This is a politcal post.
I guess I’m ready to post, and of course Katrina is on my mind. As an American citizen, my future and my welfare is going to be directly affected by this crisis and its aftermath. The lion’s share of sympathy goes to New Orleans, of course. As it should. Others have spoken at length and eloquently on their plight. But let’s look at how the terrible lack of leadership on a federal level is going to damage everyone else in the US for a minute.
-Race relations are being decimated. How hideous this thing is. The racism is bleeding off the pages of the journals reporting on the disaster. It is institutional and terrible, and the anger from this isn’t going anywhere soon. The comfort is that the anger is shared by so many. If we can avoid letting this be used by corrupt politicians, it could be influential. But undoubtedly love will be lost and people will be injured and die because of the inhumanity shown over race variance this year.
-Class relations. Ditto.
-Inflation. With the hike in fuel costs, all industries and shipping are facing greater operating expenses. Inflation is inevitable. No way is Halliburton going to absorb losses, for example.
-We can expect the further restructuring of federal agencies by the folks who appointed the incompetents who are largely to blame. More Bush cronies will be in postions of influence, with this disaster as an excuse.
-Higher food costs will occur because of the fuel prices and shipping interference, leading to greater health crises as the poorer folks scrimp on nutritious food.
I could go on, but I won’t. I really would like to see the man responsible for the divergence of this country’s wealth and manpower into a foreign country to fight an illegitimate war held accountable.
What do we need? I think we need stop allowing the political right to freely slander attempts at serious ecological awareness, and listen to the experts who are trying to tell us what will happen, is happening, to our precious means of life. The scientists are saying when storms will hit. They are telling us our waters are being polluted. They are warning us about global warming and acccompanying catastrophes. I want leaders who will pay attention.
We need to be willing to reach for peace with all nations by any means available to us, because the cost of war is one nobody can any longer afford. Can everyone else see this now? War dimishes the means of sustaining human life on earth, inevitably. Whether it's funds that were needed for public welfare, crop lands destroyed by bombs, or populations traumatized and turned to banditry, war is too expensive now that it is so easy and anyone can join in. I also wish the human lives lost mattered more to everyone, but surely we can all see the threat, no matter what our values.
We need to elect leaders with visions of prosperity and well-being for all the inhabitants of the planet in positions of responsibility, and to do that we need to educate ourselves with factual information, and throw out punditry and bigoted assessments.
We need to scale back our assumptions about our way of life, enough to begin to conserve fuels for the truly necessary uses.
We need to develop solar cells that are capable of powering our transportation and communication needs, as well as heating and industrial requirements.
We need to think of ourselves as part of a planet, not merely a country or religion or ethnic group.
And we need to start yesterday.
-Race relations are being decimated. How hideous this thing is. The racism is bleeding off the pages of the journals reporting on the disaster. It is institutional and terrible, and the anger from this isn’t going anywhere soon. The comfort is that the anger is shared by so many. If we can avoid letting this be used by corrupt politicians, it could be influential. But undoubtedly love will be lost and people will be injured and die because of the inhumanity shown over race variance this year.
-Class relations. Ditto.
-Inflation. With the hike in fuel costs, all industries and shipping are facing greater operating expenses. Inflation is inevitable. No way is Halliburton going to absorb losses, for example.
-We can expect the further restructuring of federal agencies by the folks who appointed the incompetents who are largely to blame. More Bush cronies will be in postions of influence, with this disaster as an excuse.
-Higher food costs will occur because of the fuel prices and shipping interference, leading to greater health crises as the poorer folks scrimp on nutritious food.
I could go on, but I won’t. I really would like to see the man responsible for the divergence of this country’s wealth and manpower into a foreign country to fight an illegitimate war held accountable.
What do we need? I think we need stop allowing the political right to freely slander attempts at serious ecological awareness, and listen to the experts who are trying to tell us what will happen, is happening, to our precious means of life. The scientists are saying when storms will hit. They are telling us our waters are being polluted. They are warning us about global warming and acccompanying catastrophes. I want leaders who will pay attention.
We need to be willing to reach for peace with all nations by any means available to us, because the cost of war is one nobody can any longer afford. Can everyone else see this now? War dimishes the means of sustaining human life on earth, inevitably. Whether it's funds that were needed for public welfare, crop lands destroyed by bombs, or populations traumatized and turned to banditry, war is too expensive now that it is so easy and anyone can join in. I also wish the human lives lost mattered more to everyone, but surely we can all see the threat, no matter what our values.
We need to elect leaders with visions of prosperity and well-being for all the inhabitants of the planet in positions of responsibility, and to do that we need to educate ourselves with factual information, and throw out punditry and bigoted assessments.
We need to scale back our assumptions about our way of life, enough to begin to conserve fuels for the truly necessary uses.
We need to develop solar cells that are capable of powering our transportation and communication needs, as well as heating and industrial requirements.
We need to think of ourselves as part of a planet, not merely a country or religion or ethnic group.
And we need to start yesterday.