From what I can glean, not being an expert on these matters, the cause of the explosion on the oil rig was the drill hitting a pocket of gas under high pressure. BP is digging the deepest wells in the Gulf, a possible reason they were surprised by the gas explosion event.
The regulatory strengthening which I mentioned in the first article, which the oil giants, including BP, fought successfully against, had to do with having the fail-safe mechanism, the blowout protector, operable by remote control. This is common practice in Europe. The ability to shut off the well in a few seconds rather than the time, maybe hours, it would take to get an unmanned submersible to the site, might have made all the difference. It’s also possible that the valve was damaged as a result of the explosion so that nothing would’ve gotten it to close.
If the lack of a remote operated valve was the difference then the Gulf of Mexico was sacrificed to save $500,000, the cost of the device. Latest estimates are that the oil is flowing at the rate of 25,000 barrels per day, which translates to about 1 million gallons per day. If by some miracle it is possible to shut off the flow of oil in the next couple of weeks then it will only be a major environmental disaster. The latest idea is a heavy steel dome that will be placed over the worst leak which will, in theory, allow the gushing oil to be contained and brought to the surface in a safe manner. Time will tell if it actually works.
If it goes on for months the cost will be almost incalculable. It will be an endless Sisyphean nightmare of futility in which no matter how hard you work, your efforts are quickly overwhelmed by more oil. Fisheries gone, wetlands destroyed, beaches tarnished.
While this particular spill is one of epic proportions, environmental disaster is going on in many facets of fossil fuel production on a daily basis. Extracting oil from the Alberta tar sands is an energy intensive, climate destructive and extremely dirty process. Producing gas through the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracting, is destroying ground water in the Rocky Mountain states as well as upstate New York. The process involves injecting chemicals and water into the well under high pressure which forces the gas out.
A couple of years back when I did a nostalgia hitchhike from Portland to Denver I got picked up by people in Utah whose friends had experience with the impacts of fracting. Before gas extraction began they had high-quality ground water. After fracting their water was smelly and turned into a murky brown color. Their animals wouldn’t drink it, their crops died when they used it to irrigate. Their well had been permanently poisoned. The gas well wasn’t on their property so they enjoyed no monetary benefit that might’ve compensated a bit for their loss.
The price of crude oil is back up to around $85 per barrel. It is predicted to rise to $100 by the end of the year. After that the sky’s the limit, and with very high prices, companies and countries will take increasing chances drilling and extracting in more and more difficult places, with the inevitable consequences of occasional catastrophic failure. It doesn’t need to happen very often to make the entire process too dangerous to attempt.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Oil Be Damned
It now looks like the oil gushing out into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico from the ill-fated oil drilling platform will probably equal in environmental devastation that of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Details are a bit murky, similar to the waters one mile down where the oil is leaking from, but it seems the pipe is leaking in three places and dumping about 5000 barrels or 210,000 gallons a day – 1 barrel equals 42 gallons – into the Gulf. British Petroleum, owner of the oil, has sent down remote controlled submersibles to try to activate the shut off valve to no avail. It’s not easy working down there under the extreme pressure of a mile of water.
Too bad the oil giants, including BP, were just recently successful in preventing new regulations that would’ve strengthened fail-safe mechanisms designed to prevent such disaster scenarios. As for Obama, egg on his face for only one month ago opening up large areas of America’s coastline to drilling, saying the technology is now so advanced there’s little chance of environmental catastrophe.
I imagine everything, all the machinery and piping, is a bit twisted and askew as a result of the rig blowing up and sinking, so it may not be possible to turn off the well. If so the only alternative is to drill another well beside the existing one and use it to block off the one that’s gushing. That, unfortunately, will take at least 3 months at which time about 450,000 barrels of oil will have been fouling the sea and coast.
Meanwhile strong winds are currently hampering efforts to stem the flow of oil toward land and that area is entering storm season.
Barring a miracle a one billion dollar seafood industry is about to go down the tubes. The Exxon spill killed 3/4 of all sea life in the spill area, and many parts have still not fully recovered. The Exxon spill, in fact, was probably easier to handle since it all came at once. This is likely to go on for a long time.
All of the oil that’s still to be found and tapped in the world is in similarly difficult geology. The well in question actually goes down 3 miles below the sea floor. These oil spills will almost certainly become more frequent as drilling goes into more and more difficult circumstances.
One thing you can bet on is that mega-corpses like BP will go to great lengths to mold the rules to their profit margin no matter the potential harm to society or the environment. They’ll take big gambles - play the odds - in order to increase their profits. If they lose the bet, we, and our environment, pay.
Details are a bit murky, similar to the waters one mile down where the oil is leaking from, but it seems the pipe is leaking in three places and dumping about 5000 barrels or 210,000 gallons a day – 1 barrel equals 42 gallons – into the Gulf. British Petroleum, owner of the oil, has sent down remote controlled submersibles to try to activate the shut off valve to no avail. It’s not easy working down there under the extreme pressure of a mile of water.
