Who Pays for Fouling the Planet?

The sad part is that dumbasses like this guy are still chanting "Drill Baby Drill!"

"Drill Baby Drill!"

Bill Epton (you can look him up) must have been turning in his grave when the Conservative Movement co-opted his slogan to advocate the corporate despoiling of the Earth at the 2008 Republican National Convention. ...And just to underscore the tone-deafness of the party as a whole, that chant was led by a Black man - RNC Chair Michael Steele. (When is this guy going to realize that he's just their houseboy and why would ANY Black person EVER be a Republican? But that's a discussion for another day.)

So... the day has finally arrived that all the "naysayers" and "tree huggers" warned would come. The Republican dogmas of "Free Enterprise" (give Big Business everything it wants) and "Smaller Government" (zero regulation) have at long last been brought to their logical conclustion. Mission accomplished!

The Gulf of Mexico is being fouled by worst oil spill in history. By some estimates every five days as much oil is being jetted into the Gulf as the previous worst disaster, the Exxon Valdez. That is, 11 million gallons of crude every five days, and it's been a month now. Do the math - it's already a half-dozen times worse than the 1989 spill with no end in sight. Even now, it is the worst ecological disaster in history.

It will take decades for the Gulf area to recover, if ever.

As bad as the environmental impact of the spill is, I fear the human toll will be much worse. Fishermen and anyone else who made their living on the Gulf might as well go find a new line of work right now. All the seafood will be poisoned for years to come. The toxic spill is already reaching the coral reefs so you can kiss them goodbye, and get ready for all the downstream consequences to the ecosystem that portends. The Mississippi river delta, one of the most firtle areas on Earth, will be fouled. The repercussions go on and on and on!

And WHY? Because BP and its subcontractor Global failed to take the proper safety precautions on the offshore rig, drilling the deepest offshore well ever attempted. The Global engineer told "60 Minutes" that some dumbass put a drill bit through a plug meant to cap the well in case of a blowout. He also reported that the crew was pressured to cut corners in estabilished safety procedures to make the rig more profitable. Now we have an underwater "gusher" that nobody seems to know how to cap.

And what is anybody doing about it? I don't understand why the President can't order the Navy to the scene and blow the well up. Isn't what they used to do in the old "wildcatter" days?" But no, I think the reason is that they want to save the well so BP doesn't have to drill it again. They can foul the whole Gulf of Mexico but God forbid the big oil company be denied its profits! Hey, wake up Mr. President and get the Seabees over there! If they're not all deployed halfway around the world, that is. The saddest part is that President Obama greenlighted additional offshore drilling just weeks before the rig exploded!

They can foul the whole Gulf of Mexico but God forbid the big oil company be denied its profits!

It has been disgusting to watch the oil executives point fingers at each other at the Congressional hearings. When I heard the BP executive (I forget which one) say that the spills damage to the Gulf has been "minimal," I was screaming at my TV! Put every single one of these motherfuckers in jail for Criminal Negligence and make BP pay every last penny of the damages.

Put every one of these liars in jail for Criminal Negligence!

Alas, that's not going to happen. If anybody had any doubt that the GOP is only here to represent Big Business, their behavior in response to this crisis has eliminated it. Their naked advocacy for Big Oil in the past few weeks has been shameless. Incredibly, they blocked the removal of liability limits for this massive disaster. And even if they are eventually removed we will pay the cost in the end because gas will go up to $7.00 a gallon. The nexus of Big Oil and Intelligence and Military power in this country will protect their own. Think this will slow down any new offshore drilling? Think again. What we have right now is Government of the Plutocrats, By the Plutocrats and For the Plutocrats.

Sorry, folks in Southern Louisina, Mississippi, Alabama and Gulf Coast Florida, you are basically fucked. And that's before the spill even gets into the Gulfstream and heads up the East Coast!