 |
 |
|
Want to
advertise
on, invest in or
otherwise contribute to
The Answer
Man? Write
to The
Man |
|
|
 |
 |
|
 --- The Answer Man Blog ---
|
Aftermath of the Hurricane
Everyone and his dog has something to say about the recent Hurricane. And why shouldn't they? This disaster is enormous and there's a lot to consider. While most people are busy discussing the current events happening in the aftermath of the storm, I'm thinking ahead and wondering about several important issues that will eventually hit the front pages.
For instance, how will this situation affect our energy policy? Is oil still going to be our administration's holy grail? Gas prices are likely to spike above the historically high prices we've already seen this summer - they are indeed already climbing rapidly. Perhaps this most unfortunate situation will finally create the national will to invest in research on commercially viable, environmentally sensible forms of energy - and then make a genuine effort to develop the infrastructure to move us away from fossil fuel dependence.
Also, we have to wonder about ripple effects in the broader economy. What will a tremendous drain on resources do to our everyday lives in areas not hit by the actual disaster? It's been many years since Americans, en masse, had to do any real belt tightening in any kind of significant way. The fact is, we're a country of disposable everything. Certainly there's fat that can be trimmed from our lifestyles without much suffering, but how much, and is that time finally here?
The politicization of the aftermath is also only weeks away. Reports, commissions, investigations, litigations. Perhaps even recalls and impeachments. Right now the administration's unified message is something like "we'll talk about it later" saying instead they prefer to focus on saving lives. That's probably true and I think that while a large portion of the country is in shock and disaster-mode, no one's going to argue with it. The real spectacle will begin once things stabilize. There are going to be a lot of political consequences to come. I'm wondering what they will be.
There are many scenarios. Republicans, traditionally seen as aligned with the rich, uncaring and faceless corporate interests may suffer at the polls in coming years. (Lets hope they do.) Congressional elections are only 14 months away and that's just a drop in the bucket when stopping to consider the length of time it will take to recover from this disaster. Also, global warming has been discussed and predicted for years. Now we're seeing what many will consider to be the consequences of ozone layer degradation, fossil fuel (oil) usage and other environmental agitants.
In the past, it was fine for a right-wing, pro-business politician to state that we don't know enough about the science of global warming to warrant making economically questionable energy policy changes. Bush himself has said it many times. It goes something like this: "We don't know enough about the science of global warming to risk economic havoc by making any significant changes to our present policies.". I can't imagine anyone saying that now. Things are going to get worse before they get better, and traditionally Democratic environmentally conscious policies are about to become much more attractive on the national stage.
And what about Iraq? With experts claiming that costs could reach $50 or more billion dollars, it's immediately obvious that our $200+ billion Iraq war might have been a terrible mistake, if only because now, in our time of need, we're broke and our army is bogged down overseas along with many of the resources we presently need at home. Considering that the initial reasons we went over to Iraq in the first place are questionable at best, common sense is going to lead many people to wonder if our current leadership hasn't inadvertently screwed us. It's been 4 days since the sun came out over New Orleans and people everywhere are wondering where the hell the National Guard is. Well, duh. They're all in Baghdad. Clearly there are going to be some interesting elections in our country's near future as these and other nagging questions return to center stage, but time with more urgency then ever before.
Finally there's the ugly prospect of more large storms to come. This is, after all one of the most active hurricane years we've seen in many decades. This is just the start of the season and the threat of more storms floats lazily overhead like buzzards over a dying animal. The fact is, this could be the first of many powerful storms to East coast. Then what? Imagine 5 more storms of this magnitude hitting other regions like Texas, the Carolinas and elsewhere. The results are difficult to predict, but suffice to say things could get really ugly for everyone.
Created: Friday, September 02, 2005
| Comments |
|
|
Posted by Owl on Sep. 05, 2005 |
No doubt repercussions over this will be forthcoming for some time. There will be excuses, more excuses, and scapegoats scapegoted.
NO , being below sea level is simply to costly to reguilt and maintain in my view. Course, not being American, my view doesnt matter.
Far better to either start a new city on higher ground or move the survivors around the country.
Rebuilding only leaves the stage set for another future catastrophy, perhaps even worse next time as populations increase.
Not much can be said that hasn't already been said a thousand times this week by thousands, millions of people.
Heads "are" going to roll down the road. Whose heads will be interesting to see. My own belief is that the wrong heads will roll.
