Sunday, April 15, 2012

One Hundred Years Ago And One Year Ago: The Folly Of Greed And Hubris


April 15, 2012 is an auspicious day for the world and for Fitzwalkerstan.

One hundred years ago today, the RMS Titanic sank into the icy depths of the Atlantic Ocean, whose waters were as dark as the night sky overhead. The tragedy took more than 1,500 lives. It's sinking is being memorialized around the world.

Most people will tell you the ship was sunk because of damage done to the ship's hull after striking an iceberg.  Historians will tell you that it was sunk by greed and folly.  The builders of the ship tried to skimp on the cost and used cheaper rivets.  The folly was extended when the captain had the ship go faster than advisable given the time of year and reportedly ignored warnings of icebergs.

Phil Scarr has found some interesting data which shows the priority of the culture of that time, as evidenced by the percentages of the people saved broken down by passenger class.

To this day, people are still intrigued by the story of the Titanic, as evidenced by further explorations and discoveries about the ship's watery grave and continuing discussions of the people and the events of that fateful night.

One year ago, the RMS Scott Walker ran into his own version of an iceberg, in the form of a congressional panel in front of whom he had to give sworn testimony regarding his Budget Disrepair Bill and specifically about the union busting Act 10.

Walker's greed and hubris was exposed as Representative Gwen Moore laid out the fact that there was no financial crisis until Walker artificially created it by handing out hundreds of millions of dollars to his corporate sponsors; when Representative Bruce Braley (D-IA) grilled him about hiring Brian Deschane, the son of a rich lobbyist, whose not only didn't have a degree but did have two drunk driving convictions; when Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA) forced Walker to admit that he never campaigned on attacking workers the way he did; and when Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) took both of Walker's ham and cheese sammiches and ate them in front of him while Walker was forced to admit that attacking the workers, stripping them of their rights, saved the state no money.

Remember these facts, presented under oath, whenever you see a Walker commercial where he says he had to balance the budget, where he is so full of integrity he could just burst, when he said that he attacked the workers in order to save taxpayers money.

They're also handy talking points when confronted with a Walker-supporter that tries to regurgitate his lies.

Just ask them: Was Walker committing perjury then or is he lying now?  Then stand back and take cover as their heads explode.



1 comment:

  1. With all the shows on the various stations right now, I thought the more interesting was how the investigation was handled after the tragedy.

    Supposedly, many eyewitness accounts on the ships breakup were omitted at the time, their testimony more or less dismissed back then.

    What better popular image to install in imagination for the powers that be back at that time than the ship gracefully slipping under intact and resting nicely on the bottom.

    Today, we know it snapped in half and most of it remains twisted, ripped, and scattered about the ocean floor.

    Poor souls.

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