Down to Raisins
Thursday 03 June 2010
by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
(Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: Sparkly Kate, erix!)
There is an old story about Abraham Lincoln spending vast amounts of time in the telegraph room of the War Department waiting for dispatches from his commanders in the field. One day, according to Lincoln biographer John C. Waugh, after a particularly long night, the president turned to the telegraph operators and said, "Well, boys, I am down to raisins."
When asked to explain the phrase, Lincoln told the story of the little girl who celebrated her birthday by feasting on sweets, followed by raisins for dessert. Soon, she became violently sick and started throwing up everything she had eaten. Her concerned parents summoned a doctor, who upon investigating her issue, told the parents the danger was past and that she was "down to raisins."
That's us; that's you and me, and certainly that's the people in the Gulf region. We have all become so sickened by the events surrounding the collapse of the Deepwater Horizon and the broad-spectrum, oil-soaked destruction, which has not even begun to sink its teeth in, that we are all down to raisins.
The dome failed when it filled with bubbles. "Top kill" failed because, well, they were trying to stuff mud into an oil-spewing hole 5,000 feet below the surface of the sea. The diamond saw meant to slice the pipe and make room for a cap got caught in the apparatus down there. They were able to salvage the thing, but if they screw this maneuver up as badly as they've screwed up everything else so far, the amount of crude dumping into the sea could increase by as much as 20 percent ... which in BP-ese could mean 30 percent, 40 percent or even 200 percent.
Oil has been ravaging the Louisiana coastline for days now. The Coast Guard has said that, of the 126 miles of coastline that has been affected, 25 of those miles can be restored to its previous condition. That same dreary percentage will certainly apply to the rest of the Gulf, which has also begun to feel the effects of this calamity. Oil has arrived on Dauphin Island, Alabama. Oil has reached the Mississippi coast. Oil is expected to reach Florida by the end of the week. Oil is expected to annihilate reefs, kill fisheries, destroy tourism, slaughter wildlife and create staggering dead zones that will affect everything from whales to tuna to birds to plankton, which pretty much amounts to the entire food chain. Whatever survives the oil faces an equally toxic death from the dispersants being used to contain the oil.
BP, for its part, has made some moves of its own. One of their spokespersons got up on his hind legs and declared, with bare face hanging out, that reports of massive oil plumes lurking for miles under the surface of the sea do not, in fact, exist, despite reports from a series of experts that the things are down there, just waiting to strike. BP has hired former Cheney spokesperson Anne Womack-Colton to be the company's face for the disaster. They have decided not to add a second blowout preventer to the wrecked gear at the center of the crisis, and after attempting to do this cut-and-cap move, will concentrate only on drilling relief wells. The best-case scenario, they say, has the well being fully shut down by late August, maybe, if we're lucky.
We haven't been lucky yet, and according to experts, we have no reason to think our luck will turn:
BP Plc's failure since April to plug a Gulf of Mexico oil leak have prompted forecasts the crude may continue gushing into December in what President Barack Obama has called the greatest environmental disaster in U.S. history.
BP's attempts so far to cap the well and plug the leak on the seabed a mile below the surface haven't worked, while the start of the Atlantic hurricane season this week indicates storms in the Gulf may disrupt other efforts.
"The worst-case scenario is Christmas time," Dan Pickering, the head of research at energy investor Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. in Houston, said. "This process is teaching us to be skeptical of deadlines."
As for the Feds, it seems the memo regarding how unutterably important this situation is has, at long last, penetrated the farthest reaches of government. President Obama has been speaking about it on a daily basis, and his administration has announced the launching of a criminal probe into BP's actions before and after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
That's great, for what it's worth, which isn't much at all if you're a fish, bird, whale or Gulf Coast human whose livelihood is drowning in crude. It's all just words. As for actions? Well, never fear, because the Feds have met with "Titanic" and "Avatar" director James Cameron to brainstorm on how to stop the leak.
