And the Losers Are..........

We, The American people!

Bob Herbert of the NY Times said today:

"Already the oil from the nightmare brought to us by BP is making its way into the wondrous wetlands of the gulf coast, into this natural paradise that belongs not just to the people of Louisiana but to all Americans. Oil is showing up along dozens of miles of the Louisiana coast, including the beaches of Grand Isle, which were ordered closed to the public.

The response of the Obama administration and the general public to this latest outrage at the hands of a giant, politically connected corporation has been embarrassingly tepid. We take our whippings in stride in this country. We behave as though there is nothing we can do about it.

The fact that 11 human beings were killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion (their bodies never found) has become, at best, an afterthought. BP counts its profits in the billions, and, therefore, it’s important. The 11 men working on the rig were no more important in the current American scheme of things than the oystermen losing their livelihoods along the gulf, or the wildlife doomed to die in an environment fouled by BP’s oil, or the waters that will be left unfit for ordinary families to swim and boat in".

Analysis
This is the bitter reality of the American present, a period in which big business has cemented an unholy alliance with big government against the interests of ordinary Americans, who, of course, are the great majority of Americans. The great majority of Americans no longer matter.

No one knows how much of BP’s runaway oil will contaminate the gulf coast’s marshes and lakes and bayous and canals, destroying wildlife and fauna — and ruining the hopes and dreams of countless human families. What is known is that whatever oil gets in will be next to impossible to get out. It gets into the soil and the water and the plant life and can’t be scraped off the way you might be able to scrape the oil off of a beach.

It permeates and undermines the ecosystem in much the same way that big corporations have permeated and undermined our political system, with similarly devastating results.

We Americans have done marvelous things for our fellow citizens in the last two hundred years.

The Obama administration continues this tradition and has made several culture altering changes starting with health care. They are poised to reign in the banks and Wall street and next will take on immigration. All the while, we work on the economy that is showing signs of recovery. After that will come climate change. What an agenda! What courage!

Th hidden agenda that has existed for two hundred years is the sordid connection between big business and government. I need not detail it here since you all know it and it is well documented. It is time for government to take an aggressive stand concerning off shore drilling, dependence on oil, climate pollution and privileges and free passes afforded big business.

As the President's chief of staff says" never let a good crises go to waste" Now is the moment to reign in big business and corporate greed. The economic crises was brought to us by corporate greed and the gulf coast crises is another expression of that greed.

Let us get behind the president as he attempts to take advantage of the gulf crises to further his energy strategy. He will meet a whirlwind of lobbyists greater than he did over health care and financial reform. He will not get unswerving support even inside his party because so many legislators are dependent on corporate contributions for themselves and jobs for the communities they represent.

I think the president has the courage to do this and hope you will all send him enrgy, courage and good will.