While human error is always a factor to be considered, this tragedy might also be viewed from the perspective of outdated and inadequate infrastructure. Commuter and freight trains should not run on the same track, double tracking should exist, and signaling must be modernized.

I’m starting to feel really depressed about the state of this country. Not only are we in debt to the world, but we are no longer a shining example as concerns… well, about anything. Our infrastructure is outdated (rail, road, public works, etc..) our cities are ghost towns and many indicia point to declining standards of living for the vast majority of our population. In New Orleans, where I’ve now lived for about a month, this is especially noticeable.

The majority of the roads in the city are seriously damaged, some traffic signals are non-functioning, and others are downright misleading. Public school buildings are extremely outdated, public transportation is a joke, and access to public health programs is extremely limited. Having lived in two developing nations, I feel almost right at home; this saddens me.

A law school buddy of mine said late last night that New Orleans may just be the first great lost city in the United States. Look at the damage to Galveston and Houston TX caused by hurricane Ike. If that storm had hit us, this city would surely have been flooded again as it was in Katrina; were this to happen once again, I fear that the exodus of residents, especially from lesser privileged areas, would render this city even more of a ghost town than it already at times appears.

And it saddens me to see the familiar petty concerns of human relations consume us while the real threat slowly laps against our battered bulwarks.

It’s getting VERY ugly:

Limbaugh Racist

I was looking forward to tonight’s debate between Clinton and Obama. For those of you who watched it, as I did, I’m sorry. I’m sorry because you probably feel like you wasted two hours, but I’m also sorry to see that this bullshit passes for debate. The ABC News website has a blog with thousands of comments, most of which express great anger at this travesty. I’ll defer to one such commenter:

Our country is engaged in unlawful war, our military is breaking, our economy faces severe recession, our moral standing in the world has collapsed, our currency has lost nearly half its value, our infrastructure is disintegrating, our citizens cannot afford to stay in their homes though Wall Street moguls make billions of dollars annually, our current adminsitration condones and encourages torture - and lies to us about their actions, our borders cannot be adequatley policed for unlawful entry, our school sytems are so underfunded as to be barely above ‘third-world’ standards, our major auto manufacturers refuse to create vehicles that achieve even half the mpg of European manufactures, our minimum wage is slightly above poverty levels, our health care system operates to benefit the pharmaceutical industry, our veterans are ignored; their physical and emotional suffering trivialized, our energy conglomerates purposely stand in the way of advancing alternative energy, our citizens believe elections have been manipulated and stolen - and that our government has manufactured terror to maintain the facade of protecting us, our constitutional rights and responsibilities have been abridged and decimated, our access to meaningful ‘news’ is stymied by corporate media interests, our government spies on us by unlawful means under the guise of protecting our freedoms, our military commanders present disparate assessments of our ’success’ in the middle east, our citizenry argues about gay marriage and flag burning while congress postures about life-saving possibilities of stem cell research, our airwaves are filled with hate speech spewing from commentators more interested in shocking us than being truthful….. and you waste our time at this most crucial period in US history asking a man as intelligent and insightful as Senator Obama why he doesn’t wear a flag pin on his lapel? This? This is the best we can do to elect a president?####.Bitter in Seattle

Indeed. Given the multitude of issues that are dogging threatening the very soul of this country, it is shameful that an hour is spent discussing flag pins, tenuous connections to some ex-radical from the 1960’s and other crap. When they “cut to video” to show a concerned midwesterner (who’s hair and home, by the way, looked straight out of the early eighties) ask about flag pins and patriotism, I felt like kicking her head in. I wonder how life is for her… does she have health insurance, a good job, college savings for her children? When she was given the opportunity to address the nation, all she could ask about is a meaningless symbol. I bet she has a magnetic ribbon made in China expressing support for our troops on her Ford Taurus.

But there will always be people like her. The real travesty is the fact that ABC sanctioned this garbage. It should come as no surprise to the older generations, after this debate, that very few people my age (25) watch network news. It has reached the point where the whole packaging of the news is so biased as to render it meaningless. There’s a lot of talk over at Kos about boycotts, etc. and I’m all for that. We need to cut ourself out of this destructive cycle:

http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html

We need big picture talk in these big picture times. Bush will soon leave office, but the damage done to our national institutions, including the media, will take a lot of work to repair. To hear it straight, check out NovaM Radio, home to Mike Malloy, and now, Randi Rhodes. Voices speaking truth to power are out there, but we must actively seek them out. Candidates must do the same and insist upon issues-based debates. If our national networks can not handle this, then let bloggers team up with PBS. No more.

Yesterday the crazy abortion types were out. We have this bridge that connects Lewiston with its sister city Auburn, and the route is heavily trafficked. They were lining both sides of the bridge, standing somberly, holding up signs saying things like “abortion = murder,” etc. etc. I happened to be traveling to and from Auburn, so I had to deal with them twice. First time I gave a thumbs down sign while honking across the bridge. Coming back, I just gave them all the finger, including a “preacher” who was waving his bible at oncoming traffic… Maybe my acts were childish, but to stand on the side of the road displaying such signs is, in my opinion, one hell of a nasty thing to do on a Sunday afternoon. Of course it was a “family friendly” event, meaning that I ended up flipping off some kids, but hey, if their parents are going to force them to propagandize their own zealotry, then they better be able to deal with the reaction. I even found their display to be a tad cowardly. As there are traffic lights at both ends of the bridge, they could have stood there, thereby allowing idling motorists to engage in conversation with them. But wait, what am I thinking, those people couldn’t care a lick for any sort of conversation because their ration is irrational. I even went to far as to consider pulling to the side of the road and giving them an earful, but I didn’t, which was likely a good decision. The rampant stupidity in this country never ceases to amaze me. With a war going on and an economy being sunk all these “christians” can manage to do is protest abortion on bridges? Please. These people need to get out of all of our faces.