I've been locked into a site all week reading, posting about, learning about this tragedy and reading of the mistakes made, the ignored information, the cutbacks to dyke repairs, etc etc etc.
It is a fiasco of major preportions from City, State and Federal Governments alike.
Race relations in America worry me after this because of the type of attention given the matter.
Being one who trusts nothing about Governments, any Government, I am waiting for what I know will be lies and coverups down the road, and the blame game to begin.
The Iraq war, future planned wars of Washingtons, what will be the peoples reactions to these now? My hope is that they become very negative and very demanding on Washington, but time will tell.
Time tends to heal wounds and ease tempers, so a month from now could tell a very different story then and polls done today would tell.
Owl
|
|
|
Posted by Slayemin on Sep. 10, 2005 |
Gas is getting more expensive and we'll never see the day again when gas was less then $1.00, dare I say $2.00. Someone, somewhere, in the world is making a heck of a lot of money right now off of the $3.00 gas prices. I myself decided to say "no more" to gas and bought a bike and am trying to use it as my main source of transportation. So far, Europe is better suited for alternate transportation then America. I'm also not the only person on the roads with a bike these days... Unfortunately, our rising gas prices won't reduce the average driver from filling up their tank. They'll just grumble a bit more and the more fuel efficient cars will look a lot more attractive then Ford and GM SUV's (as proven by August 2005 auto sales reports: Toyota and Honda are up, while Ford and GM are down 15%). Years ago, the UK Government increased gas prices drastically in hopes of getting people off the roads. Contrary to most beliefs, british people were not using mass transit more and driving less, but using their "fun money" to subsidize their rising costs of fuel. They valued their freedom. Thats the British culture, but will the same thing happen in America?
We Americans don't have to look any farther then Europe or Asia for viable solutions to lowering dependencies on foriegn fuels. They have an enviable mass transit system which hasn't gotten off of the american drawing boards. Elsewhere, passenger trains connect cities together and busses connect neighborhoods together with cities. Thus driving a car stops becoming a necessity of life.
Iraq: Hindsight is 20/20, full of "shoulda-coulda" thinking. Our motives for going to war are definately questionable, and now that we know that the WMD was just a coverup for ulterior motives, we can only guess at what the real reasons for going were. Don't say "oil" because I won't believe that for a second. You can't seriously argue that we'd go to war with a country and spend $400 billion dollars just to see a couple cents knocked off our gas prices. Human rights violations? Yeah, Saddam was a bad boy in charge but UN sanctions contained him sufficiently enough. If you want to find a country to fight on grounds of human rights violations, go to North Korea. That country is our modern day Nazi Germany (understatement) with the gulag prison labor camps, medical experimentation on healthy human beings, torture, propaganda in an information vacume society, mass starvation...the list goes on. North Korea and countries in Africa are worse off then even the most hard-up refugee from Hurricane Katrina and at the same time, the least talked about. Four million North Koreans died from starvation in the mid 1990's due to the incompetence of their egotistical "Great Leader" Kim Jung-Il. I wouldn't doubt that the situation has improved much since then either. People fantasize about eatting just one square meal, while a prisoner is shot dead for stealing his torturers leather cow-whip and cooking it for food.
There's so much wrong going on with America these days, that it's overwhelmingly difficult to pick an overarching issue to crusade against. I consider myself a "republican" but the current knuckleheads running our country are just making it worse, as if they were trying on purpose. Hurricane Katrina only further unveils what most people knew already. It's hard to believe that our government would fund someone's $438 million dollar pet project in Alaska to build two bridges leading to nowhere and at the same turn a blind eye to funding disaster prevention which has been talked about for years and years by experts.
And what is with these people looting from stores? I can understand food and water, but TV's and DVD players? That's not exactly a necessity for survival. And why were people shooting at our own people who were trying to help them? Armed gangs of people having shoot-outs? Crazy!! (it would be interesting to know the demographics of those people). We all have to ask ourselves now: Would it be the same if my city/town got wiped out? And if so, should I go out and get an assault rifle right now to protect my house and family?
There's a lot of food for thought. Unfortunately, it takes a disaster of epic proportions to get us to make changes. It took four hijacked airplanes to create the department of homeland security and tighter airport security. It took Hurricane Katrina to do....what? Only time will tell.
|
|
|
|
|
Bookmark
The Answer Man Web site
|
|