JB, I've been thinking about how to respond to your attitude. Particularly with what I think was a jab at Burlington's reputed psuedomarxist tendencies, never minding that the Burlington area didn't see squat. In fact, I have to wonder if you are trying to start an argument with those words.

We were ready, as much as we could be. A lot of people were prepared for a repeat of at least this spring's flooding or the '73 flood which are 40-50 year events, which this was much worse than. This isn't quite as bad as the flood we had in the late 1920s, where some roads weren't repaired for four or five years. But this was still a once every 75-100 year flood.

The problem with Vermont, and any place that isn't flat, is that you have two places to build- valleys, and the sides of hills and mountains. Guess where it is easier to build- the valley. Which was made by a river. What had hit us was the loss of the bridges and the roads- and I'd invite anyone who thinks they can do better to please step up and develop a road or a bridge that can stand up to a flash flood where the river is 20 or so feet above flood stage, particularly when said bridge or road bed is still being repaired from damage three months earlier that was 12 feet or so above flood stage.

Now, you mentioned North Carolina and it's military resources. It must be real nice to live in a rich state that has more money, more territory, and several sizable military bases. The Vt Army Guard is still replacing equipment that they had transferred away from it or was combat lossed in their deployment to Afganistan, which ended back in early May. Most of our helo assets are on a ship in the Atlantic because they are coming back from Iraq, and the flight and ground crews got to New Jersey on Tuesday. The lack of highly mobile, high capacity vehilces hasn't helped, but we had Hummers and helos and pack horses almost everywhere within 72 hours of the storm passing.

But if you want to compare North Carolina, go up in the mountains, and drop most of a foot of rain in under 12 hours in those mountains. Particularly after they were "asked" to donate a fair chunk of their water and technical rescue capabilities for a metropolitian area a day's drive away. And keep the active duty military out of it, just the Guard, with only part of their equipment. I doubt they would fare much better, particularly after a previous flood on par with what we had back in May.

But the rain didn't drop into the mountains. Instead, North Carolina got clipped along the coast, where it can drain quickly and doesn't bottle up into tight rivers. I applaud your ability to compare apples and oranges.

So please, show us. Show us how to build a miracle bridge and have a perfect weather forecasts and how to find resources that don't exist. Because I don't think you can, and your sarcasm really isn't appreciated.