South by Southwest: It must be the weather

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

It must be the weather

Parallels Prevail - An amazing set of parallels exist between the current weather problems and war in the Middle East. These parallels probably account for the prevalence of the anxiety I feel much of the time these days. Here is what I mean.

Widespread Problems -

The heat wave is claiming lives in both the United States and in Europe, where at least six people have recently died-NYT. A story on CNN states that, "At least six deaths have been blamed on the heat, and the weather was suspected in at least three others."
The conflict in the Middle East is widespread. (Israel vs. Hamas/Gaza and Hezbolla/Lebanon) and (U.S. military/Iraq government vs. the widespread sectarian violence) are actively involved in trying to kill each other. Syria, Iran and U.S. diplomats sit on the sidelines, involved in a war of words and disrespect. It is about territory and about who will own the hearts and minds of the people of "the street." And in an interesting new positive development, other Middle Eastern Arab countries are in some instances not really supporting the Islamist extremists.

Over the Top -

The earth quake and tsunami death toll in Indonesia "tops 500" CNN.com reports. Quoting the story,
The death toll from an earthquake and resulting tsunami that smashed into fishing villages and resorts on Indonesia's Java island has reached 525 with 273 people missing, officials have said.
Another 383 people were injured after waves as high as three meters (10 feet) lashed out at almost 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Java's southern coast on Monday.
More than 35,000 people have been displaced, Indonesia's department of social affairs said on Wednesday, adding that hundreds of buildings were destroyed.
The Bush adminstration's ineptitude has been over the top, when it comes to the rescue of endangered U.S. citizens in Lebanon, or the protection of Iraqi innocents in the war in Iraq.

Losing Power -

"A power outage at a radar facility cut communications and disrupted air travel in and out of Southern California for more than an hour Tuesday, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said," according to another CNN story today.
The Bush administration has little power of persuasion over what happens next in the widening wars in the Middle East. Our representation at the United Nations blusters, but is weak and ineffectual. Our representation at the G8 Summit spoke off the cuff and chuckled over the resulting embarrassment.

Fire and Storms -

Storms could hinder fighting the wildfires in California. According to a USA Today story,
There was a 40% chance of rain in the area on Monday, and a 60% chance of heavy rain, with the possibility of flash flooding later in the week, Balfour said. One part of the group of fires had covered about 97 square miles and was 60% contained, fire officials said. An adjacent complex of fires had grown to 34.5 square miles Monday and was 26% contained, authorities said at an early briefing.
Storms of protest continue against the administration's lack of high caliber or even-handed leadership during this most recent Middle East crisis. To many we have seemed passive, disconnected from the events, and at times almost disdainful of the suffering of those innocently caught up in the conflict.

When it is bad just leave -

There is a tropical storm 110 miles off the East coast named "Beryl", but it will probably not become a hurricane, says the AP story from CNN. Quote:
But that was of little comfort to restaurant manager Beth Barb.
"If I know something's going to be bad, I'll leave," said Barb, 51, the night manager at Bob's Grill in Kill Devil Hills.
Barb, an Outer Banks resident for 25 years, knows from experience that tropical storms can be rough, bringing strong winds and even tornadoes.
The U.S. military needs to get out of Iraq, not precipitously but promptly and thoughtfully. It is bad for us to stay there as occupiers. We are making things worse for the people of Iraq and for us here at home. We need to just leave without making Iraq our permanent stronghold in the Middle East.