Now that global warming has made the unusual so very usual, and tornados have gone (at least in my area) from being a very rare thing to a not-so-rare one, I'm torn between my usual bleeding-heart-liberal empathy and a cold, hard logic.

When I see yet another one of the area's western or northern exurbs suffering through extended power outages, downed wires, trees and missing roofs, I immediately think to myself: "Yeah, well, keep voting Republican."

I know not everyone votes Republican out in the sticks -- but most of them do. And most of them have been voting for decades to perpetuate the fossil-fuel-protecting, climate-change-denying Republican establishment. Because after all, what's climate change when you're talking tax cuts?

Amirite?

Our politicians reflect our electorate. When you're willing to spend more time memorizing NFL stats than you are in understanding what the people you vote for are doing to the country (and the rest of the world), this is what you get: Standing in line at a Red Cross shelter, waiting for a hot meal and wondering if you have enough insurance coverage to replace your missing roof.

Oh well!

There they are in the comments section of the local paper, bitching about why it's taking so long to get their power back. If they were my neighbors, I would tell them: "You see, when you demand absurdly high returns on your investments, and signal that by constantly moving your funds around to more profitable companies, you've sent a clear message to every company's management to cut costs by cutting employees -- or else.

"So when your local power company doesn't have enough employees, that's because you wanted lean and mean organizations with high profits. How's that working out lately?"

Sometimes I wish I didn't think so much. But maybe I have to compensate for all the people who don't think at all.