Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Three Circles of Hell
With apologies to Dante:
The first circle is reserved for those like the Halliburton executives that overcharged for services to the US Government. This is only a small sin, it's only about money.
The second circle is reserved for the executives at Pharmacia Corp that fed misleading data to Dr. Michael Wolfe about Celebrex. This is a medium sin, at least the drug worked. It's just that it possibly killed a few people who shouldn't have been taking it.
The third circle is reserved for the ExxonMobile executives that "pressured" the Bush administration to reject the Kyoto treaty. Also in this circle is White House staffer Philip Cooney who rewrote scientific papers to misrepresent findings about global warming. This is a sin that even Dante couldn't foresee. These people are willing to distroy the PLANET to hold on to their miserable jobs.
What would make a person so craven that they would risk disaster for millions? How do they sleep at night? Where do they think their grandchildren will live, on Mars?
The first circle is reserved for those like the Halliburton executives that overcharged for services to the US Government. This is only a small sin, it's only about money.
The second circle is reserved for the executives at Pharmacia Corp that fed misleading data to Dr. Michael Wolfe about Celebrex. This is a medium sin, at least the drug worked. It's just that it possibly killed a few people who shouldn't have been taking it.
The third circle is reserved for the ExxonMobile executives that "pressured" the Bush administration to reject the Kyoto treaty. Also in this circle is White House staffer Philip Cooney who rewrote scientific papers to misrepresent findings about global warming. This is a sin that even Dante couldn't foresee. These people are willing to distroy the PLANET to hold on to their miserable jobs.
What would make a person so craven that they would risk disaster for millions? How do they sleep at night? Where do they think their grandchildren will live, on Mars?
Southern racial attitudes
We all have impressions of white southerners going back to pre-civil war days. These were the non-slave owning whites who resented the blacks effect on their earning capacity. They were competing for jobs against a work force that wasn't being paid.
The common idea is that the slave holders used race baiting as a way to distract these people from the economic issues. There is lots of contemporary evidence for this going back to Frederick Douglass.
After reconstruction the same tactics were used to eliminate black political power. This was the rise of the KKK and the Jim Crow laws.
So, it is commonly assumed that the residue of all this persists in the southern red neck profile.
My question is this: there has been a great deal of influx to the south by whites from other parts of the country. Do these newcomers develop red neck attitudes? What about their children? If not, why is this group still in control of the political machinery? The moderate white southerners and the blacks would seem to have a majority by now.
The common idea is that the slave holders used race baiting as a way to distract these people from the economic issues. There is lots of contemporary evidence for this going back to Frederick Douglass.
After reconstruction the same tactics were used to eliminate black political power. This was the rise of the KKK and the Jim Crow laws.
So, it is commonly assumed that the residue of all this persists in the southern red neck profile.
My question is this: there has been a great deal of influx to the south by whites from other parts of the country. Do these newcomers develop red neck attitudes? What about their children? If not, why is this group still in control of the political machinery? The moderate white southerners and the blacks would seem to have a majority by now.
