Oily Birds and Other Atrocities
DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!!
DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!!
DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!!
DRILL....umm...never mind.
Looking back now at the video footage of the Republicans chanting that stupid mantra at countless political gatherings in the last two years, they sure do look silly in hindsight, don't they? But then again, they always look silly in hindsight. If you don't believe me, have a look at an archival tape of their 2004 convention sometime. You know! The one where they cheerfully nominated George W. Bush for a second term? They really are a scream!
How ever will they justify continued off-shore drilling in light of what is now happening in the Gulf of Mexico? In just a few short days we've gone from a tragedy to a disaster to a full blown catastrophe. It will be more-than-interesting to see the depths to which the right wing will now stoop in order to trivialize this hideous event. Rush Limbaugh is already floating the idea out to his half-witted "Dittoheads" that this was sabotage on the part of the "eco-nazis"; that some unnamed environmental organization plotted this disaster in order to further their evil socialist agenda. The question is, how many people will be stupid enough to swallow that nonsense whole? Limbaugh's audience are not the brightest bunch out there so anything's possible. I'll say this for old Rush: He makes my life so interesting. I'm gonna miss the old bastard when he's finally thrown off the air. I really am.
Once again, We Dah Peepil have been forced to face an ugly reality head on. Once again we are confronted by a situation so horrific, we ignore its implications at our own peril. And once again it appears that many of us will continue to turn a blind eye toward the obvious: Our dependence on oil - foreign and domestic - will prove to be our undoing if we don't get to work immediately and try to develop alternative sources of fuel. What the hell is it with our abhorrence of common sense? What we have here is black comedy at its strangest. Someone remarked this morning of the gulf, "It smells like a gas station now." Fill 'er up? Forty years ago, the Cayahuga, the river which makes its way through Cleveland, Ohio, became so polluted it caught fire. Could this happen in the Gulf of Mexico? Stay tuned.
Seriously, sometimes I get the feeling that I'm living in a world whose scenario was scripted by Paddy Chayefsky. It is the weirdest of times, isn't it?
Scores of thousands of gallons of oil per day (figures vary) are being pumped into the gulf - a horrendous amount any way you slice it or dice it - and, thus far, no one has been able to say with any certainty when - or even if - they will be able to stop it. This morning it was mentioned on MSNBC that a quarter of the seafood we eat in this country comes from the gulf. This is not particularly good news for a guy like me who has become addicted to sushi in recent years. I can't even imagine how this will affect the people who make their livings by fishing those waters. And now they want to drill in the Atlantic? Surely they jest!
It was Barack Obama, in order to appease the assholes who comprise the lunatic fringe of American politics, who put the idea of drilling the Atlantic back on the table. Some are saying that this puts him in a sticky situation politically. Not at all. It was clear to one and all the motivation behind his offer from the beginning. Like Chamberlain at Munich in 1938, the president was attempting to appease a group of crazy people. All he needs to do now is reverse course and explain to the far right that, under the circumstances, drilling for oil in the Atlantic ocean would be a touchingly stupid idea. The American people won't fault him for this and will stand behind him, I think. The ecology of the good old USA is more important than political expediency. Who would argue with that notion, you may ask? You'd be surprised. Count on the arguments to come pouring fourth any minute now - and watch the Republicans wander further away into aimless unreality. This is going to get really funny.
Here's the silver lining behind this extremely dark cloud: Four of the five states that will be most affected by this mess (Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas) - all historically red - are looking a bit bluer today. Mississippi, I'm sorry to say, is eternally red. Governor Rick Perry is calling this an "Act of God". Talk about desperation! This isn't God's fault, Governor. British Petroleum will be responsible for the clean up - not the Almighty.
Just two months ago, while attempting to justify drilling in the Atlantic, they were trying to sell us on the idea that an environmental disaster like the one that is now being played out in the Gulf of Mexico was out of the question. All of the state-of-the-art precautionary safety standards would be implemented. Not to worry, they assured us! What, me worry? Well, look on the bright side of things. At least it wasn't an accident in a nuclear power plant somewhere. For over four decades they have been telling us that something like that could never happen either - Three Mile Island notwithstanding.
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
It's alright!
