Sandy's Revenge

One of Bruce Springsteen's best albums (and my personal favorite) is his second, "The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle".  The worst song on that album is the one generally known as "Sandy", officially titled "Fourth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)".  The song is very much what Bruce's title suggests that it is, an entry in a catalog of one-night stands.  Bruce (or the character Bruce is voicing) made her on the rebound, down on the Boardwalk of A.P.,  because his waitress girlfriend broke up with him. Its lyrics are basic "Jersey Shore" banality, while the music, and especially Springsteen's singing, are sappy.

Tonight, Sandy got her revenge on Asbury Park and the whole Jersey Shore for being memorialized so dishonorably. The folks who live there, and those throughout the middle-Atlantic East Coast who have suffered from the storm, have my full sympathy,

And Bruce?  He was scheduled to perform in Rochester, NY tonight, according to a blog that tracks his every move.  The concert was cancelled, so I guess she got him back a little, too.

The superstorm called Sandy is a new type of phenomenon, one that blends the cyclonic swirl of a summer/fall hurricane with the kinetic thrust of a winter Nor'easter.  That blending of seasonal storms suggests something different in our climate, or at least in our weather.  I can only hope that this one is not a prototype for superstorms we will see more frequently in the future.

A final point:  It is time to realize that destruction of homes on the barrier islands on the East Coast is the norm, not the exception.  It is not rational to continue to offer Federal flood insurance to some of these areas. Those who had the insurance should expect it to be honored, but not continued.