Dire Straits

--From Here to Eternity (1953)
[updated, 4/2010]

We're all doomed, you know.
The whole, silly, drunken, pathetic lot of us.
Doomed by the air we're about to breathe
--On The Beach (1959)

There let the way appear, steps unto heaven;
all that thou sendest me, in mercy given;
angels to beckon me
nearer, my God, to thee
--Nearer My God to Thee,
Adams and Mason

There's a fragrance that's here to stay
and they call it... Charlie.
Kinds fresh, kinda now, Charlie.
Kinda new, kinda WOW, Charlie!
--Charlie 70's fragrance jingle

As our investments begin to grow,
to quote from Davey Crockett at the Alamo,
"Will everyone here kindly step to the rear
and let a winner lead the way!"
--How Now Dow Jones? (1967)
_______________

The Gulf Coast faces a dire situation in the upcoming weeks and months with the fast-approaching oil slick from the sunken Deepwater Horizon oil rig. Conservative estimates say 42,000 gallons of crude (1,000 barrels) are being spilled into the ocean daily, and the slick is over 300 square miles and growing (Oil Slick Probably Won't Hit Florida Beaches this Week.)

The Coast Guard will be burning the oil, which may remove between 50 and 90% of the petroleum distillates at the time of the burn, says Rear Adm. Mary Landry. However. she acknowledged the spill will still impact the shoreline: "It's premature to say this is catastrophic. I will say this is very serious," she said.

Efforts to activate a shut-off device that would halt the flow of oil on the sea bottom 5,000 feet below have been unsuccessful. The only alternative to staunch the oil flow is to drill a relief well nearby, which will take weeks to complete.

Transocean Ltd., owner of the lost rig, will begin drilling this week. This catastrophe was not supposed to happen according to all reassurances by the oil companies over the past 25 years. It now appears drilling in the Gulf is as safe as buying derivatives from Goldman-Sachs.

Our own Governor Charlie Crist seems to be channeling Christ at this desperate moment, always a good move in the Deep South and right before his election bid as a possible Independent.

"It's in God's hands now," Crist said after surveying the spill, possibly referring to the prevailing winds; possibly referring to the whole mess (Christ Tours Oil Spill Threatening Gulf.) Mr. Crist is also known to "pray away" hurricanes (see here).

In any event, neither would be a result of divine intervention. This tragedy was man-made; the winds are a meteorological phenomenon. That IS why we went through The Enlightenment, after all, that grand expansion of thinking which gave birth to our nation's Founders.

Now the taxpayers, through the Coast Guard and other government agencies, will be paying for the cleanup. The corporations skim the profits, while we pay to skim off the sludge from their mistakes. The AP reports the Coast Guard has not yet reported its expenses.

Channeling the public's fear mode, Sen. Mike Haridopolos, a Merritt Island Republican who is the Senate lead for proposed offshore drilling, said he wants to find out if this was "sabotage". Who is he kidding?

How now, Mr. Obama? Still going to allow drilling off our coast, after the unsinkable has sunk?

UPDATE, 4.29.10:

Gulf of Mexico Oil Slick Is Five Times Bigger than originally reported, releasing 5,000 barrels of crude oil into the Gulf for the next three months. This could shut down fisheries for years.