Weather
I sure hope my friends in Houston made it out all right. I am not looking forward to the state of the union once Rita hits. I can hear it all now... people will start looking for some other excuse to blame Bush for screwing up somewhere somehow along the line in his response to Rita. This time, I anticipate much ado will be made over the very messy exodus from Houston, which from what I have been hearing from a friend down there, was nothing short of a 2 million person mad dash to Dallas.
And from what I hear from my brother in Dallas, things don't get better the further north you go. The highways are jammed, the heat peaks well above 100 degrees Farenheit, and gas stations keep running out of gas, leaving motorists stranded.
After the storm has passed and the waters have receeded, it will be a matter of time before the oil refineries can reopen and get oil processing back to acceptable levels. In the meantime, gas prices are only going to get worse.
Let's not forget the cleanup dollars that will be inevitably funneled into the relief effort.
Dang.
Whenever I get into a conversation and I don't know what to talk about, I, like everyone else, resort to the default conversation topic that everyone can somewhat relate to and not have any strong or dividing opinions about: The weather. You know, it's the "safe," "boring," and "polite" conversation topic that we throw around when we either don't really want to talk to the person or just have no clue what else to say.
It isn't such a "safe" and "boring" conversation topic any more.
Now, the names of these two storms will be forever associated with not only memories of disaster relief and lives shattered, but they will also bring to mind deep political divisions, far reaching economic problems, and the ugliest parts of human nature that were exhibited in the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans (and who knows what else that will happen in Houston). No longer will the weather be a "safe" topic just to toss around carelessly in a sterile conversation.
To everyone in the path of Rita; God be with you and protect you.
To everyone in the United States once Rita has hit; God help us all that we may not devour ourselves.
And from what I hear from my brother in Dallas, things don't get better the further north you go. The highways are jammed, the heat peaks well above 100 degrees Farenheit, and gas stations keep running out of gas, leaving motorists stranded.
After the storm has passed and the waters have receeded, it will be a matter of time before the oil refineries can reopen and get oil processing back to acceptable levels. In the meantime, gas prices are only going to get worse.
Let's not forget the cleanup dollars that will be inevitably funneled into the relief effort.
Dang.
Whenever I get into a conversation and I don't know what to talk about, I, like everyone else, resort to the default conversation topic that everyone can somewhat relate to and not have any strong or dividing opinions about: The weather. You know, it's the "safe," "boring," and "polite" conversation topic that we throw around when we either don't really want to talk to the person or just have no clue what else to say.
It isn't such a "safe" and "boring" conversation topic any more.
Now, the names of these two storms will be forever associated with not only memories of disaster relief and lives shattered, but they will also bring to mind deep political divisions, far reaching economic problems, and the ugliest parts of human nature that were exhibited in the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans (and who knows what else that will happen in Houston). No longer will the weather be a "safe" topic just to toss around carelessly in a sterile conversation.
To everyone in the path of Rita; God be with you and protect you.
To everyone in the United States once Rita has hit; God help us all that we may not devour ourselves.
posted by Raoul The Destroyer at 1:52 PM
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