There’s no knitting in this entry.

We got our lights back last night. Tree on the line (it seems to be our Hurricane Destiny). I am impressed that we got ours back so quickly, since we were an individual outage and we don’t have lots of crews working. For obvious reasons. And yes, there are the usual gasoline issues.

We lost some trees.

But whatever. I’ve got a house to attach my electricity to.

I’ve also got a whole lot of shock and dismay and outrage about the situation in Louisiana which looks to me like it derives from Poor Planning, one of the greater sins in my worldview. Poor Planning all the way from “Let’s Build a City on a Flood Plain without consulting Holland!” to “Well, y’all just start walking and hope for the best.” I could go on, I’ve got lots to say about the situation. But I won’t. And someone needs to shoot the looters. And shoot whoever is shooting at the people evacuating (what possible good could that do?!). Two days of deplorable conditions (and rest assured: conditions are atrocious) is no excuse for acting like terrorists. Situations like this are a call for Americans to rise to the occasion with dignity and with a respect for the inherent dignity of others. We need to see the best in people not the worst. It’s not the natural part of this disaster that is the most horrifying.

If you want to help – and I sincerely hope you do:

• Red Cross Disaster Services
• Noah’s Wish
• Southern Baptist Convention Diasaster Relief
• The Salvation Army
• The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Disaster Response
• Red Cross Gulf Coast Blood Services
• Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund
• This is FEMA‘s master list of legitimate charities with links. Don’t be duped by solicitous emails.

And there are a bunch of sites that are offering coverage of the situation. WKRG is one of our local stations out of Mobile. They’ve got streaming video if you’re interested.

Check (and report) rumors at Snopes.