Happy Atheist Forum

Don't want to start debate, etc, just wanted to get this out....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp ... 6#37885196 (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37885196#37885196)
I just watched this.  The pier in the background.....  Well I have pictures in front of me from a few years back when we went home for vacation.  I used to play under that pier.  It's home, it's my neck of the woods.  I'm almost as bad as the little girl in the video right now having seen this.  I thought by now they would have stopped the flow and saved the sugar sand and emerald waters...........

....and the dolphin died. Omg

Quote from: "Cite134"....and the dolphin died. :sigh:

I hear you.

Wait! Didn't they like... pray for it to stop?! And it's still gushing out?!  

I propose burying the pipe until a "sock" can be put inside it... But what do I know, it's probably harder than it sounds.

It's a bloody terribly mess.

It's horrible to know I will probably never see the beach as it was again.  Horrible isn't a strong enough word really.... Gulf Shores National Seashore is right there too, it's already endured enough hell, now this.  Destin.... Ft Walton....  And if it gets up in the bay.......

All those memories..........  

Quote from: "KDbeads"Don't want to start debate, etc, just wanted to get this out....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp ... 6#37885196 (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37885196#37885196)
I just watched this.  The pier in the background.....  Well I have pictures in front of me from a few years back when we went home for vacation.  I used to play under that pier.  It's home, it's my neck of the woods.  I'm almost as bad as the little girl in the video right now having seen this.  I thought by now they would have stopped the flow and saved the sugar sand and emerald waters...........

I can understand a little how it feels. In my case it was fire, not oil
very sad thing to have happened

This disaster has left me speechless. Such a desparately sad situation.

I'm curious, how are Brits reacting a home company like BP? Americans are kind of thirsty for some blood from them. I'm just curious how you guys feel about the company?

Do you think it's the Companyâ,,¢'s fault that the pipe burst or that such pipes are notoriously hard to fix..? I'm sure they are doing what they can with the resources they have.

Personally, I think it was a calamity of errors that lead to the BOP (blow out preventer) failure.  How many wells are already out there?  How many BOP's have been successfully installed a mile deep?  Quite a few from what I understand.
I do still blame BP but not the CEO, he's not the one signing off on the short cuts.  Same for the company that they were partnered with on this well.  Nor do I blame the drillers, they do what they are told.  However, those middle men who were looking to beat schedule or those that ignored the warnings.... those are the people I'm pissed at.

Quote from: "Big Mac"I'm curious, how are Brits reacting a home company like BP? Americans are kind of thirsty for some blood from them. I'm just curious how you guys feel about the company?

Some are ambivalent, some are distancing themselves and some are ashamed. There's a broad spectrum of feeling to be honest. There are some that feel the level of venom from Obama towards BP is counter productive. They think that he could be spending that air-time more constructively to work with BP to find a solution instead of bashing them so publicly. One thing which was pointed out was he's started calling them 'British Petroleum' instead of simply BP. They haven't called themselves British Petroleum since the 80's.

It isn't something which will only negatively effect America though. BP own a seventh of all the pensions in the UK. If they go down, the long-term financial consequences are obvious.

It looks like Obama is show boating at the expense of BP over and above the natural reaction to what is a truly horrific environmental disaster. The tribal reaction isn't good. The incident was down to company errors and is being played as though an American company would never cut corners lol  It's not a pretty sight on any front.

One just hopes that lessons are learned. Particularly when one considers that oil has been discovered (in unqualified amounts) around the Falkland Islands. At least this accident has happened where clean up operations can be mobilised effectively. Imagine the environmental damage if this happens there, it doesn't bear thinking about.

Quote from: "karadan"...One thing which was pointed out was he's started calling them 'British Petroleum' instead of simply BP. They haven't called themselves British Petroleum since the 80's.

I've seen this in British media, but have yet to find an example of President Obama actually calling BP "British Petroleum."  (I've looked.) Perhaps you could point one example out for me?  I'm not saying that it's never happened, but since it gets mentioned in several places, one would think that finding an actual example of it would not be hard.

Only the truly ignorant would want to blame Great Britain (even indirectly) for this disaster.  BP is a multi-national, for one thing, and for another, the blame can equally be applied to Transocean and our old friends, Halliburton.

Oh, and just in case anybody here was worried, Sarah Palin is sticking by "Drill, Baby, Drill." (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20006611-503544.html)  In particular, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge looks even better to her now.  I'm soo proud of her.  Bursting with mavricky wisdom, she is!

That's a good point Recusant. I've just had a cursory look around and haven't actually found any instances of Obama saying anything other than BP.. Shame on me for taking what the media say verbatim.  

I'll continue to look around later but feel i won't actually find anything.

I feel a strongly worded email being sent to the BBC would be appropriate at this point.

This is definitely a terrible thing.  Pensacola is my home and that's my beach.  Before the oil hit my fiancee and I did visit the beach.  I'm pretty sure it's closed off and they have crews out there shoveling oil.  20 years ago a big spill hit Alaska's beaches.  Today 20 years later you can still dig down in the sand and hit oil.  If that isn't bad enough it is hurricane season.  Imagine what a hurricane with a 20' storm surge will do.  We already have oil in the sound side.  Imagine our downtown area covered in thick oil.  The hurricane hitting Mexico this week is a sigh of relief for us.  But the season is early and from what I've heard they won't even stop the oil from coming out of the hole until August.  If that gets delayed then September is the most active month for storms during hurricane season.  That's bad enough to think about as it is, not even taking into consideration that they are predicting this to be a very active hurricane season.

I've heard people saying they are praying for us.  Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.  That is true for us in Pensacola at the beaches.  They just hired more then 700 people to clean up oil from the beach.  It is so hot out there because of the oil that our workers work for 15 minutes then take a 45 minute break.  At least this job is some supplemental revenue for people.  Our local economy is devastated and our unemployment rate is rising.  No one wants to take their family to the beach that is coated in oil.  People who have made their living on/near the beaches are in trouble.  I know there is a lot of finger pointing going around we just want it cleaned up.  Assign blame and bill the responsible party later.  Let's clean up this mess.

Also to lighten things up a bit here is a funny youtube video about BP.
[youtube:13jr4ecc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AAa0gd7ClM[/youtube:13jr4ecc]

Just imagine an Ivan sized storm again..... or an Opal... or even a Frederick....  The house is just a little ways up from Floridatown bay....  Just.... well I don't want to even think about a surge hitting Escambia bay.

 

I remember when an oil tanker (Torry Canyon (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/hu/ergsinhu/aboutergs/torrey.html)) ran aground in the English channel when I was a kid. I vividly recall that they talked a lot about storms breaking up oil slicks and being a good thing. I assume the the nature of hurricanes and the geography of the gulf mitigates against this effect?

Quote from: "Recusant"Oh, and just in case anybody here was worried, Sarah Palin is sticking by "Drill, Baby, Drill." (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20006611-503544.html)  In particular, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge looks even better to her now.  I'm soo proud of her.  Bursting with mavricky wisdom, she is!

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flarry5154.files.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F06%2Fsarah_palin_pancakes.jpg&hash=e7ec3c4ff85aaae7f4ddd53e590c2f6582475bc8)

Gosh darn it, I told you guys that we needs the gosh darn wildlife drilled up here. I can see Russia from here and I can tell you that they are definitely drilling up here. Aren't we going to beat the neighbors I can see? I've learned even how to read lips but I can't seem to understand the Russian very well. Then again you guys who aren't mavericks can't understand a gosh darn word I say, can you?