Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Recently, CNN’s Glenn Beck (his radio program began in Tampa, by the way) had on the science and operations officer of the National Hurricane Center, Chris Landsea.

I’ve chosen bits & pieces here, but don’t believe I’m taking it out of context.  To double-check, I encourage you to read the entire transcript from CNN.  But in a nutshell,

BECK: Yesterday, the director of the National Hurricane Center retired and he left us with these parting words — this will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside: “The biggest concern we have in our country is the rapid buildup of the coastlines. We`re setting ourselves up for another disaster,” end quote. This guy should know…

Chris, how real is this that we can be devastated by a hurricane?

CHRIS LANDSEA, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, we look back on the U.S. hurricane history, and throughout our history, we have seen devastating hurricanes with hundreds, even thousands killed, and perhaps with — before Katrina, many people thought that would not happen again. But with 1,400 dead in Louisiana and Mississippi, we realize we are very vulnerable to strong hurricanes.

BECK: OK. Yesterday and when I heard the final — the final words of the hurricane chief, and he said, you know, this is coming, I thought exactly of the words that I read about, starting I think in the 1950s, the warnings in New Orleans, “It`s coming, it`s coming, reinforce the walls” and nobody did anything about it.

And now here we are rebuilding the wall to the exact same level as it was before. I mean, it`s going to happen again in New Orleans, isn`t it?

LANDSEA: Well, New Orleans is very vulnerable. So is Houston. So is Tampa. So it Miami, even New York. And so it`s not a matter if you`ll have a strong hurricane strike those areas; it`s a matter of when.

BECK: What is the city that you`re most concerned about? What`s the one that you say, this is it? This is ground zero?

LANDSEA: It could be Tampa. Extremely vulnerable, low lying, a big bay. A hurricane will funnel the water in and flood the entire city.

BECK: Right.

LANDSEA: New York is extremely vulnerable, too, if a hurricane strikes just west of them and funnels all that water just north along Long Island into the city itself. They could have 20 to 25 feet of storm surge.

BECK: Actually, that would clean the streets out. It might not be bad.

Chris, thanks a lot.

Ok, so what is the main point of that interview?

1. another big, badass hurricane WILL hit a big population center sooner or later, and Tampa may be the most vulnerable
2. glenn beck wants a hurricane to hit NYC
3. glenn beck is a terrorist

Huffington Post chooses #2, which allows the parrot lefties to select #3.  Michael Bouldin’s take is among the most ridiculous, asking why rightwing blogs haven’t taken Beck to task.  Good Morning America has since hired Glenn Beck, and Media Matters is all up in arms for the future of our great country. 

Wait a minute.  Slow down.  Before we go on and on about how Glenn Beck is an ass, tells horrible jokes, and how on earth anyone could give him his own program, perhaps we need to read that transcript again.

Oh.  There’s a hurricane coming, and these bloggers want you to be aware of Glenn Freakin’ Beck.  Who gives a rat’s ass about him, if you are going to be under 20 feet of seawater?  Idiot bloggers, that’s who.  It seems they are so concerned - no, obsessed - with proving the other side wrong, incompetent, or divisive, that they fail to address the actual meat of the CONVERSATION.

But it’s not just the left wing that does this.  So do those in the conservative ranks.  Sue Carlton has a column about the right wing making a huge deal about Senator Barbara Boxer’s comments toward Condoleeza Rice.  Sue Carlton:

What I heard from Boxer was an observation on who makes the big decisions about this war and who lives and dies with the repercussions - and the great divide between the two.

To divert from that with a sideshow, and from the larger point of where this war is going - now there’s your insult.

Insulting, indeed.  Bloggers both left and right are very quick to attack the messenger, rather than discuss the issues.  And all of that gets you, the reader to focus on things of very little import, while ignoring those issues that truly affect you.

By the way, in case you missed the point while I was going on and on about people missing the point,

another big, badass hurricane WILL hit a big population center sooner or later, and Tampa may be the most vulnerable

(See the original full-sized cartoon here, from the [almost] daily cartoon paper fruit hair.)

Today marks the end of the 2006 hurricane season. Hurrah!