Too bad the oil giants, including BP, were just recently successful in preventing new regulations that would’ve strengthened fail-safe mechanisms designed to prevent such disaster scenarios. As for Obama, egg on his face for only one month ago opening up large areas of America’s coastline to drilling, saying the technology is now so advanced there’s little chance of environmental catastrophe.
I imagine everything, all the machinery and piping, is a bit twisted and askew as a result of the rig blowing up and sinking, so it may not be possible to turn off the well. If so the only alternative is to drill another well beside the existing one and use it to block off the one that’s gushing. That, unfortunately, will take at least 3 months at which time about 450,000 barrels of oil will have been fouling the sea and coast.
Meanwhile strong winds are currently hampering efforts to stem the flow of oil toward land and that area is entering storm season.
Barring a miracle a one billion dollar seafood industry is about to go down the tubes. The Exxon spill killed 3/4 of all sea life in the spill area, and many parts have still not fully recovered. The Exxon spill, in fact, was probably easier to handle since it all came at once. This is likely to go on for a long time.
All of the oil that’s still to be found and tapped in the world is in similarly difficult geology. The well in question actually goes down 3 miles below the sea floor. These oil spills will almost certainly become more frequent as drilling goes into more and more difficult circumstances.
One thing you can bet on is that mega-corpses like BP will go to great lengths to mold the rules to their profit margin no matter the potential harm to society or the environment. They’ll take big gambles - play the odds - in order to increase their profits. If they lose the bet, we, and our environment, pay.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Showdown in Thailand
This is beyond ironic since he owes his own tenure to yellow-shirt protesters who shut down
The yellows positively despise Taksin Shinawatra, deposed leader of the red-shirts; at this point he’s more like a spiritual leader and probably financial benefactor. He’s in exile and can’t return without facing a jail term. I have very little respect for him myself; I consider him responsible for mass murder. He campaigned on a pledge to rid the country of drugs within three months of his election and upon taking office he ordered the police to take out a lot of ‘drug dealers’.
In the event 2500 people were summarily executed. According to the police they were all killed in drug turf shootouts. The killings met widespread approval amongst the people. The problem in
The major complaint the establishment had against Taksin was the special treatment he set up for himself when he sold his telecom company, largest in
As a result of the hatred of Taksin on the part of the elite, he was ousted in a military coup in 2006. The problem is that he’s the most popular elected leader in Thai history. He’s the first to serve out a full term in office, the first to be reelected to a second term and the first to win an outright majority in parliament and not need coalition partners to govern.
He accomplished that popularity by being the first Thai leader to take account of the needs of the rural poor and common people in general. It certainly can be argued that he really doesn’t give a shit about the people and that his policies are pure populist vote buying, but that’s neither here nor there, the fact is he did it and the people love him for it.
The first prime minister chosen by Taksin’s party – which was still in power - after the coup was removed by the courts because of a conflict of interest: He hosted a cooking show on TV for which he received a token $50 payment. The second, as mentioned previously, was ousted, essentially driven out of power, by yellow-shirt protesters who shut down the airport until their demands were met.
The big question is why they were so adamant about ousting a Taksin oriented government after Taksin himself was out of the picture. I don’t live there, only in a neighboring country, but I have lived there in the past and have traveled there extensively. Even so, I can’t claim to be an expert on the situation, only an interested observer. At any rate, the only reason I can come up with for the elite’s resolve in removing an elected government is that they couldn’t stand seeing public benefits going to the country’s poor. I know it makes no sense, but that’s the best I can make of it.
The common people of
What gets me is how the royalists thought they could use people power to oust a government without expecting the opposition to take the same tact.
Where it stands now is that the red-shirts are demanding new elections. The prime minister has offered to bring up the date of the next election to this December instead of a year December, but the red-shirts are holding firm to an earlier date. How much more basic can you get than ask for an election to replace an unelected government?
There’s one wild card in the mix;
I don’t see civil war, but in this volatile mix, almost anything is possible.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Victorious Defeat
Obama’s health care bill has passed. One good thing is the Repugs lost. It feels good to know their pure obstructionism didn’t prevail. However, this will only fire up the Tea baggers more, and they are mad. Not only angry mad, they’re positively bonkers. In fact, this is good - if you care about Repug-Dummo politics - because they’re turning the right wing into raving crazies and turning off the populace as a whole, thus to the Dummo’s benefit. The raucous right will insure that any Repug who’s the least bit moderate will lose in the primaries and then their radical candidate will be trounced in the general election.
The other good thing is the Dummos can say they did something. Some people are ranking it right up there with Social Security and Medicare as a social breakthrough; what total bullshit. I’m not saying it’s all bad: It does make improvements, such as curb insurance industry bad behavior and add a few little tweaks, like money for community health centers, thanks to Senator Bernie Sanders.