No, really. James Cameron, underwater filming expert, has been cut into the loop. One could take this as an indication of the all-hands-on-deck attitude being taken in order to end this crisis, but I hear this and just want to put my head in the oven. Mud to fill the hole, and now movie directors to save the day. You really can't make this stuff up.
Hurricane season began on Tuesday, the saw got stuck, and the end of August is more than 70 days away. Christmas is too massive to contemplate, but contemplate it we must, because we are down to raisins with this thing.
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Comments
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And "raisin" Gulf island
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 16:03 — Vic Anderson (not verified)And "raisin" Gulf island "barrier" berms as "approved" dredging AND filling by Obummer with nary a CEQ, EIS nor even EA, is exponentially Obamanible BS (Bush shadow) VOODOO Ecology!
As usual, great piece - but
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 16:09 — RoughAcres (not verified)As usual, great piece - but your snark about Cameron isn't truly warranted. He's somewhat of an expert on deep-sea videography, and we desperately need to find out -- by seeing for ourselves, not relying on BP's video feed/staged cameras! -- what's going on under the sea surface and at the gusher site.
It IS an "all-hands-on-deck" moment, and I'm grateful that Cameron stepped up after BP ignored his offer to help any way he could.
Sirs, sorry for my english,
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 16:20 — Anonymous (not verified)Sirs, sorry for my english, as I am a Spanish speaking Latino. I remember that Soviet authorities solved part of the Chernobyl dissaster by building a sort of stone sarcophage aver the whole mess. It was supossed to be a temporary solution while something better could be found. To my knowledge, engineering capacities of the USA should permit to do something similar -more complicated for sure- over the BP´s criminal spilling. Even if I am not a Hollywood producer or director, I have some ideas about it. What I suspect is that Oil Industry wishes not to spend a lot of money or is trying to preserve the possibility of using the collapsed hole in the near future. Thanks.
A couple of things can be
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 16:27 — captain pneumo (not verified)A couple of things can be said right away on behalf of movie people in this context: (A) They often have rather deep pockets, and (B) making a movie is similar to a military operation, because an atmosphere of crisis is totally normal...it's the status quo. Besides which, I believe Jim really does want to be "King of the World."
On Monday I snorkeled off
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 16:37 — Fredboy (not verified)On Monday I snorkeled off the beaches in Naples, Florida. Water was sparkling. I was with several schools of baitfish, one large school of beautiful sheepshead, and for a few moments I was close to snook and a manatee. Beautiful birds visited--pelicans, several ibis, a variety of gulls, two osprey, and two magnificent frigate birds. Children played. Seniors waded and smiled. Yet death heads our way. This is a national, no, a world treasure. Before the BP disaster most GOP Florida legislators and their tea party squad called for drilling just off the beach--from the shore to 10 miles out. They ignored the oil industry truth: if you drill, you spill. And now the monster flows our way. Where are the surface vacuums, where are the containment ships and crews, where are the answers? And now, too late, Obama and team have realized the awful reality. Again, a president ignored the imperiled Gulf, and again we have taken notice. Pandora's Box is open now. Wide open...
Perhaps the Gulf
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 16:48 — Fredboy (not verified)Perhaps the Gulf catastrophe, along with so many massive missteps and mistakes of the recent past, clearly show the world a most troubling truth--that we are both unable and unwilling to correct our mistakes and blunders. This demonstrates cardinal fractures in our nation's wisdom, knowledge, and soul.
Cameron is an
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 16:51 — Harry Thomas (not verified)Cameron is an deep-underwater expert; he made "The Abyss" and "Titanic" plus an IMAX documentary on his dives on the real Titanic. He's got enough money that he can afford to be honest. And honesty is what we need right now, as the author noted when discussing "BP-ese."
Since it was first mentioned
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 17:12 — RedLeaf (not verified)Since it was first mentioned as the fall-back end-of-days solution, I can't get past the incongruity of BP drilling TWO more wells into the same reserve and at the same depth in order to alleviate the pressure on the current blowout. With a mile of seawater over the field, I am not sure the pressure can be relieved until the reserve collapses and the well(s) runs dry.
