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HALF-GALLON OF WHISKEY AND A ROOM
AP writer Matt Crenson’s apocalyptic pre-Katrina piece turned out to be more accurate than many would have suspected, so it might be worth reading this Crenson item on Hurricane Rita. Meanwhile, Texans are on the move:
The Texas coast is now on high alert and it seems people trying to leave could walk out faster than drive.
Where they end up is anyone’s guess, but many of them may be heading to Central New York.
If they get all the way to Manhattan, they can stay with James Wolcott. Lamentations have already commenced for The Poor and Forgotten Who Are Most at Risk in Evil Bush’s Category 5 America, but these homeless guys seem to be doing OK:
Eddie McKinney, 64, who had no home, no teeth and a torn shirt, stood outside the EZ Pawn shop, drinking a beer under a sign that said, “No Loitering.”
“We got no other choice but to stay here. We’re homeless and we’re broke,” he said. “I thought about going to Dallas, but now it’s too late. I got no way to get there.”
Where will he stay?
“A nice white man gave me a motel room for three days. Just walked up and said, ‘Here.’ So my buddy and me will stick it out,” he said, pointing to another homeless man. “We got a half-gallon of whiskey and a room.”
Good luck to them.
Squalls out on the gulf stream
Big storm’s comin’ soon
I passed out in my hammock
And God I slept ’til way past noon
Stood up and tried to focus
I hoped I wouldn’t have to look far
I knew I could use a bloody mary
So I stumbled next door to the bar”Trying to reason with hurricane season - Jimmy Buffett
Posted by joe bagadonuts on 2005 09 23 at 08:08 AM • permalinkI’d like to know what goes through James Wolcott’s head these days. Embarrassment over his earlier stupid celebration of hurricanes? Denial that he, the Great James, would ever wish ill on anyone? Puzzlement that Mother Gaia has decided hurricanes are for punishing the poor and disenfranchised who are probably Democrats instead of Rich Republicans Who Can Get Out Of The Way? Irritation that he has to be at the cocktail party in an hour and his drycleaning isn’t back yet?
My father, an emergency room doctor at Conroe Regional (a hospital right next to the now parking lot of a highway called I-45), has said that the hospital has been flooded with victims of heatstroke that came about by sitting in their cars. Tempatures have been record as high as 115, some so high that they couldn’t measure them, and several fatalities have been confirmed.
The highway is literally a hellhole; a deathtrap. You wouldn’t know that from the media, though. I guess they don’t want to cause a panic.
I can see plenty of Democrat-voting Texans decending upon Crawford in search of food of shelter and TV news crews. Trouble is, this time they may be genuinely needy.
Posted by jake-the-peg on 2005 09 23 at 10:21 AM • permalinkShoot—half a gallon of whiskey and a room? Once upon a time I would call that my plans for the weekend.
Posted by Monroe Doctrine on 2005 09 23 at 10:31 AM • permalinkWe made it up from Houston over 10 hours by taking mostly back roads. Saw towns we never knew existed - - the wife had her laptop open and was running Microsoft Trips and Streets the entire time.
We were amazed at the lot that got onto the major arteries and got stuck - a relative managed to make 20 miles in 17 hours…
In a way this is the reverse of NOLA - we heeded the warnings but the infrastructure simply wasn’t prepared for such a mass exodus in such a short time period.
We can only keep our fingers crossed that the storm misses the ship channel. If it hits there with too much force our fuel supplies will be in deep crap, not to mention the damage to Houston proper…
Cheers - DC
DC-
Admit it your wife is brilliant. Personally I wouldn’t go near I-45 on Labor Day-why in the hell would you go near it when two million are trying to evacuate!?
The Freepers are kinda cruel but hell they’re calling it the Lemming Theory.
Sometimes you have to get dirty and use those two way highways and farm routes.
The Freepers are saying that people that did that made decent time.
In Vegas I never take the interstates-too many Californians on ‘em that don’t know where they’re going, or where they are.
Good luck and don’t lose the wife!
Posted by madawaskan on 2005 09 23 at 01:57 PM • permalinkIt’s around 5 pm central time here in Houston and the wind is starting to make a little noise. My part of Houston wasn’t in the evacuation zone so my wife and myself didn’t add to the highway congestion yesterday. You wouldn’t think things have improved because of the newscasts continually showing yesterday’s traffic.
We’re staying here to help with volunteer work plus she’s a Nurse Practitioner so she can really help (unlike me). Hopefully we’ll only have some heavy rain and strong winds with the accompanying loss of power.A nice white man gave me a motel room for three days. Just walked up and said, ‘Here.’ So my buddy and me will stick it out,” he said, pointing to another homeless man. “We got a half-gallon of whiskey and a room.”
It’s a plan. More than what many had in New Orleans.
Posted by wronwright on 2005 09 23 at 09:31 PM • permalinkI was watching the newscasts after Katrina and one of the stations (I forget which one) was showing some of the rescue boats going into the drowned areas of New Orleans to try and persuade some holdouts to let themselves be evacuated. One man floated up in an inner tube, but he refused to leave. He said he was staying with his dog; with all the looting and the craziness he felt like the dog was the only thing he trusted and he wasn’t leaving his dog. I must say I frankly admired that, after nonstop coverage of “we were abandoned, we had to steal sneakers and shoot people to feel better!” whining. I hope he and his dog made it.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2005 09 23 at 10:41 PM • permalinkAccording to the 6pm news here (it’s 10.45pm - almost bedtime), Rita pretty much missed Houston. That’s the good news.
The not so good news is the reporter. I think it was Mike Amor, and the way he was talking, he almost sounded disappointed that there wasn’t another Katrina scale disaster. There was the busload of nursing home evacuees that caught fire - my condolences for the victime, by the way :( - but while that occurrence is a tragedy, it is still better that there was an evacuation plan and action was taken.
Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2005 09 24 at 08:49 AM • permalink
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Oh, when will white paternalism ever end? The racist who robbed those men of their self-determination needs to be properly educated.