I think we have the best president in office than we could have possibly hoped for in many ways. But I have to part ways with him when it comes to his approach to the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. We need singular leadership on this, and his Administration is simply dropping the ball, big time.
Look, folks; maybe I’m a dreamer, but it seems to me that when it became clear that BP and the Coast Guard are in over their heads, the government has no choice but to step into the void and work to fix the problem. I know that concept irks people like Rand Paul, but this is why you have government in the first place. I don’t know what the solution is, and neither do any of you. But I know what the solution is not, and that is to allow BP to run around like Moe, Larry and Curly trying to fix the plumbing. I might have been okay with two weeks of this, but for Chrissakes, folks, this hole has been gushing over a month now; it’s obvious that BP, Transocean and the Coast Guard don’t know how to fix this, which means Obama should have been on the phone with everyone he can think of with even the smallest bit of expertise, to put their heads together and come up with a way to stop the flow of oil.
If this was above ground, the answer is rather simple; you actually create a small explosion, and allow the hole to fall in on itself and plug the leak. That may or may not work here; I don’t know the physics in play a mile below the surface of the ocean. I don’t know whether that could make it worse. But that’s why you gather together everyone smarter than you, to come up with a solution. We need a solution.
And where the hell is the press on this? I’ll have more on this in another post, but is there anything as worthless as the press these days? We see 24-hour "coverage" that consists of the dramatic video of the hole, the same footage of dead dolphins and oil coating wetlands, and a shitload of discussion about who's to blame for this. Where does any of that fit into this as news? How about doing your jobs, journalists, and putting pressure on the President to actually stop worrying about financial and immigration reform for a few days, and summon everyone he can think of to come up with a way to bury this oil rig once and for all, and stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
This entire episode in the Gulf should be a wake up call for everyone in this country, if the press was doing its goddamn job. Yes, I blame BP for the direct cause of this gusher, but in the end, we have to blame ourselves. Bitch all you’d like about high gas prices, but the fact of the matter is, the cost you pay at the pump does not reflect the actual cost of that gasoline. We've known this for a long time, but as long as we could drive anywhere we wanted for a dollar a gallon, we didn't give a rat's ass who or what died getting it for us. The fact of the matter is, we don’t need the oil that’s below the ocean.
Yeah, let me repeat that, folks. WE DO NOT NEED the oil that's below the ocean. There is plenty of oil under land for our uses for at least the next 20 years. But you wanna know why oil companies LOVE digging under the ocean? It's really quite easy to figure out, really. No one owns the ocean. They get a lease at a cheap price, and they don't have to pay the owner of the land a percentage of what they take. And with thirty years or so of governments looking the other way while oil companies did whatever the hell they wanted, we didn't even require the owners of those leases to adhere to any serious restrictions of any kind. The fact that we can be so easily brainwashed into thinking we need the oil that's under the ocean is a testament to our oil addiction, and how badly we need to end it.
Let me explain something to you, folks. There is no "free market" for oil anywhere in the world. There is this meme going around that suggests that we can do something about reducing our reliance on :"foreign oil" and get a whole lot more "domestic oil," which would somehow reduce our prices and make us less entwined in the politics of oil producing countries.
It's all crap, folks. There is ONE market for oil, and it's not competitive. Those of you who were alive in 1973 should know that there is no competitive market for oil in this world. Remember those long lines? There were long lines everywhere, remember? It's not like there were long lines at Exxon and Texaco, but not at Chevron or BP. Why do you think that is? That was almost FORTY YEARS AGO! And yet, because our country has been run by neocons for most of those forty years, we are using more oil, and we have become more dependent on it.
The fault for this gusher lies with BP, but if we really want to know who's to blame for all of this, it's us, not BP. You wanna stick it to BP? Then join me in calling on the Obama Administration to take a leadership role in demanding an end to excessive fossil fuel use. And yes, I include coal in that; our short-term memories are faulty, but it wasn't that long ago that dozens of miners were killed because a BP-like company shortchanged them on safety. It's time to end this now.
We have the technology now – yes, I said NOW – to reduce our usage by a quarter or more within this decade. We need to invest in "we, the people," for a change, which means investing in plants that produce wind turbines and solar panels that can be used to replace oil- and coal-based power plants. We need to invest in systems that create better and more powerful battery technology that reduces our need for oil. We need to invest in finding ways to get more out of every kilowatt, and to lead ourselves into the post-fossil-fuel era. Other countries are doing it; the way we are going, within the next 25 years, we will be using half the world’s oil, and we’ll be playing catch-up at twice the price. While it may be trendy to worry about the national debt, these investments will pay for themselves many times over, and will end up reducing the debt in the long run. They will create jobs and new markets, and create wealth where there was none before.
And for those who think we can’t afford high gasoline
prices, stop deluding yourself. It’s only going to get higher, and the more we
use, the faster the price will rise. If you, your spouse are driving around in an SUV that gets 15 miles per gallon, trade it in for a sedan that gets 30, and your fuel costs will be cut in half immediately, without having to worry about the price of gas. If you're driving a pick-up that gets 18 miles per gallon, but you only haul stuff once every couple of months, trade that in for a hybrid that gets 36, and rent a truck on those occasions when you need one. And if you can't afford that, then walk more places, or take the bus or the train, if one is available.
We all need to pitch in and stop using so much.
But for right now, President Obama, it’s time for YOU to get out in front of this, and show the leadership skills we know you have. This is an epic environmental crisis, and we can’t afford to not have the government out front and center on this. The blame game isn’t helpful, but if you don't get going on this, a lot more of it will fall on you. We know this is BP’s fault; it was their oil. But we need for someone to get the hell out there and start skimming as much oil as is humanly possible from that water, and do whatever is humanly possible to stop the oil from leaking altogether. Then, you need to shut down offshore drilling for a while, at least until it’s possible to make sure that, should anything like this happen again, little or no oil will leak again.We do NOT need this oil. You and I both know that; stop allowing the oil companies to claim it's necessary to drill offshore.
And yes, I know, shutdowns will put rig workers out of work for a while. No problem. Part of the cleanup and the investigation should include the oil companies continuing to pay the rig workers while the rigs are shut down. Oil companies made well over $100 billion last year, and almost $1 trillion in profits in the last decade; they can afford to pay these guys for a few years while we get to the bottom of this.
Come on, Mr. President; step up and marshal your resources to stop this thing. We know you have the skill; use it.
