The reverse "Grapes of Wrath"

By The Digital Hairshirt

Suffering in its third year of drought, more than 58 percent of the state is currently in "exceptional drought" stage, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map. That marks a huge jump from just seven days ago, when about 36 percent of the state was categorized that way. 

If the state continues on this path, there may have to be thoughts about moving people out, said Lynn Wilson, academic chair at Kaplan University and who serves on the climate change delegation in the United Nations. 

"Civilizations in the past have had to migrate out of areas of drought," Wilson said. "We may have to migrate people out of California."

There is a startling contrast to this notion, given that many Californians trace the arrival of their families to the "Okies," those people from Oklahoma and the Plains state who migrated to California to escape the great drought that reduced their homes to a virtual dust bowl in the 1930's.  Few people won't recognize an iconic photograph from that time, the image of a migrant mother caught by Dorothea Lange:

So will we now have "Calis" moving east?  And who would be selected to move?... 

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• The reverse "Grapes of Wrath"

What Happens If You're Struck By Lightning?

"The chances of you being hit by lightning are small by comparison, but it does happen! Hank will go through what ultimately happens when you are struck by lightning because chances are you will survive to tell it to your friends."

Lightning strikes the basilica of St.Peter's dome during a storm that struck Rome on the same day Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation - Daily Mail

Can Demons Cause Disasters and Accidents?

From Roman Catholic Spiritual Direction:

By Fr. Fortea  

Q. Father Fortea, can demons cause disasters and accidents?

A. If demons had the freedom to cause natural disasters, the whole world would fall into chaos. So the short answer is no – demons cannot cause disasters and accidents at will. Why? Simply because God prevents them from doing so.

Storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other disasters ordinarily happen as a result of natural causes. Nonetheless, the book of Revelation does teach us that God, at the end of time, will allow a freer manifestation of the power of demons (see Rev 13:13-14), even to the point of affecting the physical world. But meanwhile we should not think that disasters or accidents have their cause in demonic action without strong objective evidence. Cases of poltergeist (the presence of a demon in a place evidenced by noises and the movement of objects) are proof that a demon can suspend something in the air or move an object. Since demons hate human beings and want them to suffer, it seems likely that if they were not restrained by God from causing continuous accidents, they would do so.

Once, I was praying for a lady who suffered from a demonic influence. Soon it began to rain, then hail, and the hail became gradually more intense. Then a strong storm wind began to buffet the church. The wind was so loud that I had to stop praying; no one could hear the prayers over the noise. We needed to shout to be heard. The entire church creaked like a wooden boat in the ocean. Suddenly, the roof of the church gave out and lifted off in one of the corners. We prayed that the whole roof would not come off. It was an unforgettable scene: the wind furiously shaking the altar cloths (which did not blow away), the bricks falling on the presbytery from the highest part of the roof, and the thunder roaring without interruption.

Here we have an episode in which it is reasonable to think that there was a relation between the prayer upon that person and what happened afterward. A curious aspect of this event is that the nearest weather station did not detect any abnormal winds, so the insurance company at first refused to pay to repair the damage!

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• Can Demons Cause Disasters and Accidents?

Ahmadinejad Says Enemies Destroy Iran's Rain Clouds

(Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused his country's enemies of enacting a sinister plan to create a drought by somehow destroying the rain clouds before they reach Iran, several Iranian websites reported on Tuesday.

Well-known for his anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric, Ahmadinejad has made similar remarks before and last year accused the West of devising a plot to cause drought in the Islamic republic.

"The enemy destroys the clouds that are headed towards our country and this is a war Iran will win," Ahmadinejad said on Monday, according to several websites including the BBC's Persian-language site and www.snn.ir...

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• Ahmadinejad says enemies destroy Iran's rain clouds: reports