September 23, 2005
A SALIENT POINT
You know, being the humanitarian I am, the soft soul, I have benightedly focused on the human factor of Hurricane Rita. Jack Straw brings it home, though, in my comments.
This hurricane is not only going to hit the well-denizened coast of Texas, it's going to hit us right in the petrochemical solar plexus!!!
I hate to sound like an ass (well, maybe I don't) but in the grand scheme of things, those refineries are worth more than, oh, 20,000 human lives.
Especially lives of the quality that inevitably get snuffed in such circumstances. Because I know my friends were smart enough to evacuate.
Don't believe me? Do the fucking math.
I always do the math.
Posted by: Jack at September 23, 2005 12:24 AMAnd you are a scientist, Jack. You know I speak the truth. It's ugly, I give you that. Not saying I agree with the equation. But like all math, it is what it is.
Posted by: Velociman at September 23, 2005 12:26 AMThem Cold Equations be gettin' even more frigid, lately.
Posted by: Justthisguy at September 23, 2005 12:45 AMAbsolutely. And in order for the bitterman to fuel his Benz for nightly patrols to the Krispy Kreme, I believe that those ignorant enough to stay should be conscripted into massive chain gangs, slinging sand bags enough to protect my precious go juice. And when that plan fails, we make giant seawalls with the bodies of the non believers.
Posted by: bitterman at September 23, 2005 9:44 AM.. I'd vote for Bitterman...
Posted by: Eric at September 23, 2005 10:05 AMThose refineries are built to withstand some serious weather. They've shut 'em down in advance of the storm to avoid uncontrolled shutdowns when electrical power is lost, but I expect they'll be up and running a day or two after the storm passes.
Unless the storm moves farther east, the folks in Clear Lake City and Nassau Bay are well and truly fucked. Those areas were drowned by Carla in 1961; since then, a few million people have moved into the area, built big-ass homes, and sucked out the groundwater, causing massive subsidence of the land. A recipe for disaster, you betcha.
Posted by: Elisson at September 23, 2005 10:06 AMHog Whitman didn't call it the Magic Negro-Killing Weather Machine™ for nuthin', yanno.
Posted by: Anna at September 23, 2005 3:14 PM