Oil
The Netherlands has built a complex system of dams and levees to withstand the entire North Sea. These waters have inundated the country in the past, and the people there built to reclaim their land. 60% of them live below sea level. Yet they have never given up. Today, they feel safe. U.S. leaders went to study these dams and levees, to investigate how perhaps New Orleans could be better protected. And then there was nothing. Why?
These Dutch protections extend 19 miles into the sea. Oil drilling off the Louisiana coast typically starts past the 3 mile barrier, and the central unloading and distribution port for all incoming supertankers to the Gulf region, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP-built by a group of major oil and pipeline companies-is less than 20 miles offshore. The Dutch built their system starting in 1927. You are going to tell me that the richest, most technologically advanced country in the world couldn't figure out this technology to protect a city which is typically among the three most vulnerable in the country? (San Francisco from earthquakes and New York from terrorism are the other two.)
If the oil lobby is in any way responsible for blocking such defenses off the coast of Louisiana, each and every one of the business people and politicians responsible for this should be tried and executed for treason. I happen not to believe in the death penalty personally, but I have also come to respect the laws of the United States of America. Louisiana is such a jurisdiction that promulgates the death penalty. Over a thousand people died in Katrina because New Orleans wasn't protected like it should have been. Hundreds of thousands more were affected. Billions of dollars were lost. Most everyone affected was an American citizen. And if this happened all to make a few big cats rich, they should be cursed to see the dead bodies floating in the water every night they try to fitfully sleep; they should smell desperation and panic each time they reach into their wallet to pay for something.
Is this crazy talk? Maybe. But who knows, this might be my Pelican Brief moment. So just watch for my sudden death. I have no reason to take my own life and no enemies who would wish that. Let me just record that now. I'd be more confident I was wrong if most of the Bush White House and its cabinet weren't oil people. I'd be more confident if the two countries the United States recently invaded had not 1) been oil rich (Iraq) and 2) a key nation through which we wanted to run an oil pipeline (Afghanistan). I'd be more convinced if the one country with which America refuse to interact cost companies like Standard Oil millions (Cuba).
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posted by mW @ 10:47 AM
These Dutch protections extend 19 miles into the sea. Oil drilling off the Louisiana coast typically starts past the 3 mile barrier, and the central unloading and distribution port for all incoming supertankers to the Gulf region, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP-built by a group of major oil and pipeline companies-is less than 20 miles offshore. The Dutch built their system starting in 1927. You are going to tell me that the richest, most technologically advanced country in the world couldn't figure out this technology to protect a city which is typically among the three most vulnerable in the country? (San Francisco from earthquakes and New York from terrorism are the other two.)
If the oil lobby is in any way responsible for blocking such defenses off the coast of Louisiana, each and every one of the business people and politicians responsible for this should be tried and executed for treason. I happen not to believe in the death penalty personally, but I have also come to respect the laws of the United States of America. Louisiana is such a jurisdiction that promulgates the death penalty. Over a thousand people died in Katrina because New Orleans wasn't protected like it should have been. Hundreds of thousands more were affected. Billions of dollars were lost. Most everyone affected was an American citizen. And if this happened all to make a few big cats rich, they should be cursed to see the dead bodies floating in the water every night they try to fitfully sleep; they should smell desperation and panic each time they reach into their wallet to pay for something.
Is this crazy talk? Maybe. But who knows, this might be my Pelican Brief moment. So just watch for my sudden death. I have no reason to take my own life and no enemies who would wish that. Let me just record that now. I'd be more confident I was wrong if most of the Bush White House and its cabinet weren't oil people. I'd be more confident if the two countries the United States recently invaded had not 1) been oil rich (Iraq) and 2) a key nation through which we wanted to run an oil pipeline (Afghanistan). I'd be more convinced if the one country with which America refuse to interact cost companies like Standard Oil millions (Cuba).
Katrina Day
President Bush and the federal government refuse to name it, but August 29th will always be Katrina Day. A day to remember and mourn the catastrophic destruction that was unleashed upon the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. It changed the lives of millions of people forever.
