We’d only just got both US parties doing our bidding (suck it, voters with a different opinion), when this happens.
Not as bad as it looks, honestly!
See, just like with the Montara spill, and the slick following the Shen Neng grounding on the Great Barrier Reef, the real threat is the “great slick of hype” – as if it were an established fact that a toxic expanding mass of crude oil currently the size of Jamaica was some kind of serious danger to anyone. Do YOU know anyone ever killed by an oil slick? I bet you don’t. And look outside – plenty of birds and other natural things. They don’t seem bothered. Why must you be?
Oil = good. More oil, spread around beaches and wildlife = even better.
Consider the prices we’ve been able to get you to pay for petrol – and yet you whinge at a giveaway bonanza like this one.
Why is nobody thanking us for all this free oil we’ve generously released for them? Ingrates.
Moved On 
Who are you parodying here? All I’ve seen from the people in charge of it have been how to stop it and how dangerous this thing is to wildlife etc
However before this spill happened, BP believed it unlikely, nay, impossible for anything like this to happen to them.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g5gnWbqZ9SqBHvSYqJeE2AT5KebwD9FDNQR00
Is this for real?
Did another rig or oil carrier spill a few hours ago?
http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/breaking-second-oil-rig-overturns-in-lousiana-contaminating-inland-waters/
Here’s Huffington Post on the first spill.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/29/gulf-oil-spill-exceeds-bp_n_556798.html
BTW – Happy Mardi Grass.
…And of course the uber-deranged Rush Limbaugh reckons it might a black flag operation by the environmental arm of The Obama Regime.
Lunacy like this has no bounds… until we hear from Glenn Beck.
Cheers.
Have you heard the song from the Lamar McKay (BP America Chairman) saying that stopping the leak is like performing “open heart surgery at 5,000 feet in the dark with robot-controlled submarines”. Amazing how they have suddenly become saints as if by achieving this significant feat that they are absolved on the wrong in the first place.
Would have thought the Montara spill would have caused at least some change of practice, such that maybe … just maybe … they might have invested in more/better containment equipment closer to hand … instead of it all being weeks away. Nothing changes.
Not sure if anyone’s noticed but the Montara Commission of Inquiry is only looking into who is to blame … not the impact caused – is therefore a slightly pointless exercise really!
MAybe Obama should explain why they waited 5 days to try to burn the oil, by which time the winds had changed, and it was too late. This is his Katrina.
Maybe BP should explain why they just fucked the Gulf of Mexico with a jackhammer.
“This is his Katrina.
Riiiiiight (You sound just like a Boltard) – what was the death toll for Katrina? Has he said “Browny, you’re doin’ heck of a job” yet?
If it is his Katrina then he’s light years ahead of Bush.
Absolutely criticise the US Authorities for not acting fast enough but let’s be clear BP are ultimately responsible for this clusterfuck.
Fact of the matter was Katrina was predicted, BP’s oil platform exploding wasn’t.
I guess we will never know why the delay in burning the spilled oil. Most leftist governments promising transparency and a new way of doing things, end up being even more secretive. Like K.Dudd not releasing his correspondence with Celebrity Arsonist Peter Garrett. Fuck the grieving families, they’ve got no right to know. This is politics baby!
RobJ: I fully agree with you that it is BP’s responsibility.
But, although BP’s oil platform exploding wasn’t planned sure, it was a risk that they knew about. Fact is they made an economic decision about what risk contingencies they would have on site … as they all do.
And – few, if any, Governments require the oil and gas industry to take increased measures, despite decades of regular spills and decades of damage. Governments give the permits to operate, so they are negligent too.
Worth noting this is the 7th significant oil spill in the last 18 months (1x Ireland, 1x Norway, 2x USA, 3x Australia).
“Most leftist governments promising transparency and a new way of doing things, end up being even more secretive”
SB, are you suggesting that Obama’s govt is leftist? If not wtf are you talking about? If so you would contend John Howard’s Govt was a hotbed of communism, which any sane person knows is ridiculous. I know some call Obama a Marxist at Bolt’s but let’s face it they’re idiots, to me you are behaving like one of those idiots.
“Celebrity Arsonist Peter Garrett. “
?
