Happy Labour Day, Everyone!

No blogging today. I hope that all have a wonderful holiday. Please give a thought to those whose lives have already been affected by Hurricane Gustav, and to those whose lives will continue to be affected by it over the hours, days and weeks to come.

Michael Moore speaks

And what does he have to say? That Hurricane Gustav is proof that there is a God, because the hurricane may very well disrupt the Republican National Convention: http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/08/30/moore-on-gustav-there-is-a-god-in-heaven/. Read the article, and at the end, there is a link to a YouTube clip of the interview he gave to an adoring Keith Olbermann, and in which he made his idiotic comments.

If you wanted an (ugly) face to put on the Angry Left, it would be Michael Moore's......

A hurricane looms

Hurricane Gustav is churning towards the Louisiana coast, with New Orleans squarely in its crosshairs: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,414101,00.html. The timing is amazing in a couple of respects; both in terms of the proximity to the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and to the upcoming Republican National Convention. President Bush has already said that he is unlikely to attend the RNC--a smart move, given the criticism FEMA took after Katrina roared ashore in 2005--and Governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Mark Perry of Texas have both said that they too will not attend.

It's a sad comment on our times that even natural disasters (or potential natural disasters) have become politicized, with Republicans taking one side and Democrats the other. That is why we have odious individuals like Michael Moore calling Gustav a "gift from the gods". I would ask rhetorically if the level of political discourse in our country has really sank that low, but it seems as though that answer is fairly obvious.

16 years ago today

Hard as it is to believe, Hurricane Andrew roared through South Florida and through my life 16 years ago: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/topic/weather/hurricanes/hurricane-andrew-EVHST000062.topic. I remember the day like it was yesterday--what I did, where I went, coming back to my apartment hoping that it had not been destroyed (it hadn't been), and just seeing the unbelievable destruction that Andrew had wrought across the area.

There are some things in life on wich I don't think one can comment unless they have been experienced. A Category Five Hurricane is one of those things............

Silence in the face of tragedy

A little over a week ago, a tropical cyclone struck Myanmar (Burma), killing 23,000 according to the corrupt military junta which runs the country, and over 100,000 according to more objective sources. Countless more have been rendered homeless and have no access to food or fresh water. Yet, what does the government there do? It blocks foreign aid, allowing only a trickle in, and seems far more focussed on an upcoming referendum which would "legitimize" its rule: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/story.html?id=bad79639-c716-4083-9559-edf349914f36.

This is one case where the world community seems ready, willing and able to avert the catastrophe which may already be occurring. I will add this, though: The U.N. Security Council has said nothing about this tragedy. The despicable Human Rights Commission is also mum on the subject. So, the U.N. is still following its script. I guess that tens of thousands of dead Burmese don't equal a fractional number of dead Arabs on the West Bank or in Gaza...........

15 Years Ago Today

It's hard to believe for me, but 15 years ago today I went through one of the more fearsome weather events this country has ever seen, Hurricane Andrew, one of only four Atlantic Basin Category Five hurricanes to make landfall. At tthe time I was about to begin my second year of law school, and had just come off a very rough first year. Still, I had made it through, and was ready to see what the second year would bring. As it turned out, it brought Hurricane Andrew on August 24, 1992.

For those who have never been through a hurricane, there is no way to really explain it properly. The howling winds, the sounds of things being blown around, the pounding rain, the sense that it is never going to end, all are part of a truly incredible (and not in a good way) experience. I had friends who literally lost everything they had except for the clothes on their backs. School, which was supposed to begin that week, was delayed by three weeks. That allowed my friends and I to do some hurricane relief volunteer work and, because we were all so much more fortunate than so many others, to go to Disneyworld for four days.

There are several mental images which will never leave my mind: The utter devastation in Homestead and South Miami. See Royal Palms lying across the parking lot of my apartment complex. Going to my law school several days later and seeing not a single tree standing. Watching parrots fly around, after they had been "set free" from Parrot Jungle. Being unable to get a phone line for over a day to tell my parents that I was okay. Bonding with several close friends, people I am still honoured to call my friends to this very day. Staring in amazement and bemusement as emergency services workers fished an understandably confused dolphin out of a swimming pool. I could go on and on...........

Hurricane Andrew was one of those "Where were you?" moments for me, and it remains one of the most incredible events of my life.

Hurricane Season

I'm not an alarmist by any stretch of the imagination (then again, I do not live in Florida or the Gulf Coast), but does it strike anyone else as either bizarre or just plain stupid that one of the key hurricane-watching satellites is past its shelf life and we have no plans for nine years to replace it: http://www.wftv.com/news/13493527/detail.html?rss=orlc&psp=news.

What's wrong with that picture? With our coasts increasingly crowded, how can this not be a priority?

Hurricane Names, Part Two

This is one of those stories which makes me think that there are some people--okay, a LOT of people--who get worked up about idiotic things: http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20070601/cm_usatoday/will2007hurricanebesmirchyourname;_ylt=AlrGD6XTOkwIUx5O81QmzicE1vAI. Suck it up and get over it........

'Tis Hurricane Season

So, let the sensationalizing begin: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070601/ap_on_re_us/the_next_new_orleans. Let's keep in mind, hurricane prognosticators were expressing the same gloomy predictions last year that the are this year, and while there is no El Nino around to dampen the season in 2007, there is also no guarantee that the coastal United States will get barraged the way it did in 2004 and 2005.