I met a soldier's mother.

She was on the Carolina Line when I was traveling by train. 

She was lower income and we struck up a conversation, she was sitting in the seat across the aisle only one row forward. Don't know how we did, maybe it was her smile or her body language, but, before you know it we were talking about her son. We had aisle seats. Maybe it was because my seat mate with the window seat was fast asleep. That might have had something to do with it.

But, her son volunteered for eight dedicated years in the military. He recently finished as a Marine Sargent and got an apartment outside of the LeJeune Gates. It is not unusual at all for LeJeune soldiers to do that. Some never leave the city surrounding the base.

She hadn't seen him for six years. He was not married. And she was worried about him not being able to find the bus station where she was arriving. I told her the mobile services would probably work since the WiFi was working so well. She stated she didn't have a mobile phone. So, I pulled mine out and gave it to her. I told her to talk as long as she wanted.

She knew the phone number and while on the phone asked one of the attendants where exactly the bus station would be. She was looking for an address. The attendant stated she didn't know exactly, but, would find out and hastily went to the front of the train car.

The attendant came back in a few minutes with the address written down and handed it to her.

She spoke to her son for about 10 minutes before she said, "Oh, a nice lady gave me her mobile phone to call you." Her son realized she didn't have a mobile phone and was wondering how she reached him while still traveling.

When she got off from her stop my mobile phone was in my possession and she hugged me. She waved to me as the train left the station. I know if I meet her again we will recognize each other and I'll hear more about one of our finest soldiers and how well he is doing in life.

Thank you Secretary Powell. I think President Obama has been a remarkable President. Thank you, so very much.

By Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON | Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:27am EDT

(Reuters) - Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (click here) on Thursday endorsed Barack Obama in his bid for re-election, citing the Democratic president's efforts to wind down the war in Afghanistan and tackling terrorism.

"And so I think we ought to keep on the track that we are on," the Republican, who also backed Obama in 2008, told "CBS This Morning."

The move comes just days after Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney clashed over foreign policy in the third and last presidential debate ahead of the November 6 election....

Third Party Candidates have incredibly important message.

The Green Party's Jill Stein, from left, the Justice Party's Rocky Anderson, the Constitution Party's Virgil Goode and Libertarian Gary Johnson debate Tuesday in Chicago. (Nuccio DiNuzzo, Chicago Tribune)

They must stay on track and push for significant elections of 2014.

Thank you, Larry King! The man is better than ever.

Libertarian Gary Johnson, (click here) the Green Party's Jill Stein, Virgil Goode of the Constitution Party and Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party met in a debate moderated by Larry King, late of CNN.

The event, hosted by a group with links to a self-styled, Chicago-based, anti-tax crusader, was held at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, ground zero for so much politically inspired chaos in 1968.

This time, however, it was unlikely the whole world was watching....

Finally, a Presidential Debate Tackles Climate Change, Drones, Drugs, and Civil Liberties (click here)

By Will Oremus

 | 

Posted Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, at 11:57 AM ET

It took a cast of political eccentrics with no hope of winning the election, but Tuesday night finally brought a presidential debate that addressed climate change....

...All four also piped up for civil liberties, criticizing laws that allow for the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without trial. Anderson calling the National Defense Authorization Act "the very definition of tyranny."...

Some minimalists believe Hurricane Sandy will hit the USA next week? Really?

October 25, 2012
0930:18z
UNISYS Infrared GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

I could never understand why anyone would down play deadly storms. It is like it isn't suppose to happen or something. This story from Bloomberg was 22 minutes ago. I don't think so.

This is the infrared satellite and not even the water vapor satellite. I down played the reality of the storm by using IR. And still there is a major storm already at the shores of the USA.

By Brian K. Sullivan - Oct 25, 2012 5:22 AM ET

Hurricane Sandy, (click here) which closed businesses and airports in Jamaica as it moved north in the Caribbean, may strike the U.S. East Coast next week with the potential to cause millions of dollars in damage.

Sandy’s maximum sustained winds reached 105 miles (165 kilometers) per hour as it moved inland over southeastern Cuba, according to a U.S. National Hurricane Center advisory at 5 a.m. Eastern time. It was about 40 miles east of Holguin, Cuba, and moving north at 18 mph.

