Amazing Grace Moment
What a year for epiphanies! Looking at dead and dying marine life is always stressful, sad, threatening…especially knowing that by my thoughtless actions, and those of my fellows, I have had a hand in their deaths…hurts the soul. I could never just walk up to a bird and pour oil over it and cause it to suffocate. Take that, Ms. Egret!
Could I? No, but I can sure drive my car two blocks when I could certainly walk or bike to my destination. Then I might not harm a single feather.
The latest Torture of the Innocents we are seeing on TV, the calves beaten with metal rods, etc., reminds me of the Biblical Slaughter of the Innocents. What did these poor baby animals do to bring out the Anti-Christ in man? How am I responsible---before I point the finger at the slaughter house workers I saw on my screen yesterday?
The hymn “Amazing Grace” is the leitmotif for our time---we will wake up when our own bacon is on the line, we will, as cowards, turn to prayer, the government, “regulators” and authorities instead of doing it ourselves. All of these are great but have their limits. We need a new favorite hymn, maybe. Sung to the tune of A.G. it could go, something like:
“Responsiiiiible, that’s what I am. I have to help, Myyyyyself…I have to save the pre-e-e-cious birds and leave the calves alone…I know that I sure have a role, in all I see before…Me… iiiin the Gulf of Mexico, and in the slaughter homes….”
Follow the bouncing ball!
Gods, if you will only save me now I will never drive another unnecessary mile in my o-so-unnecessary-SUV. I swear that I will combine my trips, think before I drive, eat less and less meat! If you will deign to save my bacon this time, I will eat less and less of someone else’s.
Ye Gods, I know I cannot say I have absolutely no role in the beating and cruelty done to innocent calves. It is my appetites that, in part, have brought this about. I know I cannot say, “Tough it out, Mr. Turtle. I guess its just your karma.
What will it take, O Lords of the Universe, for me and mine to behave? Will we need to be (and this is a direction in which we seem to be headed) under constant and continual surveillance? Up with the big lights. I have to be watched 24/7 to be a decent Humanthing.Oh! Dear Gods and Goddesses, Dear Jesu, Maria, Shiva and Alla, come to find out, as we say in Texas, I am responsible!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Make the Bad Thing Stop
As a Crustacean, that is a citizen of Corpus Christi, or Crustyton, Texas, I have observed that the BP disaster ‘fixes-so-far’ are more Mickey Mouse than McIver. And really there are none. Did I hear right that this thing hemorrhages 800,000 barrels of crude per day? What it looks like it comes to is…no techfix for this…Challenger, Chernobyl, Katrina …Sometimes we don’t’ get caught playing with matches---sometimes we do. Sometimes we are burned beyond recognition like unfortunate children who wouldn’t listen. Sometimes we wake up worried after an evening of fun with the Octomom!
Did I really hear that this could’ve been prevented with a sort of prophylactic device called an acoustic trigger, and that such device costs only $500k a pop, and that BP got a pass from our Interior Dep’t and didn’t have to use it??? Did I hear this? Now, pundits, scholars and sages are beginning to say that there’s no fix. See the Lehrer Report for May 31, 2010---Memorial Day for the Gulf of Mexico. On the News Hour, among several scholars, was one Amy Jaffe—a Senior Energy Advisor at the Baker Institute at Rice University. Here is a quote re public reaction, from the best and the brightest, on this deal:
“So -- and it was really amazing that the industry -- we were sort of running out of oil onshore, and the industry was able to go out to the depths of the earth, under the sea, and keep us driving around in our cars. So, to sit here night after night and watch all these scientists unable to close a simple pipeline, even though it's a very complex engineering problem, as a layperson, when you sit here and watch the oil just spewing out of this pipeline, it is. It's just this horror movie, like we cannot believe that there isn't a technology to close this pipeline. And we, as Americans, believe there's a technological solution to everything. And the idea that we're going to have to wait until August for the technological solution, I think it's just got people just gripped in terror.
OMG, Amy! There’s no fix other than to conserve. Is that so hard? Are we, as wondered before, such narcissistic babies that we can’t do this? Are we that weak as a people? The one certainty is that leaders will never ask the American people to take their share, take responsibility for this, which we should. Everything you see about this suggests that ‘they’ should fix it---the gov’t, the oil companies. What if we go ahead and fix it ourselves by not driving SUVs and by moving out of our McMansions and into right sized houses, etc.
To me, this is a call for the little guy to do her/his part.
But if you pose as a leader, then you have to lead. You have to stand up and tell the folks the truth, for once. Like it is not okay to build a Las Brisas here is Crustyton, because if something goes wrong, and it very likely will, we won’t be able to make the bad thing stop!
If, in addition to braces and a college education, you want your kids to have the luxury of breathing, you will ‘unsupport’ Las Bs if you have not already done do.
