None of the sudden rush of supplies and volunteers happens here, with the possible exception of generators and 3/8″ plywood at Home Depot and runs on bottled water at Winn Dixie and Publix.

It sucks to be in the path of a hurricane. I’ve been through four direct hits in my twenty-one years here. I’m not a “victim” because I choose not to be. I could live anywhere, yet I choose to live here. I insure my home, take any necessary precautions, and I cope with the damage the storms inflict. Compared to many in the midwest and South California, I’ve got it easy.

After Fay camped out on top of us for a few days and dumped enough rain to drown a tuna, and knocked a fifty-foot tree in my back yard (and through the fence), we waited patiently for the rain to go away, used the water and toilets sparingly since the excess ground water caused the septic tank to stop draining, then went out and chopped up the monster tree and carted it off. The fence has to wait until next payday because the wife is underemployed and things are tight. That’s life. Everyone reading this has been through similar trials. Americans laugh that kind of stuff off every day.

I’m not trying to throw a pity party, or cast a negative light on HighHope’s struggle. We all complain when this kind of thing happens. You should have heard me after a week without power following Charlie. HH is right to come here and vent rather than take it out on his wife and kids. Our duty is to try to buck him up, because he’s a friend who is going through tough times.

My hope is that you’ll be able to return to your home within a few days HH, and that you’ll find it intact and dry (on the inside at least). I’m glad you got your family out of harm’s way, and glad to see the storm has weakened and is less likely to cause as much destruction as we feared. God bless you and your family and keep you safe.

Conservatives took the left at its word, at face value. The charge was that Bush was incompetent and uncaring, indifferent to the suffering of ordinary people in New Orleans.

This time Bush and McCain were determined to prove that they were competent and do care so:

tens of thousands of rescue and relief workers charged into the affected area. The sun was blotted out by thousands of rescue helicopters, thousands of 18 wheelers loaded with supplies clogged the highways, thousands of buses evacuated two million people to tens of thousands of emergency shelters dispersed over half a continent. The republican convention comes to a halt and all attention is turned to minute by minute news reports from the affected area.

Meanwhile there is another tropical storm building up to hurricane strength which appears to be headed for Florida
so:

tens of thousands of rescue and relief workers charged into the affected area. The sun was blotted out by thousands of rescue helicopters, thousands of 18 wheelers loaded with supplies clogged the highways, thousands of buses evacuated two million people to tens of thousands of emergency shelters dispersed over half a continent. All other activities around the country comes to a halt and all attention is turned to minute by minute news reports from the affected area.

Obviously then, the next earthquake in California and :

tens of thousands of rescue and relief workers charged into the affected area. The sun was blotted out by thousands of rescue helicopters, thousands of 18 wheelers loaded with supplies clogged the highways, thousands of buses evacuated two million people to tens of thousands of emergency shelters dispersed over half a continent. Businesses and schools close, fund raising appeals blanked the broadcast media, and all attention is turned to minute by minute news reports from the affected area.

or the next tornado in the midwest and :

tens of thousands of rescue and relief workers charged into the affected area. The sun was blotted out by thousands of rescue helicopters, thousands of 18 wheelers loaded with supplies clogged the highways, thousands of buses evacuated two million people to tens of thousands of emergency shelters dispersed over half a continent. Sporting events are canceled, people every where turn all their attention to minute by minute news reports from the affected area.

or the next wild fire :

…..

or the next flood along the Mississippi

…..

or the next blizzard .
. . .

and the only person to ask if this is the duty of the federal government is that nut case Ron Paul.

The liberals have won the argument, because conservatives didn’t understand what the argument was about: it is the duty of the federal government to care for our citizens, and provide all their needs, a list which will grow and grow.

To according to need, from each according to ability.

Yeah, Supercool…America will be sooooooo impressed by that.

Nobody will think they’re looking a couple of amateur politician milking a disaster for personal gain.

alphie on September 1, 2008 at 4:16 AM

Alphie, do me a favor, will you lefties make up your bloody minds? You lefties were upset as hell at Bush when he didn’t cancel his vacation and rush personally to New Orleans to fill sandbags. Now you’re upset that the politicians are going to New Orleans to personally see what is going on, and you’re still upset.