On the other hand, there is nothing substantive to contain costs thanks to Obama’s back door deals with the industry. He figured he needed to buy off their opposition. It worked: industry was solidly behind the legislation. The bottom line? Industry estimates that coverage for a family of four will increase more than 100% over the next decade (as it did in the last decade) and cost about $25,000 per year. A large percentage of Americans don’t even earn that much in a year.
Yes, but 30 million more Americans will be covered. For one thing, that part doesn’t even take effect until 2014. Since it’s variously calculated that between 20,000 and 45,000 Americans a year die because they don’t have insurance, somewhere between 80,000 and 180,000 people will needlessly die in the next four years.
Half that 30 mil will have coverage by virtue of the mandate that requires you to have insurance. Of course, there’s nothing to say what the level of coverage will be. $10,000 out of pocket before coverage begins? 40% copays? Why not? Thus the number of Americans filing for bankruptcy because of medical costs who have insurance (the majority) will continue to rise.
The other half will have the equivalent of indigent insurance in the form of expanded Medicaid. In contrast to Medicare which is a federal program and liked by nearly all, Medicaid is run by the states and (depending on the individual state) is generally underfunded to the point where large numbers of eligible people are excluded. Federal involvement will change that, but it’ll still be jalopy-class coverage. Many doctors will not accept Medicaid patients, because of low reimbursement rates; that’ll probably not change. Subsidies for increased coverage will be partially paid for by taxing Cadillac plans, thus either lowering quality for the only people who actually have decent coverage or reducing their numbers.
The remaining 15 mil who are presently uninsured? They’ll stay uninsured so for them it’ll continue to be emergency rooms and unnecessary death.
But it’s so great to say, We won! We won! Meanwhile, the cost to the Dummos? Integrity. Sixty Dummo house members said they’d never vote for a bill without a public option. Once again they ate mud and voted against their consciences. You know how it goes: The leadership says, We don’t have to take your progressive views into account because you are spineless and besides you have nowhere to go. It’s either our sold-out party or nothing.
You bleeding-heart do-gooders are way out there on the radical left-wing fringe so not to be taken seriously. The fact that the public option, as well as single payer, are consistently approved by majorities of more than 60% of Americans, not to mention 90% of Democrats, is of no matter in the ‘real’ world. In the real world of American politics the views of a small number of elite, those who also happen to dole out the campaign contributions or pay for negative advertising, counts a lot more than a super majority of the American people.
Before the legislation takes full effect there’ll be widespread clamor for real change, a better plan, one that actually takes the views of the majority into account.
So a great victory for Obama and the Dummos, but a hollow one destined to be short-lived.
Obama’s health care bill has passed. One good thing is the Repugs lost. It feels good to know their pure obstructionism didn’t prevail. However, this will only fire up the Tea baggers more, and they are mad. Not only angry mad, they’re positively bonkers. In fact, this is good - if you care about Repug-Dummo politics - because they’re turning the right wing into raving crazies and turning off the populace as a whole, thus to the Dummo’s benefit. The raucous right will insure that any Repug who’s the least bit moderate will lose in the primaries and then their radical candidate will be trounced in the general election.
The other good thing is the Dummos can say they did something. Some people are ranking it right up there with Social Security and Medicare as a social breakthrough; what total bullshit. I’m not saying it’s all bad: It does make improvements, such as curb insurance industry bad behavior and add a few little tweaks, like money for community health centers, thanks to Senator Bernie Sanders.
On the other hand, there is nothing substantive to contain costs thanks to Obama’s back door deals with the industry. He figured he needed to buy off their opposition. It worked: industry was solidly behind the legislation. The bottom line? Industry estimates that coverage for a family of four will increase more than 100% over the next decade (as it did in the last decade) and cost about $25,000 per year. A large percentage of Americans don’t even earn that much in a year.
Yes, but 30 million more Americans will be covered. For one thing, that part doesn’t even take effect until 2014. Since it’s variously calculated that between 20,000 and 45,000 Americans a year die because they don’t have insurance, somewhere between 80,000 and 180,000 people will needlessly die in the next four years.
Half that 30 mil will have coverage by virtue of the mandate that requires you to have insurance. Of course, there’s nothing to say what the level of coverage will be. $10,000 out of pocket before coverage begins? 40% copays? Why not? Thus the number of Americans filing for bankruptcy because of medical costs who have insurance (the majority) will continue to rise.
The other half will have the equivalent of indigent insurance in the form of expanded Medicaid. In contrast to Medicare which is a federal program and liked by nearly all, Medicaid is run by the states and (depending on the individual state) is generally underfunded to the point where large numbers of eligible people are excluded. Federal involvement will change that, but it’ll still be jalopy-class coverage. Many doctors will not accept Medicaid patients, because of low reimbursement rates; that’ll probably not change. Subsidies for increased coverage will be partially paid for by taxing Cadillac plans, thus either lowering quality for the only people who actually have decent coverage or reducing their numbers.
The remaining 15 mil who are presently uninsured? They’ll stay uninsured so for them it’ll continue to be emergency rooms and unnecessary death.
