Mexican Storms

I heard today, via email, from my brother and sister in law who live in Mexico, on Lake Chapala. Early this morning, a terrific storm swept through the area, bringing with it a waterspout/tornado that did considerable damage to the area. Fortunately, their home was not damaged and they are OK, but some of their friends had major damage. Mud flowed from the mountain above the lake, smashing homes and cars and filling some streets with several feet of mud and water. There are reports of injuries, though Mexican media is in many cases neither dependable nor technologically saavy, so the reports are questionable at the moment and are hard to come by on the Internet. Hardest hit, apparently, was San Juan Cosalá, a village just west, down thee carretara (highway) from their home. The latest reports I've been able to muddle through on the Spanish media on the Internet suggest that about 1000 people have been displaced by the storm. Here's a link to one of two articles I found.

I was interrupted as I wrote the paragraph above by a Skype call from my brother and sister in law, who assure me that they are OK and that their place is well-situated to be protected from the storms. The forecast calls for more rain, more thunderstorms, and the like or the next several days, very unusual weather for their area. Weather the world over seems to be going sideways, thanks in large part I am certain to humankind's failure to deal with greenhouse gases, carbon fuel overreliance, and George W. Bush. If humankind would just deal with George W. Bush, I'm confident that the remaining time we have left on this planet before it evacuates us from its digestive system would be more comfortable and generally more pleasant all around.

Before I go, back to the media information about the weather calamities in Mexico. I found two articles, both in Spanish. The U.S. media acts, in many cases, as if the rest of the world does not exist. When the rest of the world does exist, it exists only to the extent that it can help our "cause" or cause us irrepairable harm. Why is it that the simply lives of people all over the world have no meaning to American media? I guess it's all part of what comes from leadership: when the president doesn't give a shit and doesn't want to know, then that trickles down. And there, in its glory, is a synopsis of trickledown economics.