Dude, you can’t have it both ways. You have to choose one, or the other. Now it’s not even part of the debate that the perceived lack of response to Katrina was part of the sense of general dis-satisfaction during the 2006 election. You yourself posted that the “Neocons” were pretending that the election didn’t happen. Now you’re upset that they appear to have learned from the defeat?

Personally, I don’t think that this was the right way to go. Instead, I would have had the President hold a Teleconference right before the storm hit, with the Press in attendance as observers of course. I would have had the President and Obama, and McCain there to inform the people in charge of the response including Jindal that anything you need, you just have to ask for. Part of what I would have suggested the President say is something like this. “I would have come down there, but my people tell me it would have taken fifty police officers to secure the area I would have been in, and that is fifty first responders I don’t want to have tied up shepherding me around instead of taking care of the people of New Orleans and the emergency going on.”

Fox for sure would have played it, and of course Olberman would have loved it as cannon fodder for his nightly rant on why MSNBC hates George Bush. He hates him for playing Golf, he hates him for giving Golf up. He hates him for going to war, he hates him for winning the war. Now it will be that he hates him for ignoring Katrina, and for not ignoring Gustav.

Perhaps you’re wrong, perhaps the Neocons did learn a thing or two from 2006. It’s a shame that the Democrats didn’t. The Democrats who have been winning have generally speaking, been running as Conservatives in Fiscal and security matters. That’s why things like the PATRIOT ACT pass, despite the objections of people like me. That’s why Homeland Insecurity continues to grow more powerful, and Pelosi and Reid are both powerless to stop the War in Iraq. Too many of those damn Blue Dog Democrats.

I have said it before, and I’ll say it again. I don’t like McCain, I’ve posted many times about the reasons for my opposition for him. I still think he won the election on Friday Amigo. Palin was a brilliant choice. The argument that she is “unqualified” is asinine. Neither Biden or Obama have ever served as Governor. Neither Biden or Obama have been a Mayor of a puny little town of even nine thousand. Neither has ever been the one. The one who gets the tough calls, the one who is held responsible if things go badly.

Alaska may be sparsely populated, but Palin was the Governor of that Sparsely Populated state. All Obama and Biden have is experience as part of a large group of blowhard jackasses. The election was Obama’s to lose, and he had a simple choice. He could have chosen a Democratic Governor but he didn’t. Instead he picked the old crony to satisfy the Democratic Party.

The mantra of Change has to be out the window now, in all honesty. That went out with the selection of Biden, who was one of the people resisting change. He resisted the now patently obviously successful change of the Surge. He resisted the change of Welfare Reform, which a Democratic President also resisted, until it was demonstrably working, then he decided it was a sign of his legacy. He resisted the demonstrably successful change of responsible budgeting, in other words the idea you don’t spend more than you have. When it worked, the same Democratic President claimed it was his legacy. Biden of course claimed the Republicans Squandered it. Squandered the very thing he swore wouldn’t work when he resisted it?

That’s the experience you want us to admire? The ability to be wrong at almost every turn? Amigo, I’d tell my friends it’s not exactly a winning topic.

I posted this on my blog. About the only thing you can say about Palin that is true as far as her lacking something the Democrats have is Law School. Of course, not being a Lawyer is a plus to most of us in the outside the beltway areas of this nation.

I hate John McCain, and don’t want him to be President. However the agent of change passed on the walking of the talk, and it looks like I’ll have to endure President McCain, God help us all.

(1) Gets Bush out of St. Paul, where he would have given a speech that the media and the Democrats would have pounced on, and puts him in the eye of the storm, doing the nation’s business, where he will be welcomed and greeted by friendly Republican governors.

(2) Puts the spotlight on those friendly Republican governors–Haley Barbour, Charlie Crist, and most of all, Bobby Jindal, (the male Sarah Palin)–who will do their jobs competently, in contrast with the mess made three years ago by the Democratic governor of Louisiana, whose performance even at the time was compared unfavorably to that of Barbour and Jeb Bush, then Florida’s governor.

(3) Puts the spotlight especially upon Jindal, a huge favorite of and rising star in the Republican party, who has the chance now to prove himself under pressure on a truly huge stage.

(4) Cuts short the hours and hours of media chatter, which would doubtless have focused on a) how tarnished the ‘Republican brand’ is in this season; b) the immensely high bar set by Barack Obama, and c) the immensely strong current the party is swimming against.

