Strongest Recorded Typhoon Hits the Philippines

Thankfully, the climate change denying Ken Cuccinelli was defeated on Tuesday.  But that doesn't end the larger problem of climate change denial in the Republican Party.  Last year super storm Hurricane Sandy wrought catastrophic damage to the east coast of America, particularly in New York and New Jersey.  Now, Typhoon Haiyan - which some are describing as the largest typhoon ever - has slammed into the Philippines with sustained winds of 195 mph and gusts of 235 mph.  The suspected cause of the storm's frightening strength?  Rising ocean temperatures.  A phenomenon being witnessed in the Atlantic Ocean as well as the Pacific Ocean.  Meanwhile, here in Virginia the GOP will not allow any studies to even use the phrases "climate change" or "rising sea levels."  Only "repetitive flooding" is politically correct in the insane GOP.  Here are highlights from the Washington Post on the disaster hitting the Philippines:

Huge, fast-paced Typhoon Haiyan raced across a string of islands from east to west — Samar, Leyte, Cebu and Panay— and lashed beach communities with over 200 kilometer (125 mile) per hour winds. Nearly 720,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes.

Due to cut-off communications, it was impossible to know the full extent of casualties and damage. At least two people were electrocuted in storm-related accidents, one person was killed by a fallen tree and another was struck by lightning, official reports said.  Southern Leyte Gov. Roger Mercado said the super typhoon triggered landslides that blocked roads, uprooted trees and ripped roofs off houses around his residence.

Weather officials said Haiyan had sustained winds of 235 kph (147 mph) with gusts of 275 kph (170 mph) when it made landfall. That makes it the strongest typhoon this year, said Aldczar Aurelio of the government’s weather bureau.

By 5 p.m. Friday, the typhoon — one of the strongest storms ever — was centered to the west of Aklan province on Panay Island, 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of Manila, after blasting the island resort of Boracay.

The U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said shortly before the typhoon made landfall that its maximum sustained winds were 314 kph (195 mph), with gusts up to 379 kph (235 mph). Those measurements are different than local weather data because the U.S. Navy center measures the average wind speed for 1 minute while local forecasters measure the average for 10 minutes. 

Hurricane Camille, a powerful 1969 storm, had wind speeds that reached 305 kph (190 mph) at landfall in the United States, Masters said.

Is Chris Christie Sending a Message to the GOP?

The only other state with statewide elections this year is New Jersey and the contrasts between the gubernatorial candidates, Chris Christie and Ken Cuccinelli, could not be more stark.  Christie, a Republican in a blue state is seemingly headed to a major victory while Cuccinelli hopefully is about to suffer a humiliating defeat.  The main difference?  Cuccinelli has sworn absolute fealty to the ugliset elements of the GOP and embraced an agenda that is increasingly rejected by younger and urban voters.  Christie on the other hand has taken positions that are deemed heresy by the Christofascists/Tea Party inn recognition that one has to win votes from outside of the dwindling aging white racist./religious extremist base of the GOP.  The Washington Post looks at Christie's apparent message to the GOP:

LIVINGSTON, N.J. — When Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign bus made its first stop last week, in front of the Ritz diner, the event had the trappings of both a victory lap and a road test.

The official victory lap can’t come until Tuesday night, . . . . The road test was for a possible campaign for president in 2016. Christie’s gubernatorial reelection campaign is about much more than winning a second term to enhance his power in New Jersey. He and his advisers hope that the outcome will send a message to a divided Republican Party about how it can win in places where its presidential candidates have been losing.

Christie is trying to win by the biggest possible margin and show that, despite his conservative positions, he can attract support from constituencies long tied to the Democrats.

But the Republican Party that will pick its next presidential nominee in three years is far different from the one that nominated Bush. Christie should emerge from Tuesday’s election as a top-tier candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, but also as one fully stamped as a favorite of the establishment wing who has not been afraid to criticize hard-liners on the right.

“I’m in this to win, because if you don’t win, you can’t govern. If you can’t govern, you can’t move the country, the state, the city — whatever you’re running for — in the direction it needs to be moved in. I think we’ve had too many people [in the Republican Party] who’ve become less interested in winning an election and more interested in winning an argument.”

Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia will highlight both strains of Republican conservatism, with Christie representing one approach and Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II — a tea party favorite and underdog in his race against Democratic businessman and fundraiser Terry McAuliffe — representing the other.

A loss by a tea party favorite in a swing state and a victory by Christie in a Democratic stronghold would probably set the terms for the next phase of the debate within the Republican Party about the way forward. If Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) has become the symbol of the GOP’s tea party wing, Christie is poised to become the anti-Cruz.

To those Republicans who question whether Christie is conservative enough for their tastes, he said this: “My record speaks for itself. When people take a look at my record, it’s more than sufficiently conservative.”

Christie said there is a lesson in all this that should not be lost on others in his party. “People expect you to do the job,” he said. “They expect you to get the job done. And that’s sort of a universal truth, whether you’re a Republican, independent or Democrat. That’s what people want more than anything else. And they’re willing to put up with disagreeing with you on certain things.”

Christie’s goal Tuesday is more than just a big margin of victory. He wants to show that he can draw support from Hispanics and African Americans and from Democrats generally; he said his party has been inconsistent in its outreach to those groups. Christie said: “If we don’t get instant gratification, we walk away. I’ve worked for the last four years to build relationships with these folks. That’s the way you broaden the party, over a long period of time, to build relationships. And, ultimately, that’s the way you govern.”

I disagree with many of Christie's views.  But, that said, he is clearly not a member of the Christian Taliban and has shown he will not prostitute himself to that element of the GOP on a constant basis.

Conservatives Against Christie

The so-called Republican establishment continues to reap what it sowed in allowing the Christofascists and equally reality denying Tea Party crowd to hijack the party base.  Among the likely 2016 GOP candidates, one contender would not immediately be radio active to independents and more conservative Democrats:  Chris Christie.  The problem is, however, is that Christie is anathema to the Christofascists and Tea Party crowd who seem unable to forgive Christie for (i) seeking federal funds in the wake of Hurricane Sandy's devastation to New Jersey, and (ii) embracing Barack Obama's support for New Jersey.  Allahpundit questions whether Christie could overcome the far right's hatred of him to win the nomination.  Here are excerpts:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that Christie earns 21% support when Republican voters are asked whom they would vote for if the party’s primary in their state were held today. Florida Senator Marco Rubio runs a close second with 18% of the GOP vote, followed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 16% and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul with 15% of the vote.

