Gulf Oil Disaster Update

There is a tube that was inserted into the gushing well that is allowing recovery of app. one-fifth of the oil. It is being piped a mile up to a tanker at the surface of the water. (Other remedies had been tried and failed to do anything.)

There are also fears that the oil has gotten into the current that could take the oil to and through the Florida Keys and out to the Atlantic. If it isn't already in the current - it is near. It is probably inevitable at this point given the quantity of oil that has gushed out.

Gulf Oil Spreading into Major Current is New Worry

Meanwhile, the head of BP and other conservatives like to think that it's no big deal. (??????!?!?!?!?!??!?!? - arrrrrgghhhhhh):

The boss of BP has claimed its Gulf of Mexico oil spill is "relatively tiny" compared with the "very big ocean".

Chief executive Tony Hayward also admitted his job is on the line because of the disaster, set to be the worst oil spill in history.

He said: "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean.

"The amount of oil and dispersant is tiny in relation to the water volume."

First off - the Gulf is not an ocean, and second - it is a disaster of the highest magnitude if it ruins even half of the beaches of the Gulf (which it probably will - and possibly the entire Gulf) and ruins the environment and ecosystems for millions of animals. It makes me sick that people with such authority and power are so callous.

From other windbags:

Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) speculated that the spill may have just been God's doing: “From time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented."

(Um - "God" didn't drill a hole in the Gulf)

"The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there. It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is." (Rush Limbaugh - who also suggested it was an environmental conspiracy - to fend off more drilling).

(Again, it's not "natural" to have that amount of oil flooded into the environment - and it would take nature decades if not centuries to get back to normal).

Michael Brown, director of FEMA during the Bush years, told FOX News' Neil Cavuto: "This is exactly what they want, because now he can pander to the environmentalists and say, 'I'm gonna shut it down because it's too dangerous. This president has never supported big oil, he's never supported offshore drilling, and now he has an excuse to shut it back down."

(that is just stupid and ignorant - as if anyone WANTS a disaster like this. If if wakes people up to the problems - then yes - that is a good result - but only so that more of the same doesn't happen. If the Republicansd have their way - this will be used as an excuse to drill more - because the Gulf will already be ruined.)

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) saw the disaster as an opportunity to call for expanded offshore drilling: “This tragedy should remind us that America needs a real, comprehensive energy plan, like Republicans’ ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy."

(the Republican leaders do not have a clue about our need to protect the world in which we live - they are only about protecting their profit and protecting their "life-style".)

Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, the company that owns the oil rig that caused this whole mess, told the BBC that it wasn't their mess, but they'll go ahead and clean it up anyways: “This was not our accident … This was not our drilling rig. This was not our equipment. It was not our people, our systems or our processes. This was Transocean’s rig. Their systems. Their people. Their equipment.”

(Besides being overall responsible for what happened out there - it was their manager that made the ultimate disaster-creating decisions).