But it’s so great to say, We won! We won! Meanwhile, the cost to the Dummos? Integrity. Sixty Dummo house members said they’d never vote for a bill without a public option. Once again they ate mud and voted against their consciences. You know how it goes: The leadership says, We don’t have to take your progressive views into account because you are spineless and besides you have nowhere to go. It’s either our sold-out party or nothing.
You bleeding-heart do-gooders are way out there on the radical left-wing fringe so not to be taken seriously. The fact that the public option, as well as single payer, are consistently approved by majorities of more than 60% of Americans, not to mention 90% of Democrats, is of no matter in the ‘real’ world. In the real world of American politics the views of a small number of elite, those who also happen to dole out the campaign contributions or pay for negative advertising, counts a lot more than a super majority of the American people.
Before the legislation takes full effect there’ll be widespread clamor for real change, a better plan, one that actually takes the views of the majority into account.
So a great victory for Obama and the Dummos, but a hollow one destined to be short-lived.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Apartheid or ?
Ehud Barak,
In the latest manifestation of
The apartheid analogy is most obvious as pertains to the
However, the word apartheid is equally valid for the status of Arabs in
As stated previously,
Meanwhile,
With that backdrop why would Netanyahu or any Jew in
Ah, but the scene seems to be changing. Two top ranking American generals, including David Patreus stated recently that
Netanyahu on the other hand is powerless to stop the colonization project. Pandora was let out of her box the first time a Jew took up residence in Arab territory. Settlers will not leave without a fight, they will take up arms against their own army.
The two recent announcements of settlement expansion that came in the midst of American attempts at peacemaking were made by fundamentalist Jews for the purpose of embarrassing Netanyahu and asserting the right of Jews to own
The first time Netanyahu actually tried to make a fair peace deal (he has no intention or desire to do so of course) his coalition would break apart and any other politician who tried to do the right thing would find a civil war on their hands.
Apartheid lives, but Ehud Barak’s other option, the two-state solution has been rendered impossible by the settlement project. There’s no way, after spending tens of billions of dollars building cities for 500,000 people Israel can or will want to walk away from them. There’s also no way that it will be willing to give up equivalent parts of what’s now Israel to compensate Palestinians for the land it’s taken from them.
The only option left (as long as we assume deportation and/or extermination are beyond the pale) and the only solution that is fair and makes sense in the 21st century, is a single secular state where all citizens are treated equally and all are able to live anywhere. There are several states divided by ethnicity that have learned to, or been forced to cohabitate;
What makes
Finally, finally it looks like major international players are beginning to call
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Death to Barking Dogs
(Apologies in advance to sensitive dog lovers)
The above statement appeared on one of my favorite bumper stickers and perfectly represents my feelings on the matter. Well, okay, death is kinda drastic and terminal: How about; A Good Smack Across the Snout to Barking Dogs. Anything to shut ‘em up.
A gal I once knew who was from Vietnam said they don’t have any problem with them there; If they get too noisy they quickly find their way to the dinner pot. Once again, kind of a Final Solution for someone’s beloved (or otherwise) pet. I don’t necessarily want to see them go to dog purgatory or hell (they definitely don’t go to dog heaven; not the barking ones, no way). I just want them to quit their useless, maddening yapping.
I especially dislike it when they disturb my peace and reverie as I walk along by surprising me with loud angry barking. In the city they are usually tethered or behind closed doors. Just walking past their door late at night will start some dogs barking. Sometimes I get my revenge by barking back at them. Wow, that really sets them off and they bark like crazy for a long time after. I always hope in those circumstances that it wakes up their owners and maybe even their neighbors who would then pressure them to teach their dog to shut up; meanwhile I’m long gone. One time, during the day, a large tethered dog shattered my calm as I was walking by. When I barked back, it was so taken aback that it turned tail and ran into the house. The owner, who was sitting outside clearly thought I was nuts, but what did he think of his own dog, some protector it was.
I admit my ears are very sensitive, but who likes the shrill sound of barking dogs? Khmers evidently don’t mind, or don’t care, but that’s maybe because they’re all half deaf from the many times their ears have been deranged by loud noises. Every wedding or party I go to is a painful experience for my ears even when I’ve got my regulation foam earplugs firmly in place. I feel really sorry for little kids when I see them hanging out up close to giant speakers blasting out at full volume… oops, I’m getting off topic.
For a long time I thought Khmers let their dogs bark frequently because they were too lazy to train them or didn’t know how but I was recently forcefully disabused of that notion. Two years ago the owners of my Phnom Penh flat, who own three different buildings at the end of my alley, got a pair of really small, really shrill, really stupid dogs. There’s now about five of them - I’ve lost count - each as dumb as the other. They bark a lot, nobody ever tries to shut ‘em up. Even after two years they still don’t know me and bark at me quite often when I access my place. For sure, every night when I come home late they get all worked up and create a real din.