Congressman Paul Ryan, the unsuccessful Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012, picks up 13% of the Republican vote, with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker dead last at six percent (6%). Just three percent (3%) prefer another candidate, and eight percent (8%) are undecided.

Good news for Christie-haters: He’s also leading the field — by double digits — when Republicans are asked who they’d least like to see win the nomination. (His new nemesis, Rand Paul, is a distant second.) This is why I keep thinking that, for all the slobber over his “electability,” he might be so widely and deeply disliked by a small but significant minority of righties that they end up staying home if he’s nominee and costing him the election. To be “electable” with a few percentage points’ worth of conservatives sitting out, he’d have to offset them by grabbing more centrist Democrats than expected from the Democratic nominee. How likely is that if Hillary’s the pick and Bill Clinton’s out there every day for her on the trail? Every candidate tacks toward the center after he’s nominated, but Christie would tack further than most — not just because he’s inclined to, but because he might have to in order to make up those lost conservative votes.

It’s time (already!) to stop thinking about national polls for 2016, though, and to start thinking in terms of Iowa and New Hampshire.

A new Granite State Poll  . . . . The poll’s new leader is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, at 21 percent. He is followed by Paul at 16 percent, former Florida governor Jeb Bush at 10 percent, Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) at 8 percent and Rubio at 6 percent.

Rubio’s a special case in that he’s a Florida native and could, in theory, win there even if he loses the first three major primaries, but imagine how many “Rubio disappoints again” stories will be written before then. New Hampshire is going to be even tougher than usual next time too thanks to Christie’s and Paul’s likely candidacies: Each of them, in very different ways, seems better suited to NH’s maverick-y sensibility than Rubio does.

One other fun fact from the Rasmussen poll: Among Democrats, Christie is the guy they’d most like to see win the GOP nomination — and Jeb Bush, by far, is who they’d least like to see win. Shouldn’t it be the opposite? If you’re a Dem, you’d love to run against a guy named Bush, especially if you’re carrying the dynastic liability of nominating someone named Clinton. Or do Democrats really think Jeb would be that formidable in the general?

Over Hyped Storm Threat Leaves Some Many Power

View from Norfolk towards Portsmouth

One thing that one can always count on is that the local news media always over hypes weather threats and disasters.  Last week's non-event in the form of the years first tropical storm was a case in point as has been today's much hyped severe thunderstorm threat.  Less than one tenth of local residents have lost power and the severe winds, flooding, etc. simply have not occurred for the most part.  Our home did lose power, but with our installation of a whole house generator last summer, we have suffered little or no inconvenience (It's actually the first time the generator has run during a power outage - during Hurricane Sandy, we never lost power).  It's a strange experience to have one's home fully lighted up while most of the neighborhood is in the dark save for the other homes with automatic whole house generators.  Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot on today's so far less than spectacular weather event:

A massive storm system that moved through Virginia caused thousands of power outages, knocked down tree limbs and is responsible for one death in Richmond.

The National Weather Service issued several severe thunderstorm warnings for the region that expired before 7 p.m. A severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect until 10 p.m., meaning the potential exists for the development of thunderstorms that could produce large hail or damaging winds.

Dominion Virginia Power reported more than 104,000 customers in southeastern Virginia were without power about 8 p.m. Most of the outages were concentrated in Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and on the Peninsula, according to a news release from spokeswoman Bonita Harris. The most significant problem was reportedly in Williamsburg where a large tree landed on a substation, knocking out power to about 10,000 customers.

Dominion crews were still assessing damage at 8 p.m. and no estimated repair times were available.
More than 307,000 homes and businesses were without power in the whole state.

Prior to the storm, the region was seeing sweltering temperatures. Highs today were in the mid- to upper 90s, with high humidity making it feel like 100 to 105 degrees.

Yes, people need to be warned of dangers.  But in this storm prone area, constantly crying wolf leads to people ignoring warnings in actual severe weather threats.  The result, of course, is that people do not take proper precautions and lives are needlessly lost.

Our 20 K generator

Science Tells Us Climate Change Alarm is Sounding

Among the many complaints I have with today's Republican Party is its willing embrace of ignorance and refusal to accept scientific knowledge be it on the issue of sexual orientation or climate change.  Rather than stand up to the drooling, spittle flecked party base which rejects anything that challenges its prejudices or that suggests that changes are needed in a host of ways things have been done in the past, the party leadership time and time again panders to the lowest and most ignorant common denominator.  Recently Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas demonstrated the problem when he challenged scientific knowledge on climate change and parroted the favored talking points of the idiot GOP base.  In a column in the Washington Post, two scientist rip Smith a new one and rightfully so.  Here are some column excerpts:

In a recent op-ed for The Post, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) offered up a reheated stew of isolated factoids and sweeping generalizations about climate science to defend the destructive status quo. We agree with the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology that policy should be based on sound science. But Smith presented political talking points, and none of his implied conclusions is accurate.

The two of us have spent, in total, more than seven decades studying Earth’s climate, and we have joined hundreds of top climate scientists to summarize the state of knowledge for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the World Climate Research Program and other science-based bodies. We believe that our views are representative of the 97 percent of climate scientists who agree that global warming is caused by humans. Legions of studies support the view that, left unabated, this warming will produce dangerous effects. 

Man-made heat-trapping gases are warming our planet and leading to increases in extreme weather events. Droughts are becoming longer and deeper in many areas. The risk of wildfires is increasing. The year 2012, the hottest on record for the United States, illustrated this risk with severe, widespread drought accompanied by extensive wildfires.

Last month, levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere exceeded 400 parts per million, approaching the halfway mark between preindustrial amounts and a doubling of those levels. This doubling is expected to cause a warming this century of four to seven degrees Fahrenheit. The last time atmospheric carbon dioxide reached this level was more than 3 million years ago, when Arctic lands were covered with forests. The unprecedented rate of increase has been driven entirely by human-produced emissions.

[B]y the end of this century, people will be experiencing higher temperatures than any known during human civilization — temperatures that our societies, crops and ecosystems are not adapted to.  

Contrary to Smith’s assertions, there is conclusive evidence that climate change worsened the damage caused by Superstorm Sandy. Sea levels in New York City harbors have risen by more than a foot since the beginning of the 20th century. Had the storm surge not been riding on higher seas, there would have been less flooding and less damage. Warmer air also allows storms such as Sandy to hold more moisture and dump more rainfall, exacerbating flooding.

The combined impetus of observed trends in climate and weather extremes, and continuing discoveries in climate science, lay bare how ludicrous Smith’s suggestion is that since we know nothing, we should do nothing.

