Oil Spills, Flooding in Tennessee, Postville & Unexpected Tragedies and Where is the Cavalry?

Where is the cavalry that is what I want to know and don't understand...

An oil spill in the Gulf is not an unexpected tragedy, it is one that has supposedly been planned for and there have been various contingencies for terrorism, tropical storms or any random tragedy that might occur and yet it seems again the Government is slow to get it's act together. This form needs to be signed, the President needs to sign papers, who is in charge on which level? Who cleans up this mess and where will it go?

Time and time again tragedies occur suddenly and it takes seemingly forever to launch the necessary clean up plans. Why?

When we spend millions... no billions on Homeland Security and other agencies that are supposed to jump into action... there is always this lag time, a failure to act speedily and in an appropriate matter.

Why have we inured ourselves to problems with pithy sayings like "it is what it is" rather than doing something immediately? We stand around and shrug and wonder what the proper political response is...

And, yet when the Government wants to get involved in a bust of a Kosher Chicken Plant in Iowa they are able to mobilize Black Hawk Helicopters and Homeland Security buses and trucks and enough soldiers to take over a small third world country?

Explain this to me?

Why was someone not out on one of those Black Hawk Helicopters immediately after the spill... or were they? Or did papers have to be signed and the oil spill had to be evaluated?

This has always been a fear...always... all the people who have hated off shore oil wells have feared this day. It's like New Orleans having a levee failure... it was a tragedy that was waiting to happen and yet... the wheels of response take way too long to jump into effect.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/05/01/2010-05-01_oil_slick_in_gulf_of_mexico_is_a_financial_and_ecological_time_bomb.html

Financial and ecological time bomb..... it's a time bomb that has been ticking for years... and years.......... so why were we not ready to jump into action and have some plan in hand?

It has been said for years if they were attacked by terrorists they could wreak havoc on the beaches, financially alter the price of oil, kill the fishing industry ... I would have thought Homeland Security should be able to jump into action but "should" is a weak word... it's a word of wishing...

As for Flooding... seriously hope that the people were warned the flooding could be that bad!

As for me... I am wonderfully, beautifully away in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I truly love it here... reminds me of old Florida. Walked the beach for miles this morning. Away from kids and work and responsibilities hanging out at Chabad and enjoying Lag B'omer before being back in Miami dealing with life... which I will soon.

The thing about life and unexpected tragedies is that they always occur, we are just always shocked at the suddenness of the tragedy.

A young man was killed yesterday in Tampa, his family close friends with many of my family members. A Rabbinical student who went to Tampa from Miami to help put on a great program for the day and before leaving went with a friend on a Jet Ski and well... suppose the Jet Ski won and he didn't. He died. I can't believe it and yet I do. It's so sad. This is the SECOND son of a friend who was killed in a tragic Jet Ski accident, two mothers mourning the suddenness of death swallowing up their loved sons. I know accidents happen but it's not fair and it still hurts.

And, what I find most typical is that when I heard that was a terrible tragedy in Tampa yesterday in Chabad ... my first thought was a child was burned in some Lag B'omer bonfire or something horrible happened at a parade... the last thing I would ever have thought of was ... a jet ski and yet time folds inward in ripples and I remember another holiday when a young man was killed on a Jet Ski in Miami while home for the Passover holiday.

The one thing in life we can count on is Unexpected Tragedies... it's not what we worry on that gets us so often it's the things we never expect.

We worry on hurricanes and earthquakes and suddenly there is an ecological and financial disaster in the Gulf that could affect much of the Florida coastline (even the east coast because of the Loop Current and the Gulf Stream) and flooding in Nashville... and random accidents that take the life of young, wonderful people and leave family and friends in mourning.

And... unexpected oil spills that devastate millions who live along the Gulf..

You'd think if Homeland Security could lend out their buses to bust immigrants in a Kosher Meat Factory in Iowa they could get their act together and figure out how to stop an oil leak that could just as easily have been an act of terrorism... isn't that what Homeland Security was formed for... not busting immigration in a town in Iowa...

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3744/ice_cold_to_kids/




I had the most wonderful Lag B'Omer in Myrtle Beach by Chabad while enjoying the beautiful state of South Carolina. Kosher food, a night out at Margaritaville afterwards to listen to some live music and a rest between Passover and Shavous and summer vacation when the kids are back and I am no longer on "vacation" ...



Nice fireman helping out to make sure the bonfire doesn't get too big, while we stood around in a circle, sang songs... watched the kids play on a beautiful Sunday. After a big carnival and BBQ..



And, miles away in the Gulf...an area that provides the Nation with a quarter of our seafood... there is oil sliding and oozing and washing ashore on waves...

Where is the cavalry I keep wondering? Busy helping ICE do raids on turkey farms in Iowa, one of many, many other farms not raided that had the same violations... one that was targeted when others were not and people have worked for the government for years writing worst case disaster scenarios for oil spills in the Gulf and yet... it took over a week to organize a response?

Something seriously wrong there if you ask me...

We need to expect the unexpected ... and who knows what unexpected tragedies this coming hurricane season will bring??

Besos Bobbi from Boardwalk on the Beach in Myrtle Beach...