Texas Supreme Court Modifies Open Beaches Act

So when Hurricane Rita hit the beaches in Galveston, tearing them up one side and down the other, eroding the coastline to the extent that beach front private property became public lands according to the Open Beaches Act, people got distraught. They even tried to plant salt grass on the beaches to reclaim their property.

Grass that promptly died because they were too close to the ocean.

So they filed suit to regain their property, this despite the fact that it is right in there on their deeds that there could be no guarantee that the property that they bought would remain in their hands. It seems that there are rules you follow, and rules that you can ignore.

It’s Texas, after all.

So today the Texas State Supreme Court – nine Republican justices, ruled that these unfortunate property owners were perfectly correct in objecting to the loss of property, and awarded them their original property lines, lines that now extend onto public beaches.

The thing is this: the barrier island system on the Gulf Coast is slowly receding. Has been since the end of the Ice Age 10 thousand years ago. As sea level has risen, as it continues to do courtesy of the man-made greenhouse effect, the beaches on our barrier island system have receded. Soon, these property owners will come to realize that there are two definitions to the concept of a house being “under water.”

In short, what the Supreme Court just did was to codify into law the habit of selling land to people sight unseen as they did in the 1920’s in the Florida land boom. Land that was literally, under water.

Ron Paul Claims Survivors of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane “survived without FEMA”

Take a look at this short video of Congressman Ron Paul, ever the FEMA basher, having a senior moment in his recollection of the aftermath of the hurricane that struck Galveston in 1900, killing thousands.

Get that? Galvestonians “survived without FEMA.”

Now you have to understand that Congressman Paul is a Libertarian so he lets his political views (acquired as an adolescent, no doubt) get in the way of things like, well, like facts.

Like it is an absolute fact that in the aftermath of the 1900 hurricane, 85 Galvestonians lost their lives trying to evacuate the city on a train when the storm surge covered it, killing all on board.

Like it is an absolute fact that because all contact was cut off to the mainland after the hurricane passed, help was delayed because no one knew that the entire city of Galveston was destroyed.

Like it is an absolute fact that thousands of people died buried under debris, even as rescuers were working to free them.

Like it is an absolute fact that the dead were weighted down and buried at sea, only to have the waves wash human corpses back onto the beaches.

Like it is an absolute fact that in the aftermath of the hurricane, 30,000 Galvestonians had nowhere to live.

Like it is an absolute fact that, in the end, relief finally did come to Galveston. Federal relief. Yes, the US Army arrived and put up white tents for the homeless. It was called the “White City on the Beach.”

Like it is an absolute fact that before the hurricane, Galveston outshone Houston as the premier city in the region, the “Ellis Island of the West” and the “Wall Street of the Southwest.” After the storm, Galveston never recovered to its once former greatness.

So nice job, Dr. Paul. You got it absolutely wrong. 100%.

Lesson? If you want a pregnancy test, go see Dr. Paul, but never take a history lesson from a Libertarian Ob/Gyn.

Goodnight Irene

After watching Hurricane Irene jink and jive up the east coast for a couple of days now we now see that it has officially passed into Canada as a tropical storm. Now when Hurricane Ike hit my area 3 years ago it was bad, but I cannot imagine a storm taking out an entire coast as it stayed over water practically the whole way.

Millions are without power.

Some people died.

Others are now homeless.

And . . . and . . .to top it all off, the theater industry just had a miserable weekend with box office sales down a full 20% over the same weekend last year, and down 26% from last weekend.

What a catastrophe.

Ike Sucks

Actually, you know . . . technically . . . Ike blows. But I am adopting the terminology found in a new blog I discovered the other day: Anything But Nice. I ran across it the other day when I was checking out the newest links to this web page. I was actually dumbstruck to see that the blogger, Colleen, has a link to this web page associated with the words “Texas & Politics.”

OK, well I suppose if Pete Olson can call me a “prominent local Democrat blogger,” Colleen can do what she wants. I can, too. Notice I have a link to her blog in my “Faves” blogroll now.

But I digress.

Ike really sucks. I came out of the storm relatively unscathed compared to others. My backyard fence blew down and that was no surprise, it was 15 years old and coming apart anyway. I lost power at 8:30 but it was restored a mere 22 hours later. TV and internet were out for 5 days and it was fun to see the neighborhood kids outside playing and families going for walks.

