Rita report from Central Texas

[E's]

People of good will should beware - and make themselves aware of - global media hype and political manipulation of actual statistics before helping promote "doomsday" scenarios IMHO...

This whole Houston storm reaction deal was a travesty... Rita came ashore as barely a Cat. 2 storm, just as the real pros predicted it would... My Houston family saw this and stayed home; inlaw kin living in a floodprone area just inland from Galveston did go west a few miles along a lesser highway, found motel space, got together with other families there and held a barbecue... but now thousands of less intelligent Texians are stranded and in dire straights, and becoming another drag on the economy... while some of my rabid right kin sit home and make internet jokes about New Orleans and its mayor...

www.nola.com has some sidelights on the real disaster continuing there.

[Ash]

but this country can and will survive. Don't let the sensationalism you may be hearing from the international press let you think any thing else.

k9karen, maybe I used the expression 'down on its knees' wrongly. I never believed that the US would not survive this crisis. I meant to say it would be a tough time.

[momPaws]

Dear Ash- 99 percent of our country is unaffected physically and economically we certainly can survive this and more. We will 'weather' this, rebuild Louisiana and go on. We will even go out of our way as a country to help those displaced and try to make life good for them again.
America is a strong and compassionate country regardless of anything to the contrary because it is our wonderful people who really make up this country that I love.

[E's]

MomPaws and K9Karen, thank you more than I can say. I very much agree: this is a strong nation and still , in spite of mistaken policies in some areas, a true democracy. I too love this country, believe in it, and am sorry for comments which might contribute to polarization...

... Which may include some unexplained sniping against the Lone Star State ...Louisiana and Texas have a long history of rivalries, and I find myself taking sides in ways that are not the "real me." I was born and raised in Texas but spent my early childhood in Missouri. In 1948, during his senior year at Trinity U in San Antonio, my husband was hired by an oil exploration company; after he graduated, we were sent to Houma, LA... (then we moved on to the U.S.Navy etc) Anyway, I not only have what might be called "Dual Stateship" but I have loyalties to LA also, because my parents had come down to New Orleans from Missouri in the 1920s and intended to stay there... Not to give my life story here, but in times of crisis like this, I tend to sound anti Texas, and now that it looks like, after 55 years I may have to rebuild my life here, I admit I'm somewhat "touchy" about things, which in turn may make me appear to be critical of my country itself... and the "whys" of that no doubt belong on another board.

Be all this as it may, I know it wouldn't be American to try to stop outsiders from their obsession with us, but at this point in my life, I hope I can be forgiven for said touchiness...

Dot B
Austin

[momPaws]

Dot - you are entitled to all the feelings you are having now - you have "unconditional love" as far as I am concerned. I think you are amazing to be so strong after what you've gone thru. My hope for you is that you will find a new comfortable, safe home and really feel like you belong wherever you land. Love, Mom and Honey

[TheSkeptic]

I never meant to imply that the US would not survive. WE will survive and come out of this stronger, better and hopefully wiser.

[k9Karen]

maybe I used the expression 'down on its knees' wrongly. I never believed that the US would not survive this crisis. I meant to say it would be a tough time.

I didn't really think you meant it that way, but I was a bit worried that you might have. I'm glad you explained.

While the area gravely damaged by Katrina, and now Rita, is vast, like momPaws said, the majority of this country was not affected physically at all by these storms. Almost the entire state of Florida (where I live) was hit by 4 hurricanes in 2004, and the same areas on the Gulf of Mexico hit last year by Ivan have been hit by Dennis and to a lesser degree by Katrina and Rita this year. The recovery from those storms is well under way, and we will do the same with the areas more recently damaged. We may indeed have some tougher than normal times, mainly, I expect, due to inflation, which will also have a global affect. This winter may be especially difficult for those in the colder climates due to the high cost of heating oil. But, just a couple of weeks ago, 'they' were saying gas would be $5 a gallon within a couple of weeks. I suppose it could still do that, but the cost went down, not up. There is so much competition between all the news agencies and television channels, that there is always someone ready to say anything in order to get on TV. Since we are a nation that rabidly defends freedom of speech, anyone can say anything, but we know that much of what is said is sometimes just sensationalistic hype designed to get a TV audience and keep it. It is unfortunate that so much of that ends up being the 'voice' of the US outside our borders.