Maybe their owners just love tiny, noisy dogs or they possibly they like them to be noisy for the security aspect. Nobody can get by there without them giving notice. I feel sorry for the two guys who sleep out, who get woken up at the slightest disturbance. (I believe they are related in some way to the owners and in addition to night watch duties also chauffer the family around.) Thing is, I’ve never heard of a rip-off near my house and I attribute that at least in part to the fact that those guys are always there. A quiet thief could’ve gotten by them before the dogs arrived on the scene but in the three years I lived there nobody had, so there wasn’t much reason to fear.
The dogs have a cage where they are locked up at night and other times during the day. I was surprised when I saw one of the outdoor guys giving a signal, an almost subtle one at that, to the dogs to cage up, and they went quickly and easily, so training is not the problem. To top it off, they just got another dog; this one larger, louder and at least as annoying, if less shrill.
Maybe Khmers just like the idea of dogs running free and doing their thing. Ironically, one of my favorite Dylan songs, from the New Morning album, is “If Dogs Run Free”,
If dogs run free, why not we?
Across the sands of time…
While I get the concept, in practice it’s a real hassle, like when I got bit a few months back by a free running dog owned by the people who caretake the public toilet on the corner of Streets 13 and 178 across from the National Museum. It was about midnight and nighttime is when dogs yap and threaten the most. I had heard it barking at someone else as I approached about 50 meters away but didn’t think much of it; Khmer dogs bark a lot but don’t bite very often and this was kind of a small one. When I got within proximity it circled around me and without barking or any threatening gestures it struck, leaving a very interesting two rows of puncture holes in my calf – only the upper teeth sunk in.
I was really pissed, as you can well imagine, and chased after it like a madman while yelling obscenities and threats like, “kill dog” in my rudimentary Khmer. I kept searching for a rock to throw at it as I was running after it, but could find none, it’s all grass there. It would have evened things out a bit if I could’ve beaned it. Meanwhile I had roused the whole caretaker family (and probably half the neighborhood) and they were trying to figure out why I was so lividly irate and screaming about killing their dog. They understood pretty easily when I moved over to the light and showed them my bloody leg. I’m sure they were relieved that I didn’t demand compensation.
And as any sensible responsible person would do I went early next day to get a rabies shot: Not. I know you think I must be half crazy to take a chance on certain death for the small cost and relatively minor inconvenience of preventative shots but I weighed the probabilities and decided against it.
What I did do early next morning was check out rabies on the net. For one thing you’ve got a window of about 10 days to get the shots if they’re going to save your life. Also the speed at which you die depends on how close the bite is to your head. As mine was in the lower leg it would’ve taken about six weeks to reach my brain when I would’ve started foaming at the mouth and soon thereafter died.
I learned that an average of seven people a year die of rabies in Phnom Penh. Those of course are the ones who didn’t get the shots. I also learned that Cambodians are especially fond of dogs and have twice the number per capita compared to neighboring countries.
What I didn’t find out was what percentage of Cambodian dogs have rabies. In developed countries that number is now close to zero. I really don’t want to put weird rabies stuff into my system if I don’t have to so if the ratio is one out of a thousand, I’d take my chances. One in ten and for sure I’d get shot.
The thing about rabid dogs is you can easily tell, though I’m not sure if that’s true of all stages of its infection. They’re aggressive, they foam at the mouth and they look crazed. I remember seeing one back when I was very young. I may actually be remembering a picture or educational movie, but in any case, rabid dogs are easy to spot. This dog showed no signs of the disease; in fact, I’ve never seen or heard of a rabid dog since I came to Phnom Penh 8 years ago. At any rate I took my chances and dodged the bullet, however rare.
I did get a malady from that dog because I was very weak for three days after. Dogs have a lot of weird stuff in their mouths from eating shit and all kinds of strange foods, so it’s not surprising that I’d get something. I saw the same dog more recently as I was walking by late at night. I grabbed a nice chunk of wood to rap it with in case it got too close. It barked at me because it knew I was pissed at it, but no need for the wood, it was muzzled.
I’ve had dogs a couple times in my life but I did such a terrible job taking care of them I decided it wasn’t for me. It’s not that I don’t like them – as long as they keep their distance - I just never had the energy or desire to play with them or show them the affection that dogs like and need. I’ve decided it’s enough trouble taking care of myself and don’t need another living, breathing thing to be responsible for.
Meanwhile, just to prove my heart isn’t totally hardened towards them, I give my neighbor’s dog in Phnom Penh a little section of my morning toast and butter every day. The way the apartment is configured, she can look at me while looking all hungry and forlorn while I’m preparing breakfast so at a certain point I couldn’t resist sharing with her. She’s a mellow dog that doesn’t bark much except when she has pups so is worthy of my gift. Still, it does seem a bit wacky to feed butter, which now costs more than $10 per kilo, to an animal. She also gets chicken skins and fat trimmings from other meats from me so she hangs out at my place nearly as much as her own. I tried playing with her a little but it just isn’t in me.
