Wasting Away In …
When he created the cartoon I doubt that Mike Lukovich knew that the man who wrote the parodied song was directly affected.
Deepwater Horizon is not what tropical troubadour Jimmy Buffett had in mind when he wrote “all of those tourists covered in oil” in his hit song “Margaritaville.”
On Saturday, Buffett stood by his buddy Gov. Charlie Crist and said the oil spill should prompt us all to pursue solar and wind power and stop using so much oil.
Buffett — decked out in flip-flops, shorts, shades and a tattered cap that said “All who wander are not lost” — is a partner in the $50 million, 162-room, Gulf-front Margaritaville Beach Hotel opening on Pensacola Beach next weekend.
Jimmy is no kin to the Head HedgeHog Warren.
Since it’s the weekend, via Avedon Carol a music video, a casual reminder of what corporations really represent.
9 comments
Always liked Jimmy Buffet — I’m disappointed to hear that he’s a participant in the transformation of the Gulf Coast into Miami Beach. I graduated high scho0l in Panama City in 1970, back when there were still miles and miles of untouched sugar-white dunes — truly one of the natural wonders of the world, not just of this country. Now all the dunes are gone and you can literally drive for miles without being able to see the water, the beach or even the sun. As a result, I just can’t get all that excited about the latest catastrophe — for me, the panhandle beaches were destroyed years ago.
It didn’t have to happen that way. If the people who live here believed in anything beyond unchecked greed, further building on the gulf side of Hwy-98 would have been prohibited years ago, by eminent domain purchase if necessary. Height restrictive zoning would have helped too. Neither of these measures would have blocked economic development.
Actually, his project is more of a renovation than building, and we have height restrictions in place because of military training and testing requirements.
He’s on the barrier island, so the land belongs to the county and is leased. Only the segments of the island belonging to the Feds are kept undisturbed. Unfortunately the counties have all been pushing development.
Down around Panama City most of the land belongs to St Joe Paper, and they have pushed development.
I graduated from elementary school in Okaloosa County in 1958 before heading off to bases around the world, and I am really unhappy with what happened, but the military has protected some of the beach, although hurricanes have taken and replaced the dunes several times since I came back in 1990.
Outside of Eglin AFB, the sand and the Gulf are what we have. Anything that messes with either one is a major problem. Even Okaloosa County understands it. There is no red clay allowed anywhere near a beach, which really frustrates builders and road crews. Your flour isn’t sifted as well as the sand used for beach replenishment projects which makes that white sand a good deal more expensive than potting soil in small bags.
In the old days the only things built near the beach were fishing shacks, because it was assumed that the next hurricane would take them. Old timers thought people were crazy when they came down and started building near the water, instead of on the higher ground well back.
Those condos on the barrier island do make a nice sea wall for those of us inland a ways. Without them the storm surge would come right over the island and flow further inland. They are ugly but useful.
Nice informative reply. Thanks.
I was an Air Force brat who got stuck in Panama City when my dad retired to his home town. I also lived in Pensacola before I left the area. Never liked it here but did appreciate the natural beauty and (to some extent, anyway) the good parts of living in a backwater. Visiting family, I’ve seen some of the transformations over the past several decades and now I find myself back here.
It seems to me that this area, like most of the South, has been overtaken by all the evils of development without losing any of the mean-spirited, backwards, plantation mentality that I disliked so much as a child. What’s more, those attitudes have been exported to the rest of the country so there’s no getting away from it anymore. Or maybe that’s just the way things look from where I’m sitting — I’m often reduced to frustrated ranting nowadays. Anyway, I’ve enjoyed finding your blog.
Actually, the worst offenders these days seemed to have moved here from the MidWest, while the locals have mellowed out. The hardcore Kluxers are still around, but they are being supported by kindred “souls” from Indiana and Ohio, you know – “real Americans”.
My Dad was stationed at Eglin and then retired here. I came back to look after my Mom, and I really hate what has happened to the local waters as a result of “lawns” and other lame ideas. They come down for the beach and the first thing they do is put grass over it?! People are truly insane.
People are truly insane
Hah!! I been sayin’ that for decades Bryan! You iz slow sumtimes m8! 😉 😆 (Yeah… I’m just in a weird mood today. Probably loss of blood, had some more pathology tests done today. It’ll pass and I’ll be back to my grumpy old self!) 😉
Welcome paintedjaguar! Bryan’s home the the ‘net is a good place to be, and he’s a kind sharing soul! I just realized I been annoying him almost 3 years now! Wow… Patience of a Saint m8! 😀
Under the general banter from the regulars, you’ll find us mostly kindred spirits on *the important things* 🙂
And it is very sad to see what’s happening, even from where I am. 🙁
My landlord takes care of the mowing because he knows I refuse to get involved with grass. Grass is a terrible idea in a sandy soil and the moss roses are happy enough to spread out as ground cover if you leave them alone and stop trying to impose invasive crap like grass.
The town would complain if it wasn’t cut.
All the lawns do is create stinking [literally] algae blooms which deplete the oxygen in the bayou.
By “plantation mentality”, I don’t mean racism per se, but a mix of tribalism, truckling to local aristocracy, anti-intellectualism, and religiosity — all strong themes in Southern culture. That mindset has made the South a very fertile breeding ground for what some call the New Feudalism or just plain Corporatism. Not that any of that is exclusive to the South, of course. Plenty of stupid to go around.
Funny you should mention lawns — that’s one of the things that is often rattling around in my head when I get steamed about beach development. My last extended stay here was in 1990 – 1992 and I went a little batshit when I saw that multiple golf courses had been built on Panama City Beach. WTF? Not to mention the lushly watered turf lawns around (then) new condos in the Grayton Beach area. I’ve heard that Deer Point Lake, still the main water reservoir for the PC area, has shrunk to the point that a lot of cypress roots are exposed and local wells have had to be drilled deeper to tap the shrinking aquifer. Insane is definitely the first word that comes to mind. There are times I feel like one of those guys in a Carl Hiassen novel who just go round the bend from the sheer perversity of it all.
I came back to look after my Mom, and I really hate what has happened to the local waters as a result of “lawns” and other lame ideas.
i came back for the beaches. more than once [i think this is my 4th sojourn here since the mid-70s].
i’m not a fan of taking care of grass anyway, but lawns on the beach?! those people drive me nuts. i’d rather pick sandspurs out of my dog’s coat [and he’s got a lot of coat] than mow [or water] grass.
one of the few things i miss about living up north are the rosa rugosa hedges growing [mostly] wild on the beaches there. feral roses, feral cats, stray dog… i seem to have rather narrow tastes now that i think about it.
Ah, yes, the “Good Ol’ Boys” who run everything. The network in my county took a major hit in a series of arrests in recent times, so it is currently being operated by a carpetbagger from North Dakota, who is a Christian Fundamentalist and former hospital executive.
Term limits are eroding the power of the network, which is why people are being arrested.
Next to lawns, the swimming pools on waterfront property have to be almost as annoying. Why live on the water if you want to swim in a pool? Irrigation and swimming pools are great if your goal is mosquito breeding and raising the humidity.