It brought back memories of my childhood.

But during my childhood, the wind didn’t knock over fences, trees, houses and trailers. The rain fell vertically.

Sometimes the ground moved up and down and side to side but that’s life on the faultline. People here tell me that they’d take a hurricane over an earthquake any day.

I beg to differ.

You see, when there’s an earthquake there is no warning. There is no one on the news with “cones of uncertainty” showing where the earthquake is likely to hit.

For five straight days.

And in most earthquakes the devastation is localized to the epicenter and maybe a few square miles around it. A hurricane is an earthquake with legs.

An earthquake will knock things over. A hurricane will wipe things off the map.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at two photographs that inspired this piece. The first photo is the “before” shot of a part of the Bolivar Peninsula.

This next photo is the “after” shot of just about the exact same area.

Some of those houses simply aren’t there anymore. There isn’t even any debris, just bare earth.

I don’t know for sure, but I assume that the Bolivar Peninsula was named in honor of the South American Revolutionary Simόn Bolívar. Bolivar is one of those place names that Texans love to mispronounce. Where I grew up Bolivar was pronounced bo-LEE-var, with a stress on the second syllable. Here in Texas it’s pronounced BAWL-eh-ver.

But I suppose there is some good to the place name mispronunciations that you run across all the time here.

Like how Texans pronounce the name “Fuqua” as opposed to how Californians would.

Californians would never name a place “Fuqua.”

I Don’t Like Ike

The mother of all hurricanes just mowed down Houston early this morning. My power went out at 8:30 PM and has yet to return. Thanks to my ex-wife, who loved to buy candles of all kinds, I had no lack of candle power.

And the best thing about having no electricity is that you get to barbecue every night.

I’m writing this from the Fort Bend Democrats Rosenberg headquarters which not only has power, but TV and internet. We are operational and even better organized than ever.

Now when I was listening to my portable radio this morning, a simulcast of the local ABC affiliate, the news anchor got a call from a big FEMA director in Austin. He was calling, he said, to reassure southeast Texans that help was on the way. “Good,” I said to no one. Then the news anchor asked what I took to be a reasonably easy question, maybe to give this guy a break. He asked:

“For all these people in the flooded areas, trapped on their rooftops, is there a special signal that they should be giving the search and rescue helicopters as they do their over flights of these stricken areas?”

The director hesitated, covered the receiver, and then came back:

“I’m going to hand the telephone over to the Coast Guard commander here at the emergency response center who can better answer your question.”

After a few seconds the Coastie comes on the phone and they introduce themselves to each other, the anchor now clearly flabbergasted that the question got referred. He repeated his question:

“For all these people in the flooded areas, trapped on their rooftops, is there a special signal that they should be giving the search and rescue helicopters as they do their over flights of these stricken areas?”

Said the Coastie:

“Well, ahhh, they can wave their arms or a flag or a towel.”

Now I don’t know about you, but that little exchange gave me the same warm fuzzy feeling that Hurricane Ike did when it destroyed my backyard fence. Another example of FEMA’s out-of-the-box thinking.

Another reason why Texans should hate the regime that they so joyfully voted into power.

Hold On To Your Butts

Hurricane Ike is here. The wind has built up all day. Depending on how Ike behaves, I could be in for a wild ride tonight. Or I could be kept up all night with an annoying wind.



If you don’t hear from me for awhile it’s because I can’t coax a single electron with potential out of my power lines.

See you on the flip side.

Yikes! It’s Ike!

It’s like déjà vu all over again.

This time 3 years ago we were all watching as the forecast tracks of Hurricane Rita curved their way across the Gulf, first forecast to hit south Texas, then Freeport, then aimed at ME, and then tracking in at the Texas-Louisiana border.

Now it looks like Ike is pulling the same stunt.

And so, friends and neighbors, keep high and dry and if you don’t hear from me after tomorrow (Thursday) it’s because I’m busy burrowing in.

UPDATE:

Well look at that. From yesterday until today the hurricane track models have shifted from Freeport, to ME, to at this point in time, Galveston. Just like Rita. Now I am not one to wish disaster on those to the east of me, but, personally, I am slightly less stressed today.