The disaster in the Gulf is rightfully a big news item. It is a legitimate disaster. Every reasonable action to halt the spill and mitigate its effects should and must be undertaken immediately.
That said, a quick gooble search reveals that there are over 4000 platforms active in the the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico. The reason this spill is so newsworthy is because such accidents are SO RARE! In the time I've taken to type these few words, it is almost assured that somebody somewhere has died in an auto accident. They happen all the time. Hence, they don't get much attention. Maybe a little tiny blurb in a local paper. But an airline crash? Headlines, weeping and gnashing, extensive coverage. Because they are infrequent. So it is with oil spills.
Consider the difficulty in extracting this product from deep beneath the sea. Transporting it to a refinery. Selling it to me for less than $3 a gallon and yet slightly profitable. Long miserable hours on a platform in the middle of nowhere, hoping that the next storm isn't the Big One. The efforts put forth by the oil industry are borderline heroic! They face these difficulties for very thin profit margins, and allow freedom for an ordinary guy like me to get in his car and go for a trip pretty much anytime, anywhere I want. Derivatives to oil are used to fertilize crops which feed BILLIONS of people. Life as we know it and enjoy it would NOT EVEN BE POSSIBLE without the oil industry. How many little kids' bellies are full today because of the oil industry? How many lives have been saved? How many lives have been drastically improved by easy transportation (via fossil-fueled vehicles) of people, foodstuffs, and other goods? And for all the BILLIONS of gallons that are routinely handled and processed, there are HARDLY ANY ACCIDENTS! Why are there NO MONUMENTS TO THE OIL INDUSTRY???
I love being able to drive across town. I love eating bananas that were grown in places like Chile and transported on BIG OIL-BURNING SHIPS to our ports and distributed by BIG DIESEL-BURNING TRUCKS to the local grocery store which I drive to in my little gas-burning car. I LOVE BIG OIL!!!
The Gulf Coast has been lubed by Obama.
ReplyDeletejohn...what am i doing wrong? I still don't think i'm showing up on the feed thingy..
ReplyDeleteyay, thanks for figuring it out for me:)
ReplyDeleteThumbs up, Inno! Living right here in Louisiana, we get 24/7 bombardment by this story.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame. It is a disaster. But, as you noted, disasters happen every day. Without the petro, and petro-chemical business, Louisiana would not even have folks here to worry about this...except for a few cotton farmers, and shrimpers.
I feel bad for everyone that has been hurt by this. I truly do. But, this is no time for "knee-jerks."
I Loves Big Oil too !
ReplyDeleteThere Will Be Blood.
ReplyDeletePretty much indicative of the liberal view that anything that really improves the quality of life for average people should be crucified and condemed.
I iz fed up with the system that stops cutting down trees that go into homes for people. Farm subsidies that raise the price of groceries to a level that we hafta fund the economies of south/central America. Cutting off the supply of oil so I can't drive to work because after income taxes I can't afford to.
Since the beginning the "world" disaster after disaster has been overcome and we moved on.
The only vote I would liberally vote for is to send all the libs and their prophet to the gulf states and let em start with the hot air spewings, it would change the gulf stream current and send the slick to Cuba and then Castro would have to deal with it.
Bloody Well Right.
JG - He's so slimy they didn't even really need to spill all that oil. Coulda just towed barry behind a boat for a few miles.
ReplyDeletePatti - yay for me!
Andy - Thanks. It is a BIG deal. But the entire industry doesn't deserve to be demonized.
Odie - Pushing that RV all the way to Oregon wouldn't have been fun. Go Big Oil!
Jaded - Sadly, I think the Castro Bruddahs would've handled this better than barry has.
I think Obabba just needs to shut up with the blame thing: BP knows it is bad and the do want to stop it. Heck, it's their oil, and if it don't go in the gas tanks, they don't make no moneys! Any idiot can figure that out, and they don't need a "boot on their throat" to get it done.
ReplyDeleteHe could at least seem mildly concernt with it, instead of using it to stop drilling.
OH, and Great Post, Innominatio! I got all caught up in the politics and failed to let you know that I really liked your writing!
ReplyDeleteif the EPA would leave them alone, they could be done with it a lot sooner. it's kinda hard to stop an oil spill these days cuz ya have to dig through all the red tape first.
ReplyDeleteThe spill is a disaster yes. And I do feel bad for the fishermen on the gulf coast but all this blaming of big oil is starting to grate on me. Now the government wants to push BP out of the way and clean it themselves. Oh yea, that's a wonderful idea.
ReplyDeleteThese people who are telling us not to drill are the same ones who won't let us drill off shore in shallow water where the spill would have been much easier to clean.
Perhaps Lord Obama can use his magical powers to stop the leak.
Oh, and good to have you back blogging Innominatus. Al Gore's internet wasn't the same without you.
aA - revolting how people like barry politicize EVERYTHING. I mean, I would NEVER do that!
ReplyDeletelabcat - so many chiefs, so few indians.
Infidel - thanks, but I'm still looking down the barrel of a lot of overtime hours. Posts may remain scarce for a while longer.
Well said Innominatus. Of course, the libs will claim that you are being paid by big oil to say that you leik them.
ReplyDelete4000 platforms and one major spill in 40 years. Must be Bush's fault
ReplyDeleteYep.
ReplyDeleteAt least when the Young President heads to Grand Isle for his trip du jour he and his entourage burn a heckuva lot of petrol -- it aint quick and easy to get there other than by helicopter or gas guzzler. And that certainly benefits the oil industry!
If it weren't so freakin' difficult to drill closer to shore where it's infinitely easier and safer (like the Chinese and the Russians are doing around Venezuela and Cuba!) the likelihood of more incidents like the BP Deepwater would be markedly reduced even further!
I say -- try every screwball idea to stop the leak and clean up the mess that is suggested; add every type of alternative fuel source anyone cares to try; but keep finding and using that petrol. This ol' Earth gives it to us as a gift.
-- Moogie
We need oil, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteWe don't need obummer demonizing and bullying them. He's using this accident to push his agenda, and that stinks.
I love Big Oil Too! Accidents still happen today. Although you would never think so by listening to the news today. This is a horrible accdent. Now, it just needs to be plugged, the Gulf cleaned up, and then we can go on from there.
ReplyDeleteRight on, Inn.
ReplyDeleteVERY well said, Innominatus. If it weren't for me, people of the world would still be riding horses and rubbing their sore rearends because of it.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe that's BO's goal. If he can demonize me enough, no one will ever use oil again. Yeah, that's it, BO. Americans would love to regress to (necessary) candlelight dinners and three-month journeys by wagon train from NYC to LA.
I sure hope somebody plugs my damn hole before it comes to that. I really do.