God Bless BP

We Californians don’t have much to be thankful for these days – unless it’s the fact that we don’t live along the Gulf. We owe this minor blessing to our geography and to those of us who vociferously reacted to our state’s previous misadventure with oil company misfeasance in Santa Barbara.
Perhaps it shows we can learn from our mistakes – especially if they are really big ones . . . and reoccur before we've forgotten they actually happened, or before the powers that be convince us that now, these days, things have changed, and technology has improved. Too bad we didn't retain the lessons from Vietnam. But I digress . . .

Although the latest news – baring leakage from further down the well bore – seems to be good, fixing the leak now is still totally dependent on a relief well hitting the existing pipe sometime in August. Of course, in order for this solution to work, one of the two relief wells has to hit the present well – miles away and about 7 inches wide. A task that seems far from trivial although it's been tried before and worked. But usually not on the first go. It’s also been tried before and failed. And of course, hitting the leaking old pipe bang on doesn't mean the leak is stopped, other things have to also go well from that point forward.

I did hear an unusual expression describing how we conduct our national affairs these days: "Blah, blah, blah . . . Bang!"
Housing bubble -- blah, blah, blah, bang!
Financial meltdown -- blah, blah, blah, bang!
Drill, baby, drill -- blah, blah, blah, bang!
I could go on, but why bother?
We better hope, for the next generation's sake, it's not climate change -- blah, blah, blah . . . bang!

Returning to the energy crisis, and what George Bush aptly described as "our addiction to oil" (one of the few things he got right, not that he ever did, or wanted to do, anything about it), we are all at fault. Especially those of us who bitched at 4-5 dollar a gallon gas, drive a pickup or SUV instead of a Honda Civic, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah. And the saddest thing is that we are not going to change. Not until we are forced, kicking and screaming, to suffer the consequences of our past actions. That is where the bang will come in. Be assured we wouldn't go willingly.

Hell, with a little luck, those of us who are old enough will be able to say, along with Louie XV, “Après moi, le déluge.” Nice to know we'll be leaving our kids the Energy Crisis. Hell, we may even leave them this spill.

Many workmen
Built a huge ball of masonry
Upon a mountain-top.
Then they went to the valley below,
And turned to behold their work.
“It is grand,” they said;
They loved the thing.
Of a sudden, it moved:
It came upon them swiftly;
It crushed them all to blood.
But some had opportunity to squeal.

Al (My thanks to Stephen Crane)