The Most Ridiculous and Delusional Statements About BP's Oil Spill Disaster
By Daniel Kurtzman, About.com Guide
1. "We're sorry for the massive disruption it's caused their lives. There's no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back." —BP chief executive Tony Hayward, on the oil spill disaster that claimed 11 lives and has spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, May 31, 2010
2. "I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to have been very, very modest." —Tony Hayward, interview with Sky News television, May 18, 2010
3. "What better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig? I'm just noting the timing, here." —Rush Limbaugh, suggesting that "environmentalist whackos" deliberately blew up the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in order to stop offshore drilling, April 29, 2010
4. "Extreme deep water drilling is not the preferred choice to meet our country's energy needs, but your protests and lawsuits and lies about onshore and shallow water drilling have locked up safer areas. It's catching up with you. The tragic, unprecedented deep water Gulf oil spill proves it." —Sarah Palin, blaming the Gulf oil spill disaster on "extreme environmentalists," Facebook message, June 2, 2010
5. "The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there. It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is." —Rush Limbaugh, May 3, 2010
6. "There's a good question today if you are standing on the Gulf, and that is: Where is the oil?" —FOX News anchor Brit Hume, scoffing at the BP oil spill disaster, May 16, 2010
7. "What I don't like from the president's administration is this sort of, 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP. I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business. I've heard nothing from BP about not paying for the spill. And I think it's part of this sort of blame-game society in the sense that it's always got to be someone's fault instead of the fact that sometimes accidents happen." —Rand Paul, the conservative Tea Party candidate who won the Republican Senate primary in Kentucky, May 21, 2010
8. "From time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented." —Texas Gov. Rick Perry, May 3, 2010
9. "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume." —Tony Hayward, May 14, 2010
10. Yeah, of course I am." —Tony Hayward, when asked if he sleeps at night, Forbes, May 18, 2010
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8 comments:
What is it that you disagree with in Palin's statement, other than it was said by Palin?
That's a separate issue from how much we should work on reducing consumption.
Okay, I'll bite.
What lies, exactly, is she saying someone else--presumably environmentalists--are putting out?
Second, what we should have been doing all these 30 years since Jimmy Carter was in office when he warned us about this was that we should be weaning ourselves off oil and off fossil fuels. Ronnie the Ray-gun, however, ripped the solar panels off the roof of the White House, literally, and said, in effect, to hell with all that, full speed ahead with the old ways of heavy gas and oil consumption, etc. Unfortunately, the Americans followed.
And here's the real stupidity of darling Sarah's remarks--the lawsuits the environmentalists put in place she's complaing of were so these kinds of devastations from oil spills wouldn't take place. It was so this kind of disaster wouldn't happen. It was so heavy oversight and excellent engineering would, in fact, take place so all precautions would be explored, to avoid this kind of horrific, really inexcusable damage of the Gulf and environment.
"Extreme deep water drilling is not the preferred choice to meet our country's energy needs"
What is wrong with that statement? I can't think of anyone who thinks that deepwater drilling is the best option.
But protests and lawsuits have put vast areas of less risky supplies off limits--Maybe for the best of intentions, but the result is the same.
Where we get our oil is a separate question from how much we use
What do you do about your own transportation?
I think you're nit-picking about one statement she made, which is fine, but the far bigger picture is that we have to a) protect our coasts from the kind of oil rig expolsions and--worse--oil spills we're now experiencing and b) WEAN OURSELVES OFF OIL AND FOSSIL FUELS, period.
Fine, "extreme deep water drilling is not the preferred choice to meet our country's energy needs" is true but it's a far smaller fact in a much bigger picture.
Another fact: Sarah Palin is a proven, uneducated, terribly unsophisticated mouthpiece for a great deal of far right, conservative nonsense.
If we don't agree on that, I'm extremely comfortable with that.
mr
What are you doing to wean yourself off fossil fuels? Do you have an environmentally responsible car? Or are you only going to do something when everyone else is forced?