-George Harrison
We have a choice to make. It's either going to be the environmental security of the planet earth or the private profit of the very few - it's not going to be both. This really is a no-brainer if you just think about it for a minute. Many years ago I remember seeing this funny cartoon by the great Jules Feiffer that was printed in a college sociology text of mine. It depicted some bloated energy executive seated behind a desk. Said he:
"You want oil? We own the wells. You want coal? We own the mines. You want solar energy? We own the....[LONG, AWKWARD PAUSE]....Solar energy is not feasible."
Oh really? It is feasible. It was proven scientifically feasible before I was even born (I'll be fifty-two in August). As I write these words some guy is planning a flight around the world in a plane powered by the sun. Don't try to tell me that solar energy is not feasible! It is not only feasible, it's essential for the planet's survival that we get to work yesterday on wiring ourselves to the sun, so to speak. Don't listen to Rush Limbaugh and FOX Noise when they try to convince you that it can't be done. It can be done and it will. What other choice do we have? Can anyone give me a viable alternative?
What is now transpiring in the Gulf of Mexico will get much worse before it gets any better, sorry to say. Incredibly some experts are predicting that this could go on for weeks, if not months. The American people have yet to wake up to the ramifications of what is really occurring off Louisiana's coast . When the final chapter is written on this idiotic chapter in our history, it will make the Exxon/Valdez disaster of 1989 look like a cup of spilled tea. This is the "Gone With The Wind" of environmental calamities. Drill baby drill indeed.
Will the president do the smart thing here? That really was a rhetorical question on my part - of course he will. He will catch a lot of hell from the GOP for canceling the plan to tap the Atlantic for fossil fuels, but in the end the political heat won't amount to a flickering candle in Antarctica. If the electorate doesn't yet understand the consequences of the disaster in the gulf, they will soon enough. This dreadful situation will only get worse by the day. By this time next week, they'll understand. Oh, brother, will they understand!
Will our Republican representatives be stupid enough to continue fighting for the right of oil companies to plunder the Atlantic? Again, that was a rhetorical question - of course they will. Their history absolutely dictates that they will. Is there anyone out there who still believes that the "party of Lincoln" is going to make any significant gains in the November midterms? I'd love to make a little wager with you.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
AFTERTHOUGHT:
In just a lit
tle over two weeks, on May 18 at 8:30 AM, London time, brother Pete and I (along with old pal Kevin Swanwick) will be touring Abbey Road Studios in merrie old England. There will be much to tell you. My plan is to stand in the center of Studio Two, take a small, hand-held recorder out of my pocket and hum into it the theme song from the Dick Van Dyke Show. That way - for the rest of my life - I'll be able to honestly tell anyone, "Why, yes! I recorded at Abbey Road." Yeah, I know, I'm shameless.
How ever will they justify continued off-shore drilling in light of what is now happening in the Gulf of Mexico? In just a few short days we've gone from a tragedy to a disaster to a full blown catastrophe. It will be more-than-interesting to see the depths to which the right wing will now stoop in order to trivialize this hideous event. Rush Limbaugh is already floating the idea out to his half-witted "Dittoheads" that this was sabotage on the part of the "eco-nazis"; that some unnamed environmental organization plotted this disaster in order to further their evil socialist agenda. The question is, how many people will be stupid enough to swallow that nonsense whole? Limbaugh's audience are not the brightest bunch out there so anything's possible. I'll say this for old Rush: He makes my life so interesting. I'm gonna miss the old bastard when he's finally thrown off the air. I really am.
Once again, We Dah Peepil have been forced to face an ugly reality head on. Once again we are confronted by a situation so horrific, we ignore its implications at our own peril. And once again it appears that many of us will continue to turn a blind eye toward the obvious: Our dependence on oil - foreign and domestic - will prove to be our undoing if we don't get to work immediately and try to develop alternative sources of fuel. What the hell is it with our abhorrence of common sense? What we have here is black comedy at its strangest. Someone remarked this morning of the gulf, "It smells like a gas station now." Fill 'er up? Forty years ago, the Cayahuga, the river which makes its way through Cleveland, Ohio, became so polluted it caught fire. Could this happen in the Gulf of Mexico? Stay tuned.
Seriously, sometimes I get the feeling that I'm living in a world whose scenario was scripted by Paddy Chayefsky. It is the weirdest of times, isn't it?
