Life Non-essentials



A friend of mine works at NOAA, at their main research facility in Seattle. Or at least she will until Friday. Seattle happens to be the closest American city to Asia, as well as the devastating turmoil in Japan, where radioactive water continues to flow into the Pacific, and radiation into the air, all of which, sooner or later, will circumnavigate the globe. Already, low levels (so we are told) of radiation are turning up in both air and water in such unlikely places as Boise, Idaho, and Boston, Massachusetts. But no matter. Nothing to worry about, right? Except, well, maybe a little something called 'nuclear winter.' Which we may be having already in the Northwest, actually, since we have hardly seen the sun in six months, and then only on the cold days.

Oh, and NOAA is also charged with trying to figure out whether the Gulf of Mexico is still alive, given most of its creatures are not; or, like the dolphins off Florida, are in the process of dying horrible deaths.

But no matter. These are not important things to consider. At least not in the minds of the Republicans and Tea Party goers currently in the process of shutting down the Federal Government, apparently on the basis of the notion that all government is bad.

No doubt Mssrs. Ryan and Boehmer will personally guarantee that your seafood is safe to eat, your air safe to breath, and your water safe to drink (or spray on your crops). They are already targeting the EPA for a permanent shutdown for interfering with the American Dream, or something. So I guess we should not be surprised that they are going to shut down NOAA as well, starting on Friday.

So if that rotting dead thing on your plate doesn't resemble what a salmon used to resemble, and that tingly brown stuff you're choking on seems unrelated to air, and the water in your glass looks like, well, radioactive fallout, don't worry. Be happy. The Republicans and Tea Party goers are going to save you lots of money, and that's what counts.

At least if you're a bank CEO, trust fund heir, or hedge fund manager.

Presumably those people breathe different air, drink different water, and eat different sushi than the rest of us.

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