More Than Seven Million Americans Are Without Power...
By louisehartmann
The streets of lower Manhattan are underwater, and there are 16 reported deaths after Hurricane Sandy pummeled the Northeastern United States. Bloomberg is estimating that the storm damage could top $20 billion. Before making landfall – Sandy recorded the lowest barometric pressure of any Atlantic storm to hit the area in history. This suggests that just like all the other freak weather we’ve seen in recent years – this, too, is climate change related - now that there’s 5% more moisture in the atmosphere than at any other time in human history.
Storms will only get bigger, wetter, and windier moving forward – which makes how we, as a nation, respond to these disasters all the more important. Over the last few years, had Mitt Romney and Republicans been successful in what they wanted to do to federal disaster relief programs like FEMA, which is to privatize or drastically cut them, then the citizens of New York and New Jersey and other areas affected by Sandy would be all on their own today to clean up.
We are a “we” society, not a “me” society – and that’s all the more important during times of crisis like today.
Comments
#2
The mention of climate change in the MSM is notable for its absence. What fools we mortals be.
#3
You liberals never get it, climate change is an agenda 21 strategy to strip the wealthy countries of wealth and manipulate the sheeple and middle class in this country to pay higher prices for all energy and therefor products. Do you understand that one of the reasons we are the most powerful economy in the world is because we have an energy price advantage. Do you want to give that away too? Sure, lets all pay $9.00 for a gallon of gas like Thom wants us to, we will all be poorer for it.
#4
Mother Nature, you're such a terrorist!
Maybe Homeland Security can do a strip search and gropey-feely on her. Extra-Rendition her to our gulag down in Gitmo and torture her. I think that Sandy was the Flying Spaghetti Monster's wrath on unbelievers and evildoers. If you thought Katrina and Sandy were bad...just wait till the next one. With all that ice melting in the north from global warming (much of it emanating from Romney's mouth) we'll be seeing much larger hurricanes in the near future.
#5
Ancient Rome was once mighty and powerful too, for a while, because they created a lot of slaves from within and from all of those foreign conquests. The US is not far behind Ancient Rome. When the people in the US wake up and see how the 1% upper classes have created their own slaves out of the other 99% it may be too late for them to rebel effectively....but the country is going down the tubes regardless. Better learn to speak Mandarin.
#6
Forty-plus years ago, when I was a kid, I could leave a chrome-pated wrench laying in the yard for hours on a hot sunny day, and later, pick it up and it would only be a little warm. Now a days, if I do the same thing, the wrench will be too hot to touch.
Global warming is real, and, I believe, more of the Sun's heat energy is getting through the atmosphere and down to ground level. I don't need a third degree burn to convince me.
#7
Welcome back PalinDromedary. Glad to see you're on board with Global Warming (yes folks, it's not a myth!). When you came out with that Neo con clap-trap about more guns making America safer I began to think you might really have been PalinTrojanHorse.
#8
The "New Right" will change the history books(as we speak), critize scientists and proven research, deregulate oil, coal, etc., and remove barriers so that irresponsible corporations can reap their rewards. During an interview, Romney revealed his parties plans: 1) Shift everything from Federal to States; 2) Shift everything from States to Privatization. Reality is the evidence....Privatized Schools, Privatized Prisons, Privatized Bail Bondsmen, and eventually...the Post Office (they won't give up on that one). Climate change is our reality and they will preach to their congregation that it doesn't exist and our children's children will inherit the fallout. Bush took & took from FEMA and Obama built it back up. Romney says he doesn't want FEMA - it belongs to the States to handle. I'm glad I don't live in ANY high risk area. Good Luck Americans that do and must suffer the consequences of the "New Right".
#9
I hope Obama pounds home the plan Romney/Ryan have for disasters. Get rid of FEMA? Leave disaster relief to the states? Privatize disaster recovery efforts? It's amost laughable--but it won't be funny if Romney is elected. Hope you have kind and generous neighbors--and a stock of water and food.
#10
There is so much in our society that needs "fixing," and we as individuals can do so little. My husband and I are low-income senior citizens. We had decided that we would squeeze a little money out of our food budget this month and start living off the bounty of our garden a month earlier than usual so we could send small donations to the campaigns of candidates we feel passionate about. Then Hurricane Sandy roared ashore. We talked about it this afternoon, and decided the better choice would be to "bundle" our donations and send the money to the Red Cross instead. We encourage others to do the same, regardless of their politics or what they think is causing weather extremes. The need is urgent, and it is NOW.
