By Beauty Damned

Slice of News?

I picked up a newspaper today for my first time in weeks. Weeks I tell you. I'm sure I've been missing out on all kinds of disturbing news. News is rarely good you know? These reporters aren't out there looking for the most positive aspects of life (unless they're working for People Magazine a/k/a Asskisser's Digest). Maybe I have been subconsciously incapable of coping with the news lately and I've just been giving myself a little break. It's a good thing.

The cover story of AM NY today was about the shortage of air traffic controllers in the U.S. and the startling rise in "close calls" between aircrafts in flight. There were 24 "close calls" reported in all of 2004. In 2005 alone, there have already been 19 reported. The article went on to make me feel deeply uneasy about flying as my mind tried to focus on calculating the apparently elevated odds of dying in a plane crash. The reason given in the article was basically that being an air traffic controller is a job that requires very special training and competency and that 500 retired in 2004, and a measly 13 were hired to replace that 500. In addition, 3,000 more are set to retire in October of this year. According to the article in AM NY, more than half of the nation's 15,000 air traffic controllers could retire by 2010. If they are not adequately replaced, we're all going to die. Or at least that's what the little alarmist in me screamed at the top of her lungs while I read. According to another article, the Federal Aviation Administration has cut back on overtime, leaving air traffic understaffed and prone to fuckups. Hmm. I sure hope this gets resolved.

So that freaked me out. And it was only the front page! Other things that raised my eyebrows in the news today:

The Boro of Queens, New York, has scared away Wal-Mart! Yay. WM has opted not to open a store there after extensive negotiations with city counsel basically ended in Wal-Mart getting kicked to the curb. People in Queens made it pretty clear that Wal-Mart, their scandalous labor practices, crushing of the local small business economy and all that worthless crap they're peddling is not welcome. So they'll have to find another place to roost. Hopefully it won't be anywhere in NYC. The burbs can have it.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the State of California is not permitted to arbitrarily segregate prison inmates, overturning a lower court ruling. I have to say that I agree that it's wrong to segregate inmates and that there is no truly justifiable reason to separate people solely based on their different skin color. I found that to be a noteworthy development.

One bit that jumped out at me was the teensy little box containing a blurb titled "Bush's Uncle Made Profit Off Iraq War." It goes on to explain that Bush's uncle made more than $450,000 by selling stock in a defense contractor whose profits have gone through the roof since the war in Iraq. And all these sneering republicans balk at the suggestion that this war was waged in the interest of Bush himself and those individuals and corporations directly encircling him....balk away fuckers. In the end there's only one way to find out the true purpose behind our invasion and occupation of Iraq: Follow the money.

Posted by Maria at February 24, 2005 07:22 PM | TrackBack