Labor Day Weekend, no electronics
I’ve got a cold today, and need a break. Meanwhile, it’s Labor Day Weekend here in the States, and that’s a little depressing too. On one hand, it’s becoming abundantly clear that the folks hurt the most by hurricane Katrina were the residents of New Orleans too poor to get out, and statistics suggest that the number of such people in our country is increasing. On the other hand, the biggest change I’ve seen in 35 years of watching my little harbor in Maine is the arrival of megayachts like Northern Star above, which charters for $425,000 per week, plus expenses. Last weekend I watched the three crew above labor half a day to wash down the 210’ hull, which already shone like a mirror. I’m not sure that’s labor we should be celebrating. I’m going to take a long weekend, refresh, and will get back to marine electronics next Tuesday.
The gap between the haves and have nots is growing larger each day. The tragedy in New Orleans is a magnifying glass into the great divide that is occuring in every urban center.
New Orleans got it’s funding cut while Iraq continues to be rebuilt at a cost of billions.
Hard to be optimistic.
The scenes from New Orleans are tragic especially since it can happen here in the Northeast i.e. an LNG tanker exploding. Why not alter the Brunswick Air Station from a military base to a Homeland Security hub. Here food, water and other critical supplies could be stored and housing built to shelter those displaced by natural or man made disasters. Just as we prepare ourselves with good electronics before going to sea we need as a nation to prepare ourselves equally well. In so doing we will provide necessary employment to our citizens (redistributing wealth) as well as building necessary homeland security infrastructure.
Enjoy your well deserved long weekend.