WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

It’s an absurd notion, but it’s fully in line with decades of Republican resistance to federal emergency planning. FEMA, created by President Jimmy Carter, was elevated to cabinet rank in the Bill Clinton administration, but was then demoted by President George W. Bush, who neglected it, subsumed it into the Department of Homeland Security, and placed it in the control of political hacks. The disaster of Hurricane Katrina was just waiting to happen.

The agency was put back in working order by President Obama, but ideology still blinds Republicans to its value. Many don’t like the idea of free aid for poor people, or they think people should pay for their bad decisions, which this week includes living on the East Coast.

Over the last two years, Congressional Republicans have forced a 43 percent reduction in the primary FEMA grants that pay for disaster preparedness. Representatives Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor and other House Republicans have repeatedly tried to refuse FEMA’s budget requests when disasters are more expensive than predicted, or have demanded that other valuable programs be cut to pay for them. The Ryan budget, which Mr. Romney praised as “an excellent piece of work,” would result in severe cutbacks to the agency, as would the Republican-instigated sequester, which would cut disaster relief by 8.2 percent on top of earlier reductions.

What's wrong with the Republican Party?   I live in Louisiana, and I shudder to think what it would be like here to be on our own. Our governor, Bobby Jindal, one of the bright stars in the Republican political firmament, is in the process of privatizing or dismantling as many of our public institutions as possible before he moves on to what he hopes is a prominent role on the national scene. He will leave wreckage behind that will require decades to rebuild, if there is even the will to rebuild.  The most recent havoc is in medical education, the training of doctors, which, because it is in such a state of disarray, is causing consternation amongst doctors, hospitals, and anyone in the state who cares and is paying attention. 

The Republicans of today are ruthless social Darwinians with a dog-eat-dog mentality and no concept of the common good, no conscience for a government that cares for those amongst us who are in distress.  If you are poor, or sick without health insurance, or trying to recover from a disaster with little or no resources, then you are on your own, because your plight is your own fault, and you don't deserve to be helped by the government.  

What I don't understand is that many Republicans profess themselves Christians and claim to be pro-life.  From what I see, many of them are pro-life only for life in the womb and to hell with you after that.  Oh, and when you're at death's door, and your illness is terminal and irreversible, and you have left directives not to be kept alive on machines, they just may take up your cause in Congress and pass a law ordering that you must be kept alive at all costs, despite your expressed wishes.

What is wrong with these people?  Do we want their leaders, Romney and Ryan, running the country?   

ROMNEY ON DISASTER RELIEF

 

It seems to me in the case of an immediate disaster, it makes sense to attend to people affected by disaster and help those in distress right now, rather than be concerned about the debt to future generations.  And if Romney is truly concerned about future generations, why does he preach, "Burn, burn, burn!" fossil fuels without a thought for what kind of world future generations will inhabit because of the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?  I expect Romney is still in denial about climate change, but I have no doubt that the increase in violent weather events like Sandy the Superstorm is due to climate change as a result of our unwillingness to move more rapidly to the use of cleaner sources of energy.

Watch the video.



From Think Progress.

CAN'T GET NUTHIN' DONE

Can't get going on much of anything today thinking about the people in the Northeast who are and will be affected by the storm.

From Dr Jeff Masters at Weather Underground:  

Sandy already producing a record storm surge 

The National Weather Service in Atlantic City, NJ said that isolated record storm surge flooding already occurred along portions of the New Jersey coast with this morning's 7:30 am EDT high tide cycle. As the tide goes out late this morning and this afternoon, water levels will fall, since the difference in water levels between low tide and high tide is about 5'. However, this evening, as the core of Sandy moves ashore, the storm will carry with it a gigantic bulge of water that will raise waters levels to the highest storm tides ever seen in over a century of record keeping, along much of the coastline of New Jersey and New York. The peak danger will be between 7 pm - 10 pm, when storm surge rides in on top of the high tide. The full moon is today, which means astronomical high tide will be about 5% higher than the average high tide for the month, adding another 2 - 3" to water levels. This morning's 9:30 am EDT H*Wind analysis from NOAA's Hurricane Research Division put the destructive potential of Sandy's winds at a modest 2.9 on a scale of 0 to 6. However, the destructive potential of the storm surge was record high: 5.8 on a scale of 0 to 6. This is a higher destructive potential than any hurricane observed since 1969, including Category 5 storms like Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Camille, and Andrew. The previous highest destructive potential for storm surge was 5.6 on a scale of 0 to 6, set during Hurricane Isabel of 2003. Sandy's storm surge will be capable of overtopping the flood walls in Manhattan, which are only five feet above mean sea level. On August 28, 2011, Tropical Storm Irene brought a storm surge of 4.13' and a storm tide of 9.5' above MLLW to Battery Park on the south side of Manhattan. The waters poured over the flood walls into Lower Manhattan, but came 8 - 12" shy of being able to flood the New York City subway system. According to the latest storm surge forecast for NYC from NHC, Sandy's storm surge is expected to be 10 - 12' above MLLW. Since a storm tide of 10.5' is needed to flood the subway system, it appears likely that portions of the NYC subway system will flood. The record highest storm tide at The Battery was 10.5', set on September 15, 1960, during Hurricane Donna.