Did I really hear that this could’ve been prevented with a sort of prophylactic device called an acoustic trigger, and that such device costs only $500k a pop, and that BP got a pass from our Interior Dep’t and didn’t have to use it??? Did I hear this? Now, pundits, scholars and sages are beginning to say that there’s no fix. See the Lehrer Report for May 31, 2010---Memorial Day for the Gulf of Mexico. On the News Hour, among several scholars, was one Amy Jaffe—a Senior Energy Advisor at the Baker Institute at Rice University. Here is a quote re public reaction, from the best and the brightest, on this deal:
“So -- and it was really amazing that the industry -- we were sort of running out of oil onshore, and the industry was able to go out to the depths of the earth, under the sea, and keep us driving around in our cars. So, to sit here night after night and watch all these scientists unable to close a simple pipeline, even though it's a very complex engineering problem, as a layperson, when you sit here and watch the oil just spewing out of this pipeline, it is. It's just this horror movie, like we cannot believe that there isn't a technology to close this pipeline. And we, as Americans, believe there's a technological solution to everything. And the idea that we're going to have to wait until August for the technological solution, I think it's just got people just gripped in terror.
OMG, Amy! There’s no fix other than to conserve. Is that so hard? Are we, as wondered before, such narcissistic babies that we can’t do this? Are we that weak as a people? The one certainty is that leaders will never ask the American people to take their share, take responsibility for this, which we should. Everything you see about this suggests that ‘they’ should fix it---the gov’t, the oil companies. What if we go ahead and fix it ourselves by not driving SUVs and by moving out of our McMansions and into right sized houses, etc.
To me, this is a call for the little guy to do her/his part.
But if you pose as a leader, then you have to lead. You have to stand up and tell the folks the truth, for once. Like it is not okay to build a Las Brisas here is Crustyton, because if something goes wrong, and it very likely will, we won’t be able to make the bad thing stop!
If, in addition to braces and a college education, you want your kids to have the luxury of breathing, you will ‘unsupport’ Las Bs if you have not already done do.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Musings of My Godmother
Musings of your Godmother. In many ways your story is similar to the generation before you (Mary, Katherine, your mother, and me) - the Beach days. Way back when, the Burns family left the sidewalks of Yorkville behind every year around Memorial Day for summer stays at the Rockaways. That tradition continued until the early '50s when charter buses became popular. Shortly, it became obvious that these day-hops couldn't care less about keeping the shoreline pristine. In addition, the ocean itself was becoming noticeably affected by indiscriminate dumpings of the NYC Boroughs into the local rivers emptying into the Atlantic. Standing out in my mind was the disappearance of a daily exciting sight - schools of porpoise in the morning headed towards Long Island and in the evening back to the Jersey shore. Sadly, the time came to move on.
The recent oil spill is another hardship Edward's LA in-law relations and their friends who live near the bayou must endure. The area was ravaged by Katrina and now this on top of a totally depressed local economy. I must say that they're a tough bunch - true survivors - very much to be admired.
It seems to me that your missive could be the opening salvo for a career change - thinking of running for office? Love, Julie
The recent oil spill is another hardship Edward's LA in-law relations and their friends who live near the bayou must endure. The area was ravaged by Katrina and now this on top of a totally depressed local economy. I must say that they're a tough bunch - true survivors - very much to be admired.
It seems to me that your missive could be the opening salvo for a career change - thinking of running for office? Love, Julie
Memorial Day for the Gulf
If you want to let your so-called national leaders know how you feel about the BP catastrophe, here is the Congressional switchboard number: (202) 224-3121. You can call and leave a message for any member of Congress, including our own who, one assumes, just might be closely connected to Big Oil. This is very easy to do, calling, along with emailing them.
What is really needed is for national AND LOCAL leadership to tell people to cut their own personal energy consumption and reduce their carbon footprint---but most leaders have a gnawing “Fear of The Cardigan”---remember when Prez Carter told us all to cut down the heat and wear a sweater---he was right but that wasn’t sexy. The People fired him for telling the truth, but in a wimpy, uninteresting way. He should have waited 'til summer and told everyone to cut down their ac, and take off their clothes…timing is everything.
The American people (and the people of CC) are not such narcissistic babies that they cannot understand or do the thinking, sacrificing, and work that is now required of them to clean up the giant mess they made. The people can and will be held responsible because that is really Nature’s way---as it says in some great book, “You reap what you sow”. It is so much the individual’s and the family’s responsibility, as well as that of society, just likes any great cause. It is very understandable, a crystal clear issue, and NOW is the moment. It is also the responsibility of anyone who wants to be a leader in society to make the bold move. The U.S. has been “bitch-slapped” just like it was in 911 and Pearl Harbor.
This is a Big Moment in History. But just as with slavery, there is a long backstory here---as slavery took 400 years to come to terms with and to own as a personal, familial and national cause, so will the at least 200 year old environmental crisis. It is no new problem but goes to the roots of an exploitive, extractive mind set and economy where the national motto is “Where’s mine?” Fixing this is about restoring justice to all of life---larvae to leaders. Driving a big (empty-except-for-you) SUV is the moral equivalent of holding a slave!
Speaking of our local environs ironically named Corpus Christi or Body of Christ Town, when people talk of a Sparkling City, a resort, a recreation area, how is that compatible with a city that is really like one big coal mine? Polluting industries are the life blood of the area, the only real economy and engine of jobs, and yet we call for and ask for and encourage them all the more, hence, Las Brisas. We do little to get after alternative industries and enterprises that could preserve what beauty is left. Then we say, “Where are our fish? Clams, Shrimp? Birds? Why do my kids have asthma? O, God, look at our filthy beach. Let’s beautify it!”
