HERE IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA, IT'S HOT, HOT, HOT!!!

I receive e-mails from people all over the United States and other countries. But this first story is about what people here in the Los Angeles area are going through. Especially in the San Fernando Valley part of the Los Angeles area. 120 sticky degrees in Chatsworth yesterday. All the way down to a "cool" 96 degrees in Thousand Oaks, but because of the humidity, it feels hotter than that. And it's expected to remain this way through the Labor Day holiday. In a front page Los Angeles Daily News story today, suggestions are made to their heat exhausted readers. Like, "Buy a direct flight to Anchorage, Alaska, where yesterday's (Thursday's) temperature was 67 degrees." Other suggestions include, "Put on a hat and wear light, loose-fitting clothing. Drink lots of water. Forget jogging, and take up A/C couch aerobics."

Okay. I live in the San Fernado Valley and that means I'm living in this heat. Because of a bad motorcycle accident a number of years ago, I had to give up a daily 3-mile jog that I was religious about doing. So I walk religiously. And tend to pray it'll get cooler. I wear a cap, light, loose-fitting clothing and I drink lots of water. But I gotta tell ya...By the time I get back home after my 3-mile walk, I feel like I've spent an hour in a sauna. When I walk into my cool apartment, what seems like a river of sweat ends up on my rug.

The reason I'm telling you this is because I don't think we should use heat as an excuse to stop moving, exercise wise. Most of us weigh too much. Including me. It's easy to stop doing what we know is good for us. And because misery loves company, I hope to see you walking and sweating in the San Fernando Valley today. When we look in the mirror six months from now, we're gonna be proud of ourselves.

IT'S ALSO HOT IN WASHINGTON:

President Bush is obviously feeling the heat. From big campaign contributors that happen to be financial institutions. Institutions that are sweating bullets because of all these home foreclosures. Oh, you thought it was just the home-owners who are being affected by these foreclosures? Do you remember what Deep Throat said in the film, "All The President's Men"? Follow the money!!!

President Bush is reported to be laying out plans that would result in the helping of people who are in this big mess. That goes against what he supposedly stands for. Government handouts, etc. But when it's the money people who need help? That's different. Oh, we'll be told these moves will be for "the little guy", but those of us who have been paying attention will know better.

AND SPEAKING OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION:

Here are a couple of stories for you to contemplate during this Labor Day weekend.

(1) An eleven-page story in this week's Newsweek that's titled, "Into Thin Air". A fascinating story about the search for Osama bin Laden and what has happened when our troops got close enough to capture and or kill bin Laden. The "roadblocks" that have been put up will make you furious and or make you want to cry if you believe (as I do) that the capturing and or killing of Osama bin Laden should be mission number ONE in this most inept "war on terror" being waged by this most inept President of the United States. The blame for the "roadblocks" are shown to be because of political considerations and fearful career officers who wouldn't let experienced warriors do the job they know how to do best. And that's letting nothing get in the way of an assassination attempt on a guy who's responsible for the murder of more than 3000 of our citizens on 9/11. President Truman once said, "The buck stops here!" President Bush likes to refer to himself as "The Decider". If he's been in agreement with some of the things you'll read about in this Newsweek story, when you get to the end, while putting the magazine down, you'll be shaking your head.

Here's the second story. We've all heard the stories about innocent civilians who have been killed in Iraq and how that problem has been a big problem in getting civilians to cooperate with us. Military leaders have told the leaders in Washington that many civilian casualties could be avoided by using a new nonlethal weapon that's been developed. It's a ray gun that uses energy beams instead of bullets. When people are hit with a "beam", they won't be killed or maimed, but what the people will do is decide that they should leave the neighborhood or to stop interfering with legitimate military business. The ray gun is whacha call a bonafide deterrent, folks. Military leaders have been begging for these ray guns, but the Pentagon has refused to issue them because they're afraid that the gun will be referred to as a "torture device", which it isn't!

Yo, Mr. Decider! Show some damn leadership and order the use of these ray guns so that we can begin to win the "hearts and minds" in Iraq.

A STORY ABOUT A MAN WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE PRESIDENT:

Fred Thompson has finally decided on an announcement date. Next Thursday, Fred Thompson will officially announce that he is a candidate to be our next President of the United States. There's an issue about reruns of "Law & Order" episodes in which Fred Thompson appears. FCC regulations mandate that TV stations must provide a political candidate with airtime equal to that of his or her opponents, but the rule has never been imposed on cable networks. TNT would damn near have to go out of business if they stopped running Law & Order repeats because as late as yesterday, 9 of their 24 hours were devoted to repeats of that show and TNT says they won't stop showing repeats.

NEW FILMS:

There aren't many new films opening this weekend. There's good buzz about the "Halloween" remake that opens today. The L.A. Daily News' Bob Strauss ends his review with, "In general, director Rob Zombie crafts a well-paced clear story while building genuine suspense. Kind of a treat, overall, and who expected that?"

I plan to see "Halloween" and "Superbad" this weekend.

EDITOR'S NOTE: IF YOU READ THIS BEFORE PICTURES HAVE BEEN ADDED, COME BACK! PICTURES WILL BE UP SOON!

Don't forget! You can HEAR this blog! The links to the stations broadcasting today's blog can be found at the bottom of my links section which is to the right of what you're reading now. It's the last links.

A new blog is written every morning, Monday through Friday and is posted between 7 and 7:15, Pacific Time. Sometimes earlier. Questions and comments can be sent to scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I do write back.

TUESDAY: (We're taking Monday off because it's a holiday) I'll tell you about a reader who says she has the answer to the question, "How do you mend a broken heart?" and anything else that makes me say, "Whaaaat?!?"

STAY COOL AND HAVE A TERRIFIC LABOR DAY WEEKEND EVERYBODY!!!!