hurricanes and media storms
Part of my new job has me serving in an emergency support function in times of national disaster and crisis. This past weekend I was sort of on call and narrowly ducked out of going to Louisiana or Texas - normally I'd jump at the chance to travel but I was on vacation at that time. It was also fortunate that Gustav didn't turn out to be that bad. However, more hurricanes are sure to come so who knows where I may end up. I wish I could have just stayed in South Carolina to wait for Hanna's arrival.
Anyway, I was watching CNN and The Weather Channel a lot to see how Hurricane Gustavo played out. While I was watching, I got fed up with the crappy CNN reporters, all of whom seemed to be desperately searching for tragedy and disaster when most of the time there was none. I can tell you that FEMA and many cooperating government agencies were planning and preparing for Gustavo's arrival at least a week in advance, and no one really wanted to repeat a Katrina. I think the level of preparedness is one reason Gustavo wasn't so bad. But you wouldn't know that from watching television as their breaking coverage of trees quaking and water flowing were bloated with hype and sensationalism - all but guaranteeing that we are all going to die in the most horrific ways imaginable in just a few minutes.
CNN could have shown coverage of pet rescue and care shelters set up in advance of the hurricane, people evacuating in a calm manner, or smooth mass transit evacuations for those who didn't have their own means of transportation - but good news doesn't sell ad space I guess. CNN gets a C- on fair, balanced and rational coverage of Hurricane Gustavo. Y'all suck. View non-hysterical hurricane development here.
Besides, snakeheads are still coming for you and they will undoubtedly kill you faster than a hurricane ever could.
And then there's this media feeding frenzy over Sarah Palin. Granted, she's got a sketchy past and it looks like she has more than enough shark food in her unofficial CV to feed Dr. Evil's pets. The media has a right to dig for that shit, despite the protests of the RNC, who played that game successfully with Rove as the pitcher for 8 years. It's good to see the tables turn on the Republicans, now on the defense for the first time in over a decade. I like how Andrew Sullivan put it:
"In Minneapolis, in some kind of freak political weather system, all the centrifugal forces that have been tearing at the GOP for two decades now have merged. The veneer of a serious governing party is colliding with the reality of a theocratic, fanatic base. The pull of foreign policy realism is busting up against an unrepentant neoconservatism made even more extreme by the McCain candidacy. The whole collision makes one want to look away."Oh, but I can't look away. The trainwreck that is the GOP is too delicious to watch. The hyenas are salivating and moving in for the kill and it's far too delicious to look away.
I'd rather vote for the Tigh/Roslin ticket instead of McCain/Palin, even though they look awfully similar. Here is a photo of Sarah Palin with a hot Alaska state trooper.
This Saturday, Sept. 6, my rugby team hosts Quantico (A-side) and American University (B-side) in our fall season opener. A-side kickoff is at 1 p.m at Colmar Manor Park. B-side match immediately follows after the 80-minute A-side match is done. I'll most likely be playing with the B-side.
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I thought Palin's speech was scary good last night. She has that sexy librarian thing going on. It makes my no-no's tingly plus she spells Sarah the right way. All of that makes her an enemy hard to resist. However, her LGBT record is horrendous and unforgivable.
I'm still worried about the whole Republican thing. They seem to be able to lie without batting an eyelash, and most of the country just swallows it.
I love the latest Daily Show footage, showing all the two-facedness of all the Repub big wigs. It's great when they are caught on tape completely contradicting earlier statements made... on tape!
Regarding snakeheads....please PLEASE don't reference unless there's a picture of the hotty wildlife ranger you pointed out earlier. I got my hopes up!
The first rule of journalism school: "The further away it is, the more people have to die before it's news."
I have to admit there was something really sexy though about her husband holding that baby during her speech.
OMG my biological clock is starting to kick in!
Oh, sweet Jesus. She's a former newscaster and beauty queen. Of COURSE she's going to speak well.
And she's governor of a state that regularly gives HUGE bonuses to its population just for living there. Wouldn't you love your governor if she paid you to live in the state?
I agree with Jimbo. This is a $hitstorm meltdown waiting to happen. I hate to be harsh, but McCain is too old and just doesn't have the fire in him to bring about the change needed within the Republican party. It's good that he sees it needs to happen, but he should have tried this 20 years ago. Where was he when his party started to go off the tracks? And Palin...good God. Can you imagine if McCain kicks the bucket and an Evangelical Seperatist becomes the President of the U.S.? Oy.
For what it's worth, Jimbo, Louisiana took a pretty serious hit from Gustav, and calling it "didn't turn out to be that bad" is kind of a slap in the face.
Granted, it wasn't Katrina. Then again, most of Katrina's damage didn't come from a hurricane. It came from flooding caused by shoddy, crappy, poorly-built levees courtesy of the Army Corps of Engineers. Had the levees held - as they were supposed to - Katrina would have been far less significant a storm than Gustav was. Certainly the loss of life would have been minimal, and the property damage from wind in New Orleans would have been limited.
As it was, in Gustav perhaps 2/3 of the state of Louisiana lost power and a huge swath of the state won't get power back until as much as 3 weeks after the storm. Virtually all of the damage came from wind, toppling trees onto homes, ripping up powerlines and utility poles, etc. However, the national media took one look at New Orleans, saw that the levees held - this time - and said "Yawn."
So please don't dismiss Gustav as "not that bad"... there's a lot more to Louisiana than one city that happened to escape.
Is it just me or does Palin look and sound like Karen Walker?