Hurricane Katrina, two years later

The second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is now upon us, and everybody is celebrating the successful rebuilding of New Orleans and other cities and towns on the Gulf Coast.

We wish. The truth is that the devastating effects of Katrina are as visible today as they were two years ago. Former homes stand in ruins, there are no utility services, two hospitals remain closed, and the levies are being rebuilt and strengthened in phases, slowly. People who fled to other states have no more reason to move back now than they did then.

Meanwhile, the Bush Administration has dumped $30 BILLION down a rathole called "let's rebuild Iraq," and at least $8.8 BILLION has disappeared. Guns, land mines and rocket launchers have been sold on the black market for cash, no receipts required, in what one whistleblower described as a "Wal-Mart for guns" only illegal. For his trouble he spent 97 days in a military prison outside Baghdad, classified as a "security detainee."

Can you visualize $30 billion? If you can you visualize $1 million, multiply by ten. Multiply by ten again, and then again. Now multiply by 30. That kind of money could rebuild New Orleans with new homes elevated above the floodplain behind new levies.

The inertia regarding New Orleans is not the exclusive fault of the federal government, but the feds have the resources to get something moving and they have squandered them in Iraq. Trying to rebuild any part of the Middle East is like feeding an alligator. An alligator will never learn to love you.

grab a root and growl

When you reach a certain age, you realize that your brain is cluttered with trivia. The trivia ranges from the rattly noises and old-car smells of the first car you owned to bad jokes you learned in sixth grade, to minor vulgarities in foreign languages that you otherwise know nothing about. Included in that trivia are corny sayings that you may have learned from your father or from small-town guys you knew in college or the army. I have this theory about Alzheimers's disease, which is that this useless stuff collects in the grey cells like barnacles until there is no room for new but useful trivia such as the names of people you 've met in the past week and you know you will see again.

At dinner time tonight, the expression "grab a root and growl" bubbled up in the back of my mind for no reason at all except that I was unloading a bag of take-out food to serve for dinner.

Grab a root? Growl? What in hell does that mean?

("What in hell" is another of those useless expressions. The meaning of "grab a root and growl" is not in Hades. Hotter than hell, colder than hell, slower than hell, faster than hell, smart as hell, dumber than hell. . .the list goes on forever, all the way to hell and all useless. But I digress.)

I consulted Google, the source of all that I know, and I found at least three possible sources for the expression. One is, "sit down and eat." Another comes from railroad workers and means, "grab hold and lift." The third means "hold on and fight," or a stubbornness associated with the Dust Bowl farmers of the 1930's who never left their farms but held on, waiting for rain.

"Sit down and eat" is the meaning I associate with the phrase. I think I learned it in a fraternity house dining room. Wherever it came from, I'd like to unload it and make room for some useful trivia such as the exact day in 2009 which will be Bush's last day in office, a mere 517 days from today if anyone's counting.

Hurricane season is upon us

Hurricane season is knocking at the door, dang it:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/204525.shtml?5day#contents

75 weeks to go

Yesterday, Karl Rove announced his retirement as of the end of August. Rove is credited with transforming Texas into Republican territory and with engineering George Dubya Bush's election in 2000, and his re-election in 2004. Do you remember the phrase, "compassionate conservative?" Rove is credited with that phrase. (Have you ever met a compassionate conservative?)

Upon Rove's announcement, Bush said, "I'll be on the road behind you in a bit."

Yesterday, we had 525 days left in the Bush regime. That's a mere 75 weeks before Bush hits the road.