Retribution - rephrased without using a certain name

Oxygen ...

I would agree that he is the 'right man for the job' only insofar as he seems committed to a black/white universe: We against the evil forces of terrorism. Maybe that sort of commitment is what is need at this time, but I do think it is inappropriate.

As to why I do not consider him important? Because of the ways in which he has, or has failed, to address numerous issues.

 

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I think he's committed to a "black and white universe" only insofar as the war goes. What issues are you referring to that he needs to address? The two big ones that come to mind are the environment and the recession.

Recessions don't just suddenly happen. Their conditions are set up long before we ever see them. I make my living in Silicon Valley, home of the 20-year old (ex)millionaire. When the dot-coms became dot-bombs, an entire industry began to collapse. Most of the foundations of the "silicon rush" consisted of craploads of money being invested with no product to show. No product=no sales=no profit=crash. If this was just one small niche, say the 3D videophone market, it would be no big deal except to those immediately involved. The current situation involves and entire industry. When those collapse, not only are the employees and officers out of luck, but so are the contractors, their support personnel, the property owners, the investors, the host city,the remote offices, the parent companies, all of the satellite companies, and all other associated support personnel. This starts a domino effect as the dot-commers now have to file bankruptcy, default on loans, and give back all those obscenely huge houses they were ordering, which now throws a nasty twist on the real estate market. They want their money's worth out of that house, but who can afford it with so many people in the area out of work? It all snowballs from here, and I'm sure I don't need to illustrate it any further as the job competition gets fierce.

And that's just the view from Silicon Valley. Please. Help us. Go buy a few computers.

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How do we solve this situation? You can't just throw money at companies and say "Hire people". There's a big vaccuum. Jobs need to be created, but where do we create them? How do you employ all those people? They skilled, for the most part. It would be a shame to have all those PhD's wasted on "You want fries with that?" Plus, there's the potential of no summer jobs for teens, and you know what happens when teenagers get bored...

The environment...ah, I don't know how you feel about it, but I think the radical environmentalists are really blowing things out of proportion. We need to find cleaner, more fuel-efficient ways to conduct business, but do we really need so much unspoiled wilderness? Yes, some should be put aside, but let's stay realistic. Most people don't go out into the wilderness and marvel at the beauty of nature. They just have no desire to do so. It's pretty, yes, but were not all Euel Gibbons. (Wow! THAT'S a name I haven't heard in a long time!)

Endangered animals must be protected, and in their own environment if at all possible. The EPA, however, has this habit of declaring animals endangered with no data to back up their claim. If somebody has a personal agenda, they can halt an economically vital project just by declaring the Hypothetical Mudfly an endangered species, even if they can't tell you how many there are in existence or what their role is in the ecosystem. Junior has asked them to prove, within a certain amount of time (I'm not sure of how much time) that an animal is actually endangered.

I'm not exactly unbiased on the oil issue. I drive 85 miles to get to work. Cheap gas is in my best interests. I can't afford one of the nifty little electric cars (although I would like to own one). I would like to see some of that Alaska Pipeline diverted this way instead of to Japan before I let them drill into my Pacific Coastline, but it wouldn't kill me if they did. Maybe if it wasn't such an uphill battle to drill for oil (usually because of the environmental impact studies on the Hypothetical Mudfly), maybe some of the money they have to use to fight the EPA could be used to maintain and improve the equipment so we don't have to worry so much about oil spills and other environmental disasters. Modern drilling equipment has even become minimally invasive to the environment. Most drills take up less that 100 square feet. In the ocean, the rigs become ecosystems all their own as submarine life builds its own world on and around the supports.

That's all I can coherently put up right now. I've got a splitting headache, but at least it's a weekend, hey? Salud!

 

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Oxygen ...

Re. The environment.
Not expecting him to do very much, or anything, about it.

Re. The recession.
Doubt there's anything he can do about it. It will just have to go its way.

BTW, good point re.exporting Alaskan oil ... it's bummed me for a while now.

 

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I'm back, sans headache. Nothing like a nice walk downtown after a good night's sleep to wash one of those away.

So, what issues are we talking about that Junior needs to address? (As I sip my iced capuccino while sitting in front of a lovely little sidewalk cafe, the sunlight dancing playfully through the trees...)