Has anyone else but me noticed the ease with which the S Cal fires are being handled? I mean, they fucked up with New Orleans/Katrina SO BAD, right? Doesn't this seem like a very convenient way to save face?

Fact: These fires burn EVERY YEAR.

Opinion: They have literally decades of experience in dealing with these fires. The local teams know the areas and could probrbly fight the fires in their sleep by now.

Fact: Every year they say the conditions are worse than any other year on record. This is impossible. We know for a fact that the southwest is experiencing record rainfall for the last two years.

Opinion: They are counting on the fact that we are so desensitized to the S Cal/Santa Ana fires that we have in the past tuned out the same reports we hear time and time again.

Fact: Fires can be easily set and controlled. Much more so than any other "natural" disaster: flood, earthquake, hurricane, etc. Fire and humans are so well acquainted in comparison that one could fairly say fire is a tamed pet.

Opinion: These fires are being strategically set and managed to create the most impact on areas where property damage is maximized and loss of life is minimized. Isn't it a little suspicious when over 1 mill people are evacuated and only a handful of deaths have occourred? Where are all the hold-outs? The ones that refuse to leave their homes and posessions behind without a fight? They were everywhere in N.O.

All this seems a little hokey to me. Too well executed. Humans in trouble are prone to panic and bad decisions. No reports of that either. Looting? Haven't heard enough about it yet to amount to what one would expect.

This is a managed "natural" disaster to save face; for FEMA and the rest of those who dropped the ball on the Gulf Coast.

PS I'm watching a fire burn RIGHT NOW in the hills just south of Taos.