(5) Cuts short the exposure given the ‘Republican brand’ by cutting short coverage of more conventional (and boring) Republican figures and boilerplate, and focusing largely on the three starring figures–Jindal, McCain, and Sarah Palin (the pale Bobby Jindal)–who are diverse, unorthodox, have cross-over potential, and are decidedly outside of the box.

(6) Eliminates the danger of a direct comparison between the oratorical talents of McCain and Obama, as a conventional acceptance speech will be no longer possible, and anything McCain says in this context will have its own innate power.

(7) Takes McCain from a setting in which he’s uncomfortable (partisan leader of a partisan army) to one–national leader rallying a country in crisis–which suits him much better.

(8) Takes the convention from the traditional role of being an orgy of enemy-bashing to one of national service and charity.

(9) Gives fools like former DNC chairman Don Fowler a chance to wholly embarrass themselves by chortling over the inconveniences he imagined the storm would inflict on the Republican party. Watch what you wish for, my friend.

Yeah, Supercool…America will be sooooooo impressed by that. Nobody will think they’re looking a couple of amateur politician milking a disaster for personal gain. – alphie on September 1, 2008 at 4:16 AM

Ah, but YOU would, ma petite colorectal polyp. Looks like the sun will be rising soon, Alphie. Time to crawl back under the bridge.

McCain/Palin kneedeep in sandbags talking to emergency workers

Yeah, Supercool…America will be sooooooo impressed by that.

Nobody will think they’re looking a couple of amateur politician milking a disaster for personal gain.

The Dem’s recreation of Triumph of The Wills Vs. McCain/Palin kneedeep in sandbags talking to emergency workers, National Guard, etc… with Bobby Jindal running the tightest ship since Old Ironsides and other GOP notables “reporting for duty” literally.

Useless protesters Vs. People putting aside politics to actually help people.

I can’t think of a more stark contrast to present to the American people.

All this Oprah-like caring is a bit much. There is no way in hell that this storm was going to duplicate the horror of Katrina. I watched the panic of Rita, shortly after Katrina and it was so overdone that it was an embarrassment. I saw lines of cars on the highway up to Odessa and Midland, five hundred miles away.

My 90 year-old aunt and uncle were needlessly transported up to Bryan (100 miles north of Houston) in the middle of dangerous rains and winds and hideous traffic for no reason at all. They had only three inches of rain at their house in Houston, barely what they get in a small thunderstorm in Houston in the summer.

If the whole idea is to hide Bush and Cheney from the MSM, then I guess there was a political dimension in this, but life goes on and Jindal’s on the job!!

Possible entrance music for Sarah?

Take off to the great white north
Quinn the Eskimo
Sleigh Ride
Snowfall
Barracuda (my fave)
Man Eater
Sarah
Sarah Smile

Mojave Mark on August 31, 2008 at 10:45 PM

Try this one: Different Breed by a great new country female trio called Carter’s Chord.

Watch CMT Video

Lyrics:
They’ve got shiny cars and polished nails
Yeah, those girls they’ve got everything right
They’ve got fancy clothes, perfect hair, steady lives
But I don’t

They’re the first to send out thank you notes
They’ve got well kept homes to entertain
They’ll do anything just to please you
But I won’t

If these are the girls that you choose
What make you think I’d be good for you

Chorus:
Can you tell me baby
What do you see in me
I’m a FAST RIDE I’m a crashing tide and
I’m crazy
Can you tell me baby
What do you see in me
You’ve loved a long line of consistency
I’m a different breed

Every time you take me out boy
We see another girl whose held your hand
And she acts like she doesn’t care with me
But I know..
She don’t like the way I look on you
I make her nervous ’cause I don’t fit in
With my deep brown eyes, cigarette, cowboy boots
I stand alone (alone-whoa)
Baby I wonder if you know what
You’re getting yourself into

http://townhall.com/blog/g/35a4062e-b41f-40c9-a5c6-0eef51d9d714

Revised statement coming in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

No I’m not bitter. I’m angry because the Dems lie and we respond by playing their game. Note to John McCain: The left is not going to say nice things about you just because you postpone the convention, they are just going to laugh. They are not our friends.
johnsteele on September 1, 2008 at 12:55 AM

Damn I’m here in N/Calif and all we worry about is really hot weather. Not even earthquakes, just the loony leftists. I’ve never met you sir, but I would be proud to shake your hand someday.

