Winter Storm Q! Oh My!

Really? The National Weather Service is giving names to winter storms now? What's next? Are they going to start naming every thunderstorm that races across the US this year? "Thunderstorm Tobias is currently marching from the Mid-West to the Mid-Atlantic states!"

Does the National Weather Service have so little to do, or have they just decided that naming every freaking storm that crops up will make them seem more important? I can see the point of naming hurricanes and tropical storms, as they're large, long lasting dangerous weather systems that impact large populations. There is absolutely no sense in naming winter storms. I believe this is nothing more than an attempt at scaring the public and trying to make themselves seem more relevant than they are anymore. Get real folks, a few inches of snow and a little ice is nothing new or even noteworthy, it's called winter for a reason!

Disaster preparedness, or not?

In the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, it's become apparent that the United States needs to seriously start investing (i.e. spending money) on reinforcing the infrastructure of our country. Nearly a week after the storm hit the East coast and there are still millions of customers without power, the distribution of fuel is spotty at best and citizens are feeling the frustrations of general chaos.  LINK

For instance, after every major disaster it seems there is always a lack of fuel distribution. I know it was that way for us here in the Mid-west after a major wind-storm earlier this year. Most gas stations, although they had gasoline, had no power and therefore couldn't pump it. The same is now happening on the East coast. Why can't the government require fuel suppliers (i.e. gas stations) to all have back-up power systems, I mean, it's not like they don't have fuel to run generators! Every quarter for the last several years, all the major oil companies have been reporting record profits, why not make them put some of those profits to good use. They (the oil companies) always claim that they don't actually run the gas stations, that they're mostly all independents. Who cares?! Even if it's true, the oil companies wouldn't exist if it weren't for the gas stations that deliver their product to the consumers. So in my opinion, it would be in their best interest to see that the gas stations are open and operating after a major crisis.

The time that it's taking to get power restored to customers on the East coast also hi-lights the need for our power distribution grid to be over-hauled. We need redundancies built into the system so that power can be restored more quickly, and it's apparent that if consumers had more access to solar and wind energy alternatives, many people wouldn't have to wait for public utilities to be brought back online.

This Tuesday could be a deciding factor in what will happen after the next major disaster. Will we elect a Republican government that wants to sit back and say we like thing just the way they are, or will we elect a Democratic government that will move forward on improving the infra-structure of the country so that we can face the daunting problems that nature throws at us?