Rep. Johnson worries loading too many people onto Guam could capsize the island(latimesblogs.latimes.com)
latimesblogs.latimes.com
Rep. Johnson worries loading too many people onto Guam could capsize the island
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/03/hank-johnson-guam-.html
... really?
1 comments
Johnson's response is
“I wasn’t suggesting that the island of Guam would literally tip over I was using a metaphor to say that with the addition of 8,000 Marines and their dependents an additional 80,000 people during peak construction on the tiny island with a population of 180,000 could be a tipping point which could adversely affect the island’s fragile ecosystem and could overburden its stressed infrastructure. Having traveled to Guam last year, I saw firsthand how this beautiful but vulnerable island could easily become overburdened, and I was simply voicing my concerns that the addition of that many people could tip the delicate balance and do permanent harm to Guam."
quoted on http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NWRlZjY5MDRjYzY3NTB... but without a source.
Also
"The subtle humor of this obviously metaphorical reference to a ship capsizing illustrated my concern about the impact of the planned military buildup on this small tropical island."
http://hankjohnson.house.gov/2010/04/rep-johnsons-statement-...
“I wasn’t suggesting that the island of Guam would literally tip over I was using a metaphor to say that with the addition of 8,000 Marines and their dependents an additional 80,000 people during peak construction on the tiny island with a population of 180,000 could be a tipping point which could adversely affect the island’s fragile ecosystem and could overburden its stressed infrastructure. Having traveled to Guam last year, I saw firsthand how this beautiful but vulnerable island could easily become overburdened, and I was simply voicing my concerns that the addition of that many people could tip the delicate balance and do permanent harm to Guam."
quoted on http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NWRlZjY5MDRjYzY3NTB... but without a source.
Also
"The subtle humor of this obviously metaphorical reference to a ship capsizing illustrated my concern about the impact of the planned military buildup on this small tropical island."
http://hankjohnson.house.gov/2010/04/rep-johnsons-statement-...
What a wonderfully well written peace of prose. I think we can be pretty certain that the man who wrote it was not the man in that video. As for whether he actually believed an island could tip over, I give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't, I suppose, although listening to his entire dialog, it's almost enough to discount him to the point of believing that he did believe it. Bottom line, based on this dialog, I think he'd be overpaid if his salary were reduced to a quarter of the salary he's enjoying.