Over.

Figured that. As I was watching them wave those flags, I was thinking “Those people would rather BURN the flag than wave it.”

I thought they liked to recycle? Why didn’t they give the flag to the RNC to be used again? Hmmmmmm?

Ha! Nice. Best scene in that movie.

Blame starts with Mayor, then Governor! – CanOpFor

How come somebody from another country (well, sort of) can figure this out, but half the people in this country can not?

Very well done DT, send it to the RNC for use as her intro before her acceptance speech.

Zorro on August 31, 2008 at 6:24 AM

LOL! Thanks.

D0WNT0WN on August 31, 2008 at 6:37 AM

stop laughing and send them the link
please

johnsteele on August 31, 2008 at 11:33 PM
YIKES! While I see your point, can we say “BITTER”?

dustoffmom on August 31, 2008 at 11:36 PM

BITTER? Bitter implies that I am upset over some slight or inequity done to me or the good folks of Northern Florida and I am certainly not that. As noted by others, folks here in Florida tend to deal with these things properly, take them in stride and get on with our lives without waiting for the feds to bail us out. (And for the record, I’m in South Florida so I don’t have a dog in this particular fight.)

My irritation (not bitterness) is over the way we are responding to this situation simply because it involves New Orleans. We allowed the left and the press to run the tables on us over Katrina by not responding; responding not to the storm but to the lies and distortions. Now we are stuck, New Orleans hangs like an albatross around our necks to the point where we have to postpose the convention simply because a hurricane is going to make landfall somewhere in the vicinty of New Orleans. Well, hurricanes and tornados and floods and earthquakes happen all the time and life goes on, the nation’s business goes on. aside from being a stupid response, this kind of reaction to a hurricane in the proximity of New Orleans is insulting and devalues the rest of America.

Sometime in the early morning hours of this coming Friday TS/Hurricane Hanna is expected to cross the GA/SC coast around Savannah/Charleston. Yet I have not heard one word anywhere about concern for the good people of the low country, or suggesting that the nation’s life should be put on hold, or anything at all. True they will simply deal with it like the people of Florida (or the people of Mississippi and Alabama did, unheralded, post Katrina). But mention “New Orleans” and we have to be careful least we appear to be callous or we will criticized by the Dems and their mouthpieces in the press.

It isn’t bitterness, its anger that our leadership doesn’t seem to have the spine to stand up to the left. No one is going to criticize baseball for engaging in frivolous games on Monday “during a time of national crisis in New Orleans.” But we are going to run away and hide. So we postpone the convention, McCain/Palin will go and sit in the emergency center, etc., so that we present the proper appearance of concern to deny the Dems some more lies and distortions. Where are they planning to be when Hanna blasts ashore? Should be in the ERC in Georgia or SC? Of course not, they should be pursuing the election which is where they should be on Friday —- and Monday for that matter.

No I’m not bitter. I’m angry because the Dems lie and we respond by playing their game. Note to John McCain: The left is not going to say nice things about you just because you postpone the convention, they are just going to laugh. They are not our friends.

OT I know, but what happened to Blogging the Koran this week?

JarvisW on August 31, 2008 at 10:50 PM

Good question. Go to Jihad Watch for the rest of the story.

OT I know, but what happened to Blogging the Koran this week?

Good luck tho at the convention. Keep your spit shields handy when among the demonstrators, and a certain Fox News celebutard.

JarvisW on August 31, 2008 at 10:50 PM

landlines on September 1, 2008 at 12:36 AM

There has to be a convention, legally. there has to be.

Also, it’s the largest free media exposure McCain is gonna get from now to november. Its important.

Cancel the convention and spend the savings on McCain/Palin ads!!!

I like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quvBbcFDPI0
mary jo on August 31, 2008 at 11:06 PM

MG I watched this earlier today when DOWNTOWN first posted it. It had a little over 400 hits. Now just 4 hours later it has over 6,000. You can’t tell me that we’re going to lose this one.

Over.

1GooDDaDDy on August 31, 2008 at 11:12 PM

wish they would show it at the convention