Hurricane Gustav

Residents along the Gulf Coast are again being urged to vacate the area as Hurricane Gustav, a category 3 storm, plows through the Gulf of Mexico. Experts believe that this storm could rival Hurricane Katrina in power and devastation by the time it makes landfall sometime tomorrow.

As a result of the storm, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have cancelled their trips to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, which starts tomorrow. Gulf Coast residents seem to be taking this storm's warnings more seriously since the life-altering devastation of Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

If I were in that situation, I believe I would seriously look into moving to an inland area, especially if my property were destroyed for a second time. It will be completely beyond gut-wrenching, if that happens to people.

Humberto

A new tropical storm has formed in the Gulf of Mexico today.

Tropical storm Humberto had winds of up to 45 miles an hour, which is is about 39 miles an hour shy of becoming a hurricane.

The most forecasters see arising out of this tropical disturbance is lots of rain for the areas surrounding the Gulf of Mexico.

Gabrielle comes a-knockin'

Today, Tropical Storm Gabrielle is set to make land fall along the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

With winds around 50-mph, the storm is set to dump up to three inches of rain along the Atlantic seaboard, from North Carolina through Virginia.

With all of our drought, perhaps the storm will make its way across the Appalachian Mountains and bring some much needed rain to the Ohio River Valley.

Felix means happy

How do they get off naming a hurricane after the Latin word for luck, which is felix?

Today, Felix was upgraded to a category 2 storm, with winds up to 100mph. I doubt the residents of wherever Felix finally pounces will feel very lucky, considering it has already brought torrential rains to the Caribbean.

Hurricane Dean

Should what's left of New Orleans be afraid of Hurricane Dean, who now sits in the Caribbean Sea?

The storm now packs winds of up to 145 mph, as it moves closer to the island of Jamaica. The storm has already brought devastation to the Lesser Antilles, over the past couple of days. In St. Lucia a man was reportedly drowned when he tried to ford a river to save a cow.

Mexico has already issues hurricane watches along its eastern coastline, as the storm begins its ever slow journey toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricane Alberto?

Tropical Storm Alberto is now up to 70mph...just 4mph shy of a hurricane! It is supposed to hit Florida by tomorrow.

First Tropical Depression

Today is June 10 and we have already seen the first tropical depression of the hurricane season. This one is pretty close to home. It is just south of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. I suppose the waters are especially warm this time of year. It still seems pretty early, however, for this kind of activity. I guess it is going to be as bad as they predicted!

First Tropical Storm of 2006

Uh oh! We're already starting? I guess it's good the tropical storm is in the Pacific Ocean.

I hope this year isn't as bad as last year by a long shot! It's only May 29...so that's like 2 days ahead of the official start of the hurricane season.

Oil & America

Oil is the quintessential staple of the American diet. It fuels our cars and it heats our homes. So what if it all suddenly went away...or most of it at least?

We have our refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. They are certainly vulnerable, Hurricane Katrina taught us that last year. We primarily rely on oil from the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter in the world, and the United States largest partner in oil, is vulnerable to terrorism. If it weren't for the crude that sits beneath their deserts, they would be nothing but a Bedouin nation of poor, deprived people. We need their supply of oil to keep our country operating smoothly.

Although, I am not keen on the idea of destroying pristine national refuges for our own greed, we must come to terms, however, with our own vulnerability when it comes to this issue. We must be realistic.

We have been talking about alternative fuel cars for decades, but it is true we are probably no closer to making this a reality now than we were 15 years ago. There are certainly steps being taken by car manufacturers to address this growing dread among our country, but it is one that we will not easily embrace. The United States must face facts: either we switch our petroleum-based cars for those that run on renewable resources immediately, which can be grown in our own backyards, or we must prepare ourselves for extracting our own resources of crude in Alaska.

It seems easy to say we will depart from our petroleum-based transportation, but as long as automobile manufacturers are allowed to continue to roll out vehicles with combustible engines driven by gasoline and diesel, then we will never make it over this looming disaster when it occurs. The government must place a moratorium on the production of gasoline engines and require that all new vehicles be fitted with engines which run on renewable fuels, such as ethanol. As logic dictates, as older cars are scrapped then our dependence on foreign oil is diminished, until we can arrive at a place in the future where our dependence on oil is diminished completely or less than 10% of where we are today.

