Day: May 28, 2010

A Special Thanks To My Readers

I like to commemorate special events that happen on this blog with a post of thanks or whatever needs to be said…….

For the first time since I began Info Ink I have had more comments than posts….I would like to thank my loyal readers and especially those who take the time to comment on a post.

A special thanks goes out to Terrant of My Corner To Vent and the followers on Why We Worry and all others that have participated….and a super thanks to Quin of Quintessential Havoc for keeping me on my toes……Please go to blogroll and participate on these blogs…they are thoughtful and insightful….

Thanx again guys…..you help make the experience worthwhile………

Deja Vu–All Over Again

From the VOMITORIUM

It is a cool morning on the Gulf of Mexico….it is 3 June 1979….but all the serenity is about to blow up in everyone’s face…..a well is being drilled in 160 feet of water…….BAM! …….the well suffered a blowout and is recognized as the second largest oil spill in history and the largest accidental spill in history.    There problem was….and here is where the Deja part comes in…..when things got tight the Blow Out Preventer did not work and the result was a huge damaging oil spill.  Wait for it!  There is more deja moments!  One techniques that was tried was to lower a cone shape structure over the busted pipe called a “sombero”  maybe they should have called it a “top hat”…….that did not work!  They used chemical dispersant, booms and suction to try and control the oil in the water…Deja vu…..

The spill was finally controlled….and how was that, Professor?  They drilled a relief well…and it took 10 months to stop the leak.

Now does any of that sound at all familiar?  Uh Huh…………we can count the nose hairs on a terrorist in Bumfukenstan from space but we have NOT made any progress in controlling oil leaks or techniques for fighting them in over 30 years……..I am so proud!  (In case you missed it…that is SARCASM!)  This is the best we can do?  If so, then someone needs to shut the “F’ up about how far we have come in the use of technology!

The whole free market argument is one of the causes of this disaster…..I say fine…let them rape us, but if they are allowed then there should be criminal charges for any leaks from now on….I am not talking about penalties that does little than whack on the pee-pee…I am talking about fine and JAIL TIME…..

Surprise–You Pay!

Daily Agitator

From the VOMITORIUM

The BIG news for the last month is the raging oil leak a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico…..BP, the responsible party, has tried several different methods of capping this massive flow out of a broken drill hole.  Their next attempt will be to pump drilling mud and concrete into the hole to try and seal it up and stop the killing of the environment.

Back in the day, the Exxon Valdez run a ground with a drunk captain at the wheel and was the responsible one and after years of litigation, the Supreme Court let Exxon off the hook for only about half of what they owed.  The environment in Alaska that was effected by the oil spill, still has not recovered some twenty years later…..and the Gulf spill has all the earmarks as a much bigger spill with  more devastation than Alaska.

Sorry to be a downer, but there are some things that the people need to know.  There is a proposal before Congress as we speak…….

The House “oil spill response” measure, included among others in a larger bill, proposes that the tax be increased from its current rate of 8 cents a barrel to 32 cents. This is projected to raise nearly $10 billion over the next 10 years for the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

A good idea, right?  They want to replenish a quickly disappearing clean up fund and also to try and expand the fund.  I hear the yell, “make them pay!”….if this passes it will do nothing to the company as a xconsequence of bad drilling procedures….it will be passed on to us, the American people…..

“We’re not talking a big impact here; we are talking about adding less than a penny to the cost of the fuel,” said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, referring to the impact that the increase would have on the price of gasoline.

According to Kloza’s calculations, the 8-cent tax on a barrel of oil works out to 0.19 cents per gallon of gas. He said that an increase to 32 cents on a barrel of oil would equal 0.76 cents per gallon of gas.

Now you have something to yell about……you WILL be paying more and the oil companies will be making more…..YOU will be paying the oil company’s “irresponsibility” tax for them……once again the American people will be bent over and no lube…….Ain’t capitalism great?