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Bubba

Jul 17, 2005, 10:57 AM

Post #1 of 23 (2169 views)

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A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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This is lifted from the LATimes.com as reported on Google. It is a quoted from one Brittney Denhart, a U.S. tourist regarding Hurricane Emily as it bears down on the Quintana Roo Coast.

"It's a little scary because it's happening in Mexico.... it would be a little more reassuring if it was (sic) on U.S. soil. We don't know what the level of planning is (in Mexico)."

Well, HELLO, Brittney. Bubba grew up on the U.S. Gulf Coast and if you feel better being visited by God's wrath there than in Cancun, which was built from the ground up in anticipation of these storms, then you are naive in the extreme.

This unbelievable arrogance by people from the U.S. toward the rest of the world is in unspeakably bad taste and one of the reasons Gringos are so resented. Even more telling is the fact that countless Mexicans perishing in a major storm is of little consequence to U.S. media when compared with a fraction of the casualties on the U.S. Mainland. In fact, you may note that the U.S. media is concerned primarily with the number of their wasted tourists who will have to give up their 2X1 Margaritas for a few hours than the thousands of Mexican service personnel who support their bacchanalian excesses and will endure months of hardship as a result of this storm.

Otherwise, I have no opinion on the subject.

esperanza

Jul 17, 2005, 11:02 AM

Post #2 of 23 (2149 views)

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Re: [Bubba] A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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Great minds, Bubba. I have been looking at the following headline in the NYTimes today:
Tourists Evacuated as Hurricane Emily Nears Mexican Coast

Eleven paragraphs into the article, the Times reporter mentions the evacuation and safety measures taken for the area's Mexican residents.

Bubba's post expresses my sentiments quite well.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

(This post was edited by esperanza on Jul 17, 2005, 11:02 AM)

sfmacaws

Jul 17, 2005, 1:34 PM

Post #3 of 23 (2117 views)

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Re: [esperanza] A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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I agree that most US network coverage gives little time to any international news that does not effect US citizens or interests. It's part of the isolationism that is so often gone on about. It's just the way it is.

However, I have been watching the Weather Channel and they have not shown one shot of the crowded Cancun airport so far. They have done video on the evacuation shelters, showing the convention center in Cancun, lots of the usual shots of local people nailing up plywood over their businesses, a lot of talk about the preparations in the Yucatan by the reporter standing in front of some windy chop. They have been very complimentary about the preparedness of civil authorities there. There was mention that there have been 80,000 people evacuated so far from the Riviera Maya. That's an impressive number and the logistics take a lot of pre-planning - all this was noted on the newscast.

Whether you all like it or not, it is important for the local economy that sound preparation and good evacuation are publicized in the areas that supply the largest number of paying customers. How this is handled and, probably more importantly, how it is seen to be handled will have enormous economic impact and will have a lot to do with how quickly the economy recovers.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

Georgia

Jul 17, 2005, 5:16 PM

Post #4 of 23 (2055 views)

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Re: [Bubba] A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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Well, Bubba, you and Esperanza are correct, but you overlook one axiom of the newspaper business: "all news is local." Other than that, it ain't news.

johanson

Jul 17, 2005, 6:37 PM

Post #5 of 23 (2025 views)

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Re: [Georgia] A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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I just watched tonight's "NBC Nightly News". You will be happy to know that there was quite a bit of coverage about Emily and its potential future impact upon Mexico. I just turned the weather channel on, and just like when the storms were about to hit the US, there were reporters on location, this time on the coast of Cancun.

Mexico is getting a lot more attention than did Cuba, or the other islands where the storms hit. So rather than stressing they are not getting as much coverage as the US, I would like to stress that Mexico seems to be getting a lot more attention than the other countries that have been hit by Hurricanes lately.

Marta R

Jul 18, 2005, 12:12 PM

Post #6 of 23 (1908 views)

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Re: [johanson] A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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I suggest, though, that if Emily was headed directly for, say, some untouristed locale on the Mexican coast, there wouldn't be as much attention paid at all. Cancun is full of vacationing tourists from the US, as opposed to, say, Cuba, where all the tourists are foreigners (to us, at any rate) and therefore of less concern.