Scores of thousands of gallons of oil per day (figures vary) are being pumped into the gulf - a horrendous amount any way you slice it or dice it - and, thus far, no one has been able to say with any certainty when - or even if - they will be able to stop it. This morning it was mentioned on MSNBC that a quarter of the seafood we eat in this country comes from the gulf. This is not particularly good news for a guy like me who has become addicted to sushi in recent years. I can't even imagine how this will affect the people who make their livings by fishing those waters. And now they want to drill in the Atlantic? Surely they jest!
It was Barack Obama, in order to appease the assholes who comprise the lunatic fringe of American politics, who put the idea of drilling the Atlantic back on the table. Some are saying that this puts him in a sticky situation politically. Not at all. It was clear to one and all the motivation behind his offer from the beginning. Like Chamberlain at Munich in 1938, the president was attempting to appease a group of crazy people. All he needs to do now is reverse course and explain to the far right that, under the circumstances, drilling for oil in the Atlantic ocean would be a touchingly stupid idea. The American people won't fault him for this and will stand behind him, I think. The ecology of the good old USA is more important than political expediency. Who would argue with that notion, you may ask? You'd be surprised. Count on the arguments to come pouring fourth any minute now - and watch the Republicans wander further away into aimless unreality. This is going to get really funny.
Here's the silver lining behind this extremely dark cloud: Four of the five states that will be most affected by this mess (Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas) - all historically red - are looking a bit bluer today. Mississippi, I'm sorry to say, is eternally red. Governor Rick Perry is calling this an "Act of God". Talk about desperation! This isn't God's fault, Governor. British Petroleum will be responsible for the clean up - not the Almighty.
Just two months ago, while attempting to justify drilling in the Atlantic, they were trying to sell us on the idea that an environmental disaster like the one that is now being played out in the Gulf of Mexico was out of the question. All of the state-of-the-art precautionary safety standards would be implemented. Not to worry, they assured us! What, me worry? Well, look on the bright side of things. At least it wasn't an accident in a nuclear power plant somewhere. For over four decades they have been telling us that something like that could never happen either - Three Mile Island notwithstanding.
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
It's alright!
-George Harrison
We have a choice to make. It's either going to be the environmental security of the planet earth or the private profit of the very few - it's not going to be both. This really is a no-brainer if you just think about it for a minute. Many years ago I remember seeing this funny cartoon by the great Jules Feiffer that was printed in a college sociology text of mine. It depicted some bloated energy executive seated behind a desk. Said he:
"You want oil? We own the wells. You want coal? We own the mines. You want solar energy? We own the....[LONG, AWKWARD PAUSE]....Solar energy is not feasible."
Oh really? It is feasible. It was proven scientifically feasible before I was even born (I'll be fifty-two in August). As I write these words some guy is planning a flight around the world in a plane powered by the sun. Don't try to tell me that solar energy is not feasible! It is not only feasible, it's essential for the planet's survival that we get to work yesterday on wiring ourselves to the sun, so to speak. Don't listen to Rush Limbaugh and FOX Noise when they try to convince you that it can't be done. It can be done and it will. What other choice do we have? Can anyone give me a viable alternative?
What is now transpiring in the Gulf of Mexico will get much worse before it gets any better, sorry to say. Incredibly some experts are predicting that this could go on for weeks, if not months. The American people have yet to wake up to the ramifications of what is really occurring off Louisiana's coast . When the final chapter is written on this idiotic chapter in our history, it will make the Exxon/Valdez disaster of 1989 look like a cup of spilled tea. This is the "Gone With The Wind" of environmental calamities. Drill baby drill indeed.
Will the president do the smart thing here? That really was a rhetorical question on my part - of course he will. He will catch a lot of hell from the GOP for canceling the plan to tap the Atlantic for fossil fuels, but in the end the political heat won't amount to a flickering candle in Antarctica. If the electorate doesn't yet understand the consequences of the disaster in the gulf, they will soon enough. This dreadful situation will only get worse by the day. By this time next week, they'll understand. Oh, brother, will they understand!
