when it rains
I was only halfway paying attention to the news about the hurricane since Sunday. Every year there are a few of these, and the news shows always make a big fuss, and then it's all forgotten in a week. And after watching a bit of the news last evening, this one looked about the same as all the others… a few people stuck on their roofs, some boats washed up on the street and some flooding, but nothing too far out of the ordinary, certainly nothing we would be talking about in a month from now. So when NPR tonight said something about The Worst Natural Disaster in the History of the United States, I sort of rolled my eyes a bit and figured this was just more hyperbole. Over the past few years I've pretty much lost respect for the news media, so this seemed like just a bit more bullshit.
But no. This is apocolyptic. Comparing this to the Christmas Tsunami, although the loss of life here are lower, is not inaccurate. It's a horrible disaster. A major US city is basically destroyed.
I was going through my regular RSS feeds tonight and saw that Tom Tomorrow had written something using the hurricane to make a point about Republicans and terrorism, and at first glance I was kind of offended. It doesn't seem appropriate. But actually, he has an excellent point, which is this: Think about everything the government has done in response to 9/11. And the values we have abandoned in the cause of guarding against another attack. And then look at the news tonight. Never in a thousand years would any terrorist attack ever equal the devestation caused by this storm. Think about that, and go read.
He's also got a link to a good essay about the difference between liberals and conservatives and what's important to each side. Honestly I have little patience for this kind of thing these days, but this was pretty good.