If you have cable and can get CNN, tomorrow night at 10PM EDT on Anderson Cooper 360 that man about New York, President Ahmadinejad of Iran, will be interviewed by Christiane Amanpour, CBE, CNN’s chief international correspondent.

To understand why I recommend this program read Ms. Amanpour’s CNN bio and Wikipedia entry. She knows more foreign leaders that the US State Department, has more time in combat zones than General Petraeus, spent more time on the Gulf Coast after Katrina than Michael Brown, and scared Yasser Arafat more than Ariel Sharon.

She speaks fluent Farsi [as well as English and French] and had the first interview with Ahmadinejad after he was elected.

It’s too bad she’s a citizen of the UK, because she would be a major improvement as Secretary of State.

You can’t have a war any more without Christiane. An Australian reporter covering the aftermath of Katrina said he knew it was a major disaster when he saw she was there.

Matt Stearns of McClatchy Newspapers asks: Can broken primary system be fixed?

WASHINGTON – Florida’s defiant decision to hold its presidential primary weeks earlier than both national parties dictate highlights one inescapable fact: There’s no easy fix for this mess of a presidential nominating system.

Parties set rules and dates, but self-interested states ignore them with little fear of meaningful consequence or much concern for the national interest. Would-be reformers tout a variety of fixes – which the states find lacking. Congress suggests that it might step in, but the Constitution may not allow it.

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Lurch at Main and Central provides a Cholera Update on Iraq – it’s spreading south.

While most people don’t use Clorox any more, do you remember your mother putting on a respirator and hazmat suit when she added it to the wash? My Mother is still a fan of chlorine bleach and it is the easiest way of killing mildew on houses and in bathrooms. It is a powerful chemical and deserves respect and caution, but it is extremely useful, especially when the normal water system is down and you need to purify drinking water.

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Lower Manhattanite at Group News Blog did a follow-up post on the Jena 6 and at the end mentioned that the White tree had been cut down.

Sure enough The News Star [Monroe, LA] reported Jena High’s infamous ‘noose’ tree cut down

“A clean slate,” LaSalle Parish School Board member Billy Fowler said of why the tree was cut down in the past few weeks. “There’s nothing positive about that old tree. It’s all negative. And I’m serving on the new School Board, and we’re wanting to start fresh on some things.”

Schools Superintendent Roy Breithaupt authorized the tree to be cut down, Fowler said. Breithaupt on Monday refused to comment about the tree while discussing plans for rebuilding the school after an arson fire destroyed one the school’s buildings.

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Position: 11.1 N 41.0 W. [10PM CDT] [UPDATED}
Movement: West-Northwest [285°] near 14 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph.
Wind Gusts: 50 mph.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 70 miles.
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb.

Currently 1355 miles East of the southern Windward Islands [the lower islands of the Lesser Antilles] and still looking like a fish botherer.

Tropical Depression Thirteen [the former Invest 94L]
Position: 21.7 N 95.4 W. [10PM CDT]
Movement: West [260°] near 5 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 30 mph.
Wind Gusts: 40 mph.
Minimum central pressure: 1008 mb.

Currently 165 miles East-Southeast of Tampico in the Gulf of Mexico.

Invest 97 is West of the Lesser Antilles but conditions are not good for much development. It looks like it will pass over Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, eastern Cuba, and then turn North into South Florida on the weekend. No guarantees with tropical weather.