A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall [View all]

[H2O Man]

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son ?
And what did you hear, my darling young one ?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin'
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin'
I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin'
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin'
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
-- Bob Dylan; A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall


A storm-related story:

Last week, in Sidney, NY, there was a candidates’ debate featuring the five men who are competing for two seats on the Town Board. Forum readers may recall that Sidney made the national news in late 2010, when Supervisor Bob McCarthy and two tea party board members attempted to force a tiny Sufi farming settlement to destroy its legal cemetery.

One of the two tea party councilmen would lose his seat in the 2011 elections. However, shortly after taking office, the newly elected member (from Sidney’s bi-partisan committee) would die unexpectedly. McCarthy, in a move that underscores his bull-headedness, would “appoint” the tea party loser as “deputy town supervisor.” He is, of course, one of the five current candidates.

I travel to Sidney from time to time, because the bi-partisan committee and the town and county Democratic Committees have requested my assistance. More, one of the five candidates is my nephew. More than twenty years ago, when my nephew was a young teenager, he attended local town board meetings where Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman and I led a six year struggle to protect Sacred Ground ( an ancient Native American burial ground, which the county’s political machine eventually destroyed for gravel to cover a toxic industrial waste dump site). Paul told me that when he came of age, my nephew would be the one to take over for us. So I attended this debate primarily to watch my nephew, who has come of age.

One of the questions the moderator, who is the editor of the largest area daily newspaper, asked was, “What lessons did you learn from the floods of 2006 and 2011 ?” Both of these floods caused severe damage along the Susquehanna River basin, including doing millions of dollars in damage to Sidney. Four of the five candidates gave rational answers. Then it was tea party time.

The tea partier said (approximately): “Oh, I kind of enjoyed the floods. In fact, I’m looking forward to the next one.”

The audience did not react favorably to those words. More, since the 90-minute debate has played a couple times on the Sidney radio station since, there has been a strong response. People have actually taken out ads in which they point out the heartlessness of a local merchant who “enjoyed” the floods, and “looks forward to” the next one. And when these ads play next to the weather updates, it is helping to define the sickness of the tea party candidate.

I hope that all forum participants are safe through the storm. Stay positive. We will get through this.

I plan to hang out in my cabin, along with my herd of dogs.

Positive vibrations!
H2O Man