CANDLELIT CHRONICLES: HISTORIC HAUNTS

June 5_Blogging on Gores and BP 452 wc

In the News:





R.I.P. John Wooden of UCLA, dead at 99, a man who lived a fulfilling and full life.





http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-john-woodenlong-20100605,0,409375.story





I just read a thought-provoking column by Randy Banks in the L.A. Times on the recent announcement that Al & Tipper Gore are ending their marriage. I won't copy it here because it is copyright material, but I recommend it to you, Gentle Readers, especially the final two paragraphs. Very apropos.





http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-banks-20100605,0,6610813.column





Oil Spill: In the imminence of my 40th high school reunion, to be held June 12, I've opened a new Facebook account to find “lost” classmates and have had some degree of success: notably one close “old” friend finding me with whom I had not had contact in, oh, probably 25 years! I mention this here because one gentleman of my acquaintance, now on my friends list, has much to say about the ongoing fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico brought on by British Petroleum's Deep Horizons off-shore drilling oil rig explosion. It's always a treat to read his thoughts, because his irony couches accurate perceptions of the events. Perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not-maybe because our discussions are couched in a more familiar venue and one in which I feel free from judgmentalism-I am able to discuss some of my thinking on this matter (BP, Oil Consortiums, Environmental Destruction).





I see this morning that citizens of Grand Isle, Louisiana-one of the many communities in the path of the imminent oil slick spread-have berated the source-British Petroleum. Grand Isle lost 40 families who moved away, and stayed away, after Hurricane Katrina. They seem to think one “natural” disaster is enough. I have to agree: Katrina was not man-made, but the current Gulf Oil Spill most certainly bears all the marks of human destructiveness. Reading the article on Grand Island has truly brought home to me the magnitude of the disaster: the loss of marine life, water birds, the damage to the local economies as tourism has of necessity been replaced by clean-up and containment efforts; the loss of scholarships for graduating seniors due to the cancellation of the fish rodeo, the potential necessity for residents to leave, temporarily or permanently, after surviving three hurricanes. I don't live very near the Gulf-approximately 250 miles; I don't eat seafood (religious dietary restrictions and allergies) but I am still affected. How? I live on this planet, just as do us all. We are all citizens of what is currently the only planet we possess, and despite a century or more of science fiction, we have no recourse to other moons or other planets to colonize. Folks, this is it, and we better take care of it while we still can.





http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-grand-isle-201006...