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[miles]

Sorry to hijack this otherwise pleasant thread, but I just read, and looked at, this.

Am I the only liberal here absolutely stunned by Obama's inaction? If we elected a socialist, he's a piss-poor socialist and needs to go back to the ivy league for some reeducation. I mean, if a trucking company has a truck full of toxic material that crashes, catches on fire and threatens a community, do we expect the trucking company to handle it? No! The local government gets in there, puts the fire out and cleans that shit up! Or at least make sure it gets done. Maybe I am alone, but if I'm not, why the fuck hasn't he been taken to task by the media?

[AugustWest]

Because the government doesn't have the equipment to deal with this situation, the oil companies and the oil rig contractors do.

Look, I hate the oil companies as much as the next guy, but are you suggesting that they are intentionally dawdling?  I assume BP is amoral and motivated solely by money.  Each day this goes on costs them more.  They have a huge incentive to get this stopped and no incentive to let it continue.  But some things are very very difficult to accomplish.  Just because this is taking a long time doesn't necessary mean that it could have been done quicker.

[miles]

Because the government doesn't have the equipment to deal with this situation, the oil companies and the oil rig contractors do.

That's a fair explanation. But even though that may very well be the case, I guess I'm frustrated by the fact Obama isn't using his bully pulpit as effectively as he could be. And I have no doubt that BP has a huge incentive to stop and no reason to let it go on, but obviously they are failing. I suppose I'm mostly just...frustrated.

[AugustWest]

I suppose I'm mostly just...frustrated.

Yeah.  Me too.

[pmcd9]

Yeah, me three.

[KeithHernandez]

Irregardless of this (I don't really care about this- I've said it before- gay marriage, legalize all drugs and prostitution before I care about anything else) I am pretty sure Obama is the person who makes me stop voting.

[wombat]

The thing to be mad at the government about is not that they aren't sending government employees to plug the well. The thing to be mad about is that they permitted the drilling in the first place without being sure that the company would be able to deal with a mishap if one occurred.

[miles]

I've said it before- gay marriage, legalize all drugs and prostitution before I care about anything else) I am pretty sure Obama is the person who makes me stop voting.

I don't know about this. I mean, gay marriage is a political minefield, and it's not surprising that he is being cautious about this. This is going to be an issue that, sadly, has to be chipped away at. And hasn't he pledged not to enforce federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized marijuana use? That's huge. And as far as all drugs and prostitution, did he even campaign on these issues? Do you expect Obama to sign an executive order to legalize all drugs and prostitution? No president would ever dream of doing this. You're setting yourself up for a lifetime of disappointment if you think otherwise, so, well, I guess it might be good to give up now. But it's unfair to blame Obama for all of this. These issues will all have to be worked out in Congress (maybe gay marriage can be worked out in the courts, but it's not likely anytime soon). Sure, he could be more forceful in his rhetoric, and that's a pretty big disappointment, but he is a politician, and right now is working to make sure he gets elected again. That's nothing new.

[Doc]

The thing to be mad at the government about is not that they aren't sending government employees to plug the well. The thing to be mad about is that they permitted the drilling in the first place without being sure that the company would be able to deal with a mishap if one occurred.

Yeah, free markets are fine but it seems reasonable that people shouldn't be allowed to play if they can't demonstrate ability to take responsibility for their actions.

[wombat]

Split, so no one has to come upon this depressing topic after a pleasant discussion of fried oysters.

[wombat]

So I was all "I should link to something informative up there" but this makes me so mad, I didn't want to do the search. Then I sat down to read the morning paper. I couldn't get much further than this:

The federal agency responsible for regulating U.S. offshore oil drilling repeatedly ignored warnings from government scientists about environmental risks in its push to approve energy exploration activities quickly, according to numerous documents and interviews.

Minerals Management Service officials, who can receive cash bonuses in the thousands of dollars based in large part on meeting federal deadlines for leasing offshore oil and gas exploration, frequently changed documents and bypassed legal requirements aimed at protecting the marine environment, the documents show.

If you think you can stand it the rest is here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/24/AR2010052401974.html

They do have experts who are charged with this task and the least I expect is that they don't get cash bonuses for one decision as opposed to another.

[wombat]

Yeah, not so fast.

BP's gonna spend 5-7 years and a few billions on containment and cleanup from this. Kinda sounds like taking responsibility, y'dig?

Taking responsibility after the fact is not the issue for me. The company has said in public "this is hard because we've never had to do it at this depth" as if that excuses it. Sure, so you go ahead and drill at that depth and if there's a disaster you'll just figure it out as you go along once it happens. Now we're seeing how that's working out for all of us.

There is plenty of blame to go around here, for sure.

[greenkoolayd]

i saw a thing on my local news that piqued my curiosity.  an oceanographer who went to some college in PA is down in the gulf doing science-y junk there.  he talked about a certain kind of bacteria on the sea floor thereabouts that eats the oil.  its not going to save the day, but its something that helps, for now.

*tangent*

what if this bacteria eventually grows uncontrollably and moves on to the oil on the shores and comes out of the water and is bad for people and turns us into zombies?

[jay-ell]

All I know is that if I end up not being able to take my kids to the beach ever again I am going to be SO PISSED.

Also, it makes me think of the episode of The Simpsons where Lisa wants to spend spring break helping clean up after the Exxon Valdez spill, and all the cute animals are being cleaned by celebrities, so they get relegated to scrubbing rocks with toothbrushes, and Marge turns to Lisa and says, "I have rocks that need cleaning at home!"

Just one more fuck*ng thing to worry about, just what I needed.

[greenkoolayd]

Like that, yeah that might be a little much (but cool!) of an impact. But otherwise I give it the three generation shrug.

i was using the part of my brain thats still 10 when i wrote that.