And now...this:
It's not the end of the world. And I'm not that sentimental. I mean, if it were the sixth arrondissement of Paris that dumped its roller coaster into the Seine (if it had one)...well, I'd be sadder.
Friends--I mocked Sandy. I called her "Gloria redux"---I imagined a guy getting his toupee blown off and that was that. But I was wrong. "The storm surge. The storm surge," they cried into the cameras. And it wasn't a cry of wolf. Below ground Manhattan, where all the works are, was ruined. Not entirely. But enough to be pretty awful for so many people. And then---New Jersey under siege.
But they'll pump. And they'll dump. And they'll put stuff back together. It's good for the economy, sort of. Of course, the dollars will come from the government. How anyone could want to dismantle government as a fundamentalist and self-righteous tactic is beyond me. But hell---I don't exactly understand the behavior of monitor lizards either and they occupy the same planet I do, too.
This mess bodes well for Obama...as he is being congratulated by every single person in need for a great federal response. I love Romney's idea---to put emergency response responsibility back in the hands of the states. Hell, privatize it. And then---anyone who can afford to pay someone to come pump out their subway station...can get that service. Or if the generator at your hospital conks out---you can pull off your stalled oxygen mask, wheeze out a phone call on your cell phone and bargain with local vendors to maybe come get you to whisk you off to another hospital. Because competition and vouchers and anything else that gives you choice is always best for you.
Politicizing Sandy? Sure. Why not? I would have loved to have seen Romney's hair blowing in the wind out in Coney Island. What would he have done? Peevishly accused it of not following the rules he would have preferred? Well, no. He would have used reason and moderation and spent federal government money to fix the situation because that is what sane people do. And to do that...he would have to use tax money. Old fashioned, take-from-the-rich-and-others-and-help-the-less-advantaged tax money.
Suck it up rich people and rich people wanna-be's. The party is over. You had a good time. Wouldn't it be so much more interesting to use your energy to fix this mess of a world instead of consuming gallons of pleasure? In fact, wouldn't solving our greatest challenges IN CONJUNCTION with our government be a privilege?
Roller coasters rusting in the ocean.
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