After the Storm

From the New York Post, earlier today; click to enlarge.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the many people who were in the path of Hurricane Sandy, and are now dealing with the effects of it. As of 7 pm Texas time today, I'm hearing that fewer than fifty people have died in the U.S., and of course every death is a tragedy; but considering the intensity of the storm and the density of the population in the Northeast, such a low figure seems nearly miraculous, and says good things about preparations that were made in the affected areas.

Some folks lost their homes or cars, but for several millions, the worst thing is having to live without electricity, cell phones, TV, public transport, or internet for some days or weeks to come. Which will be pretty fucking miserable, certainly; but I'm not hearing that thousands of people are dead, injured, or homeless and starving - such as happened in the Haiti earthquake a few years ago - and it kind of grates on the nerves to hear hysterical broadcasters and bloggers carrying on as if the End of the World had arrived.  As bad as they are, things could still be much, much worse.

In much of New York City, some extra fallen leaves on the ground are the only sign that there was any storm last night. So even in the midst of disaster, a little balance is necessary. The other 90 percent of the country is still in good shape, the damage will be repaired, people will pick up the pieces, and life will go right on along, as is always the case after hurricanes - of which we have had beaucoup down here in the South in my lifetime.

However, other kinds of commenters are definitely unbalanced, and were long before the storm struck. As witness the following vid:



On the other hand, the Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, heretofore "one of Mitt Romney's most aggressive surrogates," had nothing but grateful praise this morning for all that federal help and for President Obama's close support through the crisis:



Oh and by the way - of course you do realize, don't you, that just as with every other fucking disaster in the whole entire world . . . IT'S ALL TEH GAYZ' FAULT! God hates us so much, he is "systematically destroying America" as punishment. Now aren't you ashamed of your bad self?