Mother's Nature sense of timing

Well, you've got to hand it to Mother Nature because no sooner had the Gulf Coast marked the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina when she sent along Hurricane Gustav. I recall seeing on TV the desperation of those who couldn't get out of New Orleans and for a moment I thought of the similar desperation I had seen on the faces of refugees in Goma. How was it possible, I wondered, that the so called most powerful nation on earth could not channel enough resources to rescue those people who had survived the hurricane, but were in danger of losing their lives to the anarchy that ensued?

Dubya's administration woefully underestimated the response Hurricane Katrina required and things were compounded by the fact that most of Louisiana's National Guard were serving in Iraq. It took Dubya 5 days to get down to New Orleans while his Secretary of State was lectured by someone who was outraged that the Warrior Princess should be shopping for Ferragamo shoes on 5th Avenue, while the plight of the people of New Orleans was downplayed.

Hurricane Gustav has already forced Dubya to cancel his appearance at the Republican Convention and the Republicans have been forced to scale down a number of activities they had planned to mark John McCain's nomination to be the GOP's presidential candidate.

Mother Nature has sent the Republicans a timely reminder of how inconsequential we all are.

SMS or email

I got an email, but if I was in the US, I would have got an SMS. BO has let us know just how down he is with technology by employing it to reach millions with minimal effort and expense. The manner of the announcement of his running mate is unprecedented and therein lies his brilliance at strategising. Conversely, the old white haired guy has fessed up to rarely using email.

The audacity of hope is beautiful thing to behold