Hurricane Harvey

Mother Nature is really angry when she dumps over 50 inches of rain in a matter of days in a place where the dusty Marlboro Man rode his horse smoking cigarettes. A place that is so dusty that people wear handkerchiefs around their necks to pull up to act as a filter so they won’t breathe in the water thirsty dusty earth. That is the way Texas is supposed to be. Today Trump is visiting the disastrous   hurricane area but not getting too close to Houston because it is too dangerous there. This is the same President who has cut all funding for scientific research and to the EPS; agencies that were designed to find ways to protect our environment from disasters like this.

Our waters are too warm creating tropical areas that once wasn’t there. We all need to question Trumps priorities especially when he encourages polluting companies to manufacture in America and wishes to spend more money on bombs instead on at least a small portion of our tax money on preserving our environment having places remain as they should be. Someone needs to remind him that in our Constitution Article 1 Section 8 it says that we “shall promote the progress of science and useful arts.” Trump is cutting back the National Institute of Health and the Centers for Disease Control. That cannot be in anyone’s best interest especially now that we are faced with one of the worst weather related disasters in our history as a nation.

We need to march for science or rather wade through all the polluted dangerous diseased water running down our city streets. The hurricane induced crisis in Houston at least is showing the world that when the chips are down we are not a divided country. I was so sad to see the devastation there generously given to us by the free press that is not FAKE NEWS. It was heartwarming how everyone there literally pooled together to save each other. Suddenly everyone was in survival mode stepping up to the plate saving everyone. Black or white rich or poor it didn’t matter. Young were saving the elderly. We saw photos of manly men picking up women holding her child above the waters. We saw other manly men holding up children holding onto their dogs and bringing them to safety. Rich people brought their boats into poor neighborhoods shouting for people to leave their destroyed homes and bring them to safety. Women immediately went into nurturing mode and were preparing 4.000 hot meals for free to everyone from Houston’s food bank.  THIS IS THE AMERICA I WANT TO LIVE IN and if it takes a catastrophic disaster to bring everyone to their senses well then thank you Mother Nature for your out of control weird gift.

Rain continues to fall in record amounts. Houston is making decisions on which neighborhoods to further condemn and open up the too high reservoirs and relieve the pressure on them. Essentially release a river of water on a town in additional to the rains from above. We need to build canals like they have in Venice, Holland and   The Netherlands just to let the water flow somewhere. The entire Texas National Guard has been employed to help in Texas. Hundreds of thousands of people are now homeless. Houston is our nation’s 4^th largest city and was our nation’s fastest growing city in America.

There are still more days of rain expected meanwhile the Houston Convention Center is already housing at least 5,000 displaced people. People are being bussed to shelters in other parts of the country.  12,000 National Guard members are assisting in the rescue efforts. Texas and Louisiana has been declared States of Emergency making them eligible for Federal Disaster Relief funds. There is so much devastation that the Federal Emergency Management Agency expect to be working in these two states for years to come. What can a place do when 75,000 people call 911 for help?

Hurricane Harvey has made people grateful not angry. FEMA has been pouring badly needed supplies into the areas. Federal resources have unleashed 2 million liters of drinking water, 2 million meals and tens of thousands of tarps all at the direction of the FEMA director. Early estimates for recovery and rebuilding are at $40 billion dollars and climbing. Our big problem is that FEMA has been reduced to $3.8 billion dollars   because President Trump slashed FEMA’s budget by 11%. So far the President has made no mention of his cuts. He is just touring the damage from a safe distance in other cities in Texas. Congress is still on vacation and when they return they will have to decide on raising the borrowing limit for government-funded projects. Trump could care less about anything but threatening to shut down the government unless he gets funding for his stupid border wall. Texas Senator Ted Cruz voted NO for relief funding for Hurricane   Katrina that destroyed northern states but is requesting more than $50 billion dollars for Texas. God help us all with these idiots running our country!

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just vote for a raise in our borrowing limits since these people still have to pay their mortgage for a home destroyed submerged under water?