Good Enough for Government Work

That's an expression I picked up from my dad. Drafted in the late fifties, he was lucky enough to do his active service right before the war machine that was Vietnam started chugging along full steam. He ended up making a career as a printer for the Army Corps of Engineers, working at the Federal Building in Little Rock, Arkansas. Daddy is struggling these days, and Mama is, too...this getting old business surely isn't for sissies.

But growing up with a dad that worked for the "fed'ral gub'mint" gave me an early intro into the world of red tape. And oh, what a tangled web we have wove.

I meander around the internet, read a bit, try to keep my ear to the ground...and it is becoming increasingly difficult not to be an alarmist.

I'm just a simple woman...I've got a nice job as a mailclerk, a comfy little place to live up here in Seattle, but I want to go on record at this point: Hurricane Rita is going to be insult on top of injury.

If the feds are not already coordinating Rita response in Louisana and Texas, the continuing lame response to Katrina may well pale in comaparision. While Dubya et. al. scramble around trying to make the last three weeks look good, they still don't get it. Bush and his toadies ramrodded thru their 'Patriot Act.' That, among many other odious things, does give the prez the power to act swiftly during a national emergency, and screw red tape. And it is simple. Shut the fuck up and DO something constructive.

Patriot Act or no, what the fuck stopped him from issuing an Executive Order to the military to airlift water and food to people in the Big Easy? Is he the Comander in Cheef or is he ain't?

It looks like Galveston, a town I dearly love, at least has a darn good memory (and a good thing, that...Galveston Island itself is barrier island, only a few feet above sea level, and right on the sea). The locals are already making provisions for the evacution, if necessary, of the hospitals, the shut-ins, and the folks without private vehicles. God bless 'em.

Hurricanes, or even tropical storms, that wander ashore in Texas, can be truly mean in and of themselves. Much has been said of the 1900 hurricane that destroyed Galveston, but what of Houston? There's a lot of folks from Texas who remember Alison, who reminded us that Houston itself is built mostly on a drained swamp. Many towns in Texas have in recent memory gone under water from merely a 'tropical depression'. I'm keeping hope that good ol' Texas, who has shown such blessed good will to their neighbors during Katrina, doesn't get smacked itself; and I am seeing signs that the folks there already realize ya better help yourself, because ain't no help coming.

I wish like hell I'm wrong, but I think Rita is going to be another monster.

Head for the hills, folks...my thoughts and love are with you.