Rain

Rain, Bush. It's been going on for days now and even this morning, Monday, it shows no sign of letting up. They say we're in for another couple of days before we see the sun again.

We're not used to such foul weather here. We're the lucky ones. We get warm days and sunshine most of the year. Still, while I've been living in this part of the world for thirty-five years, I can't remember anything like this. Storm after storm, coming in from the north and the west. It's big news on the local TV stations. Three people dead. Which seems small potatoes, really, when you think of it, in view of the tsunami victims back there in Southeast Asia. Still, they do need a drama, don't they, Bush? The media. And this seems to provide it for them. Twenty-four hour coverage. Rain-soaked reporters checking in from all points of the compass, their hair-dos all awry, breathless with the breaking news: an SUV crashes in a storm ditch; a tree falls in Alhambra; a mud slide threatens a home in Sierra Madre…

I have a little saying when these bad things happen. It helps a bit. I just mutter under my breath, "It's Bush's fault," and that seems to take the sting out of whatever bad thing's happening. Just a joke, really, Bush. Don't take it personally. Although, this weather, with the effects of global warming… Who knows?

Anyway, good news this morning, about the Palestinian elections yesterday, right? The fact that they seem to have gone off smoothly, for one thing. No bombs. But also the election of Mahmoud Abbas. That seems promising, given that he went on record calling for an end to violence. From this distance, he sounds like one of the saner voices in the region. Let's hope he has the strength and the perseverence to match the sanity.

Wouldn't that be a blessing, though, Bush? To find some way to bring peace between Israel and a new, neighboring Palestine? Because that would go a long way toward alleviating the Muslim sense of grievance, which is spreading so much poison in the world. It's still a stretch, of course, because the hatred of the state of Israel goes deeper even than the Palestinian problem. I know that millions of their neighbors simply cannot tolerate the nation's presence in their midst. But it would be a start, no, Bush? It would be a good start.