#11
Thank you Mcowley01, I took a break on the death of my family member who finally died of his cancer in a VA medical center. I sure hope I never die the same way and hope I never have any other family member die that way as well. I still read many of the posts, though. Yes, global warming is very real but the ones who vote Republican will never admit it no matter how bad the storms and droughts become. They live in their own very special bubble...they're "special" you know? And people like Ann Coulter can make accusations against Democrats using politically incorrect terms but those terms are way more appropriate in referencing what THEY are...people who reject science in favor of superstition and folly and led by the nose as useful idiots of the major polluters. These misdirected people are way more dangerous to us than a few people with guns because the lifeforms in the whole planet are at risk of extinction.
#12
Somehow the lines between Church and State have faded. Jesus is now inspiring voting and it appears he is a conservative.
#13
It would seem so, wouldn't it? But I think he's more the kind of "socialist" going around giving free health care to the poor (as I have seen him portrayed recently on FaceBook) than a tea party, religious right-wing bigot. Kind of like that lovely Christmas song, "Some children see him...," I guess. Someone (actually, probably many people) once said that how you see your god says more about you than it does about God.
#14
Because, of course, "God" is an invention of Man. No empirical proof that he/she or it even exists, or ever existed. Just a myth modified over the ages by superstitious people... some of whom manipulated how others imagined he/she or it existed in their minds. Lots of plagiarism of more ancient superstitions along the way tailored to suit the whims of the ruling elite. The Republicans are not doing anything differently than previous manipulators (priests, parents, etc) have done: Tithe, or burn in hell. Don't have sex before marriage, or burn in hell. Vote Republican, or burn in hell. God's watching everything you do and sits in judgement. Man, what paranoia!!! They know that people can be manipulated by manipulation of their superstitions. As long as people fall victim to superstitions they will continue to be manipulated. It's time to quit believing in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, ghosts and goblins and especially in God. Why is it that people who talk to imaginary things, other than God, often need psychiatric help but those who pray to the imaginary God are thought to be normal? Maybe because when the majority of people who talk to sanctioned imaginary things...they are all crazy...sane people are the minority. But because people who believe in crazy things are the majority...and they are called "normal". I suppose most people can't really help being psychologically challenged when they are brain washed by their parents from birth. Especially when whole institutions seem to support the craziness. But, statistics show that the trend is that people are finally throwing off their chains and seeing the world in a new light...without superstition. Check out ffrf.org
#15
Here's a perfect storm: the capricious winds of the free market - which detemine wages too low for working class Americans. What happens when those winds determine wages too low to afford health care and too low to afford retirement? The jobs available are the jobs available, after all. And the competition for the good paying ones absolutely fierce. A big article in the WSJ today claims a hurricane is different, and that Romney never said he wouldn't support FEMA.
Conservatives simply want to take advantage of others' misfortune...taking the benefit of the labor of the hardworking lower classes, but not afford them wages or safety nets to cover even the most basic costs of their living. Nice. Just ignore that market "storm" and pretend it isn't our problem. Let's put the working class elderly down then when they're done working, never mind their contribution to society. And health care? nah....one in four kids in this country living below the poverty line and receiving marginal health care at best. Works for conservatives. They hide behind the free market and pretend the structure of society is not their responsibility. You know: Every man for himself!
Look - where the market doesn't serve our humanity, we need to institute a fix. Basic services to deserving working people is the price of civilized society. I continue to be stunned by the degree of selfishness and the apparent void of any social conscience among today's conservatives. What a great political ideology.
Of course the other great joke is that if you put people Romney in power, the first they do is pass laws to make themselves rich. Like Paulson's 30:1 net capitalization rule, Bush's OCC lawsuit on the bahalf of Wall Street which forced subprime downt the throats of America after the states all had tried to shut it down, and then too there's Greenspan and his 'hands off the banks" policies that let the CDO dynamics run. And the billionaires and their propaganda machine have conservatives all duped into thinking that 145 billion in losses at Fannie and Freddie somehow crashed the world economy. Ya - sure.
I'm madder than a hornet about Bush and his undprcedented cronyism - and I was not much affected by the crisis and still in the top one or two percent.
