You know as a resident of the Texas Gulf Coast, living less than 5o miles from the Gulf of Mexico I read articles like this and I am worried, very worried…

Is U.S. Ready for Hurricane Season?: “‘Last year we didn’t have a clue,’ said the acting FEMA director, R. David Paulison. The agency will put satellite tracking devices on trucks leaving its two largest logistics centers — in Denton, Tex., and Atlanta — to avoid a repeat of post-Katrina efforts, when critical supplies such as ice and generators arrived days or weeks late, sometimes after circling the country.”

Why is it only the appointed directors of FEMA that don’t have a clue…and why should I trust them now? I watched last year as Rita bore down on the Houston/Galveston Region with ground zero originally being to the west of Freeport, which would have been the worst case scenario for my home and family. By the time on Wednesday that I had finished boarding up and securing my home (two plus days before landfall), the fiasco that was to be was already beginning. News reports of the traffic disaster were already beginning to filter on to the airways. And while none of the local weather guys was reporting it almost all of the forecasted tracks were beginning to show a slight veer to the east. After discussing the situation we decided that we had the time and resources to wait and see what was happening in the next 24 hours…turned out this was the right choice. Had we made the run we would have spent all of that time sitting on the road and might never have gotten anywhere in the end.

“‘We’re ready for this upcoming hurricane season — assuming that the American public does their part and they get ready as well,” said George W. Foresman, DHS undersecretary for preparedness.”

Gives you the warm fuzzies, doesn’t it. This ownership society we know have where if everything goes wrong, you own the problem not the people you hired (voted for (or not)) to own the problem. So America, you are warned, as long as everything goes right your government is doing it’s job…but when the fertilizer hits the fan…it was because you did not do your part. by the way has anyone told you what your part now is?

I am assuming that we now must have new guidelines to follow since the old ones didn’t work. Have you got your two month supply of spam in storage?

My plans haven’t changed much if any. Food and water in the pantry (we’ll start buying a few extra cans of food stuffs each week through the summer, if we need it it’s there if not we eat it through the winter), batteries in the flashlights, gas in the gas cans (used for lawn work and kept filled between times). But number one we watch the approaching storms online ourselves, do our own forecasting, do not depend on television news mongers to hype the event.

“But plans to assign the Justice Department responsibility for law enforcement and the Housing and Urban Development management of temporary housing are not yet completed. Neither is a new national emergency communications strategy or an infrastructure-protection plan due June 1.”