Random Thoughts

Two more oil leaks in the Gulf of Mexico. BP says they aren't as bad as the other one, but that's like saying that getting stabbed a couple more times when you're already dying from a gut shot makes no difference. They've still destroyed the Gulf, and this problem will be with us for a long, long time. And the ecological and economic destruction it's causing will be with us for even longer.

Maybe it's long past time to get off the damn oil and find alternative fuels in this country, eh? Where's that initiative? Do you think that ever seriously crosses Obama's mind when he's standing on the beach and staring at one of the worst disasters in recorded history?

Besides, you want to create jobs? How about a jobs initiative to try and clean up some of the poison our ecosystem has just been infected with? Seriously, there are a lot of people out of work. Is it so hard to get a frigging works program together? Bad enough our endless oil wars have completely ravaged the economy and all of the money we have left is going to bail out rich people.

:: Also: OSHA says that cleanup workers at the oil disaster don't need breathing protection. OSHA is proving over and over again that they're another organization that's lazy about doing its job. Remember when they said that the workers at Ground Zero didn't need breathing protection? They've turned out to be disastrously wrong on that score, so there's really no need to listen to them on this one. Please, if you know anyone working on the cleanup, tell them to take precautions.

:: Helen Thomas is harried into retirement because she said something critical of Israel? Wow, I didn't know we had a responsibility to do that as a society. You know who else says things I don't like in public? Um, everyone, especially journalists and pundits. Can we get them all to retire? Oh, wait, we have free speech in this country. Except when it comes to Israel, the only nation that can raid a humanitarian ship and murder people on board and not be reprimanded by the US government for it.

:: Elton John played at anti-gay marriage Rush Limbaugh's fourth wedding? So, there goes my last lingering bit of respect for Elton John. I mean, I knew he was a whore, but holy shit, that's just selling himself out on a scale that's insulting.

:: One more thing on the oil disaster.

I just read a screed by someone else that we shouldn't be donating to Save Our Gulf or anyone else to help with the cleanup effort, because this whole mess is BP's fault and BP should be the ones to pay for it.

And you know what? I agree. Partially. This mess is BP's fault. And they should be paying for it. They should be driven into total bankruptcy paying for it.

But this is no longer just BP's mess to clean up. It's bigger than that. This is something that's going to take the concerted effort of many organizations and many people to make better. We don't have to argue about whose fault this is--we know whose fault this is--but to say that no one should be donating and no one should be helping is just the most selfish stupidity. It's a petty thing to say about a situation that calls for resolve. If anything, BP has proven that they can't clean it all up by themselves, and I feel like most of what they're doing is just superficial shadow puppetry to buy their stock prices more time.

This is not the time to be spiteful. This is our ocean. This is about people who have already died because of this and economies that will be ruined. This is about the ecosystem. This is a disaster. And time is of the essence here. Blaming BP for everything does nothing to mitigate the peril, so why be petty about it now. Donating five dollars to help save some animals--some species of which may face actual, irrevocable extinction from this disaster--is LITERALLY THE LEAST YOU CAN DO. It's idiotically small-minded to begrudge those animals and the people whose livelihoods have been ruined just because you're mad at corporations. It's too late for that.

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