Wednesday, March 23, 2011

What a Lovely Thought

First runner-up in Ironic News of the Day is this:  US State Secretary Hillary Clinton and World Bank president Zoellick have inked a deal committing (whatever that means) the bank and the US government to to address, "water scarcity and water quality, managing water resources, and reducing risks from floods, climate change and drought.  Access to water has reached crisis levels across the globe, Clinton said at a public meeting of the World Bank.  ...She told the gathering of 'water advocates', representatives of the United Nations and South Africa that the 'water crisis' needs to be addressed now.  She said it is a 'health crisis, a farmers' crisis, it's an economic crisis, it's a climate crisis and increasingly it's turning into a political crisis.'"

Full marks for stating the obvious Hillary but how do you "commit" your government to tackling the problem of floods, drought and climate change when you have a 'bought and paid for' Congress that is at war against climate science and securely in the pocket of the fossil fuelers?  In other words, you are the problem.   The health, farmers', economic, climate and political crises are merely the symptoms of a governmental and societal disease you're doing nothing to treat.

But first prize for Ironic Headline of the Day also comes from the World Bank news summary and reads:  "IMF Plan Sees Role for Fund in Crises."   Really?  I thought that was pretty much the net sum of what International Monetary Fund already did, jump in to make short-term problems into long-term nightmares for countries desperate enough to have to accept IMF aid.
  

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