This is always a source of amusement. This time God came to Pat in the guise of Al Roker. Or something. Pat told viewers of the 700 Club: "If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms." On today’s show, he added, "There well may be something as bad as a tsunami … Read More
Mom Said It Was Bad…
And she wasn’t kidding: New England is bracing for the region’s worst flooding since the 1930s, The Associated Press reports, with the most serious situation in the Merrimack Valley, north of Boston on the New Hampshire border. There, AP reported, the Merrimack and Spicket rivers have overflowed their banks and forced the evacuations of hundreds of people. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt … Read More
The South Pacific Earthquake
In the right column of this blog, there is a "live webcam" portal. One of the live webcams is from the Nevada Seismological Lab Helicorder. This afternoon, the image looked like this: Those squiggles on the right reflect (I’m assuming) the magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the South Pacific which struck shortly before 1:00 pm (EST). Fortunately, as of this writing, … Read More
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
A new report says that FEMA is beyond repair: Crippled by years of poor leadership and inadequate funding, the Federal Emergency Management Agency cannot be fixed, a bipartisan investigation says in recommendations to be released Thursday. ….Describing FEMA as a "shambles and beyond repair," [Republican Senator Susan] Collins said the overall report "will help ensure that we do not have … Read More
Experts Agree
…well, most of them. Global warming behind 2005 hurricanes The record Atlantic hurricane season last year can be attributed to global warming, several top experts, including a leading U.S. government storm researcher, said on Monday. "The hurricanes we are seeing are indeed a direct result of climate change and it’s no longer something we’ll see in the future, it’s happening … Read More
Comet Chunk To Hit Earth On May 25, 2006, Killing You (And Your Pets)
So don’t make any plans. And that put-off task of refinishing the deck? Don’t bother. Seems pointless. UPDATE: Don’t worry. The guy predicting this is a wacko. He predicts the comet will hit the Earth and destroy most of it. How does he know? Because he "received a telepathic message from extraterrestrial friends". Still, there really is a comet, and … Read More
Katrina Kids Sing Praises Of Bush, FEMA
From the Wall Street Journal: At the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, children from the stricken Gulf Coast region serenaded First Lady Laura Bush with a song praising the beleaguered Federal Emergency Management Agency. To the tune of “Hey Look Me Over,” about 100 young children from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama sang: “Our country’s stood beside usPeople have sent … Read More
From The Producers Of Katrina…
Enjoy the 2005 hurricane season? That could be peanuts compared to what the 2006 season has in store, including, dire predictions about major devestation to Northeast cities. "There are now indications that the Northeast will experience a hurricane larger and more powerful than anything that region has seen in a long time," said Ken Reeves, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.com. "The … Read More
Videotape Shows Bush Lies And Incompetance
The Associated Press had obtained footage from a videoconference on August 28, the day before Katrina struck. Bush, as well as many federal, state and local officials were participating. It also obtained the transcripts of seven days of briefings that followed. The AP story says it all: Bush didn’t ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck … Read More
Yeah. It’s Not Like We’re Going To Be Hit With Hurricanes Or Something…
Governors of both parties said Sunday that Bush Administration policies were stripping the National Guard of equipment and personnel needed to respond to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, forest fires and other emergencies.” Following a recent Pentagon budget proposal to cut 20,000 Guard members, “all 50 governors signed a letter to the president opposing any cuts in the size of the National … Read More
Brownie To Talk?
Ex-FEMA Director Michael Brown is now saying that he wants to turn over his correspondence with Bush to congressional investigators unless Bush specifically tells him not to and agrees to cover his legal fees. Up until now, he’s been respecting the Bush Administration invocation of "executive privilege". "Unless there is specific direction otherwise from the president," writes Brown’s lawyer, "including … Read More
Katrina Response
The new Bush budget cuts $15 million in state and local grants to, in part, help communities create evacuation plans. And his cuts to the Army Corps of Engineers projects leaves the North Carolina coast vulnerable.
New Orleans Considering Foreign Aid
This is a sad state of affairs, and should be an embarrassment to the Bush Administration: Shortcomings in aid from the United States government are making New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin look to other nations for help in rebuilding his hurricane-damaged city. Nagin, who has hosted a steady stream of foreign dignitaries since Hurricane Katrina hit in late August, says … Read More
The White House Loooooves That “Executive Privilege” Thing
Two days ago: The White House was told in the hours before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans that the city would probably soon be inundated with floodwater, forcing the long-term relocation of hundreds of thousands of people, documents to be released Tuesday by Senate investigators show. A Homeland Security Department report submitted to the White House at 1:47 a.m. on … Read More
One More For The Road
As you probably know, there were so many hurricanes and tropical storms this year that the National Weather Service used up all of its pre-selected names and had to go to Greek names (Tropical Storm Alpha, Hurricane Beta, etc.). Mother Nature’s still at it though, and is determined to eat her way through the Greek alphabet before the year’s end. … Read More