Alberto and Ernesto gave everyone some tense moments, but this was largely a calm season. Now most of us have been left with a great amount of good fortune; those that prepared for far worse also have pantry full of hurricane supplies.

As it turns out most people don’t need that much good fortune or canned corn, so why not pass it along to those in dire need of both? Tampa Bay Harvest and Metropolitan Ministries are two local charities that will be thrilled to distribute your surplus food to people in need.

If anyone knows of any other organizations in the area looking for food donations (particularly for the holidays), please leave some details in the comments.

85 years ago…

October 25, 1921 – A massive hurricane strikes Tampa, slashing the area with an 11 foot high storm surge and 100 mph winds, devastating the waterfront in downtown Tampa, Hyde Park and Ybor City, as well as coastal Pinellas County. The hurricane caused nearly $2 million in damage to the area ($18.5 million in today’s dollars).

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

160 years ago…

October 14, 1846 – A hurricane strikes Florida’s west coast from the northeast, temporarily pulling most of the water out of Hillsborough and Tampa Bays.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

So it looks like the first big storm of the season is Florida bound, taking a path almost eerily similar to 1999’s hurricane Irene, which is featured in my book, Lauderdale (I’ve begun editing!). Hurricanes are bad things generally, and this one will no doubt wreak its share of havoc across the southern part of the state.

I invite you to please consider, however, how much worse the damage would be were the Florida Straits dotted with oil derricks. Consider how fragile the coral reef south of the Keys, and the entire Keys/Florida Bay ecosystem, is, and how much damage a single accident at a rig in the Straits could do to that ecosystem. The oil companies, some energy lobbies, and at least half of Congress wants to put oil rigs there. Think about how much worse the next Ernesto or Irene could be if they succeed.

Then, please, consider what might happen were the Straits dotted not with American oil rigs, but with those operated by a Chinese-Cuban consortium. How good do you think the safety records at American-run oil platforms are? How good, in comparison, do you think a Cuban-Chinese one would likely be? Do you know what the Chinese have done to their environment? How much less care would they be likely to take with someone else’s environment?

American policy toward Cuba makes a Cuba-China connection in the Straits quite likely; they are already sinking test wells.

Floridians: is the Cuba policy you have supported for almost fifty years worth this? Is it?

There is a little more than one week left until the September 5 primary election. Your last assignment is one I neglected to mention before:

Don’t wait until September 5. Vote early!

When can you vote early? Most early voting locations should be open until September 2.

Where can you vote early? Here are your links for locations:

• Hillsborough
• Pinellas
• Pasco
• Hernando (couldn’t find it on their site)
• Citrus (link was molasses slow at post time)
• Polk
• Manatee
• Sarasota (PDF file)

Why should you vote early? There are several reasons, but here’s one that came to mind very recently:

Hurricane Ernesto.

Should Ernesto affect our area, it’ll probably do so on Thursday or Friday. The regular polls don’t open until the following Tuesday, but that’s not to say that the effects of a Category 2 or 3 won’t still be felt. Polling locations may be in use as shelters. The power that runs our paper-trail-lacking voting machines may still be down. You may be in another county or state after evacuating. You may be too ill from your thirtieth can of potted meat.

I’d like to think local counties have a contingency plan in place for such an event, but Florida doesn’t exactly have a proud history of coping with extraordinary electoral emergencies. Vote early and you can concentrate on the other tasks at hand.

Need one more reason to vote? Homeowners: go look at your insurance bill. Don’t like it? After Ernesto, it’s probably going to get worse. Do you have friends down south who still have blue tarps on their roof because their claim still hasn’t been processed? It could get worse for them, or it could happen to you. Your vote will not be early enough to help this round, but it will surely have a direct effect on whether the problem gets better or worse.

Have we scared you enough? Good. Now go vote.

Want five thousand dollars?

The state is giving away money to fortify your house to withstand a hurricane. You could get up to $5,000 to strengthen your home. The My Safe Florida Home program is now accepting applications. 

As you might imagine, many, many, many people are interested in this program. If you wanna get your free money, I recommend signing up now. You can figure the que for this program will grow more quickly than you think. Go visit My Safe Florida Home now, and get on board.