environmental news

Looking for answers to this tragedy

Public officials charged with finding solutions to prevent future tragedy appear to be zeroing in on what might have led to the carnage we are witnessing in the Texas Hill Country in the wake of the horrifying floods that tore through the region.

It was the lack of any sort of electronic warning system that would have told residents to get the hell out of the Guadalupe River’s way as it roared its way downstream.

I heard a news report that absolutely galls me to no end. It stated that Kerr County Commissioners Court had debated the installation of storm sirens for years only to fail to act after earlier floods.

Would adequate warning sirens have prevented all the deaths that have occurred since the Fourth of July deluge? Probably not. However, for God Almighty’s sake, if they could have prevented some loss of life then that would be a huge victory for some Hill Country victims.

I don’t yet know how many victims’ remains have been recovered from the carnage. I know there will be more. Many of them will be children who were attending Camp Mystic, the Christian girls camp along the river. Our hearts continue to break as they find what’s left of these beautiful children. And the adults who died along with them.

I don’t want us to wait until we’re no longer hurting before we find some answers to the issue at hand: What can we do to prevent this from happening again? I believe storm sirens would be a productive start?

environmental news, local news, media news

Keep it in perspective

Once in a while, news of the day can render whatever discomfort we are feeling to be irrelevant, if not laughable.

Here’s what happened to me on Monday morning.

I was delivering my weekly run of Meals on Wheels to shut-in residents of Princeton. I left the house wearing just my shirt, a pair of shorts and sandals. I picked up the meals to deliver at a local church and went on my way. I made the first stop, chatted up the gentleman who is always waiting for me.

I drove to the second residence. On the way, it started to sprinkle. The rain worsened the farther along I drove. By the time I delivered my second meal, the sky had opened up. It poured. I got soaked.

I grumbled to myself as I drove to the third location. Damn rain, I wish it would stop … or so I muttered under my breath.

Then the news came on the radio, which I had turned on my truck to National Public Radio. The reporter told me of the suffering in Central Texas. The raging river had killed dozens of residents. Many of the victims were girls attending a church camp in Kerrville, It had destroyed thousands of homes. The deluge roared down the Guadalupe River bed at enormous speed, sweeping away trees, homes, big and small vehicles and presumably people.

That was the moment I realized I was bitching about something that didn’t matter one damn bit. Why am I complaining because I am getting wet from rainfall.

Needless to say, I realized in real time that my concerns about wringing my clothes from the rainfal paled in comparison to the unfathomable tragedy that has gripped our Central Texas neighbors.

I learned my lesson.

environmental news

FEMA can earn its spurs … again!

One of the many idiotic ideas carried in Donald Trump’s big ugly bill is the dismantling of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which Trump kicked aside because of alleged corruption or some made-up reason.

The entire world now gets to see if FEMA can re-earn its spurs by expediting aid to the stricken residents of Texas victimized by the raging Guadalupe River floodwaters. The scenes of entire homes being swept away in the deluge are mind-blowing and heartbreaking in the extreme. Families have lost every single thing they own while watching their homes being swallowed up by the raging storm.

FEMA stands ready to help all Americans in need. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has declared an immediate disaster in the region. He is pulling together all the state resources at his command. Non-government agencies have stepped up. Pro sports teams’ ownership have ponied up money to buy food, medical supplies and assorted household goods for victims. The president now is obligated to do the same. FEMA is the feds’ go-to agency in times like these.

I don’t know how Trump can reverse the damage his big ugly bill has done to our government’s operations. I damn sure hope he finds a way to bring FEMA back into the game of saving lives.

environmental news

What if we had voted ‘blue’?

Grateful as I am for Donald Trump/s pledge to rush aid to struggling Texas families damaged by the raging floodwaters of the Guadalupe River, I feel compelled to ask what I believe is a fair question.

What would his response be if Texas had voted against him in three presidential elections?

Trump has this sickening habit of politicizing everything, of attaching partisan preferences to issues that demand that he act as president of the entire United States of America. Disaster relief of the scale that has befallen Central Texas is one of those issues.

We have seen his reaction to California wildfires when he lectured state officials on what he said was inadequate forest management policies. Or his silence on the assassination not long ago of a Minnesota state senator and her husband by a known MAGA supporter.

