It's A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

For the 2nd time in three years, the City of New Orleans prepares this morning to be blasted by a powerful hurricane. The devastation wrought back in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina is now legendary, but a great deal of that horror was not a creation of God, or Mother Nature, or any kind of natural or supernatural being or event. The devastation was brought on man by man.

For at least decades, the governments, both local and regional, and the people of the Gulf region were warned that this was going to happen, it was just a matter of time.

It is not the responsibility of the federal government to build giant walls and roofs so that men can be protected from every possible disaster. Men need at some point to take responsibility for their own actions and lives.

When you purposefully and intentionally make the decision that you and your family are going to live in an area that is historically prone to certain natural events, then you have chosen to take on certain risks and have the responsibility to ensure that you and yours can survive and recover when those events occur.

Jersey Cops and 'Bama Hooters

A story broke today of the disbandment of the Hoboken, New Jersey SWAT team after a controversial incident.

Apparently the officers of the unit stopped by a Hooters restaurant in order to enjoy some of those great wings. Someone snapped some racy photos of the cops posing with the Hooters girls. So what, right? Boys will be boys, after all.

Problem is, the boys in these photos were in SWAT garb, had gone to the location in their fully-equiped SWAT van, and let the girls play and pose with their equipment. Pun fully intended.

The actual incident happened about two years ago. The SWAT team had gone on a road trip to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and stopped by the restaurant in Alabama while on their travels.

As you can see by viewing the photos available through some of the links supplied here, the Southern Belles seemed more than happy to meet these Yankee heroes.

The story was broken earlier this week by a local investigative news reporter, and Hoboken responded by naming a new Public Safety Director who was formerly the Chief of the Hoboken Fire Department.

Wilma !

Over a decade ago, my dad moved down to Florida, to the small town of Spring Hill, which lies just north of Tampa. 

During that time he has been blasted by a number of hurricanes, most notably last summer when four different storms roared over Florida within a one month period. 

However, his town has not yet felt the brunt of any direct hits. They have been skirted past and brushed by, feeling some effects of wind and rain, taking some minor roof damage, but escaping any large-scale or lasting effects. 

Now here comes what likely will be the final tropical storm of what has been one of the most memorable in history, what with the destruction wrought on the Gulf region by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita respectively. 

Hurricane Wilma (I can't help it, I keep picturing old Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Fred Flintstone's red-headed wife, and Fred yelling "Wilma!") suddenly formed in the Caribbean, exploded quickly into the strongest Category 5 in recorded history, and is poised to slash across Florida over the coming weekend. 

As of right now, the entire state is in the potential path, though that will narrow over the coming 48 hours. I will be saying yet another prayer for those folks, especially my dad and his wife, but someone is gonna get hit by this thing. 

Oh, and just as a parting gift to the season from the tropical storm gods, the storm may ride up the east coast and come visit me next week. As Fred would say..."Wilma!"

The Train Derailed: A Nightmare in New Orleans

I keep hearing Arlo Guthrie singing in my head: “I’m the train they call the City of New Orleans…”.

For the second straight day this single line from this old song just keeps on running through my mind.

The train is derailed, nearly obliterated, certainly damaged beyond recognition by what in many ways will go down as the worst natural disaster in American history, a behemoth of a hurricane named Katrina.

The last time that Katrina and the Waves hit New Orleans, everyone was “Walking on Sunshine”. The one-hit wonder singer and band from the late 1980’s brought their sound, led by a bouncy, upbeat, sunny song, to the Bayou.

Today, even when the sun is shining, few people are singing, and even fewer can even utter the name of Katrina without prefacing it with the worst of profanities.