We know a lot, more than enough to recognize that the alarm bells are ringing.  Increases in heat waves and record high temperatures; record lows in Arctic sea ice; more severe rainstorms, droughts and wildfires; and coastal communities threatened by rising seas all offer a preview of the new normal in a warmer world. Smith’s policy plan amounts to “wait and see.” But the longer we wait — effectively, like him, closing our eyes to science — the more difficult and expensive the solutions become, and the more irreversible the damage will be.

The GOP base - especially the Christofascists - and the political whores who pose as the GOP leadership cling to a Neolithic world view and a  a religious fantasy world that science is destroying more ever day.  Not wanting to admit that long held views and beliefs are wrong doesn't make them any less wrong.

GOP's Peter King to Marco Rubio: "Stay home"

It is always entertaining to watch Republicans trash each other.  While I usually view GOP. Congressman Peter King a as a pompous and often bigoted blowhard, it is fun to see him lay into Marco Rubio and tell Rubio to "stay home" and away from New York State.  King is still big time pissed off at members of the Congressional GOP who voted against aid to New York and New Jersey in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy's devastation last year.  King points to the hypocrisy of Rubio who comes from a state that has received large amounts of federal aid after hurricanes.  Meanwhile, New York and New Jersey were snubbed even though they are net exporters of tax dollars.  Here are highlights from Politico:

Three months after some of his fellow Republicans voted against aid for Hurricane Sandy victims, New York Rep. Peter King is still furious, saying “nobody gave a damn” that there were “people close to dying in my district” and again calling out Florida Sen. Marco Rubio by name.

“My relationship with Congress will never be the same again,” the Long Island lawmaker said Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “They made us wait 90 to 100 days to give the most basic human aid. It was absolutely disgraceful. When I see these Republicans slapping each other on the back, all the camaraderie, ‘Hey, we’re great friends.’ All I know is that there were people close to dying in my district and nobody gave a damn. That’s not something I’m not going to forget.”

“Guys like Marco Rubio in Florida and all the money your people have gotten in Florida over the years from every hurricane that comes along and this guy has the nerve to vote against money from New York, and they come up here and try to raise money,” King said. “He can forget it.”

King previously attacked Rubio for having “the balls” to raise money on Wall Street after voting against the Sandy bill.

“I made it clear any of those people — people who voted and postured against money coming to New York and New Jersey and then wants to come up here and take money out of our pockets, forget it,” the congressman added. “They can stay home.”

On Jan. 1, after a majority of Republicans voted against a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, House Speaker John Boehner cancelled a vote on a Sandy aid package. An apoplectic King made the television rounds, instructing New Yorkers and New Jerseyeans to stop all donations to House Republicans. Many Republicans, including Rubio, instead supported a slimmed-down $24 billion package. A $50 billion package eventually passed the House later that month.

Asked directly by host Joe Scarborough whether he could “forgive and forget,” King said: “No, I won’t. And I never will.”

Let's hope big GOP donors from New York and New Jersey follow King's advice.

Is Chris Christie the GOP's Savior?

While I disagree with a number of Chris Christie's actions and positions - e.g., his veto of same sex marriage legislation passed by the New Jersey legislature - compared to most current day Republican's he is a breath of fresh air and seems committed to doing what needs to be done rather than kissing the bigoted and mean spirited asses of the Christofascist/Tea Party base of the GOP.  Given his failure to tow the line, the question becomes whether he can become the savior of the increasingly insane GOP or whether instead, the GOP will ultimately exile him.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at this issue.  Here are highlights:

A pair of polls out this week shows the dire state the Republican Party finds itself in — and a way out of the wilderness, should Republicans choose to take it.

Poll No. 1: Rasmussen Reports found that views of the tea party — the wing of Republicanism that dominates party primaries and therefore the congressional Republican caucuses — at a new low. Only 8 percent of likely voters considered themselves tea-party members, down from 24 percent in 2010. According to Rasmussen (which tends to have a pro-Republican bias), unfavorable views of the movement topped favorable views, 49 percent to 30 percent.

Poll No. 2: Fairleigh Dickinson University found that 73 percent of New Jersey voters approved of the job their Republican governor, Chris Christie, is doing — near his all-time high. Even 62 percent of Democrats approve of Christie, as well as 69 percent of racial minorities and 70 percent of women. The top would-be challenger to Christie in November’s gubernatorial election is trailing him by 33 percentage points.

[T]he tea party’s record lows and Christie’s record highs tell a larger story: Americans are crying out for an end to ideological warfare.

That has developed into Christie’s signature in New Jersey. He began his term promising tax cuts and fighting with the teachers union over tenure, pay and education reforms, but he now preaches reconciliation — a recurring theme in his State of the State address Tuesday afternoon.

More than three-quarters of Americans believe that politics in Washington is causing “serious harm to the United States,” according to a new Gallup poll — and they are correct to think so.  Christie lent his powerful voice to that sentiment last week when he condemned as “disgusting” the House Republicans’ decision not to take up a $60 billion Hurricane Sandy recovery bill because tea-party lawmakers considered it wasteful.

He unnerved fiscal conservatives by saying that the hurricane recovery would probably require higher taxes, because “there’s no magic money tree.” He came out against the National Rifle Association’s plan to have gun-wielding guards in schools, saying, “You don’t want to make this an armed camp for kids.”

Earlier, after conservatives criticized his appointment of a Muslim judge, he took on these “bigots” for their “gaze of intolerance.” And on immigration, he called for an “orderly process” to legalize immigrants and he criticized those who “demagogue.”

Certainly, Christie is no liberal, but his State of the State speech was full of policy prescriptions that conservatives might label big government

“You see,” he told the legislators, “some things are above politics.”  It’s a lesson that could help the national Republican Party loosen the tea party’s death grip.

Chris Christie Versus the GOP Base

Chris Christie remains an aberration in today's Republican Party - he's more or less sane and concerned about all the citizens he represents - which could bode ill for his presidential ambitions if he has them.  In addition to his sanity and seeming concern for all New Jersey residents, Christie's other big faults in the eyes of the Christofascists and Tea Party clowns are that he (i) is in touch with objective reality and (ii) doesn't suffer fools well and doesn't hold his tongue be it going after the Congressional GOP on a delayed vote on Hurricane Sandy relief to lambasting Christofascists who were upset that he nominated a gay and a non-Christian to the New Jersey Supreme Court.  In short, Christie is a throw back in some ways to what the GOP once represented before the Christofascist and their equally insane and hate filled Tea Party cousins took over the GOP base.  A piece in Politico looks at the growing tension between Christie and the growing number of nutcases within the Republican Party.  Here are excerpts:

For several minutes this week, Chris Christie was a party of one.  A day after House GOP leadership unexpectedly tabled a bill that would provide $60 billion in post-Hurricane Sandy aid to New York and New Jersey, Christie stood at a press conference in the Trenton statehouse and decried the “selfishness” and “duplicity” at play, adding: “There’s only one group to blame for the continued suffering. The House majority and their speaker, John Boehner.”