Margi,
I wrote:
“Absolutely criticise the US Authorities for not acting fast enough”
I just think that SB’s slant is rather ridiculous. I think the US Govt has questions to answer with regard to their preparedness for such a disaster.
RobJ, if SB doesn’t like someone then they’re a leftist, simple as that.
Cynthia Nixon – Leftist. I’m still waiting for SB to detail how she is a leftist however.
And i’m pretty sure i’ve asked SB about what makes Obama or even Rudd a leftist but never get anything other than they’re “PC” or some other guff.
RobJ: full agreement
Rob J, I suppose you deny Joe Stalin was a leftist as well! Leftism as a direction or a tendency. It is a relative concept. “Left” has no meaning in isolation.
In American politics, the Democrats are the party of the left. Not surprisingly, they were the party of racism who fought a civil war in support of slavery. Obama is the most leftist president to date, probably the first anti-American president. He spends his days kowtowing to tyrants and sucking up to backwards ideologies like islam.
Because “left” is a relative concept, their is no one position that is a pure version of leftism. Leftism is a stinking cistern full putrid ideas, not all of which adhere to every leftist turd bobbing in the cistern of leftist sludge.
Ultimately all leftists are infected by the idea that, given enough power, they can make the world a fairer place. Unfortunately these fanatics are the most dangerous of all and it is no surprise that leftist regimes are responsible for the greatest killing spree in history when communist psychopaths ruled half the world in the 20th century. The difference between them is the lengths they are prepared to go to to inflict their sick idealism on the rest of us.
“Rob J, I suppose you deny Joe Stalin was a leftist as well! ”
No I don’t…. There goes another of your wingnut theories…
“Because “left” is a relative concept,”
Only because you like to think you’re a centrist when in reality you’d be a far right winger (After all you claim Obama is a leftist LOL)
“In American politics, the Democrats are the party of the left. ”
And remain firmly RIGHT of CENTRE. ie they aren’t leftist, in the US (and likely in your skewed mind) ‘socialism’ is seen by many as a dirty word, by the masses who use public schools and roads mind you.. As it happens we are in Australia and Obama isn’t a ‘leftist’
“Ultimately all leftists are infected by the idea ”
I can’t be bothered with your ridiculous generalisations…
Depends how you define “leftist”, SB. You are attempting to use the same word to describe those who advocate greater spending on public services and government subject to human rights, as for one who ran an authoritarian, brutal dictatorship – and for the obvious purpose of smearing the former with the actions of the latter.
If your definition of “leftist” includes Stalin, then no-one with whom you’re debating here is a “leftist”. If your definition of “leftist” includes those here, then it’s disingenuous to use it for Stalin.
This is the thing – modern lefties see government as servant: the provider of services, answerable to the public. Authoritarians like Stalin saw government as master: the military ruler of the public. The amount of “government” isn’t the critical issue in a meaningful political taxonomy – it’s the type.
In the American political context, Obama is a leftist. As was Stalin. To deny this is merely a species of the No True Scotsman fallacy.
I was trying to understand what leftism is, and what it is that leftists have in common. I think the turds in a cesspit analogy is apt. Not every turd in the cesspit is identical, but their is a common odour that permeates them.
This odour is a fragrant blend of ego and power. The ego makes them think their ideas are precious. The power is necessary to implement their precious ideas, because they inevitably power is needed to coerce people to bend to the will of leftist authority. If an ideology requires more state regulation it is to the left of an ideology that requires left. That is why Obama is on the left side of US politics. There may be some rank idiots to the left of Obama in US politics, but not may.
And BT, it is Christine. My view that she was of the left follows from her useless, but always politically correct role as police commissioner in NSW. It is unsurprising that she has been shown to be a modern day Nero.
So… according to SB, the Bush Administration and its Patriot Act were leftist.
Even though the supporters were those known as conservatives and right-wingers and the opponents were those known as liberals and left-wingers.
In terms of American politics where Government is on the left and Libertarian Anarchy is on the right, Bush was a lefty.
In terms of real world politics, that makes me giggle.
Turns out it was probably Haliburton’s fault anyway.
Like other bad thing thats ever happened I spose.
