Winter storms and FEMA help

Photos via Everett Herald

Crumbs for the peasants
We had a rather bad winter storm here in the Northwest in the last two weeks. It snowed then rained and rained and rained. I've lived here for a while and I'm used to a bit of rain, but this storm was something I've never seen. It rained almost constantly for nearly 24 hours straight. People who have lived here longer than I said it was the worse storm they had ever seen. Several hundred people lost their houses and the news images looked like a repeat of Katrina. Interstate 5 the main north and south link was closed for nearly a week. So what did our wonderful (Great job Brownie) FEMA do? They said maybe they'd be out in a couple of days to look at things.
Now compare this situation to the ice storm in the midwest. The ice storm hits Sunday and Monday and Shrub declares relief Tuesday. Wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that Washington state is a BLUE STATE! Would it?

Update: Nothing to see here George it's just water. A little water never hurt anybody right?

The GOP convention of 08

This should be interesting

The GOP convention next year will not have restrictions on protest areas as in the recent past. No " free" speech areas with fences and razor wire this time around. So break out the popcorn for this one. Protesters will be in ear shot and within sight of the convention center.

Sorry for the lack of posts of late. In the process of a remodel and had a relative in the hospital in serious condition. When it rains it pours as the expression goes. Oh well I will survive.

December 7th

I'm no fan of war never have been, but on a particular day in December in a bay filled with U.S. war ships an unaware military was caught off guard. Many ships and men were lost that day. The images of the event has been shown from every angle and from both sides. It is sad to think back to that time and the few vets left who were there that day. Pearl Harbor started a world war for America, but let's not forget the underlying causes or as they used to say 'the big picture'. The U.S. was about to bring sanctions on Japan and stop the flow of oil to that country. The Japanese with no natural resources and few options moved to take over oil fields in southern Asia. After much debate the Japanese decided to attack Pearl Harbor in an effort to prevent the U.S from stopping their push to the oil in Asia.
I shouldn't be surprised that after 66 years the reasons for war have not changed. Greed, protectionism, national pride and preemtive strikes are still happening yet the players have changed seats like musical chairs. Any nation with great powers that isn't 'us' is considered evil. But the real tragedy in all this are the men and women who have sacrificed their lives for a system and an ideology with little consideration to the root problems of the world. If we don't stop and focus on the real problems and causes of war then we will have learned nothing from history.
A soldier who makes a mistake on the battlefield looses his life. A politicial who makes a mistake gets a lobby position. I know life isn't fair. My honor and respect goes to the soldier.

Fuel standards

There's a bill to soon to be vetoed by Bush to raise the fuel economy standards for cars to 35 miles per gallon. While I salute the efforts to become more efficient and lower our dependence on foreign oil I wonder if this is realistic. With Americans becoming more obese than any time and cars becoming smaller and smaller it will be just a matter of time before you won't order a car from the dealer you'll be fitted for one. Add to this the fact that we carry everything from golf clubs to heavy work tools in the trunk. It's become a second garage closet because we have no other place to store these items and you never know when you'll need that carburator you pulled from that 82 Merc you sold ten years ago even though it needs rebuilt and they don't make the parts for it any more. Any one wonder why you don't get anywhere near the EPA milage that was on the sticker when you bought it? Aside from the fact that the EPA tests cars with no one inside at a constant 45 mph. They ought to drop in about four Green Bay Packer defensive linemen, a couple of iron workers tool boxes and let a 16 year old who's just got his license drive it on a Friday night.
To really meet higher standards we need to get rid of the gigantic SUVs (how many of them have you seen running with only the driver?) Return to the station wagon if you have six kids and change the standards to something realistic. It'll take a combination of new technology and a change of infrastructure to solve this. I see cars in the near future made like racecars with carbon fibre structures and bodies made from memory steel or sprayed on plastics. Hybred, fuel cell and all electric cars may become commonplace and hopefully soon. If we can shift from burning oil products to fuel cell, solar or wind power or geothermal or any combination of these then I think there is hope for the future.

Bush is just an international bully

Once again Shrub is ignoring the facts and going along with his own dry drunk mentality. George, Iran does not have WMDs.

If chickens had lips they could whistle

Is someone playing with the internet?

I did my usual morning scan of the news websites and came upon the following:


APReutersAFPNPRCongressional QuarterlyBloombergRasmussen ReportsMy Sources
Poll: Clinton strong, Iowa raises doubt AP - 40 minutes ago
Poll: Clinton, Obama close in Iowa AP - 2 hours, 11 minutes ago
Poll: Clinton leads in South Carolina AP - 2 hours, 13 minutes ago
Clinton leads Obama, Edwards in NH AP - 2 hours, 12 minutes ago
Romney to give Mormon speech AP - 1 hour, 43 minutes ago
» All Politics from AP
All of the above via Yahoo news.

It looks to me like someone is playing the google bomb with the yahoo AP news feed. I'll try to update this later if I find more.

UPDATE: AP seems to play favorites every other day, but I think the rethugs are still pushing for Hillary. Note that Faux Noise has put her as the winner in all reporting.

Here's today's look from Yahoo News

Poll: GOP race in early states unsettled AP - 1 hour, 36 minutes ago
Poll: Romney, Huckabee even in Iowa AP - 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
Poll: Romney maintains lead in NH AP - 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
Poll: GOP presidential race tied in SC AP - 1 hour, 34 minutes ago

A rosey picture of Iraq

This may sound good on the face of it unless you are one of the 700+ dead or their family member.
Rosey stats from Iraq