above: Katrina below: Gustav
Hmm. Okay, let's assume that Katrina was sent by God for a purpose.
Perhaps that purpose was misunderstood by a Christian right wing that was obsessed with gays and abortion. Oddly enough, there are no discussions of either of these issues in the Gospels recorded in the New Testament. What we do have in the recorded sermons of Jesus of Nazareth is a long instruction to love your neighbor and to minister to the poor and sick. Those themes are repeated many, many times. Let's say God sent Katrina to New Orleans to test the Christian right's commitment to the teachings of Jesus. Would this self-proclaimed Christian administration be said to have passed such a test?
Now, it is three years later. The GOP is going to nominate another candidate for president, John McCain, who has just demonstrated, with the nomination of Gov. Palin as a vice president, that he intends to adhere to the Christian right's position. A candidate who feels he must govern with ideological purity just as his predecessor has. This ideological purity is questionable if one reads the New Testament without prejudice. (This is why the test of Katrina and it's purpose would be different for a true Christian than it would be for a political "christian".) The Republican standard bearers for this political right wing have planned to do this in a huge media event, the Republican National Convention, that coincides with the anniversary of the landfall of this "judgement" from God. However, they seemed to have missed God's initial reason for, or the instruction of, Hurricane Katrina. This is demonstrated by the slow or non-existent efforts on behalf of the poor so devastated by the event, the so called "Wrath of God", and the suffering that continues three years later.
Is Gustav a reminder for Christians of the true nature of the instruction of Jesus? Do we have more of the "Wrath of God" demonstrated with the timing of this meteorological event? As a result of the impending landfall of this major Hurricane, there has been a disruption of the GOP convention here in Minnesota. Neither Bush nor Cheney will even show up to thank the very Republican leadership that elected them to two terms in the Whitehouse as a result of Gustav's impending destruction. Perhaps Gustav is God's not so gentle reminder of our failures as a nation to embody the teachings of His son.
Now I am not a religious person who believes that God spends all day personally talking to each and every person who claims some sort personal relationship with him. My idea of God would be a greater spiritual being. I doubt that God worries about which pair of shoes Michele Bachman should wear to campaign with or would directly intervene in my thoughts on what to serve for supper on any given night. These people are obviously not questioning their own thought processes or the reasons they hear "voices". I am offended by the proclamations from the right wing nuts who call themselves Christians of every disaster being God's wrath on our nation. I really think such talk is not only unpatriotic but also sacrilegious. But, I am posing an argument that I think would fundamentally cause someone who believes such ideas to pause, just for a second, and ask yourself the simple question I started with. If you believe that these events are somehow inspired by divine instruction shouldn't you seek a greater lesson from that meaning? And if that question is a political one, which candidate you should vote for. With the weakening of this storm, perhaps one should ponder the religious meaning of God's mercy as well.
Storm Disrupts Republican Plans for Convention
ST. PAUL — Plans for the Republican National Convention were in flux on Sunday as the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, announced that the thrust of the convention would change “from a party event to a call to the nation for action” to help residents of the Gulf Coast affected by the approaching Hurricane Gustav.
Mr. McCain, speaking in Jackson, Miss., as he toured the federal disaster relief center there, said he would announce major changes later on Sunday for the Republican convention, which is scheduled to start Monday in St. Paul. Already, President Bush said he would not attend the convention on Monday because of Gustav, and the White House spokeswoman, Dana M. Perino, said Vice President Dick Cheney also would not attend it. Republican officials have said the four-day convention may shortened or delayed.
“We must redirect our efforts from the really celebratory event of the nomination of president and vice president of our party to acting as all Americans,” said Mr. McCain, appearing with his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, and Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi. “We have to go from a party event to a call to the nation for action, action to help our fellow citizens in this time of tragedy and disaster, action in the form of volunteering, donations, reaching out our hands and our hearts and our wallets to the people who are under such great threat from this great natural disaster.
“I pledge that tomorrow night, and if necessary, throughout our convention if necessary, to act as Americans not Republicans, because America needs us now no matter whether we are Republican or Democrat.”
Convention planners and delegates arriving in St. Paul said it would be politically perilous to hold a four-day party as Americans were evacuating New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in advance of Gustav, a Category 3 hurricane, with winds of up to 125 miles per hour, that is expected to make landfall sometime on Tuesday. The Bush administration’s unsteady response to Hurricane Katrina, which left New Orleans in ruins three years ago, outraged Americans and remains, for many, a stain on Mr. Bush’s record.
Among the options for altering the convention format, Republican officials said Sunday, were cutting back on the evening and prime-time hours of convention sessions in the hall over the four days, or delaying the start of the convention by a day or two and then compressing the main events over perhaps two or three days, instead of four. Party officials may also plan blood banks and Gustav relief fund-raisers.
Cancellations were announced steadily in St. Paul on Sunday: Delegates from Louisiana and Mississippi were making plans to head home because of Gustav. Separately, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California announced he would skip the convention to deal with a continuing stalemate in Sacramento over the state budget. He had been slated to have a high-profile speaking role on Monday night.
Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, said in Ohio on Sunday that he had no plans to travel to the Gulf Coast because he did not want to get in the way of emergency efforts there. Mr. Obama, speaking to reporters after leaving services at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Lima, Ohio, said his campaign would mobilize its giant e-mail list of supporters to encourage them to volunteer or send contributions as soon as the impact of Hurricane Gustav becomes known.
“We can activate an e-mail list of a couple million people who want to give back,” Mr. Obama told reporters. “I think we can get tons of volunteers to travel down there if it becomes necessary.”
Asked whether he believed it was appropriate for Mr. McCain to travel to the Gulf Coast, Mr. Obama said: “A big storm like this raises bipartisan concerns, and I think for John to want to find out what’s going on is fine.”
“The thing that I always am concerned about in the middle of a storm,” Mr. Obama said, “is whether we’re drawing resources away from folks on the ground because the Secret Service and various security requirements sometimes it pulls police, fire and other departments away from concentrating on the job.”
He added: “I’m assuming that where he went that wasn’t an issue. We’re going to try to stay clear of the area until things have settled down and then we’ll probably try to figure out how we can be as helpful as possible.”
He said he had talked by telephone to Gov. Bobby Jindal and Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans. Mr. Obama also is calling into a black radio station in New Orleans, aides said, amplifying the warning for any remaining residents to follow the evacuation order and leave the city.
President Bush, who was monitoring disaster relief preparations at the White House on Sunday, also spoke with Mayor Nagin, saying he was “checking in and getting ready to go through this again with him,” according to Ms. Perino, the White House spokeswoman.
“We’re working with governors to identify and secure out-of-state shelter for people in the path of the storm,” Mr. Bush said during a news briefing at the Washington headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “Several states, including Missouri, Texas, and New Mexico, are preparing to and have accepted a lot of evacuees. People are leaving those areas that are of concern and we’re working hard to make sure that they have a place to go.”
Mr. Bush added: “In the coming days, I encourage people across our nation to help their neighbors in need. You can contribute to charities, such as the Red Cross. You can volunteer your time to help those in need. And, of course, you can pray for those who might be suffering.
While the National Hurricane Center said Sunday that Gustav had weakened from a Category 4 hurricane on Saturday to a Category 3, it could pick up strength later today.
New Orleans residents are under a mandatory evacuation order on Sunday, and other parts of the Gulf Coast are expected to clear out over the next 36 hours if Gustav continues on its current course.
Appearing on the ABC News program “This Week” news program on Sunday, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close ally of Mr. McCain, said it might make sense to postpone the convention depending on Gustav’s strength and direction over the next 24 hours.
“The goal is to make sure that you take the conservative approach, that we’re not seen to be out of touch with people who could have everything they worked for lost,” Mr. Graham said. “I’d advise Senator McCain to go down as is, today, to figure out what can I do?”
The potential for disaster along the Gulf Coast has overshadowed not only the Republicans this weekend: It has consumed media attention to the point of at least partially obscuring both the Democrats’ glow over their convention in Denver last week and their criticism and questioning of Governor Palin, who Mr. McCain introduced as his running mate on Friday.
The major television networks are pulling some of their top talent out of Minneapolis, promising to diminish, if not upend, coverage of the convention. Katie Couric will head to the Gulf Coast to open the “CBS Evening News” from there Monday night, instead of from the convention hall as planned. Charles Gibson of ABC News and Brian Williams of NBC are expected to do the same.
“Nightline” on ABC will also broadcast from the storm area as will CBS News, a sign that all of the major news programs will be focused on the hurricane zone rather than the convention floor adorned with Mr. McCain’s “country first message” — robbing him of the crucial perk of wide television coverage of his message that comes with a political convention.
As of now, the networks still expect to devote one hour a night to the convention, from 10 to 11 and the cable news channels will almost certainly juggle both stories.
Still, the networks’ decision is a potential blow to Mr. McCain, whose campaign is hoping to use the Republican convention to give him a burst of positive coverage into the final stretch of the campaign. And it has cut into the Obama campaign’s plans to portray Ms. Palin as inadequate to the job of the vice presidency.
Ms. Palin, now midway through her second year as governor, was by and large a surprise choice — Mr. McCain barely knew her before Friday, and she was not widely discussed as a likely vice presidential nominee. Democrats have been framing Ms. Palin as a purely political selection, based on her potential appeal to female voters who favored Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton over Mr. Obama during the primaries this year. But that message has largely been drowned out by Gustav’s approach.
Still, on ABC on Sunday, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the 2004 Democratic nominee for president, said the selection of Ms. Palin reflected poor decision-making on Mr. McCain’s part.
“I think John McCain’s judgment is once again put at issue, because he’s chosen somebody who clearly does not meet the national security threshold, who is not ready to be president tomorrow,” Mr. Kerry said.
And he scoffed at the notion that one-time Clinton supporters would be wooed to the Republican ticket by the possibility of the first female vice president — one who opposes abortion rights and many other commonly held positions for Democrats.