Can you imagine a country that is no longer dependent on oil? The big oil companies, and countries like Saudi Arabia, will lobby Washington against such a bold step, but it is one that we must wise-up to and understand is coming. Otherwise, we will be left with a nation of cars that no longer can be used, homes that no longer can be heated, because we chose to give into big business and turn a blind eye to the facts which are staring us so boldly in the eye.

Hurricane Wilma

In the words of Fred Flintstone: "WILMA!"

Terror in New York...Still!

Okay, I've heard about this terror plot these evil Iraqis have hatched against the innocent, benevolent United States. Now at first glance, I see that things are alright. The NYPD is in charge of this situation; however, I am reminded of the news conference last week regarding this situation, and something bugs me about it.

First, all the media outlets, like CNN, were trying to get the inside scoop on what was going on. The one thing I heard mentioned over and over was the fact no one seemed to be in charge of the situation. Sometimes authorities were confused if anything was going on at all and then others were clueless about who should be speaking to the media. That tells me a lot about the chain-of-command: there is none! Each federal agency and state agency are still essentially independent.

After 9/11, we are supposed to be so prepared for the worst. Well, Katrina, a hurricane that we had on our radars for days, couldn't adequately be planned for properly. Now how can we plan for something that we can't see? Honestly.

We would be living in a fool's paradise if we believe that terrorism is gone from our country forever; it isn't. I have no doubt that somewhere, someday they will get to strike us again. It is simply a waiting game. And sadly, when that day comes, we will be in the same boat we were in on September 11, 2001. All the different government agencies running around like chickens with their heads chopped off!

Of course, as a liberal, I don't say this much, but if you truly want to be effective in administering catastrophes you must downsize! Instead of adding a government agency, you needed to subtract one and consolidate its assets and write-off its liabilities. CONSOLIDATE! That's the key word!

The more people you add to the mix, the more confusion and shit you get. Sure, it may sound big and bad--Department of Homeland Security--but it has about as much authority as I would in a forest of wild gorillas. You have to hit your enemy hard and fast, and our enemy was never Iraq, which is precisely where King George's mind is focused.

Who elected that quack anyhow?! It wasn't me! :)

Rita and John

Well, we lived through another hurricane. I wonder when the other will stop by. I guess we need to focus our attention back onto the distant Atlantic Ocean for the first sign of it. I'm sure there is a tropical depression out there somewhere!

Also, this week, we have the Senate confirmation of John Roberts. I guess he will be the next chief justice!

When's George gonna give us his next nominee?

Homeland Security

Due to the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, we have learned that the Department of Homeland Security is prepared to deal with any natural disaster like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. They were so disorganized and inept! And the damned storm was coming on shore for days! We saw it coming ahead of time. They had time to prepare for any contingency and they fucked up. They had absolutely no idea who was even in charge of the operations! And that should be the most simple of all things to figure out and plan. Imagine how disorganized and disjointed they will be when the terrorists come back for us again! I rue the day already!

Kudos to those in charge of keeping us safe! Thanks guys!

Crisis Management

I believe everyone (mostly) remembers the tsunami. I know that was over eight months ago, so it places a strain on the typical American to remember such great lengths of time. During this natural disaster, it was said the world would not forget. I believe that for the most part it has. I remember all of the relief efforts, but those are all now gone or quietly under the radar. There were governments all over the world that gave generously to help the survivors of this natural disaster, including the United States. There were gifts made by the private sector, including individual American citizens.

Today, we are faced with another similar crisis in our own backyard. There are hundreds-of-thousands of Americans displaced from their homes and communities because of last week's devastating category 5 hurricane, Katrina. I believe it is important that every American who can get involved in this relief effort. If it is from volunteering your time or simply making a monetary donation. Last night, I made my contribution by giving money to the relief efforts. Although, I cannot be there to help personally, I have given some of my personal resources to help the hungry and homeless people.

Everyone has a voice. Use it to help those less fortunate.