For seven years I had a standing date for a beach vacation with an old boyfriend in Zihuatanejo, Mexico.

I live in central Mexico, and would take an overnight bus or a 50 minute flight each way to spend anywhere from 4 to 15 days--depending on my schedule of work--with my friend in a palapa above Playa la Ropa.

Our "window" looked out across the bay towards the small town. The bay itself looked so inviting the first couple of years that I was persuaded to walk down to the beach and swim for a while.

Then came the turning point spring: the Spring of the Stream of Shit. A huge hotel-sized cruise ship parked itself in the bay like a whale in a bathtub--and let loose during its entire stay a stream of shit that streamed its way into the beaches.

When it left, another hotel of shitters arrived, and the same thing happened.

And then another.

I have not put one toe in the water since 2001.

But there are thousands of folks who do--because the bay looks so beautiful and they do not have the bird's eye view of what's really happening when those cruise ships come in and park.

The folks of Zihua have been trying to clean up the bay for years now--it's their bay, after all, that those big hotels of shit are constantly contaminating.

But those big cruise lines are all First World enterprises--and they don't give a SHIT about the rights of folks in the Third World.

I think the assholes that spend their vacations defecating all over the people of other countries and cultures should stay home.

Thank you Mr. Nader for your unwavering dedication to the planet and democracy.

I just ordered your book, "The Seventeen Traditions".

You are a breath of fresh air in this stale political world in which we are all currently ensnared.

Any suggestions on how to get out of this rotten fascist hole we've dug for ourselves through our collective lack of public oversight of the U.S. government over the years?

I'd also love to hear your comments on the coup d'etat committed against FDR by heads of U.S. banks and corporations that went unpunished by FDR. In case you don't know about it, there was an article written by Alan Nasser here on Commondreams Aug. 2nd entitled, "The Threat of U.S. Fascism: An Historical Precedent". Thank you.

hmmmm... bridges dropping, global warming, levees breaking, occupation of iraq, trashing of the constitution....and now cruise ships. all sypmtons, but not the root of the problem. is the problem one thing or many things? i am not sure. i have to question nader's choice of subject.

Who beside Ralph Nader consistently holds ALL corporations accountable?

This yet another example of government failure to regulate corporations. Why should cruise ships be free to pollute the ocean, exploit its workforce, dump raw sewage, etc.

Thank you and please Run, Ralph RUN!

As a Presidential candidate, I believe Ralph Nader could be trusted to pick a running mate and cabinet of ethical and Constitutionally loyal Americans.

I would trust Ralph Nader with my life and that of my family. I would trust him to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies both foreign and domestic and to secure our civil rights.

I know he would never mind testifying UNDER OATH to any questions the American people might have and I believe he would always tell the truth.

I don't think he'd bat an eye at a new investigation of 9/11 that is fully independent with subpeona power.

If he ran for President, I would tirelessly devote myself to his campaign. Because it's better to do SOMETHING you feel is a move in the right direction to challenge the present Democratic/Republican cabal.

And I'd also work toward a National Absentee Voting Campaign and a Citizen's Count of the Ballots on Election Day in order to neuter the fraudulent computerized voting and counting.

Here's the bumpersticker: THE PEOPLE COUNT!

Obviously it has a double meaning. What do ya'll think? Ralph, are you with us?

Ralph Nader, my (our) hero...
He wrote: "... Florida and Washington State, for example, have Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs)...".
MOUs. My god, how lame. And so very, very WA, no surprise there. WA State, very lax regarding industry standards (they have laws, but refuse to implement them)- one of the most important, yet least discussed issues in WA.

Moonraven:

I totally agree with you. Shame on anyone who takes a cruise realizing the damage they are inflicting on the planet. It's disgusting and if it's not a crime, it should be.

Mr. Nader RUN!

I live in Juneau AK, and was disappointed to miss Ralph Nader when he was making his way through our town a short while ago. I am very glad to see a prominent name addressing the wanton disregard for our amazing environment.

Juneau is a town of 30,000, and this year, on Sunday and Monday, we have nearly 15,000 tourists and crew on our shore. Until last year, the only money that was guaranteed to go to our town was a $5 head tax, which has since been raised to $50.

Large corporations own large percentages of the shops that line the streets along the docking area, and are only open during the time the boats dock, taking the money that they didn't get at the gambling tables and bars on the boat, and packing that all up when the season is over. They also skirt taxes and misrepresent availability of tours by advertising rates on the boat for tours as "discounted" if they purchase them on the boat, when in fact there are many other options available once they get onto shore.

I am in full agreement that more taxes should be enacted upon the industry, even though the business I work for relies on the income generated during this busy time. If we allow our environment to be ruined, why would any one come here?

On another note, its not just the cruise ships that do the polluting. All of the people who come here want to go and see the Mendenhall Glacier, because of its ease of access. Its 20 Miles from the cruise ship docking ports, and so the only option is for them to load onto large busses, and make their way out there. This year it appears that our lax emissions control on vehicles are being severely abused, as all the buses are pouring black smoke in amounts I have never seen in the 20 years I have lived here.

And if their not driving to it, they are flying over it in helicopters and float planes, all burning vast quantities of fossil fuels

It saddens me to think that as more people come to see the glaciers before they melt, they are contributing to its demise at an ever increasing rate due to the carbon emissions resulting from their transportation.

I think that we all need to rethink the way that we "vacation" and find ways to enjoy the surroundings in which we live before we ruin it all.

diver.travis@gmail.com

S.O.S. Bahia started in 1999 as a grassroots movement of ordinary citizens dedicated to the rescue and preservation of the Bay of Zihuatanejo. Our main concern then was a disastrous tourism project planned by private investors (Puerto Mio, also operating under Inmobiliaria Punta del Mar) and supported by the federal tourism development agency FONATUR. The project envisioned the construction of a solid rock jetty that was to act as a cruise ship pier in the middle of our small bay, thereby practically privatizing Zihuatanejo's most important natural asset and common resource. 

S.O.S. Bahia's "Movement for the Rescue and Preservation of the Bay of Zihuatanejo" organized two public forums, a number of massive protest marches, and spent countless hours in meetings with various municipal, state and federal government officials, the project's developers and their lawyers, and managed to stop construction of the jetty twice. After various unsuccessful attempts to build the jetty without complying with the legal obligation of conducting and presenting the necessary environmental impact studies, the project's developers and investors abandoned the jetty which, in its stumped form, today acts as an obstacle to the natural flushing and cleansing currents of the bay.

The cruise ship pier proposal, however, has once again been resurrected, this time in complicity with the federal Department of Transportation and Communication which already gave the construction contract for the pier to an outside marine construction company, PROCOMAR, S.A. de C.V.

The plan now is to build a huge piled cruise ship pier in the very center of the bay. Once constructed, the cruise ship pier would be large enough to allow three cruise ships to dock and disembark passengers simultaneously, which doubtlessly would spell the end of Zihuatanejo as a beach resort destination and could cause the collapse of its upscale tourism and real estate markets, not to mention the traditional local fishing industry.

SOS Bahia has launched an online petition against the planned construction of the cruise ship pier in the center of the bay of Zihuatanejo.

You can sign the English version of the petition here:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sosbahiaespanol/

After you have signed, please send an email to your friends and tell them about this petition. The more signatures we can collect, the better the chance we can stop this disastrous project before it is too late.

If you would prefer to sign the Spanish version of this petition, you can do so at

http://www.petitiononline.com/sosbahia/petition.html