jenniferbrola.com

It looks like New Orleans is about to get smacked one more time, even before they've fully recovered and prepared/repaired their defenses. All I can think about is a former coworker of mine who gave it her all to rebuild a home in the Lower 9th...fought of looters who stole from her left and right...put so much energy into the process of gutting and reconstructing...and now she's under mandatory evacuation orders.

Jenga's Blog: http://papucharliesbigadventure.blogspot.com/

Where did you grow up? Do you remember going to the grocery store, waving to the neighbors, or going to school? Really put yourself there again...and then imagine it all under water. For them, it's not about the money - it's about restoring the community. For her, and others like her, I hope that this is just a speedbump on the road to recovery and not a permanent setback. I wonder, though, considering all our advancements, why is it so hard to salvage something that's been in existence since 1718? Is our national will so changed that we're willing to surrender New Orleans now, after nearly 300 years, and walk away? It's depressing to see such a vibrant piece of our history slip away one storm at a time.

NOLA News: http://twitter.com/NOLAnews
Gustav: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=gustav

My own experiences with hurricanes are -thankfully- limited to Hugo (September 22, 1989) and Floyd (September 16, 1999). I had just started my last year at Philadelphia University when Floyd hit. The lights went out at the on-campus apartments, there were tree bits everywhere, and it gave everyone something to talk about...but it was really nothing. A decade prior, Hugo spun down to a category one by the time the eye went over us. That was a crazy experience, seeing trees spun off their roots. As bad as that was, though, it was just a category one.

First they voted to allow "free pour" instead of requiring bars and restaurants to exclusively use mini-bottles.  Now my home town has suspended the blue laws that kept half of Wal-Mart roped off every Sunday morning.  In fact, the county council voted 5-2 to suspend the state's so-called blue laws for an entire year.

That means every store in the county can now be open all day Sunday - not just grocery stores and gas stations.  Apparently, Chamber of Commerce officials had specifically asked the county to vote on the blue laws in time for the holiday shopping season.  Supporting secular commercialism instead of the Christian Sabbath...talk about a hot topic down in the Bible Belt.

"It's time that you make a moral decision," said the Rev. Jerry Devinney of Oakdale Baptist Church. "You say you can't legislate morality, but every law has a moral bent to it."

Devinney prayed for Jesus to give the council the wisdom of Solomon.

"Father, I pray you will forgive us," he said, with eyes closed, his fist pumping. "Forgive us for sacrificing our soul on the altar of the marketplace. In the name of tolerance, we have sold our soul."

According to the article, the crowd erupted into applause at the end of Devinney's speech.  While I respect their value of honoring God by resting on Sundays, can't they still do just that?  The law doesn't require that stores be open, it only ceases to require that certain stores be closed.  Can't the hard core Christians just cease to shop...cease to work or to require others to work?