BY DAN
KENNEDY
Notes and observations on
the press, politics, culture, technology, and more. To sign up for
e-mail delivery, click
here. To send
an e-mail to Dan Kennedy, click
here.
For bio, published work, and links to other blogs, visit
www.dankennedy.net.
For information on Dan Kennedy's book, Little People: Learning to
See the World Through My Daughter's Eyes (Rodale, October 2003),
click
here.
Saturday, September 18, 2004
HEY, JEB: ASK YOUR BROTHER!
The Washington Post today includes a woe-is-us
quote from Florida governor
Jeb Bush about the recent run of devasating hurricanes that have hit
his state. "It's sad," Jeb said. "I don't know quite why we've had
this run of storms. You just have to accept that."
But rather than embracing the fifth
and final stage of grief, Jeb ought to think about what could be done
to prevent such calamities. Because most scientists say that global
warming has resulted in an increase of all kinds of extreme weather,
including hurricanes. And though Jeb's brother can't be held
responsible for the global warming that has taken place up until now,
he has been unusually aggressive about making
sure that it gets worse -
much worse - in the future.
This
story, from London's
Guardian, shows that scientists are not unanimous on the link
between global warming and hurricanes. However, you will see that
there is no question that the ocean has warmed up a lot in recent
years. That can't be good, can it?
Just another world-threatening
issue that has somehow not managed to work its way into the
presidential campaign. But hey, did you see that Poppy
once wrote a letter
guaranteeing that George W. was "gung ho"?
Reuters reports that global warming
is accelerating to such an extent that mussels
are growing near the North Pole. So here's an idea. After both Bush
brothers are mercifully out of public office, they can open up a
business taking tourists to the North Pole, so they can go clamming
beneath what will then be called the Polar Slush Cap.
Meanwhile, the rest of us will all
be living in oceanfront refugee camps - just outside of
Denver.
LOSING HEARTS, MINDS, AND
LIVES. The New York Times' Sabrina Tavernise reports today
on the targeting
of Iraqi civilians who work
on American military bases. The bad guys here are clearly the
murderous thugs who are killing their fellow citizens. Still, this
passage near the end really grabbed me:
Layla said she begged
administrators at the American-run hospital in central Baghdad to
admit her brother, who was alive after being shot but whose
condition was rapidly deteriorating because he was being treated
in an ill-equipped Iraqi hospital.
She said she was told that she
had to collect her brother's documents before he could be
admitted. But there was not enough time, Layla said, and her
brother died a short time later.
"I've been working for them for
about a year and a half," she said. "I wasn't asking for a house,
for a visa, for a trip abroad. I was just asking them to save a
life.
"He works for the Army washing
soldiers' clothes, and they can't save a life."
Elsewhere, a new Times/CBS
News poll shows that John
Kerry continues to lag
behind Bush, in large measure because poll respondents say that Kerry
"has not laid out a case for why he wants to be president."
Respondents also express "strong concern about his [Kerry's]
ability to manage an international crisis."
Sadly, it's hard to disagree -
although I can't imagine why anyone would think Bush would do
better at managing an international crisis, unless the theory
is that he who creates the crisis is the best qualified to manage
it.
Kerry's better than this. But it's time to show it, don't you think?
posted at 10:32 AM |
4 comments
|
link
4 Comments:
I don't like removing comments, but there will be no calls for assassinations on Media Log. Sorry. (Well, okay, I'm not sorry.)
Sigh. I was just starting to enjoy mentally picturing that double-wide in Reno. Is "Unabomber" a gender-neutral term?
Post a Comment
MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
