piece Brown once did. Finally, he referred to RNC Chairman Michael Steele as the Notorious GOP. Too bad Leno was awful after him.

- After blowing another fantastic pitching performance (8 innings of shutout ball), that Mariners made some organizational moves last night. In the serious against Texas they scored a grand total of three runs in 32 innings. The Phillies scored nine in one inning last night.

- Pay attention to what is going on with Charlie Crist in Florida. It matters. He would certainly be a moderate voice in the senate, possibly voting with Dems on energy issues (though hopefully they get that done before he arrives) and a few other things, such as education.

- This continued sentiment, however, could derail energy in congress. Amazing that a drilling disaster could be what stops us from passing legislation designed to move us away from oil.

That's all I've got time for this morning. I'll certainly be back. No mom, I didn't proofread it again. My apologies.