1 I'm glad it wasn't worse.

I think it also was hyped in order to give Presidebt Putt-putt a second bite at the "I'm in charge here" apple... that he blew with the earthquake.  Why else would they do a photo op in a storm center? 

2 #6.   Because their God Emperor was away on vacation and they had nothing else to talk about.

3 Ace I think you missed another big reason 6) The left (one and same with media) wants to use the hurricane as an excuse for massive "emergency" stimulative pork special interest give-away spending. Oh the public has no stomach for another hyper-corrupt stimulus, but emergency spending for a hurricane? No problem!

4 I just hope curious' friends are all safe.

5

Sensationalism is what sells I reckon.

 

6 Reason #6:  to increase duct and masking tape sales.

Reason #7: no news because it's vacation season

Reason #8: all other news makes Obama look bad.

7 I was with a bunch of Floridians yesterday and they all worried about people in the northeast ignoring future warnings because of the over hype. 

8 These are OUR homes we are talking about, not some southern rubes... and besides Martha Stewart no longer sells that shade of blue that are on the shutters...

9 Occasional New Yorker ace?  I thought you lived in NYC.

reason #7: First storm of the year

10 Why Was Irene So Hyped By The Media? A. Ratings. B. Distract attention from the Emperor in the playground.

11 Easy.

The MFM is made up of a bunch of degenerate jo's and they were looking to give Zero a win.

I mean, this?Come the eff on already.

12

Because... They've been looking for an excuse to blame this double-dip recession on that we are already in. We are already in recessionary territory, if you apply the same rate of downward revision that they have had to do on their numbers for previous quarters.

"Hello Irene...We've been hoping for something to blame this negative growth on.... We're so glad you came."

13 I'd say #2 is the main reason for the media hype.

14

thanks to the carbon weÂ’ve poured into the atmosphere.

Trace amounts of a trace gas = poured

 

15 Hey a little stronger and things could have been alot worse. I lost power for 26 hours and was already climbing the walls

16 I was impressed with the number of stores in Park Slope Brooklyn that had their plate glass windows taped or boarded up.  Maybe last year's tornado here was a genuine reason or a panic?

17 Ace you impotent human cocksucker, When you're bigger than Europe, can murder 14 people by blowing on them, and can put the lights out in 12 states, you can talk about who's a "true hurricane" or not. From my perspective, you're just a dot on the horizon, and horizons tend to flood IYKWIMAITYD.

18 By the way, Hurricanes Belle, David, and Gloria wanted me to to say "hi."

The 1991 Unnamed 'perfect storm,' Bob and Earl also send their regards.

What pissed me off was that most of the updating about the storm's track ended with Boston.  After the storm hit NYC, the media spent more time telling us what Irene did to the center of the universe than informing those of us in the north where it was going to go. 

19 an occasional New Yorker, What, you teleport in and out of the city?

20 @9 The only tank in the Army with training wheels.

21 I think there was also the reason that it's been around 3 years since the last hurricane made landfall in the U.S.

They had a lot of hype saved up.

22 Remember, your carbon emissions will cause aliens to come and destroy you.  SPACE INVADERS WAS A DOCUMENTARY!!@!

23
**What's This?**

Obama's uncle Omar, Zetuni's brother, was pinched for DUI?

You guys hear this? I think it happened here in MA.

24

The media over hypped the storm. Definitely. Do they have an obligation to do so? Probably, since some people are evidently too stupid to put two and two together.

25 why? because the east coast is gay, that's why.

26 Governors Christie and Bloomberg failed in this storm. Here's why. It is indeed prudent to take necessary precautions but it is equally prudent not to over-caution. Bloomberg ordered the evacuations of 5 hospitals. Just think for a moment how horrible that would be hauling all those people and medical items out of one place, into another, then back again. This should only be done if there is overwhelming evidence it need be. There was no such evidence. The head of one of those hospitals was virulently against the evacuation order and his spokesman let that be known on CNN. He too was looking at the same weather forecasts as Bloomberg and he would have been held up to incredible scrutiny had the storm been everything the media wanted it to be. But he looked at the data and drew the very logical conclusion that this storm had already lost its major punch before it reached landfall. Chris Christie also cannot get off the hook here. Once the storm was past and we could all see it for the oversell it was, he refused to admit he had fallen prey to hysteria and added to it by claiming "tens of billions" of dollars in likely damage. He demonstrated the classic bluster that Ann Coulter so loves. He is fast moving into a camp I don't like. Politicians are far too worried about their images in these situations and not about the actual facts on the ground. I understand that most of what politics is about but that doesn't excuse people when they make decisions based mostly on concern about their own images.

27 I don't recall ever evacuating for a Category 1 Hurricane or tropical storm. I slept right through Hurricane Cindy. But yesterday, when ace told me he didn't like me? That was like rape. Like rape on 9-11.

28 @25: Yup.  We've just found our Billy Carter.  Apparently he tried to ram a police car with his SUV.

29 Obama's uncle Omar, Zetuni's brother, was pinched for DUI?

He's got an honest-to-god "Get Out of Jail" card for real.

30 You know what Irene calls for? A meat-up at the Chicken Bone Saloon.

31 why? because the east coast is gay, that's why. Posted by: PR at August 29, 2011 02:39 PM (XmJZ7) Because the East Coast is where the real power is. The Al Quada terrorists didn't seem to much of an interest in Attacking CA did they?

32 Yeah.  Fuck New York.  Really.

Too bad it wasn't Andersen Pooper standing on the seawall and getting smacked by the foamy feces.

Nanny Bloomberg went over the top telling his cops to carry indelible sharpie pens so those that would not evacuate could write their name and SS# on their forearms, "so we can identify you after."

33

Many in the media and many liberals were hoping that this Hurricane was going to be as destructive or even worse than Katrina. On some level, they wanted a huge national emergency where they hoped President Obama could potentially rise up, take decisive control of the situation, make everything better and these people could finally say "See, this is why we elected this man! This is what we knew he was capable of doing!"

A hurricane would have been the 'perfect storm' since if Obama handled the horrible national emergency well, the liberals would finally be able to compare Obama's job performance in a disaster favourably to President Bush's job performance. The media salivated at the thought of President Obama calmly guiding the nation through a hurricane disaster. They could have then contrasted that (incorrectly) with President Bush's actions under Katrina and declare Obama a superior president. Even though President Bush bears little responsiblility for much that happened under Katrina.

34 It was happening to them (most of them are hq'd in the east).  They needed to be brave investigative journalists.  Not so much to be seen as that, but to be able to see themselves like that.  Of course the stories they will tell to the young girls at the bar or at cocktail parties, will now be received with smirks instead of oooh's.  They won't know.  They'll be drunk.  And they'll see themselves as brave investigative journalists, as if that animal wasn't extinct.

35  This just in:

The media sucks.

And Obama is a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure.

36 Am I the only one who has noticed that the USA's temperatures have been steadily increasing since mid-May. At this rate, the temperatures in Texas will be over 214 degrees in December. You global warming deniers can kiss my ass!

37 You guys hear this?

Yes, and he actually said, 'I'll think I'll call the WH now'.

38

reason #7: First storm of the year

Posted by: Vic at August 29, 2011 02:35 PM (M9Ie6

First storm to really hit the US since the year Katrina came and there were multiple hits wasn't it?

I mean after that year they were told that there would continue to be more and stronger hurricanes every year, and what has there been?  Pretty much nothing.  I mean the year with Katrina they ran out of names on the list and started using the Greek Alphabet and since then what have they really had? 

I mean I may be in Ohio so I may be forgetting a couple in the past years but the way they treat hurricane coverage as a national situation I really don't think I'm wrong in the drought of hurricanes hitting us.

39 #6. The media NEEDED Irene to be appear to be Hugetastic, so JEF could perform a pre-arranged Act of Bravery, thus showing His Personal Greatness and GWB's utter lack of ability (and keeping all the Ray Nagin's Katrina On-Air Meltdown video buried)

40

Because the LAST thing the media wants to talk about is the Economy... and the deterioration of Iraq...

Hear much coverage of the suicide bombings there last weekend???  No, they were too busy standing out in a storm, complaining about people standing out in storms...

Used to be, if it bleeds it leads.... now its 'if it hurts Barrak, it goes in back,  if we bother at all...'

41 We've just found our Billy Carter. Apparently he tried to ram a police car with his SUV. Posted by: The remains of NASA, once proud space agency at August 29, 2011 02:40 PM (tqwMN) Actually not really. Say what you want about Carter ( and I hate him ) he took care of his brother mostly. obama- never seemed to have heard of his relatives

42
oh so you already heard?

wow

and he tried to ram a cruiser???

43 You global warming deniers can kiss my ass! Posted by: Marxist Mel The canonical form is "but first you will blow me." Deduct 25 points for bad execution.

44
I'm beside myself.

I can't believe we lose to these fucks...ever.

45

 Why Was Irene So Hyped By The Media

Why is it national news when it gets to 100 degrees in NYC?

Why is it national news when it snows in NYC?

Because NYC thinks they are the center of the universe, that's why.

46
Why didn't anyone tell me aboot this?

47 reminded of the hysteria surrounding the big Virginia earthquake of '11; media attention whores looking for a way to keep their faces on tv 24/7.....even the hurricane got bored and lost interest.....

48

But yesterday, when ace told me he didn't like me? That was like rape. Like rape on 9-11.

The average person doesn't have any idea about the reality of rape.  Or how much it costs.

49 Why?

Because it affected 65 million people with potential disaster; because a high NYC storm surge was a distinct possibility; and yes, because the TV reporters all lived in its path.

50

Being a Texan, my feelings are best summed up by the line from the Local H song "California Songs":

"...and fuck New York too"

51 Which did more damage? Irene? Or the ice storms in Tennessee in 2010? The massive flooding in the midwest earlier this year? The tornadoes that took out towns like Joplin? Oh, yeah. Flyover country. Jesusland. Never mind.

52 Ah fuck my wife just called and we lost power AGAIN --not so bad my ass!

53 IMO the MSM was hoping to have something to showcase Obama's "skills" at managing a "crisis" - of course this thing didn't even really get beyond tropical storm, there was no eye, compared to the worst possible storm in the history of the country that Bush had to deal with

54 The funny thing is the Weather Channel is based in Atlanta, and it used to be a BFD if anything happened in Jawja.  Now after being integrated with MSNBC they sudden have NYC-itis even though they don't live there.

55 Did all that media hyperbole make my butt look big?

56 Look at me!  I'm out bravely covering a hurricane!  See me getting tossed about by the sea breezes!

Now back to our studio where they're still busy kissing Barry's ass.

57 Why the Hype?

So that Obama could calm the winds since he couldn't deliver his promise to make oceans recede.

58 What the fuck do these knuckleheads think goes on up here? We get blizzards every year, often accompanied by high seas, we even have storms so unique they have their own name, Nor'easter, which have very strong winds and again, dangerous seas. Anybody who has lived in New England, particularly along the coast, for any amount of time has seen their share of big, damaging storms. One reason we don't see the same amount of death and destructions is because when big storms are forecasted, we take precautions.

59 54 Ah fuck my wife just called and we lost power AGAIN --not so bad my ass You lost your power? Then I must recant on my dissing of Irene hype: it clearly was a catastrophe.

60
#9 - Yes, it worked.  Nice! 

61 Why didn't anyone tell me aboot this?

It happened in Framingham, for crying out loud. That's practically Ohio.

62 People were getting so pissed off hearing about Barry's vacation the hurricane provided a great distraction. And since when is a Cat 1 hurricane "historic"?

63

"Irene forecasts on track; not up to speed on wind"

WASHINGTON (AP) - Hurricane Irene was no mystery to forecasters. They knew where it was going. But what it would do when it got there was another matter.    There are two reasons for the steady improvement in forecasts: Better computer models and better data to go into those models. With Irene, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ;">spent extra money with jet flights and weather balloons across the country to get far more data than usual and it paid off in even better forecasts.

By SETH BORENSTEIN and CHRISTINE ARMARIO, my way news

64 Although it caused fourteen deaths

I find it very difficult to blame most of those deaths specifically on the storm, especially since most of those people who died were doing really stupid stuff during the storm, such as tubing or playing around on the shore.

Other than that, yeah, this was hyped to show how much better Obama handles OMG CRISIS!!!! situations than his predecessor, even if this was not even close to what Bush had placed in front if him during his presidency.

65 8 These are OUR homes we are talking about, not some southern rubes... and besides Martha Stewart no longer sells that shade of blue that are on the shutters...

Posted by: MFM pansies at August 29, 2011 02:35 PM (T3vCe)

This is the correct answer.

66 Hurricane Irene is the affirmative action storm. It was promoted not on it's merits but because It was required. And even though the aftermath did support that it was qualified as a very significant storm the affirmative action hype made a lot of people question it's legitimacy as a bad storm or just a AA storm.

67 I submit that Irene wasn't even a Category 1 hurricane for a good portion of the time it was striking along the coast. What damage it inflicted in Sussex County, DE, was less than what the area has received from off-season nor'easters and recorded wind speeds on the ground at NOAA data collection locations were not of hurricane strength.

68 Here's what important: Steven Goddard of "Real Science" website called the overhype before anyone else. He was a denier before denying was cool. And he was right.

