The Media and Energy

I think if you see Ted Turner's opinion on this, and in hydrocarbons in general, you can more clearly see why CNN is running the story like they are. That may sound a little right-wingish, but when the owner of CNN, a big time atheist, comes out and says this is God telling us to not drill for oil or dig for coal (because of the miners), you know there is an agenda.

 

Ted Turner isn't an atheist is he thinks God did this. Just sayin'

 

I shudder to imagine the job the government could do capping this well.

I would add to that that Big Oil companies aren't the only ones in the field. There are plenty of energy companies, even big ones, that don't do oil exploration and are very interested in alternative energy. FPL, for example, is the largest producer of wind energy in the country as well as a big nuclear energy player, and they are a top 50 company. They and lots of other energy companies are putting plenty of money into making alternative energy profitable. Big Oil can't stop the change by simply not participating.

 

I think we should try and keep the train on the track. If CNN is going to be accused of having an agenda re the Great Gulf Disaster, then one could accuse FOX of playing it to make the administration and the Democratic Party look as responsible as possible for anything that's not going right (as well as saying anything going right had nothing to do with same). More to the point, Supermac, Ted Turner hasn't owned CNN for several years. Selling it was part of what made him such a rich man. The reason you may have become confused is a blurb from a CNN interview they did the other day with Turner. Turner is still revered (and missed) there, especially by the many people he hired back in the day, like Wolf Blitzer. Blitzer interviewed Turner and got his opinions on the spill and a lot of other topics. I think what Turner said was along the lines of, "While I profess not to believe in God, this is almost enough to change my mind. Surely only a God could bring such misery to the Gulf Coast. An angry God." Not a direct quote, but the gist of it.

 

Whether Ted Turner believes or doesn't believe in God is strictly his business.

On the other hand, Obama should be taking the same heat from the media for his glacier-like action that George Bush the younger took for his inaction following Katrina. Obama could have ordered to Corps of Engineers to start filling in the barrier islands within hours of finding out how bad the spill was (and is). He didn't.

 

Not to further derail but he said "I’m not a real religious person, but I’m somewhat religious. And I’m just wondering if God is telling us he doesn’t want us to drill offshore."

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/...ering-if-god-is-speaking-in-gulf-coast-spill/

Sorry, guys, it's just a nitpick I have with people labeling other people atheist (usually with a negative slant to the word) when the person clearly says they are not. Back to the thread....

 

While I don't think Obama has reacted as badly as Bush did re Katrina, this hasn't been his finest hour. I'm not sure how much good the Corp could have done in the time since the spill, but a dramatic announcement from the President that he was ordering the Corp, and every other available Federal agency that could be of use, to go into immediate action would have been a good idea politically. I just don't know enough about the dredging possiblities in the area, and how quickly something useful could be done, to comment on it intelligently. There are politicians howling for action, politicians from both parties, who may not know much more than I do. I do agree, however, that the President hasn't handled this as well as I would have liked to have seen.

 

Wait. lol what?

 

Thanks for the quote. I should have googled it! My memory didn't serve me as well as I would have liked. That's what he said.

 

I said hours because several days passed while the severity of the spill was being evaluated. Hours is appropriate because, once he knew how bad it was, Obama still didn't act. He "reviewed."

 

stuff like this isnt helping BP's cause PR wise....that and going in front of congress and pointing blame to others. after congress demands they release footage of the spill, now they're going back saying, "ehh well we're shutting it off again" wtf. brilliant move.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/25/markey-bp-to-terminate-gulf-oil-feed-during-top-kill/


Markey: BP to terminate Gulf oil feed during 'top kill'
BP has told the chairman of the House subcommittee on energy and the environment that it will be killing the live feed video of the spill at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico while it attempts to seal the well using the "top kill" procedure, Rep. Edward Markey said in a statement.

The statement said BP informed Markey's office the feed would be "terminated" sometime Wednesday.

“It is outrageous that BP would kill the video feed for the top kill. This BP blackout will obscure a vital moment in this disaster,” Markey said in a statement. “After more than a month of spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, BP is essentially saying to the American people the solution will not be televised.”

 

There are erosion gaps between the islands. Filling them in with additional sand is not an act of environmental interference but rather environmental restoration. Once filled in the oil washes up on the sandy barrier islands rather than seeping into the environmentally sensitive marshes and tidal flats.

 

Do you have any idea what that type of operation entails and what the possible aftereffects might be?

I highly, highly doubt it.

 

I just want to see the "junk shot" approach. Seriously, with decades of research and billions of dollars going into oil exploration/production I think it neatly summarizes just how stupid and desperate we are as a species when our last resort to seal the well and save the Gulf is to stuff the hole full of trash.

This is worse than a poorly written disaster novel turned made for tv movie. It's too bad we can't screw something up next time that wipes out the human race and leaves nature behind to pick up where it left off before we popped up and started destroying every thing.

 

Politically, Obama should have made a big announcement about using the Corp, shoveling sand, heck, anything remotely possible in the way of helping with this disaster. The word "review" should have never left his lips. Would it have helped? I don't know, but politically it was a "no brainer." I think he dropped the ball, which surprises me as I thought his team were pretty damn good in the political field.

Where is the National Guard? There should be hundreds of Guardsmen and women in uniform wherever there is crap coming ashore from this damned stupid BP cockup.

 

I suppose it is better to let the oil flow into the lowlands and kill off the wildlife and fisheries. Actually, multiple crews could have had much of th work completed by now had it not been for the stalling. The erosion gaps are not that deep. As far as the aftereffects, Katrina was responsible for many of those erosion gaps, but no restoration has been attempted in this past lustrum.

 

It's not that simple. Nature eroded the barrier islands so it isn't like dumping sand in the gaps is restoring anything "natural" at all. I'm not saying it shouldn't be done but it isn't something you do without careful consideration and research into the consequences.

 

Nothing about this is simple, worst luck. Dave, I added an edit to my previous post about the National Guard. Why aren't they covering the shoreline wherever this mess is hitting? The President should have called them out long ago. Politically, it was the thing to do, and might actually do some good. Maybe he already did that and I missed it.