Meanwhile in many ways Kampot, where my second home is, is a lot worse in the canine category because there they really do get to run free. You know, I can really dig it from the dog’s perspective. They get to run around and fuck a lot and sniff at everything. They get to hang around with their friends and have a good time and yip, yip, yip, bark, bark, bark to their heart’s content. They also get to harass anybody who dares to be out at night walking or bicycling, which is clearly my problem because I’m a night person.
My house is at the edge of town and almost rural so there are even more dogs than usual and I also have to pass through a severely pockmarked, potholed section of road. This was a big problem when I was on bicycle since I had to go slowly to negotiate the rough surface, which left me a sitting target, so to speak, for the dogs. It also meant my bike light didn’t work well since I was going so slowly. In town on paved streets I might not be able to outrun them, but at least I’d be able to get out of their way pretty quickly. It was especially bad in rainy season since I’d also have to dodge huge puddles and pools of water.
As you can imagine, part of my problem is that I’m not terribly comfortable around dogs and they sense that and think I’m an evil person who needs to be harassed. I walked home at night for a month or so when I first moved to Kampot and then bicycled for several months after that until I bought a car. I always made sure I had a couple of rocks handy in my basket. Barking dogs at my heels combined with trying to find my way on a rough road in the dark did cause me to spill out a couple of times causing a flurry of curses.
When I tried to stay calm and ignore them it worked out a lot better and anyway I managed to survive without getting bitten. Still it’s a great relief to have a car and really be able to ignore them. But I like to walk and bike very much so it’s kind of a loss and a waste to fire up the car to go such short distances – it’s never much more than a kilometer to anywhere I go at night. I walk in Phnom Penh at night so it’s nutty that I feel I have to drive in Kampot.
The barking dogs of midnight is practically the only thing I don’t like about Kampot. One or two will start their stupid yapping, sometimes totally unprovoked by any real event, and then are quickly joined by five or ten others in the immediate neighborhood, which very soon translates into every dog within a kilometer going crazy in unison. Ninety-nine percent have no idea why they are barking their heads off but are moronically happy to join the chorus just the same. Some people get positively deranged by the needless din. I don’t like it but mostly just let it pass me by… though at times I do think some of the worst offenders deserve the cook pot, at least there they’d serve a real purpose.
The above statement appeared on one of my favorite bumper stickers and perfectly represents my feelings on the matter. Well, okay, death is kinda drastic and terminal: How about; A Good Smack Across the Snout to Barking Dogs. Anything to shut ‘em up.
A gal I once knew who was from Vietnam said they don’t have any problem with them there; If they get too noisy they quickly find their way to the dinner pot. Once again, kind of a Final Solution for someone’s beloved (or otherwise) pet. I don’t necessarily want to see them go to dog purgatory or hell (they definitely don’t go to dog heaven; not the barking ones, no way). I just want them to quit their useless, maddening yapping.
I especially dislike it when they disturb my peace and reverie as I walk along by surprising me with loud angry barking. In the city they are usually tethered or behind closed doors. Just walking past their door late at night will start some dogs barking. Sometimes I get my revenge by barking back at them. Wow, that really sets them off and they bark like crazy for a long time after. I always hope in those circumstances that it wakes up their owners and maybe even their neighbors who would then pressure them to teach their dog to shut up; meanwhile I’m long gone. One time, during the day, a large tethered dog shattered my calm as I was walking by. When I barked back, it was so taken aback that it turned tail and ran into the house. The owner, who was sitting outside clearly thought I was nuts, but what did he think of his own dog, some protector it was.
I admit my ears are very sensitive, but who likes the shrill sound of barking dogs? Khmers evidently don’t mind, or don’t care, but that’s maybe because they’re all half deaf from the many times their ears have been deranged by loud noises. Every wedding or party I go to is a painful experience for my ears even when I’ve got my regulation foam earplugs firmly in place. I feel really sorry for little kids when I see them hanging out up close to giant speakers blasting out at full volume… oops, I’m getting off topic.
For a long time I thought Khmers let their dogs bark frequently because they were too lazy to train them or didn’t know how but I was recently forcefully disabused of that notion. Two years ago the owners of my Phnom Penh flat, who own three different buildings at the end of my alley, got a pair of really small, really shrill, really stupid dogs. There’s now about five of them - I’ve lost count - each as dumb as the other. They bark a lot, nobody ever tries to shut ‘em up. Even after two years they still don’t know me and bark at me quite often when I access my place. For sure, every night when I come home late they get all worked up and create a real din.
Maybe their owners just love tiny, noisy dogs or they possibly they like them to be noisy for the security aspect. Nobody can get by there without them giving notice. I feel sorry for the two guys who sleep out, who get woken up at the slightest disturbance. (I believe they are related in some way to the owners and in addition to night watch duties also chauffer the family around.) Thing is, I’ve never heard of a rip-off near my house and I attribute that at least in part to the fact that those guys are always there. A quiet thief could’ve gotten by them before the dogs arrived on the scene but in the three years I lived there nobody had, so there wasn’t much reason to fear.