“The table is set for some pretty major weather,” Henry Margusity, an expert senior meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania, said yesterday. “Is it going to be an epic storm or is going to be just your typical nor’easter? We will have the answers next week.”...

In case the media needs to know where to look for pertinent information, it might save lives. The Weather Channel focuses on this stuff, ya know?

Hurricane Alerts (click here)

Tropical Storm Warning for: 
Coastal Broward
Coastal Miami Dade
Coastal Palm Beach
Coastal Volusia
Coastal Waters From Fernandina Beach To St. Augustine Fl Out 20 Nm
Coastal Waters From Jupiter Inlet To Deerfield Beach Fl Out 20 Nm
Flagler Beach To Volusia-brevard Line 0-20 Nm
Indian River
Lake Okeechobee
Martin
Northern Brevard
Sebastian Inlet To Jupiter Inlet 0-20 Nm
Southern Brevard
St. Lucie
Volusia-brevard Line To Sebastian Inlet 20-60 Nm
Waters From Fernandina Beach To St. Augustine Fl From 20 To 60 Nm
Waters From Jupiter Inlet To Deerfield Beach Fl From 20 To 60 Nm
Waters From Ocean Reef To Craig Key Fl From 20 To 60 Nm

Tropical Storm Watch for: 
Duval
Flagler
Monroe/upper Keys
Nassau
St. Johns

Just a personal opinion, but, I betcha the Tropical Storm Watch turns into Tropical Storm Warnings within a couple of hours.

I always love to tell the story about Hurricane Floyd. So, I'll tell it again. I was listening to the weather reports back in those days and the prediction was Floyd would not hit Wilmington for another 24 hours. That was midnight. The sky was clear, I could see the stars, who was I to question.

At 5AM a knock came to the door and as I woke I could hear something slapping against my bedroom window. It was on the second floor of course. I dashed to the door in my bathrobe to be greeted by a frantic neighbor from the downstairs apartment waking everyone to the reality that Floyd had hit. 

I went to the balcony and there sat my beautiful new Dodge Avenger (I liked the name) in over a foot of water.

See, the 'eye' of the storm wasn't reaching Wilmington for 24 hours, but, that storm was huge and the outer bands reached us a lot sooner.

See, the 'eye' isn't where all the rain is. 20 people died in that storm, a few were from surrounding low lying towns to Wilmington. Wilmington would be an island again in about 12 more hours. My family and I barely got off the coastal plain before all access roads to Wilmington were closed. The traffic was so heavy that when my oldest son driving his car and I our 4X4 Chevy the water was becoming stronger over Interstate 40. We communicated through it by hand held closed circuit band radios. We were all lucky. The rest of the family was already west of Raleigh.

So, when it comes to large RADIUS storms, the media needs to be 'on the ground' reporting and not waiting for the eye of the storm to pass over to marvel at the fact there is NO RAIN IN THE 'EYE' OF THE STORM!

Below is the UNISYS Water Vapor image at October 25, 2012 at 0930:18z (click here for 12 hour loop). Just for the record.

Hurricane Sandy in the past nine hours. Dropping eight millibars of central pressure and moving north 2.2 degrees latitude with winds increasing by 20 knots and returning to an increase of 15 knots.

10A  18.70  -76.40 10/25/00Z   75   968 HURRICANE-1

  11  19.40  -76.30 10/25/03Z   80   954 HURRICANE-1

11A  20.10  -75.90 10/25/06Z   95   957 HURRICANE-2

  12  20.90  -75.80 10/25/09Z   90   960 HURRICANE-2

Just give everyone a fighting chance, okay? Is that too much to ask for the right to broadcast all the 'power plays' of elections? Huh?

Oprah Winfrey tops the list. Her story is just amazing. Congrats.

4:03 PM, Oct 2, 2012
New York, NY -- Oprah Winfrey (click here) tops the Forbes list of the highest paid women in entertainment. Forbes estimates that Winfrey made $165 million in 12 months. That's nearly as much as the next three women on the list combined. Brittany Spears took in $58 million, a million more than Taylor Swift. Ellen DeGeneres is tied with Rihanna for fourth place with $53 million. Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez are a million behind them. The top ten ends with a three-way tie. Gisele Bundchen, Katy Perry and Judge Judy each made $45 million.