Romney will be different from Bush? He'll be worse. Because he's an avowed libertarian. That means he hasn't a social conscience and he beleives himself morally justified in not having a moral conscience. Libertarians believe no human being has any obligation to any other, so long as they obey the law. Of course the great joke is, what happens when they're in charge of the law? Ha. Fanatic theorists don't belong in the presidency. Period. And he's as out there as they come.
Republicans don't pay their bills obviously. The history is they didn't fund the Iraq war, didn't fund the Bush tax cuts, the drug comnay benefit under Medicaid, nor the Afghan war. Like Reagan, they filled their pockets by running up deficit - and then left the mess. Are you and I still paying for the 160 billion cost of Reagan's S&L debacle. Nice. And 60% of the money stolen in Texas alone by those good old boys.
Realtiy check anyone? just because billionair propagandists say "you don't need to pay taxes" and just because they wear suits and they're rich - and it's on Fox entertainment channel besides - conservatives actually believe them? wow.
#16
Nothing is more cruel to mother nature than man!
#17
The Republicans are a me party. Cut social security, medicare, FEMA, etc. You haven't cut anything! We still have to pay, except now it's state taxes instead of federal. You balance the budget by shifting the load. Leave it to the states you shout! You are masters at walking away from responsibility. Oh, the states can handle it better. And oh, look how pretty our federal budget looks now. Told you we could do it!
#18
Well, I'm just relieved to know that no republican governor will want big government money to help his state. Except for all of them, of course. And after getting big government money to help their states recover, every republican governor will say that he didn't accept any big government money, because it's legal for politicians to lie.
You know, if it's legal for them to lie to us, isn't it ipso facto legal for us to lie to them? And I have a few lies to suggest:
1. Yes, I absolutely support your campaign.
2. We will pay your salary.
3. We will reimburse you for travel expenses.
4. We are only investigating you in order to help you win the election.
5. No, we won't tell anyone that you cheat on your wife.
6. We will not reveal your use of street drugs.
7. We will not publicize the fact that you cheat on your income taxes.
8. We won't tell your opponent that you come from a long line of horse thieves.
And when the politician says, "Hey, you said you wouldn't tell," we say, "Yeah, sorry. We forgot. Tell you what, we'll make it up to you by not giving proof to the media that you are a communist."
#19
2 interesting articles --
One by Chris Mooney ("NASA warned NY about hurricane danger six years ago," motherjones.com, 10/30/12) talks about people being "science-phobic," rejecting clear warnings by reputable scientists and treating climate change as something of interest only to the few "climate change people."
The other article by George Lakoff ("Global Warming Systemically Caused Hurricane Sandy," huffingtonpost.com, 10/30/12) says that the issue is not just the science around climate change, it's also the semantics. He distinguishes between a systemic cause and a direct cause, saying, "Semantics matters....Where do we start? With language. Add ststemic causation to your vocablulary. Communicate the concept. Explain to others why global warming systmically caused the enormous energy and size of Hurricane Sandy, as well as the major droughts and fires. Email your media whenver you see reporting on extreme weather that doesn't ask scientists if it was systemically caused by global warming."
#20
Guess who lives on both coasts? It's not surprising that Republicans believe FEMA should be cut, considering it's mostly blue states. I'd much rather pay returning servicemen to help rebuild than to increase the profits of the already rich corporations preferred by Republicans. I seem to remember someone from a movie saying, "In chaos, there is profit!" Amen.
#21
Major media is not allowed by their corporate masters to mention either climate change, or Monsanto/GMOs. So we come here.
#22
"Major media..not allowed to mention climate change"...
I certainly noticed this to be the case when watching Piers Morgan (when he had on Michael Moore yesterday). Of course Michael Moore tries to talk about it but Piers does his darnedest to avoid the topic after trying to argue in favor of climate change deniers. That was a really great quip that Michael Moore had in describing those climate change deniers when he said that "these are also the people who believe that Adam and Eve rode around on dinosaurs".
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
Mueller's favorite place to pray (written about in "Prophet's Way"), and the roof of the room where the Last Supper is reputed to have happened.
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I do not have the specific data, but I do know that hurricanes are heat engines and the gulf stream's heat was the source of the energy that enabled the storm "Sandy" to persist from the tropics into the usually cooler waters along the northeastern U.S. coast. It turns out that just a slight change, a small warmng of the waters enabled the storm to stay close to the shore and join with the cold front & cyclone that moved in from the west. The typical situation is that cold air kills tropical storms, but with climate change what we have seen this last week may become the norm. JJH