The Blame Game
The 2006 budget deficit is now supposed to exceed $400 billion, and people are already blaming Katrina for the increase over previous projections. No, don’t blame Katrina. Blame tax cuts for the rich and the Iraq war. Natural phenomena like Hurricanes are going to happen, and the government factors that into a budget. The rich don’t usually get the kind of monetary windfall that George W. Bush has handed them, and the war in Iraq was unnecessary, not to mention expensive.
So, is bird flu evolving?
It is not a question of if bird flu is evolving, but how. Here are some interesting stories about just how H5N1 is changing, one from Reuters, and one from Guardian Unlimited. It is great to be able to follow the development of something like this, with the modern technology we have now. I feel a little guilty sitting here in front of my computer reading about such a scary situation. And I feel sorry for the families of the children who died. I hope no one else has to die. Maybe our scientists can do something about that.
Seed Bank
This is a concept that I thought of long ago: seed banks, a place where one could preserve the world’s seeds in case something happened to the seeds in nature. I admit that my concern was prompted by the fact that corporations all over the world are genetically modifying everything they can get their forceps on. Eventually there won’t be a crop on earth that is not genetically modified. I view that as a bad thing. Also, there is a big possibility, in my mind, that the scientists might screw it up bigtime, and we might end up with a world devoid of something we would really miss, like tomatoes for example. So a seed bank is a good idea.
According to Wikipedia seed banks already exist. You can read about them here. Also, this Google link might lead you to more articles if you are really interested. And now Norway is building its own seed bank inside a mountain. Good for them. Someday humanity may need to make a withdrawal from the world’s seed banks.
Regarding Pat Robertson
There is an old saying, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”
Tags: bird flu, avian flu, pandemic, H5N1, flu, influenza, politics, war, budget, gmo, Iraq War, genetic engineering, Pat Robertson,
The 2006 budget deficit is now supposed to exceed $400 billion, and people are already blaming Katrina for the increase over previous projections. No, don’t blame Katrina. Blame tax cuts for the rich and the Iraq war. Natural phenomena like Hurricanes are going to happen, and the government factors that into a budget. The rich don’t usually get the kind of monetary windfall that George W. Bush has handed them, and the war in Iraq was unnecessary, not to mention expensive.
So, is bird flu evolving?
It is not a question of if bird flu is evolving, but how. Here are some interesting stories about just how H5N1 is changing, one from Reuters, and one from Guardian Unlimited. It is great to be able to follow the development of something like this, with the modern technology we have now. I feel a little guilty sitting here in front of my computer reading about such a scary situation. And I feel sorry for the families of the children who died. I hope no one else has to die. Maybe our scientists can do something about that.
Seed Bank
This is a concept that I thought of long ago: seed banks, a place where one could preserve the world’s seeds in case something happened to the seeds in nature. I admit that my concern was prompted by the fact that corporations all over the world are genetically modifying everything they can get their forceps on. Eventually there won’t be a crop on earth that is not genetically modified. I view that as a bad thing. Also, there is a big possibility, in my mind, that the scientists might screw it up bigtime, and we might end up with a world devoid of something we would really miss, like tomatoes for example. So a seed bank is a good idea.
According to Wikipedia seed banks already exist. You can read about them here. Also, this Google link might lead you to more articles if you are really interested. And now Norway is building its own seed bank inside a mountain. Good for them. Someday humanity may need to make a withdrawal from the world’s seed banks.
Regarding Pat Robertson
There is an old saying, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”
Tags: bird flu, avian flu, pandemic, H5N1, flu, influenza, politics, war, budget, gmo, Iraq War, genetic engineering, Pat Robertson,
posted by Ed Bremson, MFA @ 8:40 AM
1 Comments:
At 12:16 AM,
Anonymous said…
no, don't blame katrina. but the windfall the rich in this nation received is far outweighed by the windfall private interests, lobbying groups, and greedy congressmen received in pure pork spending in 2005.
i've spent years protesting social security because we've known for years that my generation is paying into a system that will be bankrupt long before we're old enough to get a cent back.
never thought it would come to the point where it's looking like the government as a whole would go that route. guess it's time to learn the chinese anthem, eh?
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