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All politics aside... good luck down there.

The oil slick is due here today. I took a ride yesterday for my last look at sugar white sand beaches.
Tourist traffic is already down by half. The floating booms they placed as barriers only stand proud a few inches above the surface of the water. A one foot wave will break over them. Six foot waves are expected today.
No one knows how or why the oil rig exploded. There are hundreds more oil rigs out here. It could have been deliberate or some fool puffing on a cigarette. No way to staunch the huge flow of oil coming out of the well. No point in cleaning up until the leak is plugged and no one knows how to do that but there are meetings going on everywhere. Politicians are flying down here for a looksee.
People are volunteering to clean oily birds but how many times can one clean a bird that returns to the beach or swamp for food. Obama say's "B.P. is gonna pay." I wonder if they print enough money to repair the horror that is coming.

tubatooter1940 wrote:......Obama say's "B.P. is gonna pay.".....

Sure.... and then just pass the bill on to consumers.

Luke 18:8
I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Isaiah 50:2
Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink because there is no water, And die of thirst.

bort wrote:All politics aside... good luck down there.

I guess my chance to flycast for tailing redfish down there is just about gone.

I assume the point Dylan is trying to make is that when we turn our backs on God, he turns his back on us. Can't argue with that.
SRanney, I agree this is not the best time for you to come down here and hurt some fish.
A wooden shrimp boat burned up in the river today. The coast guard let it burn to consume the fuel in it's tanks. It worked. Normally they would surround the boat with a floating boom to contain fuel leakage but all available booms are deployed in the open seaway off our beaches.
Our Alabama governor reported last night that 80% of the floating booms deployed to block the oil have been torn to pieces by wave action.
We are the helpless led by the clueless.
Is the Lord or any other entity going to save us this time?
Apparently not!

bloke wrote:' not making this up...

...I'm certain that I heard the President state that one of the things he would be sending down to the Gulf to these oil rigs is SWAT teams. How many of these rigs have blown up since their existence...one...?? two...??

Call ME a kook of you like, but WHY is the President sending SWAT teams down to oil rigs unless some sort of sabotage (regardless of who the saboteurs are) is highly suspected?

Maybe he's referring to a different kind of SWAT team... as in 'Service With A Tie' - or more politicians (oops... shouldn't use that word).

bloke wrote:' not making this up...

...I'm certain that I heard the President state that one of the things he would be sending down to the Gulf to these oil rigs is SWAT teams. How many of these rigs have blown up since their existence...one...?? two...??

Call ME a kook of you like, but WHY is the President sending SWAT teams down to oil rigs unless some sort of sabotage (regardless of who the saboteurs are) is highly suspected?

Sabotage?

Not to rain on anybody's conspiracy theory, but I found out another definition for SWAT that is probably more appropriate for this situation:
Soil and Water Assessment Tool
http://swatmodel.tamu.edu/
It would make sense that they are sending THOSE guys (and gals) in to examine the coastline and try to prevent long-term damage.

bloke wrote:That does make infinitely more sense, though I still would not be surprised to find that sabotage was involved.

If it was, it happened a long time ago. What failed was a blow-out prevention valve, which sits on the floor of the Gulf, very very deep. The valve is self-contained and automatic, so if it was sabotaged, it was done before it was installed.

As to what caused the fire--it almost doesn't matter. There would have been no fire without the failure of the blow-out valve, and even without the fire, the failed blow-out valve could cause the same spill in case of a blow-out.

The oil industry spokespeople are annoying me. They are talking about how good the industry is and how it never makes mistakes, which undermines the notion that this could have been prevented. If it was unpreventable, then good isn't good enough, those who prefer to leave oil rigs in front of other people's beaches have powerful ammunition. I would much rather discover that BP had cheaped out and bought an untested valve from some questionable source, violating their own safety standards. That's a problem that can be fixed.

Rick "never blame conspiracy for what can be explained by incompetence" Denney

Lucianne.com had an article about a North Korean submarine possibly torpedoing the oil rig.
Actions taken since the explosion remind me of a Chinese fire drill.
The oil is getting closer. It smells like diesel fuel.

What's the latest from down there? This makes me sick every time I hear about the on the news (like every 10 minutes).

I wish I were a super giant and I could just stick my thumb in the leak to plug it up.

The effects of this terrible tragedy will continue to manifest themselves for years! Primary victims: 11 workers just trying to make a living! Secondary victims: thousands of fishermen, tourism related workers, and others! Tertiary victims: Folks who will experience the oil/chemical contaminated rain. Also thousands of blue collar types who won't have jobs in the petro-chem and related industries because of the coming knee-jerk reaction to the result of no compliance or oversight! Winners? all the B.P., Halliburton, and Trans-Ocean executives who will be unemployed, but retain MILLIONS of dollars! Losers? All of us Americans who will have to pay in many ways, but probably mainly via our wallets, for a mess that was 99.9% avoidable! Our Gulf Coast will never be the same, and our economic recovery may be even further delayed! Pray for Divine intervention, and especially for those people most adversely affected by this fiasco! all the best, Al.

Include the musicians that entertain in beach bars and restaraunts that will close.
The edge of the slick is four miles South and the size of New York state and the wind is blowing from the South. Tarballs and sheen are here now with the heavy oil to follow in a few more days.
Our sugar white sand beaches will be slimy black for years despite the small army of volunteers and paid help preparing to sop it up with paper towels. Saw in Louisiana where the oil in the water table comes up under the sand and digging down a few inches reveals endless black goo. Booms are useless in a seaway where waves break over them and heavy oil passes underneath. Enthusiastic animal lovers scrub sea birds with Dawn and release them to fly back to the oil where they feed.
Sorry to sound so gloomy, fellas but our former paradise is turning into hell on earth and the clueless leadership is appalling.