Black Gold and Texas Tea!

Black Gold and Texas Tea made ole Jed a millionaire. Today it is destroying the ecosystem, the coastal economy, and the way of life for many. It is sad to see the destruction this whole mess is making in the U.S.

I hear the blame game going around. I've heard names like Bush, Obama, BP, and Transocean. Perhaps the most ludicrous is blaming you and me for using oil. I have heard that we should not criticize Bush or Obama until we take a look at how much oil we are using. Well, I admit it. I use oil. I don't use as much as I use to since I got rid of my gas guzzling SUV but I do use it as does everyone else in this country. We should definitely use less and find other energy alternatives to take us into the future. But blaming the consumer on the problem is just plain silly. When drug companies push a drug to market and all of a sudden complications arise and the drug is recalled. I do not hear anyone blaming the person who took the drug. In fact, they get some silk stocking law firm to sue the pants off of the drug company. So why does our use of oil make this any different. It does not matter whether I use one gallon of oil or a thousand, it is the responsibility of the oil companies to provide that to me safely and effectively.

Blaming presidents is easy as well. George W. Bush and Barack Obama supported offshore drilling. They have both received more than their fair share of criticism in this regard. George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton opposed offshore drilling out of fear that just this scenario would happen. I long for the days of sensible politicians who will stand up to the "Drill Baby Drill" mentality until we can come up with a way to safely extract oil from the gulf. We have the oil, we need the oil, but we need to get it safely.

As for the response by BP and the government, I find it appalling. This I can blame on Barack Obama just as I blamed the response to Katrina on George W. Bush. They are two separate events but the lack of presidential leadership is very similar in both cases.

I am afraid that the people of the gulf coast may indeed hear the kinfolks say "move away from there" but it won't be because of "swimming pools and movie stars".