Hurricane Rita and Grandma

Last week was a tough one. My Grandma in Lake Charles, LA, who had been sick for some time, died last Monday. My Grandmother was a great woman. She could teach many on how to spoil their grandkids. She sure spoiled us. I'll miss her. My Mom and I planned on going out to the funeral on Tuesday and returning on Saturday. We could not fly into New Orleans. That left Houston. There was only one small problem. Hurricane Rita was forecast to hit the Houston area on Saturday morning and would pass through the gulf the same way that Katrina had. I strongly suspected that it would grow to at least category 4, maybe more.

We had a very difficult decision to make. In addition to the storm, there were no hotels or rental cars available in the whole of the Lake Charles and Houston area respectively. These problems were easily solved with the help of my family. The hurricane issue was not. As the week progressed, it became very clear that Houston would be hit hard. By Thursday, the storm was turning North and instead of worrying about a funeral, my relatives were boarding up their houses and making plans to evacuate.

Lake Charles bore a good portion of Rita's wrath. My Uncle ended up in Lafayette with another Uncle and they weathered the storm fine there. Returning to Lake Charles on Saturday, he found his house whole. There were downed trees everywhere. Most of his neighbors did well too. A few things did get hit by the trees but they are definitely counting their blessings. They have a working phone (always keep a landline phone in your home, not chordless and nothing that needs batteries) but no power, or gas and little water. It looks like they'll be roughing it for the next few months. I'm going to try to send a generator to him. We'll see. Oh, they had to chase some looters away from the neighborhood as well. My Uncle is a former Marine Sgt and packs a lot of persuasion. The looters did not stay long and left empty handed.

Anyway, I don't know when the funeral will be. It doesn't look like there will be a service, just an internment. Between losing my Dad a few months ago and Grandma in this manner, I hope that my family stays healthy for a while. I do count my blessings, however. Every day I read about people who lost everything. The people of Louisiana are in my prayers. God bless.

Insulation

The notion of a collective right to bear arms is alive and well in the insulated liberal domains around the US. This veiw is contrary to my view, and in my opinion, that of the people that wrote the Bill of Rights, the Founding Fathers. Portland, Oregon, New York, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles are areas that you can live your entire life and not here a contrary/Conservative opinion. I've spent extensive time in all but New York. It's hard to keep an open mind when everyone just smiles and nods their heads everytime a liberal/democratic talking point is bandied about.

A good example was a conversation that happened last Christmas. I was in another room while my wife witnessed the following. A person whom I've had extensive political discussion was lamenting to her dinner guests that everytime she tried to make a political point, I would counter with a fact that had citations and research behind it. In other words, scientific method. In her words, science and facts. The local liberal scientist said to her not to worry, science had uncertainty and that you can't really prove anything. Everyone around just nodded their head in agreement (except for my wife, thank God). My jaw dropped. Here was a man that I respected. He is a professor of electrical engineering at a local college. To prove his point and denigrate mine, he was willing to tell all of these people that you really can't be sure of anything. And they, to their shame were willing to agree. I agree in a way, I can never be 100% sure of anything. However, I can be 99% sure of most things. That's good enough.

There's a joke that I was told in my early electrical engineering education. There is a school dance. On one side the girls are standing waiting and on the other is a mixture of engineering and math students. The rule is, at the bell you can advance exactly half the distance to the girls. The math students gave up in disgust. They knew that they would never get there. The engineering students stayed and the math students asked them why they bothered. One of them answered, we may never actually get there, but we'll get close enough.

I guess the point is, no matter what your belief, especially political, seek out differing opinions. I'm not talking about who is better, Howard Dean or Dennis Kucinich.

Next post, range report on my accurate M1A and my new purchase, the Keltch SU-16 CA.

Great 2nd ammendment post

The Geekwitha45 has a great post on the safe answer to what the 2nd ammendment is really about. Check it out. Although we've made inroads regarding the fallacy of a collective right, we cannot let our guard down.

Breaking Tradition

Powerline has a post on former President Clinton's remarks on Meet the Press (or Press the Meat as I call it). I've read and heard many comments about "His Emminence's" interview. Such things as Tim Russert and George Stephonopoulous feeding him talking points. Nobody fisks it better than Hinderacker though. Here is a taste:

AFP reports:

Breaking with tradition under which US presidents mute criticisms of their
successors, Clinton said the Bush administration had decided to invade Iraq
"virtually alone and before UN inspections were completed, with no real urgency,
no evidence that there were weapons of mass destruction."

This attack was false in every respect. The invasion of Iraq had the support of dozens of nations. The UN's inspections could never be "completed," but the UN itself had reported that large quantities of WMDs remained unaccounted for. On the other hand, Clinton's suggestion that there was "no real urgency" about the situation in Iraq was probably sincere, as it typified Clinton's approach to terrorism: he perceived no urgency after the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, or after al Qaeda's attempt to simultaneously destroy a dozen American airplanes over the Pacific in 1995; or after the attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998; or after Saddam's attempt to assassinate former President Bush; or after Saddam repeatedly tried to shoot down American aircraft; or after the Cole bombing in 2000; or after the Taliban took over Afghanistan and converted it into a training ground for anti-American mass murderers; or after any number of other provocations. So, naturally, Clinton saw no urgency with respect to dealing with Saddam's regime. Of course, had Saddam facilitated a post-9/11 attack on the U.S. using chemical or biological weapons, you can imagine how harshly Clinton would have criticized Bush for his lack of foresight.

Bravo!

I just took the political test at OK Cupid to see where their test fit me in politically. I'm listening to the band sing "the Weight". Here's the result. Put on some music from "The Last Waltz" and take it yourself.

You are a Social Liberal (68% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (66% permissive) You are best described as a: Libertarian Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

Heroism or Talk is Cheap

Kevin Baker has a great post that I've seen bits and pieces of since last week. It's a story of a man who did more than send money (send money) or talk about help. He loaded up his Vietnam era truck with food and water and went to Mississipi to help as many as he could. It's a great story and an inspiration to me. If anyone ever finds out who he is and where we can send something to say thanks, let me know. I want to say my thanks to someone who did what I could not or would not do.

Family is okay

My family seems to be okay. My mom is from Lake Charles and we have cousins and uncles and aunts all over southeastern Louisiana. There was no phone service for several days to Lafayette. That seems to have changed. My cousins in Houma are ok too. The damage is minimal for them. Surprising considering Houma's location relative to the storm.

Donate to your charity of choice to help those in our backyard that need help. The Red Cross is taking donations here. My prayers are with those in trouble.

Live Blogging from New Orleans

If you haven't seen this, you're missing some incredible live blogging. I can't really tell where he is but he is in New Orleans and watching the looting and lawlessness occur while protecting his own. God bless those who are in trouble.