Will our Republican representatives be stupid enough to continue fighting for the right of oil companies to plunder the Atlantic? Again, that was a rhetorical question - of course they will. Their history absolutely dictates that they will. Is there anyone out there who still believes that the "party of Lincoln" is going to make any significant gains in the November midterms? I'd love to make a little wager with you.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
AFTERTHOUGHT:
In just a lit
tle over two weeks, on May 18 at 8:30 AM, London time, brother Pete and I (along with old pal Kevin Swanwick) will be touring Abbey Road Studios in merrie old England. There will be much to tell you. My plan is to stand in the center of Studio Two, take a small, hand-held recorder out of my pocket and hum into it the theme song from the Dick Van Dyke Show. That way - for the rest of my life - I'll be able to honestly tell anyone, "Why, yes! I recorded at Abbey Road." Yeah, I know, I'm shameless.
posted by Tom Degan @ 12:10 PM
40 comments
40 Comments:
Oh, Tom, yes to everything you wrote here. I more than appreciate this piece, the way it flows and doesn't trip itself up...
I am physically sick over the catastrophe. And so depressed. I couldn't have put into words my thoughts and emotions about what has happened/is happening/will continue to happen for who-knows-how-long. So, thank you.
I am going to email the White House today with a link to this post.
When I read that Limbaugh made comments about the oil spill, I came right here to see what Tom had to say about it. I let Tom express my outrage for me because he does such a good job of it and I get to keep my blood pressure level in check. Plus, he keeps things in perspective for me. I just hope and pray that there is a silent majority out there who have common sense and who vote.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hi Tom,
You are so right, Obama will do the right thing (and why does the right wing so consistently underestimate him?) and the GOP will continue to push for additional drilling and other environmental obscenities that will only lead to additional disasters. Even now Palin is stepping up to the plate to support more drilling.
But the American people are going to have to bite the bullet and make some changes in their life style. There is discussion about constructing windmill fields around the Chicago area but no one wants them in "their back yards". And we are going to have to come to terms with, demand and support fuel efficient transportation. Last year I bought a scooter that gets 100 miles per gallon. Yes, that is correct; 100 mpg and I take it out even in the worst of the Chicago winter and feel pretty damned smug about it; even when being almost run off the road by the suburban bimbos in their huge gas guzzling SUVs.
Thank you so much, Lydia! That REALLY made me smile!
All the best,
Tom Degan
I can't vouch for the truth of this, but I read a commentary this morning claiming that Dick Cheney and his oil buddies (remember his secret energy meetings?) vetoed making the oil companies install the gizmos that would have prevented this disaster because they were to expensive at $500,000 each. Haliburton was somehow involved. I wish my memory were better, but this information apparently came from a lawyer who was present at one of the meetings. I will try to get back with a link to the article.
I fear that we will not be able to get a sound energy policy in place in the short term. There are to many special interest involved, and they are not going to allow Nuclear, Wind, and Solar to be the final solution - and there are so many road blocks to having this in their back yard.
Just one more disaster our "leaders" are incapable of handling. I saw just this morning that 1/3 of the bees in the US died over the winter
Chinese farmers have been hand pollinating for years now. Finding new ways of doing the same old things will NOT save us....but we can start by charging these corp masters with racketeering, domestic terrorism and treason; arrest them, seize all their assets, break up their companys..though the ship has already hit the iceberg, and there still aren't enough lifeboats. The MSM keeps telling us to rearrange the deck chairs and it will all be ok..sighs
I'm actually hearing people complain about the price of shrimp and other seafood in all this - when I ask them "Well, what about the mean and women who rely on those industries to have a life?" They don't seem to care...they just get into their SUVs and drive away...(OK - some of that is made up...they don't ALWAYS drive away...)
The beautiful fragile eco-system - the so-called "circle of life" that makes up that famous gulf is going to suffer...and once again, we can't blame nature, we can only blame one animal on this plant for this...
George Carlin had a great point about this very topic...the planet is going to shake us all off like a large dog shakes off a case of fleas someday - won't it be beautiful...sad, but beautiful.
God help us all...or maybe he'll just call on his modern day Noah....RIGGHTT!
Re: Comment by Dearest Friend...it made me want to see if the video of the Carlin piece was available online. It is. Unfortunately, the first link I clicked turned out to be a site called Climate Change Fraud. I'm too (sick and) tired to spend time there this early morning hour to figure out how they might be using the Carlin video in their arguments.....
(And yes I did email Obama and linked to this post)
Thanks for your rant on the unfolding Gulf catastrophe. I live 30 miles inland from the Gulf, in Tallahassee, FL. Even here the mainstream media reports about it are surprisingly scant.
