Oil is not the only mess in the Gulf of Mexico

Opinion Forum ^ | June 28, 2010 | Dan Miller

[DanMiller]

Based on the various media accounts I've read it's a mess, reminiscent of Robert Heinlein's little ditty, When in danger and in doubt Run in circles, scream and shout! The danger and the doubt are certainly present -- probably as much of the latter as of the former, and the screaming and shouting are abundant. It seems as though an analogy to elephant matings is appropriate: lots of stomping of feet and roaring, everything done at a high level, with results, maybe, in eleven months.

While the stomping and shouting are going on at all levels, high and low, numerous foreign offers of assistance are being "considered" and multiple bureaucracies are having red tape parties. Meanwhile, tropical depression - tropical storm - tropical depression - tropical storm and maybe moderate hurricane Alex with maximum forecast winds of up to eighty-five knots may or may not be getting ready to do mischief with the oil recovery measures; unlike responses to the oil "spill," Alex is forecast to become better organized before June 30.

[DanMiller]

If President Obama is as intelligent as has been proclaimed he should bring his intellect into focus on the main problem and direct his minions to lead, follow or at least to get out of the way. There are big problems and small problems, and a competent CEO should be capable of figuring out which is which and providing useful guidance in dealing with the big ones. The three most important qualities are focus, focus and focus and President Obama has thus far demonstrated not even one of them.

[Fantasywriter]

He’s really not that smart. His coworkers at the U of Chicago called it: lazy, stupid and ignorant.

[Xenalyte]

All this has been said before. Why restate?

[capt. norm]

They (conveniently) never mention the "Dead Zone" in the Gulf just off the Louisiana coast that was caused by farm runoff from fertilizers used to grow corn for ethanol production.

Algae blooms have depleted the area of oxygen and this is for the sake of producing "green" biofuel.

[UCANSEE2]

And those algae blooms have been starving to death.

I wonder what will happen if we feed them some oil?