Two months after the BP Deep Horizon oil disaster, the Obama administration is no closer to solving the problem than it was the day after.
And yet, Obama says, "We're going to do everything in our power."
Really? Everything?
Well, I suppose he's done everything if talk is everything.
To be fair, here's what Obama has done:
Talk.
"We're going to do everything in our power".
Make speeches. "We're going to do everything in our power".
Visit the coast four times.
"We're going to do everything in our power".
Call up 17,500 National Guard troops (he says).
Only 1600 of them are actually on the job so far. And, as Mark Levin points out, those 1600 can't work 24/7. So, there may be as many as 5-600 working the gulf coastline at any given time.
Here's a pop quiz for you:
How many miles long is the Gulf of Mexico's coastline?
But, "We're going to do everything in our power".
Here. Read this article.
Don't have the time or inclination to read the article? Well, here's an excerpt or two:
"According to Foreign Policy, thirteen entities that had offered the U.S. oil spill assistance within about two weeks of the Horizon rig explosion. They were the governments of Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations.
The U.S. response - Thank you, but no thank you, we've got it."
What did Obama say? Oh, yes: "We're going to do everything in our power".
"Separately, a Dutch news site 'De Standaard' also reported Belgian and Dutch dredgers have technology in-house to fight the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but the Act Jones forbids them to work in the U.S."
What is the Jones Act? Simply put, the Jones act is a little piece of legislation enacted in 1920 which requires that "all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried in U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents." (source)
The Jones act can be waived in cases of national emergency. And, it has been in the past.
But, Obama hasn't waived the Jones Act.
But, Obama says, "We're going to do everything in our power".
This is more than Obama's Katrina.
This is Obama's Waterloo.
Cross posted at Casting Pearls Before Swine.
Big gov't not doing enough for you guys?
ReplyDeleteYou all demand "drill baby drill" and "keep gov't out of business" but when our leaders acquiesce to such stupid demands and things go predictably disastrous, you WANT Big Gov't action to clean up YOUR mess.
I guess he's Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
Have you sent in YOUR money to help pay for this mess yet, Mark? IF you have not yet stepped up to pay for YOUR demands, then I don't think you have ANY credibility to criticize and so, the adults will just ignore you until such time as you begin to actually act like an adult and act responsibly yourselves.
LOLOLOL!!!!!! Dan!!! Parroting the liberal talking heads on EVERY news show!!??? Do you have even one original rejoinder!?
ReplyDeleteCome on! All WE want is the united states government, WHOEVER is in charge, to it job!!!! 'Big government' has no part in it.
Furthermore, what a liar our president was last night, telling the nation that we have to drill so far out because there is no where else to drill. Hello!? We can drill in shallower water! He is a fool if he thinks there isn't oil in shallower water. Trust me, he knows there's oil in shallower water, which makes him a liar.
Have I or Mark sent in our help? You bet we have! EVERY CHECK WE RECEIVE FROM OUR EMPLOYERS CLEARLY DELINEATES BETWEEN THE DOLLARS WE GET TO KEEP AND THE DOLLARS GOVERNMENT SKIMS OFF THE TOP! We pay government to do its job! Not force us to find our energy in dangerous waters. Furthermore, this is not "OUR" fault! It's the fault of environmental wackjobs and earth worshippers who've successfully managed to restrict oil production from places safer and easier to get to! AND! If it were predictable that this kind of disaster was doomed to occur, why didn't your jackass politicians push to drill in shallower water? Why didn't your jackass politicians shut down oil production that far out into the Gulf? Why didn't your jackass politicians rush to allow drilling in far safer places... like on land!!??? ANWR!?
I worked offshore. And trust me, the Deep Horizon is not the furthest out there. I remember one rig that took a full twenty-four hours to get to by ship, in 15-20 ft seas-- which are normal in winter. How much more dangerous is it to drill there? If the Deep Horizon rig were just 10 miles out instead of 40 the well would likely be capped by now. How deep is the water at 10 miles out, in that location? No more than 1200 feet. We can dive to that depth.
I say it still, "Drill, Baby Drill!" Why? Because not one jackass [democrat] in congress is trying to drill anywhere other than the most dangerous places possible. These jackasses would rather buy oil from countries that don't like us, than exploit the reserves we have... left still untouched. WHAT HYPOCRISY! From democrats [jackasses] and YOU!
It's all the right's fault, ain't it Dan? No stain of fault ever touches the holy robes of liberalism, eh?
