The Southern California wildfires are fast becoming one of the biggest natural disasters in modern U.S. history (certainly in terms of people evacuated and property affected, if not lives lost). Today’s headlines reflect it. In this morning’s New York Times an article poses the burning (sorry) question:
“Victims in Wildfire’s Path Say, ‘Why Me?'” (It’s an unanswerable question, of course, unless you’re Glenn Beck.)
The Washington Post has a good piece on why the nearly one million evacuees (as of last night) have it a lot better than Katrina’s survivors in 2005. At the football stadium in San Diego where some 20,000 refugees are camped, it’s no Superdome. It’s orderly, food and Starbucks (gag) is plentiful, the National Guard is on hand (and not threatening to shoot the victims of the natural disaster). What are the differences? The fires are capricious, hitting here and there in neighborhoods rather than destroying the whole region; the region itself is wealthy, the suburban hillside neighborhoods in the fires’ paths often more so; the National Guard was already nearby, guarding the Mexican border against, um, Mexicans. Oh, and, as a separate N.Y. Times article points out, this time the White House and the federal government have scrambled to respond. But, according to the L.A. Times, the locals are already grumbling that the region was woefully unprepared for the cataclysm.
Locally, Neil Modie at the P-I (as well as a story in The Olympian) confirm that Dino Rossi will announce his campaign for governor Thursday in dual appearances in Issaquah and Spokane. (We know, (u)SP reported this Monday, and it’s not like we don’t trust their accuracy, but, well, we don’t.) The Bothell Times reported yesterday that Rossi was “expected to” announce Thursday, and leaves it at that today. In this season of surprises, no word yet as to whether Dino’s stump speech will differ one iota from his Forward Washington Foundation “nonprofit” days.
A KING-5 poll shows the “Roads & Transit” Proposition One in a dead heat. Oddly, KING-TV didn’t make the obvious connection with another of its own stories (which KIRO-TV and the Times also had): while Prop One contains ballyhooed maintenance money for local bridges and infrastructure, that doesn’t include Tacoma’s 11th Street Bridge east of downtown — a 92-year-old bridge that WSDOT abruptly shut down permanently on Tuesday because, according to state engineers, it’s in such a state of disrepair that it could fail at any time. The city charges that it’s the state which has been responsible for maintenance, or lack of it, on the bridge.
For some reason, both dailies think it’s a big deal this morning that a Metro bus driver is going to be fired for causing a fatal accident last April.
The Times takes an almost sympathetic look at the oddly viable candidacy of Richard Pope.
And, in the category of “The Treacle Gets Earlier Each Year,” the P-I today has a heartwarming syrupy Mary Swift column (does she do any other kind?) on a retiree who makes Christmas more cheerful for homeless kids. A. Week. Before. Halloween. Diabetics, it’s going to be a long season.
The Southern California wildfires are fast becoming one of the biggest natural disasters in modern U.S. history.
Are we sure this is a natural disasters??????
Are we sure this is a natural disasters??????
Well, the perky Fox and Friends morning show hosts are convinced they’re terrorism:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/.....-wildires/
So that whole “haven’t been hit since 9/11” thing is out the window?
a 92-year-old bridge that WSDOT abruptly shut down permanently. Since the Gov does not want to replace the Viaduct use that money for the replacement.
@1
Sounds rather like what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? Is this the Deity’s judgment on GW Bush?
Fox News does an outstanding job of reporting the news. It’s the opinions that you blowhards disagree with.
“in San Diego where some 20,000 refugees”
An innocent slip up, but they are evacuees not refugees.
So Al Qaeda is attacking America by setting the American West on fire and GW Bush’s administration has failed to stop them (again), has made no arrests (again), and this is the guy who will “keep America safe?”
All I can say is, when they start handing out FEMA contracts, keep your hand on your wallet.
7 “All I can say is, when they start handing out FEMA contracts, keep your hand on your wallet.”
Methinks that’s one barn where the horse is long, long gone.
8
I don’t agree. There will be a new round of contracting after these fires, and if our ball-less Congress would just get off the pot and pass some legislation requiring competitive bidding and independent oversight, we’d be getting somewhere.
Hey, once upon a time we were supposedly invading Iraq because Saddam and his sons had torture chambers, and that this was a bad thing to torture people, bad enough that other countries if they felt like it could invade you and depose your wicked torturing government. Where is Canada when we need them?
5
Fox News does an excellent job of reporting its opinions. It wouldn’t know news if the news bit it in the ass.
Let’s see, what can we do about the Osama/Obama remarks?
Hmmmm…
Mitt-ler Romney
Rudy Mussolini
Fred tse-Tung
Joseph McStalin
this is open to everyone…
Anybody else catch Joel’s column this morning about Hillary’s swing through these here parts? Seems not only are the Democrats in Congress voting like Republicans, but now the Democratic presidential contenders are campaigning like Republicans…breezing into tony enclaves for private audiences with those willing and able to pony up $2000 for a chunk of halibut, while the public and the press stay out in the cold.
Anybody else catch Joel’s column this morning about Hillary’s swing through these here parts? Seems not only are the Democrats in Congress voting like Republicans, but now the Democratic presidential contenders are campaigning like Republicans…breezing into tony enclaves for private audiences with those willing and able to pony up $2000 for a chunk of halibut, while the public and the press stay out in the cold.
It’s not surprising. The GOP candidates who “pioneered” this type of campaigning didn’t pay any political price for it – and were even praised in some quarters – and successful political practices are nearly always copied.
We don’t have to like it, mind you, but they’ll keep doing it as long as there’s reason to do it or at the very least no reason not to.