I should edit my previous posts on that subject because it now appears that the oil-drilling platform had a device called a "blowout preventer" that has redundancies built in and supposedly is fail-safe; yet somehow it failed anyway, which supposedly is unprecedented.
However, what I said about the acoustical valve, which would have prevented the accident when and if the blowout preventer failed, was correct. This valve would have cost $500,000; and here (as in other cases now documented by the revelation of BP internal memos), BP opted to cut costs or save money. See the following article, which also suggests that BP could be using supertankers to help contain the oil spill and again, for cost reasons, is not doing so:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-05-25/shocking-bp-memo-and-the-oil-spill-in-the-gulf/full/
It's coming to light that there is lots of blame to go around. Supposedly some of the crew on the rig saw warning signs of impending problems, and the warnings were ignored. I don't have details on that.
Friday, May 21, 2010
What an Ass Rand Paul Is
Rand Paul thinks he is the new Sarah Palin, insofar as being the current darling of the Right Wing. However, the swollen head he's gotten from his primary-election victory seems to have cut off the flow of blood to his brain.
First he showed himself to be a major fool (I was tempted to use another word) over comments that seemed to say that private businesses should be allowed to discriminate, racially and otherwise.
Now, he has criticized President Obama because BP is being faulted for the Gulf oil spill. Paul said that's "un-American."
I wonder if Mr. Paul is aware that BP is not even an American company. Mr. Paul, BP stands for British Petroleum.
First he showed himself to be a major fool (I was tempted to use another word) over comments that seemed to say that private businesses should be allowed to discriminate, racially and otherwise.
Now, he has criticized President Obama because BP is being faulted for the Gulf oil spill. Paul said that's "un-American."
I wonder if Mr. Paul is aware that BP is not even an American company. Mr. Paul, BP stands for British Petroleum.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Patriotism, Identity, and Self-Worth
There seem to be two types of people, at least as regards one parameter. One group is those who would criticize America, or who at least do not feel America should be beyond criticism. The other group bristles at attacks on America and sees them as unpatriotic and even treasonous.
The first group may be very aware of wrongs committed by the U.S. government. Examples might be the terrible treatment—some might even say genocide—of the Native Americans, a lot of it as the result of official policy of the national government. Other examples might be the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, or the so-called My Lai Massacre in which Vietnamese civilians were fired on and killed by American troops during the Vietnam War. Early reports of this last event were at one point labeled "Communist propaganda" and totally untrue—even though it turned out that there was good documentation that the events had indeed occurred.
During the Vietnam War, I personally learned how emotional some people would get over any suggestion that the war was wrong or that America or Americans were wrong in what was being done. I didn't get spat upon or clubbed, myself; but I received a lot of unkind words when my ideas, on the one pole of this issue, were heard by someone at the other pole.
People tend to derive at least some of their feelings of self-worth from institutions or entities that they identify with: their school, their community, their country, even a sports team. Maybe these identifications are substitutes for, or vestiges of, very ancient identification with one's clan.
Whatever the ultimate psychosocial origin of this need to identify, people may feel personally attacked when they perceive the things they identify with as being attacked.
Another way to view it would liken it to religion and one's deities. Look at the issue that has come up from time to time—again most notably during the Vietnam War years—of so-called "flag desecration." In the 1960s, protesters against the Vietnamese War burned American flags. Those who strongly opposed such acts tried to get a Constitutional amendment passed prohibiting flag burning. (The U.S. Supreme Court finally ruled in 1989 and 1990 that flag-burning was not punishable as a criminal act.)
The root of the word desecration is secr-, which is the same element as in the word sacred. In other words, if something can be desecrated, you are considering it to be sacred. Is the American flag sacred, or should it be? Note that the word sacred or desecrate seems to point to a blurring of country with religion. Some might argue that to make the state into a god is idolatry. (There may be a fine line between symbol and idol.) I think that many right-wing regimes have indeed tried to make the state a god, and the country's leader a near-divine figure. Think of giant portraits of Chairman Mao, or look at certain African countries where there is a cult of the national leader which strives to elevate him to the near-divine. Roman emperors and Egyptian pharaohs were regarded as divine.
In any event, our country might rank right up there with the religion or deity or church that we identify with (if in fact we do). These things are part of our identity. We derive our sense of worth from identifying with the best (strongest, etc.) country, with the true (or most charitable, oldest, etc.) religion.
Copyright (c) 2010 by Richard Stein
The first group may be very aware of wrongs committed by the U.S. government. Examples might be the terrible treatment—some might even say genocide—of the Native Americans, a lot of it as the result of official policy of the national government. Other examples might be the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, or the so-called My Lai Massacre in which Vietnamese civilians were fired on and killed by American troops during the Vietnam War. Early reports of this last event were at one point labeled "Communist propaganda" and totally untrue—even though it turned out that there was good documentation that the events had indeed occurred.
During the Vietnam War, I personally learned how emotional some people would get over any suggestion that the war was wrong or that America or Americans were wrong in what was being done. I didn't get spat upon or clubbed, myself; but I received a lot of unkind words when my ideas, on the one pole of this issue, were heard by someone at the other pole.
People tend to derive at least some of their feelings of self-worth from institutions or entities that they identify with: their school, their community, their country, even a sports team. Maybe these identifications are substitutes for, or vestiges of, very ancient identification with one's clan.
Whatever the ultimate psychosocial origin of this need to identify, people may feel personally attacked when they perceive the things they identify with as being attacked.
Another way to view it would liken it to religion and one's deities. Look at the issue that has come up from time to time—again most notably during the Vietnam War years—of so-called "flag desecration." In the 1960s, protesters against the Vietnamese War burned American flags. Those who strongly opposed such acts tried to get a Constitutional amendment passed prohibiting flag burning. (The U.S. Supreme Court finally ruled in 1989 and 1990 that flag-burning was not punishable as a criminal act.)
The root of the word desecration is secr-, which is the same element as in the word sacred. In other words, if something can be desecrated, you are considering it to be sacred. Is the American flag sacred, or should it be? Note that the word sacred or desecrate seems to point to a blurring of country with religion. Some might argue that to make the state into a god is idolatry. (There may be a fine line between symbol and idol.) I think that many right-wing regimes have indeed tried to make the state a god, and the country's leader a near-divine figure. Think of giant portraits of Chairman Mao, or look at certain African countries where there is a cult of the national leader which strives to elevate him to the near-divine. Roman emperors and Egyptian pharaohs were regarded as divine.
In any event, our country might rank right up there with the religion or deity or church that we identify with (if in fact we do). These things are part of our identity. We derive our sense of worth from identifying with the best (strongest, etc.) country, with the true (or most charitable, oldest, etc.) religion.
Copyright (c) 2010 by Richard Stein
Monday, May 3, 2010
Some Random Thoughts
Maybe you've heard that Continental Airlines and United are going to merge. They're going to call the new company Con-U.
Why is it that tornadoes always seem to hit Goobersville? My theory is that tornadoes just love to eat trailer parks. I guess they're tasty.
When I hear a noise, often I can't tell right away if it's me wheezing or an outside noise (ah, the joys of getting old).
Copyright (c) 2010 by Richard Stein
Why is it that tornadoes always seem to hit Goobersville? My theory is that tornadoes just love to eat trailer parks. I guess they're tasty.
When I hear a noise, often I can't tell right away if it's me wheezing or an outside noise (ah, the joys of getting old).
Copyright (c) 2010 by Richard Stein
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