Liberal Burblings

Archive for July, 2010

I always had a laugh when I saw “Poughkeepsie” on the TV weather map. Of course, it is highly tempting to pronounce it “Poohkeepsie” but it is actually pronounce “PUH KIP SEE” - apparently.

Schenectady is another good one – also in New York state. It’s pronounced “Skinny Atlas”, believe it or not.

But my favourite is Throgs Neck Bridge. It’s quite a beautiful bridge in Queens – here’s a photo from the Metropolitan Transport Authority’s site:

On Tuesday, the front page of the New York Times showed a series of map graphics of the Gulf oil spill, under the title “Gulf surface oil is vanishing fast; Concerns stay”. (it is typical of the NYT, bless them, to have a headline which is so well balanced and contains a semi-colon).

Those graphics are available as an excellent time-phased online tool which shows the impact of the spill since it started.

What was remarkable about the NYT maps is that, as of now, the sea surface oil in the gulf is minimal. Just a few small, light patches on the map.

Hot on the heels of the NYT article comes another one in Time by Michael Grunwald. This one goes even further, as indicated by its headline: “The BP oil spill: Has environmental damage been exaggerated?”:

The Deepwater Horizon explosion was an awful tragedy for the 11 workers who died on the rig, and it’s no leak; it’s the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. It’s also inflicting serious economic and psychological damage on coastal communities that depend on tourism, fishing and drilling. But so far — while it’s important to acknowledge that the long-term potential danger is simply unknowable for an underwater event that took place just three months ago — it does not seem to be inflicting severe environmental damage. “The impacts have been much, much less than everyone feared,” says geochemist Jacqueline Michel, a federal contractor who is coordinating shoreline assessments in Louisiana. (See pictures of the Gulf oil spill.)

Yes, the spill killed birds — but so far, less than 1% of the number killed by the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska 21 years ago. Yes, we’ve heard horror stories about oiled dolphins — but so far, wildlife-response teams have collected only three visibly oiled carcasses of mammals. Yes, the spill prompted harsh restrictions on fishing and shrimping, but so far, the region’s fish and shrimp have tested clean, and the restrictions are gradually being lifted. And yes, scientists have warned that the oil could accelerate the destruction of Louisiana’s disintegrating coastal marshes — a real slow-motion ecological calamity — but so far, assessment teams have found only about 350 acres of oiled marshes, when Louisiana was already losing about 15,000 acres of wetlands every year.

So far, so good. Interestingly, I saw suggestions on US TV last week that the scare stories and wall-to-wall coverage has scared people off visiting the gulf area – unnecessarily. The evidence which is emerging would suggest that the biggest battle to recover the Gulf’s economy may well be to convince people to visit there again and eat the shrimps etc. again.

So who’s responsible for the apparent over-hyping of the disaster? Some blame Obama, and that is certainly an undertone of the Time article. But the cause may be more prosaic or hum-drum than that.

It may all go back to BP’s live streaming  of he oil gushing out. There was nothing more attractive for TV producers than to start a news bulletin with the live feed showing oil gushing out nine to the dozen. It looked very dramatic, they could label it “live” and it didn’t cost them anything.

You can give all sorts of arguments for BP’s showing of the live stream. It was all very democratic and open. But, at the end of the day, it was a daft business decision to wash their dirty linen so fully and publicly. The dramatic live footage may have led to over-hype of the spill, which in turn may have an actual impact of the Gulf economy.

I sympathise with Tony Hayward. He seems a straight enough fellow and certainly did BP a considerable service by acting as a lightning rod in the first few months of the spill. Presumably, as a reward for that, he isn’t actually leaving BP. He’s being sent to Siberia.

Someone in BP has a sense of humour.

In many ways this is quite an extraordinary development. When you consider how the states of the US have fought over the years to keep their independence within the union, it is remarkable that Massachusetts has passed this law, following Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington.

The law will mean that the state’s electoral votes would be assigned to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote – regardless of whom Massachusetts voters preferred. So, a situation such as Al Gore in 2000 (when he had about a million more votes cast in his favour than George Bush, but still lost) would be averted if – and it’s a big “if” – enough states pass similar laws. The law in Massachusetts will only take effect if states holding at least 270 total electoral votes – the number required for winning the presidency – adopt similar laws.

Still, it is a refreshing step forward for democracy in the US – so well done to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and to Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington. You never know, there might be a “red state” following suit sooner or later!

It was somewhat of a shock. I was watching telly with the family. There were 2000 channels available on our cable TV. (I think there were anyway. That’s what the counter said. We managed to get up to about 43 before giving up through sheer boredom.)

As I flicked through, we were assailed by the image of a man attacking a pig’s carcass with a sword. I kid you not. It was quite a traumatic vision for a family. I quickly flicked onto the next channel.

It turns out that said porcine carcass splitting was part of Spike TV’s “Deadliest Warrior” series.

To understand this peculiar programme, it is helpful to refer to Charlie Brooker who, on Channel 4′s “You have been watching” royally took the Michael out of “Deadliest Warrior”. Specifically, much Brit merriment was had over the match-up of the I.R.A versus the Taliban in an urban car park:

See how I just slipped in “in the fall” there? Sickening, isn’t it?

But, yes, there is a Democrat standing for election in November who has a popularity rating of 69% and is currently beating potential Republican challengers by more than 2 to 1. He is managing to get very enthusiastic support from his local party supporters, while the opposition are demoralised.

Who is this shining star?

Step forward, Andrew Cuomo, standing for New York State Governor. When you see him in action below you can see why he’s doing so well. He has inherited some of the charisma of his father, Mario Cuomo.

In his speech, Andrew Cuomo says that nobody is sure how many state agencies there are in the state of New York. He asks:

You know what that means – when noone can count how state agencies there are? – That means there are too many state agencies.

As an allied snippet, I saw in yesterday’s New York Times that, additionally, noone knows how many employees of the state of New York there are. There are two types of employees. Direct ones, who can be counted at 131,000, are directly controlled by the governor and who have been the subject of many lay-offs over recent years. The other type of employee is paid by a range of agencies not directly controlled by the Governor. There are perhaps 160,000 of these, but noone really knows for sure. And because the numbers are so nebulous, they have not been subject to control recently and, indeed, it seems they have increased.

The new owners of Harrods, the Qatari royal family, parked two cars worth £1.5Million outside their new acquisition. They got clamped.

Hurray for the traffic wardens say I!

The owners deserved to be clamped if only for painting £1.5 M worth of top range automobiles in torquoise.