By Robert Herriman
The finger pointing has been intense since the oil started spewing out of the floor of the Gulf these past several weeks. The Republicans are blaming Obama, Obama is blaming BP, and it goes on and on (for purely political motivations of course).
First I'd like to say the blame is squarely on the oil company. It was and is their responsibility, period. How is Obama to blame, really? Why do people think the President of the United States is all powerful, like he can go into a phone booth and come out with a cape and superpowers? He has no answer, he is only the president.
What about other parts of the government? Who has the expertise, the Army Corp of Engineers? I laugh. They have proven their failure in the past. What about the EPA? Again I laugh.
It is also interesting how this is being compared to the failures of the federal government with Katrina. Apples and oranges. In this case there is nothing the federal government can do, except of course judicating this situation in the courts, where it belongs. With Katrina there were obvious failures with all levels of government- local, state and federal.
So stop thinking the President can fix anything, not just this mess but health care, the economy or any other pressing domestic issue. He could however put an end to all our overseas intervention and occupation in a second. Hope you are reading Mr. Obama.
MSNBC talk show host, Rachel Maddow did an interesting piece demonstrating that in 1979, almost in the exact same spot, we had an oil leak that went on for 9 months! The same methodologies to stop the leak then are the same methods used today, with negligible success. As Ms. Maddow points out, the oil companies became more technologically advanced in being able to drill at deeper parts of the sea, but made no advances in safety and troubleshooting in cases like what is happening now.
Essentially a fair point by Ms. Maddow, however, she purposefully or inadvertently omits the fact that it was pressure from environmental groups and the power of the federal government that has forced BP to drill much farther from the shores. So the oil company engineers, who are really the experts here, can't seem to get a grasp on the situation. I have a suggestion.
I suggest BP put out a substantial financial incentive to any individual or company who can produce a working solution. The world is loaded with brilliant scientists and engineers who with the appropriate incentive, may drop whatever important work they are doing to focus their genius on this issue. I cannot guarantee that a solution would be reached but what is the alternative? Besides BP could possibly save a fortune in legal fees the quicker its resolved.
In the 1980s, I always believed this would have been the appropriate course of action that President Reagan should have taken for producing his "star wars" missile defense system. Instead of wasting umpteen billions on contracts with companies that accomplished nothing, he should have put up a fixed dollar amount and award it to the company that could come up with a proven "working" system. We just wasted so much money doing it the "government way".
Well it's just my suggestion for BP. It would likely stir up the creative juices of those with the know-how. What we have right now is just a lot of finger pointing that's not helping one fisherman or pelican.
I have over 20 years experience in clinical and public health microbiology and infectious diseases. I want to enlighten and inform about infectious diseases that could affect you, rare and common, and what you can do to protect you and your family from these dreaded afflictions. See more of my work at http://www.examiner.com/x-7707-Infectious-Disease-Examiner
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