Sunday, July 29, 2012

We are on our own...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

When an invertebrate consumes water and oil it doesn't just pass the oil through its digestive system it also absorbs it in its tissues and not just the muscle but more likely the fat that is stored in its head and body.This applies to both shrimp and crabs.

How many of us like to eat the fat of boiled crabs or barbecued shrimp with heads on?

The reason why this will not come to light is that after the oil spill BP put hundreds of marine scientists and researchers on their payroll.

Only the likes of paralegal Ms. Bodonovich and her law firm that cracked many toxic land sites will expose this crime.

Anonymous said...

This piece made me cry. That may make you judge me, but if so, fuck you. This shit is sad and heavy. It is still sad and heavy.

I love that she went ahead and tested the shrimp, and I love that she is asking questions.

Amen to the "That's how we cook'em here" message. They should be testing the food the way people cook and eat it: shells, veins, fat, the works.

I'm not eating it. Marketing-shmarketing, I wouldn't eat it, or feed it to my kids or to anyone I love. Not at my house, no way.

You'll have to make your own call, but the message to ditch the shells, fats, digestive tracks and veins and to come up with safer ways of cooking and eating these traditional foods comes through loud and clear.

My spouse comes from another region that has a poisoned fishery. It has been poisoned for a while. The government prints these cute little wallet sized cards you can get for free where you buy your fishing license, telling you which fish pregnant women should avoid.

Spouse's family eats the fish they grew up with a couple of times a year. They love it, but they don't mess with eating it more often. Pregnant women rules are the safest for kids, olds, everyone, really. Think like a pregnant woman, within reason. You start wanting that seafood with some ice cream on top, dial it back a bit.

I was friends with J-school students way back in my undergraduate years. Jake, a great guy who went on to be a respected producer of news, was typical.

He worked journalism jobs, but also a lot of summer-time political jobs in the capital, forming part of a revolving door between political and journalistic jobs that is like that revolving door between the political jobs and the lobbying jobs.

He made great contacts, started building his lifetime network of allies, frenemies, and helpful ex-lovers, and, in the process, ensured that there really was no "watchdog" mentality in his approach to journalism.

My favorite day as his college room mate was when he brought me back a bag full of pens and weird little toys from his journalism school sponsored tour of a nuclear facility.

He was really excited by the little toys. At nineteen, he was a fucking lapdog. A nice lapdog, a lapdog who can make sure stories come in on time and on budget, but a lapdog.

There are a lot of Jakes. They are nice people to hang out with at summer garden parties, but the woman who wishes she could trust her government is right to do her own testing, and to ask her own questions.

Jake has a serene little wife, two lively little daughters, and a fancy little French bulldog who needs thousands of dollars of vet care for its odd little ailments. Jake is not going to risk his job or Mignon's health care to ask troublesome questions about poisoned fish guts.

Anonymous said...

The lab test was dated October, 2010 - how old is this testing that was done???

Jason Brad Berry said...

I know another Jake. He's eleven years old and he's my son. He is fluent in two languages and working on the third. He questions everything around him because his father has beat that tenet into his head.

My father beat that same tenet into my head when I was Jake's age. I grew up in a smaller, much more insular environment than Jake which made it even harder to defy social pressure and seek the truth. Jake has many advantages that I never had...a much higher quality of education being at the top of the list.

Regardless....it's the tenet that matters. It's the intent to go through life in search of truth that defines us one and all. My son will be much better prepared to do that than I was but if he loses his intent to seek the truth his education and experience matters not. He may end up with a French bulldog, a trophy wife and a Mercedes but he will have lost his soul if he ceases to seek truth.

I hope my Jake doesn't end up like your Jake. As long as I'm breathing I'm gonna do my best to make sure he doesn't.

Jason Brad Berry said...