69 47

 Why Was Irene So Hyped By The Media

Why is it national news when it gets to 100 degrees in NYC?

Why is it national news when it snows in NYC?

Because NYC thinks they are the center of the universe, that's why.

Posted by: Just Guessing at August 29, 2011 02:43 PM (XGLac)

Well they are the moral center of the country you know.

And the only ones affected by 9/11.

And the only ones that remember 9/11 in the whole country.

They are Rome making declarations from on high to the rest of their backwards empire.

And you're a selfish bitch if you don't agree.

70 We get blizzards every year, often accompanied by high seas, we even have storms so unique they have their own name, Nor'easter, which have very strong winds and again, dangerous seas.

Plus, we have lots of them up here.  Look at what happened the last time a storm the size of those that routinely hit New England targeted NYC and DC.  They called it "Snowmageddon" and freaked out about it with great passion.

71 Posted by: buzzion at August 29, 2011 02:41 PM (GULKT)

Yes, there have been big storms after Katrina.  Hurricane Rita hit the TX Gulf Coast a little less than a month after Katrina.  Hurricane Ike hit TX and did some major damage.  As a matter of fact, Ike kept right on going and hit Ohio.  That windstorm in 2008 was Ike.  I believe it was the largest wind disaster to ever hit the State of Ohio.  Kentucky didn't fare too well either.  I'm sure our Florida brethren can recount their storms. 

72 "Perfect Storm of Hype: Politicians, the media and the Hurricane Irene apocalypse that never was"

The truth is that the dire warning beforehand suited both politicians and journalists. Just as with the minor earthquake that shook the east coast last week causing no loss of life and virtually no damage, Irene became a huge story because it was where the media lived. For politicians, Irene was a chance to either make amends or appear in control. The White House sent out 25 Irene emails to the press on Saturday alone. --Toby Harnden, Telegraph


"Obama takes charge at hurricane command center"
US President Barack Obama warned the US east coast was in for a "long 72 hours" as he led his government's response to Hurricane Irene at a disaster command center in Washington. Obama on Saturday chaired a meeting at the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) set up at the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) headquarters in Washington, which is marshaling federal and local hurricane-relief efforts. --Yahoo News

73 And since when is a Cat 1 hurricane "historic"? Since B. Hussein Obama, who is a black man, arrived at Martha's Vineyard.

74 "Thus the continuing double-standard -- no non-scientist on the right can criticize global warming "science," but every douchebag with a hacky-sack and a water-bong can make dire claims about it." One of the great AoS lines of all-time

75 It's a good thing I like reading stuff you write, Ace, otherwise I would point out you could have said this in three words: New. York. City. That's it.

76
Ace misses one other reason why Irene was hyped:
To showcase how necessary government is in our lives.

They wanted a disaster. They wanted destruction. They wanted to declare "states of emergency."

And they wanted to say, "See? See how important the role of big government is in our lives?"

77 "New Yorkers typically think about other folks as 'provincial,' but my oh my, do they become the worst sort of homers when their hometown is in the news." Heh. "Fog on Hudson River, continent cut off."

78
Hurricane Irene was more a big-govt Democrat's wet dream than the media's.

79 5. The hurricane was earlier forecast to hit the center of the media universe, New York City.

Bing-Effin'-Go!

80 The worst case of homerism was when Liberal New Yorkers would claim that - 9/11 happened to them. Most here will see their blind spot or perhaps hear the whispered legitimacy of how a certain target "deserved it".

81 The untold story in all this is how President Obama weakened this storm by beaming waves of Black Man Charisma at it through the National Weather Service's Doppler radar. But you'll never hear it, because Obama doesn't want to make this all about him. Quiet Humility - that's the Obama difference.

82 "Obama takes charge at hurricane command center" If he were a Republican doing the same thing, the headline would have been "Generic Republican pays brief visit to beleaguered hurricane command center"

83 Being down south and living inland, meaning my own personal corner of the world would be minmally impacted, I mostly kept informed from the local news and the weathermen down here were doing far less hyping of the storm and in fact were providing information on the how the storm was degrading well in advance of those in the media mecca of New York. We knew early on that the biggest threat was going to be flooding and not the wind, although not knowing how structures are designed up north you can never be sure how much wind it would take to flatten them or cause damage. Ya'll Yankees may be able to handle snow but let's just say that the confidence factor in your ability to handle anything else is suspect.

My only fear with how this was played to the residents of New England, which was probably necessary in order to get peoples attention, is that when the next one comes they will take a lassie-faire attitude and we wind up with a whole bunch of 2nd generation Katrina survivors. Katrina survivors are sort of like civil rights marchers, it's the only thing they got on their resume and they hold on to it fiercely. I am glad I wasn't up there being subjected to Mayor Bloominidiots hourly updates. I bet more then a few people were hoping to lose power to shut him up.

The overhyped question really does come down to how closely you were following the event and where you lived. My frame of reference is the night of terror we had in the south when we had tornados cutting wide swaths of destruction through the region and for the most part it was ignored nationally. We had entire towns wiped out and for us in Georgia those tornados came in the dead of night further increasing the pucker factor.

I hope the flooding subsides quickly and I am thankful there wasn't as much damage as forecast and yes I do think the media was over hyping the hell out of this but I think it was also because after watching a few episodes of Jersey Shore most people weren't impressed with the critical thinking skills or survival skills of our Yankee brethren.

84 The MBM aren't the only ones who should answer some questions.

Weather Underground gathered data from instruments showing that Irene was at most a tropical storm before landfall in NC

I monitored the updates from NHOAA, and from Friday at 2 PM through Saturday at 4 AM the wind/barometer was at 100/951 on every update, even with changes in the storm and dry air funneling in, along with eye disintegration. That's like 6 straight pitches showing the same speed on a radar gun. Then from landfall in NC to landfall in NJ, the updates constantly read 85/953

I wonder if BLS statisticians are working for the NHOAA

Someone speculated that Warren Buffett stood to lose a shitload on claims with deductibles if the winds were officially under hurricane force

85

And the last part of my "The media wants Obama to be a hero!" argument.

The media already proclaimed him a god among men but he's had no huge national emergency to show off his supposed greatness. That's why there was such a circus like atmosphere at the healing ceremony, or whatever the hell it was, after Giffords was shot. Up until then, that was the biggest event of Obama's presidency (that he didn't screw up or yet show incompetence.)

Obama is like the Flash or Wonder Woman. The media adore them as superheroes. But name 3 major enemies of any of them. You have nothing. And without great enemies or challenges, you can't show greatness.

 

86 If it makes you feel any better Ace, I think most of the rest of the country was kind of rooting for Irene to take out New York.

87 The storm did less damage than a typical blizzard here in Boston. The only major issue has been some flooding from clogged drains or rivers overgrown by invasive species (thanks EPA for not allowing mowing or herbicide), the occasional fire or outage from downed power lines, and many trees with shallow roots toppled due to the ground already having already been over-saturated with water.

88 I guess the media will never remember that there was a democrat governor in LA and a democrat mayor in NO and that until then, disasters where the states and city's responsibility.

IIRC, the governor of LA refused to officially ask for fed help ahead of the storm, and that made things worse than they had to be wrt that help being ready to go after Katrina.

89 Every kind of natural system is amped up, holding more power—about ¾ of a watt extra energy per square meter of the Earth’s surface, thanks to the carbon we’ve poured into the atmosphere. ¾ of a watt? Is that a lot? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insolation The Sun's rays are attenuated as they pass through the atmosphere, thus reducing the insolation at the Earth's surface to approximately 1,000 watts per square meter for a surface perpendicular to the Sun's rays at sea level on a clear day. Do The Math. 0.75 watts / 1,000 watts. That's what the Global Warming Cultist thinks is a World Ending Catasrophe!

90 #1 reason - Re-election.  America seems to be waking up to the fact that we indeed have a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure as CIC but the MSM can't stop themselves. 

91
We shoulda named it Osama instead of Irene.

92 But you'll never hear it, because Obama doesn't want to make this all about him. Quiet Humility - that's the Obama difference. Hollywood plans to immortalize it in a timely and relevant film starring Will Smith: The Legend of Braggart's Glance.

93 Someone speculated that Warren Buffett stood to lose a shitload on claims with deductibles if the winds were officially under hurricane force It is frightening that I have no problem believing the conspiracy you suggest.

94 The clowns on The Weather Channel, who should know better, were actually comparing Irene to Katrina Saturday afternoon.  What loons.  And my daughters wonder why I've grown so cynical in my middle age.

95 Another reason: NYC-Destruction Pron Every other sci-fi movie that comes out is about NYC landmarks being destroyed. The Weather Channel even had an "It Could Happen Tomorrow" show that fantasized about NYC being totally wrecked by a Cat 5 storm. People get off on it, because most of the country hates NY. It's also just a great setting for visual-based drama. Oh, and don't forget, it distracts people from the Cat 6 financial disaster we are in the middle of.

96 74 Posted by: buzzion at August 29, 2011 02:41 PM (GULKT)

Yes, there have been big storms after Katrina.  Hurricane Rita hit the TX Gulf Coast a little less than a month after Katrina.  Hurricane Ike hit TX and did some major damage.  As a matter of fact, Ike kept right on going and hit Ohio.  That windstorm in 2008 was Ike.  I believe it was the largest wind disaster to ever hit the State of Ohio.  Kentucky didn't fare too well either.  I'm sure our Florida brethren can recount their storms. 

Posted by: no good deed at August 29, 2011 02:52 PM (mjR67)

Well that's why I wasn't saying there were no storms that hit us after Katrina.  I'm talking about storms that have come since the year after Katrina.  Like I said I know there were more that year, I mean we ran out of names and started designating them with Greek Letters.  But since that year?  Yeah I think Ike has been about it.  But of course then it wasn't for the media to oversell the hurricane, it was for them to criticize the RNC for still holding their convention while a disaster was happening.

97 Well I see the positives.  Chris Christie was amazing.  His team was unbelievably good and effective.  Even nanny bloomberg and his team were excellent.  Andrew, who the newscasters kept calling mario, was ok, smart enough to just let nanny bloomberg handle NYC and he handled the rest.  Not with the same efficiency and communicativeness as Christie but excellent none the less.  Everyone seemed to have done their job flawlessly.

The only question I have is:  "is it now correct to declare and emergency before the event occurs?"  cause it seems everyone did that.

A friend's dad works on the trains.  Cause of the shutdown, every single train, every piece of track, every bus, got a good going over.  They used the time very well so now they know what needs fixing. 

Craig Allen came out and said the storm was a non event, so did my dad.  Thank God it wasn't as advertised.  But, a lot of people I know still have no power and businesses are operating out of whomever's house has power.   When you call they tell you 6 days until you will have power.  Thank God most gyms have power and showers.

The downside is that Joe Bastardi on his twitter is predicting the next storm within ten to fifteen days and it could be just like this one and he's mentioned one more after that.  There is a tendency for one of these two to be the bad one that does strike the heart of NY but NYer's who don't tolerate BS well, will not pay attention the next time.  That was the risk nanny took...hope it doesn't come back and hit him in the face.

98 "Obama takes charge at hurricane command center"

Thanks to Mega Independent for the PS

99 New Hurricane Irene Headline:

Hurricane Irene Leaves North Easterners Embarrassed for Life Prompting NY Governor to Consider Changing State Motto to 'Pussies'

100 Someone speculated that Warren Buffett stood to lose a shitload on claims with deductibles if the winds were officially under hurricane force.

I await a government bailout of Bank of America illegally end run around congress.

101 We shoulda named it Osama instead of Irene.

Dead before arrival.

102 Stock market's up a little, so I guess it caused a decent amount of damage. Ah, well, season's not over yet. Here's hoping for a cat-5 Destroyer of Worlds!

103 Posted by: city gal at August 29, 2011 03:00 PM (k1rwm)

*cough*

104 Someone should inform it that name-dropping only works if the names you drop are known outside a 20-mile radius.

105 Hurricane Irene was very smart. It went to Harvard. And it captured the attention of billions of people.

106 99 The clowns on The Weather Channel, who should know better, were actually comparing Irene to Katrina Saturday afternoon.  What loons.  And my daughters wonder why I've grown so cynical in my middle age.

Posted by: MCPO - Retired - Former Weather Forecaster at August 29, 2011 02:59 PM (zh60d)

the weather channel is not the same weather channel as it once was, it's owned by NBC universal now which I guess means it's owned by comcast which means it has to generate more income to balance the huge comcast donatations to BO's 2012 campaign.

107 I just hope curious' friends cats are all safe.

FTFY

108 The last I heard the death toll was 28.

109

102 "The only question I have is:  "is it now correct to declare and emergency before the event occurs?"  cause it seems everyone did that."

Yes it is.  Declaring an emergency is a formality that allows for certain actions to take place ahead of the storm - activating the National Guard, starting certain federal disaster response actions - things like that.

110

My wife falls for it everytime. Hell, she is sleeping in basement for fear of falling trees. It is nothing more than an appeal to the soccer mom's. Good for ratings and shows everyone you care. But mostly great for ratings.

 

I tune this shit out.

