September 03, 2010

TIME BOMB

Another oil rig explodes in the Gulf. The headline on the cover includes "no major leaks reported by Coast Guard. But the owner of the rig claims that "a mile-long slick was visible on the water near the rig." But when "the Coast Guard reached the scene a short time later, there was no evidence of any leaks." Hmmm. Now I'm no expert, and sometimes I have trouble even keeping powder on the oil slick I use as foundation. But a mile-long slick is a spill. And the owner, who would be responsible reported the sheen but it vanished in a"short time later" when the Coast Guard showed up? Would this be the same Coast Guard that proved that the government is in BP and other oil companies' pocket by keeping reporters away from the BP spill?

USA is not exactly known for hard-hitting journalism and it seems like they tried to soft-pedal this. No matter how you slice it, IT WAS ANOTHER EXPLOSION ON AN OFF-SHORE OIL RIG. And douche bags like Obama and plenty of republicans and corrupt, senseless democrats like Mary Landrieu are desperate to end the moratorium on off-shore drilling in the Gulf. No risk is too great, even though we've just experienced the worst spill ever a few short months ago. And this rig wasn't even producing at the time.

I realize that the rigs provide much-needed employment for the devastated region. Hell, for the devastated country. But I also know that the total amount of oil in the US, offshore or on, yields 1% of what we use and is running out. Is it really worth risking the ecosystem for a few jobs and 1/100th of the oil we need? Shouldn't we be creating green energy jobs like India and China? The rest of the world is leaving us in the dust because our politicians are too hung up on contributions from oil companies and we're too dumb to care.

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