Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on May 8, 2010

Worst disaster in 160 years: Nashville, TN still under water - damage currently estimated at $1.5 billion

Pres. Obama’s presidential approval index is still in the royal dumper. It certainly doesn’t help that, in light of the worst natural disaster in Nashville since the mid 1800s, our illustrious leader chose to… wait for it... go golfing.

This is not the first time that Obama has been out swinging a club on the greens while America has had a crisis, or when he was able to duck out of attending Polish president Lech Kaczynski’s funeral (hooray for volcano ash). He has gone golfing as president more than 32 times (crikey, it could be approaching 40, I can’t keep track) since taking office, beating the number of times GW Bush went golfing during his entire 8-year presidency.

The flood situation for the past week is heartbreaking. Flood damage in Tennessee is currently estimated at $1.5 billion.

Opryland Hotel filling with water during Nashville Flood

From Gateway Pundit, Nashville Flood Is Biggest Disaster to Hit Middle Tennessee Since Civil War – You Can Help:

Flood waters cover parts of Downtown of Nashville, Tennessee after Cumberland River overflowed its bank from record rain fall May 4, 2010. Severe storms and flash floods left more than a dozen people dead in Tennessee and Kentucky over the weekend as rising river waters closed portions of interstate highways leading in and out of Nashville.

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The Opryland Hotel was just devastated.

Michelle Malkin posted this list on how to donate/pitch in…

Calling All Restaurateurs: Red Cross Could Use Your Help

Salvation Army – Nashville

Hands On Nashville

Nashville Flood relief t-shirts

Soles 4 Souls – Shoe charity comes to Nashville’s aid

Nashville Humane Society

Nashville Flood Benefit Show, May 7.

And The Nashville Examiner has more benefit concert information.

Common Cents listed more ways you can help.

Here’s Dear Leader’s current “approval” numbers.

Rasmussen Reports: Presidential approval index drops to minus 14 - May 8, 2010

Pres. Obama’s presidential approval index has been fairly consistent for the past month. For a few isolated days this past April, he escaped the negative double-digits, but for the majority of the past month, his approval index has barely strayed from the negative double-digits.

It’s not the lowest of his presidency, however. Per the most recent Rasmussen Reports poll, the POTUS record approval low is at a five-way tie at negative 21, occurring on December 29, February 27, March 10, March 19, and March 20. Obama’s national approval index has not left the negative range since June 29, 2009. His all-time high approval rating index was at positive 30 on January 22, 2009, two days following his inauguration, and has never matched that high number since.

From Rasmussen Reports, Presidential Approval Index, May 8, 2010:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 27% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14 (see trends).

After reaching a two-year high on Thursday, consumer and investor confidence has fallen over the past two days. A plurality of investors once again believe the economy is getting worse.

On eight of ten key issues tracked by Rasmussen Reports, voters trust Republicans more than Democrats.

More on the Tennessee flood…

Nashville Tennessee Flood 2010 – Here Comes the Sun

From Christian Science Monitor, Nashville flood: The South’s self-help disaster:

The deadly flood that soaked Nashville, including iconic music dives like the Grand Ole Opry, may become the worst disaster to hit the state since the Civil War, and one of the worst non-hurricane disasters in US history.

So where was the 24-hour blitzkrieg news coverage of a major US city under water?

With the Gulf oil spill and the Times Square bombing attempt dominating the news cycle, maybe the relative lack of coverage and attention can be chalked up to disaster overload or the lack of a broader political and social narrative of the kind that drove hurricane Katrina coverage.

But one Facebook group still wondered, “Pardon us, did you notice Nashville is drowning?”

Fortunately, it turns out anonymity suits many Tennesseans fine. Chalk up the ambivalence about the relative lack of national coverage and attention to good old country grit – and a city’s determination to take care of its own.

“A large part of the reason that we are being ignored is because of who we are,” writes Patten Fuqua on the hockey blog Section 303. “Did you hear about crime sprees? No … you didn’t. You saw a group of people trying to move two horses to higher ground. [We] weren’t doing anything to draw attention to ourselves. We were handling it on our own.”

With a record 13-inch rain, the Cumberland River overflowed its banks last Sunday, yielding dramatic pictures of houses floating along interstates and residents stuck in torrid waters. Ten people died in Nashville alone of 31 total. The cleanup could be one of the costliest in US history.

Storm of the Century – Tennessee Flood 2010

More on Pres. Obama’s golfing today…

Gateway Pundit reports, Obama Goes Golfing as Nashville Suffers From Biggest Disaster Since Civil War:

Barack Obama went golfing today as Nashville continued to suffer from the worst disaster since the Civil War.

It’s a self-help disaster.

2012 is getting closer, patriots…

I pulled this troubling comment from a reader, tnxplant, at GP… God be with you and your family, tnxplant, you are in our prayers, as are so many others in Tennessee:

I’m a Nashville flood survivor. We lost 95% of our material possessions on May 2. The flood waters inundated our house 3.5 feet up the interior walls. We will have to rebuild our home.

We were not in a flood plain and did not have flood insurance. This flood went past the 500 year flood plain area. My neighborhood looks like a war zone. I don’t know how long it will take to recover, and some may not ever recover from the financial losses.

We are fortunate to have our lives and that of our pets because we took the flood seriously and left early Sunday morning. We got our vehicles to higher ground, and took wedding pictures, baby books, and a couple of changes of clothes. Most everything else is basically gone.

We have been helped by family, neighbors, church members, and complete strangers. Everyone has pitched in to get the hard work of cleanup and demolition done.

It makes me physically ill to hear the people in the Obama administration talk about all they are doing to help. They are doing NOTHING but talk. Blah blah blah. There will be no aid except for loans and some income tax deduction (not credit) for casualty losses.

Today Janet Napolitano was in Nashville and gave a press conference in my area. She tap danced her way around every question. It is all meaningless. And when asked when Obama will come to see the devastation, she danced faster than ever, never answering the question, just saying that more cabinet members would come to Nashville. Give me a break. He could not care less.

Obama is the most disgusting man I can think of right now. I think he wants to be the slavemaster over white people. I can’t figure out why else he acts the way he does. He makes me sick.

I am just thankful for the people who do know how to help and give, and for the prayers that are helping us make it through this time.

And this one from Militant Conservative:

I understand that you’ll get no “bump” in the polls for helping the residents of Tennessee.

You’ll also get no “bump” in any poll for the commander in chief helping the citizens of this country. YOU sir are a tyrant and petty POS leader. Your an example of what not to be during a crisis. Kinda like Jimmy Carter was a shining example of what America is not. Obama your a stick of chewing gum upon the people of America. powder is dry, bought more today. bring it on sleaze bag.

From Nice Deb, Video: The Nashville Flood You’ve Heard So Little About:

Parts of Nashville that could never even conceivably be underwater were underwater. Some of them still are. Opry Mills and the Opryland Hotel are, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. People died sitting in standstill traffic on the Interstate. We saw boats going down West End. And, of course, we all saw the surreal image of the portable building from Lighthouse Christian floating into traffic and being destroyed when cars were knocked into it. I’m still having trouble comprehending all of it.

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