In other news...

My friends, it is a great time to be alive. Who would have thought that after winning the Cold War that there would be so much to do and see in the world? Time stops for no man, it would seem. Indeed, who among us would even of thought to see a terrorist attack perpetrated by Islamic extremists in New York or a war in Iraq. Fast forward past 1993 and who among us, I ask, would have thought to have seen these same things again? Perhaps some of us, but that is beyond the point. The point is that we are at war. Not a cold war of proxies and detante, but a global struggle as hot as they come.

Yet, I can not help but feel there is something missing in the news each day. After reading of suicide bombers, dead soldiers and civilians, and staying the course I wonder very much whether what I am reading today will be the near-futures front page story tomorrow. After all, yesterday's A14 news seemingly is today's front-page. What then of our own narrow-minded focus on the War on Terror and the news that is on today's A14? Will today's Pakistan turn in to tomorrow's Taliban Afghanistan? Will today's light-water reactor in Yongbyon again be used for tomorrow's nuclear stand-off in North Korea? As I said above, we live in some very interesting times.

In subsequent pieces I hope to illustrate this point with actual stories from the back of the paper that, while mentioned at least, are hardly garnering the attention they deserve.

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

Here is the moment you have been waiting for. You know the one. The moment reality gets so real President Bush is finally forced to confess. Yes, he did hire an incompetent political donor instead of an expert to head FEMA. Yes, he spent too much money planning for war and not enough planning for natural disaster. He’ll admit the war on terror has created more terrorists than it has killed and that Iraq ain’t going to be a democracy any time soon. Moreover, Abu Ghraib was not just a few bad apples and voluntarily starting a war does contradict centuries of Christian just war theory. True story. It’ll be so cathartic he’ll go on to admit he cares more about rich friends than poor people (but who doesn’t?), that bump on his back really was a listening device, even Harvard couldn’t properly edumicate him, and, sad to say, yes, he does look a little like a monkey.
The best part is that with each confession President Bush grows smaller and smaller until, when he finally admits that he is the embodiment of evil in the world, he’s small enough for me to reach down and grab him. Holding the monkey in my hands, I weigh my options. Should I forgive the monkey? Or should I put the monkey on trial for war crimes? I am just about to announce my decision when… I wake up.
Let’s face it. The Bush era is not over. I resent that he will never have to look me in the eye and apologize. But does my desire to see him admit failure go so far that I enjoy watching Iraq spin out of control? Or feel satisfied when his screw-ups cause additional suffering in Louisiana? Can I wish my country well and at the same time hope its president is humiliated and discredited? Our futures are bound together. If he fails, we all fail. So, instead, let the president’s new-found civil-rights language be genuine. Let his dream of democracy come true. Let his approval ratings deservedly rise. And until the day reality does get real, let this little monkey dream take the edge off my resentment.

Mike Davis on Katrina

Mike Davis, one of our best writers on our unsustainable cities, has this piece on Hurricane Katrina - check it out.

http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-2/558/558_04_MikeDavis.shtml

The Island

Proudly stands the city of Mexico‑
Tenochtitlan
Here no one fears to die in war . . .
Keep this in mind, oh princes . . .
Who could attack Tenochtitlan?
Who could shake the foundations of heaven?
-Aztec poet

The destruction that Katrina wrought demonstrates again how thin is the veneer of our industrial civilization and how dependent the “developed world” has become upon our technological crutches. Of course, a direct hit from such a huge storm packs enough power to wreck just about any city. But New Orleans was struck a glancing blow: it flooded because its elaborate, expensive, and energy-intensive protective measures – the levees that allow thousands of people to live below sea level – failed miserably. Yes, all kinds of people and human institutions failed, too, but better engineering and management might only mean greater risk. New Orleans is hardly the world’s only “modern” city performing a dangerous high-wire act. The Netherlands is strengthening and raising its system of dikes, but how high can they build their walls and how long can they last? What about Los Angeles, entirely dependent upon water piped at great expense across great distances, and still growing? What would happen to Las Vegas or Atlanta or Tokyo if the electricity failed for any length of time? How difficult would it really be for Al Qaeda or earthquake to disrupt those cities’ life support systems? We have proven that we can manipulate our environment and resources to allow thousands of people to live in otherwise inhospitable places. But disasters natural, man-made, and a combination of both prove how quickly such places can become unlivable – especially for the old, the young, the ill, and the poor. Have our very engineering successes put us at risk? Have our technological crutches made us forget how to survive without them? Immediately after Katrina, one New Orleans official insisted that the city needed “gas and electricity” – ahead of food or potable water. We cheered as brave rescue workers hoisted stranded people into helicopters – one at a time, into a high-tech flying machine powered by fossil fuel (when a fleet of rowboats would probably have done more good in less time for a fraction of the cost). That official was right, of course – New Orleans and Los Angeles and Las Vegas and Atlanta and Tokyo and Brasilia and Melbourne as they now exist, and their inhabitants as they now live, require gas and electricity. Like the proud Aztecs of Tenochtitlan, the greatest city on earth, we strut around on our artificial islands and never dream that something (or somebody with nastier weapons and different antibodies) might cut the aqueduct.

The Lights of New Orleans

Quoting from NBC news reporter, Brian William's blog:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9314188/#050916

The motorcade route through the district was partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through. And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President departed, the lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total darkness again, to audible groans. It's enough to make some of the folks here who witnessed it... jump to certain conclusions.

What I learned as a boy

I grew up in Monroe, Louisiana in the north of the state. At about age 7 Hurricane Betsy slammed into New Orleans. We tracked Betsy hour by hour as it swept northward, its disorganized eye (meaning no longer complete calm) crossed over Monroe. I remember even then being told that New Orleans may be destroyed by Betsy. It was a close run thing then. Betsy did flood portions of New Orleans.

What I learned as a boy, what I could have told the President or the Director of FEMA, was that New Orleans will flood should a strong hurricane hit. Not that New Orleans might flood. New Orleanswill flood. And, I wasn’t remarkably prescient. My grandparents, who grew up near Fort Worth, Texas, knew. My parents, natives of north Louisiana, knew. It was talk around the dinner table repeatedly over the years during hurricane season. And my family wasn’t unique, because all our neighbors and anyone else who’d lived more than even half a generation in the area knew: New Orleans will flood should a strong hurricane hit. Therefore, I wasn’t surprised on Tuesday after the storm to hear it was flooding. Millions of persons who grew up within 200 miles of New Orleans were not surprised on Tuesday after the storem to hear it was flooding. The National Weather Service even had posted a warning that New Orleans was flooding due to a levee breach on Monday of the storm.

Yet, FEMA and the President couldn’t quite see how serious a problem it might be should a flood hit a city of half a million people. Couldn’t quite imagine how they should get lots of materials and manpower to the region. It did not take imagination to see it. It just took reading the myriad reports by experts, the many mainstream press warnings over the years, or listening to people who have lived with hurricanes for generations. This administration just has no imagination, at least, not as much imagination as a 7 year old boy.