This is putting lipstick on the proverbial pig! The people of CC were given much in the form of natural resources and beauty. There is a phrase I never get right, and it goes something like, “to whom much is given, of him or her much is expected”. Well, I think a lot more is expected of any ‘green’ organization or group than supporting a coal fired industry! Supporting this is what I call Eco-Treason. This is comparable to a war. Any leader who supports this type of dirty business is selling out the Future.
Senator Cornyn sent me a message yesterday in response to my constant barrage of letters, calls and emails. In this letter, he has the Bqqqs to do the usual fear-mongering and bleat out his message that our enemies will somehow get us if stop drilling for oil in the Gulf. He and other continuously conflate the problems of energy with the problem of Al-Qaida and of terrorism and the Middle East. That’s easy and cheap to do. But you don’t see them asking us to change or really supporting a diverse energy system.
Cornyn makes little mention about what he plans to do to support clean energy, let alone to ask US to sacrifice. Ha! For our leaders, it is ALL about FOF, fear of foreigners. Nowadays, when a crisis comes along, the bullies shout, “Get the Mexicans!” and hope that will distract the public from its real problems, and sadly, it works. It is not too far a cry from, “Get the Jews”. It is certainly not about “asking what you can do for your country”---and I think to myself, how the mighty have fallen.
If you want to let your so-called national leaders know how you feel about the BP catastrophe, here is the Congressional switchboard number: (202) 224-3121. You can call and leave a message for any member of Congress, including our own who, one assumes, just might be closely connected to Big Oil. This is very easy to do, calling, along with emailing them.
What is really needed is for national AND LOCAL leadership to tell people to cut their own personal energy consumption and reduce their carbon footprint---but most leaders have a gnawing “Fear of The Cardigan”---remember when Prez Carter told us all to cut down the heat and wear a sweater---he was right but that wasn’t sexy. The People fired him for telling the truth, but in a wimpy, uninteresting way. He should have waited 'til summer and told everyone to cut down their ac, and take off their clothes…timing is everything.
The American people (and the people of CC) are not such narcissistic babies that they cannot understand or do the thinking, sacrificing, and work that is now required of them to clean up the giant mess they made. The people can and will be held responsible because that is really Nature’s way---as it says in some great book, “You reap what you sow”. It is so much the individual’s and the family’s responsibility, as well as that of society, just likes any great cause. It is very understandable, a crystal clear issue, and NOW is the moment. It is also the responsibility of anyone who wants to be a leader in society to make the bold move. The U.S. has been “bitch-slapped” just like it was in 911 and Pearl Harbor.
This is a Big Moment in History. But just as with slavery, there is a long backstory here---as slavery took 400 years to come to terms with and to own as a personal, familial and national cause, so will the at least 200 year old environmental crisis. It is no new problem but goes to the roots of an exploitive, extractive mind set and economy where the national motto is “Where’s mine?” Fixing this is about restoring justice to all of life---larvae to leaders. Driving a big (empty-except-for-you) SUV is the moral equivalent of holding a slave!
Speaking of our local environs ironically named Corpus Christi or Body of Christ Town, when people talk of a Sparkling City, a resort, a recreation area, how is that compatible with a city that is really like one big coal mine? Polluting industries are the life blood of the area, the only real economy and engine of jobs, and yet we call for and ask for and encourage them all the more, hence, Las Brisas. We do little to get after alternative industries and enterprises that could preserve what beauty is left. Then we say, “Where are our fish? Clams, Shrimp? Birds? Why do my kids have asthma? O, God, look at our filthy beach. Let’s beautify it!”
This is putting lipstick on the proverbial pig! The people of CC were given much in the form of natural resources and beauty. There is a phrase I never get right, and it goes something like, “to whom much is given, of him or her much is expected”. Well, I think a lot more is expected of any ‘green’ organization or group than supporting a coal fired industry! Supporting this is what I call Eco-Treason. This is comparable to a war. Any leader who supports this type of dirty business is selling out the Future.
Senator Cornyn sent me a message yesterday in response to my constant barrage of letters, calls and emails. In this letter, he has the Bqqqs to do the usual fear-mongering and bleat out his message that our enemies will somehow get us if stop drilling for oil in the Gulf. He and other continuously conflate the problems of energy with the problem of Al-Qaida and of terrorism and the Middle East. That’s easy and cheap to do. But you don’t see them asking us to change or really supporting a diverse energy system.
Cornyn makes little mention about what he plans to do to support clean energy, let alone to ask US to sacrifice. Ha! For our leaders, it is ALL about FOF, fear of foreigners. Nowadays, when a crisis comes along, the bullies shout, “Get the Mexicans!” and hope that will distract the public from its real problems, and sadly, it works. It is not too far a cry from, “Get the Jews”. It is certainly not about “asking what you can do for your country”---and I think to myself, how the mighty have fallen.
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