Well-written lead-up to the Gulf Oil Spill

[joe8mofo]

The Spill, The Scandal and the President | Rolling Stone Politics

 

[Mopar]

If Bush was president the press would be having fun blaming him. Not just because he is a oil man but because they loved to blame things like hurricanes on him. This is Obama's Katrina. He has admitted fault just like when Bush said. "Mission accomplished." Were is the press showing all the animals that are dying? How about all the oil on the water? Is the press covering part of this disaster up?

 

[Hetland]

If Bush was president the press would be having fun blaming him. Not just because he is a oil man but because they loved to blame things like hurricanes on him. This is Obama's Katrina. He has admitted fault just like when Bush said. "Mission accomplished."

sigh......

No one blamed Bush for Katrina, they blamed him for sitting on his behind while people were drowning and suffocating to death in their own attics and begging for helicopters from their roofs. His DELAY in acting plus him putting a moron in charge is what people didn't like.

You can say the same for Obama. While it's apples and oranges to some degree, there is a perfectly legitimate beef with Obama's delay in responding.

The Difference: Obama at least owns his mistake and takes responsibility for the delay. Bush took responsibility for accomplishing a mission that is still not accomplished, Obama took responsibility for a mistake, like a man.

Were is the press showing all the animals that are dying? How about all the oil on the water? Is the press covering part of this disaster up?

Where do you get your news? All I'm seeing is oiled turtles, pelicans, dead fish, oil and tar on beaches, and studies by scientist telling us that BP is understating flow rates, low oxygen areas and plume sizes. Some folks here are complaining that there is too much coverage, and that it scares away tourists.

Blaming Bush because he was an oil man accomplishes nothing, Blaming Obama for a slow response accomplishes nothing, it's like saying Auburn is better than Alabama, or Texas is better than Texas A&M. Politics does not have to be an adversarial "us" vs "them" undertaking.

The first, most important thing, is to stop that !@#$% leak. I don't care if Richard Nixon's corpse or the Church of Scientology does it, but we need to demand to every one of our elected officials, whether we voted for them or not, to hold BP's feet to the fire until that leak is stopped cold. Then we can concentrate on blaming people for what they did or didn't do.

I'll try to stay out of political discussions once more

 

[Mopar]

Where do you get your news? All I'm seeing is oiled turtles, pelicans, dead fish, oil and tar on beaches, and studies by scientist telling us that BP is understating flow rates, low oxygen areas and plume sizes. Some folks here are complaining that there is too much coverage, and that it scares away tourists.

I just been watching the world news. I don't like CNN or any of the other cable news channels. They have been just talking about how many barrels a day and it is worse than they thought. I have not seen any animals in the oil. Now when we took our son to Disney world last week the Orlando news did show animals on the news. But I have not sen any since we got back.

 

[sontek]

Texas is better than Texas A&M.

Amen brotha

 

[Hetland]

I just been watching the world news. I don't like CNN or any of the other cable news channels. They have been just talking about how many barrels a day and it is worse than they thought. I have not seen any animals in the oil. Now when we took our son to Disney world last week the Orlando news did show animals on the news. But I have not sen any since we got back.

CNN, ABC, and MSNBC all have pics and vids of injured critters, mostly pelicans and birds, but I've seen a few turtles and turtle stories. I personally have to change the channel, as I'm angry enough as it is without seeing animals suffer. My understanding is that the animals they rehab are being released on the East Coast, to give them at least a snowball's chance of not being greased a second time.

Local news channels and papers are pretty heavy on the coverage as well (understandably so).

CNN Updates: Latest developments on the Gulf oil disaster - CNN.com

Federal agencies responsible for monitoring the toll to wildlife reported Wednesday that:

• 442 oiled birds have been collected alive
• 633 oiled birds have been collected dead
• 50 sea turtles have been collected alive
• 272 sea turtles have been collected dead

Oiled Birds Article

I read somewhere that there are 30 mammal fatalities they can link to the spill as well.

Of course any diver knows that this is a pitiful gauge of the true damage done. The low-oxygen areas developing from the critters eating the oil will kill everything that can't swim away from it. We'll be desert-diving until those guys re-establish themselves.

 

[Hetland]

Amen brotha

Ha! I made a bet with myself that I'd get an Alabama/Auburn strike on that first. Now you see why I never gamble

 

[YiNYaNg]

YouTube - AP Exclusive: Scuba Diving in the Gulf Oil Spill

AssociatedPress — June 09, 2010 — A rare and different perspective at the oil spill from beneath the surface. The AP's Rich Matthews got an exclusive look at the spill by joining a dive team who explored how the oil is impacting the Gulf of Mexico. (June 9)

 

[denisegg]

I sit here in tears as I see, hear and watch about the destruction this has caused. My heart breaks for everyone who is impacted by this horrible tragedy. I can't think right now of anyone who has not been touched. My son and I have spent many wonderful days with friends diving the beaches and the charter and private boats along our beautiful coastline. Then we would go to a local restaurant and eat fresh fish or shrimp caught in those same waters.
May God have mercy and bless the efforts of all those involved who are trying to combat this disaster.

 

[drbill]

I found the Rolling Stone article to be quite informative, assuming all the facts check out. One of the things that really disturbed me was that NOAA initially estimated a worst case scenario could indeed release over 100,000 barrels a day (the upper end of the estimates by some of the independent scientists). Now I understand why no one wanted to release that worst case scenario information, but the fact the government stuck with the original BP estimates (first 1,000 then 5,000 gallons) is disturbing.

I agree that Obama (who I supported) has done relatively little to clean up the mess at MMS. I agree that Obama did not initiate a complete response to this disaster early enough. There is complicity within our government, as well as BP and possibly Halliburton and TransOcean. With the latter two, my understanding is that BP did not follow Halliburton's recommendations regarding the well casing nor TransOcean's on-site recommendations to use heavier drilling mud instead of seawater to stem the flow. In that case both may have exonerated themselves (and I am NO fan of Halliburton).

Sorry for those of you along the Gulf shores who have to live with this in a very direct way. And of course, my heart is deeply sorrowed by the unnecessary loss of human life as well as the marine and terrestrial critters affected by this massive disaster.