h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Today marks the 6 month anniversary of the F5 tornado that took out a huge swathe of Joplin and Duquesne (a suburb) and left 161 people dead, 1500 others seriously injured and 18,000 people homeless. It was such a massive storm that it will take years for the city to recover. Schools, businesses, hospitals, churches, restaurants, homes, apartment complexes all wiped out.

Progress is being made, one family at a time, one building at a time. Large projects and small are in various stages of construction. Several large retailers have rushed construction to get reopened in time for the holidays. Every thing that helps restore normalicy helps.

There have been around 100,000 volunteers and thousands of paid workers involved in the cleanup and reconstruction. But there are still blocks and blocks of empty lots where people lived and worked. Miles of them, actually. It's heartbreaking. And at night it is so unbelievable dark now.

We're a tough lot around here and will be OK. We won't ever be the same, but we'll be OK.

I forget, how many times has Biloxi been nearly wiped off of the map by hurricanes? And how is New Orleans doing? People are a stubborn species, hillbillies perhaps more-so. They will rebuild. It just takes a lot of time and determination.

That's true, Nick. These natural disasters happen all the time, all over the world. We certainly aren't unique. And life does go on. Forward is the only possible direction, no matter where disaster strikes.

The frightening thing is the world is getting to be a very expensive place to live. Climate scientists are saying we can expect to see more devastating weather events in the coming decades and the trend seems to have already begun.

Those climate scientists are all crying wolf. Just ask the politicians and their special interest corporate backers.

Remember, just a few months ago when Eric Cantor tried to tie any disaster relief to matching budget cuts?

Yep. And there were remarks right after the tornado on Capitol Hill about the freeloaders in Joplin wanting on the federal gravy train, or some such. I don't remember exactly. We were too busy trying to find shelter, food and medical care for ghe thousands of victims to pay a whole lot of attention. Oh, and we were still trying to identify the dead at that stage.

His comments made me sick. It was the purest example of putting politics over people.

The days of 'statesmen' in Congress is definitely over. It's so frustrating that it makes me want to literally scream some days.