The president spent a third of his speech last night telling us how he intends to push more taxes and higher energy costs on Americans. But hey, as the saying goes, "never let a good crisis go to waste!" He's not out to save America, but rather, destroy it... so that he and his socialist asshole cronies can rebuild it into a kinder, gentler, patsy of the world, nation.
I agree with Mark. This is Obama's Waterloo.
Dan, the President's job, first and foremost, is to protect the United States.
ReplyDeleteHave you now changed your mind? Is protecting the environment no longer part of protecting the United States, according to your Liberal world view?
I suppose, for the sake of you Liberals, all of the sudden, Obama's job is no longer "to protect and serve". That's too much to ask of a Community organizer who doesn't know how to do anything but talk, isn't it.
Also, Dan...
ReplyDeleteAs long as your parroting Liberal talking points, have a gander at how the leftist of the left's favorite commentators, Keith Olberman, Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman thought the speech went.
Olbermann: "It was a great speech if you were on another planet for the last 57 days."
Olbermann: "Nothing specific at all was said."
Matthews: "No direction."
Fineman: "He wasn't specific enough."
Olbermann: "I don't think he aimed low, I don't think he aimed at all. It's startling."
Fineman: Obama should be acting like a "commander-in-chief."
Matthews: Ludicrous that he keeps saying [Secretary of Energy] Chu has a Nobel prize. "I'll barf if he does it one more time."
Matthews: "A lot of meritocracy, a lot of blue ribbon talk."
Matthews: "I don't sense executive command."
Matthews compared Obama to Carter.
Perhaps you might want to echo these guys instead of whatever leftist moron you are quoting.
So, NO, you have NOT stepped up to accept your part of the responsibility for this disaster? Then you have nothing worth listening to or responding to.
ReplyDeleteHey, Dan...
ReplyDeleteYou throw like a girl.
Dan, your last remark is both asinine and petty. Don't we pay the government enough to do its constitutionally mandated job? If they spent less on those things the constitution doesn't allow them to do in the first place... in short, if they ceased usurping authority from the states, perhaps they'd have the resources to do the job. But, apparently, you don't think Americans are bleeding enough; from their eyes, their asses and their wallets. You don't think government is the least bit culpable for their ridiculous drilling policy, or their lack of contingency for the kind of disaster with which we're now faced.
ReplyDeleteIt is a waste of my time arguing with you about this. What was it Jesus said to do?
"Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." --Matthew 15:4
I hope you like it down there in the ditch. Me? I'll go to the ballot box this November and vote to remove every democrat from office, whether they've been good for my district or not. But then, anyone who supports this fool in the Oval Office is NOT good for my district.
THIS president has insulted my intelligence for the very last time. He is an unmitigated disaster for this country. Jimmy Carter had a better term than this fool.
ReplyDeleteFor the last time? What's that mean?
ReplyDeleteYou're overreacting. Bush was a MUCH more disastrous president (this Gulf thing is a direct result of Bush-type deregulation, in fact) than Obama could possibly be. And neither of them will destroy the US. They will just be flawed leaders, like all the rest.
Take a vacation. Get some rest. Stop watching the news for a while. Get some perspective, Eric.
In the meantime, in fact, I do not have much respect for the "drillbabydrill" folk who do not preface any Obama commentary with words to the effect of, "I was wrong."
This disaster is a direct result of the DBD school of anti-gov't atrocities.
There's one major problem with your current rantings, Dan. (Well, not one, but I'm gonna focus on one.) That would be that the "Drill, Baby, Drill!" crowd, of which I'm proudly a part, are NOT in favor of drilling out in the middle of the ocean, necessarily, or ever were. We're in favor of drilling to obtain our own resources so as to reduce or eliminate our reliance on foreign oil. The fact that we are drilling out in the middle of the ocean is a RESULT of regulation, not a result of fewer regulations. It was not the goal of any oil company to drill in the most dangerous and unpredictable manner available. If there are any citizens who should be sending more money to help with the clean up efforts in the gulf of Mexico, it would be those chuckleheads who insisted that we not drill in ANWAR or in areas closer to the shore. As I recall, the Exxon-Valdez spill also could have been avoided had environmentalists been ignored. They would not have needed that ship in that area for transporting oil.
ReplyDeleteJust to prevent any misunderstanding, if BP is found to be criminally neglegent, ignoring safety measures known to have prevented this disaster, then they should be held responsible and corporate officials criminally charged. But I have still not heard any definitive explanations that would lead to criminal charges. I think the more important duties right now revolve around capping the leak and cleaning the gulf. If legitimate assholes escape prosectution, that would be terrible. But the current dilemna is far more important.