AI-YAI-YAI!  I've been reading Dr Jeff's Wunderblog for years as I watched and waited for hurricanes here in south Louisiana.  His information is always spot on.

Sandy's winds are still intensifying, and the storm carries heavy rainfall along with it.  Take care, my friends in the Northeast.  I pray for little or no loss of life.

PRAYER FOR ALL IN THE WAKE AND PATH OF HURRICANE SANDY

 

Gracious God, you are our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.
In the wake and in the path of Hurricane Sandy,
reveal your presence so that all may know your healing, hope, and love.
As one community on earth bound together by your grace,
inspire us to pray, serve, and help all those who suffer.

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

ELCA Prayer and Worship Resources for Natural Disasters.

UPDATE: Check out my favorite source for weather information, Weather Underground.

JANE AUSTEN'S RING - YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU

 

From The History Blog:

At the Sotheby’s English Literature, History, Children’s Books and Illustrations sale in London this July, a turquoise and gold ring which had once belonged to Jane Austen was purchased for £152,450 ($244,000). As is their wont, Sotheby’s did not release the name of the buyer, but now the buyer has revealed herself. In an interview with British tabloid the Daily Star, singer and first American Idol Kelly Clarkson identified herself as the bidder who won Jane Austen’s ring.

Yes, the ring really did belong to Jane Austen.  But there is a twist to the story.

Unfortunately for Ms. Clarkson, she won’t be wearing Jane’s ring back home. She applied for an export license as required by law, but the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest advised the Secretary of State not to grant it on the grounds that the object is of national importance. With the export ban in place, the item cannot leave British soil. Kelly is going to have to cross an ocean to visit her ring.

I’m sorry for Ms Clarkson's sake, but I think the ring IS a national treasure. I hope Sotheby forewarned her that she might not be able to take the ring out of the country. My suggestion to Ms Clarkson is to donate the ring to the Chawton House Museum in Hampshire, Jane Austen’s last home, where her other jewelry and personal items are on display.  I was fortunate to visit the museum on two occasions a number of years ago, and I recommend it highly.

My earlier post on the ring.

BLUNT AND CANDID

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson former chief of staff to Colin Powell is very blunt and candid about racism in the Republican party.

It's no surprise to me that Col Wilkerson states candidly that the Republican Party is "full of racists".  Louisiana is a very red state, and I'd agree with the colonel that the Republican Party here is "full of racists". 

NOT GOOD AT ALL, NOPD

New Orleans — “Ann” said she was walking to a friend’s house on Tulane Avenue in September when a New Orleans police officer stopped her for no real reason and asked for her identification. By the end of their interaction, she was in handcuffs, booked with crimes against nature and verbally abused by a local judge. “Ann” said her only crime was being a young, black transgender girl.

Like others, she was too afraid to tell her story in public or use her real name. Instead, a friend read her testimony before the City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday. Her presentation was one of several the committee heard — directly or indirectly — from members of the local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning community.

If this is how the NOPD officers spend (waste) their time in the murder capital of the country, then their priorities are in serious disarray.  No wonder the department will be under a years-long consent decree order by the US Department of Justice due to "a history of discriminatory policing on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual status."

New Orleans has always been a city of great diversity, and it is unconscionable that the department is guilty of discriminatory behavior in its approach to policing in a city in so great need of a well-functioning police department that treats all citizens fairly.  And for heaven's sake, the police should concentrate their efforts on finding the murderers and perpetrators of violence who make living in certain areas of the city like living in a war zone.

Kudos to Wes Ware, director of BreakOut, "an organization that seeks to end what it calls the criminalization of LGBTQ youth in New Orleans" and the members of the organization and to the Justice Department for their efforts to bring about fair and equal treatment by NOPD of all the citizens of New Orleans.  

IS IT THAT TIME OF THE YEAR ALREADY?

 

 

HA HA HA - PRICELESS

 

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

OH NO! ME AND MY SECRETS IN WIKIPEDIA?

 

That dear man Josh Thomas thinks I belong in Wikipedia as a notable person in the entry on Thibodaux, Louisiana, and wrote a post to that effect.  I'm flattered and honored beyond expression, but unfortunately (and unintentionally, I'm sure), he has revealed secrets that I'd rather not have called to public attention.

Truly, the post is clever and hilarious.  Here's a snippet:

Ten years ago she accepted the offer of a free, all-expenses-paid vacation at a palace in the American Southwest, where she rode around in limousines and ate like a queen – despite knowing that her hosts were charter members of the International Gay Cabal (known to the CIA as the “Gay Agendists”). These subversives succeeded in beginning her conversion to warped ways.

Experienced spies will tell you that everyone can be seduced to The Other Side. For some it’s sex, and for all we know that may have been part of her downfall. But for others, “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Those Gay tempters must have taken her to the top of a mountain and shown her, “All this can be yours!”

She signed right on the spot, happily entering a life of sordid degradation.

As you read, keep in mind that Josh Thomas runs the excellent prayer site The Daily Office West, which I use nearly every day.   Contradictions abound in the person of Josh. :-)  I give him great credit for using flattering pictures of me in his post.  The picture above is one of my favorites, taken by that big cuddly bear, Paul Strid, when we had lunch and a stroll around the French Quarter in New Orleans.  Paul's account of our meeting is at his blog Byzigenous Buddhapalian.