I can envision this whole disaster multiplying itself by two or three in the near future. One would think that BP would be extra careful but there is not much to gain in "trying to reason with hurricane season" [thanks extended to Jimmy Buffett].
Another failure of
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 17:53 — Anonymous (not verified)Another failure of capitalism.
Just like the economic nightmare..caused by brigand capitalism...unfettered...the avaricious oil corporations totally neglect and screw humanity for the sake of huge profit.
Capitalism...an extension of the monarchist system... fails humanity everywhere....and always has.
3 billion people on the planet don't have enough to eat.
3 billion Earthlings have no drinkable water.
Billions of human beings live in poverty on a survival level.
We all live with waste and pollution left behind by the capitalists...and we pay for it too.
And its because governments are owned and, thru bribery an/or military power, operated by greedy capitalists-minded selfish pigs without compassion or justice.....be they military dictatorships or Western democracies....that's the nature and state of the corporate globalized leadership of the human race .
Capitalism fails the people.
I am a long time fan of Mr.
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 17:55 — Patrick (not verified)I am a long time fan of Mr. Pitt so it troubles me that he seem fixated on his head shaking about mud. Sir, do you not understand that drilling mud is a standard tool for controlling down hole flow/pressure in a well? You continue to ridicule the attempt to pump drilling mud down the well as some sort of sick joke. You are displaying ignorance and I would appreciate it if you would educate yourself on this before further embarrassing yourself and those of us who otherwise admire you. Thanks.
I'm going to say the top hat
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 18:07 — radline9 (not verified)I'm going to say the top hat won't work. I definitely trust Cameron rather than BP. Let him at it.
At the minimum there should
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 19:01 — Anonymous (not verified)At the minimum there should be a fleet of tankers sucking up oily seawater and oil from the surface and within the plumes. The technology already exists for that measure and it was used in the big Gulf of Arabia Spill. Yet, no tankers just sucking of oil polluted wind by the ecosystem and the many souls out there futilely trying to clean up this mess. I'd be willing to bet my own money that the primary reason this preliminary action isn't being done, is due to who would actually 'own' the collected oil? BP has been shall we say, 'dragging its feet' about getting outside assistance. I noticed they made sure they had at least one tanker on-site to 'stick a hose in the pipe' to get 5% of the flow siphoned into one of their tankers. Don't think for a second that they won't turn that thing up and head to a refinery to recoup their losses.
Hats off to 22:53 for saying
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 19:29 — Paul W (not verified)Hats off to 22:53 for saying it like it is. What this s really all about is the exposure of the fatally-flawed system behind all of it: CAPITALISM.
The fatal flaw, of course, is the underlying driving force that keeps Capitalism afloat: Greed.
And this episode reveals where naked greed gets us. It was greed that led BP and Halliburton to cut corners on the construction of Deepwater Horizon. It is greed that still drives BP in the so-called attempts to stop the flow.
They're still sitting around their boardroom tables trying to figure out the best way to do it cheaply, without hurting the sacred 'bottom line'.
And before the rabid right-wingers start screaming "Communist", let me say this: I am NOT a Communist! But I am also not, and never have been a member of the Capitalist Party, be it Democrat or Republican.
There is a better way, folks. It's called Social Democracy, and it's high time America took a closer look at how it works. Because it does work. For all of us.
Perhaps the day is not far
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 20:58 — S.O. Teric (not verified)Perhaps the day is not far off when the oil will enter the Gulf Stream, drift across the Atlantic, and befoul the beaches of Wales and the Mountains of Longing, with dead seabirds rotting in the kelp. Whatever will the Queen say when she is video-taped at the shores of Swansea? Will she turn to her secretary and say, "Take a note: Mr Tony Hayward NOT to be knighted in ceremonies at the palace." When, O, when will people at last put a dog-collar around predatory monopolists?