I dislike bringing all this up, but I know it’s on the minds of many Americans who are worried and grieving the loss of all those Texans from the carnage brought to the Hill Country by the Guadalupe River.

Texas has stood firmly in Trump’s corner through three presidential elections, in 2016, 2020 and 2024. I guess our state’s fealty to Trumpism has earned the quick federal response. It sure isn’t supposed to be that way.

environmental news

Grappling with layers of grief

I have been grappling with my emotions over the past couple of days as the world watches the Guadalupe River in Central Texas unleash its savagery on the land … and the people who occupy it.

My grief is more profound than your run-of-the-mill natural catastrophes, not that any of them ever should be treated as run-of-the-mill.

The loss of life is staggering. Ninety confirmed deaths the last I heard. The number is likely to grow.

There’s an element to the human loss that is even more staggering. So many of the lives claimed by the normally docile river belonged to young girls, many of whom were attending Camp Mystic, a Christian retreat for girls in Kerrville. They’re recovering the remains of the girls declared missing, bringing untold heartache to loved ones and friends.

My sons have attended a similar camp in Kerrville, so in a strange visceral sense, the loss of those girls hits me at level that is a bit more personal than it otherwise might be.

It could be the location that has stung so many Texans deeply. The Hill Country is a magical place. It is full of recreational sites, including those that feature river water. The Guadalupe River, known for its rafting and other recreational pursuits, is now feared by many as a monster capable of delivering unfathomable carnage.

There’s the political element at play. This event occurred just as Donald Trump signed legislation that among other things guts the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s role in disaster relief. To his credit, Trump did say FEMA is going to work full-time — and then some — while it remains on the books to deliver aid to those stricken by the raging water.

Texas and the nation are grieving the loss of life. The state has been visited many times by nature’s vengeance. This one seems to hurt even more deeply than what we perceive as “normal” … as if we ever should become accustomed to this kind of environmental mayhem.

I fear that more of it will come with increasing frequency.

environmental news, local news

Worrying about friends in the flood

Leave it to a crackpot climate-change denier to cheapen the worry and the grief of those of us who are sickened by the loss of life in the Central Texas floods.

One such moron has called the floods a hoax, a product of cloud-seeding. She said the climate change argument doesn’t hold up, calling the events of the past few days all part of some government plot to lay blame at the feet of industries that everyone with half a brain understands knows are responsible for the dramatic change in Earth’s climate.

We’re seeing it play out in real time in places like Kerrville, Comfort and New Braunfels, Texas.

Just so you know, I have friends and former colleagues who live in the flood zone. I cannot account for all of them. Last I heard, the death count has surpassed 70 people, including at least 21 children.

I checked in on my brother-in-law, who lives on the outskirts of the flood zone and was glad to hear he is safe from the ravaging floodwater.

None of this is about me and my particular worries. It is about the Texans struggling to stay alive in the wake of Mother Nature’s relentless wrath. This level of flooding doesn’t occur usually in this part of the world. However, here it is in the present time.

Money and other forms of relief are pouring into the region. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has kicked in a half-million bucks to provide aid to the stricken residents. Others are chipping in, too.

Everyone else — at least those of us with a heart — are left to worry and pray for the safety of those affected by the deluge that has befallen them.

May these good folks find the strength to carry on once the water recedes.

local news, national news, political news

Now we get to test our system

Donald Trump’s big ugly bill is now law, which means that the next big test of the strength of our democracy awaits in the form of congressional elections, which are approaching rapidly.

Can you believe it?

Americans who are concerned about the slashing of social programs, the effect it all will have on our national debt, the tax cuts for the mega-richest of us, the pardoning of criminals who attacked our Capitol on 1/6 will get a chance to elect a new Congress in November 2026.

It’s up to us, kids. You and me. All of us.

Talking about it, attending rallies, spending money to political causes won’t do the job. To finish the task, Americans who say they oppose the big ugly bill need to get out and vote. President Obama was fond of telling us to avoid the boos and jeers. “Vote!” he would say. Just vote your conscience. If your conscience moves you to cast your ballot for someone other than those who support the big ugly bill, you are afforded the right to do so in secret.

No one needs to know. Just vote!