111 I see curious made it through the storm okay. Awesome.

112 You missed the main one: nothing else in the news. Seriously, it was a dead news cycle, they needed something to report. Irene was it. They went nuts.

113 113 The last I heard the death toll was 28.

I heard 31.

114
Mike Flynn of the Big Blogs was watching the Weather Channel incessantly

Well, I've identified his first mistake: watching the Weather Channel. They've been on a slow, downward slide since they got bought by...NBC? and I frankly didn't watch it since, oh probably 1998 when they had a 30 second bit on hurricane Mitch prior to it making landfall in Honduras.

Ok, I hear you saying "ok, Honduras, who cares?" It was a Category 5 storm at landfall, and managed to kill just shy of 20,000 people. For a so-called "Weather Channel", they gave a weather nerd's wet dream/worst nightmare awfully short shrift.

Hiring that scrunt, Heidi Cullen, didn't improve things. I didn't think they could make me dislike them more, but that did.

115 Our favorite part was the Weather Reporters in their slickers yelling Dire Reports from the seashore whilst Sunday morning pedestrians ambled by, walking their dogs, carrying cups of coffee, smiling, joking, laughing, etc. 

116 New Yorkers were in more danger of being hit by a CNN News van driving around looking for a downed power line then they were the storm.

117 86 The untold story in all this is how President Obama weakened this storm by beaming waves of Black Man Charisma at it through the National Weather Service's Doppler radar.

But you'll never hear it, because Obama doesn't want to make this all about him. Quiet Humility - that's the Obama difference.

Posted by: Empire of Jeff at August 29, 2011 02:55 PM (bYYaw)

Dammit EoJ!

I'm at work. And its frowned upon when I piss myself.

118 ⁵²

^{Being a Texan, my feelings are best summed up by the line from the Local H song "California Songs":}

^{"...and fuck New York too"}

^{Posted by: Jollyroger at August 29, 2011 02:45 PM (NCw5u)}

We must be on the same wavelength today.  I was listening to that song as I drove into work this morning!  And that's my favorite line of the song.

119 69 Hurricane Irene is the affirmative action storm. It was promoted not on it's merits but because It was required. And even though the aftermath did support that it was qualified as a very significant storm the affirmative action hype made a lot of people question it's legitimacy as a bad storm or just a AA storm.Posted by: polynikes at August 29, 2011 02:50 PM (s0uvO)

IOW, Irene insisted upon itself?

120 Posted by: city gal at August 29, 2011 03:00 PM (k1rwm)

Shut the fuck up.

121 What?  No longer inquisitive?  No longer "."?  No longer [blank]?

Glad you're OK and all, but still want you to go away.  Find a place on the 'net where people actually like you.  Can't be all that hard.    

122 "Chris Christie was amazing"?? Is this an attempt at black humor?

123 I've been out of touch for a few days.  Is "City Gal" the new name for "curious"?

124

We on the right have all noticed the national media sure thinks that New York deaths are more important than any other kind of deaths, and New York inconvenience worse than other inconveniences.

What if 9/11 hit Dallas instead of NYC?

You think Springsteen and friends are holding a candlelight concert for victims? No chance.

125
"Fact 1":  Irene is the worst hurricane ever eleventy!!!11!!!!
"Fact 2":  Death and destruction way lower than forecasted
Conclusion:  Obama saved us with his leadership skillz

126 Hurricane Irene is the affirmative action storm. I had to earn my chops the hard way. Just ask the dinosaurs.

127 @128
Yep. k1rwm

128 74 Yes, there have been big storms after Katrina.  Hurricane Rita hit the TX Gulf Coast a little less than a month after Katrina.  Hurricane Ike hit TX and did some major damage.  As a matter of fact, Ike kept right on going and hit Ohio.  That windstorm in 2008 was Ike.  I believe it was the largest wind disaster to ever hit the State of Ohio.  Kentucky didn't fare too well either.  I'm sure our Florida brethren can recount their storms. 


This is the Bolivar Peninsula after Ike: http://tinyurl.com/3oefkwn

129 Is "City Gal" the new name for "curious"?

Yup. The incessant insipid yammering would be a dead giveaway, even if shitty gal didn't still have the same hash.

130 Hey there Outer Banks...we feel your pain.

131

Glad you're OK and all, but still want you to go away.  Find a place on the 'net where people actually like you.  Can't be all that hard.    

Posted by: Theresa D., TPT at August 29, 2011 03:08 PM (Zgfnd)

Actually I bet it is.  I doubt even her so called friends really care for it.

132 Oh. dear lord. It struck. It struck without even the vaguest sense of irony. That is all.

133 Remember, this hurricane is just another natural disaster that prevents the Obama Economic Miracle from blooming. Damn, Sparky is just one luck starved bastard. Tsunamis, hurricanes, and things.

134

You think Springsteen and friends are holding a candlelight concert for victims? No chance.

Posted by: CJ

Yeah, we were all so humbled and grateful for all of the telethons and big celebrity concerts for Hurricane Ike's victims. /sarc

135 It's been three years since the last hurricane made landfall in the US,  That meant countless newscaster needed that updated clip of him/her bravely confronting the wind and the wave for their portfolio.  It is, after all, broadcast legend that Dan Rather got his big break when network executive saw his coverage of Hurricane Carla for their Houston affiliate.

136 Well, if ten or twenty were killed, Dick Soetero will let us know the true magnitude like he did in May 2007. RICHMOND, Va. — Barack Obama, caught up in the fervor of a campaign speech Tuesday, drastically overstated the Kansas tornadoes death toll, saying 10,000 had died. The death toll was 12.

137 I could overlook Geraldo hyping this up since he's a known drama queen, same as Shep Smith-Cooper

But the Weather Channel pulling it is unforgivable. Geraldo was actually more low key than their reporters

Oh, and those gusts? Same you'd get with a typical thunderstorm

Irene is the Al Capone's Vault of hurricanes

138
#128 Yep.  Various names are used but the hash stays the same. Look for
k1rwm, (and the smell of cat pee).  

139 The last I heard the death toll was 28.


Years ago, the Jarrell Tornado that left no concrete foundations behind in that Central TX community passed through our town as well touching down twice. Our neighborhood was hit, shredding brick homes. But the only fatality was a senior citizen who suffered a heart attack. I'd not have known there was a storm had a neighbor not come bursting into my house to fetch her daughter. And now, our city counsel has seen fit to no longer use the sirens they purchased after that tornado, claiming that "the public does not know what a siren means". Tell that to EMS, the police and fire departments.

140

Heard the Philly mayor on Fox tell us how government was doing everything in their power to help us, and that they have so much work to do, and they are doing a lot of stuff, as well as protecting us and setting up shelters and food lines and all that kinda shit.

I'd like to thank the mayor of Philly and Newark, and Baltimore.

141 The opposite side of the NY story is that, since THEY didn't take a massive hit, the storm damage everywhere else is overlooked because, ya  nouse, how bad could it have been?

142

Oh. dear lord. It struck. It struck without even the vaguest sense of irony. That is all.

So I guess we have now definitively answered the question for advertisers everywhere.

No, "rebranding" doesn't work if you still have a shitty product.

143 Quiet Humility - that's the Obama difference.

Wow.  This needs to be a fake Obama campaign commercial.

144 Went to a hurricane party and everyone stopped to watch this.   Made three hundred bucks betting dumb guys that there is no such thing as "sea foam" that close to shore and that he was in fact being sprayed with shit.

145 127 "Chris Christie was amazing"?? Is this an attempt at black humor?     I did like his coat "Chris Christie Governor."

146

Christie was a bit strident, but if you met my neighbors you would understand why.

 

Oh...and Bloomberg can simply go fuck himself.

 

147 You wing nuts just never want to give President Obama any credit. As soon as he took over at the hurricane weather center, you knew for sure that the storm would be downgraded.

148

"Obama takes charge at hurricane command center"

I picture something like this:

OSI Chief Oscar Goldman: Mister President, we know the hurricanes are being controlled by Doctor Carlton. We know where he is right now, and we can send Jaime Sommers in to take him out. We can only go forward with this mission on your authority. What do you say, Mister President? It's your call.

(ten hours later)

President Barack H. Obama: Take him out!

149 Hey. Curious turned us on to the disaster that was Crazy Mother. Several of us were entertained for hours with that link.

150 All NY channels was reporting from  Battery Park  in Mahattan every 15 minutes and never reported from Staten Island during storm even more people were evacuated in Staten Island than in Brooklyn and Manhattan

151 Our favorite part was the Weather Reporters in their slickers yelling Dire Reports from the seashore whilst Sunday morning pedestrians ambled by, walking their dogs, carrying cups of coffee, smiling, joking, laughing, etc.

loved it.  Especially when those idiots ran by behind the reporter and mooned the camera.

Reporter:  WE HAD REPORTS FROM THE WEATHER CENTER THAT THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ANYONE CAN POSSIBLY BE AT THIS MOMENT IS THIS EXACT SPOT UPON WHICH I AM STANDING RIGHT NOW!!!!

Drunken College Kids: BABABOOEY!!  BABABOOEY!!  HOWARD STERN!!  BABABOOEY!!!

Reporter:  Ummm, back to you in the studio, Jim.

152

Christie was a bit strident, but if you met my neighbors you would understand why.

Youse talkin' to us?!

153 All the major news channels and weather services were reporting 100 mph winds even when the actual data was saying they were down to 60 mph.  That of course meant the difference between a hurricane and a tropical storm.  The media just couldn't have their hype machine running for 4 days for a mere tropical storm.

I wonder what they were charging their advertisers while this BS was going on?  Thats the reason they did this, and they were ALL disappointed that there wasn't more death and destruction.

Listening to Shemp smith right now and he just said "man alive! what a terrible storm Irene turned out to be!"

Really? ha ... this was being hyped as the next Katrina.  I don't want to hear anyone say thats not true now.  Everyone knows it was.  I've never seen such nonsense on tv.  The earthquake last week was the biggest joke in history next to this.  Myopia anyone?

Note to media: read the whole thing about the boy who cried wolf and stuff.  You should all be prosecuted for the damage you've done.

154 Hey city gal! I hear JihadWatch and Atlas Jugs are looking for commenters. Why don't you move over there? But first, tell us some anecdotes about your many moderate Muslim friends. Muslim friends with cleft palates and compulsive gambling problems. That also operate nursing homes for retired commandos.

155 101  That's true.  I hate that every storm warning has to be evaluated through a political filter.  I don't recall that crap when I was younger.  We trusted the weather service to give us the best information they could, and we made our own decisions on how to best handle our storm prep/evacuation. 

156 120 Our favorite part was the Weather Reporters in their slickers yelling Dire Reports from the seashore whilst Sunday morning pedestrians ambled by, walking their dogs, carrying cups of coffee, smiling, joking, laughing, etc.  Posted by: Cricket at August 29, 2011 03:06 PM

You think at least they'd have spritzed Stephanie Abrams with some water so those t-shirted cans could shine

157 As soon as he took over at the hurricane weather center, you knew for sure that the storm would be downgraded.

Notch another one for the Moron Horde.

Oh. Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

158 Made three hundred bucks betting dumb blowing guys

Fixed for believability.

159 132 @128
Yep. k1rwm

Posted by: Y-not at August 29, 2011 03:11 PM (5H6zj)

Thanks.  A rose by any other name...

With regard to the New-York-more-important-than-anything-else theme, I saw this self-centric behavior exhibited by San Francisco's media after the Loma Prieta earthquake.  We were subjected to endless bleating about the damages in the Marina neighborhood and throughout the city (down to new cracks in the sidewalks, fer crissakes).  Not so much interest paid to Santa Cruz down the coast.  Or even Oakland across the bay (other than the freeway collapse).  There is just a freakishly narcissistic mindset to the liberals.  Kinda like teenagers. 

160 154 Hey. Curious turned us on to the disaster that was Crazy Mother. Several of us were entertained for hours with that link.

Posted by: Clueless at August 29, 2011 03:16 PM (LyOUH)

He's crazy, he does this all the time.  He's a lot of fun and his brother almost gave away where he worked and he freaked out.

161 I heard 31.
Posted by: Jane D'oh at August 29, 2011 03:05 PM

Whatever the "death toll" really was, the number will be as hyped as Osama Obama's Heroic Participation.

Dude has a heart attack? Boom-O! Hurricane victim! Car accident death? Why, it was the hurricane!

Yes, if someone gets conked on the noggin by a falling cornice, that was probably Eeeevil Irene's fault. Ditto for drowning in a river 10' above its crest. But everyone who shuffled off this mortal coil in the last four or five days was not the hurricane's fault, even if Brian Williams wants you to think so.

162

Fixed for believability.

Veritas.  It's what's for dinner.

163
...so those t-shirted cans could shine beam

beam, dummy, beam

164 123 ⁵²

^{Being a Texan, my feelings are best summed up by the line from the Local H song "California Songs":}

^{"...and fuck New York too"}

 

^{Posted by: Jollyroger at August 29, 2011 02:45 PM (NCw5u)}

We must be on the same wavelength today.  I was listening to that song as I drove into work this morning!  And that's my favorite line of the song.

Posted by: kathysaysso at August 29, 2011 03:07 PM (ZtwUX)

That is amazing, most people don't know who they are let alone know that song.