One thing everyone agrees on is that noone knows how much oil per day is spewing out of the gaping hole that BP drilled into the sea floor and now can't plug. It's anywhere from 5000 gallons per day (gpd) (NOAA estimate) to over 1 million gpd, or more (some reports say twice more!). To put that in perspective, the total spill from the Exxon Valdez was around 11 million gallons. Some experts say that much may have already spilled into the Gulf, with no end in sight. BP "hopes" to be able to stop the leak by drilling a "relief well," which will take 90 days to complete. At the 1 million gpd rate, the am't of oil that will have gushed up into the Gulf will be 10X as much as the Exxon Valdez spilled, or more, and that's only IF the relief well does the trick.
They are also "hoping" to cone the leak, which, IF it works, will contain and capture the leaking oil while they complete construction of the relief well, but it will take 2 weeks just to install the cone. So best case scenario at the 1 million gpd rate is that this oil spill will "only" be 2X as big as the Exxon Valdez, IF the cone works.
And yes, Halliburton plays a major role in this. Just 20 hrs. before the explosion, they cemented the well to abandon it for a time but didn't set a cement plug over the bore, saying it wasn't needed at that stage in the operations.
Also, the well did not have any remote-control or acoustically-activated shut-off switch for use in case of an emergency such as the rig sinking. Norway and Brazil require them on all offshore rigs, but the oil companies persuaded U.S. regulators that such backup devices were unnecessary due to their expense.
Oily birds, yes, and other atrocities too enormous to fathom, starting with the demise of our entire coastal ecosystem down here, including many endangered and threatened species. And there are reports that the ever widening oil slick may enter the gulf stream, in which case it will wrap around the FL peninsula and back up the Atlantic side, towards the NE coast.
God forbid, if all efforts to plug the gaping hole in mother earth fail??? There are reportedly 10s of millions of barrels of oil under there that the Deep Water Horizon was tapping into.
I visited my favorite Gulf beach over the weekend just to shed a tear for the fate of the entire region. This is a catastrophe of epic proportions. Stay tuned.
Just sign me horrified beyond measure.
I live about 30 miles from the Florida gulf and this tragedy just breaks my heart. I've lived in this area for 6 years and the white sand beaches and clear water of the Emerald Coast has become my new paradise. It is just awful to think that the sand may not be white much longer and the water most definitely not clear. I missed the news that there was actually really still a discussion about drilling off our shores going on. I assumed after this it was immediately taken off the table.
One little light in all this - everybody, buy Dawn dish liquid - just the good old blue stuff. It's cheaper then the other brands and YES...it's actually what the animal and bird "folks" use to clean oil off those poor animals who can't figure out why they and their babies stink so badly and they can't get themselves or the little ones clean!
BUY DAWN! You'll save money...help the environment...okay, back to your regular scheduled rant...
Mary
To the person who signed her/himself as "Horrified Beyond Measure", your letter really hit home. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and don't be a stranger.
All the best,
Tom Degan
Tom, Tom, Tom...you just don't see the "big picture". By layering the oceans with millions of gallons of crude Halliburton has made cross Atlantic travel that much faster! A big ship can start the engines, get a good pace started, cut the engines and coast on the oil. It's easy! Same thing with street lights in coastal cities. Light the sewers and you don't need electricity, just gas masks. NO, this is a lucky day for us for sure. In the days to come we will hear from a lot of hippie eco-freaks saying that oil and water don't mix, but I had a salad last night and if I can get oil and vinegar to mix we can get oil and water. Heck, toss in some dill and garlic and we have the Gulf Coast Salad Dressing Sea!
Ah, life is good, get it while you can. They say you can't take it with you, but the way things are turning out "it" may leave before I do. Kinda sad. I expect some day just like the Keller family the world will have to find a way to control the grabby, messy and dangerous US of A. We get our fingers into everything and when they try to stop us we scream and kick. What will it take before the world reels us in? SOMEBODY PLEASE STOP US!!!
Sorry, didn't mean to shout. I just want the gross stupidity in government and business to finally stop before all the wells blow and we live in a world with a black burning ocean. How stupid does a human have to be to stand in front of cameras and actually claim the solution is to open up more holes in the crust and suck out more oil? I am just so ashamed of this country anymore. The oceans belong to the world, not BP.
