dear jon - had some friends around for dinner last night and had to listen to varying degrees of "yanqui go home" from everyone, my nearest and dearest included. after a while i stopped contributing to the conversation and began to think about the nature of evil - relative and genuine - and just how necessary it was for people to have a boogeyman in their lives. i'm not all that anxious to have anyone but us in the driver's seat but whenever the united states was mentioned i pretended they were talking about communist china or russia or the koran-thumpers of iran ... how about a foreign policy based on domestic practices from one of the african countries ... ? - it helped pass the time.
i don't think the u.s. will ever stop supplying aid to those who need it but i'm afraid it will never ... i mean never, ever, ever - be perceived as anything other than an ill-defined and highly suspicious plot. eleventhofseptemberismybirthday - bill --- Jon Murphy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Monique and I have had our usual quiet celebration > with champaigne and > caviar at home. With you all we welcome the new year > and whatever it brings. > > I am going to break the rules of each of these > lists, the rules that say > postings must be music/instrument related. > > We have all seen the devastation of the recent > tsunami (and for any that > wonder why those waves didn't look like the > Hollywood "wall of water" I'll > explain). > > There has been some controversy as to the levels of > relief offered by the > various nations. That is a canard! The instant > relief, to save lives, can't > be done by designated international authorities - it > has to be done on site. > > It is not appropriate to be political in such a > disaster, but for our > international friends - and as a proud former US > Naval officer - may I say > that within hours of the tsunami (I don't know how > many, but at soon as the > destruction was evident) a US Navy battle group > (flag ship the nuclear > fueled carrier Abraham Lincoln) of 13 ships (the > others would be DLGs, > attack carriers with lots of trained US Marines on > board) was sent at > maximum speed for relief. For those who may be > anti-military let me say that > this is the Navy. You will have noted that the > doctors who are on site, and > those sitting in TV studios, all say that pure water > is the key to stopping > disease. > > Long before there was any talk of money, or forms of > relief, that Naval task > force was underway to the area (and that immediately > authorized by the > senior constitutional military officer). But what > good is a military force? > As a retired Naval officer I can tell you that a > Naval ship is the most > prolific producer of fresh water one can move. Those > 13 Naval ships will > bring fresh water, and hospital facilities, to the > coastal communities long > before any international organization could get in. > The ship's boats will > come into shore where there is no harbor remaining. > > My Navy will do its best, and its best will be > better for immediate disaster > relief than any administration. The long term is > another thing. But there > will be a lot of Marines there very soon, as soon as > it takes to sail the > distance (I'd estimate they'd be covering about 450 > to 500 miles a day, my > old ships could maintain about 360 mpd. > > My apologies to all for getting on the topic, the > tremendous loss of life is > something we each must consider. But us all remember > that numbers are > irrelevant in a way - the numbers magnify the grief > of the survivors as > there are more - but the individual is not only one > death, but the death of > a person. Let one million die, or just one, the loss > to the world is the > same - but the loss to that soul is special. There > we in the west often > confuse statisitics with people. Our press is > tracking the missing Swedish > tourists (and French and Norge, and whatever), but > each of those unnamed > fishermen had a life to live. > > Disaster is ours, we all know that when we see it > hit us. And I hesitate to > make political of such. And wouldn't if others > hadn't. Forget the pledges > you hear on the media. The US Navy is on the way, > with more water > purification capacity than anything an agency can > fly in (for those who > might wonder at that, USS Abraham Lincoln supports a > complement of over > 3000, plus all the ship's functions, by turning sea > water to fresh. Even my > little WWII era destroyer, a tenth the size, could > support a community with > fresh water. > > I don't give a damn if you like Bush, or the US. I > don't give a damn if you > hate them. But the US Navy has ships approaching the > disaster area with > Marines trained in disaster help, medics and > doctors, hospital facilities, > and most importantly pure water, and tha twas > ordered immediately. > > > > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > ===== "and thus i made...a small vihuela from the shell of a creepy crawly..." - Don Gonzalo de Guerrero (1512), "Historias de la Conquista del Mayab" by Fra Joseph of San Buenaventura. go to: http://www.charango.cl/paginas/quieninvento.htm ___________________________________________________________ ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun! http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
