All Nighter

Semantics games aside, at least last night's late-night was an attempt to force action of some kind on an important public policy issue. If nothing else, we at least now know that the GOP supports the slow bleeding of the army and the hemorrhaging of public funds in pursuit of Islamic theocracy in Iraq.

But as I idly tuned in off and on last night, it occurred to me that the flip side is NO similar focus has been placed on what is by far the most important domestic issue facing not just this administration, but this government: the restoration of the United States Gulf Coast, which happens to be a pretty important matter of strategic concern. It's as if everyone just wishes it would go away


This past weekend I spoke to some West Coasters about the Gulf South--they were sympathetic, but genuinely wanted to know if our region was worth rebuilding. Now, aside from the fact that the US is both insanely wealthy beyond our wildest imagination, AND the fact that we're throwing away money hand over fist in Iraq, AND the fact that no one seems to care that taking action against public corruption alone would free up funds for projects, I tried to draw an analogy: will it be worth rebuilding Los Angeles when (not if, but WHEN) the water runs out, or should it be abandoned (and the water WILL run out one day).

It's also a fact that there's hardly any acreage outside of public parks that HASN'T been worked or otherwise engineered to a greater or lesser degree, either with public or private funds. Considering the strategic benefit of the Gulf Coast, i.e., global trade and petrochemical manufacture, you'd think an investment of public funds would be a no brainer. But when a no-brainer meets a government with no brains...

Well, it's frustrating, to say the least.

Oh, and meanwhile, we've got Diaper Dandy Dave and Leopard-Skin Wendy Vitter, um, representing us. Great. Talk about being up shit creek, no pun intended...