European Airport Shutdown Warranted

(Aired on April 26, 2010)

Airlines around the world have been in an uproar over the closure of many European airports the past couple of weeks because of that volcano in Iceland. Some are saying that governments were far too hasty in shutting down the airports before they knew the extent of the ash. It's now widely believed that the total shutdown implemented throughout Northern Europe may have been a bit hasty, costing airlines billions of dollars trying to recover and move passengers around.

So are we to believe that the airlines would rather we risk life and limb, not only of their own staff flying those planes, but hundreds of thousands of passengers? Is that what they would have us think? That it's okay to take chances with peoples' lives for the sake of a few dollars.

I'm fully aware of the cost incurred, the hassle trying to reroute hundreds of thousands of unhappy vacationers back to their homes. But would we rather have had a crash claiming several hundred lives because we didn't take appropriate action? Officials had to make a pretty quick decision. They consulted the people who should know. Acting on the best information available, they shut things down. Absolutely the most appropriate move to take. Discretion is virtually always the better part of valour, and it certainly is in this case. Can you imagine the outcry if just one plane had crashed because officials decided it wasn't a danger to fly through all that ash?

Unfortunately for the airlines, unforeseen occurrences are part of the game. And all they can do now is try to get back on track the best they can. Don't blame people for closing the airports. They did everything they should have.

Icelandic Volcano a Pot Punishment?

(Aired on April 23, 2010)

An Iranian cleric this week is blaming earthquakes on promiscuous women.  Yes, you heard that right.  Hojjat Ol-Eslam Kazem Sediqi says many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes.  Something may have been lost in translation there, because I was following all the way up until the earthquakes part.  Not to say I agreed, but at least I was following the argument.  You may laugh at immodest women causing earthquakes, but it's hardly more ridiculous than Pat Robertson blaming the Haiti earthquake on the nation being cursed because it made a pact with the devil to get out from under Napoleonic rule.

So if natural disasters are indeed caused by the breach of some subjective standard of morality, what sin, dalliance, or impropriety caused this massive volcanic eruption in Iceland?  My first instinct would be to say the sin was sexual in nature, because nobody appreciates a good bit of symbolism like the Almighty.

But maybe it's a little more literal, and that's why I've concluded that the sin being punished here is marijuana use.  After all, all of European life is being crippled by a giant cloud of smoke.  One of the cities impacted is Amsterdam, what with its permissive drug laws.  And with hundreds of thousands of people forced to stay where they are it's quite likely many are experiencing varying degrees of paranoia.  That doesn't even mention the fact that Tuesday was 4-20 - a day of celebration and participation for pot users around the world.  For all of the headaches this is producing, I suppose we should hope that no one is using the herb for medicinal purposes for fear that the situation will get worse.

This disaster is costing the European economy billions of dollars, but using the same logic as the cleric and Brother Robertson, that's probably a logical punishment for smoking weed.