Our Favorite Blogger is Back...

And is making a "guest appearance" in Miss Ginger's comments section!

Anonymous said...

About time the American press got the issues into perspective. As ever you rely upon vengenace and blame as the knee jerk reaction. Having a day off is perfectly normal even for this guy. Use your brain and consider what your President is doing to resolve this crisis. He is the one nicely diverting the blame on this guy and not himself and his speed of reaction. America lives for oil and dragged the rest of us into the Iraq war over it so get used to a little oil on your beaches - bad things happen - even to Americans!

Miss Ginger is so honored that "Anonymous" took time to comment on her blog! I mean, this busy blogger must read MILLIONS of blogs daily, finding time to leave his eloquent and highly-credible opinions on blogs the world over!

As to his comment on my post about Tony Hayward's fucktard response to the Gulf Oil crisis, he decided to swing a tennis racquet at President Obama, blaming him for not resolving the crisis.

So Anon, since you are clearly from "over the pond" somewhere, Miss Ginger is going to give you a little lesson in American Civics. It's a class we're taught in about the 9th grade. I don't think it exists in socialist countries.

In America, we elect Presidents in a system we call "legislation by representation". We elect them to lead the executive branch of a 3-point system, which also includes a legislative system and a judicial system. The 3 operate in harmony to ensure we have laws in place that represent the needs and desires of our people, and to make sure those laws are followed.

Our corporate laws are based in a system of "free enterprise", in which individuals and corporations are allowed to conduct their affairs to capitalize on the economic principals of supply and demand. They are allowed, within the confines of the law, to create as much product as they wish. Fiscal responsibility dictates that they should be able to sell that product at a profit. And our benevolent society even allows foreign interests to operate in our country, as long as they do so within our laws.

Nowhere in our constitution does it say that the President is expected to step in and run companies when those companies are unable to manage themselves. In our free enterprise society, companies who are not managed well enough to survive will eventually be stomped out by stronger competitors, as will be the case with BP. It's not the President's job to clean up BP's mess. It's his job to make sure BP does it!

What would be the outcome if this had happened to a rig belonging to Exxon, or Shell, or another huge multi-national oil company? We don't know, because they have managed to operate deep water rigs all this time with no major mishap. Exxon's closest call, the Valdez spill in Alaska, was a completely different kind of event, and as unfortunate as it was, Exxon responded responsibly, managed the crisis, and moved forward as a company with stronger procedures and better policies over all.

BP, on the other hand, made several grave decisions that caused the disaster. Operating a deep water well without sufficiently testing the bore for strength and consistently was foolish, greedy, and negligent. And they made this decision in the interest of economics. There are methods and procedures that are typically used, nay, REQUIRED by most drillers, including BP, to ensure that the drill string is strong enough to support the force of the oil. Yet officials at BP knowingly and willingly allowed the rig to be completed without such test, because they were delinquent on the lease contract for the drill ship and were being fined daily for the overage. Foreigners love to use the phrase "American Corporate Greed", but clearly that's not a fault restricted to America.

Obama's job, as President, will be to hold BP accountable for the mess. He can provide whatever resources our Government owns to deal with the mess, but really, we're a nation, not an oil company. I'm not sure what we have that BP would need. And I am sure that the taxpayers of our nation do not want our tax dollars going to clean up the mess that an irresponsible corporate citizen made in our waters.

As Commander in Chief, it will also be Obama's job to ensure that our judicial branch protects the rights of BP, Halliburton, and the many other companies that would have been operating on that rig, in addition to protecting the rights of all citizens affected. And, he will work through the legislative branch to ensure our laws react to this disaster, firming up loopholes and placing safeguard laws to ensure it doesn't happen again. Our President will be busy managing this mess for years, and years, and years. It will cost us BILLIONS to react to this spill. And it's effects will torment us through the terms of many, many Presidents!

I'm sure Tony Hayward is not a bad guy. Perhaps he's a quite likable fellow, and I'm sure he and the fellas at the yacht club will have a few good laughs over this when it's all over. But meanwhile, he has the eyes of the world watching his every move, and I think the decision to attend a public event centered around boating and water was particularly insensitive, foolhardy, and selfish. Does he deserve rest? Absolutely. Can he relax? Perhaps, but I certainly would not be able if I were in his position. Should he attend public events? I leave that for my readers and the world to decide.

That's the great thing about blogs, Anon- they are a chance to share opnions! I shared mine, you shared yours, and now I can't wait to see what my readers and commenters have to say!