That particular testing was done in 2010 but there is continued independent testing being done that contradicts the status quo. I just reported on the most prominent study, GCHARMS by the University of Texas:

http://vimeo.com/45296060

The problem is still as prevalent as it was when Mac shot this video in 2010. In many ways, it has become worse. I've reported on the issue numerous times but if you want to learn more watch the above video (shot last month) and also watch these videos from the forum, The Science of the Spill, last December:

http://vimeo.com/33254040

http://vimeo.com/33260434

http://vimeo.com/33263253

Anonymous said...

I hope your Jake does not become like my Jake, either.

He has a good father, so he probably won't.

I'm not sure what to do about the depressing reality of a world full of men like "my" Jake, who can be distracted away from their opportunity to ask questions about nuclear safety by a bag full of ten cent toys, and who persist that way through life.

Like a lot of kids, I'd assumed that there was going to be a general desire for a fairer, better world among my age peers. That may have had something to do with how my parents, who were both brave in their own ways, raised me.

It was depressing to discover that a solid mass of young people were only interested in issues of justice if they felt that their own shot at claiming a life with some kind of special distinction or prestige or comfort was at stake.

They didn't even have a truth-seeking youthful self to sell out. Like a poorly made condo, they were pre-sold.

The journalists on the press calls who were willing to ask soft ball questions about "timelines" as if everyone was on the same PR or marketing team didn't come as the shock to me as they did to the woman who thought they'd be asking real questions.

Her desire for truth and justice does not shock me either. She seems normal, and her desires seem human and real. It is just a blessing that people like her, like Mac, like you, and like your son, exist in a world populated by men like my college room mate.

There are evil men in this world, actively evil, out to do bad things. But the banal kind of evil seems more pervasive and may ultimately be more harmful.

Mac said...

Thanks for the shout-out, Mr. Zombie; the truth needs to get out there and you always do an incredible job!

Anonymous #2, thank you. Seriously, Thank you for your comments.

This is a video of very recent shrimp anomalies ... check it out for what's going on now. Of course, not *all* the shrimp are like that ... I actually kind of wish they were; I worry that folks will think they're fine if they don't have tumors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu33YQeA2GU

Anonymous said...

Hey American Zombie,

Since you are good at uncovering the truth, and "WE ARE ON OUR OWN" can you do some research on the City of New Orleans' YEARLY DEATH COUNT for the last 12 years or so?

I keep hearing comments that the Annual Death Count is completely out of wack with its typical correlation with the city's population count AFTER Hurricane Katrina.

Perhaps you can show a table of population counts for the last 12 years and also the corresponding death counts for the last 12 years.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

A McClatchey (McKlatchey?) story that ran in the TP recently on the homeless people living in abandoned buildings quoted someone who said that for a segment of the population, seven years later, efforts to help them could still be considered "part of the initial search and rescue" operation that took place in the immediate aftermath of Katrina.

2005 to 2012, and for those people, many of them elderly, sick, or mentally ill, life was still as desperate as it was for so many in the initial days and weeks after the flooding.

Another person was quoted talking about more than half a decade of going into those buildings and finding the bodies of people who had died... died of their despised vulnerability, basically.

Add this story to the tally of important stories that are not told by the TP, but, again, thanks to them for reprinting it, I guess. Somehow I doubt anyone with deciding power will feel damned by that faint praise.

Last anon, your point that there may be a story in the dead count tallies reminded me of that article, but why don't YOU chase those numbers down?

Our Zombie has a lot of irons in the fire.

I'm reading this blog for shrimp videos and ongoing coverage of the oil and chemical soup that was once the Gulf of Mexico.

I'm reading it to learn more about the landscape (hellscape?) of con-profits.

And I check in for updates on the ongoing investigations into the people who worked at Nagin's City Hall, who appear to have been accepting fees for taking care of their favorite contractors... when maybe they should have been caring for the sick, old and probably crazy people who no doubt were once younger, healthier, saner, and vitally contributing to their families and to the great city of New Orleans.

Anon, it sounds as if you may have found a thread to follow through a labyrinth. Why don't YOU do it?

Jason Brad Berry said...

YES!! Exactly. And I will give you a forum to present what you have found.

Please pick up the torch.