Tuesday, May 18, 2010

USA Titanic

The world thought the HMS Titanic was unsinkable, it sank! The world thought the USA was invincible after WWII, it wasn't and Viet Nam proved that! Now, after a series of many foolish mistakes, one right after another, the mighty USA is crumbling, as did the Roman empire in 410 A.D.

Faced with incredible debt incurrred from misbegotten wars, greed, failed foreign policy, pollution of air, land and sea, the USA Titanic is poised, as was the HMS Titanic, to slide into the icy depths of the sea.

Each day new headlines confirm this, in "America's Most Polluted Cities," MSN brings the information collected from Forbes.com to the forefront, and shines a light on ozone pollution and how it is affecting people in various parts of the country. Forbes also lists the 25 worst cities for ozone pollution. Personally, I knew ozone was bad, but not as bad as this, "...inhaling ozone is akin to 'getting a sunburn on your airways,' says Dr. Norman H. Edelman, the ALA's (American Lung Association) chief medical officer." Source MSN/Forbes http://tinyurl.com/22jm4k3

Listed as Forbes #1. "worst city" is Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA; followed by #2. Bakersfield, CA; #3. Visalia-Porterville; CA #4. Fresno-Madera, CA; and #5. Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Yuba City, CA & NV. For the other 20 cities and various medical problems related to them please go to http://tinyurl.com/2aftaas

Also, the oil rig catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico continues in the headlines, along with its tragic consequences. On Saturday, May 15, MSNBC quoted the New York Times (NYT) that reported scientists had found giant oil plumes in the Gulf, one of which was 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick! "...the leak from the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates that the government and BP have given." says the NYT. No surprise here with the BP and government estimates!

The NYT goes on to say, "The plumes are depleting the oxygen dissolved in the gulf, worrying scientists, who fear that the oxygen level could eventually fall so low as to kill off much of the sea life near the plumes." Full article http://tinyurl.com/29vhbnb

Today, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) reported, "Coast Guard officials have found nearly two dozen tar balls on Key West shores but have not determined if they came from the Gulf of Mexico's massive oil disaster." So where else might the tar balls come from? Are there other leaking undersea wells we're not aware of? Hmmm, very interesting! NWF article http://tinyurl.com/2aj7jb4

In another article from the NYT, relative to the plumes, it reported that, "Dr. Samantha Joye [University of Georgia] 'said the oxygen had already dropped 30 percent near some of the plumes in the month that the broken oil well had been flowing. “If you keep those kinds of rates up, you could draw the oxygen down to very low levels that are dangerous to animals in a couple of months,'" she said Saturday. "That is alarming!"

Alarming indeed! We may be witnessing one of the greatest eco-tragedies in recorded history, as well as its affects on the United States and the world! Is it possible there may be a glimmer of hope, somewhere, for the USA Titanic? Is it possible that it's citizenry will wake-up, before the Great Ship of State takes its final plunge into the icy seas? Is it possible?

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