The dogs have a cage where they are locked up at night and other times during the day. I was surprised when I saw one of the outdoor guys giving a signal, an almost subtle one at that, to the dogs to cage up, and they went quickly and easily, so training is not the problem. To top it off, they just got another dog; this one larger, louder and at least as annoying, if less shrill.
Maybe Khmers just like the idea of dogs running free and doing their thing. Ironically, one of my favorite Dylan songs, from the New Morning album, is “If Dogs Run Free”,
If dogs run free, why not we?
Across the sands of time…
While I get the concept, in practice it’s a real hassle, like when I got bit a few months back by a free running dog owned by the people who caretake the public toilet on the corner of Streets 13 and 178 across from the National Museum. It was about midnight and nighttime is when dogs yap and threaten the most. I had heard it barking at someone else as I approached about 50 meters away but didn’t think much of it; Khmer dogs bark a lot but don’t bite very often and this was kind of a small one. When I got within proximity it circled around me and without barking or any threatening gestures it struck, leaving a very interesting two rows of puncture holes in my calf – only the upper teeth sunk in.
I was really pissed, as you can well imagine, and chased after it like a madman while yelling obscenities and threats like, “kill dog” in my rudimentary Khmer. I kept searching for a rock to throw at it as I was running after it, but could find none, it’s all grass there. It would have evened things out a bit if I could’ve beaned it. Meanwhile I had roused the whole caretaker family (and probably half the neighborhood) and they were trying to figure out why I was so lividly irate and screaming about killing their dog. They understood pretty easily when I moved over to the light and showed them my bloody leg. I’m sure they were relieved that I didn’t demand compensation.
And as any sensible responsible person would do I went early next day to get a rabies shot: Not. I know you think I must be half crazy to take a chance on certain death for the small cost and relatively minor inconvenience of preventative shots but I weighed the probabilities and decided against it.
What I did do early next morning was check out rabies on the net. For one thing you’ve got a window of about 10 days to get the shots if they’re going to save your life. Also the speed at which you die depends on how close the bite is to your head. As mine was in the lower leg it would’ve taken about six weeks to reach my brain when I would’ve started foaming at the mouth and soon thereafter died.
I learned that an average of seven people a year die of rabies in Phnom Penh. Those of course are the ones who didn’t get the shots. I also learned that Cambodians are especially fond of dogs and have twice the number per capita compared to neighboring countries.
What I didn’t find out was what percentage of Cambodian dogs have rabies. In developed countries that number is now close to zero. I really don’t want to put weird rabies stuff into my system if I don’t have to so if the ratio is one out of a thousand, I’d take my chances. One in ten and for sure I’d get shot.
The thing about rabid dogs is you can easily tell, though I’m not sure if that’s true of all stages of its infection. They’re aggressive, they foam at the mouth and they look crazed. I remember seeing one back when I was very young. I may actually be remembering a picture or educational movie, but in any case, rabid dogs are easy to spot. This dog showed no signs of the disease; in fact, I’ve never seen or heard of a rabid dog since I came to Phnom Penh 8 years ago. At any rate I took my chances and dodged the bullet, however rare.
I did get a malady from that dog because I was very weak for three days after. Dogs have a lot of weird stuff in their mouths from eating shit and all kinds of strange foods, so it’s not surprising that I’d get something. I saw the same dog more recently as I was walking by late at night. I grabbed a nice chunk of wood to rap it with in case it got too close. It barked at me because it knew I was pissed at it, but no need for the wood, it was muzzled.
I’ve had dogs a couple times in my life but I did such a terrible job taking care of them I decided it wasn’t for me. It’s not that I don’t like them – as long as they keep their distance - I just never had the energy or desire to play with them or show them the affection that dogs like and need. I’ve decided it’s enough trouble taking care of myself and don’t need another living, breathing thing to be responsible for.
Meanwhile, just to prove my heart isn’t totally hardened towards them, I give my neighbor’s dog in Phnom Penh a little section of my morning toast and butter every day. The way the apartment is configured, she can look at me while looking all hungry and forlorn while I’m preparing breakfast so at a certain point I couldn’t resist sharing with her. She’s a mellow dog that doesn’t bark much except when she has pups so is worthy of my gift. Still, it does seem a bit wacky to feed butter, which now costs more than $10 per kilo, to an animal. She also gets chicken skins and fat trimmings from other meats from me so she hangs out at my place nearly as much as her own. I tried playing with her a little but it just isn’t in me.
Meanwhile in many ways Kampot, where my second home is, is a lot worse in the canine category because there they really do get to run free. You know, I can really dig it from the dog’s perspective. They get to run around and fuck a lot and sniff at everything. They get to hang around with their friends and have a good time and yip, yip, yip, bark, bark, bark to their heart’s content. They also get to harass anybody who dares to be out at night walking or bicycling, which is clearly my problem because I’m a night person.
