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THAT MAY NOT EXACTLY BE THE CASE UP HERE IN THE MINNWISSIPPI REGION HOME OF YOUR CORRESPONDENT, even considering the fact that we may be seeing a net drop in the maxima temperature of 15 degrees or thereabouts cf. just yesterday.

As in today's maxima likely being only around 55-56 degrees with rain likely in the afterlunch, whereas yesterday it was 72 degrees under sunny, if windy, skies.

Still, though, with milder weather affecting areas "up north" as have seen record snowfall this late into the season, in their turn translating into substantial snow melt feeding into streams and rivers as have yet to see ice out in some instances, there's always the possibility of flooding downstream, Winona included, within measurable distance.

Or is there?

(Actually, given current weather and stream flow conditions here in Winona, as per the National Weather Service, it's highly unlikely that the river will reach flood stage of 13'/3.96 metres anytime soon. Expect a more realistic estimate of 9.4'/2.865 metres for the peak river level in the next fortnight or so.)

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CONSIDERING THE PECUILARITIES OF THE JEWISH LUNAR CALENDAR (AND THEN SOME), it seems rather ironic that the first day of the Jewish festival of Passover (actually beginning the evening previous @ sundown) coincides this year with the birthday of Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler (1889-1945).

The irony of which is not lost upon the Anti-Defamation League, which has issued the following press release expressing concern about the coincidence being exploited by the weird and unwholesome element:

Neo-Nazi Groups Plan Events Commemorating Hitler's Birthday

New York, NY, April 16, 2008 … In an annual rite of spring, white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups across the United States are planning to hold events to commemorate the April 20 birthday of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, where he will be celebrated for his legacy of racism, anti-Semitism and hate.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) says several well-known domestic extremist groups are planning to hold racist rallies, marches, cookouts and other events in Washington, D.C., Chicago, IL, Portland, OR, Houston, TX, and Morganton, NC, in conjunction with Hitler's birthday.

Many of the planned Hitler birthday gatherings coincide with the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins on April 19.

"There is always a concern when the extremist groups use a calendar event as a rallying point to recruit members and to promote anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "Hitler's birthday has a special resonance for extremists, not only because of what Adolf Hitler represents, but because there have been violent and deadly attacks directly associated with this date in the past.  It is especially troubling since Hitler's birthday falls on the first day of Passover this year."

One of the events on April 19 is being billed as an anti-immigrant rally.  Anti-immigrant and particularly anti-Hispanic rhetoric have become one of the calling cards of white supremacist groups in recent years, according to ADL, which has issued reports on how extremist groups have used the national debate over immigration to recruit new members and spread hate.

The League has provided a list of upcoming Hitler birthday events on its Web site along with links to more information on the neo-Nazi and white supremacists groups behind them. 

Among the events being planned:

•  Washington, DC:  Members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, who are known for dressing in Nazi uniforms and making Nazi salutes, are planning an April 19 rally and march "against illegal immigration."

•  Morganton, NC:  Members of Stormfront, an Internet forum popular among white supremacists and anti-Semites, will hold a "racialist cookout" that is being advertised as "family friendly."

•  Chicago, IL:  The neo-Nazi American National Socialist Workers Party has scheduled a gathering in honor of Hitler's birthday featuring various "pro-white" speakers, including a former German SS officer.

•  Portland, OR: Volksfront, the most active neo-Nazi group on the West Coast, is hosting a gathering.  One of the group's goals is to establish a whites-only living space in the Pacific Northwest.

•  Houston, TX: Crew 38, a group associated with the neo-Nazi Hammerskin Nation, will host an "Adolf Hitler Memorial and BBQ" in Houston with live entertainment and a swastika lighting.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

And let's not forget, folks, that the April 19th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Incident, which was hoped to be a call to arms among the pitchfork-wielding peasantry Who Should Know Better against a corrupt and out-of-control Big Brother-Stylee Police State, has also been used in recent years by those taking advantage of the crude and easily-exploitable patriotism in the Great Silent Majority.

As in poor, undereducated or homeschooled and easily-influenced "white trash" resident, for the most part, in lower-income or otherwise "culturally deprived" ZIP+4 areas with few or no realistic opportunities for jobs or empowerment. Let alone plenty of time to guzzle beer, eat junk food wholesale and watch Fox Prolefeed on the satellite TV ... or engage in orgies of wasteful and unnecessary shopping @ the local Wally World without due regard for whether they're getting value for money.

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WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT DELTA AND NORTHWEST AIRLINES ARE CONSIDERING MARRIAGE, CONTINUING UNDER THE DELTA NAME AND STYLEE, some are expecting nothing short of a quick, Gretna Green-stylee ceremony and getting things over and done with all the sooner.

But then again, expect already-high air fares made all the more so by high jet fuel prices to be even more so thanks to reduced competition, as experience anecdotally illustrates and reminds us.

Not to mention increased and increasing frustration on the part of air travellers complacent in our air-mindedness being one with the supposed "moral superiority" of the American People and Nation.