Thoughts on Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy, even though it was subtropical by the time it came ashore in New Jersey the storm has been devastating. Looking at the pictures of the Jersey shore, a neighborhood in Queens destroyed by fire, and the infrastructure in New York it is easy to see that this storm will go down in history.

A few thoughts and observations on the storm.


- Those filling right wing sites stating that the storm is Gods wrath for America's choices on social issues such as abortion and gay rights might need to ask themselves if that means that when tornadoes strike Gods country across the south and the plains if it is still Gods wrath. I am Christian and I believe God can do what he wants, I do not believe God would create storms that would harm the good and bad indiscriminately to seek his revenge.

- Chris Christie, if my state was suffering through some kind of crisis, is the Governor I want. The man is no nonsense and you cannot but know that everything he says, every emotion and sadness he expresses in these situations is genuine. One wonders, conversely where Andrew Cuomo is in New York or if Mayor Bloomberg is crowding him out of the picture.

-For Springsteen fans many had to recognize the irony of the man who sings about the Jersey shore in many of his songs having written almost forty years ago at the beginning of his career specifically wrote a song called " Fourth of July (Sandy) " about the shore and the carnival. That the storm that destroyed much of the shore was named Sandy is an oddity at the minimum.

-Who are these people who do not evacuate and thus put others in danger to have to come rescue them? Also who are the morons we see that are in the water, surfing, jet skiing etc as the storm comes ashore. If a first responder dies rescuing you after you have done something foolish how do you live with that?

-I read a book recently about prediction and it spoke of the great improvement in weather prediction over the last twenty years. Forecasters nailed this one, the amount of time available for preparation and evacuation is life saving. Even more significant to me is that we heard about the potential for this storm being a " superstorm" more than a week ahead while it was still a tropical depression in the Caribbean. You might believe in the blind squirrel nut theory but these forecasts were spot on from the beginning.