Police State

Tornadoes ripped through the state of Minnesota on Thursday. The city of Wadena was particularly hard hit. By late evening we were hearing reports that the police had barracaded their streets so that only residents could access the city. I find that rather alarming. I can understand the possibility of gawkers and looters. What I do not understand is closing off the citizens from outside assistance by family and friends. What if you had elderly parents living in the town, or a single mother with young children. It is the natural response to want to check up on them. It is also common to call on friends and family for assistance. This one might have a chain saw, or a pick-up. That one might want your fallen trees for firewood. Why should the police department be able to say you cannot enlist their help?

The more I hear about the oil spill, the angrier I get. Why would we refuse the assistance of foreign oil skimmers just because the ships were not built with Union labor? Why not let BP burn the oil, or use chemical dispersants, so that the oil does not reach land. Why not let the state of Louisiana  build sand berms when and where they want? Why send the Coast Guard out to disrupt clean up for an entire day because the clean-up crews might not have life jackets? Safety is well and good, but there is a time and place for everything. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater by being so tied up in regulations that we cannot move. 

Who in our congress is willing to stand up and tell President Obama that he is acting way out of constitutional bounds by placing a moratorium on gulf drilling and by demanding that BP use a third party settle damages?

Yesterday I did a long overdue scrub-down of the bathtub. It is my least favorite cleaning job, and the one most easily left undone. Left undone, it grows into a larger task as each week of soap scum clings to the walls. It requires major elbow grease to cut through the grime. Now it is done, and I wonder what happened to that young bride who set aside one day every week to clean the bathroom, dust, vaccuum, and scrub the kitchen floor. I think she has gone knitting or something.