It was vintage Christie — and then some — as he recounted how his calls to Boehner went unanswered, and it articulated clearly a frustration with a dysfunctional Washington system that polls show most Americans share. But it laid stark just how divergent the needs of his reelection bid in New Jersey are from the realities of a potential presidential run in a party that’s tacked hard right not just on social issues but on spending and deficit reduction.

Local media and elected officials, along with some national pundits, heaped praise on the governor, who spoke with characteristic bluntness  .  .  .  .  Still, Christie hit some headwinds nationally from conservatives — including Christie fans — who thought he may have gone overboard hitting an already-diminished national Republican brand. On the party’s right flank, some telegraphed a clear sentiment that Christie’s straight-talking truth teller act had worn on them.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page writers, who typically swoon over the bombastic governor, warned him Friday against competing to become “the next Charlie Crist.”

Christie, who has strong national name recognition, media and donor appeal, could play the role of Republican modernizer in the coming years — someone to help a party damaged among swaths of the changing electorate. But he would have to survive a primary first, and despite all the talk of change, the GOP is so far showing few signs of making transformations after 2012.

“I think everything that he has done since Hurricane Sandy has helped his reelection effort, but at the same time damaged his appeal to the people who determine who the Republican nominee will be in 2016 — Republican activists,” said former Iowa Republican Party Executive Director Craig Robinson

“He doesn’t give a s—- what people think,” said one source close to the Republican governor, referring to the reactions both inside and outside of Washington to Christie’s “shame on you” press conference. He is focused on how people perform in their jobs, the source said, and Congress was holding aid hostage over a parliamentary battle.

It is far too early to say what the GOP — riven with internal strife, weakened by the prevalence of outside interest groups and coming off a terrible national cycle — will want from a nominee in four years, or whether anything that’s happened this week will stick the way people are trying to suggest it will.

A bill that costs $60 billion, earmarked for one of the wealthier areas of the country, has left a bad taste in the mouths of some fiscal conservatives.  But there is precedent for disaster aid spending — Hurricane Katrina, which hit while George W. Bush was president, for instance, people close to Christie note. They also point out that Christie’s calling card in his first year in New Jersey was curtailing state pension costs.

“I don’t think he’s really occupying any space within the Republican Party right now, especially after railing against Republican leaders in Congress,” Robinson added. “Gov. Christie is doing a great job of being apolitical, which will help him win reelection in New Jersey, but being apolitical gets one nowhere nationally.”

I for one hope that Christie keeps speaking out and calling things as they really are.  Yes, the delusional base of the Republican Party will not be happy with him, but it is only through such individuals that there is any chance that the GOP can be reclaimed by rational, thinking people.  Right now the GOP is a morass of ignorance embracing bigots, religious fanatics and racists. Just because the truth isn't popular, it doesn't mean it is still not the truth.

Chris Christie Unleashes Fury at Boehner and House GOP

Proving once again that he is more concerned with representing the people of New Jersey than kissing the asses of GOP potentates, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie went on a rant over the GOP controlled House of Representatives decision to not hold a vote on additional Hurricane Sandy relief for the States of New Jersey and New York, both of which send much more tax revenues to Washington, D.C., than they typically receive back.  The move by the House is despicable, but all too typical of today's rabid dogs in the Republican Party delegation.  Politico has coverage.  Here are highlights and video clip (above) of Christie exploding:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie unleashed his full anger and scorn on John Boehner Wednesday, saying the House speaker’s decision to cancel an expected vote on an aid bill for Hurricane Sandy victims was “disappointing and disgusting to watch” and an example of the “toxic internal politics” of the Republican majority.

“They are so consumed with their internal politics, they’ve forgotten they have a job to do,” Christie said. “Everything is the subject of one-upmanship. It is why the American people hate Congress.”

The governor made his comments at a nearly 40-minute news conference in New Jersey. It was extraordinary spectacle: A popular national figure for the Republican Party publicly castigating the House Republican leader for showing “callous indifference” to the Northeast and being consumed with “palace intrigue.”

“Every day that we don’t get this aid are days that we can’t help people get back in their homes, get businesses reopened, get our economy really moving in our state again,” Christie continued. “It’s absolutely disgraceful. This used to be something that was not political. Disaster relief was something that you didn’t play games with.”
Christie wasn’t done.

“I’m not going to get into the specifics of what I discussed with John Boehner today but what I will tell you is there is no reason at the moment for me to believe anything they tell me. Because they have been telling me stuff for weeks, and they didn’t deliver.”

I haven't forgiven Christie for vetoing the gay marriage bill that passed the New Jersey legislature, but at least he gets it that ideology must give way to pragmatism - especially when the lives and well being of citizens are at stake.

Will GOP Budget Cuts Mean Missing The Next Hurricane Sandy?

(Image credit: Getty Images North America via @daylife)

In their quest to slash and burn all kinds of government programs while seeking to retain tax cuts for the wealthy, Congressional Republicans may be setting the stage for a horrific loss of life if NOAA doesn't receive adequate funding to replace its aging weather satellite system - the system that allowed most recently predictions of where Hurricane Sandy would make landfall and the potential size of the storm surge.  As a Forbes article indicates, America may be looking at a time period when there will be no weather satellite coverage.  As a result, thousands of lives may be at risk due to a lack of adequate warning of approaching hurricanes and northeasters.  Do Congressional Republicans give a damn?  Apparently not based on their obstructionism and apparent desire to push the country over the "fiscal cliff."  They'd rather pander to and curry the favor of the rabid dogs of the GOP base.  Perhaps Scott Rigell's constituents in vulnerable Virginia Beach, Hampton and Newport News need to get on Rigell's ass and demand that their safety be put ahead of his partisan political games. Here are article highlights:

One of the government services that most of us take for granted is weather forecasting. It’s the satellite data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that meteorologists in the U.S. rely on for accurate atmospheric data to make weather predictions. In particular, predicting the path of extreme weather conditions like hurricanes absolutely depend on NOAA’s polar weather satellites.