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/05/01/rig-worker-lawsuit-halliburton-cement-job-gulf-oil-spill/
like every other bad thing…
“And BT, it is Christine. My view that she was of the left follows from her useless, but always politically correct role as police commissioner in NSW. It is unsurprising that she has been shown to be a modern day Nero.”
Oh yeah, Cynthia is that actor woman.
Urm still – what specifically makes her left? What politically correct stuff did she do that makes her left?
The only common trend among Leftists in SB’s mind is that he doesn’t like them.
It makes it easier to write off somebodies ideas or policies – don’t think about them, just call it “leftism” and then talk about turds.
The redefinition by SB is true hilarity.
Certainly the Patriot Act was a harsh measure. Such measures are not uncommon in leftist countries like Cuba or Vietnam or North Korea or Venezuela.
I guess the problem with people here calling themselves ‘leftist’ is that the name was disfigured by other leftists long ago. the stench still lingers.
In appropriating for themselves the name for the old disease, albeit an allegedly democratic variant, modern leftists are somewhat blinded to the totalitarian abyss they stand above.
Hungry for ‘reform’ they urge the government to encroach further and further into the private wealth generating part of the economy. They have not a clue between them how to generate wealth, but a million covetous ideas about how to seize and spend it.
Sadly, it doesn’t end there. Even if they manage to pluck the golden goose, without actually killing it, the very way they dole out the wealth they expropriate undermines self-reliance in favour of chasing the gravy train of government largesse. When the proportion of the population dependent on the public purse reaches a tipping point you end up with problems like Greece currently has.
I am a moderate in these matters. I do want sound regulation and essential public services. I don’t want a basket case economy that will follow from excessive leftism, and I don’t wan’t people deprived of their self-reliance by the unctuous bleeding heart brigade. Their basic problem is that they do not understand human nature, least of all their own egotistical motivations.
Ignoring your continued fatuous attempt to link “democratic leftists” with totalitarians, I’d just like to ask you SB – where do you think we are now in terms of the status quo vs what public services should be?
Do you think the government should be providing more public services than it does now, or fewer? Which ones?
Turns out it was probably Haliburton’s fault anyway.
Like other bad thing thats ever happened I spose.
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/05/01/rig-worker-lawsuit-halliburton-cement-job-gulf-oil-spill/
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Argggh
I have 2 comments stuck in moderation, or the same one twice… depending. The second comment was actually sposed to be more follow ups on the oil rig and the legal action here:
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202457449850&pos=ataglance
And the most paranoid rant about the spill I have yet read.
http://pesn.com/2010/05/02/9501643_Mother_of_all_gushers_could_kill_Earths_oceans/#Paul%20Noel
I dunno about that one, but deep water oil is under huge amounts of pressure. Much of it is beyond our ability to access safely.
I’d like to see free basic dental work, and better public hospitals.
Some things I would approach differently. My view is that people are responsible for their own actions, whereas you, I suspect, are more inclined to make allowances for social circumstances. Thus I think that in schools, much more has to be done at a young age. I think that kids with bad home lives should be able to stay at school after normal hours, given a meal, and help with their homework.
Also, I reckon the only reason I have spent so much over the years on school fees is to enable my kids to learn in a relatively peaceful environment, where the sociopaths are weeded out. Public schools need the luxury to quarantine the hard cases, but should have the responsibility of providing extra resources to work with them.
I think Abbott’s ideas on parental leave are a step in the right direction.
We also need to spend a lot more on integrating new migrants. The fact is that we are a wealthy country, and I am hopeful that if we manage the inevitable increase in population well, we will be better off economically.
In the end, if we spend too much, relative to our ability to produce wealth, we will all be worse off. So I would prioritise benefits to the most needy, at the expense of middle class welfare.
I would also attack monopolies, and make anti-competitive behaviour a crime. That would mean that groceries, fuel and banking get a whole lot cheaper, probably after a few company directors are jailed. I would certainly consider a super-profits tax on monopoly generated income.
My basic rules are to avoid welfare that disincentivises, to avoid things which curb our ability to generate wealth, to hammer monopolies and to require people to be responsible for their own well-being as much as is possible. And I’m always open to persuasion. Even leftists have good ideas sometimes.