Sunday morning: Lots to do today.

1. Welcome to purpura.

2. The Clancy Brothers tell us "Whisky is the life of man . . . " No, in the Liamverse, `Coffee is the life of man. '

3. Oh, I wish I had been in Ruantallan yesterday.

There was a huge concert that included Australian and American country singers and Maritime favorites and "Great Big Sea from the tropical island of Newfoundland. ;)

I liked this passage:

Newfoundland’s Great Big Sea brought even more Celtic to the picnic, or as singer Alan Doyle called it, "the biggest kitchen party ever in the history of the world." Playing the masses like they were still on stage at the Lower Deck (as they were at an invite-only show on Friday night), Doyle and bandmates Sean "Shanty Man" McCann and Bob Hallett showed their poppier side on songs like Walk on the Moon from the new CD Fortune’s Favour, but it was Newf classics like a ferocious Mary Mac that got the island flags waving.

The Lower Deck was part of the part of the Great Viking Pub Crawl on Thanksgiving Weekend of 2004.

4. If you want to follow the hurricane stuff, the New Orleans Times-Picayune is a good place to start.

5. I just loaded the crockpot with a Rogash Curry simmer sauce, pork strips, potatoes, carrots and part of the zucchini. I am also going to make "Fry Thing," which will include potatoes, Chouricio, the rest of the pork, onions, green peppers, more zucchini (not a lot) and garlic -- in olive oil.

6. I think it's nap time.

Ranty Liam is ranty

1. Earlier I said that this Hurricane Gustav stuff reads like a bad disaster novel. City almost destroyed, rebuilt, then hit three years later to the day. (And I won't even talk about Barack Obama's speech being 40 years to the day to Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech. Bizarre stuff.

2. But not nearly as bizarre as the "Sarah Palin's "son is really her grand son" speculation.

It started on Daily Kos, then went to The Atlantic.

Here is the aggregation of other articles from Google News.

I usually dismiss things like this, but wow. If it's true it would be one of the most bizarre political stories ever. If it's true, did she lie to McCain? Was she poorly vetted?

Oh, and I really don't care at all what Palin's spokesman says, because that was the same person who said the governor would "watch the fireworks" of the announcement from home and was going to attend the Alaska State Fair. Credible much?

I keep checking the Anchorage paper and the New York Times and Washington Post to see if this is going to bust out.

3. I didn't get a chance to share my anger about baseball continuing its self-destruction by allowing umpires to use replays. But the MLB overturns an official scorer's call just to give someone a no-hitter, that's all kinds of wrong.

4. I do love the fact that the radio station WWL in New Orleans is saying, "We think you should leave, but if you are staying, please call us and talk to us."

5. I think John McCain is full of shit with the way he is reacting to the hurricane. He oughta be in Minneapolis. He is politicizing the hurricane. And you know what? You may be the presumptive nominee, but you ain't in charge of the convention.

Now, understand, no way I would vote for him anyway, for so many reasons, but you gotta contrast him bothering emergency officials, to Barack Obama's folks, who get it.

Democratic nominee Barack Obama indicated that he would not visit the Gulf Coast before Gustav hits lest his presence distract public-safety officials from storm-related tasks. Instead, he said he is preparing to use a list of perhaps 2 million campaign backers, probably asking them to volunteer or send money or supplies, once local officials determine what's needed.

From the Anchorage Daily News, one of my new favorite papers. I used to read it occasionally. Now I read it hourly. ;)

6. And Maureen Dowd just rocks! 

7. Oh, and on the arrests and warrant-searches of the anarchists in St. Paul? I like to believe the police, but "We're doing this to make things better for legitimate protesters" is just a stupid thing to say.