For example, if it weren’t for NOAA satellites, weather forecasters likely would not have been able to predict that Hurricane Sandy’s “left hook” into the Eastern Seaboard, which enabled local governments to undertake emergency preparations for the storm.

Unfortunately, due to what Undersecretary of Commerce Jane Lubchenco called, “chronic management problems,” it appears increasingly likely that the U.S. will have to suffer a at least a year without satellites starting around 2017 as the old satellites reach the end of their life cycle and the new ones are launched. And right now there’s no other alternative for getting that data,. The government is scrambling to do what it can to minimize the amount of time between the death of the old satellites and the launch of the new, but right now it looks like there will be at least some small gap.  But if we hit the Fiscal Cliff, all bets might be off.

According to the Aerospace Industries Association, a trade association representing aerospace manufacturers, the spending cuts mandated if the U.S. hits the Fiscal Cliff would include an 8.2 percent cut to NOAA’s weather satellite program. The association estimates that this would cost the jobs of 1,000 people who “design, build and operate weather satellites that have no equivalent or redundant system in the public or private sector.”

Regarding the potential for a loss of weather data, Craig J. Craft, commissioner of emergency management for Nassau County told the New York Times in October that ”We cannot afford to lose any enhancement that allows us to accurately forecast any weather event coming our way.”

Scott Rigell personifies much of what is wrong with today's GOP: he's an extremist on both social issues and taxation and puts the interests of special interests ahead of average Americans. Of course, Rigell looks down right sane compared to Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli who will be the GOP nominee for Governor of Virginia.

GOP Remains in Denial that America Doesn't Want What It is Selling

The lunacy and deep denial that continues to envelop many in the Republican Party is amazing.  Rather than accept the reality that a platform the takes from the poor and gives to the rich and promotes hate, the denigration of women, racial bigotry and homophobia just does sell with a majority of Americans, the far right continues to grasp for excuses for the repudiation of the Romney Ryan ticket and "legitimate" rape GOP Senate candidates.  It seems that one of the favorite new whipping boys on whom blame is being targeted is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who put taking care of his ravaged state and working cooperatively with the Obama administration ahead of partisan politics.  I've long said that the GOP now places the party ahead of the best interests of the nation and its citizens and the rants against Christie underscore this reality.  Here are excerpts from a piece at Media Matters:

Fox's Dick Morris: Christie's "Fawning Promotion Of Obama's Presidential Leadership ... Made All The Difference." Fox News contributor Dick Morris wrote in a November 7 op-ed on Fox News' website that he was wrong about the model that predicted turnout would not be like 2008, but laid much of the blame for Romney's loss on Governor Christie:

But the more proximate cause of my error was that I did not take full account of the impact of hurricane Sandy and of Governor Chris Christie's bipartisan march through New Jersey arm in arm with President Obama. Not to mention Christe's fawning promotion of Obama's presidential leadership. It made all the difference. [FoxNews.com, 11/7/12]

American Spectator Calls Christie "The Gelatinous Clown" For Having "Embraced Obama As The Hero Of Hurricane Sandy." American Spectator's Robert McCain wrote that the "search for scapegoats always attends political defeat, and Republicans have no shortage of candidates for the role":

The list of fools who have brought this disaster upon us certainly also will include New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the gelatinous clown who (a) hogged up a prime time spot at the Republican convention to sing his own praises; (b) embraced Obama as the hero of Hurricane Sandy; and (c) then refused to appear at campaign events in support of Romney's presidential campaign. Good luck with the remainder of your political future, governor. It is unlikely Republicans shall soon forget your perfidious betrayal. [The American Spectator, 11/7/12]

Business Insider: Fox's O'Reilly Ranted About Christie Helping Obama Win The Election. Business Insider reported that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly criticized Christie, claiming:

O'REILLY: There was Chris Christie and President Obama walking down the beach, you know, with a little "Seth in the Moon Glow" music behind them, and it just wiped the governor's campaign off the map for five days. [Business Insider, 11/6/12]

Washington Times Editor Calls On GOP To "Excommunicate Christie." In a column titled "Excommunicating Christie," Washington Times editorial page editor Brett Decker called the New Jersey governor a "Republican in Name Only (RINO)" for his "liberal record on guns, abortion, homosexual marriage and global warming." Decker also criticized Christie for his gratitude to President Obama for his assistance during and after Hurricane Sandy.

There's more, but the foregoing gives readers a feel for the deep denial going on in GOP and Romneyland.   Peddling hate and bigotry are not a substitute for not have any real policy or program other than pillaging the poor and middle class so that fat cat rich folks can hoard even more wealth.  Thankfully, a majority of Americans figured that out.  One has to wonder if and when the GOP will finally come to terms with reality.

Hurriane Sandy Leaves NYC's Ali Forney Center for HomelessGBT Youth Severely Damaged

As noted in previous posts, it is estimated that up to 40% of homeless youths are LGBT individuals.  Many have been disowned by their "godly Christian" parents and/or, parents who, in my view, are more concerned about their own personal embarrassment at having an LGBT child than about the welfare of their own children.  One city where many such homeless youth gravitate is New York City, a city with far too few resources to help these youths.  One bright spot that was available for them are the Ali Forney Center facilities.  Sadly, as the Washington Blade is reporting, the Ali Forney Center drop off facility for the most vulnerable youth - like so many properties and facilities in New York and New Jersey - suffered severe damage in Hurricane Sandy.  The Center is soliciting donations to help repair the facility and prepare it to once again provide critical services.  Here is how the condition has been described:  

Yesterday we were finally able to inspect our drop-in center in Chelsea, half a block from the Hudson River. Our worst fears were realized; everything was destroyed and the space is uninhabitable. The water level went four feet high, destroying our phones, computers, refrigerator, food and supplies.

I hope that readers will consider making a donation via the Center's website.  The boyfriend and I are doing so.  Here are highlights from the Blade story:

Superstorm Sandy’s record storm surge on Oct. 29 inundated a New York City drop-in center for homeless youth.  Carl Siciliano, executive director of the Ali Forney Center, told the Washington Blade earlier on Saturday the storm left up to four feet of water from the nearby Hudson River in the facility on West 22nd Street in Manhattan’s West Chelsea neighborhood. 

The water has since receded, but Siciliano said the storm surge “decimated” the drop-in center.  “Everything is destroyed — all of the electricity in the place, the floors, the computers, the laptops, the phones, files, all the furniture,” he said. “Everything is just destroyed. The refrigerator was floating and knocked over, all the food was out. The space is uninhabitable.”

