Monday, April 2, 2012 - Elephant Butte Lake State Park, Elephant Butte NM
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Canyon Towhee, Elephant Butte NM, April 1, 2012
Early morning light
The sun was barely up and I got the pictures but the light was insufficient. There was a female Hooded Merganser on the river this morning having a crayfish feast fit for a queen. There must be a pool here where crayfish survive when the river flow is turned off for the winter. It was a fine moment I wanted to share with you. Ah well...
Night camp
Site 10 - Paseo del Rio Campground - Elephant Butte Lake State Park, Elephant Butte NM
- Verizon cell phone service - very good
- Verizon EVDO service - very good
- Find other references to Elephant Butte on this website
- List the nights I've camped here
- Go to the Elephant Butte Lake State Park website
- Get a Google map of this area
- Check the weather here
Disaster and the Failure of Authority
Disasters are almost by definition about the failure of authority, in part because the powers that be are supposed to protect us from them, in part also because the thousand dispersed needs of a disaster overwhelm even the best governments, and because the government version of governing often arrives at the point of a gun. But the authorities don't usually fail so spectacularly. Failure at this level requires sustained effort. The deepening of the divide between the haves and have nots, the stripping away of social services, the defunding of the infrastructure, mean that this disaster—not of weather but of policy—has been more or less what was intended to happen, if not so starkly in plain sight.
The Uses of Disaster Rebecca Solnit, Harpers.org, September 9, 2005