AMEN!

Ease of living and the stupid Cyclops eye of media meteorologists have Americans into weather wimps. The wimpiest live in Washington, D.C., and environs. In a continental nation subject to hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, floods, blizzards, and heat waves, the least jog out of the normal -- a few flakes of snow, for instance -- shuts the nation's capitol down. Recent high winds -- with a fancy Spanish name (derecho) like a cheap sports car -- caused real havoc, but were treated like the end of the world. The wind's force multiplier was the local utility, Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco), which was a day late and a dollar short in clean-up. There was ample power, though, for handwringing, some of it coming from conservatives (Farewell? A long farewell to all my greatness!). Here's a suggestion: Next time there is a spot of bad weather, could everybody just do his job, and suck it up?

From the dead-tree edition of National Review (July 30, 2012).