THE COOP

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Chicken Gets Serious....

Hi World:

I've said it many times....I'm not political. 

My (previously) private theory is that some people go into politics for the wrong reasons and are by nature corrupt, some go into politics for the right reasons but end up corrupted or compromised, and a few people go into politics for the right reasons and are non-corruptable, but they make up the minority, leaving us with a largely untrustworthy governing body, regardless of who wins the election(s).  Cynical is what I am. I'm not offering solutions and my opinions are defeatist, so I just keep waiting, along with John Mayer, for a change. 

All that said, I do have a few opinions that I've been trying to suppress for a week, but they just keep coming back.  The cliched "but".   The proverbial cat that won't die. The hypocritical Chicken who claims no opinion but is, even now, dragging her soapbox to the microphone.  Lowering the microphone.  Catching the eye of each audience member in turn.  Clearing her throat.....

"Spill" is a fairly inappropriate word for what has happened, don't you think?  When I think of a spill, I think of a glass of milk, not 40,000 gallons of oil.  A day.  Still, I'm so tired of seeing Tony Hayward dragged across the coals.  He is one guy.  Yup.  He sure seems callous, maybe he's arrogant, and he's definitely put his foot in his mouth on more than one occasion.  Tony Hayward could very well be an asshole.  I don't really know because I don't really know Tony Hayward.  But unless he is Satan or Lex Luthor, I'm pretty sure he does, in his heart, wish this had never happened and not just because it threw his lifestyle out of whack.

This happened. Tony Hayward didn't make it happen and he isn't going to make it go away.  We all have to figure out how to make it stop.  I guess this is where I am treading that fine line. Am I being political?  Not sure. There sure are a lot of politics involved, though, and I can't help but wonder whether the energy being spent placing blame could be better spent finding a solution.  This is America. We can place blame later.  If Brown University can take responsibility for their relationship to the slave trade 200 years after the fact, I'm thinking we can catch up with BP later.  Right now, we need to make it stop, and that is up to all of us because ultimately it does not matter who is responsible. Ultimately, seriously, will we even be able to live on this planet long enough to seek reparations from BP in 200 years if we don't make this stop soon? 

Here is a link to a NY Times series of photographs that chronicles the spill.  The pictures speak for themselves.  These are not all aerial photos.  They are close up and personal and I can only imagine what the real thing is like for those living it right now. The Times has done a great job of tracking what's happened and I think they have been pretty objective. There are also a lot of twitterers following and giving up-to-the-minute reports.  There are a lot of people focused on solutions and not blame and that is really heartening.  Frankly, if Louisiana wants to have a day of prayer, good for them.  I think that it is probably more productive than another congressional session, so why throw darts at Louisiana's prayer bubble?  Let's all join in. 

Click here for 10 things you can do to help.

Okay. I'm done now. 

Oh. Hellllllll. I forgot about Abby Sunderland. While I'm handing out opinions, here is one on Abby.  I think we parents today baby our kids too much. Guilty.  But if my 50-year-old husband informed me he wanted to sail around the world by himself, I would tell him he's crazy.  It's not the age that gets me.  It's the idea.  It is a well documented fact that Chickens do not like water.   I think Abby's parents are very brave to let her try.  Crazy, just like Abby, but brave:-)

Hopefully the ocean is still available in ten years for crazy 16-year-olds to try and conquer.

Chicken out