How about we review the existing off-shore rigs and evaluate for the proper process safety devices. Then require the US companies to meet the accepted world-wide process safety standards. In the industry lingo, we call it RAGAGEP (recognized and generally accepted good engineering practice). This is what rational adults reacting to a bad situation do. And, don’t get me wrong, I agree that it is a very bad situation – BP likely won’t survive it – and arguably shouldn’t survive it. They are already in very hot water with OSHA over the Texas City refinery explosion of 2005 and the investigation that followed.
Also, you all realize that vast quantities of oil lie under an Alaskan tundra – a veritable wasteland where very little wildlife thrives and an oil spill is much easier to clean up, does much less damage. But, our gov’t policies drove them to the gulf deep water where they deemed it “safer”. Just sayin’…
But, in my wildest dreams, I wish the oil companies would follow the collective wisdom on this blog and simply shut down offshore production, stop receiving oil tankers from overseas, and mothball the refineries (you’d have to). I’d like a front row seat for that.
Out of Sight…Did it ever really exist at all?
What to do? Can’t deny it…those pesky aerial shots and satellite images saw to that…plus BP already admitted complicity; so there goes plausible deniability.
Perhaps the “perfect storm” will form in the Gulf and disperse the oil slick causing the oil to sink never reaching the shore in significant amounts…oil company wet dream; media nightmare. BP public relations spin: What oil? See, the environmentalists were being alarmists again. Our Herculanian subterranean efforts have minimalized any possible undesirable effects. (Cut to BP CFO sucking down a Gulf Oyster)
BTW it’s light crude so it can’t be as much of a concern as if it had been that nasty heavy crude.
Brilliant idea #1: Burn the oil at sea. Herd it into big pools/puddles and set it ablaze.
Brilliant idea #2: Inject a chemical at the well head leak sight that will combine with the gushing crude causing it to sink to the Gulf floor where it can naturally decompose over time. (A Green solution)
Brilliant idea #3: Put a condom around the light crude ejaculate spurter and then do something when the condom is full.
It’s a slippery slope folks…
Gypsy
You know I first commented in this blog when I was just so pissed off at the Wall Street bailout in 08. That anger is pale in comparison to my outrage at this oil spill disaster. These greedy capitalist pigs have outdone themselves this time !! This mindset of placing profit over good sense and responsibility that at best gave us our financial meltdown now at worst has given us this ecological disaster of unprecedented proportion. Thanks, you greedy shitheads. Terrorists couldn't have fucked us better than you assholes !!! Seems we just didn't know who our enemy was.....it was the establishment !! Big surprise !! From the folks that brought us the PATRIOT Act and succeeded in killing our civil rights we now get ecological death too !! At some point grownup adults need to take control of this country. The children in charge now are doing a really shitty job !! There, now I feel a little better.
Another one out of the ball park, Ellis! There is a person signed in as "Horrified Beyond Measure" whom you should compare notes with....or have you?
Cheerio! Pip! Pip!
(Just practicing my British accent for next week!)
Tom
Watch yourself, what are ye thinkin' practicin' a British accent when you are so wondrously Irish, my boy?
And the Lord said unto Noah, "Don't you forget my unicorn..."
The shy Pennsylvania "Sheila"
Tom et al, there is a company in France which manufactures an engine that works on compressed air. They use it on forklifts for big warehouses. They also are working on a car which will be built in India. You can go something like 200 miles on two tanks of air and then swap out for new ones. NO EMISSIONS! Yet we hear pretty much nothing about it in the states, howcum? http://www.gizmag.com/compressed-air-car-set-for-us-launch-in-2010/8896/
check it out! New technology, new jobs, new culture...
Friends,
Since Tom came to my place and left kind words, I'm here to do the same. And he's right - we made this bed, we need to lie in it.
But more importantly, when we go to vote this fall, we need to let this oil spill inform our votes. We need to know who said and di what when, and then when we pull the lever, or bubble the Scan-Tron, or touch the screen, we need ot make sure that information is at the fore of our minds.
Equally importnat - we need ot make sur eour friends, neighbors, coworkers, colleagues, paper per son, Postman, Fed Ex Driver and Crossing guard all have the same information at the forefront of their minds.
