Another Fine Mess

You know, it would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst in US history and looks to hold that infamous spot for generations to come. Everyone and anyone with an implementable idea, including BP, is trying to do something that will stem the flow of petroleum from the ocean floor more than a mile down. And then, just when you think that some progress is being made, someone steps in and stops everything.

It seems that the Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal, hit on a great idea to vacuum up the muck into barges. Enter the US Coastguard, i.e. the US Government. They’ve ordered all such operations to stop forthwith . . . because the chaps that are doing the work are soaked in oil, and there don’t appear to be any fire extinguishers handy. And despite protestations from the governor, the USCG has greater authority. So while someone is trying to figure out who know how to put out a fire on one of the boats, there’s enough oil floating around the Gulf of Mexico to light the homes of just about everyone in the state.

I believe in work safety as much as anyone else; and I’m pretty sure the guys that are soaked in oil also believe in it, too. After all, if anything went wrong, it would “light up” their lives. But, that didn’t seem to stop them before Uncle Sam sailed in, guns blazing.

Jindal tried to contact someone in Washington, D.C. as well, but no one could take his call. And, every time he talked to the Coast Guard, he had to explain himself all over again because the call was taken by someone else. Given that the Cold War is over, you’d think that the famous hotline would now connect Obama directly with Jindal. But, I guess great ideas went out the window with common sense.

After 24 hours of playing pass-the-hot-potato, Jindal was given the go-ahead to plug in his Hoover. I don’t know if you can hear the sucking from the shoreline or not.

To date, experts estimate that 42 million gallons of oil has spilled into the Gulf. This makes the calculation easy. At 42 gallons to a barrel, that’s 1 million barrels of oil, and about 19,500,000 potential gallons of gasoline had it been refined.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but don’t you think the environmentalists ought to spend their resources on plugging this hole rather than worrying about whether we’re green enough elsewhere. Wake up! There’s a catastrophe on your front porch! Deal with it and quickly, because if you don’t, the well might run dry before it can be plugged; and then you’d have another missed opportunity!

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