Take THAT, Bobby Jindal

Last night Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal delivered the Republican response to President Obama's big speech announcing his agenda for economic recovery and other major tasks he wants our country to take on during his term. As part of his response, Jindal mocked the stimulus package for including $140 million for volcano monitoring, wondering why the hell we needed a silly little thing like that. This was probably an easy question for the governor of a swamp state to ask, being that he is thousands of miles from the nearest active volcano.

But, as this article deftly points out, volcanic monitoring not only saves lives, but can save and has saved our country hundreds of millions of dollars by allowing the government to pull people and government equipment out of the danger zone when an eruption is imminent. In the Phillipines alone, $1.5 million spent on monitoring allowed our government to get $250 million worth of military vehicles and aircraft safely away from the eruption site. How would they accomplish that if nobody was monitoring the seismic activity and chemical changes that foretell an eruption?

You would think that the usefulness of this monitoring would be crystal clear to the governor of a state that took a huge hit from a natural disaster because officials did not appreciate the warning signs that should have caused them to get everyone out. I guess not. Shame on you, Bobby Jindal, for only giving a shit about the kind of natural disasters that can affect your state. How very narrow-minded of you. But I'll bet Sarah Palin, whose state has multiple active volcanoes that have erupted recently and might do so again, would beg to differ.