We in the gulf region are all just sick over this. Everyone wants to do something, but what? No matter that all the shrimp boats are out deploying booms. Does anyone believe that will keep out this huge quantity of oil? It's a really slow catastrophe that is only just beginning and we really don't know where it will end, but we know it's nowhere good. We feel, and I think we are powerless to stop this thing. Thank you, Tom for writing about this, because nobody here has, or at least I haven't seen it.
Another thought, of the three leaks down there, one has been shut off, they are about to try coning a second. Seems to me that will just put more pressure on the remaining leak and make it spew that much more, and possibly make it even more difficult. I guess we'll see.
Here's a link to some images from LSU Coastal Studies, Earth Scan Lab:
http://www.esl.lsu.edu/home/
Isn't it amazing how the right-wingers could take a tragic, environmental disaster like the recent oil spill, and spin it into an anti-Obama theme. Limbaugh, Palin and the Conserva-nazis (who believe the Republican's lies) would rather see hundreds of billions of American dollars flow into the Middle Eastern countries than to admit that we need to develop alternative energy sources. I hope that the beach in front of Limbaugh's mega-million dollar mansion in Boca Raton turns into a black, gooey mess.
Sorry I was unable to link to the article that I mentioned. It is off in cyberspace somewhere. I have read more about Haliburton's tie-in to this tragedy of massive proportions. I am sure you have, too.
Tom, I want to wish you a safe flight over the pond. I only wish I were going too.
I have mentioned your post in my blog today. You may want to take a peek.
Are we all living in the same reality here? Are Republicans/right-wingers/conservatives (whatever your name of choice) the only ones using fossil fuels? You guys keep screaming about wind and solar. Upping the volume on your ranting about a vision that is not grounded in any sort of reality doesn’t make it any more viable. Listen, and listen closely. SOLAR POWER AND WIND POWER CANNOT SUPPLY THE ENERGY NEEDS OF OUR NATION – THEY CANNOT EVEN COME CLOSE. Oil and gas are here to stay for a long time if you want electricity to power your compressors to fill up your compressed air cars.
The deep water Gulf was not the location of choice for the oil companies. They didn’t want to have to drill there – it is costly and risky - it pushed the limits of available technology. They’d much rather drill on the wasteland tundra in Alaska where there are known reserves that are safer and easier to get to and with far less risk to the environment. But, alas, it wasn’t to be and our government drove them to the Gulf. Drove them you say? Oh no, we the people didn’t want them there. We’re much too brilliant and progressive for that. Well, not until we want to fly to England, that is. Then, we’re cool with sucking up thousands of gallons of jet fuel. You guys can continue to delude yourselves but you aren’t fooling the grown ups. Give me a break…
It's not just hindsight in which they look silly. The justification for continuing is at 5:40 here.
No doubt, the ecological disaster the oil spill in the Gulf has already caused, and will continue to cause perhaps for decades, is almost unbearable. I live 2.5 hrs from the Texas Gulf Coast and my family and I love and respect the entire Gulf Coast area and hope and pray that this spill doesn't wreck the havoc that everyone is preparing for. However, Mr. Degan, before you chastise offshore drilling, perhaps you should quantify the spills caused by oil drilling vs. the transport of the oil. You argue that offshore drilling should cease, yet the majority of spills are due to the TRANSPORT of oil, NOT the drilling. This would imply that we should drill domestically so we do not have to transport oil across the ocean, don't you agree? Also, the implicatation by you and others that the horrible oil companies don't care about the environment in lieu of money is nothing but a bunch of B.S. and you know it. Let's get real: the genie is out of the bottle. We can't control it 100% and sh*t happens. Yes, other alternative forms of energy are promising and we need to continue developing these technologies, but we are where we are. Unfortunatly we are not yet able to switch to other forms of energy. Like it or not, all of you hypocrites depend on oil, so let's not bite the hand that feeds us. By the way, W.D. Shirley, the compressed air is an energy TRANSPORT medium, not an energy source. One must use ENERGY to compress the air. Do you really think the energy used to compress the air doesn't create emmisions? Only if it is powered by hydro-electic dams or windmills. Come on, think it through and get realistic; there is no magic fairy compressing this air for free. And I don't EVEN want to get into the poor efficiency of using compressed air; the amount of energy lost in compressing the air is huge vs. how little is available at the point of use. It's called the second law of thermodynamics. You can read it, but I doubt you will understand it.