I won’t keep my preferences a secret. I will continue to speak out on this blog about the direction I hope the country takes in a little more than a year from now. We have a congressman in North Texas, a gentleman I happen to like personally, who is on the wrong side of this big ugly bill issue. I intend to let Keith Self know my feelings frequently. I just hope he gets a worthy opponent who can speak intelligently and pledges to act accordingly to fix what I believe is wrong with the direction we’re taking.

No hard feelings, OK congressman?

economic news

Make ’em pay their share

I feel this overwhelming desire to put this blogger’s current word of the day into perspective.

The word is “greed,” and it clearly has wrapped itself around the hearts and minds of mega-rich Americans over the issue of paying their fair share of taxes.

Donald Trump’s spending and taxation bill is now law and it contains those infamous tax breaks for the richest among us. Please consider the following …

If we demand that billionaires pay their fair share of taxes, they would still be richer than God. The going rate is about 38%. If someone were to pay that amount in taxes on $1 billion in gross income during a given calendar year, that still leaves the billionaire with more than $600 million in gross income for that year.

What could the government do with the money it collects from the billionaire? It could parcel it out to replenish food and housing assistance for Americans who are about to be deprived of such assistance. How about spending more money to arm Ukrainians with hardware to fight the invading Russian army?

We could do all of that … and the richest of the rich can still float around in their yachts and enjoy the decadent lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.

national news

We’re still an immigrant nation

Americans lit the first birthday candle on their national cake 249 years ago when they declared their independence from the British monarchy.

We went to war to secure that independence and by 1789, the Constitution was completed. It was a flawed document that has needed some amendments along the way to create a “more perfect Union.”

A central tenet has remained. We were a nation created by people who fled other countries, came here in search of opportunity and the “pursuit of happiness.” That mission is underway at this very minute.

Let us never forget that essential truth about the United States of America. We were built by immigrants. Our nation has continued to thrive and prosper largely because of immigrants who came along later.

I am the direct descendant of immigrants. They came here from southern Greece and from Turkey. They did it legally. They had all the documentation required of them. They settled eventually in Portland, Ore. My grandparents all were proud Americans. They chose to live here. They weren’t blessed with being born here. One of my grandfathers, my Papou George, enlisted in the U.S. Army because he wanted to fight for his new country in World War I. They all came here in search of a good life … and they found it.

I understand and accept the current administration’s desire to crack down on illegal immigration. What I cannot accept is the brutish tactics being used to separate families, to deport individuals who have committed no crimes. I cannot accept the description being muttered out loud that immigrants in general have soiled our national identity.

All of this is fundamentlly ani-American. It goes against the very principles our founders used to create what would become the greatest nation on Earth.

Let us never forget — and may we always honor — our national history of welcoming immigrants to our land. Our immigrant heritage clearly is worth celebrating as we honor the birth of the world’s most indispensable nation.

national news

The Age of Political Perversion

Welcome to a new age that I will call the Age of Political Perversion, where perverts hijack the tenets of our democratic republic for their own nefarious aims.

The perverts say they love the flag, but a few hundred of them used Old Glory to assault police offices in the nation’s Capitol on 1/6, inflicting serious bodily harm in the process.

They claim to be evangelical Christians, yet they throw their support behind a man who has admitted to cheating on his wives, admitted to groping women in their private areas and has been found liable for the sexual assault on a woman who accused him of raping her.

They say they cherish family values but now support efforts to separate children from their parents over alleged illegal entry into the United States.

They call themselves “strict constructionists” of the Constitution, but then challenge a free and fair presidential election and seek to overturn its result.

We’re going to celebrate our nation’s birth. It’s been more than two centuries since we tossed aside the ham-fisted rule of the British monarchy. Our nation’s founders established a secular government devoid of any reference to a specific religion. Yet many of our founders’ descendants contend this is a “Christian nation” founded on the principles espoused in the New Testament. The founders were men of faith but they kept their faith to themselves and purposely established that there “shall be no law” establishing a state religion.

I love the flag. I salute Old Glory whenever possible. I am going to fly it in front of my home tomorrow. Let us remember, though, that the flag is a symbol of freedom and liberty. It isn’t a sacred piece of merchandise. Its sacred qualities lie in the liberty it represents.

So, when the president of the USA decides to hug and kiss Old Glory — which the current guy did a few years ago — he only furthers the perversion of the movement that follows his every lying word.

Happy birthday, America. Many of us still love you.

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