Broadmoor Condominium took a beating. 

Island Royale in pretty good shape. 

These houses are on Old River, again on Perdido Key, Alabama. 

About a 35 foot boat across the road from Cotton Bayou. 

More houses on Perdido Key. 

One of the beach houses on Perdido Key, Alabama, gutted by Ivan. 

In the background is what is left of the dry dock storage facility at Zeke's Landing. Most of the boats look ok. 

On the way to the Florida state line, this is Perdido Place, which is similar in construction to Atlantis -- looking good. 

Here is a clearer picture of the Flora-Bama. View is from the Gulf facing north. Water on other side of the road is Old River. Panama Mac's is across the street pass the SUV. I have a condo just east of here in Florida which I hope to visit today for the first time. Will post photos. 

This is the Gulf down West Beach at the bridge/cut for Little Lagoon. 

This is Mikee's, about two blocks north of the beach. 

This is the Crystal Beach condo. It is across from Hwy 161 in Orange Beach, about 1 mile south of my place, but on the Gulf itself. Built in the late 90s. I think this is about where the center of Ivan came ashore. 

East Beach Blvd., Gulf Shores 

This is a shot of Sea 'n Suds, which sticks out into the Gulf. Surprisely, it survived the storm. 

In the fore-front is the world famous Pink Pony Pub. It was rebuilt as it is here in 1979 after Frederic. Behind it is the new Phoenix All-Suites condominium which fared the storm well. I suspect that the Pink Pony's days are over.

This is downtown Gulf Shores, two blocks north of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Repeat. 

View of the Herbert camphouse from across the bayou. Post Ivan. 

Neighbor was not as lucky as I was. 

Large pine tree in my front yard. Bent then snapped. 

This is view from the back deck of my house on Buck's Bayou facing southeast, right down from Tacky Jack's. The hottub is in retreat. Pool decking is in disarray. Pool is still holding water (and a school of pin fish).

This is what is left of the Flora-Bama Roadhouse on the Alabama-Florida line. http://www.florabama.com

Here is my other boat, the Laissez Faire, dangling above the decking around my pool. 

This is my boat, the Loco-Foco, safely resting above what was my dock. 

This is the Beach Road in Gulf Shores, just as you enter the State Park. 

So Much for Free Speech (washingtonpost.com)

(Site requires free registration.) Robert Samuelson, one of the more thoughtful writers for the Washington Post, cuts to the heart of all the recent chatter about independent campaign activities. Bush, on the other hand, as usual, comes across as completely clueless on the subject.

"Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule – and both commonly succeed, and are right."


- H.L. Mencken

Novak: Bush employing platform shoos to keep party in line

Take this for what it is worth. Traditionally the Republican platform has been ignored after the convention. Apparently it now is being abandoned prior to the convention. Hubris or just neoconservative realism?

Yahoo! News - Ricky Williams Reportedly Failed Third Drug Test

Wow. Marijuana use cost Ricky $650,000 in fines last year. Another victim of the insane war on drugs (drug-taking people).

Where are the moralists? The clergy? The civil rights crowd?

An Echo, Not a Choice

The case for (hold your nose now) Kerry. Actually it is the case for going fishing.

The Late, Great States - Where have all the federalists gone? By Steve?Chapman

Frist's Senate in disarray

Bob Novak reporting on the Greatest Deliberative Body ever.

Martha Stewart: Punishing the Innocent, Excusing the Guilty by Paul Craig Roberts

Elaine Cassel: Hamdi, Padilla and Rasul Before the Supremes, Who Really Won?