[Biofuel] Oh man, here comes Rita
A few weeks ago, before the systematic failure of rescue and recovery efforts became evident, I was puzzling over human foolishness in the face of the incredible forces of nature. http://ornae.com/35/katrina-slams-new-orleans-is-there-blame Shortly thereafter, the Katrina story became one of racism, cronyism, corruption, classism, and incredible bungling at every level of government. The media became part of the problems, even as they were exposing other problems. Innuendo, unsubstantiated rumors, and outright lies were reported and repeated, without witnesses, without facts, without confirmation. Invariably these lies and rumors depicted the poor and desperate of Louisiana and Mississippi as violent degenerates. For days, the media accepted the party line of the administration, until even the most jaded reporters were choking with outrage over the constant bungling, denial and spin, needless deaths and misery, and blatant racism and classism. Another horrifying aspect of this was the classism evident in so much of America’s surly response to the misery of Katrina’s victims. It’s become wildly obvious that most americans only have sympathy for the impoverished of other countries. The poor lived in New Orleans because there was at least some work there, even if it was mostly feeding and entertaining the tourists who came for that genuine gumbo. Louisiana and Mississippi have a level of systemic poverty which has nothing to do with welfare mothers or lazy bums. There’s little work, lousy wages, lousy schools, corrupt government and law enforcement, bad health care, toxic waste, and rampant racism to blame. How easy it has been for our bigots to forget that the poor lived in the lowest parts of New Orleans because the wealthy lived in the highest parts. The least among us, those without cars to drive to safety, or cash to buy food and fuel, or credit cards to buy bus rides out of town, those turned back by armed men as they sought refuge on the high ground of white suburbs, are seen as scum by the middle classes of this country. How shameful that every black carrying a burden was a ‘looter’, while whites were ‘scavengers’, in media representations. Having seen the bile spewing from my countrymen about self-sufficiency and individual responsibility, I want to make it clear that I am not in that camp of bigots. My question, “Is there blame?”, pointed to the “enabling behavior” of governments that issue building permits in swamps, that strip the funding allocated for levee and pump maintenance, that recommend evacuations without considering those unable to escape unless transported, that steal the funds allocated for emergency measures, that strip FEMA, then pack it with incompetent cronies. I thought of insurance companies that use the premiums of those who live in sturdy little homes far from the storm surge to pay the claims of the McMansion owners whose multimillion dollar beach homes should never have been built. I thought about the corruption and cronyism that sent millions of dollars of FEMA money to heavily republican Dade county after Frances came through florida, passing three counties to the north, more than 100 miles. The communities hit hardest by several hurricanes that year, democratic St Lucie and Indian River counties, where billions of dollars in damage was done, each received less FEMA assistance than Dade county, which didn’t even experience tropical storm forces. http://www.yuricareport.com/Disaster/ FEMAunderBushTrailOfCorruption.html I spoke then of the wisdom of building on barrier islands, hardly knowing that an object lesson was waiting in the wings. We can only hope that the folks crawling north on the roads from Galveston will not be trapped in their cars as Rita floods the land around them or flings their gas starved SUVs off the roads. Will Rita teach the lesson that we didn’t learn from Katrina, to plan our settlements a little better? Will the citizens say “no more” to subsidizing wealthy fools who build on shifting sands? Most of all, will these disasters finally show us how hollow the promises of “Homeland Security” are? Taryn http://ornae.com/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Oh man, here comes Rita
I do not usually post my morning newsletter here as I have more respect for this group's individual views and ability to convey their opinions than my own. This morning I wrote about Rita (I write something every morning). I include it here because I feel that it is this group's insight that helped me come to understand and expand my own thoughts. Maybe you will get some small benefit from it and see how this group has influenced me and in turn my group. Brian Rodgers September 23, 2005 Good Morning! In my life I have spent considerable time by the sea, on islands, or near the coasts of this continent. I love the ocean. Since I see fit to let you all constantly know that we have no television news, I suppose it comes as no surprise that we have not seen how the media portrays the effects of the current hurricane season. I, more than Nell, have a morbid streak and wish I did have some way to see what the aftermath of a hurricane looks like. I heard on one of my Biofuels threads that Hurricane Rita has Port Arthur targeted. To someone who has warned of the devastating effects of global warming (not saying I did) this seemed like revenge. Today, I have posted several international articles pertaining to the relationship between rising ocean surface temperatures and the ferocity of hurricanes. I did say I had a dark streak right? We have several folks from the Biofuels group who have practiced conscientious and sustainable life styles offering up hope for the victims of Katrina and sharing everything in a most wholesome fashion. One husband and wife team, for example, has a little organic farm in Texas. They often post some of the most positive and hopeful news. This morning, events on the farm sound harsh and labored. Hurricane Rita seems bent on destroying the lives of many of the households that shared everything they had with refuges of Hurricane Katrina. Many of these kind people wrote of compassion and grace while the news media apparently showed Americans at their worst. I was moved by the humanitarian efforts of many people and often felt that there might be some hope even for me, a self-professed non-humanitarian. If you don't know what I am referencing when I say non-humanitarian, I just mean that I never wanted to be a doctor because the site of blood is enough for me to find a Priest for the ailing victim. Or so I often sarcastically said in my youth, Doctor says you gonna die. Sorry it is some stupid reference to a snake bite joke I heard many years ago. Point is, I used my repulsion to open wounds to 'look the other way' when it came to human suffering. I think I said in a previous newsletter that some people in the Biofuels groups were talking like maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that we lost a few poor black people as they heard very bad things about these lower class citizens of New Orleans. Un-humanitarian as I am, this sentiment makes me absolutely insane. In fact, the more I heard and read about this attitude, the more compassion I had for the suffering people. Well to be fair to myself, I need to say that I have always sided with the underdog. Which, and I am sure that you have heard this a million times from me, is the reason I don't like sports. I keep switching sides as one team appears to fall prey to some dastardly tactic of a powerful opponent. Anyway as you can imagine that I am not a lot of fun to watch a game with someone who loves his team. Never know whose side I am on at any given moment! Why don't I feel bad for the people in the way of the storm then? Do I feel like they deserved it for not listening to the environmentalists? Of course not. I want to put this in perspective. When I hear that Mother Nature caused a billion dollars in damages, I really could care less. People on the other hand, especially children, deserve our compassion no matter the class or intelligence of the parents. Our government is on record as putting money first, way before the environment. In doing so, we see and will continue to see the results of greed on humanitarian aid. I already said I don't care one fiddle de diddle about how much money was lost by our lack of preparedness to the effects of global warming. We all already know exactly how the corporations react to human suffering. The corporations see the bottom line and NOTHING ELSE. Of course a government run by corporations will tell you that there is no money in saving people. No rush they say, we warned them to get out of New Orleans, if they stayed, they will get what they deserve. With that media message it is no wonder that the average citizen had an underlying suspicion that the only people left down there in New Orleans were civilly divergent and generally a burden on society. Again, we've got no TV, so I have to make some leaps of reason here. Please bear with me. Let me see if I can sum this up in a few sentences. The U.S. government is ordered by the auto industry and its cronies to back off on the global warming
