Tag Archives: government

Thoughts

The US has a negative bank balance of what?!

Stumbled onto this entry on Vinnie Lauria’s blog, listing the bank balances of various world countries. At the bottom of the list… the US of A. Our bank balance: $ -829,100,000,000. Say what?! Yes, according to the CIA, so it’s got to be true.

How about the US Budget? How’s that? Well, according to this chart, compiled with data from the Congressional Budget Office, our 8 years with GW Bush have been wreaking havoc on the budget.

Not really comforting news, is it? And we want to keep spending how much on the Iraq war, in order to bring “peace and stability”, and oh yes, let’s not forget, “democracy”, to that region? Isn’t it about time someone put a stop to our runaway spending?

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Thoughts

New Orleans is sinking, fast

New studies that used satellite radar data from the three years before Katrina struck show that New Orleans is sinking by more than 1 inch per year. Some areas, particularly those developed on reclaimed marshlands, are sinking 4 to 5 times faster than the rest of the city.

This phenomenon is called subsidence and is caused mainly by overdevelopment, drainage and natural seismic shifts. As the ground sinks, protection by levees in those areas also falls.

For example, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, built more than three decades ago, has sunk by more than three feet since it was built. That’s why water simply came right over the levees there. They were three feet below their initial height!

Now, when planning for the rebuilding of New Orleans is taking place, the government, and in particular the Army Corps of Engineers, need to take this new data into consideration, and to be safe, no one should rebuild in those areas that are sinking faster.

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Reviews

The Fog of War (2003)

Just saw The Fog of War (2003), a documentary of Robert S. McNamara’s time as US Secretary of Defense, and was blown away by the behind-the-scenes look at what goes on during troublesome times. What strikes me is how lonely, how isolated, these people who hold key positions of responsibility must feel. Sure, there are plenty of people advising you, but in the end, if you’re the one making the decision, it’s an utterly heavy responsibility that is solely yours.

How do you decide to kill 100,000 people, or even less than that? Could you live with yourself afterward? Can you make a decision like that even when there’s a chance the data is faulty and/or its interpretation is wrong? How many politicians currently vying for top spots would be ready to make these decisions? Do they know that’s what they might have to do? Do they know everyone else around them will fade into the background and the decision will hang, like a millstone, around their necks? When do you decide to cut the cord?

I’m also impressed by the need to be more forgiving of the decision-makers of today. I can’t imagine the pressures of power have changed. If anything, they’re even more stressful nowadays. Yet so few people take the time to understand the issues before they start criticizing. I’ve been guilty of it myself. Robert S. McNamara makes a very good point in the documentary. One of his principles is that you should empathize with your enemy, in order to understand him. I’m not saying politicians are our enemies, but I think we should take the time to really understand where they’re coming from and the situations they’re facing before we, too, declare war against them, and yell for a change of office. The fact is, everyone makes good and bad decisions, and when the pressure of office is on, it’s even harder to sort through all of the conflicting information and do what’s right. You’re going to get some things right, and some things wrong, no matter what. We’re human, and we err. We can’t trust our senses and our perception of events is often wrong. It’s a wonder we don’t mess up more often.

What’s also true is that war as we know it is no more. It’s been evolving into some shapeless mass that rears its ugly head here and there, only to disappear before we can bonk it on the head and dispatch it. The frontlines of war are non-existent. We can no longer point out the enemy by their uniform, and Iraq is a perfect example of it. I say this because some people say there are plenty of “lessons learned” that could be applied. Perhaps, in some aspects of war, they prove useful. But when war has changed so much, and we still don’t know our enemies like we should, can we fault our leaders for making the wrong decisions? A lot of criticism out there is mere political posturing. We, as responsible citizens, should do our homework before we pick up the next critical catchphrase and hurl it at whoever’s in power.

I’m left with a feeling of surprise after watching the movie, and it’s because of this: political and world events are so complex, and wars are such ugly beasts, that I’m amazed we haven’t bombed ourselves out of existence yet. I’m thankful that calmer minds have prevailed, and that we’re still alive.

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Thoughts

It pays to do your homework

Most political protest these days has boiled down to blanket accusations, and what’s more unfortunate is that the people that spout them are fairly clueless about the details.

A couple of weeks ago, I read about protesters who marched up to the AT&T headquarters because it collaborates with the NSA by sharing phone call data. They were disheveled, and they weren’t even on the same page. Some were talking about Net Neutrality, and all had some pretty clueless looks on their faces. I wonder, if someone had asked them of the details of both of these issues, if they could have answered cogently. I doubt it. Now I read about the Marc Jacobs store in San Francisco, which has a big sign in their window which says “Worst President Ever”. If I were to walk in and ask one of their clerks why they think that, I bet they’d be clueless, and they’d point me to the manager, who’d point me to the district office, etc. Or, they’d give me an accusatory look, to blame me for not knowing the answer already. Signs like these only serve to alienate instead of proving a point.

I believe people simply can’t get their point across unless they do their homework about what they stand for, and they’re able to express their opinion clearly and convincingly. I don’t care what your stance is on something as long as you can truly stand for it. If there’s something I don’t like, it’s parrots who spout catchphrases but can’t explain them.

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Thoughts

The new water projects bill, S. 728

Senate will soon consider S. 728, a new bill that encourages massive spending for real estate development in wetland areas which are low-lying and prone to hurricane damage, like the areas that got hit the hardest in New Orleans. Senators Russ Feingold and John McCain are considering putting forth amendments to the bill that would discourage this by making sure our public money gets spent on the true priorities, requiring an independent expert review of any plans, and strengthening environmental standards.

Environmental Defense is running a campaign to make senators aware of this bill and the changes it needs to go undergo before it can be approved. They’ve also got a full report of the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, which is an instructive read.

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