Mississippi Rebuilds

I just heard on one of the local radio stations that the second casino is reopening on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, with the third slated to reopen on Friday, December 30th. The news reader chimed in that was great even though some people were still living in tents. Whoa! Gotcha there!

Here's what I have here. If there is to be any type of recovery anywhere after a natural disaster, the jobs have to come back. Yea, I can understand that there are still some folks living in tents and showering with the garden hose, but the pressing need for the community is for industry to offer employment. The government should rebuild the roads and bridges and the people should worry about their own personal business.

Let's look at the situation in the areas affected by the tsunami that occured just one year ago on December 26, 2004 in the Indian Ocean.

In Sri Lanka, where fishing is the Number One industry, the fishing fleet lost around 66% of their boats. The fleet is still at 50% of the capacity prior to the tragedy. Do you think that affects everything in everyone's lives there? You damn skippy.

In most of the Malacca Straits, the shipping lanes were affected so badly that it will take years to remap the channels and determine the relocation of various shipwrecks and dangers in the area. I'm guessing that makes travel and exportation of goods somewhat difficult.

In Sumatra, the third largest island of the Indonesian chain, over 120,000 people lost their lives. Thinking of the purely economic impact, loss on that scale must devastate the entire region.

When Americans carp and complain about industry being rebuilt at the "expense" of our citizens, cooler heads must prevail to point out the FACT that without jobs and industry, there is no reason for the people to stay on the coast.

There has to be a philosophical shift in this country. We have to move back toward the pioneer spirit that moved this country head and shoulders above the rest of the world. Buy a backbone people.