Perhaps you remember, I wrote and posted a blog noting a super freighter container ship – the Emma Maersk In that blog, I wondered if we’re getting used to the prospect of becoming ‘second-best’.
http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2008/emma-maersk-p1.php
Our internecine political battles have gotten so out of hand, there is virtually no way to get anything done that will put this country back on track (no pun intended) by getting the country moving on a vital and very needed part of our infrastructure modernization. Ironically, the very people who bemoan that this country is going to Hell in a handbasket because there are no jobs; are the first to kill or obstruct every, and any initiative proposed by this White House.
This infighting has virtually killed healthcare reform – when both major political parties acknowledge that reform is needed. The left supports runaway spending and the right supports fighting any idea that is not their own. Folks, we’re at dead standstill with all this gridlock. In the meantime, the out years will see people die needlessly and future prosperity of individuals squandered by the same old corporate two-step.
But through intimidation and lobbying by the insurance companies, people are too scared to embrace the change that is needed. Like being afraid to travel in a world that is believed to be flat. So now, the polls show that more people don’t want change to the healthcare system than the people who do. The message of fear has gotten through and people will suffer and die.
When you show supporting data that the US ranks 37th by the World Health Organization (WHO), people get angry – stop listening and declare the US has the best healthcare system in the world. The US has the highest infant premature infant mortality rate, the highest chronic illness rate (heart, stroke, cancer, diabetes) and the highest obesity issue per capita than any other industrialized nation.
(http://www.globalissues.org/article/774/health-care-around-the-world)
Forty million people face the medical nightmare on a nightly basis without health insurance. The financial ruin for the survivors has been catastrophic. Our own family faced this dilemma that ended when both parents died in a system that let them slip away because of being under insured. They had the best they could afford – but by their late 50’s, their races had been run.
This time, I’m referring to our embryonic effort at building a high rail system. We are so far behind, the Chinese will have built their 42nd high speed train by the time we’ve fielded our first little line from Tampa, Florida to Orlando. The Chinese already have all of their major cities connected by trains that exceed 200 mph. Imagine going from Dallas to Detroit in 6 hours. We have some short haul flights that take more time than that. The Europeans operate many successful high-speed trains.
(http://www.alleuroperail.com/eurorail-high-speed-train.htm)
But where is the United States on this issue? We can’t get passed being the only industrialized modern nation without universal healthcare, much less having a train system ready to meet the modern 21st century. If ever there was a time that favors infrastructure modernization, this is the time. It is a time that has the potential to rival the building of American doing FDR’S first years in office or even reach a level of modernization of the Truman – Eisenhower era. But we have political infighting like kids on the playground. We’ve ground to a halt in all that needs to be done.
So, what does this have to do with elevated photography? Nothing directly; but we’re talking about innovation and modernization – at least, that is the theme I had wished to emphasize with this blog. The year will go by in 2010 without much difference to the year before. In the meantime, people will wonder where the jobs are; and they will support the obstruction of a President with a vision that could positively affect each and every citizen across this nation. Before you accuse this author of being in the tank for this President, listen to the video of Ted Kennedy giving the eulogy for his murdered brother on 8 June, 1968: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9JTYnMpRyg. Forget the politics; there is a calling that begs for a response – courage, innovation, imagination and creation…
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