We have Pearl Harbor Day. We have Valentine's Day. We have a fucking Secretary's Day. Listen, Katrina Day should be a paid holiday, a federal holiday. I say this not in the spirit of getting something for nothing. Quite the opposite. This holiday should exist to give back to our communities. Certainly, there is no way to enforce this. But maybe this is the spirit that John F. Kennedy tried to foster when he said "ask not what you can do for your country, but what you can do for your country." Well, this day of rememberance should not be about our country, but our communities.
August 29th should be a day that people can promise to give something back to their community, to acknowledge that they are each fortunate to be alive and living in America. The suffering that this natural disaster exposed millions of people to is a daily experience in some countries. If we can't give one day back to help our communities, then what is the point at all?
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posted by mW @ 10:37 AM
We have Pearl Harbor Day. We have Valentine's Day. We have a fucking Secretary's Day. Listen, Katrina Day should be a paid holiday, a federal holiday. I say this not in the spirit of getting something for nothing. Quite the opposite. This holiday should exist to give back to our communities. Certainly, there is no way to enforce this. But maybe this is the spirit that John F. Kennedy tried to foster when he said "ask not what you can do for your country, but what you can do for your country." Well, this day of rememberance should not be about our country, but our communities.
August 29th should be a day that people can promise to give something back to their community, to acknowledge that they are each fortunate to be alive and living in America. The suffering that this natural disaster exposed millions of people to is a daily experience in some countries. If we can't give one day back to help our communities, then what is the point at all?
I'm Sorry to Who It Offends, But This Is No Hole in the Ground
Once again, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has caught the national spotlight for snapping at reporters after being questioned on the pace of rebuilding in New Orleans. He derided NYC's efforts to rebuild the "Freedom Tower" over the old WTC site after 9/11. Of this situation, he said: "You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed, and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair." This caught flak nationwide.
Why? Is it a brutal truth? Yes. But is it truth? Yes. NYC lost not just two towers, but several surrounding buildings. True. But I have been there. August 2003. Did a set of important buildings get lost? Yes. Was the loss of life tragic? Of course. But was 99% of the city doing just fine? Yes. That horrible night, did most people go home? Yes. Business was bustling, and once the shock of the initial attack was over, most people could go back to their normal, every day lives.
The destruction wraught by Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans is not even comparable. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed. Even the buildings still standing, most of their first floors had to be completely gutted. To this day, people are still gutting everything. Businesses have left the area. And at times, even those people remaining in the area, presuming they can find work, have nowhere to live. Meanwhile, landlords have jacked up rents in the places still livable. Yet, I have faith that the people of New Orleans will ultimately prevail. It is in our nature to endure.
Five years later there is still a hole in the ground of NYC. A year later, entire neighborhoods are still destroyed here. How can the two compare? Yes, polls show people remember and care. But do they understand? Go to Sarah's blog, she's posted a video of images put to song. It shows destroyed homes, people swimming through major streets. It reminds us that this wasn't just a natural disaster, it was the greatest tragedy in American history. Never has an American city been subject to such widespread destruction. It is why we need to do more to make sure this never happens again.
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posted by mW @ 9:49 AM
Why? Is it a brutal truth? Yes. But is it truth? Yes. NYC lost not just two towers, but several surrounding buildings. True. But I have been there. August 2003. Did a set of important buildings get lost? Yes. Was the loss of life tragic? Of course. But was 99% of the city doing just fine? Yes. That horrible night, did most people go home? Yes. Business was bustling, and once the shock of the initial attack was over, most people could go back to their normal, every day lives.
The destruction wraught by Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans is not even comparable. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed. Even the buildings still standing, most of their first floors had to be completely gutted. To this day, people are still gutting everything. Businesses have left the area. And at times, even those people remaining in the area, presuming they can find work, have nowhere to live. Meanwhile, landlords have jacked up rents in the places still livable. Yet, I have faith that the people of New Orleans will ultimately prevail. It is in our nature to endure.
