Have People Lost Their Minds?

Not the one that exploded.

In a subject that is most likely near and dear to Andy's heart, WTF is going on in the Gulf Coast?! Yeah, yeah, I read about the BP oil rig that blew up. Can we stop attributing that to al-f*#@king-Queda now, please?! Thank you. I just read that Shrimpers in the Gulf Coast have filed a class action suit against BP. REALLY?!? Are you serious?! A little background, it's estimated that TWICE the amount of oil that was leaked during the Exxon Valdez disaster is leaked, via natural phenomenon, into the Gulf annually. And EIGHTY TIMES that amount seeps into the ocean naturally off the California coast, annually. That's more than 20.5 million barrels or 864 million gallons, people. But we're going to sue BP over an explosion that according to personnel on board was impossible to anticipate? Hey shrimpers, get a f*#@ing life! Alan K. Henderson had some interesting analysis regarding platform oil spills in the last 30 years (emphasis mine):

...all blowouts that occurred during drilling operations: Santa Barbara spill (Santa Barbara Channel, California, 1969), Ekofisk B (North Sea, 1977), Ixtoc I (Gulf of Mexico, 1980), and the Deepwater Horizon last month.

There hasn't been an accident like this in 30 years.

That tells me that the the industry in general had figured out a long time ago how to do this kind of drilling safely, and that this disaster owes itself to a unique set of circumstances - human error, human sabotage, or something else.

Alan, apparently hasn't listened to the Mark Levin audio, but his analysis is otherwise dead on. The SB spill was equivalent to 10-14,000 tonnes or between 3,080 and 4,312 gallons. The Ekofisk B spill was equivalent to just under 25 million gallons. The Ixtoc I spill was equivalent to between 172.5 and 182.4 million gallons. These three spills together do not equal the volume of oil leaked into the ocean naturally each year.

When your industry relies upon natural resources, you plan for disasters beyond anyone's control. If a hurricane, or global warming were to cause the death of most of a certain type of fish or crustacean, who would the fishers sue then? If a fire were to ravage the Oregon logging areas, who would the loggers sue? That's right, nobody, so f*#@ing deal with it. Instead we live in a lawsuit happy culture that will sue anybody or entity faster than they can give their grandparents name and country of origin for any perceived wrong, real or imagined.

Next they're saying that this is going to impact future offshore drilling ventures for years. WHY?!? Are the idiots in control? Wait... Nevermind, I forgot who was running the big show.

As a result of this offshore explosion, which by the way killed 11 men (which no one seems to really care about, only the poor innocent wildlife), gas prices in the continental US are expected to shoot above $3.00/gallon. So in an environment where there is a crude oil shortage and gas prices are going to skyrocket, we're going to preclude ourselves from drilling for more oil, for what reason exactly? Oh, that's right, because all oil leaks into the ocean are major ecological disasters... Or not.

Don't buy the typical leftist BS about this being some sort of major ecological disaster the likes of which this country has never seen. More oil is leaked into the ocean naturally during the course of the year than any of the major 'man made' oil disasters in this country. As it stands now, the Gulf Coast disaster has leaked 12 million gallons or a little more than 285,000 barrels of oil. Again, perspective; 21.6 million gallons in the Gulf Coast and 864 million gallons off the coast of California annually via natural phenomenon, 12 million in the Gulf from this 'man made' disaster. At the highest estimate, the Deepwater Horizon rig would have to bleed oil unimpeded for 127 days to equal what is leaked naturally just off the California an Gulf Coasts annually. That's not taking into account what oil leaks naturally off the Atlantic or Alaskan Coasts...

P.S. One of the other side effects mentioned is a stench?

Nearly five years after Katrina, New Orleans finally seemed to be recovering. Now, local news outlets are reporting that a "strong odor blanketing much of coastal Louisiana and the metro New Orleans" may cause "nausea, vomiting or headaches."

Granted, I've never been but it was my understanding that Nawlins always smelled like ass, no?

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