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Read the whole thing. It's a well-written attack piece, paid for by somebody. I really love 2 things about it, that are glaringly overlooked. In discussing the

Read the whole thing. It's a well-written attack piece, paid for by somebody. I really love 2 things about it, that are glaringly overlooked. In discussing the oil disaster and the cleanup efforts so far, and why the latter hasn't been as effective as one might have liked, he cites just about everything except these 2 points, rather suspiciously: 1. new oil is STILL leaking into the Gulf -- cleaning now is a bit like running just to stand still, there will be more flowing out and hitting the beaches tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, etc. 2. BP/Transocean/Halliburton are primarily at fault, both for the original accident/leak, and for not stopping it quicker. I don't buy the argument that somehow because a government oversight agency was not as aggressive as it could have been, and/or was bribed BY these oil companies to back off and let them ignore rules that THEREFORE the government is anywhere near as at fault as the oil companies in question. It's a bit like blaming the police for not stopping a murderer -- rather than blaming the murderer. Hello?!

anon-e-moose 16y ago
You're right, we shouldn't clean it up quickly and effectively because its getting worse. We should wait until all of the oil is in the ocean and then clean it up all at once! That's much more effective! No, seriously, what is your point here. Also the oil companies can't tell the more effective oil clean up ships to come operate because of the mentioned government regulations and directions. Oops.
- mkramlich 16y ago
  Of course there should be a cleanup effort ongoing. But if new stuff continues to spill out every day afterward, there will be more to cleanup the next day, and the next, and the next, forever, until we reach the point where the leak is totally stopped and/or contained the source. It's weird/naive to criticize a cleanup effort that's been going on for months if the leak has also been leaking unstopped for those same number of months as well. It can never be totally cleaned up or restored until, at a bare minimum, the leak is stopped.
  - anon-e-moose 16y ago
    As much as possible should be done about both problems. This article puts forth the idea that we can and should be doing more to clean up what is already there. If the leak stopped tomorrow, should we deploy the largest possible oil cleaning ship? If the leak cannot be fixed for 3 months should we do the same thing?
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
hugh3 16y ago
I'm really not sure how the fact that BP and Transocean are to blame for the disaster (a fact nobody, including BP, would dispute) means we can't criticise the screw-ups in the US government's response. In your police/murderer analogy, of course the murderer bears the sole responsibility for the actual murder, but if there's a serial killer on the loose and you find that the entire homicide squad is focused on a four-week intradepartmental tiddlywinks tournament then you're allowed to be pissed off at the police too.

anon-e-moose 16y ago

You're right, we shouldn't clean it up quickly and effectively because its getting worse. We should wait until all of the oil is in the ocean and then clean it up all at once! That's much more effective! No, seriously, what is your point here. Also the oil companies can't tell the more effective oil clean up ships to come operate because of the mentioned government regulations and directions. Oops.

mkramlich 16y ago
Of course there should be a cleanup effort ongoing. But if new stuff continues to spill out every day afterward, there will be more to cleanup the next day, and the next, and the next, forever, until we reach the point where the leak is totally stopped and/or contained the source. It's weird/naive to criticize a cleanup effort that's been going on for months if the leak has also been leaking unstopped for those same number of months as well. It can never be totally cleaned up or restored until, at a bare minimum, the leak is stopped.
- anon-e-moose 16y ago
  As much as possible should be done about both problems. This article puts forth the idea that we can and should be doing more to clean up what is already there. If the leak stopped tomorrow, should we deploy the largest possible oil cleaning ship? If the leak cannot be fixed for 3 months should we do the same thing?
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]

hugh3 16y ago

I'm really not sure how the fact that BP and Transocean are to blame for the disaster (a fact nobody, including BP, would dispute) means we can't criticise the screw-ups in the US government's response. In your police/murderer analogy, of course the murderer bears the sole responsibility for the actual murder, but if there's a serial killer on the loose and you find that the entire homicide squad is focused on a four-week intradepartmental tiddlywinks tournament then you're allowed to be pissed off at the police too.