Iced Over

I thought about writing on one of several different topics this morning, like the incredibly sexist new commercials aired during the Super Bowl last night. There was a Doritos one in which this young man bit into a Dorito, and it ripped all of the clothes off of a woman on the street. Nice. Or for a new website that allows one to do whatever one wants, so this group of guys are having Danica Patrick taking numerous showers throughout the day. Ah, yes - the ads these days look like the ads from decades past, objectifying women as sexual objects. Great.

Then, I thought about writing on Michael Steele, the new RNC chair, and former Lt. Gov. of MD who had his credit record exposed by Schumer staffer a few years back. Turns out Mr. Steele wants the RNC to move forward, and to be open to all people. Interesting idea there, Mr. Steele.

Or maybe how Obama now wants an "assessment" on the whole "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" thing before, you know, anything changes. Why doesn't he just ask one of the 24 countries that DO allow gay people to serve openly in their military how they manage to accomplish this? I mean, heckfire, it's not rocket science or anything. Clearly, other countries are managing just fine. But, no, we taxpayers will pay for some study that will take ages to complete to tell us what we already know. Meanwhile, our military will continue to throw out service members who are fluent in Arabic because - gasp - they happen to be LGBT. Because that makes so much sense. As much as doing another freakin' study on it. Okey dokey.

But then I got this email from one of my oldest and dearest friends, who lives down near the Kentucky border:

It's good to be back at work, in the light, in the warm, in the grid.

I still have no electricity at my house. We have a generator which we use to run the frig, an electric heater, one light, and we alternate the remaining plug between various items. We have mainly used a Coleman stove and the grill for cooking. It is getting old. They say most houses in my electric co-op will be back on in 2-4 days. We're lucky to have (cold) water, some don't. The disastrous event occurred on Tuesday. (Local) businesses were finally open again over the weekend. Last week we had to drive 45 miles north just to buy gas for our generator. Things like camping stoves, little cans of propane, etc. were sold out throughout the area. There is not a treetop left in (the) county. We lost the top out of the beautiful pine beside of our house (and all the rest of our trees too). It's our little Katrina and things will never be the same.

My friend and her husband have been without power for days now. They are some of the hundreds of thousands of people who have been affected by this incredible ice-storm that swept through the Mid-West last week. The Kentucky governor, Steve Beshear, called out the ENTIRE Army National Guard to deal with the fallout from this storm.

And this is just a glimpse of with what the people in the Mid-West are dealing:







Their own Katrina indeed. One of my fellow writers at No Quarter will be dealing with some of the major political issues regarding this incredible storm, but for today, I wanted to highlight the personal side of the political situation. People are without water, and heat. People have been trapped in their homes. People have to drive miles and miles to get fuel. People continue to be without power a week after the storm. Tragically, people have lost their lives in this horrific storm.

Let us bear these thousands and thousands of people up in our hearts, in our thoughts, and in our prayers. And maybe, just maybe, treat each other with a little more kindness. Please.