Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Posted by Mickey Z on 01/12 at 05:26 AM

So shrimp are the cattle of the mangove swamps...who knew until now? The Southeast Texas coast is hideous, and at its eastern parts unvisited by migratory birds or other not-good-to-disturb animals, so how about we campaign to relocate the shrimp aquaculture industry over there? Same latitude...environmentally ravaged by the petrochemical industry already (and would be forced to clean up their act, as a side benefit)..and near to my flesh-eating, shrimp-loving “graveyard of dead creatures” self! What’cha tink?

Posted by Richard on from The great Red State of Texas, blech 01/12 at 03:36 PM

While I was hoping for the complete renunciation of the practice of eating shrimp, I will accept Richard’s modest proposal as a baby step in the right direction. Fair enough, RMD?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from 01/12 at 03:43 PM

Renunciation isn’t in my nature, MZ. That’s why I am so rotund. Still, the Vietnamese shrimpers in the Gulf need to eat and feed their families too, so let’s swing that industry on over. Absolutely no other use for the hellish place (Texas City, site of the next-greatest chemical-explosion disaster after Halifax in 1916, is the area I am referring to).

Now on to conquer the non-vegan with the force of moral suasion and reason. Good luck with that!

Posted by Richard on from The great Red State of Texas, blech 01/12 at 03:59 PM

All right, so Vietnam it is...but (as long we’re aiming high here) only until we succeed in freeing that long-suffering nation from the chains imposed by Nike, Reebok, the World Bank, IMF structural adjustments, land mines, and the lingering effects of defoliation. Then, once genuine self-determination is acheived, perhaps the people of Vietnam will find it in their hearts to allow marine life the same freedoms.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from 01/12 at 04:05 PM

Gets my vote for immediate action. Particularly the devastation of defoliation and its attendant Agent Orange-caused diseases and birth defects. We should be tossing huge money at the Vietnamese people’s health care out of sheer guilt. Of course, as a newly unemployed American, I think we ought to start working on universal health care right here and right now.

BTW, just read a book called “The Mekong” (cannot find it, and I don’t remember the author’s name) that was quite a sharpener in my appreciation of the facts of this huge river’s importance and health. Recommended.

Posted by Richard on from The great Red State of Texas, blech 01/12 at 04:14 PM

Instructive to hear Jimmy “Nobel” Carter say the U.S. needn’t apologize to Vietnam because “the destruction was mutual.” Funny, but I don’t recall any screaming pre-teen girls running down my block after being bombarded with napalm...but if our president says the destruction was mutual, well, who are we to argue?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from 01/12 at 04:34 PM

The destruction of lives was mutual...but who started it? The French, I suppose, but we didn’t have to ratchet everything up post-Tonkin Resolution; I fear the Great Moral Force That Is Carter is just plain wrong. We should apologize and make good. We rebuilt Germany and Japan, they weren’t particularly good bets not to bite us again, so why not Vietnam?

Posted by Richard on from The great Red State of Texas, blech 01/12 at 04:42 PM

Dear Richard, I must beg to differ. 2-3 million dead in Southeast Asia as compared to 50,000 G.I.’s. The only thing mutual was the hatred.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from 01/12 at 04:44 PM

58,000-plus, but I’m counting the huge numbers who died under the French regime as well. And frankly, I don’t think scorekeeping on this scale is meaningful or helpful. Crime is crime, war is a crime, and the entity who initiated the crime (the US, by extension, since we took over the war from the French) bears the greater blame.

Posted by Richard on from The great Red State of Texas, blech 01/12 at 05:24 PM

Not scorekeeping but underscoring (using casualty counts) the criminality of Carter’s comment.

Known as the “Vietnam War,” it would be more accurate if we exchanged that for “U.S. invasion of South Vietnam.”

Posted by Mickey Z. on from 01/12 at 05:29 PM