Ireland

Ireland

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

That's just stupid Rush


There just isn't a lot of oil left to be skimmed off the surface of the Gulf.
You can see all the big boats that were working for BP during the clean up, have now been released and sit idle.
Pictured is a smaller boat returning from a day cleaning the marsh.

I read today where Rush Linbaugh, while commenting on the fact that there is no oil left on the surface of the Gulf to clean up, obnoxiously said, "This is hilarious......nature always cleans itself up eventually."
What? ( How did that guy end up with a radio gig? )

I think it would serve Rush well to view the documentary playing on the "Planet Green" channel, called "The Black Wave." They go back to Cordova, Alaska, 20 years after the Exxon Valdez disaster, to see how the folks there are doing.
Anyone who is watching CNN these days and feeling good about the oil recovery response being called off, should also watch it.

In a nut shell, the news isn't good.

I found myself channel surfing on the couch just a week ago, the night before I was to fly to Louisiana, and I came upon this documentary.
To say it was upsetting is such an understatement.

Keep in mind, the Gulf spill is 5 or 10 times bigger than the Valdez spill. ( depending on who you talk to, the government or the scientists, )
Here's how ""nature cleaned itself up" in Alaska in the 20 years since that ship tried to dock itself on a rock in Prince William Sound.

I took notes as I watched. ( Yes, I have issues. )

I watched as a woman, 20 years after the fact, went to the coast line with a shovel and dug 1 foot down into the sand and rock. I watched wide eyed as the spade of her shovel glistened with black oil in the sun light.

Valdez was a fishing village. That's not what they did, that's who they were.
Fisherman.

There were 24 different species of fish injured by that nasty Alaskan crude,
15 of which today, do not exist any more in Prince William Sound.
Wiped out.
Gone.

One half of the fishing fleet today, sits dry, wasting away in a bone yard.

Thousands of the workers who cleaned the beaches with dispersant approved by the EPA, are sick, dying or dead. The town of Cordova has forever changed, with an astounding suicide rate among the fisherman there.

The effects of this Gulf spill have not even started yet.
Rush Limbaugh with his smart ass, condescending attitude doesn't have a clue.

Big Rush is right. The oil is gone.

From the surface, that is.

Only 3% of the 5 million barrels has been skimmed.

The scientists and experts (not BP and not our Government) estimate that 5% was burned.
Some of it probably evaporated, but not much.

Where's the rest of it?

They are now finding oil droplets inside the shells of young crabs on the North coast of the Gulf from Louisiana to Florida.

Crabs are pretty import in the grand scheme of things.
Just ask the many species of birds and fish who enjoy a nice crab, to exist.

After 20 years of appeals, Exxon, relatively recently, was made to pay 500 million in damages to the thousands of people whose lives were forever changed by the Exxon Valdez disaster.

That number represents 4 days of Exxon's profits.

5 comments:

Jerral Miles said...

Very good analysis of the state of things in Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico... and of Rush Limbaugh's deliberate misrepresentation of just about everything he discusses. What a scoundrel!

Karen thisoldhouse2.com said...

I don't know how that man ever made it to where he is either. But the American people gave him the power to be where he is, which makes it worse. He has that many supporters.

The whole oil fiasco is very discouraging. Your coverage of it here on your blog has been enlighting too.

dcpeg said...

I just discovered something about myself: I can cry and cuss simultaneously.

People like R.L. sicken me. I can't even bring myself to speak his name, much less write it.

When is big business going to admit that they're ruining our planet? I think their attitude is that they'll retire wealthy and die long before Nature makes her backlash. I have a very strong urge to kick each and everyone of them HARD in the butt!!

Sueann said...

It totally boggles my mind. I just can't wrap around it! It is going to be a huge problem and it seems so many think it is all gone!! Where did they think all that oil went too????
Hugs
SueAnn

Lydia said...

Thanks for leaving the blog. I am politically (and personally)very conservative, but cannot stomach Rush. I don't like mean-spiritedness, and he seems to embody it.

I really appreciate you posting what you see and experience.

I can only imagine what has happened, and what will happen to the people of the Gulf. Nothing will ever make this right.