This spill was caused by drilling by a multi-billion dollar company that wouldn't spring for a 500K safety device.
And why wouldn't anyone think that oil companies put profits ahead of the environment? They won't take want to drill in ANWR -- anywhere regardless of environmental impact -- and their product is the major contributor to climate change.
I came here from Darlene. Although I'm an Aussie I could really follow your political 'rant' and tune in to it. The phrase 'going to hell in a hand-basket' comes to mind! As an ex Pom I'm also fascinated by the circus of the UK election!
I have actually read Conservatives who deny the mantra of "Drill, baby, drill." It is their inconvenient truth as per Palin. True enough, Obama did try to pander regarding this issue, but his hear was not in it from the start. Now we have conspiracy theorists saying that he subversively caused this to prove his point.
Why not look to BP for answers as to why they had an inadequate number of shut-off valves? This will have epic ramifications.
You liberals are hoot and a half! Even when Obama decides to do something you liberals are against [approve offshore drilling], you STILL defend him saying things like "oh, he REALLY didn't want to do it" and then you go and BLAME conservatives saying "he was pressured by the evil conservatives." Okay, then, let's say for the sake of argument, he DID give in to the conservatives; tell me then, how do you feel about supporting someone who is afraid to stand by his principles? How many other things has he given in to under pressure? How many things in the future will he give in to? The word "spine-less" comes to mind, doesn't it? Face it, Obama abandoned you, but all of you are too blind with love for him that you can't see it. Sad indeed.
Holy dumber than dogshit Batman!!
Interestingly but not surprisingly the Queen of off shore drilling is noticeable silent...
Kangaroo Down Under,
Darn Tom we can only hope the old bastard would be thrown off the air, but I would not hold my breath waiting for that to happen in this life time, miss the "PERVERTED WANKER" I don't think so!!!!!!!!
Oil is an equal opportunity be-fouler. Not only is the seafront of the poor people of New Orleans befouled but the golfing and casino playgrouds of the rich in Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi equally slimed. The national media keep saying Louisiana, but we all know that the seafront of Mississippi is befouled and slimed.
Good God what a bunch of simple-minded vitriol you've managed to cobble together into a barely coherent rant, Mr. Tom.
Ground control needs to check in, I'd hate to see you at the sight of someone who isn't as far to the Left as you are, you'd probably froth at the mouth and have a seizure at such exposure.
Say, Tom et al, why do you suppose the right wing ranters read your blog if it is just to get all frothy mouthed and rabid and then jot off a bunch of insults? Seriously, I sometimes jot off a bunch of observations in a right wing blog and I can do it without insulting anyone's mother or intelligence, even though I KNOW these Republicrats are emotional retards.
HEY "RIGHT WINGERS"
We are all of us Americans here, mostly, and we read the Constitution where it says the government can't do certain things, and then we see where our government has been doing these things for decades and they all violate the Law of the Land... well we want the government to follow the Rules set out in our legal documents which define our nation for the world. Got that? Just follow the law. Now if you all want a despotic republic with unlimited power for your favorite political party, it's easy enough to propose massive changes to the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Get right out there and announce you want to delete the right of habeas corpus, you want the President to be able to declare wars without Congressional approval, you want torture to be part of the legal system, indefinite imprisonment for suspects at the word of the President... etc etc. Just write it all up and get 2/3 of the population to agree with you. Easy peasy. Now we have a new Constitution which fits in with your political bent. Give us nasty old "Progressives" enough time to leave the country for a democracy somewhere and you have the whole damn country to yourselves, nukes and all. Now if you want to set up machine gun nests along our southern border, go for it! You want to set up a 50 mile intrusion "Security Zone" into Canada and Mexico, far out, do it! But do NOT try to change our country just on the word of some psychotic like Glenn Beck. Do it right, make it legal, sign the papers, vote the vote.
But if it should turn out that you neo-nazis are a tiny minority of the American population you should shut the heck up and move you and your families to someplace that thinks like you, maybe Iran or Russia.
WD
You might want to go back and reread the last few strings on this blog. It is not, for the most part, the emotional retards and the neo-nazis doing the name-calling. It is the “progressives”. Feel free to continue to name call, but don’t declare that you aren’t the one doing the most of it. Own it.
It's a big disappointment that Obama has been more interested in his golf score than in doing anything about this mess.
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