Saturday, June 19, 2010

The Gulf Oil Spill Comedy, Episode 95

Yet another absurd episode in the ongoing black comedy that is the Gulf oil spill...
"The Coast Guard came and shut them down," Jindal said. "You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, 'Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.'"

A Coast Guard representative told ABC News today that it shares the same goal as the governor.

"We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer.

But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.

The governor said he didn't have the authority to overrule the Coast Guard's decision, though he said he tried to reach the White House to raise his concerns.

"They promised us they were going to get it done as quickly as possible," he said. But "every time you talk to someone different at the Coast Guard, you get a different answer."

After Jindal strenuously made his case, the barges finally got the go-ahead today to return to the Gulf and get back to work, after more than 24 hours of sitting idle.
So here we have yet another conservative state governor doing everything possible to respond to the emergency, hindered by the Feds. And some people still believe disaster relief should be part of their purview?

Tragically, I've seen this sort of thing in bureaucracies outside of government, as well. The mentality always insists on following the rules, regardless whether the rule in question serves it's purpose this time, heedless of the emergency status. Such people would forbid manning the Titanic lifeboats until they were certified by OSHA.

Sadly, just about what I would expect under Barack Obama's pseudo-leadership. Appearance is all that counts. Fortunately for those of us who live in the real world, reality is catching up with the Great Pretender.

1 comment:

TheWayfarer said...

The majority of the "Pond Scum incident" has showcased DumB-O's leadership skills well: A bunch of people standing around, whining and bitching, expecting somebody else to do something about it - in light of PUSH, ACORN and the rest of the Social Justice inaction heroes, this pattern seems familiar.
Now is added the government bureaucracy element...Get in the way of everyone actually trying to do anything about it, because they're not Donks!