Posts Tagged ‘Gulf oil spill’

Failure Is Always The Option

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

For BP, certainly!

It’s been quite clear since the announcement of a tripling in “save the bayous” workers that “top kill” wasn’t working.

And there’s nothing much that can be done, all the scientific and oil industry brains put together don’t amount to much.

So, we should end offshore drilling for good, do the best we can to clean up the mess, and nationalize BP’s American assets to pay for as much as they can.

But that’s not what will happen, Louisiana’s a very poor state that is wholly dependent on the oil industry, government doesn’t seem to have the technical resources or manpower to do more than hit and hope, and Washington’s elites don’t want to bite the grimy hands that feed them.

Gorilla says: “From New Orleans to Kabul, we never learn anything from being condemned to repeat history!”

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So What’s Plan Z?

Friday, May 28th, 2010

BP keeps trying to plug up the oil well, but “top kill” is looking like the same old road kill…

Any lessons to be learned here?

*You can’t outsource oil drilling and the regulation of oil drilling to oil companies. The US should either develop a capability to handle these disasters, or, more preferably, ban drilling altogether.

*For all the crocodile tears shed by Gulf Coast politicians, there’s absolutely no support for getting the US off its fossil fuel addiction. A large tax on oil/gas and/or some sort of cap/trade system is the only way Americans will ever get serious about alternative energy production.

*When large corporations effectively control the political process through campaign contributions, and are able to spin a very ignorant media into doing their bidding, there’s not much hope for equality of opportunity, let alone serious policy debates. 10 million unemployed is barely registering on our elites’ radar, and the fossil fuel-generated poverty of Lousiana, West Virginia, and Kentucky has not changed for decades.

Gorilla says: “The body politic is being killed from the top down!”

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Huffing And Puffing

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Over the weekend, the rhetoric ratcheted up, first BP then North Korea!

Alas, it all rings hollow, because there isn’t really very much we can do.

The oil spill in the Gulf should be accompanied by a total ban on offshore drilling, which contributes very little to US oil production and destroys the environment. Instead, the Administration’s already granted 5 waivers for drilling in the period since the President decided a moratorium might be a good thing.

The North Korean sinking of a South Korean ship should result in an effort to destabilize the regime. Alas, the Chinese are the only ones who can really do this, and they’re not interested in having several million North Koreans come over their border.

Gorilla says: “The limits of power start with a recognition of reality, and we’re a long way from there!”

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