My house is at the edge of town and almost rural so there are even more dogs than usual and I also have to pass through a severely pockmarked, potholed section of road. This was a big problem when I was on bicycle since I had to go slowly to negotiate the rough surface, which left me a sitting target, so to speak, for the dogs. It also meant my bike light didn’t work well since I was going so slowly. In town on paved streets I might not be able to outrun them, but at least I’d be able to get out of their way pretty quickly. It was especially bad in rainy season since I’d also have to dodge huge puddles and pools of water.
As you can imagine, part of my problem is that I’m not terribly comfortable around dogs and they sense that and think I’m an evil person who needs to be harassed. I walked home at night for a month or so when I first moved to Kampot and then bicycled for several months after that until I bought a car. I always made sure I had a couple of rocks handy in my basket. Barking dogs at my heels combined with trying to find my way on a rough road in the dark did cause me to spill out a couple of times causing a flurry of curses.
When I tried to stay calm and ignore them it worked out a lot better and anyway I managed to survive without getting bitten. Still it’s a great relief to have a car and really be able to ignore them. But I like to walk and bike very much so it’s kind of a loss and a waste to fire up the car to go such short distances – it’s never much more than a kilometer to anywhere I go at night. I walk in Phnom Penh at night so it’s nutty that I feel I have to drive in Kampot.
The barking dogs of midnight is practically the only thing I don’t like about Kampot. One or two will start their stupid yapping, sometimes totally unprovoked by any real event, and then are quickly joined by five or ten others in the immediate neighborhood, which very soon translates into every dog within a kilometer going crazy in unison. Ninety-nine percent have no idea why they are barking their heads off but are moronically happy to join the chorus just the same. Some people get positively deranged by the needless din. I don’t like it but mostly just let it pass me by… though at times I do think some of the worst offenders deserve the cook pot, at least there they’d serve a real purpose.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Obama Is Losing It.
Mr. O has been saying some really stupid things lately. Instead of trying to find ways to put thieving banksters in prison he praises them as savvy businessmen and says he doesn’t begrudge their obscene compensation. He went on to make a totally spurious comparison to fabulously paid sports stars.
While it’s true that most major teams in
In fact, it does take savvy (not to mention arrogant, greedy and shameless) businessmen to demand that government - the same one they otherwise love to hate - rescue their institutions from their own malfeasance and then use the free money they receive to reward themselves with fabulous compensation. Goldman Sachs earned about 13 billion dollars last year, just about the same amount they received from the AIG bailout, so their profits are totally the result of government welfare.
They’ve also used their generous gifts from the people to lobby against legislation that would protect Americans from a similar meltdown happening again. Regulation? That’s a dirty word, the market will take care of everything; and if it doesn’t there’s always another bailout from Uncle Sam.
Meanwhile they are creating the conditions for a new bubble by engaging in the same risky behavior that brought them to the brink of bankruptcy in the first place. Why not? Obama will be there for them in their hour of need. If anyone is interested in the details, Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone magazine wrote an excellent article describing their current scams. It was also published a couple days ago on commondreams.org.
After hurting the banksters’ feelings by calling them fat cats, he seems to be wanting to get all chummy, to show them he’s really on their side… and keep those campaign dollars rolling in. Moreover, now that the
They may be savvy businessmen but their work adds nothing of value to society: they are leaches, parasites, predators. That’s not even considering their deceit or thievery. That refers strictly to their function in the economic world, the malfeasance is merely the frosting on the cake.
Big time banks skim the cream off the top of the economy, while serving no social purpose. They drain the lifeblood of society by grabbing much too big a share for themselves. If they have the rights of people, they should also have the responsibilities and face the same penalties for breaking the law. At this point, many deserve the death penalty.
The vast majority of Americans, both left and right, socialists and teabaggers, feel only anger and vitriol against the banksters, so how can Obama defend them? What can he gain by siding with those sleazebags?
The other ludicrous garbage, not to mention deceit, that’s come out of his mouth was in reference to a bipartisan meeting he’s arranged on health care legislation. He said to the Repugs, If you can show me a better plan that can increase coverage, lower costs and rein in insurance company abuses, you tell me, I want to see it.
Did he somehow forget that he was an advocate for single-payer health care and campaigned on that basis for many years prior to becoming president? Has he been hit with a stroke of amnesia?
He’s spent a whole year emasculating every important legislative program in order to placate the Repugs and a handful of conservative Dems with absolutely nothing to show for it.
Wake up Mr. President, time to represent the people interests instead of your savvy fat cat businessmen friends. Time to can the empty rhetoric and get real.
Maybe he’s expecting to use the health care summit to try to shame the Repugs, make them look bad, but, Mr. O, why bother? Why don’t you just pass your little-bit-is-better-than-nothing health care plan with whatever legislative maneuvering you have at your disposal and then talk about what a great advance it is in spite of the fact that it doesn’t control costs, doesn’t cover everyone and doesn’t even begin to increase coverage until 2013. Don’t mention how it sets up tiers of coverage leaving many people with low quality care and pays for increased coverage (at least the Senate version) by taxing the only people who do have quality insurance.
The only improvement I can see over the presidency of Bushman is the appointment of a decent
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