Marta

mitchp41

Jul 18, 2005, 2:49 PM

Post #7 of 23 (1873 views)

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Re: [Bubba] A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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Ahh the pain of it all,such a unhappy bunch of campers,always blaming someone else,never themselves,to quote MR Gump happiness is as happiness does,openions are like buttholes,everyone has 1 some even 2 one below and one above,saludos,mitch

EEK

Jul 18, 2005, 2:59 PM

Post #8 of 23 (1869 views)

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Re: [chrisnmarta] A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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Overall, the news coverage in the US is overkill and usually bias. The journalism coverages stink and the whether is doomsday. Usually when there is a family tragedy, some reporter digs up the parents, or aunt or uncle to show their grief to the public. In wars the reporter and their reporting become more important than the battle to be won. The last hurricane featured journalists who went out into the winds and rains to report how dangereous they were. HOW STUPID! If I were one of those reporters I would do it from my motel room having someone shape the camera, fan blow my hair and throw a glass of water on the camera lens. I don't know how many times I have canceled events because the forcast said it wasn't possible - no fault of the doppler, but faults of the reporting. How many times do we get a morning report an an event that says 6 people were killed and an evening report that says 3 people were killed (well, did 3 come back to life). Or how many times do we get a blow by blow -- day by day reporting of a mondane report that is blown out of proportion or has not had any change for days.
I love the news and I love the weather -- for it's all I've got left. Besides an occasional comedy or educational program, I think the rest of TV stinks. I'm not overintelligent, but the TV programs insult what is left. I think I'll just watch my dryer spin. Just me, eek!

Bubba

Jul 19, 2005, 3:36 PM

Post #9 of 23 (1733 views)

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Re: [EEK] A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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On CNN this morning, we were told by the weather guy told that residents of South Texas were "praying" that Emily would turn south (and, by inference, hit Mexico) and that, while CNN's weather map showed what appeared to be a vast, deserted and empty land in Northern Mexico, there was, in fact, the huge city of Monterrey with a population of 4,000,000 which might be in the hurricane's path if it turned south and spared Brownsville.

Now, lots of people "pray" adversity affects their neighbors rather than themselves but, since Emily has to go somewhere, I suggest South Texas over the beautiful city of Monterrey any day. You may disagree but people should knock off the praying for somebody else's misfortune in place of their own. That is not in keeping with good Christian values.

EEK

Jul 19, 2005, 7:08 PM

Post #10 of 23 (1681 views)

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Re: [Bubba] A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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Bubba, it's like when two Christian schools play each other in football. Each school prays that their teams wins. What's a god to do? I don't pray that a hurricane goes anywheres, and I like both Monterrey or Brownsville. The theory that the only good hurricane is the one that hits your neighbors territory is just a lot of horse hockey. If only the hurricane can hit land -- do no harm -- and send rain down here (said rain, not floods). Rain can be a good thing. Then again, the winds of a good hurricane can blow the lirio in the lake up on to the land all the way to the Pacific Ocean. That won't work -- the Pacific ocean will become a matt of lirio just as Alabama is rooted in kutzu. I don't know what I'm going to pray for tonight -- we'll see. eek!

sfmacaws

Jul 19, 2005, 7:09 PM

Post #11 of 23 (1680 views)

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Re: [Bubba] A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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People pray for the damndest things. Good thing no one ever seems to be listening.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

Rolly

Jul 20, 2005, 7:10 AM

Post #12 of 23 (1623 views)

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Re: [sfmacaws] A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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Thank you Barbara. I'm sure Pete would say the same.

johanson

Jul 28, 2005, 12:38 PM

Post #23 of 23 (1158 views)

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Re: [Bubba] A Just God Would Only Steer Hurricanes to the U.S.

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I will say the same as I sip on my over priced Starbucks coffee at one of the local Starbucks outlets here in Mount Vernon, WA while connected to the internet. Most Starbucks have wireless access points. The speed is fantastic, 1450 down and 860 up. My prodigy infinitum only gives me 480 by 65 up in Mx.

Here I go again off on a techie tangent. But the reason Carlos Slim keeps his upload speed so slow is to make it hard for file sharing and for VoIP, you know Vonage etc. He would prefer that we use TelMex