165 Quiet Humility - that's the Obama difference. Hilarious. I picture it like a Selsun Blue commerical. A guilty white liberal is shampooing her head, one half with Quiet Humility, the other half with Racist Republican. The Quiet Humility half shines with more body and luster. The Racist Republican half looks like dog fur.

166 149 Went to a hurricane party and everyone stopped to watch this.   Made three hundred bucks betting dumb guys that there is no such thing as "sea foam" that close to shore and that he was in fact being sprayed with shit.

Posted by: city gal at August 29, 2011 03:15 PM (k1rwm)

Perfectly demonstrates the complete fucking cluelessness of you and your friends.  And you actually think we should give a flying fuck about what your or they have to say.

167 102 Posted by: city gal at August 29, 2011 03:00 PM (k1rwm)

Gregory (Scotland Yard detective): "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time."Holmes: "That was the curious incident."What is our 'curious' incident?

168 163 Made three hundred bucks betting dumb blowing guys

Fixed for believability.

Posted by: Waterhouse at August 29, 2011 03:18 PM (OK/vv)

WRONG.....MADE THREE HUNDRED BUCKS BETTING GUYS WHO WERE JUST DUMB AND MISINFORMED ABOUT THE OCEAN. 

169 Posted by: wiserbud at August 29, 2011 03:17 PM (3Okgs)

Please tell me that really happened.  And that it made it to YouTube.

170 Look, this was a huge storm in size, very powerful - topping out at strong Cat 3 and was expected to hit Cat 4 at one time - and moving over unseasonably warm waters off our southeast coast, which could have caused it to strengthen.

Hurricanes are notoriously unpredictable.  Hugo was headed straight for Savannah, but veered only six hours before landfall to hit north of Charleston.  That's one example, there are dozens of others.  You can't really blame the weather people for hyping it.  It could have been much, much worse.

"Straight" news people hyped it because there was no other bigger news.  They weren't covering up the bad economic reports, those don't go away but they aren't good television.  A guy holding onto a street sign to keep from being blown away, now that's box office, baby!

Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence, anyway . . .

171

Bill McKibben rocks! And it's about time someone got my name right.

172 To be honest, I was actually hoping for a cat 3 or a cat 4 to hit DC and New York.  Then watch the east coast unions try to rebuild.

173 I mean, I'm glad Bill McKibben got my name right.

174

It was/is pretty serious in some areas, I actually took part in my first sand bag brigade yesterday (the assholes on the lake behind us opened there spillway too soon.)   

But for the most part the coverage was laughable. 

 

175 164 132 @128
Yep. k1rwm

Posted by: Y-not at August 29, 2011 03:11 PM (5H6zj)

Thanks.  A rose by any other name...

With regard to the New-York-more-important-than-anything-else theme, I saw this self-centric behavior exhibited by San Francisco's media after the Loma Prieta earthquake.  We were subjected to endless bleating about the damages in the Marina neighborhood and throughout the city (down to new cracks in the sidewalks, fer crissakes).  Not so much interest paid to Santa Cruz down the coast.  Or even Oakland across the bay (other than the freeway collapse).  There is just a freakishly narcissistic mindset to the liberals.  Kinda like teenagers. 

My guess, is they are afraid of those bad neighborhoods. You know running around in pastel parkas can mark you as a target. Especially if all the law abiding citizens abided the law and evacuated.

176 Please tell me that really happened.  And that it made it to YouTube.

gimme a sec.  I'll find it.

177 I was watching TWC on Saturday night with the reporter in the grassy dunes.

The camera moved to where the lights were, and the rain looked an awful lot like the spray they use in Hollywood production effects to make rain show up on camera, the hose with the large fan to drive the rain

Not saying it was, but it sure did strike me as looking like that

178 WRONG.....MADE THREE HUNDRED BUCKS BETTING GUYS WHO WERE JUST DUMB AND MISINFORMED ABOUT THE OCEAN.  No you didn't, liar.

179 Posted by: MrScribbler at August 29, 2011 03:19 PM (YjjrR)

Precisely.

180 Ace,

I need to send you an email.  There are public comment meetings coming up on the Keystone XL Pipeline.  I want to get the word out.

181
We knew Saturday at 1p that Irene was a dud.

But the media did not relent; they stayed on script ramped up their alarmism.

182 It cannot officially be designated a hurricane unless looters show up

183 First off, yes the hyping of OMG NYC!!! was a bit grating. The entire world doesn't revolve around freaking New York. However, being a native Floridian and lifetime resident of the Sunshine State, I'm actually of two minds on the rest of the hype. In all honesty we have a hard time getting some folks to take these things seriously even down here where we've had hurricanes cause major damage and loss of life (Andrew and Charley come to mind right off the bat). And, anecdotally, I have on relative and several online acquaintances that live in the NYC area who weren't taking it seriously at all until they started issuing the evac orders for the low lying areas. Obviously that doesn't necessarily translate into everyone in NYC, but it was troublesome nonetheless. The other thing is that I am worried that the media hype (which is necessary for safety's sake, IMO) will translate into people not taking it seriously next time around. The thing is that these storms are just not predictable at all. Yes, we can see them coming. But you really have no idea what it's going to do until it gets there. Charley is a good example of that. It was supposed to keep going westward and made a sudden turn right into the coast near Tampa and caught all those folks by complete surprise. And it tore Orlando- an area that normally only gets some of the outer bands at worst- to shreds. So you really never know. If Irene had veered back out into the ocean a bit, with the slow speed it was moving at it could have reorganized into a Cat 2 or 3. Thank God it didn't. So, I guess I'm in the camp of better to be over prepared and safe than under prepared- or not at all- get caught in the middle of the proverbial big one.

184

102 "The only question I have is:  "is it now correct to declare and emergency before the event occurs?"  cause it seems everyone did that."

Yes it is.  Declaring an emergency is a formality that allows for certain actions to take place ahead of the storm - activating the National Guard, starting certain federal disaster response actions - things like that.

You forgot suspending the right to keep and bear arms. Many states have quietly baked that into their declaration of emergency statutes.

And, yeah, I know that's a mostly moot point in NYC and New England.

185 AlanG,

Here ya go:

http://tinyurl.com/3t23scm

You can't hear them, but you just know that's what they were thinking....

186 MADE THREE HUNDRED BUCKS BETTING BLOWING GUYS WHO WERE JUST DUMB AND MISINFORMED ABOUT THE OCEAN FAT CHICKS.

Fixed again. Though I would've thought the first guy would've warned the others.

187 Damn you, Mom and Dad, for giving me a one-word name but giving me a hidden two-word middle name!

188 188 It cannot officially be designated a hurricane unless looters show up

Posted by: kbdabear at August 29, 2011 03:23 PM (Y+DPZ)

some reporter asked nanny about that at a presser and he indignantly said "new yorkers don't loot" and continued on.

189 If Irene had veered back out into the ocean a bit, with the slow speed it was moving at it could have reorganized into a Cat 2 or 3. Thank God it didn't.

Teahadi from Hobbitton at August 29, 2011 03:23 PM

It rode the ocean from the Bahamas to NC, and sat over the Gulf Stream for a while. What tore it down were the dry air bands that got sucked in which were plainly evident on radar

190 Posted by: Adjoran at August 29, 2011 03:20 PM (VfmLu)

I think they were hoping for a bigger dose of devastation than they got.  Certainly had the models been completely wrong, they wouldn't be so depressed/desperate today.  If the hurricane had hooked suddenly east or west, or whatever, they could just say "Hey, it's not an exact science."

However: by hyping the path (which the NHC got almost exactly right) and then ignoring the parts showing it would only be CAT1 by the time it got that far north, they were buying into the "it's only important when it happens here" bias.

Now, the thing is, all newsies are affected by this bias.  Every channel here in DFW has some story about how Texas is being affected by Irene (mostly stranded travelers or whatever).  Because, you see, it's not enough that our neighbors to the northeast just got slammed with a hurricane and may need our help- no, it's only important if it effects us.

The difference, of course, is that the national networks are all based in NYC, so the rest of the nation has to put up with their viewpoint, whereas most of y'all only know about the Dallas stations' viewpoint because I just told you.

191 Ok.  We've answered the question why Hurricane Irene was so hyped by the media.  I'd like an answer to this question:

Where did all the money go?  I have asked this question a hundred times and have never gotten a reasonable answer.  A trillion dollars.  Where did it go?  We know it didnÂ’t go to where they said it was going, but where did it go?  How can a million million dollars just get spent without buying anything?  In a 15 trillion dollar economy, one trillion should have left a ripple at the very least.  Why didnÂ’t it?

192

some reporter asked nanny about that at a presser and he indignantly said "new yorkers don't loot" and continued on.

Posted by: city gal at August 29, 2011 03:26 PM

They must have all come over from New Jersey

193 ugh......kurious...........

194

some reporter asked nanny about that at a presser and he indignantly said "new yorkers don't loot" and continued on.

New Yorkers also don't defecate.

They just explode when they're 50.

195 Is there an ACE award for Best Actor in a "Most Likely to Contract Hepatitis" Drama?  Yeah, that fella eating shit-spray really made my day.

196 Waterhouse at August 29, 2011 03:25 PM (OK/vv)

Two theories: 1- drunk enough they didn't notice.
2- Misery loves company.

197

198 My only disappointment in the NYC coverage was the lack of video of hipsters being turned away from their favorite Starbucks (and free wi-fi) and same hipsters getting OMG their ironic t-shirts soaked.

199 Hype... The summer following Katrina, I was working for CBS Nashville, and a tropical storm was threatening Jamaica... with its 45 mph winds. There was a couple from Nashville who were honeymooning down there, and there was a *gasp* possibility they might be down there when the storm might hit Jamaica. Oh noes. I glanced at the forecast, and it looked to me like the storm was going to bypass Jamaica entirely. I checked with our chief meteorologist, as well as with my wife, before going into the editorial meeting to pooh-pooh the idea. My first eye-opening moment was when my otherwise very competent news director asked, "So where is the tornado now?" I gently pointed out that it didn't look like Jamaica was in any real danger, and if they wanted that reinforced, they could ask the weather folks. No, the reporter and my news director INSISTED on running with this, and as you can guess, the storm barely brushed Jamaica. The Kingston airport wasn't even shut down, and the couple got home on schedule. So we ran this Chicken Little bullshit, and, rather than a follow-up noting that nothing happened, we ran nothing. Cue up the scene in Holy Grail where the knights are saving Sir Galahad from his "mortal peril" in the nunnery. Nothing- and I do mean NOTHING- gets in the way of the dramatic narrative, facts be damned. That was the beginning of the end for me in the news business.

200 ...they also way overpay for itsy bitsy teeny weeny rat infested apts............

201 I understand that most of the casualties from Irene were caused when Bob Beckel ran aground.

202 Sunday, Chris Wallace got schooled on FEMA's performance record while repeating his bleeding heart mantra that since the flood relief program is so far in debt and the bureaucracy is bankrupted, if it were given MORE tax funding as it is our compassionate moral obligation to bail-out FEMA, blah blah blah, we'd be better off.

203 201 Waterhouse at August 29, 2011 03:25 PM (OK/vv)

Two theories: 1- drunk enough they didn't notice.
2- Misery loves company.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) is tired beyond tired of the trolls at August 29, 2011 03:29 PM (8y9MW)

3.  They're her friends and have similar levels of intelligence as she does.  i.e. below goldfish level.

204 Huge concentrations of people in the path. The WH had the MFing MBM scare the shipt out of 100 million people so they would go to places like the Piggly Wiggly and Home Depot and buy all kinds of shit.

Voila..a stealth stimulus

205

Is there an ACE award for Best Actor in a "Most Likely to Contract Hepatitis" Drama?  Yeah, that fella eating shit-spray really made my day.

That guy is a reporter on  my local Fox affiliate.  I was watching that live.

I remember thinking, "And they think Republicans are stupid."

206 My Mom always talks about Hurricane Hazel that hit Toronto in 1954 and killed 81 people.  Bad news people.  Global warning has discovered time travel.

207

 The MSM bias that news only happens in blue states is a good point. I think it's a valid point.

 otoh, this storm impacted the lives of some 65 million people. Damage assessments are ongoing. Thirty-two dead at last count.

 Be grateful it wasn't worse.

 Any storm that kills people cannot be 'over-hyped,' imo...unless you want to see higher body counts. That's really the basis of the 'over-hyped' argument. That's the sociopath's argument. It was a death-dealing storm and the underlying premise of your argument says that you wanted to see more death and destruction than what you thought you were promised.

 Be grateful it wasn't worse.

 In other nations, people don't have to listen to that hype, or don't have the resources to hear it, if a storm were hyped..but they also count their dead in the tens of thousands, and from similar storms.

 All of that so-called hype got people out of the way and it got them prepared for the storm. That hype saved lives and property. It may have saved your life and the lives of your friends and loved ones.

  You sick bastards with the 'over-hyped' argument should be grateful that the body count wasn't much, much worse, instead of expressing your disappointment in the same. Like I said, sociopaths. No common decency. No compassion. ...worshipping death instead of life. You aren't human beings. You're less than animals. Animals have more compassion for their own.

