Los Angeles 2004/2005 Fails to Break Rainfall Record Released by: Sondra Lowell Web Site: http://www.openpodcast.org Pray for Rain Coalition Admits Defeat, Looks Inward for Answers Email: Sondra@hotmail.com Keywords: meteorology, film, psychiatry, psychology, political movement Update Date: 7/1/2005 2:05:14 AM Hits: 411 Descrption:  Following a winter and spring in which torrential rains sent houses careening off hillsides and cars hydroplaning into each other on freeways, Los Angeles 2004/2005 ended the rainfall year in second place for most recorded rain, .9 inches behind 1883/1884. Spirits are low in the City of the Angels, and the humiliating failure of the 21st century to unseat a year in which planes could not fly and the Internet was not even a gleam in Al Gore's eye is rumored to be to blame for both the sagging poll numbers of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the defeat of Mayor James Hahn, who ironically left office on June 30, the last day of the rainfall year. While most Angelenos only whispered their prayers for the mere .9000001 inch of dew that would have put them over the top, the Pray for Rain/Save Los Angeles Now! coalition prayed publicly and fervently till midnight Thursday that a miracle, possibly a last minute scientific breakthrough, would turn the tide and convert the storms' destruction into victory. "We blew out the candles that we'd hoped would be extinguished by rain," said Pray for Rain spokesperson, podcaster Sondra Lowell, when the vigil ended early Friday morning. "Although we are forced to admit that 1883/1884 was better than we are at weather, we still have ice makers in refrigerator doors and ringtones and no one can take that away from us." Her Pray for Rain podcast at http://openpodcast.org.nyud.net:8090/media/2005/6/30/openpodcast_2433.mp3, urging people around the world to contribute expertise--and prayer--for the cause did not result in the expected response. "We have to look within for the reasons," she admitted. "We are not in a place yet where we can commit the same energy to 2005/2006. We are going to contact Tom Cruise as soon as the opening weekend of 'War of the Worlds' quiets down and ask him how to deal with our depression." Since the defeat, there has been a split in the ranks of Pray for Rain, with some members opting not to wait for Tom Cruise. "Tom is too much in love to care about our problems," said a disgruntled member who asked not to be identified. "Some of us have already been in touch with the psychologists who helped Democrats come to terms with the election of George Bush. They prescribe Ritalin, but at least they listen." When coalition spokesperson Sondra Lowell was confronted with this accusation, she brushed past reporters mumbling, "No comment." Contact infomation: 323-633-3639