Livin' Like A Refugee

It seems my decision to leave to evacuate the Big Easy ahead of a formal evacuation order was the right one as the order was given today. I'm very pleased with how the government, state, local, and federal, have been handling the preparations for Gustav. I wasn't down there for Katrina, but they seem to have the situation well in hand this time around. We'll see in the next few days if my confidence in the preparations will prove well founded. Fingers crossed that the loss of life will be nil and the damage negligible wherever Gustav comes ashore.

In the meantime I find myself in Atlanta on an unintended vacation in Atlanta, visiting my family here. It certainly beats the hell out of having to evacuate to a shelter, but I'm still eager to return home and get back to my life.

Meanwhile, Michael Moore continues to make it difficult to like him with the following comment (as reported by Fox News, which I'm sure took no small amount of joy in reporting a story that makes Moore look bad):

“I was just thinking, this Gustav is proof that there is a God in heaven,” Moore said. “To just have it planned at the same time, that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans for Day One of the Republican convention, up in the Twin Cities, at the top of the Mississippi River.”

This is the perfect example of what happens when someone becomes to invested in the us vs. them school of partisan politics. Every little thing becomes part of the game and the big picture is forgotten. Naturally, there are those on the right expressing outrage at the statement. I only hope they were equally as vocal when some in the religious right made statements about Katrina being a punishment from God.