“I mean, for heaven sakes, the people who supported Hillary Clinton are not going to be seduced just because John McCain has picked a woman,” Mr. Kerry said. “They’re going to look at what she supports.”
Senator Graham, echoing other Republicans on the Sunday talk shows praising Ms. Palin as a “bold” choice and as a reformer, said he believed Ms. Palin was ready to be commander in chief today.
“Oh, I think so, I think so. Compared to Barack Obama, absolutely,” Mr. Graham said.
Mr. Obama and his running mate, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, planned to spent Sunday campaigning together in Ohio and Michigan before parting ways to travel separately on Labor Day.
Traveling with Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin in Mississippi, meanwhile, were Cindy McCain, Mr. McCain’s wife, and two surprise guests: their sons Jack, 21, a midshipman at the Naval Academy, and Jimmy, 20, a Marine, according to a pool report.
The McCains were reunited with their sons at the St. Louis airport, where Mrs. McCain took the senator’s arm and excitedly pulled him toward them, and they embraced. Brooke Buchanan, a campaign spokeswoman, said the sons would be with the family for the convention week.
Hurricane Gustav to Become Gulf Coast Monster? |
| Willie Drye for National Geographic News |
| August 27, 2008 |
| The once and future Hurricane Gustav—currently a tropical storm over Haiti—could attack the U.S. Gulf Coast as a major hurricane this weekend. Or not. The Gulf Coast's fate depends largely on a developing high-pressure system, whose southern edge extends roughly from the eastern Gulf of Mexico to the western Atlantic Ocean. (See a map of the region.) High-pressure "ridges" repel storms, so if the developing ridge north of Cuba is strong, Gustav could be deflected westward and into the central Gulf of Mexico, where vast stretches of warm water could supercharge the storm as it heads for the U.S. coast. But if the high-pressure system wanes, Gustav could turn north, unimpeded, and move overland, across Cuba. The temporary lack of contact with warm water would deprive it of power. From Storm to Hurricane to Storm … to Hurricane? Gustav began as a tropical depression in the eastern Caribbean Sea on Monday and quickly intensified into a Category 1 hurricane with winds of about 90 miles (145 kilometers) an hour. Gustav hit shore Tuesday in Haiti and has been blamed for at least 17 deaths there and the neighboring Dominican Republic. The passage over Haiti's mountains weakened Gustav's winds to about 60 miles (100 kilometers) an hour, reducing it to tropical storm status. As of Wednesday morning, the center of Gustav was nearly stationary over Haiti. But the storm is expected to start moving westward later in the day. That would put it over the very warm waters of the Caribbean, and forecasters think Gustav will quickly regain its status as a Category 1 hurricane, with wind speeds between 74 and 95 miles an hour (119 and 153 kilometers an hour). By early Saturday, Gustav is predicted to be just off the coast of western Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane, with winds between 110 and 130 miles (177 and 209 kilometers) an hour. Where it goes from there—and how intense it becomes—is less certain. (Related: "Hurricane Bertha's Burst of Strength Stumps Experts" [July 8, 2008].) Path of Least Resistance Gustav is expected to turn toward the U.S. sometime Friday or Saturday, and the high-pressure system will decide how sharp Gustav's turn will be. "Once it starts moving, it will move west-northwest under the southern periphery of that ridge," said Rebecca Waddlington, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "If the ridge gets stronger, that will keep Gustav moving farther west. If it gets weaker, the storm will move more to the north." There is "no way of knowing" at present how the high-pressure ridge is going to evolve, Waddlington said. The present long-range forecast says Gustav could come ashore anywhere from the central Florida Panhandle to the Texas-Mexico border. A hurricane will move along the edge of a high-pressure system until the storm finds a weak spot. Then the hurricane will move toward the weakness as though a door had suddenly opened. Hurricanes "want to go to the weakest path they can find," said Gary Beeler, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Mobile, Alabama, said. Plenty of Energy To intensify, storms need water that is at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit (about 27 degrees Celsius). The warmer the water is, the more the hurricane can intensify. Jeff Garmon, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Mobile, Alabama, said the water temperature in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico is currently as high as 89 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) in some places. "There's plenty of potential energy for Gustav to feed off of," Garmon said. Even if a hurricane has warm water in front of it, however, upper-level winds known as wind shear can disrupt the storm's development and keep it from strengthening. But wind shear will be very light over the Caribbean and Gulf for the immediate future, and will not impede Gustav's development, Garmon and Waddlington, of the National Hurricane Center, said. Hard to Predict There is always uncertainty about the path a hurricane will take, especially longer-term forecasts. "It's a foregone conclusion that the forecast will have an error in the track," Garmon said. "That's what makes forecasting the intensity so hard." "I'd like to stress that we don't start getting really confident [about landfall location] until it's two or three days out," he said. "That's when you see the whites of its eyes." "It's not time to panic just yet. But it's time to be aware of what's going on and have a plan in place." Willie Drye is author of Storm of the Century: the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, published by National Geographic Books. |
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