Five years later there is still a hole in the ground of NYC. A year later, entire neighborhoods are still destroyed here. How can the two compare? Yes, polls show people remember and care. But do they understand? Go to Sarah's blog, she's posted a video of images put to song. It shows destroyed homes, people swimming through major streets. It reminds us that this wasn't just a natural disaster, it was the greatest tragedy in American history. Never has an American city been subject to such widespread destruction. It is why we need to do more to make sure this never happens again.
Share Stem Cells, Just Not Share Alike
Despite the benefits already shown to stem cell research, and the further promise that they hold, Christian lobbyists still fight stem cell research every step of the way. I propose a compromise. Take a nationwide referendum. Let's say 60% of people are in favor of such tax expenditures to support this type of research. Then give researchers 60% of the funding they request. This way, people that have moral objections do not have to subsidize it.
Moreover, once the benefits are tangible, and life-saving or threat prevention techniques are devised, we withold all such treatments from that 40% who refused to support this research. After all, it must have been God's will that their loved ones die when they die--any tampering with medical science would only deviate from that plan.
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posted by mW @ 9:20 AM
Moreover, once the benefits are tangible, and life-saving or threat prevention techniques are devised, we withold all such treatments from that 40% who refused to support this research. After all, it must have been God's will that their loved ones die when they die--any tampering with medical science would only deviate from that plan.
The Siren Call of Cassandra: Communism, Drugs, and Terror
Oft times, it can be hard to see the big picture when you're in the thick of things. But when you step back, sometimes you're amazed. The following passage is from a paper I wrote in spring of 1997:
Puts the "war on terrorism" in a new light, doesn't it?
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posted by mW @ 8:06 PM
"'Global communist expansion' has historically been the most important part of the mythology that has legitimated U.S. expansionism . . . Narco-terrorism is now being presented in the same way, that is, as a grave external threat that the United States has a moral imperitive to fight, a moral imperative that legitimates intervening in some Latin American countries and propping up puppet or reactionary governments in others. If it is not the Soviet 'evil empire,' it is the 'evil empire' of herion, or of drugs in general (or whatever threat eventually eclipses the war on drugs)" (quotes and citations omitted). (Click here for the full text).
Puts the "war on terrorism" in a new light, doesn't it?
Those Who Do Not Learn From History . . .
. . . are doomed to repeat it. I dare anyone out there, set aside all of your work for the weekend. Just once. Go to your local video rental store. Rent Troy, Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven, Braveheart, Last of the Mohicans, The Thin Red Line, Platoon, and Black Hawk Down. Watch them all that weekend. Force yourself to watch each one in consecutive fashion. And when you are done try not to cry for humanity that we have learned nothing in four thousand years.
Stop asking if we should or should not be in Afghanistan or Iraq or wherever. Ask why violence is the only thing that drives humanity. Or should I say mankind? How many of these wars were waged by women? I don't know the answers, maybe no one does, and maybe no one needs to. But does anyone need "the answers" to know that war is horrible?
Yes, one always brings up stopping Hitler. Sure, that was a necessary evil. But why only focus on American intervention in that war? Why did it have to begin? Why could one man convince an entire country that their woes could be solved through violence?
And we have the nerve as a society to wonder why there are shootings in our streets and parents starting fights at soccer games. Come on now.
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posted by mW @ 10:51 AM
Stop asking if we should or should not be in Afghanistan or Iraq or wherever. Ask why violence is the only thing that drives humanity. Or should I say mankind? How many of these wars were waged by women? I don't know the answers, maybe no one does, and maybe no one needs to. But does anyone need "the answers" to know that war is horrible?
Yes, one always brings up stopping Hitler. Sure, that was a necessary evil. But why only focus on American intervention in that war? Why did it have to begin? Why could one man convince an entire country that their woes could be solved through violence?
And we have the nerve as a society to wonder why there are shootings in our streets and parents starting fights at soccer games. Come on now.
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