Disaster-clean ups are always a lose-lose proposition

[SoCalDem]

Ann Thompson just reported on MSNBC that "people are upset about the fact that the government did not take responsibility for the clean up"

BUT, consider the implications if Obama HAD kicked BP out immediately, and had committed the US government to the task of clean up.


The republicans would have been howling like a scalded dog about how we "can't afford it", and how it's NOT the government's job to clean up after private industry's mess", and how he would have to "raise taxes" to pay for the clean up, and how he was usurping private corporation's right to do business.


The only way to tackle this mess is to accept the fact that a private company may have just "killed" the Gulf of Mexico, do as much as humanly possible to ameliorate the damage, fine BP into oblivion and put that money aside for reparations to the people injured & for clean up, and then set harsh standards for the rest of the drillers..and if they refuse to comply, put them out of business & find someone who will abide by the new rules.


We would never allow GM to make cars that go 120 MPH, and have no brakes.. This is what we have allowed the drillers to do.. drill baby drill and never mind that you have no way to avoid creating a catastrophic oil volcano... a mile deep & out of reach..

[Toots]

1. It is government's job to protect it's citizens, and that means insuring hazardous materials are rem

It is government's job to clean up after an auto accident on public highways. Usually what happens is persons responsible get billed by the government for the clean up. If a boat sinks in a harbor, the government cleans up the mess and bills the boat owner..That is what government does..It protects it's citizens, and not just from some goat herders in Afghanistan.

[LeftyFingerPop]

2. Who cares about what the Republicans would have been howling about?

It is not about politics.

[SoCalDem]

3. WE know that, but the media does not, and they are the ones

pushing the propaganda.

Think about this one:

Obama's people have taken EVERY opportunity to tell us that they were there on day-one, and they probably were...but where was the media?

Were they also there, monitoring and reporting on the fact the the government had people on the ground right away?

Did they make it their business to remind people of WHY things like this happen? That de-regulation and lax oversight for decades led us here?

Nope.. all we hear is about how "nothing is being done".

Actually, if nothing is being done, it's probably because sometimes the disaster is just too big to BE "fixed". Sometimes when something "breaks", it cannot be fixed, no matter how much you wish it could be.

Everyone who has ever lost someone in an accident knows how wishing things were different, just cannot make them so:cry:

[KharmaTrain]

4. GOOP Hypocrisy In Overdrive...

There's too much here to bite at...but let's just go after the long running mantra of how the GOOP hates the Federal Government. That is until they control it or need it in an emergency. We have Piyush Jindal screaming about not taking Federal stimulus money (which he ended up taking and claiming credit for) and how the government needs to stay out of the way when it comes to "drill baby drill"...until that oil started to not only lap up on his state's shores but on his political future. All of a sudden he's screaming "where's the federal government"?

Be assured when this goes into full clean-up stage, Piyush will run in front of the cameras as some "savior" of the bayous and probably get in the way more than be of any value.

You are spot on about how the GOOP has and will continue to play political football with this catastrophe and how their talking points will continue to dominate the corporate media as well as those who are looking for the opportunity to bash this administration. If President Obama declares an emergency, then either he's done it too late or it's more "socialism". If he does nothing, then he's inept despite all the enabling the GOOP has given big oil and how most of the corruption that led to this disaster happened on their watch.

Looks like some are starting to wake up that our government did give up its responsibility to protect the people and has been nothing but a subsidiary for corporate America since 1980. The reason President Obama has been limited in what he can do is thanks to "Raygunomics" and letting the corporates run amok. Ya think the response would have been any "faster" or effective had McCain been in charge? :scared: