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Ferris wheels and oil
Oct. 2nd, 2008 08:16 amTwenty-three years ago I visited a permanent fair ground where I boarded one of the oldest, scariest ferris wheels I've ever seen. It was held together with bailing wire, rusted in many parts, and groaned ominously as it turned. The wheel only achieved a height of maybe 30 feet, put it was far scarier than modern contraptions I've ridden since; partly because I wasn't sure it would make a full revolution without falling apart.
The wheel in question was at the Baghdad fairground in Iraq. I hadn't thought about that day in many years until yesterday, when I heard that they are building a new, state of the art, air-conditioned giant ferris wheel in Baghdad.
We have lost thousands of young men and women in Iraq; the continued war effort costs us $10billion a week; yet while suicide bombs still burst outside Mosques on a regular basis, the Iraqi government is using some of its $97 billion revenue surplus this year to build a wheel. In the midst of a world economic crisis, and the eve of the Biden/Palin debate, I am lost for words on this latest bizarre news snippet.
The wheel in question was at the Baghdad fairground in Iraq. I hadn't thought about that day in many years until yesterday, when I heard that they are building a new, state of the art, air-conditioned giant ferris wheel in Baghdad.
We have lost thousands of young men and women in Iraq; the continued war effort costs us $10billion a week; yet while suicide bombs still burst outside Mosques on a regular basis, the Iraqi government is using some of its $97 billion revenue surplus this year to build a wheel. In the midst of a world economic crisis, and the eve of the Biden/Palin debate, I am lost for words on this latest bizarre news snippet.
