First, the Democrats: John Edwards has been out front in responding to the fires in Southern California, both on his website and through One Corps. Barack Obama offers this statement of support for the fire victims and his website prominently features the following message: California needs us. …with a link to California Volunteers. Hillary Clinton‘s website features a "How to … Read More
Correction To An Earlier Post
The California wildfires are not — repeat, not — the fault of al Qaeda. We are now informed by the rightwingnut machine that the deadly fires are the fault of homos and gay marriage supporters: They shook their fists at God and said, "We don’t care what God says, we will issue our legal brief to support gay marriage in … Read More
Fox News Blames California Wildfires On Al Qaeda
Seriously, will these guys ever shut up? UPDATE: Glenn "I Should Be On Fox" Beck should shut up too. UPDATE: More silly speculation with this head-banging-against-the-wall evoking statement: Although a new Osama bin Laden video was issued at almost exactly the same time these fires began, and might have contained a coded command to his operatives to carry out planned … Read More
Reverse 911
Not much to say about the terrible fires in California. It’s all very sad. But this underreported aspect to it caught my eye: Our posting about the wildfires mentions that officials in San Diego used "reverse 911" calls to notify residents that they had to evacuate. We hadn’t heard of this practice. Thankfully, Debi Jones at Mobile Messaging 2.0 knows … Read More
Humberto’s A Sneaky Little Bastard
He becomes a hurricane just before he strikes the United States. Figures. A Mexican using deception to cross the border.
Disaster Preparedness
Six years after 9/11, and two years after Katrina, it still looks like FEMA and the country’s disaster preparedness plans are still a disaster: Robert C. Bohlmann, emergency manager for York County in Maine and spokesman for the International Association of Emergency Managers, warned at the hearing about a "major disconnect" between that legislation and the new National Response Framework … Read More
Possible Hurricane?
We managed to avoid Dean and Felix, but this one is off our shores: 000ABNT20 KNHC 071515TWOAT TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOKNWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL1130 AM EDT FRI SEP 7 2007 FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC…CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO… THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY HAS BECOME MORE CONCENTRATED THIS MORNINGWITHIN THE AREA OF LOW PRESSURE LOCATED BETWEEN BERMUDA AND THESOUTHEAST U.S. … Read More
Katrina Doctor Tells Story
The doctor who was accused of murdering patients in New Orleans as Katrina approached (fortunately, the grand jury refused to indict her) recounts the heart-wrenching facts of those days in Time. A snippet: In normal triage situations, the sickest people are treated first. But my understanding is that conditions were so bad, you and the other medical staff switched to … Read More
Two Years Ago Today
With a strong nod to Digby… 7AM CDT — KATRINA MAKES LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE [CNN] 7:30 AM CDT — BUSH ADMINISTRATION NOTIFIED OF THE LEVEE BREACH: The administration finds out that a levee in New Orleans was breached. On this day, 28 “government agencies, from local Louisiana parishes to the White House, [reported that] that New Orleans … Read More
Scenic Trails
I heard this story on NPR a few weeks ago. It broke my heart: The first morning of my visit to Scenic Trails, I was walking the path between some trailers when I bumped into a man named Tim Szepek. He was young, tall, and solidly good-looking. I asked if I could speak to him for a moment and he … Read More
Dean Is A Baaaad MothaF– (Shut Yer Mouth!)
Here are the key records that Dean either broke or otherwise affects: 1. With a minimum central pressure of 906 millibars, Dean was the ninth most intense hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic basin (for comparison Hurricane Katrina’s minimum pressure was 902 millibars). 2. That 906 millibar pressure reading was at landfall, making Dean the third most intense landfalling hurricane … Read More
I Can’t Follow This Utah Mine Story Anymore
It’s too depressing. I would be nice, at some point, to focus on mine safety and the people who appoint to oversee that: It turns out that the guy in charge of mine safety for the federal government, Assistant Secretary of Labor Richard Stickler, couldn’t even get approved by the Senate back when it was under Republican control because his … Read More
Little Late, Isn’t It?
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) has always, like a good little Republican, been strongly against raising taxes (especially against the wealthy). In the past two years, he has twice vetoed legislation to raise the state’s gas tax to pay for transportation needs. Needs, like, oh, building better bridges. Now, with at least five people dead in the collapse of the … Read More