Welcome once again to the lair,yeah I know it's been awhile since the last posting,I've been going thru a real personal hell,part of it my own makeing,and part of it...............well the suddeness of it all took me by surprise,and I did not react,or take it well,I need time to lick my wounds,and find some sense if not some peace too,I'm getting there slowly,but as with all thing given time,healing does take place,in some cases it just takes much longer.

Well enough about that,plenty of things going on in the hee and now,so Lets get to it.



Hurricane Katrina,the storm,and the aftermath


Ok,where DOES one even begin to start? Yes what happened in New Orleans was,and is awful,not disputing that at all,but I get ahead of my self just a tad,lets start with the storm first,Katrina built it's self up to catagory 5,that the top end of the scale,we are talking winds in excess over 150 mph sustained winds mind you,the closest way I could describe that would be if you are brave enough>or nuts enough< take a oh letws say a motorcycle,the raceing kind,you know,a crotch rocket,take it up to 150 mph,not crouched down,but sitting up right,and get the idea how damn fast that wind is,and while you are at it,you get a real idea how strong Katrina was>or Rita at this posting with winds in excess of 175 mph< and with that the storm surge of water comeing ashore,as high as 40' from one report I heard,this is'nt a thunderstorm by any means,this is a true force of nature,pure raw power,unbridled,un-stoppable,and the gulf coast was nailed by a storm that has'nt been seen in about 150 years or so,and yet,following Katrina,there is Rita out in the gulf building up,ready to hit Texas,and/or La again,such raw power should never be taken lightly,which now brings us to the rant end of this missive............


What in the name thats holy was the state of La,and the city of New Orleans even THINKING?????????, Never mind what you've been getting spoon feed by the network media,even I,up here in Iowa was watching that beast gain power each day,and being very thankful I weas'nt any where close to where that beast would come ashore at,Katrina had been building up fer about a week before it made land fall,now I pose a couple questions here,#1, You live in an area that is prone to being hit by hurricanes,you watched it build up each day,you are getting tiold,it'd be a great idea to get the hades out of dodge so to speak,and yet you remained,Why????? #2,You expand a city into low lying swamps and marshes,you drain them so you can build on top of them,yet you know you are BELOW sea level,again Why???? #3,The last inspection you had of the levees around the city would'nt hold up againist a cat 3 hurricane,and you rather concentrate on building casino's and entertain complexs,and prepare for that city wide orgy that's really a relegious observance,once again,Why???????

And yet,even those simple questions have'nt even been answered.....>wait for it.....Why?????<

Another thing that REALLY bothered me,New Orleans was on the BACKSIDE of Katrina when she came ashore,southern Miss was right square in her sights when she came ashore,and yet have you noticed??? not much reporting on or about Miss,rather odd do'nt you think???? Was it the fact that the state of Miss was better prepared,and taken steps to be ready??? or are the folks there just plain smarter?>Ok yes that was kinda a cheap shot aimed at New Orleans,but I have'nt even warmed up yet< I continue,I was floored to find out area hospitals in New Orleans had'nt even evac'd,much less nurseing homes,never MIND how many ppl stayed in town,and as I'm understanding things at this posting,the mayor of New Orleans appeared to grudgely give the order to evac the city at the 11th hour,oh yeah,PLENTY of time to get out of town>NOT!!!!!!!<,As most of us know,the superdome was pressed into service as a hurricane selter,even though no one was even sure it'd hold up>And today I believe it was only by the grace of god that it even did<,what really did in New Orleans was'nt the wind,true there was a plenty of wind,no doubts on that,but it was the RAIN that came with the storm that really did in the city,we're not talking inches here,we're talking feet of water pouring in,remember I mentioned the levee's earlier? you got it,the very levee's they told the city to get on to,gave out,and as we all know from basic science,water seeks the lowest point it can find,and did it ever,the very flood plain it was suppose to have to begin with,yet was developed in the name of progress,OVER the objections of the Army Corp of Engineers.Also in the aftermath of Katrina,we saw rule of the jungle take over,looting,thuggery hell even shooting down a coast guard heilo they acted like animals let out of a cage,and yet even while this was going on,after all the warnings thast was given,they turn around and DEMAND(?) why did'nt the feds get on the stick faster,ok first off,it does NOT work that way folks,help has to be requested from the LOCAL area>IE: State goverment,city,etc< then the feds move in,yet they bitch and moan they was'nt getting any thing right that very second,cripes,in 93 Iowa got hit with major flooding,and we was better behaved that what was going on down there,Oh yes,the list is endless on what I could say,but I do'nt think my webmaster has that kind of bandwidth,but I do have one other thing to say on this,The call to rebuild New Orleans,ok fine,rebuilding the city is ok,as long as they proved they did learn some lessons,the big one being,no more building of any thing below sea level,and if you do,waive your rights to getting Fed assitance of any kind afterwards,after all,you know what you are doing right?


I mentioned also earlier about the coverage following the storm,day after DAY nothing but how bad it was in New Orleans,poor New Orleans,feel bad about New Orleans,ENOUGH about New Orleans,how about Gulfport Miss???? directly in the path of Katrina when she came ashore??? I think there was what? maybe a total of 2 news casts on that???,I can almost hear some pinheaded news exec telling crews,"Not enough suffering,much less any way to blame any one,get back to New Orleans so we can make a president look bad",ok so maybe it's not THAT much of a reach...................



I wish I could copy&paste the emails I've gotten in the days following Katrina,they've been telling a FAR different story than what has been in the news casts and the print media,Heh already calls have been made wanting hearings and investigations on what happened leading up to,and following Katrina,I say yes,lets DO have hearings,lets have the investigations,I believe that once and for all,New Orleans will never again be known as the Big Easy,but rather the Big Sleazy,But do I believe honest change will follow?? rather doubtful of that,but I guess we'll see.



Even now Hurricane Rita is out in the gulf,a CAT 5 hurricane now at this posting,land fall is expected to be around near the Galvenston Texas area,the city has been evacuateing already,and the city looks like a ghost town,aside from emergency personel that remains in place,I hope that those folks will be alright.


I want to mention also,that as of now our state has taken in just under 1000 evacuee's so far,I guess we'll see how this plays out later on.




One closeing thought here,maybe it's just me,looking at things in a simple form,but if you know you live in an area that is prone for flooding,does'nt make FAR more sense to build on much higher ground??????,like I said,maybe cause I'm being too simple,after all,ppl with college degrees thought this all out,but then again,is'nt that why we blue collar folks call'em educated idiots??....................................




Until then my friends...........................




Jim