 The people who've lost family and friends, who've had their property damaged and destroyed? The towns that have been flooded, with streets, roads, bridges and other infrastructure damaged or destroyed? (water, sewer, gas, electrical...) Yeah...tell them it was 'over-hyped.'

 Oh, yeah. I hate the MSM and the big government bureacracy, too. Probably much more than most of you. This time, though, the corrupt, stupid, inept, elitist, greedy SOB's got one right.

 When it's life or death? I don't think 'hype' means what you think it means...

208 How can a million million dollars just get spent without buying anything?  In a 15 trillion dollar economy, one trillion should have left a ripple at the very least.  Why didnÂ’t it?

If I take off my tinfoil for a minute (that always makes me nervous, though, so it'll only be for a minute) I say it went to fuel the very bureaucracy that is attempting to enslave us (for lack of a better word).  That is, at every step within the bureaucracy, forms had to be filled out, 'studies,' had to be done, etc.  The thing is, once that money goes into the federal bureaucracy, it never comes back out.

The federal employees so enriched weren't actually going to increase their spending, and the new ones who got hired were only (at most) going back to their previous level of economic activity.

This is why stimulus will never work- you can't actually force people to spend money in the private sector, and only the private sector can create wealth.

209 Ugh- Fox News was unwatchable; it was literally non-stop coverage of the storm despite having little new to actually report.

210 The foamy shit covering that one idiot reporter is the perfect metaphor for the reputation of the MFing MBM

211 A hurricane's strength depends on the temperature contrast between the ocean's water and the air high in the atmosphere, at the storm's top.

Oversimplified, but basically true.  Or as true as an oversimplified answer can get... which is better than the "science" these numbnuts are pretending to use.

Every analysis and computer model of Global Warming (which we're all supposed to believe) has the atmosphere warming more than the ocean, and the temperate zones warming more than equatorial zones.

So Global Warming is shown in Irene.. in that is was a sad weak-ass hurricane.  If you want good deadly killer storms destroying entire states; we need to end CO2 production now and increase the temperature differential more by cooling the atmosphere.  Otherwise we'll be stuck with these pussified "oh my goodness, it rained quite a bit" hrmuph-icanes... and that would be awful.  Imagine the thousands of people every year who might live who otherwise could have died to killer storms...

Oh, and Global Warming?  Also results in more arable land and a longer growing season; so more food.  THE HORROR!

More people living, fewer deadly storms, AND more food.. imagine the future if we don't stop this immediately.  We NEED economy crushing changes to avoid more people living better lives in the future.  Suffer now so we can make them suffer later... for the good of... suffering!

What, that's pretty much the environmental position, right?  Any of that you'd like to claim I got wrong?

212 Posted by: Warren Bonesteel at August 29, 2011 03:33 PM (E7Z1r) Wow.

213 That guy is a reporter on  my local Fox affiliate.

If a reporter is killed while doing idiotic news updates like that during a hurricane, can we really blame the hurricane?

That's like blaming the train for killing the guy who jumped in front of it, isn't it?

214 i heard one reporter wringing their hands that back to school shopping numbers would be down because people had to use that money for emergency supplies............

215 That was the beginning of the end for me in the news business.

Posted by: tmi3rd at August 29, 2011 03:30 PM (WRtsc)

Try Ham radio until you organize an independent show on something like Genesis Communications Network.

216 209 Huge concentrations of people in the path. The WH had the MFing MBM scare the shipt out of 100 million people so they would go to places like the Piggly Wiggly and Home Depot and buy all kinds of shit.

Voila..a stealth stimulus

Until Christmas season when spending is 'unexpectedly' down due to everyone blowing their disposable income on hurricane purchases.

217 Good stuff Ace. Just follows the current mantra of "never let a crisis go to waste."

218 Vllage Idiot at 3-- I think that's right, now that you mention it, and it suggests a post.

219 It was hyped because of the possibility of it remaining a Cat 2 when it hit NY and LI. That kind of intensity, along with the size of that storm, would have been calamitous. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
For those who say AGW, I say - wouldn't that mean each year, and each succeeding hurricane, would be worse than the last? It doesn't work that way. Some are milder than last years, some approach the severity of a 100 year storm. There is no linear progression as you would expect if it was exacerbated by (non-existent) AGW.

220

fewer deadly storms, AND more food.. imagine the future if we don't stop this immediately. 

You're not thinking like a liberal.  I know it's hard because you actually have more than 3 brain cells.  But you gotta try.

More people living = Oh noes!  Overpopulation!  We're all gonna die!

fewer deadly storms = More people living!  Overpopulation!  We're all gonna die!

more food = Obesity!  Oh noes!  We're all gonna die!*

 

* If you are Hank Johnson then: more food = Obesity!  Oh noes!  The earth will capsize!

221 We've had some amazing thunderstorms pop up this summer with 60+ mph winds, lightning and damaging hail.  Three homes in this area have burned due to lightning. 

And now the Okefenokee swamp fire is back up, and even here in Slovannah you can barely breath for the smoke.

OMG!

222 It seems like regular visits from psychos is "the new normal."

223 We've had some amazing thunderstorms pop up this summer

Braggart.  Share.

224 What made me cringe this morning was a interview I saw this morning with a woman from Vermont whose house was washed out. She actually said "Things like this shouldn't happen". She looked in her 50s and I just wondered, have these intellectuals never heard of flashfloods? I bet you some southern redneck could have told her what those are and explained to her that if you have saturated ground and already swollen rivers from rain, you dump more water on it you're shit out of luck. It's called mother nature

225 I suspect the building codes on the East Coast do not require hurricane straps like those on the Gulf Coast.

226 Oh by the way i was impressed by Christy's press conference Bloomberg not so much.  Christy is a leader versus who Bloomberg reminds me of a trial attorney taking in legalese all the time (and why does the word haughty come to mind when i see him).  I mean i think he's a good mayor but sometimes step off the high horse.

227

Hussein the Plumber, 196: Where did all the money go?

I've been asking that, too.

About halfway through this stimulus program, I listened to an earnings call for Nucor, the largest steel producer in the country. An analyst asked the CEO how much business the company saw from the stimulus. He said "none." When asked for clarification, the CEO said, "None. Not a dime."

Up until then, I thought Obama was doing something I disagreed with but that there'd be some good that came out of it, like decent roads and bridges and electrical grids and telecom bandwidth and stuff. But he just kind of stole the money, didn't he?

228 Posted by: Jane D'oh at August 29, 2011 03:39 PM (UOM4 Well, crap. The 'rents in Jacksonville will not be pleased. Mom was telling me how ashy it was outside when the fires were bad earlier in the summer. My cousins wouldn't let their kids go outside and play for all the smoke.

229

The reaction from the "big city" hipster media during this storm makes me wonder what will happen when SCOAMF loses this next election.

230 My Mom calls me up to brag about her thunderstorms and rain. Where I live, we don't have "weather" for about 3-4 months in a row (usually). I don't think I've seen a cloud in weeks.

231

Many in the media and many liberals were hoping that this Hurricane was going to be as destructive or even worse than Katrina.

Jerry Rivers hardest hit.

 

 

232

237

 

well first they are going to wipe there tear filled eyes through their lensless glasses..........

233 236 Posted by: Jane D'oh at August 29, 2011 03:39 PM (UOM4

Well, crap. The 'rents in Jacksonville will not be pleased. Mom was telling me how ashy it was outside when the fires were bad earlier in the summer. My cousins wouldn't let their kids go outside and play for all the smoke.

Posted by: Mandy P., Teahadi from Hobbitton at August 29, 2011 03:41 PM (qFpRI)

It's worse in the morning.  The afternoon sea breeze blows it away from us.  The forest service said it's the peat in the swamp burning, and we need "at least" a tropical storm to put it out.  Dammit.

234 Obama declared Irene zones natural disasters, but wouldn't accommodate that status for drought stricken Southwestern States hit by wildfires, denying federal aid.

So illegal immigrant signal fires gone absolutely wild are not natural disasters. Because illegal aliens are unnatural? ...Ask Uncle Omar.

235 Posted by: Ma Bell at August 29, 2011 03:40 PM (H/MnC)

Yeah, but (sorry to nitpick, but this change in terminology drives me insane) what you describe isn't a flash flood.  Most accurately it is "rapid flooding."  A flash-flood (as understood until just the last couple of years) is when the ground is baked so dry that it can't absorb the rain fast enough.

Flash floods can often only drop 2 - 3 inches of rain, but because it doesn't get soaked up by the ceramic-like nature of the clay in the ground, it runs along the top as though the ground were saturated.  Normally, "flash flooding" recedes within hours.  Rapid flooding takes days to recede.

236 >>and millions of dollars in property damage,

This is only ~2 days worth of government spending.

237 She voted for Obama, and he just didn't deliver. Posted by: Soap MacTavish at August 29, 2011 03:42 PM (vbh31) I didn't vote for obama and I curse his name ever day. Is that why my power went out again?

238 My take, is that they all want to be Dan Rather - I think they should all be out there tied to trees, getting hit in the head with shingles at 50mph would be good for most of them.

239 All of that so-called hype got people out of the way and it got them prepared for the storm. That hype saved lives and property. It may have saved your life and the lives of your friends and loved ones.

Well, it certainly kept me from going tubing during the storm, that;s for sure.

Warren, have you ever heard the expression "survival of the fittest?"  That applies to mental fitness as well.  We spend waaay too much time protecting the dumbest among us from hurting themselves.

I am of the opinion that we do ourselves no favors when we do not allow natural selection to do what it does best.

— In Volusia County, 55-year-old Frederick Fernandez died Saturday off New Smyrna Beach after he was tossed off his board by massive waves caused by Irene. The Orlando Sentinel reports the high school teacher had a large cut on his head, apparently from hitting the sea floor.

— In Flagler County, 55-year-old tourist James Palmer of New Jersey died Saturday in rough surf. Family members say they lost sight of him after he waded into the surf in North Florida. He was pulled to shore and his wife attempted CPR, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

— State police said they recovered the body of a woman who apparently drowned after she fell into Onesquethaw Creek in New Scotland, near Albany.

— Another man in Pitt County drove through standing water, went off a road and died after striking a tree on Saturday.

— A 58-year-old Harrisburg man was killed Sunday morning when a tree toppled onto his tent, state police said. The man was one of about 20 people at a party on private property in East Hanover Township, Dauphin County, some of whom who decided to sleep outside.

— A man in a camper was crushed by a tree in northeastern Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, state emergency management officials said. Police found his body shortly before 11 a.m. Sunday.

Please explain to me how much hype would have been required to keep these idiots from venturing outside in the middle of a hurricane?

240 But he just kind of stole the money, didn't he? Posted by: FireHorse at August 29, 2011 03:41 PM (RZRz9) A little late there, pal, but welcome to the party.

241 Re my 184

Never mind.  I found it.

242 A generator for your house is NEVER a bad investment!

(Take it from a native Floridian...)

243 I mean i think he's a good mayor but sometimes step off the high horse. Posted by: dnice at August 29, 2011 03:41 PM (lYOiB) Nanny Bloomberg?

244 Posted by: wiserbud at August 29, 2011 03:44 PM (3Okgs)

Also, to your "natural selection" point- those people had been protected from themselves long enough that all of them had probably bred.  Probably more than once.

245

233 I suspect the building codes on the East Coast do not require hurricane straps like those on the Gulf Coast.

On the coast they do. Been that way for 30-40 years. Before that and flood insurance nobody ever built anything they couldn't afford to lose: think Lowe's kit homes on stilts.

246 AceofSpadesHQ is so prolix.

247 >>I am of the opinion that we do ourselves no favors when we do not allow natural selection to do what it does best. That doesn't really play to your strength.

248 Christie is throwing around the billions of dollars of damge sounbite like the bread at a all you can eat beefsteak.

249
Hey .... New England.... go fuck your provincial selves.....

The Missouri River has been above flood stage now for almost 120 days now from  below Sioux City extending down to Kansas City.  And to top it off..... all THAT flooding is MANMADE courtesy of the Army Corps of Engineers and the purple thoated river thrush or some such critter.

250 "Most Likely to Contract Hepatitis"

Flesh eating virus or bacteria attacking brains from filthy water.

251 I am of the opinion that we do ourselves no favors when we do not allow natural selection to do what it does best. And by definition do you include a pin point nuclear strike as "Natural selection?

252

The media over hypped the storm. Definitely. Do they have an obligation to do so? Probably, since some people are evidently too stupid to put two and two together.

Posted by: Harry at August 29, 2011 02:39 PM (wUYfO)

Oh, you must mean like our beloved 52%ers.

253 What would really save this nation and the economy would be an anti-hurricane machine. We could line the coasts with it. Then we could move on toward our anti-alien policy. Win-win.

254 Posted by: Jane D'oh at August 29, 2011 03:43 PM (UOM4 That truly sucks. When I was growing up in Jax we took yearly trips to the Okeefenokee visitor's center thingy in elementary school. I think it was in Waycross (??). Good times. I hope they can get that under control.

255 260 Christie is throwing around the billions of dollars of damge sounbite like the bread at a all you can eat beefsteak.

Posted by: dananjcon at August 29, 2011 03:49 PM (8ieXv)

Seriously.  And his being on the side of global warming made me immediately fall out of "love" with him.  Ugh.

