Comments on: When Palin Agrees With Olbermann

By: John Danforth

John Danforth — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:29:50 +0000

Expecting the Republocrats to act anything other than schizophrenic is delusional.

And now they are threatening them with criminal charges even as they work to staunch the flow.

Still, it is amusing to see Obama get suckered by the vacuous intellectuals of the press into acting tough one day (effeminate rage), and pretending to take charge another (with his team of bumbling incompetents).

The only thing the idiocracy will learn from this is that they should make everything illegal in their attempts to regulate risk.

By: MorningStar

MorningStar — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 03:41:28 +0000

OK, first, keep the lawyers out of everything and we’ll probably survive this mess.

Second, the GOP wants govt. out of our lives, then demands the president to step into our lives……I’m confused.

By: NashvilleDoc

NashvilleDoc — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 01:04:37 +0000

Answer me this:
Why does the oil industry get a federal cap on litigation for non-economic damages yet the medical profession does not?
Seems backwards to me, just like the rest of this administration.

By: George

George — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 22:35:08 +0000

There are a number of solutions that require the government to approve and Obama has sat on his hands.

By: Gringo Malo

Gringo Malo — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:15:12 +0000

I expect that lawyers would love it, but I don’t see how private ownership of the oceans is going to work. I’m happy to own, more or less, both a city home and rural acreage because I can occupy and control either or both. I say that own these properties more or less because the state taxes my property, and may seize it should I fail to pay. Also, my property rights are limited, especially in the city, where a neighborhood association (a.k.a. the Lawn Nazis) stands ready to jump all over me for any perceived violation of deed restrictions.

How does one occupy and control a patch of ocean? Would anyone want to own a patch of ocean that didn’t have an oil well? Would anyone want to pay the taxes? (You know there’ll be taxes.) What limits to private property rights would apply to a patch of ocean? Will we have seagoing Lawn Nazis, or will government fill that role? What effect would private ownership have on seaborne commerce? Considering that the feds still own a large part of America’s land mass (primarily because nobody else wants it), what fraction of our territorial waters would the federal government actually be able to sell? Who gets to sell off international waters, the UN?

By: Mike Marks

Mike Marks — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:14:20 +0000

The only real role I see here for the powers at be in the federal government is to eliminate the red tape and allow the states and companies to do what they need to do to get the job done. If there is expertise in the government or its contractors make them available not to find out whose ass to kick but, to offer up potential solutions. If the feds have equipment that can help than by all means make it available. Otherwise get out of the way and let the experts do the job.

As an engineer I realize that this is an extremely difficult problem to solve. The problem almost has to be worked remotely due to the harsh environment of the leak. In order of the oil to stream out of the pipe at a rate that appears high, from the video and oil slick size, the pressure in the pipe must be very high. The water pressure at 5000 feet below sea level is approximately 2200 psi. FWIW later today I will try to do a back of the envelope estimate of just how high the oil pressure in the pipe must be for the apparent flow rate. It should be an eye opener. I hope I haven’t violated the word limit here!

By: Myron Pauli

Myron Pauli — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:12:53 +0000

How statists view the Presidency is in Exodus 15:8-11 with a couple changes in capitals:

“And with the blast of thy nostrils the OIL were gathered together, the POLLUTANTS stood upright as an heap, [and] the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea…. Thou didst blow with thy RHETORIC, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who [is] like unto thee, OBAMA, among the PRESIDENTS? Who [is] like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful [in] praises, doing wonders?”

Palin and Hannity or Obama and Maddow – just two sides of the same statist coin. I prefer Mencken’s judgment on Calvin Coolidge’s Presidency:

“We suffer most, not when the White House is a peaceful dormitory, but when it is a jitney Mars Hill, with a tin-pot Paul bawling from the roof.”