Pat Robertson Has The Answers

Once again, televangelist Pat Roberts has weighed in with the answers. This time, he wants everyone to know that the shooting in Las Vegas that happened over the weekend is the fault of individuals who do not respect our money laundering, mob enabling, pussy grabbing excuse for a president. That seems a bit odd, since pussy grabbing was one of the alleged reasons that the alleged biblical God destroyed the alleged ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. But who know? Maybe God has changed his mind about sexual misconduct over the years.

In 2010, Pat Robertson attributed a deadly earthquake in Haiti to a 200 year old pact with "the devil". In 2009, he warned the Christian community in America that Witches volunteer in candy factories to coax "demons" into Halloween candy for trick-or-treaters. Seriously; between Donald Trump, who professes to be a strong Christian, and Pat Robertson, why would anyone actually take that religion seriously, at this point in history, here in America?

New Jersey Tremor

In addition to all the cleanup from Hurricane Sandy that New Jersey still must accomplish, there was a small earthquake this morning in the northern part of the state. Normally, a tremor of 2.0 would barely be noticed, but while repairing downed utility lines, and clearing debris from buildings that are already damaged from a violent storm, a tremor is much more significant. Remember the earthquake last year that the East Coast experienced? That one was not a big deal either, as earthquakes go, but if it were added to a major storm, it could certainly become a problem. Why would the Republican party ask Americans to vote for someone who wants to dismantle FEMA?

 

In Case Ya Didn't Go To Church Today

The Midwest experienced tremors this weekend; the epicenters were about forty or fifty miles east of Oklahoma City. Nothing terribly serious, mostly 4.2 to 4.7, with a bigger quake registering at 5.6. The 5.6 quake was felt all the way up here, in Northeast Kansas. A few people in this area are unaware, for some outrageous reason, that they live near the New Madrid faultline.  There are also several smaller faultlines that affect this part of Kansas. Everyone who lives here should be more aware of this, and when I initially moved to Kansas, I was much more concerned about tremors than I ever was about tornados. But that's just me, I guess. All of yesterday's tremors were mild, as tremors go, and did nothing more that shake a few pictures, move the furniture a little bit, and create some windchime music. But some people, ahem, think that earthquakes are a sign of "god's" wrath..............(were's the eye-rolley when I need it?)

I knew there was an earthquake when I felt the Earth moving in what felt like a dance. I could hear her Voice, in a whispering, medium-pitched, almost happy growl. For reasons I cannot place, I was happy, listening to Her. She felt alive to me, in that instant, and I enjoyed the interaction with Her. I also knew that the epicenter, wherever it was, was at least three or four hundred miles away from the place my feet were dancing with Her. And I knew, this time, that She was only dancing.......I have not seen any reports of deaths or injuries, so I will not blame myself for the moment of inexplicable joy I felt.

If you missed church today, I really don't think you missed anything. If we paid more attention to the Earth, and less attention to hypocrites and liars, perhaps we could be more prepared for the way Earth moves, instead of ASSUMING that everything will always meet our sillyassed expectations. Perhaps. But....if you missed church and want to see some sillyassed Christian leaders, here ya go!

                                            

Turkey has always had a lot of seismic activity, because three continental plates, Eurasian, Arabic, and African, meet there. Here is a map, with the eastern city of Van, which took most of the damage of the 7.3 quake that happened on October 23, highlighted.

As of today, October 25, there are over four hundred dead, and that number will probably rise, as at least two thousand are missing. That area also got a lot of rain following the earthquake, making rescue efforts more difficult than they already are.

Buildings and cars, mangled together. Sadly, lots of people are also still inside of some of those buildings. Below are buildings that will have to be carefully dismantled while people are rescued. At this point, survivors need almost everything, from food and shelter to means of communication with family members. The one item they probably need the most is clean drinking water.

There are always miracles, though. This is Azra. Her name means "maiden", or "pure" in Arabic. She is two weeks old, and was born three weeks early. She was trapped in some of the rubble for about two days, yet......she lives! She was pulled out alive. And you know what else? Her mother survived, too!

Time For Earthquake Insurance?

Things ya never think of. Or the time-honored "those things NEVER happen here". And lets not forget the classic line, "that will never happen to me". Oh yeah. I'll bet that's what almost everyone on the East Coast, where I used to live, thought about measureable tremors and earthquakes, too. Until today. From the looks of things, I would say everyone is pretty lucky, too. Here's a pic of some damage to a building in Pennsylvania.........it's bad enough to worry about future earthquakes and start building with earthquakes in mind, but no mass destruction.

                            
                                                      Glass cracked by the earthquake

A 5.9 quake, which is what this was, would not be expected to topple a building, but it can damage your house. Most people who live on the east coast do not purchase earthquake insurance, and quite a few of them will probably have to pay out of pocket for whatever happened to their homes during the earthquake. I am guilty, myself. I have owned several homes in that part of the country, and I never even thought about earthquake insurance.

Why wasn't anyone prepared for this? Hmmm.......looking at demographics a little, I can only guess it has something to do with families either not having been in this country for over 150 years, or families not communicating, generation to generation, about things that have happened in the past. History has practically disappeared from our minds, because we have no place for extended family, and nuclear family alone cannot give us a complete picture of our familys' pasts, or of the geographical pasts of the parts of the Earth we tend. From the dust bowl to the rain forests, it seems like we never learn.

So now, there are new reasons to purchase earthquake insurance right here on this map!
According to Businessweek.com:

A policy from Chubb for earthquake insurance in New York is 50 cents per $1,000 of homeowners coverage, or about $250 a year on a home valued at $500,000. ..........Aug. 23, 2011

That will never take the place of  being prepared for a disaster, or of having a way to contact family members already in place in case a disaster occurs, but I'll bet more people are looking into buying insurance in case of an earthquake, after today.