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| Home Front: Politix |
| Mark Tapscott: Big Government is dying in the Gulf oil spill |
| 2010-06-24 |
| It's not just millions of gallons of black gold spilling into the Gulf of Mexico that are being lost. Also disappearing into watery despair are the last shreds of credibility for progressive Big Government. Never underestimate the tenacity of big government. People will always say "the government should do something." The government always will. The government will 95 percent of the time screw it up. But people will keep saying it, and politicians will keep reaching for more power. It is their nature. It's Day 65 of the Deepwater Horizon spill and the only hope of stopping the flow of thick, gooey crude remains the relief well being drilled by the private sector. None of the ass-kicking political speeches by President Obama, bureaucratic edicts by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar or EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, or hypocritical posturing for the cameras in Congress has plugged the hole to stop the flow of suffocating oil headed to the beaches. Nobody's been fired, nobody's resigned, nobody's even said "I screwed up." The business of government remains collecting a paycheck. We see this week a remarkable confluence of events signaling the eventual end of Big Government: The bureaucrats and politicians can spend trillions but they can't plug the Gulf oil spill, agree on a budget in Congress or end the Great Recession's foreclosures and unemployment... Now it's Big Government that needs a bailout because its progressive politicians and bureaucrats can't stop doing what they've always done -- spending more, taxing more, regulating more, grabbing more power for themselves and their special interest buddies. Just as most Americans stopped trusting Detroit to build the world's best cars, we no longer believe the grand promises that more massive, wasteful government will bring prosperity and good health for our families, security in our old age and a better life for our kids. We see the Gulf. Worrisome hints abound of the progressives' response to their crisis: They wrote Obamacare behind closed doors in Congress, then rode roughshod over public opposition to make it the law of the land. At the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Election Commission, they're reaching for tools to silence their critics in the media and on the campaign trail. And when a judge rules their Gulf drilling ban is unconstitutional, they give him the middle finger, too, with a vow to impose a new ban. In short, they're doing what they always do -- grabbing more power over the rest of us. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 It is the MMS responsibility to approve all of the engineering which led to the blowout in the Gulf. Once that approval was given BP was legally bound to adhere not only to the casing and cementing design, but also the installing and testing processes required by the permit. A drilling company can legally do no more or no less than is stipulated in the permits issued by the MMS. |
| Posted by: junkiron 2010-06-24 21:44 |
| #7 It's not correct to say no one has resigned. The head of the Minerals Management Service resigned 27 May, (per WSJ:) as the agency is under intense scrutiny from lawmakers, some of whom have complained that her agency was too lax in setting and enforcing safety regulations on offshore oil and gas companies. A Wall Street Journal article earlier this month detailed how the agency had often deferred to the industry on decisions about what sorts of technologies or practices should be implemented to improve safety. MMS played a key role in approving some of the engineering which led to the blowout in the Gulf. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-06-24 13:08 |
| #6 RJ, the Texas is prime backup. Old but steel is steel, pipes are pipes. Worser comes to worser (which it will, it always does) the North Carolina may have to be overhauled. Seriously tho... 9 Presidential Unit Citations! Don't believe the conventional wisdom of Parches demise... she got chillrun hanging out at the wellhead all the time. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2010-06-24 12:46 |
| #5 Obama still hasn't asked the Navy for help... Don't need 'em. The 2nd Heavy/Light Air/Land/Lunar Transformation Company is on the move. A mobius move is rourmored. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2010-06-24 12:40 |
| #4 Obama still hasn't asked the Navy for help... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2010-06-24 12:33 |
| #3 Do you think that anyone in D.C. has figured out that all the pontificating in the world wont stop oil from coming out of that pipe? Also notice that the activity level has dropped off markedly in the last few days despite the sub incident and the flow actually increasing? Think the W.H. told the national media to put a lid on it? |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2010-06-24 12:20 |
| #2 I hate to tell you, but the Alabama no longer is floating, she rests on the bottom of Mobile Bay, to make her float again would cost millions in dredging. The Bay's too shallow. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-06-24 11:56 |
| #1 Desperate times call for desperate measures. Saving Florida thousands and thousands and jillions of hotel and resturant jobs require this threat be dealt with in the most obvious fashion possible. First, fetch the nearest battleship, that would be the Alabama, remove all obvious armaments and add deck cranes to change the siloette, that it might be able to sneak up on the well. Cleverly insert a surplus B53 inside the newly added cargo hold. Sneak up on the well, have the Parche blast open a hole in the torpedo bulge, use miles and miles of wire to guide the Alabama Cargo Ship to the target. BOOM! tl;dr nuke the well with a Qship. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2010-06-24 11:35 |