“It’s going to be some months before we’re able to be in there so we’re going to have to really scramble to figure out a way to work with these kids,” said Siciliano. “The kids that come into that space are like our most vulnerable kids. They’re the ones who are out on the streets with nowhere to go. And that program’s really a lifeline for them. They get food and clothing and showers and bathroom facilities, medical care [and] HIV testing. It’s kind of our triage place in the city for kids who are chucked out on the streets.”

Siciliano said he has spoken with officials at the White House, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and both New York City Council Christine Quinn’s and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s offices. The Ali Forney Center is also accepting donations on its website to continue its outreach and advocacy efforts.

“There are so many problems that I have to deal with all the time with these kids, but I never did really think in my mind about catastrophic flooding,” said Siciliano. “That’s definitely a new level of things to be concerned about.”

Did People Fail to Take Hurricane Sandy Seriously Enough?

Watching television and viewing other media coverage of the devastation in New York and New Jersey I continue to be horrified.  And I am no stranger to the ravages that hurricanes can inflict.  I lived through the direct hit of Hurricane Frederic back in 1979 when I lived in Mobile and now three hurricane storm surges since 2009 in our home in Hampton (2009 caused major flooding to the house and the boyfriend and I lived in basically two rooms for the better part of the next six months as the entire first floor was ripped up and repaired in a manner that made it water resistant).  But I keep wondering why more people seem to have not evacuated both in New York and New Jersey.  With the hype of Sandy as the "Frankenstorm" and the dire predictions of the level of the storm surge, it is not as if there wasn't warning.  It is a question that needs to be asked and investigated because too many lives seem to have been lost needlessly.

The New York Times profiles some of the harsh aftermath of Sandy.  As for the speed of relief services arriving, I know that it can seem like an eternity before power is restored and debris is removed, etc.  And sadly, in New York and New Jersey the amount of debris is staggering.  And the numbers of people needing relief are staggering as well.  One can only hope that (1) future storms - of which scientists say will will like see more - will be taken far more seriously and (2) as rebuilding begins new construction standards and flooding criteria will be imposed. This is something that will not be popular with many - people in Alabama screamed when Gulf Shores and Dauphin Island had to be rebuilt to much more exacting standards - but simply ignoring the new climate and sea level reality will only court future disasters and the needless loss of lives.

One can only hope that on Tuesday we do not see climate change deniers elected to offices where acceptance of the new reality is impeded or totally rejected.  There will be more Hurricane Sandy's and all of us need to accept that and plan accordingly.  Hurricanes are no longer just a southern or southeastern danger to be dealt with.  We cannot undo what has happened, but we can be much more ready for the next monster storm.

Evacuation zones in red

Romney Likens Hurricane Relief to Cleaning up "Rubbish and Paper Products" from a Football Field

Providing further proof that he is not only out of touch but also devoid of any empathy for others, Mitt Romney has likened hurricane relief in the wale of Hurricane Sandy to cleaning up "rubbish and paper products" from a football field.  Apparently, Romney has been too busy counting his money or concocting new campaign lies to take the time to watch the media coverage of the horrific devastation in New York and New Jersey and other areas damaged by the storm.  Or perhaps in Romney's mind, given his multiple homes, recovery from the storm is as simple as moving to one of your other residences while the one that has been devastated is rebuilt.  The more I see of this man, the more terrified I am of the prospect of someone like him in the White House.  Salon looks at Romney's incredible out of touch comment on hurricane relief.  Here are excerpts:

It’s become a platitude to say that no one should be playing politics with Hurricane Sandy, but that’s silly. When the performance of government suddenly becomes a literal matter of life and death to many Americans, we ought to be thinking about what kind of government we want to have, and that involves politics.

It’s impossible not to see that this storm has devastated Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy. The response to the hurricane has seemed like one long dramatic Obama campaign commercial, a lesson in “We’re all in this together,” while Romney, the man who said he’d dismantle FEMA, flails on the sidelines.

Romney’s “relief” event outside of Dayton, Ohio, was surreal enough to be a campaign parody, with the candidate comparing the federal government’s hurricane relief efforts to the time he and some friends had to clean up a football field strewn with “rubbish and paper products.”

[O]utside of Romney’s embarrassing European tour this summer, when he insulted Britain over Olympics planning and divulged a secret briefing by MI6, this is Romney’s worst moment yet. As the storm approached, political reporters dredged up his pledge to “absolutely” restructure FEMA to give power to the states. At a Republican debate in June 2011, he suggested the private sector should do more, because federal spending even on FEMA was “jeopardizing the future of our kids.” Tell that to the kids of New Jersey, Gov. Romney. And of course the Ryan budget would slash funding for FEMA.

After Romney’s laughable relief event Tuesday, reporters swarmed him to ask if he still favors sending FEMA funding and responsibility back to the states. .  .  .  .  .  Romney won’t answer because he can’t.

The heroes of Sandy, so far, are the first responders, the cops and firefighters and emergency technicians, the folks evacuating patients from hospitals and trapped citizens from flooding. These are the people who’ve been demonized by Republicans for the last two years: the public workers who have become the new “welfare queens.” 

No one can be reassured by Romney’s empty posturing. Unless there is some government-abetted or neglected further disaster, I think Obama will be reelected next Tuesday. Hurricane Sandy has reminded us what’s at stake.

Look at the photos in this post and then try to tell me Romney doesn't have his head up his ass and that he would not be a menace in the White House.

Quote of the Day: Refuting the GOP Claim that Obama's First Term Has Been a "Failure"

I - like most of us I suspect - love immediate gratification.  It's an aspect of human nature I suspect.  But sometimes our desires for immediate gratification simply cannot be met given all of the attendant circumstances.  A case in point is the nation's economy.  Having launched my law firm with the intent to focus heavily on real estate as it turns out right before the real estate market collapsed I know first had the financial cost the economic collapse shepherded in by Bush?Cheney and the GOP controlled Congress.  As a result, I had high hopes for Obama and recall sitting with a group of gays and straights in the Bourbon Street Pub in Key West on Inauguration  Day 2009.  Many people were in tears that day.  Have all of our hopes been realized?  Certainly not, but compared to where the nation was we have come a long way.  Yes, we might have gone even further toward full recovery, but we had a major obstacle: the GOP controlled House of Representatives which obstructed virtually everything Obama sought to do from Inauguration Day onward. But did Obama fail us?  Andrew Sullivan sums up the reality of what Obama has accomplished - in spite of the Republicans.  Here are the principal highlights:

I have no idea what standard people are using to declare Obama's first term a failure. To save us from a Great Depression, rescue the auto industry, re-regulate Wall Street, decimate al Qaeda, kill bin Laden and Qaddafi and provide universal healthcare? That's failure? 

Unemployment is lower now than it was when he took office, and moving downward. Next year's IMF-predicted US growth is higher than any other developed country. Compared with austerity-ridden Europe, where unemployment is still climbing, Obama's, Geithner's and Bernanke's leadership has been stellar. The US has never exported as much as now as a percentage of GDP ever. Given the catastrophe Obama walked into, and the froth-flecked obstructionism of his opposition, he's had a remarkably successful, historic first term. His long game also makes much of the progress promised durable only if he gets a second term.

He told us it would take two terms; he predicted obstruction and setbacks; yet he has persisted - and succeeded. But take his second term away? Back to ballooning, rather than shrinking deficits, millions left without access to private health insurance, a guaranteed war against Iran, climate change policy handed over to the oil and coal companies, and massive spending on defense we don't need. Not to mention torture.

And a highlight from Chait's case against Romney:

[T]he reality remains that a vote for Romney is a vote for his party — a party that, by almost universal acclimation, utterly failed when last entrusted with governing. Romney may be brainier, more competent, and more mentally nimble than George W. Bush. But his party has, unbelievably, grown far more extreme in the years since Bush departed.  .  .  .  .  The party has almost no capacity to respond to the conditions and problems that actually exist in the world.

And Andrew doesn't even factor the contrast so far between Obama's response to Hurricane Sandy compared to the failed GOP response after Hurricane Katrina.  Oh, and did I mention that Romney has surrounded him with countless former Bus/Cheney advisers? 

Chris Christie praises Obama, Doesn’t "Give a Damn" About Romney Photo Op

It long ago became obvious to me that most Republicans place their political party above the welfare of the nation and its citizens. One need look no farther than the GOP House's blocking of numerous legislative efforts that would have helped millions of Americans. Sadly, that same mindset is prevailing in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy with one possible exception: Mew Jersey Governor Chris Christie who had little patience with efforts by Fox News to bring Mitt Romney into the news coverage about the New Jersey clean up effort. What's even more fun is that Christie lavished praise on Barack Obama. No doubt the Mittster is none too happy with Christie.  Kudos to Christie.

Experts: Sandy's Terrible Impact no Surprise

Unless one is in a coma - or a Neanderthal member of the Republican Party or the Koch brothers who seek to amass more and more wealth at any cost - it ought to be obvious that something is happening to the world's climate and that mankind needs to pay attention to its role in the causation of the violent changes taking place.  This year has seen record heat, far more tropical storms and hurricanes than are the norm, and the sea levels are rising.  Yet Republicans at both the federal and state level (Virginia has more than its share of flat earth believers in the Virginia GOP) continue to deny the reality that something troublesome is happening.  CNN is carrying an article that more or less states we'd better get used to more events like Hurricane Sandy.  And for coastal cities, that means waking up to the need to commence construction of meaningful protections against storm surges.  Here are article excerpts:

(CNN) -- We should not be surprised. That's the view of many climate scientists as they survey the destruction wrought by the superstorm that ravaged the Northeast this week. The melting of Arctic ice, rising sea levels, the warming atmosphere and changes to weather patterns are a potent combination likely to produce storms and tidal surges of unprecedented intensity, according to many experts.

Recognizing the threat, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is developing a strategy for mitigating the growing risk from storm surges and flooding along the city's 500 miles of coastline. In such a densely-populated area of so much expensive real estate, surrounded by a complex web of estuaries, tides and ocean, it is a huge challenge. And in the face of global changes, even a city as inventive as New York can only do so much.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted in 2007 that the global average sea level would rise between seven and 23 inches by the end of this century.  .  .  .  . Combine that with a trend toward more intense storms and New York is "highly vulnerable," professor Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University told CNN.  "(Superstorm) Sandy is a foretaste of things to come," he predicted, "from the combination of bigger storms and higher sea levels, both of which contribute equally to the growing threat."

Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences, recently modeled the effect of climate change on storm surges for the New York area. In a paper published by Nature in February, he and three colleagues concluded that the "storm of the century" would become the storm of "every twenty years or less."

The conclusion of Oppenheimer and his colleagues is that storms will become larger and more powerful.   "Climate change will probably increase storm intensity and size simultaneously, resulting in a significant intensification of storm surges," they wrote. Sandy had a diameter of some 900 miles, much larger than most storms.

A growing body of evidence links the disappearance of summer ice cover in the Arctic with changing weather patterns.  Over the past three decades, about 1.3 million square miles of Arctic sea ice has disappeared, equivalent to 42 percent of the area of the lower 48 states.  .  .  .  .  Less sea ice means warmer water. Sea surface temperatures off the coast of the northeast United States are now the highest ever recorded.

Given the scale of the challenge, Oppenheimer and others believe there needs to be urgent remedial action to mitigate the effects, such as raising subway entrances and reinforcing the lower floors of buildings. At the moment, Oppenheimer said, there's a lot of evaluating hazards and too little action to address them.

Douglas Hill of the Storm Surge Research Group at Stony Brook University has proposed a chain of massive sea barriers in Long Island Sound that could be closed to prevent flooding whenever a storm surge threatens. One would be close to the Verrazano Narrows bridge. (The Thames Barrier in London performs such a role in a more modest way.) But the cost would probably exceed $10 billion; a barrier in Venice cost $7 billion.

Whether Sandy will drive the issue of climate change up the political agenda seems doubtful. According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 67% of Americans believe the Earth is warming, up slightly since 2010, but that's 10 percentage points less than in 2006. Among both Democrats and Republicans, the percentage has declined, as has the number (now 64%) who say it's a serious problem.

Why Democrats Need to Politicize Hurricane Sandy

Republicans - especially those within the Kool-Aid drinking Tea Part element of the party - love to talk about about the need for "smaller government," motivated primarily by what I view as greed.  They want to slash government agencies and services so that they can hoard more money for themselves. Their attitude is to Hell with the best interests of the nation not to mention the unfortunate who may find themselves needing assistance through no fault of their own.  

In this current presidential election the "starve government" charge is being led by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan - two spoiled, amoral brats who were born to wealth and as a result protected from the everyday trials and financial worries that haunt us regular Americans. They promise to slash government so that the wealthy can enjoy more tax cuts.  But when confronted about specifics, their "plans" resemble a pile of Jell-o that lacks substance and any coherent framework.  Enter Hurricane Sandy and the massive damage that has been inflicted up and down the East Coast from North Carolina to New England.  Now, Mitt Romney is being challenged about his past pledges to gut FEMA and federal emergency relief agencies/programs.  And low and behold, he's shape shifting and trying to disavow his past statements and positions since he knows voters will be appalled by his callousness and willingness to allow citizens to suffer even more when hit by natural disasters such as Sandy.  

