Month: February 2010

Snomageddon

~ susie

The really heavy snow moves in tonight:

In light of high levels of snow already collected on homes and other structures, mid-Atlantic residents should keep in mind dangers the weight of snow presents.

The torrential rainfall mixing with snow in areas that do not receive new snowfall will provide the greatest danger.

“With temperatures close to freezing in areas that have seen the heaviest snowfall, that could be the biggest concern,” said AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Alan Reppert.

Of additional concern is the high winds, which can cause significant drifting of snow. That can cause uneven amounts on rooftops and lead to structures to collapse.

Winds of 20-40 mph with gusts exceeding 60 mph in spots are forecast for a wide area of the East, from Ohio eastward to Maine and down along the Atlantic coast to North Carolina.

All I know is, if I hear anything that sounds suspicious, I’m out of here.

Apology

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

I had two readers who sent checks – one in December, one in January. Because of the weather, etc., I haven’t gotten to the bank and I’m sorry I’ve screwed up your accounting. As I may have mentioned, I’m ADD and as a result, badly disorganized – not “Hoarders” disorganized but enough that it’s a real problem (which is another way of saying your checks are in a huge pile of paper and I can’t easily find them).

I’m sorry. I know how annoying it must be. And it’s not that your donations aren’t needed, it’s that they weren’t needed immediately. (Which is all the excuse a procrastinator like me needs to get into the quicksand.)

So please accept my apology, and let me know if it’s still okay to deposit them when I find them.

‘Snow Hurricane’? Aw Crap

~ susie ~ 7 Comments

Another blizzard Thursday, somewhere between 6-18″. And here, I was happy that today’s rain finally washed the last of the snow away. Grrr.

A powerful storm of historical proportions is aiming at much of the Northeast Thursday into Friday and will follow up to a foot and a half of snow through Wednesday over upstate New York and western New England.

This second storm will be nothing short of a monster. Even in light of the blizzards earlier this winter that targeted the southern mid-Atlantic, this may be the one that people remember the most this winter in parts of New England and the northern mid-Atlantic.

At its peak, the storm will deliver near hurricane-force wind gusts (74 mph) blinding snow falling at the rate of over an inch per hour. For some people in upstate New York and eastern and northern Pennsylvania, this may seem more like a “snow hurricane” rather than a blizzard.

Cities likely to be impacted by heavy snow for all or at least part of the storm include: New York City, Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, Scranton, Allentown, Reading, Williamsport and Burlington.

The storm also deliver heavy rain and flooding northeast of the center of circulation.

The cities of Boston, Providence and Portland may have their hands full with coastal flooding problems.

The combination of wind, heavy rain and heavy snow will lead to extensive power outages and property damage. Where numerous trees and lines are blown down, the power could be out for a week in some areas.

Chief Executive

~ susie ~ 10 Comments

Please understand: I do want Obama’s presidency to succeed, because the fate of the country is tied to his success. I’m just not very hopeful.

I thought this Steve Clemons piece was interesting, and so was this comment:

Obama has zero executive — zero — experience. This was raised in the campaign but he deflected it by saying that he was qualified to be the nation’s executive by virtue of running a successful campaign.

Let’s accept that at face value, which is a curious thing to do, making campaign success the argument for proxy executive or work experience. But let’s accept it at face value. A candidate is a totem, a walking symbol, a vessel of voter desire. A successful candidate is not a planner, he does not do operations, he does not craft words, craft policy, do deals, manage people. That’s all done by other people in a campaign.

So why are people surprised that he’s struggling now to function as an executive?

He took six months to make the sort of decision on Afghanistan that FDR and Marshall made over lunch. This was not the aides’ fault.

Has he ever been around an executive?

Since he’s never been around one, how would he know how to act?

My view of him is that the aides are a sideshow. Changing them may make this or that tactical element improve. Changing them will not alter the character of the presidency. It is the president who is allocating his attentions and enthusiasms. If it is true that Emanuel did not execute the president’s instructions on Gitmo, the real problem here is not Emanuel. It’s Emanuel’s boss, who should have warned him once to get with the program and, if not satisfied with an immediate turnabout in Emanuel’s efforts, done what Reagan did to Haig.

Haig had made a power play (while SecState) to corral and control the many voices influencing US foreign policy outside the State Department. He had gone to Reagan with a list of grievances and requested fixes. The next day he was invited to Reagan’s office, and the genial president handed Haig his letter of resignation.

Can anyone imagine Obama even knowing how to do this?

I think what this entire discussion reveals is that Emanuel and Axelrod are today the functional elements of this presidency, and the president has not figured out that what worked in the campaign, or in the state senate, or in the 140 days he spent working in the U.S. Senate, no longer works. (It’s my view that he’s not even that attached to the job, which is astonishing, but he does have an astonishing self-regard that may make the job of being president seem, well, uninteresting to him. But that’s another story. I would hope that he would stop with the “I don’t need this job or aggravation” comments, however.)

This is a real problem. Carter at least had some executive experience, but he found that it was too parochial and too small to translate to the Oval Office. Clinton fired his legislative aides after his first year, and slowly (and by virtue of a voracious
intellectual appetite (which Obama does not have), and because of incredible work habits and people skills) made something of his presidency, until he tripped on his d***.

Obama is one crisis away from being overwhelmed. He has not built an effective team, and there is no elasticity in his management group. It’s a collection of personalities. Not being a man of affection or loyalty, he’s not going to be rewarded with much of either if things continue to go south, or if he’s blindsided by something bad that can’t be studied for six months. This is not good.