Is there any reliable energy source that is acceptable to environmentalists? Wind power hurts the birdies and spoils the view so we sue. Nuclear is scary, so we sue. Solar electricity takes about as much power to build panels as they generate in a lifetime, so it is OK--but if it ever succeeds, I expect the environmentalists to find something wrong with it, likely closing down the mines where the raw materials are gathered.
It bothers the hell out of me that people like Palin or Obama are considered remotely qualified to be a presidential candidate.
I am
a) driving a 6-cylinder car
b) not replacing it regularly, within any short period of time so as to add more to the trash heap of our dumps
c) keeping it tuned regularly so it drives cleaner and more efficiently
d) recycling like a mad man
e) leaving off my air conditioner as much and as late into the season as I can so I use less energy
f) keeping the thermostat higher in the summer so I use less energy
g) keeping the thermostat higher in the winter, to use less energy
all at minimum.
And actually, I think you're vastly mistaken about solar energy, especially when and as it comes to photovoltaic cells producing it. I think it will, one day soon--and hopefully by the US and not the Chinese or some other country--be shown to be vastly superior to all other energy forms because it doesn't use any fossil fuel, doesn't cause black lung disease, doesn't end up killing miners in coal mines, doesn't leave behind radioactive waste that we have to contend with for centuries, etc.
Also, in this perfect photovoltaic world, the cells would be applied to our existing buildings--commercial and residential--so new power plants wouldn't have to be created and we wouldn't have to cover the West's deserts and plains with the things, in order to get the energy we need. Power plants would be far smaller and less in number and only needed for backup, when it got cloudier, etc.
Sure, it will be a big transformation but I see it coming far sooner, especially due to the recent, horrific mining accidents nations have experienced and the spoiling of our oceans, rivers, etc., due to oil spills.
"It bothers the hell out of..." you "...that people like Palin or Obama are considered remotely qualified to be a presidential candidate."
First, I can't believe you or anyone else would compare Palin to Obama. That's like comparing horse-drawn wagon to a rocket ship. Second, what's not qualified about Pres. Obama to hold that office? He's both educated formally and more informally, with street-wise cred or knowledge. What more can you ask of a human being? If this President isn't qualified, who, in your opinion, "deserved" to hold that office?
Or should I even ask?
mr
How can you justify a 6 cylinder car? Especially with modern engines, a 4 cylinder is more than enough for all normal needs, 6 is a wasteful luxury.
I'm being sarcastic--but who should make the decision on what kind of car meets your requirements?
Other than driving a smaller car than you :), and not bothering with recycling plastics until technology makes that more than political posturing, I'm doing most of the same things you are. Yesterday was the first day we used the AC in our house this year, and we keep it fairly warm. To make up for not recycling plastics, I repair things rather than throwing away and buying new.
I did a bit more Googling, and I may be wrong about solar--there is more energy available per square meter than I thought, and possibly enough that if the panels get good enough a roof could supply a significant portion of a home's energy needs.
Nobody deserves to be president, and "deserve" is one of the most overused words in America. What I want from a serious candidate is significant leadership responsibility, wherever it is from. If the experience is in government, I'd want it to be governor or (federal) Congressman, and for considerably longer than either of them served.
The experience requirement is separate from ideology, and I'll pick an inexperienced candidate over someone with a track record of doing things I disagree with.
I didn't challenge what you do or drive or anything like that so you certainly don't have to prove anything to me but thanks for the information (and I'm not being sarcastic.)
The fact is, we, as Americans, have issues--problems--that we need to address and we need to pull together, as those same Americans we are, and solve them. Not as Libertarians or Republicans or Democrats or Liberals or Conservatives or whatever. We need to stop delineating ourselves and eliminating others--and possible solutions--just because of some label we put on them or they put on themselves.
I think we're tearing ourselves apart ideologically, ever since Communism fell apart, and we fail to work together and see solutions and possible good outcomes. We've become our own worst enemies.
mr
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