If this oil spill doesn't
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 22:23 — Anonymous (not verified)If this oil spill doesn't tell even the most obtuse that we should cut down on individual conveyance transport using petroleum, if the war for petroleum with your young people getting killed didn't do it, maybe this sullying of the gulf and gulf states won't either. Take the bus, walk, ride a bike please if at all possible. Yes you will have to give up some choices, like I did when I decided I would have to drive to early voting and after work and won't drive the car. Someday the elections board will schedule voting so that people that take the bus can vote. I hope so.
How many of the critics can
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 23:09 — Anonymous (not verified)How many of the critics can truthfully state that their very existence is not in some manifold way dependent upon petroleum? We have met the enemy and he is "us".
In response to "If this oil
Thu, 06/03/2010 - 23:16 — ActiveVoice (not verified)In response to "If this oil spill doesn't..." and other comments:
This situation clearly illustrates why we should be turning away decisively from the use of fossil fuels and concentrating our efforts on developing clean, sustainable alternatives. This is a conclusion most sane people will find inescapable.
I fear, however, that it will NOT reach "the most obtuse" and that, at some point after this immediate crisis dies down, we're going to hear exactly the opposite argument from the usual suspects: i.e., "Hey, this situation proves that there's a WHOLE BUNCH of oil out there off of our very own flag-waving American shores -- so we should therefore work out these few little minor kinks and then proceed with confidence to drill, baby, drill..."
I fervently hope I'm wrong, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. (I've probably been following the news for way too long...)
There has been overwhelming
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 01:46 — FBuckley (not verified)There has been overwhelming despair over this entire affair. Largely it is the result of mismanage- ment, pure and simple. The repeated spills and disasters on the part of NRE (Non Renewable Energy Industry) is now legendary. Culpable? Slippery, pun intended?
Stupid? Beyond stupid. Actually criminal.
So, are we going to see remedy and a solution?
I have advocated for some time the Nationalization of Oil Companies. Or regulating them to be in compliance withstated environmental goals of the people of this country. Just take a walk around the drilling in neighborhoods in Colorado and
adjacent states. More than toxic and ruinous. This leftover relic of English Law is killing us. Stop it now by Nationalizing. And stay in compliance.
Well, if nothing else this
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 02:41 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)Well, if nothing else this human-caused monumental disaster should finally wake us all up to the fact(s) of, and learn, just how little we can trust corporate-fascist industry that doesn't truly care about anyone or anything other than profit(s) and those people and things that stand to profit from those "rewards". But most of us won't wake up, and won't learn this fact, at least enough to really make a difference so this kind of thing will never be allowed to happen again. "We the People" have almost completely gone the way of the dinosaur(s), and we have not kept our Constitutional republic just as Benjamin Franklin cryptically warned that we probably would not.
Don't stick your head in the oven, WRP, et al., but "(c)ry aloud, spare not (have no mercy or hesitation---don't hold back), and show My people (ALL of) their transgression(s), and the house of Jacob (ALL of) their evils...", says the Lord God! [Isaiah 58:1; etc.; emphasis and/or clarification(s) added by me.]
USA is being looted and
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 03:26 — Anonymous (not verified)USA is being looted and destroyed, from the inside, while being used to depopulate the Muslim world.
Shalom
Just another example of how
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 08:44 — Anonymous (not verified)Just another example of how capitalism will save America.
Let's not forget the true
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 09:08 — IconDemon (not verified)Let's not forget the true villain in this caper: the Bush Administration.
From what I've read here, and elsewhere, is that the oil companies were allowed to write their own regulations during Darth and Shrub's awesome 8-year adventure, and combining that with MMR's drinking, drugging and whoring escapades, how can we not be in such a pickle?
The incestuous relations between the previous administration and the oil companies are well known and sickening.
I'm going away now to be sick. I just viewed some images of oil-soaked birds here:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html
Tears are falling.
Hire all fishermen to help
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 09:54 — Anonymous (not verified)Hire all fishermen to help clean up oil.
Send all national guard to clean up.
