THE STATE OF PLANET EARTH AND HUMANITY ON 13SEPTEMBER23

For nostalgia Tuesday, I am reverting to my posting of 25May2010, and compare with our world today, which will be in italics.

• 1.  POLITICS only discussed local Hawaii politics.

• 
  I said there was no cloutful political leader, which means someone of the Democrat party.  Today, still no truly powerful personage, even though Senator Dan Inouye was still alive and well in DC.  Within the state, there were signs that he no longer dictated.  When he passed away, he earlier made it known that he preferred Rep. Colleen Hanabusa to replace him in the U.S. Senate.  Governor Neil Abercrombie instead selected his Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz.  
• 
  Of course, with Inouye now gone for a decade, the leadership absence today is even more obvious.  Yet, Democrats totally control the State of Hawaii.
• Of course all four congressional members are Democrats, and so are the Gov. and Lt. Gov.
• 
  There is only one Republican in the State Senate, and he is the busiest person in the world, for he fulfills the roles of Senate minority and floor leaders, and serves on 16 legislative committees.  He is Kurt Fevella, a former middle school custodian.

• 
  The State House has 47 Democrats and 4 Republicans.
• Was there any Trump effect?  Yes, he turned voters off.

• 
  Hawaii began as a paternalistic and white-controlled society.  Thus Republicans ran the show.  That is, until after World War II when Japanese American war heroes got educated and took over.  The political scene then completely shifted to Democrats after statehood in 1959.  That's 6-year old Mary "Dodie" Brown.  It has now been more than half a century, and the state is doing okay, if not well.

• 
  2.  ENERGY AND GLOBAL WARMING.
• Congress considered the Energy Reform Bill, pushed by Senators John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, who abandoned the bipartisan effort.  The legislation was deemed dead on arrival.  No environmentally meaningful legislation passed congress in 2010.

• 
  Nothing happened for more than a decade until 2022 when the Inflation Reduction Act, which placed the U.S. on track to meeting its Paris Climate Agreement commitment.  Is the nation then fully committed to remediate global warming?  Depends on who controls the White House and Congress.  Significant backtracking will occur if Republicans re-gain control.

• 
  3. WAR.
• There were 4400 American military deaths in the Middle East wars up to 2010.
• This body count rose to slightly more than 7000 by the end of that longest ever U.S. war.
• Interestingly enough, during the past 20 years, there have been 30,0177 suicides by service members and veterans.  Shockingly, more than four times as many suicides compared to combat deaths!!!  Here is why.

• 
  The Korean situation is on edge.  The fear is that irrationality will prevail.  I cancelled a trip to Seoul.
• Yes, the tenseness was such that I actually cancelled my trip to South Korea.
• A South Korean navel craft was torpedoed by North Korea.
• Today, not so bad, but not necessarily too good.

• 
  About a year ago, Iran re-deployed missiles towards nuclear targets in Israel.  More recently, the Israeli Air Force has practiced simulated strikes at potential Iranian nuclear sites.  Hmm, I wonder if it will be safe for me to go to Abu Dhabi and Dubai as currently planned?

• 
  I must have also cancelled my Abu Dhabi / Dubai trip, as I noticed that the only time I went to Dubai was in 2015.
• Today, tension between Iran and Israel is escalating.  Want to see oil go up to $200/barrel?  This is the war that would do that.
• Also now the Ukraine War.
• 
  4.  GULF OIL SPILL:  This was the Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill of 2010, which discharged 18-39 million gallons.  The Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 in Alaska only spread 11 million gallons.

• 
  
  When all was said and done, the total Gulf spill was 210 million gallons, with 11 killed.
• Defective cement was the cause.
• BP paid $21 billion in fines, the largest corporate settlement in history.

In 2010, regarding the Euro, you could get only 81 cents to the dollar.  

• However, in 2008 it was only 63 cents.
• In 2002 they were equal.
• Today, they are equal, again.
• The Dow was at 10,136 on 28May2031.  Gold at $1214/ounce.  Oil was at $74/barrel.
• Today Dow 31,105, gold $1718/oz, oil $88/barrel WTI and $93/barrel Brent.

So what is the state of Planet Earth and Humanity today, relative to 25May2010?  Just about the same, although the Dow Jones has increased by a factor of three, while gold and petroleum are also higher.

The bad news is that we have diddled around for more than a decade.  All signs point to a coming environmental and personal tragedy.  The world is now only beginning to take action.  But that also was the case in 2010.  In fact it was in 1974 that I was involved in national program to do what we have not done.  We have wasted almost half a century.

Typhoon Muifa is headed for Shanghai.

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