My rant on this.
I do not wish to disparage the storm here. I love VA Beach and Hatteras, especially Okracoke. Baltimores cool. The others I dont know well anymore, mostly because I dont want to. Well, except for DC/Alexandria and the Beltway. I suppose thats actually a lot of places. (I also need to add in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas to this list).
What I do mind is the hysterics. Where were national networks lined up like flights coming into Reagan 1) at Minot; 2) at the levess and dams that broke/were allowed to break along the upper Missouri; 3) in LA days and days after the midwestern floods; 4) in and around the tornados from OK to TN earlier this year; 5) when the ice storm of a couple of years ago left people from WV west in the dark for weeks; 6) in the land made dry by CA regs to save a smelt (rather than farm them), thus destroying family farms, 100-year old nut trees, and causing at least 18% unemployment; 7) after the hurricane of last year in TX/Galveston; 8) all over the AZ wildfire like white on rice; and, finally 9) in the CURRENT drought catastrophe in Texas/Oklahoma? Wait a minute. Are most of these states red states? And this means wall-to-wall coverage and heave ho lets get er done help is not worth a dime?
I am furious about this flicking away of the rest of the country so that 0bama can take control of Irene. To me, this demonstrates the complete selfishness of East Coast media. Meanwhile, 1) AQ in Iraq has launched scuds into Kuwait; 2) more people have been killed in Iraq (its safe now); 3) Egypt is hiring the bedouin to fight AQ in Egypt; 4) Black Africans are being slaughtered in Libya; 5) the #2 AQ guy in Pakistan is now dead, thanks to us; 6) Zeros EOs give race-based hiring a thumbs upattempting to make minorities in control of the federal govt; 7) The S&P head has resigned courtesy of this fascist totalitarian sh!t Administration; 8) Zeros buddy Mugabe may have Qaddafi; 9) Mexican militarys in the US fighting the cartels; and 10) Zeros approvals tanking like the Titanic, along with our economy. But hey, Irenes worthy of legions of newscasters standing in sewage foam and reporting on missing shingles, some flooding, and NC excepted, the worst thing to happen in decadescomplete with FEMA personnel moved into local motels, playing cards while waiting to help clean things up, at our expense, of course.
All to boost 0bamas ratings and attempt to compare a 200+ MPH cat5 hurricane under Bush, complete with DNC complicity and Blancos/Nagins dereliction of duty to their citizens, complete with collateral damage deaths in an effort to trash Bush. Irene is no Katrina. Never was. But its worthy of a 3D cone of 1) complicit federally controlled media; 2) assistance upcoming (no doubt, a jobs effort to rebuild); and 3) maybe well even see 1930s-style work camps and cook food over campfires communally, sos the Hamptons and LI residents can recoup their former lifestyle. (Sorry. Thats a bit over the top, classist perspective of mine on those with especially inherited wealth).
As to the other things mentioned above, lets give that a mere mote in our East coast eye. The teabaggers being the illiterates they are will never notice. After all, were hicks and all related to each other via 2nd if not 1st cousins. And we can see Russia from our houses, even if theyre in Arkansas.
Very good post. Thanks.