The man is a heartless liar who can empathize more with a rich friend who just saw his/her horse lose a dressage event than he can with families who have lost their homes.  He and Ryan need to be challenged.  A piece in New York Magazine makes the case for politicizing Hurricane Sandy's aftermath and exposing the agenda for what it is.  Here are excerpts:

Disasters are inherently political, because government is political, and preventing and responding to disasters is a primary role of the state. But there is an innate tension in overtly politicizing a disaster. 

What you are going to see over the next week is an overt effort by Democrats to politicize the issue of disaster response. They’re right to do it. Conservatives are already complaining about this, but the attempt to wall disaster response off from politics in the aftermath of a disaster is an attempt to insulate Republicans from the consequences of their policies.

Funding for FEMA is something the parties wrangle over, with Republicans pushing to limit the agency’s budget, and Democrats pushing back. FEMA has to fight for its share of a constricted pot of money for domestic non-entitlement spending, a pot of money that the Republicans propose to radically constrict. How radically? Romney’s budget promises require shrinking domestic non-entitlement spending as a share of the economy by about two-thirds.

The Republican proposal to eviscerate this wide array of public functions is one of the underdiscussed questions of the election. Republicans have defended it using a very clever trick. They don’t explain how they would allocate the massive cuts to all these programs. When President Obama explains what would happen if those cuts were allocated in an across-the-board fashion, Republicans scream bloody murder. And when any single one of those programs enters the political debate, they can deny plans to make any specific cuts: They won’t cut education, they won’t cut support for veterans, and so on.

[T]he most concrete statement of Romney’s view of disaster spending came in a Republican debate last summer. John King, the moderator, asked Romney whether FEMA needed to be devolved to the states. Romney agreed and went farther:

The GOP is the party arguing for splurging on a long vacation at the beach rather than repairing the roof. Naturally, they want to have this argument only when it’s sunny and never when it’s raining. There’s no reason to accommodate them.

Sandy Slams New York - New York Times Slams Romney

New York City took a pummeling from former hurricane Sandy with tremendous damage, including seven flooded tunnels crossing the East River, as the New York Times describes in part here:

Bridges remained closed and seven subway tunnels under the East River remained flooded.

The storm was the most destructive in the 108-year history of New York City’s subway system, said Joseph J. Lhota, the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, in an early morning statement. “We are assessing the extent of the damage and beginning the process of recovery,” he said, but did not provide a timetable for restoring transit service to a paralyzed city. 

As the storm lashed the city, waves topped the sea wall in the financial district in Manhattan, sending cars floating down streets. West Street, along the western edge of Lower Manhattan, looked like a river. The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, known officially as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel in memory of a former governor, flooded “from end to end,” the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said, hours after Governor Cuomo of New York ordered it closed to traffic. Officials said water also seeped into seven subway tunnels under the East River.  

By early Monday evening, the storm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes, stores and office buildings. Consolidated Edison said that as of 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, 634,000 customers in New York City and Westchester County were without power. Con Edison, fearing damage to its electrical equipment, shut down power pre-emptively in sections of Lower Manhattan on Monday evening, and then, at 8:30 p.m., an unplanned failure, probably caused by flooding in substations, knocked out power to most of Manhattan below Midtown, about 250,000 customers. Later, an explosion at a Con Ed substation on East 14th Street knocked out power to another 250,000 customers. 

Reports from New Jersey suggest huge damage across that state.  In short, devastation extends from North Carolina through New England.  The situation is a strong statement as to why the federal government needs to remain in the disaster response business.  Even though Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would eliminate FEMA and federal response programs.   No doubt Romney "I'm a Liar" Romney will deny that he ever made the proposal - even though it was caught on video.  In its lead editorial, the New York Times eviscerates the out of touch and uncaring Romney on this issue. Here are editorial highlights:

Disaster coordination is one of the most vital functions of “big government,” which is why Mitt Romney wants to eliminate it. At a Republican primary debate last year, Mr. Romney was asked whether emergency management was a function that should be returned to the states. He not only agreed, he went further. 

“Absolutely,” he said. “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.” Mr. Romney not only believes that states acting independently can handle the response to a vast East Coast storm better than Washington, but that profit-making companies can do an even better job. He said it was “immoral” for the federal government to do all these things. . . . .

It’s an absurd notion, but it’s fully in line with decades of Republican resistance to federal emergency planning. FEMA,  . . . . .

The agency was put back in working order by President Obama, but ideology still blinds Republicans to its value. Many don’t like the idea of free aid for poor people, or they think people should pay for their bad decisions, which this week includes living on the East Coast. 

Over the last two years, Congressional Republicans have forced a 43 percent reduction in the primary FEMA grants that pay for disaster preparedness. Representatives Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor and other House Republicans have repeatedly tried to refuse FEMA’s budget requests when disasters are more expensive than predicted, or have demanded that other valuable programs be cut to pay for them. The Ryan budget, which Mr. Romney praised as “an excellent piece of work,” would result in severe cutbacks to the agency

After Mr. Romney’s 2011 remarks recirculated on Monday, his nervous campaign announced that he does not want to abolish FEMA, though he still believes states should be in charge of emergency management. Those in Hurricane Sandy’s path are fortunate that, for now, that ideology has not replaced sound policy.  

Let's be clear.  Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are not only a danger to the country, they are a threat to decency and morality.  Romney/Ryan need to be defeated next week.

Hurricane Sandy - October 29, 2012

UPDATED:  This is a photo of the house taken by a neighbor from across the street:

People may laugh at our homemade flood doors, but, guess what - they work and keep the bulk of the water out.

We definitely dodged a bullet this morning.  Peak high tide has passed and the highest the water got was within about 4-5 inches of coming up over the deck in the back yard.  The water did start leaking into the garage under the flood door to a small extent and happily the new industrial sump pump has kept the water from accumulating in any significant way.  

Perhaps the most maddening thing has been the cretins joy riding up and down the flooded street that cause waves to go out and crash against the houses surrounded by water.  Did the Hampton police do anything to close off the street?  Of course not.  That might involve a shred of common sense.  

The top image is of the backyard looking across the tidal creek.  The first image below is of the side front yard (note the neighbors 3+ foot fence at their driveway is nearly covered).  The bottom image is a scene from the Ghent area of Norfolk a few blocks from my office.  Needless to say, the office is closed today.