256 i heard one reporter wringing their hands that back to school shopping numbers would be down because people had to use that money for emergency supplies

I heard that, too, on CNBC. I don't think the talking heads listen to themselves half the time.

It seems to me that people still have to buy back-to-school stuff and now they may spread it out over several weeks rather than not buy at all.

257 That doesn't really play to your strength.

I like how you kept "strength" singular.

You bastard.

those people had been protected from themselves long enough that all of them had probably bred.

More's the pity.

258 OK, which Moronette did THIS in Times Square?

259

A little late there, pal, but welcome to the party.

I figured it'd show good form to wait for the guy to steal a trillion dollars before I started to accuse him of stealing a trillion dollars.

260 And by definition do you include a pin point nuclear strike as "Natural selection?

depends on who is getting "selected," but yeah, I could be convinced of the value there.

261 I cannot wait for the SNL skit of a nanny bloomberg presser.  When he does the whole statement in Spanish, yes, he speaks Spanish, it is hilarious since he absolutely murders the spanish>

262 270 OK, which Moronette did THIS in Times Square?

Good grief.  In that filthy water?  I don't believe I've ever been that drunk.

263 I don't think the talking heads listen to themselves half the time.

And the other half, they don't understand what the Teleprompter is telling them to say anyway.

Actually, in Dallas we have one news anchor who is great- I love watching the news when he's on.  He's sarcastic and snarky, and makes no bones about pointing out stupidity- either in a story or when some viewer writes an email that's just dumb.

I couldn't swear that he's conservative, but it's our local Fox affiliate, and he's in Texas, so it's a good bet.

That said, most of them really don't pay attention.  They're just reading lines off a Teleprompter (including emotional cues).

264

Why?

So Gov. Christie could say "hell" in prime time, that's why.....

 

265 Another water main break because of extended dought and heat here in OK.  The third or forth break affecting my neighborhood this summer.  Don't have any water.  And the northeasterners are upset because of a little rain and wind.  Boo fucking hoo!

266 So Gov. Christie could say "hell" in prime time, that's why..... Posted by: Spell Caster at August 29, 2011 03:53 PM (z82lw) fuckin A

267 ..but every douchebag with a hacky-sack and a water-bong can make dire claims about it.

Why I read Ace of Spades HQ,  reason # 43,987.

268 It's called mother nature

Posted by: Ma Bell at August 29, 2011 03:40 PM (H/MnC)

...Mom always liked you best.

269 So Gov. Christie could say "hell" in prime time, that's why.....

I sometimes wonder how much "rhetoric" is designed simply to see how far a politician can go without getting censored.  Sort of like they're trying to outdo Beavis and Butthead.

270 Why? Perhaps: http://tinyurl.com/3zvr9oj

271

Irene? whose your press agent??? I think a need a good publicist...

all I got????

Nanmadol had sustained wind of 121 miles (195 kilometers) per hour and gusts of 143 mph (230 kph) Friday, becoming the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines so far this year

272

279 ..but every douchebag with a hacky-sack and a water-bong can make dire claims about it.

Why I read Ace of Spades HQ,  reason # 43,987.

 

Isn't the term "water-bong" redundant? Is there some other sort of bong?

273 Posted by: Soona - Tearorrist at August 29, 2011 03:54 PM (ipxOT)

That's been happening in the rural areas around DFW, too.  I hope they get yours restored pretty soon.  Have you been keeping extra on hand since the mains started breaking?

274 >>wiserbud at August 29, 2011 03:51 PM (3Okgs) You do bring up a good point though. I know, I know, blind squirrel and all that. One of the things that pissed me off about the movie The Perfect Storm (besides the heinous accents) was the clown who decided he just had to take his 35 foot sailboat out into one of the biggest hurricanes ever. If he wants to kill himself have at it. But the number of people he put in danger with that little stunt was ridiculous. This kind of shit happens every storm. At some point I would rather people were told if you want to go out there have at it but nobody is coming to help you.

275

Hey, come I can't get into the AoSHQ site at all on my Mac, but my laptop off a different network works just fine??

 

Did I just get "banned"???  Would not that just keep me out of the comments section?

 

HELP!!!!

276

I love the headline on one of Powerline's blog posts- "Irene was a Cat-5 Media Event".

I was supposed to be going to a conference in 2 weeks in Kill Devil Hills; looks like that is not going to happen.   

277

Isn't the term "water-bong" redundant? Is there some other sort of bong?

Posted by: Sub-Tard at August 29, 2011 03:56 PM (0M3AQ)

Well... yes... there are Beer Bongs...

278 Posted by: Typhoon Nanmadol at August 29, 2011 03:56 PM (NtXW4)

They do say Pacific Typhoons put puny little Atlantic Hurricanes to shame.

279 274 270 OK, which Moronette did THIS in Times Square?

Good grief.  In that filthy water?  I don't believe I've ever been that drunk.
Posted by: Jane D'oh at August 29, 2011 03:53 PM

Too bad there's no video of this I can find. I'm sure that black mini or tube skirt slid down a bit

280 Posted by: city gal at August 29, 2011 03:53 PM (k1rwm)

Wow that's so interesting omg tell me more i can't get enough of your amazing play-by-play of press conferences and radio shows and conversations with your cow-orkers you're so insightful and you can spell properly and don't construct run-on sentences and omg please i haven't seen a zerohedge link from you in positively hours oh how can i go on living without knowing what tyler is screaming about now

281 Find this maggot, take him in a room ,
then slowly and painfully beat him to death.
I'm so sick of defective sub-humans like this.
 No trial, no jury, find him and eliminate him.
I see no down side to this.
You are simply ridding the world of a useless cockroach.

282

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) is tired beyond tired of the trolls at August 29, 2011 03:43 PM (8y9MW)

Whatever you call it, but I lived in KY long enough and there it is called flashfloods, and it usually happened when the ground (mostly clay in Ky) was saturated and we got what we called wild weather, which often included heavy duty thunderstorm and/or tornadoes.

As for being out of power, big whoopdidoo. I still lived in KY when we had the icestorm (6 inches in some places). Some people where out of power for weeks and even the ones with generators ran out, because nobody could go out to get gas, because the damn gas stations were out of power too. I didn't see Obama in a damn crisis center then, for that matter I didn't even hear the damn media mention it.

283

WHEW!!!

 

Actually... firefox got me in just fine... damned Safari...

 

284 Good grief.  In that filthy water?  I don't believe I've ever been that drunk.

I don't remember the comedian who said it, but his joke was that when it rained, NYC made it's own gravy.

285 @293=Wrong thread sorry

286 dananjcon: "Christie is throwing around the billions of dollars of damage sounbite like the bread at a all you can eat beefsteak."

How dare anyone criticize my savior, the lovably squeezable Christie! Don't you understand how much he loves us?

287

OT but hot off the wire :  Thie below email was sent base wide, I am going to hold my breath until I see  the same email regarding Christmas or Easter...

 

All,

 

 

 

On Tuesday 30 August, Muslims all over the world will have celebrated 'Eid ul Fitr, a three day Islamic holiday, marking the end of the month of Ramadan, the month of fasting, prayer and charity. Following a Lunar calendar, Muslims mark the beginning of the month with the sighting of the new crescent.  It is a festival of joy, family reunion and thanksgiving to Almighty God. It is a time to give in charity to those in need, and celebrate with family and friends the completion of a month of blessings and joy. 

 

 

 

To mark the beginning of Eid, Muslims will go to their local house of worship (Masjid) to perform a special congregational prayers and to hear a special sermon.  They will also give a special charitable contribution, known as Zakat il Fitr.  Picatinny Community would like to congratulate their Muslim family and hope that God accepts their fasting and prayers. 

 

 

 

Thank you for help!

 

v/r,

 

288

 Then, there's the whole idea that the same left-wing biased MSM did the 'over-hyping' of the storm, but are now changing the narrative and claiming that the media coverage was 'over-hyped.' ...and instead of calling them on it, the right wing blogosphere, once again, jumps whichever way the media tells them to...and spreads the left's propaganda for them.

 Plus, that whole 'survival of the fittest' thingy? In any civilization or culture of human beings? That's called "anarchy.' iow, it ain't exactly civilized behavior. I thought you people hated anarchists?

 Right wingers using left-winger's evolutionary theory to try to bolster their arguments. Ain't that somethin'...

 Does your head hurt? 'Cause you sure ain't thinkin'.

289 OT but we're at 280-some odd posts now, so I feel safe asking: Is anyone watching the new Torchwood on Starz? I liked the BBC show and the last miniseries (Children of Earth) was very cool. But I am incredibly annoyed by this one. We're seven-ish episodes into it (and it's ten episodes long) and I feel like nothing's frigging happened. But having watched thus far, I'm falling into the "sunk cost" trap and watching to the end because I just want to know what alien will eventually be responsible and why.

290 That's been happening in the rural areas around DFW, too.  I hope they get yours restored pretty soon.  Have you been keeping extra on hand since the mains started breaking?

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) is tired beyond tired of the trolls at August 29, 2011 03:56 PM (8y9MW)

 

I've got drinking water and other beverages.  If I have to take a dump, I'll just grab a shovel and go outside in the back yard.

291 So Obama could give away more of those Together We Thrive T-shirts that he handed out during the Giffords memorial.

292 Obama is fail personified. The captain of the fail boat if you will

293 You do bring up a good point though. I know, I know, blind squirrel and all that.

h8er

294 So what you morons are saying is our coverage of Irene was a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure?

295 Posted by: CoolCzech

Whew, indeed!  I've had added you to my sig line, and I'd have misspelled it! 

Glad you didn't get banned.  Wish I could control who does get banned.

296

Seriously.  And his being on the side of global warming made me immediately fall out of "love" with him.  Ugh.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at August 29, 2011 03:50 PM (UOM4

I hear ya Jane...he's staring to lose me.

 

 

297 28 Governors Christie and Bloomberg failed in this storm. Ouch. Don't promote Bloomberg to Governor. He shouldn't even be Mayor right now...

298 Drudge has a link to the SCoaMF's intro of his new econ guy. It eas about 20 words, but he had two teleprompters.

Petey is like that kid on that cell phone commercial where he is on-stage doing the Gettysburg address and his buddy is texting him the lines, but his buddy fucks with him and types "Four score and seven years ago, I kissed Emily Costa".

...I would love to see someone prank Petey like that

299 Hurricane Irene has been repo'd

300 Irene (from the perspective of NYC) is the perfect metaphor for "Global Warming" ... lots of hype, followed by failure to perform, laying waste to everybody else on the way there.

301 Seriously.  And his being on the side of global warming made me immediately fall out of "love" with him.  Ugh.

This...and his comments on Sharia law.

302 >>h8er You don't come around much anymore. I have to get my shots in when I can.

303

249

 

we have flash floods out here and they always make an announcement to not drive through moving water...........and every flash flood some idiot attempts to drive through moving water and they get washed away and then the emergency teams come out and rescue them and then the idiots, if they survive, get to pay the bill........... 

304  Right wingers using left-winger's evolutionary theory to try to bolster their arguments. Ain't that somethin'...

Lefty's haven't exactly been lovers of Darwin.  Stalin used to kill Darwinists because he though it was a 'bourgeois' science.  The Soviets also were late to genetics research for the same reason - it was considered bourgeois.

305

^{That is amazing, most people don't know who they are let alone know that song.}

^{Posted by: Jollyroger at August 29, 2011 03:19 PM (NCw5u)}

Hail iTunes.  The band reminds me of The Offspring but without Dexter Holland's screechy-whiny-dentist drill voice.

306 How dare anyone criticize my savior, the lovably squeezable Christie! Don't you understand how much he loves us?
Posted by: Ann Coulter's Obsession at August 29, 2011 03:59 PM

Annie, please stop parking in front of the governor's mansion all night. My wife is getting pissed.

That shit with the bunny DEFINITELY creeped me out too.

307
Whew, indeed!  I've had added you to my sig line, and I'd have misspelled it! 

Posted by: Theresa D., TPT at August 29, 2011 04:03 PM (Zgfnd)

You're a sweetheart, Theresa!

308 Was I the only one hoping that Irene would complete wipe out NYC?

309 Voila..a stealth stimulus
Posted by: beedubya at August 29, 2011 03:31 PM

I'm going to apply to FEMA for an emergency grant...we bought two extra gallon jugs of drinking water Saturday to be prepared for Irene. Didn't need them.

I'm $1.38 out of pocket.

AND I spent a half hour this morning cleaning up the damage (twigs, leaves, etc.) around the house.

Eastern MA really took it on the chin from the Storm From Hell.

310 Sometimes I wish the names were at the top of the posts and not the bottom.

311 *cough*

You aren't supposed to recognize it, because it changed it's nic, don't ya know?

*cough*

But you can damn sure smell it anytime it enters a thread!  So there is that.

312 Did I mention Obama is a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure?

313 Plus, that whole 'survival of the fittest' thingy? In any civilization or culture of human beings? That's called "anarchy.' iow, it ain't exactly civilized behavior. I thought you people hated anarchists?

So, you're good with people having to constantly risk their lives to rescue the fucking morons who are too stupid to come in out of the rain?  Sounds like a pretty liberal way of looking at things, iffin you ask me.