Hire every person who will do the clean up prior to the
first hurricane.
BP has plenty of money!!
Oil and money go hand and hand.
What FBuckley said.
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 10:53 — jruss (not verified)What FBuckley said. Nationalization would be a start but quite necessary. This business of energy production is much too important to be in the hands of the corporate sector whose responsibility is to shareholders and boards of directors, not the general public. Suffice to state that energy production is a national security issue if there ever was one. When confronted by an enemy that poses an existential threat, most nations, including ours spend their tax dollars and human capital in a collective manner to defend themselves. While energy supply isn't exactly an "enemy" the lack thereof certainly is an existential threat. We may be starting to realize this. Our military, police and fire departments are "socialized" enterprises that tap innovations from the private sector and pose no threat to free enterprise. This principle could be applied to energy production as it is in many other developed countries. Energy production and public transportation are human needs that need oversight by elected representatives, not private, for-profit, individuals.
WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 13:16 — Adoregon (not verified)WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR???
WHY WERE ALL THE ELECTRIC TROLLEY CAR TRACKS TORN UP IN LA????
WTFU!!!
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/551/did-general-motors-destroy-the-la-mass-transit-system
http://www.krisandsusanna.com/Writing/The_Mass_Transit_Murders.htm
Why James Cameron instead of
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 14:41 — K.G. Smith (not verified)Why James Cameron instead of this guy:
http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/oceanage/05ballard/welcome.html
Cameron made the movie. Ballard FOUND the Titanic so that Cameron was able to make the movie. Why send a movie director when there's a perfectly good scientist?
And we should revoke BP's logo. Give 'em an oiled brown pelican for a logo instead. It fits them perfectly.
Ralph Nader is fond of
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 18:13 — davehaze (not verified)Ralph Nader is fond of telling that his progressive father always reminded him and his sisters that Capitalism cannot exist without Socialism. That it cannot exist without our wealth and taxes paying for their very existence and especially for their screwups.
No truer than these last few years of banks and now oily banks.
The thought that BP has any intention of paying for their spill is laughable. They will squeak by with the bare minimum and Obama will allow them. They will pay lobbyists, lawyers, politicians, and PR more than they will pay out in damages.
Cameron and Ballard and all folks of good will welcome. Take control. Take pictures.
I'm past the raisins and
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 13:41 — elizabeth (not verified)I'm past the raisins and left with bile. No matter what deadline is trotted out or what action DOJ finally takes, the Gulf is essentially dead for the foreseeable future, and the Atlantic will be all but for some time as well, based on current loop-current projections.
Oh, and don't forget Kevin Costner's Waterworld apparatus that was investigated. Too bad that appears to have been abandoned, it would have been nice to see something "positive" emerge from that fiasco.
Once again the Republicans
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 15:25 — Anonymous (not verified)Once again the Republicans have gone into hiding, no drill baby drill? Like the Wall Street greedy pigs who wanted no regulations and gave us the Second great depression, we have the oil pigs who wanted no regulations giving us the First historic oil spill to coat half the nation with the goo of greed. An Act of God...No, God had nothing to do with it but Greedy politicians and oil companies had everything to do with it. And Obama still is issuing permits for more drilling. HOPELESS and EVIL. The President of the UNited States is SUPPOSE to protect the people of this nation and their resources...not sell it off the the pigs of wall street.
We can't power an our
Sun, 06/06/2010 - 04:17 — Jack B. Nimble (not verified)We can't power an our Wehrmacht on sunshine & rape seed oil. Even if the country goes entirely green on renewable energy it won't solve the petroleum problem. The military can't garrison the world without oil. A solar powered Abrams tank? I doubt it. Can't go out on patrol today, Sarge... gotta charge the Humvee hee hee. The petroleum wars are fought by the military for the benefit of the military & won't stop until we run out of oil, the country collapses (as military empires tend to do) or global pollution changes the planet. I for one SUPPORT global warming, it's the only change you can believe in. As for petroleum, use it up!