 Right wingers using left-winger's evolutionary theory to try to bolster their arguments. Ain't that somethin'...

Me, I subscribe to the basic conservative value of being responsible for my own actions.  I decide to go camping when under a shitload of tall trees during a potential Cat-3 hurricane, I should pretty much expect to die.  But most liberals think that's it's not my responsibility if I die and that it's the government's job to protect me from myself.  And these very same liberals then want to use the fact that I died because I am an idiot to further their own ends (see Obama's speech yesterday.)

 Does your head hurt? 'Cause you sure ain't thinkin'.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the one who's not thinking straight here, Warren.

Tell me, if I decide to go hiking up a mountain in the middle of a blizzard, how much manpower and resources should be expended to save me should I get lost?  How many people should risk their lives to save little old me?  And, more importantly, how much energy should need to be expended to tell me not to go hiking in the middle of a blizzard before one should realistically say "Okay, you're on your own."?

Please, save your tears for someone who deserves them.  Trust me, at least 1/2 the people who died during yesterday;s storm did so because they put themselves in harm's way.  And most of them were certainly old enough to know better.

314
Normally, "flash flooding" recedes within hours. 

Move the truck!

315 324 Did I mention Obama is a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure?

Posted by: Raquel at August 29, 2011 04:12 PM (1wgaP)

ANY woman named Raquel just HAS to look like Raquel Welch in her prime... am I right??

316 I havn't read all the way up thread but fat Mitt was right to try to spook people into leaving. Hurricanes are like women, you don't know what they are going to do, where they are going to go and how pissed they are going to be when they get there. I rode this thing out and it was very real and scary. 24/7 coverage was a bit over the top. I think in the end focusing on a natural disaster takes the eyes off of the bigger disaster that affects more people, the economy.

317 320 Was I the only one hoping that Irene would complete wipe out NYC? Posted by: Raquel at August 29, 2011 04:10 PM (1wgaP) I don't get all the NYC h8. Yes, the place is full of liberals. But, NYC is a blast. I've been there more times than I can remember (I grew up in CT, about 75 miles away from Manhattan), and no one ever dropped their politics on me when I was in the city. For fun, there's no place like it.

318 Tell me, if I decide to go hiking up a mountain in the middle of a blizzard, how much manpower and resources should be expended to save me should I get lost?  How many people should risk their lives to save little old me?

JackStraw need not answer here.

319 320 Was I the only one hoping that Irene would complete wipe out NYC? Nope, god forgive me but I really wanted it to crank back up and wipe that shit hole clean.

320 no one ever dropped their politics on me when I was in the city. For fun, there's no place like it.

Wear a Palin (or Bush) T-shirt for giggles.  Report back.

321 no one ever dropped their politics on me when I was in the city. For fun, there's no place like it. Are you shittin me? It's Calcutta with good public transportation.

322 Tell me, if I decide to go hiking up a mountain in the middle of a blizzard, how much manpower and resources should be expended to save me should I get lost?  How many people should risk their lives to save little old me?

I remember a couple of year ago a couple of idiots decided to go hiking up Mt. Reineer as a storm was coming in... they were never found, but a helicopter crew or two risked life and limb looking for them.

323 That's Mt Reindeer, dumbass.

324 CoolCzech at August 29, 2011 04:19 PM That's the great thing about America, you are free to risk. You should also be free to die.

325 ^{320 Was I the only one hoping that Irene would complete wipe out NYC?}

^{Posted by: Raquel at August 29, 2011 04:10 PM (1wgaP)}

Probably not, but I was hoping Irene would completely miss NYC so we wouldn't be subjected to all the teeth-gnashing.

326 New York is the center of the earth. Ask any new yorker. Ugh. That's why

327

I don't get all the NYC h8. Yes, the place is full of liberals. But, NYC is a blast. I've been there more times than I can remember (I grew up in CT, about 75 miles away from Manhattan), and no one ever dropped their politics on me when I was in the city. For fun, there's no place like it.

Posted by: Joejm65 at August 29, 2011 04:16 PM (diQWH)

Blowback.  Hearing it too much from idiotic shits that live there how awesome their city is.  The looking down on places that are not there by said idiots.  Statements by idiots that indicates as far as they are concerned New York and the opinions and feelings of New Yorkers is all that matters.  Stuff like that is going to reult in a backlash.

328 In my name is a link to the Insider article about Irene and Obama and the photo-op angle.

329 335 That's Mt Reindeer, dumbass.

Posted by: formerly known as cherry pi at August 29, 2011 04:21 PM (OhYCU)

I tried mounting a reindeer once.  Once.

330 Joejm65: "For fun, there's no place like it."

Just stay away from Vegas. It has corporate jets and corporations 'n stuff. Blech!

331 332 no one ever dropped their politics on me when I was in the city. For fun, there's no place like it. Wear a Palin (or Bush) T-shirt for giggles.  Report back. Posted by: formerly known as cherry pi at August 29, 2011 04:18 PM (OhYCU) Why? So someone can say something to me and 'make me see the light', or something retarded like that? I don't go to Manhattan to argue about politics (or anything else, for that matter). If some liberal decides to single me out and make some kind of comment about me for any reason, fuck 'em. And, if some people are gonna hope cities get wiped out because icky liberals live there, then it's probably better if they just stay inside, draw the blinds, and sit in the dark with a gun close by.

332  
Lysenkoism is used colloquially to describe the manipulation or distortion of the scientific process as a way to reach a predetermined conclusion as dictated by an ideological bias, often related to social or political objectives.

Describes current scientific trends and governments in general, eradicating empirical scientific method in favor of Algorism.

333 This is exactly why some conservative with deep pockets needs to set up a media empire in an ALTERNATE city that is well outside of the liberal New York/Los Angeles/Washington DC trifecta.  I'm all for watching whatever Tulsa, Oklahoma thinks is news, because odds are, I'm much more likely to find them agreeable than all the self-centered jerks in New York City (yourself excluded, Ace )

334 Tell me, if I decide to go hiking up a mountain in the middle of a blizzard, how much manpower and resources should be expended to save me should I get lost?  How many people should risk their lives to save little old me?  And, more importantly, how much energy should need to be expended to tell me not to go hiking in the middle of a blizzard before one should realistically say "Okay, you're on your own."?

Our knowledge of why people do things - or how they wind up in situations - is imperfect though.  I'm not saying I can think of a good reason why somebody is out on a surfboard during a hurricane, but it doesn't mean one couldn't exist.  The question is how much do we spend to save an innocent person, not a stupid one.

Optimally what we should do is bill people for doing stupid things which cost people tons of money to save their lives.

335

Hey .... New England.... go fuck your provincial selves.....

New York isn't New England, hayseed.

336 333 no one ever dropped their politics on me when I was in the city. For fun, there's no place like it. Are you shittin me? It's Calcutta with good public transportation. Posted by: Oldsailor's poet at August 29, 2011 04:19 PM (ZDUD4) Calcutta? That's a stretch. Good public transportation? That's a stretch too.

337 Dude, I didn't deserve that.

*passes bong

338 Optimally what we should do is bill people for doing stupid things which cost people tons of money to save their lives. Great thought, but most people that do stupid shit are poor. The reason they are poor? They do stupid shit.

339

New Yorkers typically think about other folks as "provincial," but my oh my, do they become the worst sort of homers when their hometown is in the news. ("Homer" is some slang I've heard for a reporter (or any other sort of person, actually) who has a bad case of hometown-centricism).

If you've spent any time in NYC you will find that it is THE most provincial place on earth. They know their neighborhood, their "friends", family is all there, etc. To someone from the Bronx, Staten Island might as well be Miami. But when the media says NYC, they really mean Manhattan, don't they? It's no different from any other large rat infested city but they think it is and apparently that's all that matters.

340 Well they probably made the storm out to be way worse than it was as far as storms go, but 1 thing is for sure, it was more destructive than anything my neighborhood ever saw. One of my neighbors is 85, lived here her whole life, and never saw the destruction my neighborhood saw. We lost at least a dozen houses, and my own house was 1 hour away from being destroyed. By sheer luck low tide came at the right moment. Had the water kept rising the basement would have flooded to the ceiling because the water was just ready to pour down the outside stairs to the basement. I prepared more than usual because of the constant drumbeat of the media. I bought a generator early in the week to run the sump pump if the power went out. I probably would have dragged my feet normally, and they were sold out everywhere a day after I got mine. It saved my ass. We lost power for 5 hours, and within the first minute of the power outage the sump pit was overflowing. The storm itself was rather lame, was a lot of rain, not real crazy winds like they claimed, but it totaled my area bad, some houses had 4 feet of water on the main floors, and the basements were filled to the top. I got lucky, really lucky.

341

I don't get all the NYC h8. Yes, the place is full of liberals. But, NYC is a blast. I've been there more times than I can remember (I grew up in CT, about 75 miles away from Manhattan), and no one ever dropped their politics on me when I was in the city. For fun, there's no place like it.

Compared to where?

342 Berserker at August 29, 2011 04:30 PM Good for you, you are fortunate, God loves his rons.

343

Great thought, but most people that do stupid shit are poor. The reason they are poor? They do stupid shit.

This pretty much sums up economic theory and "the way the world really works" in a nutshell.

But don't worry, Paul Krugman will be along any second to tell you why it's wrong.

344 At one point late Saturday, I clicked the remote on every local channel and on every cable news channel. Every single one was reporting on the hurricane. According to my blogger pal, Texas Fred, that's a "newsgasm".

345

For fun, there's no place like it.

I'd rather stick needles in my eyes.

346 I have to step out for a bit, but here's the thing about the double-edged sword of pushing it as a story (hype, for short)- it encourages some idiots to go try to see the spectacle. I've done my share of emergency management, primarily in TV, but also on a much smaller stage as a medic (big car wrecks, interstate backups, et cetera). There's not much to be done about folks running with incomplete or wrong information- look at the number of rumors that were spread as hard news after Katrina that were then thoroughly debunked. It's our job as medics to go out and get people out of danger, regardless of how they get themselves there. The question becomes what the magic line is between keeping the public informed, preferably in a non-hysterical fashion, and beating them to death with it. Is Sheila Jackson Lee right? Would we have an easier time getting people to pay attention to impending tropical weather by giving them ebonic names? I'm very big, for example, on going wall-to-wall in television when there's a tornado on the ground, and I have no problem with timely cut-ins during programming for significant severe thunderstorms. That's on a local level, and around here (KC area), you have people tuning out when the sirens go off, even with tornadoes on the ground. In hurricanes, once you're under a warning (not a watch), you start doing hourly or half-hourly cut-ins, and then you go wall-to-wall with your show the morning of the storm. The job of the local coverage is to inform the public that they're in danger and need to get out of the way leading up to the storm (in hurricanes). What, then, should the job be of the national media with an oncoming hurricane? I don't think they helped in this case.

347 Brian L. "This is exactly why some conservative with deep pockets needs to set up a media empire in an ALTERNATE city that is well outside of the liberal New York/Los Angeles/Washington DC trifecta."

Beck is kinda sorta trying this. His pockets aren't nearly deep enough, but I think he's playing with test tubes in the Metroplex for his "New Media" empire. And Rush has centered on FL, abandoning the NY stranglehold and taxes. And look what country music has done. It has been quite successful building out of Nashville, TN.

Yeah, I too hope countless people bail from the NYC/Hollywood nexus and dilute the "classic" brands. Diversity is good, right? The progressives keep telling me that.

348 It is sort of cool that Krugman and some other bearded douche had columns about AGW the same week that it was proven inaccurate by CERN.

349

Most of these arrogant fucks think that if you hate NYC you haven't lived there. I've lived there, I have family there, I go there multiple times per year.The only way i like it is in my rear view mirror.

350

Is Sheila Jackson Lee right? Would we have an easier time getting people to pay attention to impending tropical weather by giving them ebonic names?

Actually, I would be less likely to evacuate for Hurricane Shaniqua than I would be for Hurricane Bob.

Mostly because I'd be laughing my ass off.

351 Sean Bannion: "Mostly because I'd be laughing my ass off."

I'll wipe that smile right off your face, buddy.

352 Posted by: CoolCzech at August 29, 2011 04:19 PM (niZvt)

Recall the fellow who had to gnaw off his arm to get loose from being stuck between a rock and a hard spot all alone mountain climbing.

Teh fred remarked that since it's so rare, why is it called common sense? It's easier to teach a pig to dance than to get people to take responsibility for themselves. Scouting required going with someone, keeping in touch at regular intervals, having told people your itinerary in advance.

353 I never evacuated for a hurricane. I was in a solid house on Camp Lejeune Marine Base and even Hurricane Hazel couldn't faze it. Lots of wind and water, and the power went out, but that was the extent of it. Our neighbor's home had a tree go down on the roof, but it didn't go through the attic. No one was hurt, much less evacuated.

I would have gotten out if Katrina had been on its way, if I had been in New Orleans. That was just common sense -- but in a real emergency like that, the Governor and Mayor were nowhere to be seen when it came to getting people out.

Irene was vastly overhyped, and authorities, as well as the media, overreacted badly. Where the heck has common sense gone?

354 Posted by: AnonymousDrivel at August 29, 2011 04:33 PM (r4t7/)

But when they make their exodus from NYC/Hollywood, they take their shithead elitism with them, encroaching further on others wherever they relocate.

355 Connecticut was pretty well good and fucked by Irene, and so was Vermont.

But everything north of NYC is a void wasteland inhabited by sea monsters, so who gives a fuck.

^{_{*was told to wait several days to a week for restoration of electricity at home.}}

356 Optimally what we should do is bill people for doing stupid things which cost people tons of money to save their lives.

What about those lives of those who are at risk saving the idiots who decide to hang-ten during a hurricane?  Or go hiking up a mountain during a blizzard?

How much do those go for?

Yeah, I know.  "It's their job."  Well, perhaps we wouldn't need people to do those jobs if there weren't so many stupid fucking assholes who think they're indestructible or we finally decide that you if you want to take the risk, you pay the price when the shit goes bad.

Nothing pisses me off more than when a rescuer dies trying to help some idiot who had to show everyone what a totally awesome extreme dude he was.

You make your choices in life and then you should have to live with them.  Or not.

357

/sarc (I think)

Well, you have to remember that just a week ago, a 5.8 earthquake hit Washington DC.... I mean Washington DC was literally torn asunder... New York, only feeling minor effects from it had to one up the nation's capital...

Just ignore the fact that it hit some little town 35 miles NW of Richmond (about 100+ miles from DC)... Just ignore the fact that children in a local school were hurt and sent to the hospital when the ceiling fell (thankfully none seriously)... I mean that's nothing... people in DC ran out into the streets - I mean which is more important and news worthy?

/end sarc

I've yet to hear much about the impacts of the earthquake closer to the source, although I have heard it was more damaging than originally thought to be there...

358 Dagny - I have family in ny and I AGREE you can't really appreciate the suckage from afar . . . altho you're in the ballpark, I guess. I believe people who like NY - some even claim to love it! - are deranged, their minds have gone. MEANWHILE - my take is - they knew this storm was more of a rain event WAY before anyone admitted that. THAT ticks me off, being inland, we needed to know THAT. ahead of time! The lies! The hype! The coast got very little and inland we got tons and tons of rain. People were not necessarily as ready as they might have been for what Irene actually was. Be accurate! Don't so obviously lie to us. Also - was tracking official info online - the info was surprisingly not available and/or not updated for long stretches. I don't like that. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but it was weird to say the least. Give us the info. The real info. Treat us like adults. That is all.

359 I also wanted to mention that there were criminals stealing from mailboxes in Egg Harbor Township - this is why people don't like to evacuate (plus, you want to be able to start cleanup as soon as you can!)

360 Our local TX news meteorologist is from Oklahoma, and frequently announces  the weather report for his hometown. Pleasant respite during this drought has resulted by not watching network television. Aside from their hyping the heat index as if record breaking global warming temperatures, we don't have Mr. Google Eyes interrupting what we're watching every 10 minutes because he spotted a cloud. 

361

370 Thank goodness there are some sane people out there who haven't been convinced by pop culture that NY is the end all.

They did have my mother in law--who is a well traveled very unphaseable woman--scared to death. I don't know what she thought was going to happen to NYC but she was frightened. Drudge had it being downgraded and the rest of the rest didn't carry it.

362

/sarc (I think)   Well, you have to remember that just a week ago, a 5.8 earthquake hit Washington DC..../

California quakes always get analyzed, exactly where in what fault, what signs led up to it, etc.

The Virginia quake analysis hasn't made the news, naming the tectonic fault line, which way the tectonic plates were shifting, etc.

363

Well, crap. The 'rents in Jacksonville will not be pleased. Mom was telling me how ashy it was outside when the fires were bad earlier in the summer. My cousins wouldn't let their kids go outside and play for all the smoke.

 

I work on the 13th floor of a downtown building and couldn't see the 30 story building one block over from me. It was just that bad.

364 This whole thing reminded me of global warming in another way. Did you notice how anyone who said the hurricane wouldn't be as bad as predicted was immediately ridiculed or attacked?  Similar to global warming "deniers," I guess they could be referred to as Hurricane Deniers.  So, even when it comes to predicting hurricanes, you're not allowed to have an opinion that's different from the one the media wants you to believe. 

365 maverick muse: "But when they make their exodus from NYC/Hollywood, they take their shithead elitism with them, encroaching further on others wherever they relocate."

Nah. The desire for the Progressives to remain enclaved is too high right now. They have a monopoly and dare not tread outside it. No, it's the conservative faction that has been forced to operate within the structured bubble that has suffered most. They'll lead the exodus and create competition. It'll be a very long while before the nation need fear the Hollywood/NYC pinheads leaving its gravity field. Certainly not in our lifetimes. Voters will move, sure (and it will be the encroachment you mention); but not the professionals who traffic in Progressivism. They still operate with central planning and their monopolized centers are still strong.

366

Is Sheila Jackson Lee right? Would we have an easier time getting people to pay attention to impending tropical weather by giving them ebonic names?

Hurcane Shamequa be busting on tha hood, bro.  Man, it be jammin down a f'ing blow, ya dig.  Sheeeeet man, this is jacked.  I'm a gonna sit my ass right here and wait for the govment to come haul my ass to some mo better free living. 

367 well I'm a proud New yorker, born and bred.  Wouldn't live anywhere else.  Sure, I like some other cities but I really wouldn't want to live there, I just visit a lot.  I've never met anyone who doesn't like NY, no less hate it like you guys on this blog do.   Maybe the haters just don't come here, which is fine with me, who needs em.   I give you my favorite.....frank....

368 dagny your view of NY is very ethnic.  sounds like you are talking about one of the ethnic enclaves in the city.

People who are 5th generation NYers have friends all over the city and go all over the city and to westchester and long island.  They have friends everywhere and that is what makes it interesting.  You sound like you are talking about the rare areas that are all one ethnic group, recently arrived and unable to connect.

369 329 320 Was I the only one hoping that Irene would complete wipe out NYC?

No. I would have considered it a national high colonic. Boston would have been nice as well.

370 Those bagels in the sidebar oddly remind me of Ginger Lee's bunghole...

371 @379: I don't think it's a matter of hating the PLACE per se, citygal, as it is the ultra-Lefty politics that go on there.  I love the City and all it offers... but Mayor Blooming-idiot leaves me cold.

372 Posted by: CoolCzech at August 29, 2011 06:14 PM (niZvt)

Most new yorkers are pissed that he strong armed the city council into giving him a third term so that he could really leave his mark.  The horrible fear is that he will go for the gold, governor or maybe senator or congressman.  I guess being a billionaire and having the controlling shares in Bloomberg aren't enough for him.


As soon as he leaves they will put the law back to two terms.

373 <<<<379 well I'm a proud New yorker, born and bred.  Wouldn't live anywhere else.  Sure, I like some other cities but I really wouldn't want to live there, I just visit a lot.  I've never met anyone who doesn't like NY, no less hate it like you guys on this blog do.   Maybe the haters just don't come here, which is fine with me, who needs em.   I give you my favorite.....frank.... Posted by: city gal at August 29, 2011 05:43 PM (k1rwm) You realization that a big part of why we hate it is because its inhabited by dumb shits like you. You are certainly a big part of what makes us want to voice our disdain for your worthless city

374 Damn auto fill

375 367 / LauraW: Connecticut was pretty well good and fucked by Irene, and so was Vermont.

...posting from a laptop powered by our generator...

Odd things happening here in CT.

Last report I heard was over 750,000 CT utility customers lost power (we're one, along with everyone within walking distance of our neighborhood). Consistent response is anywhere from 3 to 7 and in some cases 10 days for power to be restored. Unprecedented number of outages and number of towns that are/were completely without power.

Callers in to WPLR (who says they're still broadcasting via generators) are claiming that after driving all over, they've yet to see CL&P utility trucks (just bad luck?). Interestingly, the DJs on the two stations I listen to went from calling the storm "Hurricane Irene" to "Tropical Storm Irene" at almost precisely the same time (earlier today). Scott Haney (forget which TV station) actually corrected a DJ on a call-in, saying it was NOT a hurricane that caused the damage in CT, but a tropical storm.

Governor and all public officials persistently telling everyone "stay in your homes" (understandable, if crews are out getting to problem areas... so why so few crew sightings? Or, again, are those people just full of it? I've been out in the yard all day - haven't seen a single truck myself, FWIW).

Train transportation into NYC from New Haven, et al. - down.

FEMA already involved - did a ride-along with Gov. GreenTie this AM. They're putting together an "action plan".

VERY, very serious damage along the coast due to storm surge. Houses literally swept away in East Haven.

Most odd: I see nothing about any of this on Drudge or other new outlets which often report stupid stuff. Seems like it's just another day out there.

Not sure there's anything to be made of all this. Just thought I'd pass it along.

376 The NE media and certain famous weather forcasters way way over hyped the storm, but the NHC seem to be very close to correct 24 hours out (from NC landfall) as far as the strength track and width of the storm. My house was predicted to have a 80 to 90 % chance of 35+ winds and 20 % chance of 50+ mph winds. The local weather stations were measuring sustained winds on the order of 40 to 50 mph, at my house the winds appeared to be in that range, although the higher winds were less frequent than I remember from previous storms. The number of trees and tree limbs down appear to match the storm prediction well. The big story on this storm is how long it lasted. (forever) The storm surge ended up being the 4th highest in Norfolk history. It was high but lower than Isabel, Betsy and the Hurricane of '33 by a bit. We are lucky that Cat 3 storms are very rare north of NC, but someday one is coming back to the NE, hopefully long after the hype of this storm is forgotten, because nobody that was not hit this time is going to pay any attention next time.

377 Excellent blog, thanks for the share. I'll be a regular viewer.

378 The innumeracy of those in the media never fails to astonish me. It's not just a failure to understand basic arithmetic (although I'd love to hand them a piece of paper and a pencil and say" "give me the decimal expansion of 1/479 to 20 decimal places" - 0.0020876826722338204593 by the way) it's their complete inability to grasp the scale of physical phenomena. How many watts per square meter of solar energy strike the Earth's surface during daylight, and in what relation is this to 0.75 watts per square meter? Is it a watt per square meter? Ten watts?  A megawatt? The true answer is 'of the order of a kilowatt'. Now unless there is some effect that is so staggeringly non-linear as to defy all known physics up to this point, then three quarters of a watt is just silly bullshit. "Ooh, but it builds up, David." Don't be a spastic. No it doesn't. The Earth is by definition in radiative balance with universe, otherwise it would be the same temperature as the Sun, and thus vapour.  It's not at its black-body temperature because of a) non=zero albedo and b) greenhouse warming, almost exclusively due to water vapour. Thank God for the greenhouse effect, because a couple of minutes noodling around with the numbers says we should be a lot colder than we are (not a hard calculation - take solar luminosity at ~4 10^26 W, Sun 1.3 million kn diameter, Earth as a disc 13000 km wide at a distance of 150 million km and you're ballparking it). Do any of these yapping fuckwits have a clue about that which they are discussing?

379 Sorry, that's actually 22 places of decimals. It's 20 digits of precision, mind.

380 Posted by: David Gillies at August 29, 2011 08:46 PM (FdBA0)

short answer, no clue, and I know this cause this man had to say this

381

This was stupid from the start.

Hell, I'm 61 and have maybe 45 years of awareness of such things and it's almost a truism that you just don't get hurricanes north of the Washington DC area, and even those are once-a-decade things, if that... north of Maryland they lose too much force and become tropical storms.  They can be somewhat dagnerous and drop a whole lot of water on New York or New England, but they aren't hurricanes at those latitudes.

But what do I know, compared to our ace journalists?

382 Thanks alot
great job

383

Yep, 7 billion in damages is pretty small potatoes. And everybody should have known that Irene couldn't possibly do to NYC what it did to Vermont. Is that the consensus view?

384

Apologies to anyone whose comments I may duplicate here - but I am a LI native (not living in NJ).  Hurricane Gloria trampled my hometown.  We were without power for ten days while LILCO worked their way across the Island.  Just because it doesn't happen often, doesn't mean it can't happen, or that it isn't bad.  It was a complete mess.

And the ridiculous behavior of many of my fellow New Jerseyans in bad weather gave me little hope for this storm.  There's a reason Gov. Christie had to tell people to "get the hell out" like it was Poltergeist coming to town - it's because the Jersey shore towns are full of ninnies.  Renters or full-timers, it makes no odds (and oh how the townies love to decry the "bennies" clogging their oh-so-precious roads with luxury cars), it's just a different class of ninny.  Even though folks acted like proper adults during the preparation, the moment it was over, ninnyism reasserted itself.  People were scoffing about the relative lack of damage in some towns; other affected folks were talking about how ridiculous it is that they don't have power yet.

Meanwhile, Bound Brook and Manville were essentially lakes yesterday.

It's not just the cooler water that makes it rare for hurricanes to hit the Northeast - it's also that so many of them make landfall before they ever reach us.  You think this was an overreaction, go live in coastal NC or southern Florida for a while.  Better a little too much than a little too little - and the same goes for having gratitude afterwards for being spared the worst.

385

Sorry... should be NOW living in NJ.  Ranting makes my fingers stupid.