Tragedy to Triumph - American Entrepeneurship at it's Best

The temporary cap on the Deep Horizon Oil Well is not adequate to collect the crude oil that copiously gushes into the Gulf of Mexico. This is a great environmental tragedy, but it is not the time to point fingers of blame at companies, to send down lawyers to threaten lawsuits or to lecture governors. Instead, it is time to encourage the American People to do what they have always done best, and that is to make the best of a bad situation by making it profitable to solve a given problem.

Technical solutions to this environmental problem are really straightforward and do not require any more studies by the federal government because these problems have been discussed for years. First, keep the oil off your main shoreline by all means possible. You can block it from coming ashore by dredging artificial islands and by filling the gaps with booms. Second, you can burn the oil on the surface of the water using fire boom technology which has been with us for years. Third, you can chemically disburse the oils, although this has been controversial lately as some fishermen have become ill from the disbursants. They are not hazard free, but less problematic than having the oil reach the shore. Finally, there are oil-water separator ships used by the Saudi Arabians and other allies that may lend us the vessels to correct this problem. These ships would siphon the oil off the water, separate it, and return unsullied water to the Gulf.

When the oil does hit the shore, and it has, you had better be ready, and not wait for FEMA or some other Federal Agency to help you. Here is what states, businesses and individuals can do:

The great American oil refineries in Houston and across this country, but led by Houston and especially GATX, should to be given presidential permission to upgrade and expand their facilities and increase their shifts to 24/7 operations in order to receive the contaminated oil. Once they have that permission, they can receive the slurry of contaminated oil, re-crack it, and turn it into products such as the petroleum engineers determine. These could be everything from fetilizers, to plastics to asphalts. More than likely, the heavy oil would only be able to be used for heavy products like plastics and asphalt because of the evaporation that occurs at sea and the weathering effect of the sun and sea on the petroleum.

Once the American petroleum companies have received permission to expand their facilities, they should invite and encourage Fishermen, Watermen and other interested parties to be involved in all aspects of the oil cleanup operation with the incentive that they will pay fair market value for the oil collected. Usually emergency HAZMAT cleanup is pretty profitable, and it would keep Americans working instead of being laid off and sitting around at the marina, drinking coffee and feeling sorry for themselves. The best of the American Spirit would rise up - that we can do something to stop and even solve this massive oil spill problem.

The Seafarers know more about going to sea and handling cleanup than the government could ever teach them. Get out of their way and let them create their own plans to collect the oil. They'll do it.

Where volunteers and entrepreneurs are lacking, use forced labor because this is a national emergency. This means prisoners, others in trouble with the law, and welfare recipients, who should give back to their communities instead of taking. This is not about skilled work. We are talking about picking up blobs of oil from the beach, putting it in trash bags, and hauling it off to be dumped in an oil bin. Obviously, work camps would be segregated according to the risks demanded by the different communities.

This is a problem that is not going to go away in a a few weeks or even a few months. The oil spill problem may last for years the way the current leadership is handling it. We may need people to collect oil and contribute to oil spill clean up for quite a while, but it is one way to keep the American private flotilla of fishing and recreational boats and the American Merchant Marine ready reserve fleet fully operational. It would also provide economic incentive to help with the clean up operations.

Scott and Ruth Seiler

Money Saturated Stupidity

It's too much! I have to quote Sheryl Crow directly:

I have spent the better part of this tour trying to come up with easy ways for us all to become a part of the solution to global warming.

Although my ideas are in the earliest stages of development, they are, in my mind, worth investigating. One of my favorites is in the area of forest conservation which we heavily rely on for oxygen. I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don't want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required. When presenting this idea to my younger brother, whose judgment I trust implicitly, he proposed taking it one step further. I believe his quote was, "how bout just washing the one square out."

I also like the idea of not using paper napkins, which happen to be made from virgin wood and represent the height of wastefulness. I have designed a clothing line that has what's called a "dining sleeve." The sleeve is detachable and can be replaced with another "dining sleeve," after usage. The design will offer the "diner" the convenience of wiping his mouth on his sleeve rather than throwing out yet another barely used paper product. I think this idea could also translate quite well to those suffering with an annoying head cold.

This next idea I have been saving but I will share it with you if you promise not to steal it. It is my latest, very exciting idea for creating incentive for us all to minimize our own personal carbon footprints. It's a reality show. (I feel pretty certain NO ONE has thought of this yet!). Here is the premise: the contest consists of 10 people who are competing for the top spot as the person who lives the "greenest" life. This will be reflected in the contestant's home, his business, and his own personal living style. The winner of this challenging, prestigious, contest would receive what??.... a recording contract!!!!!

This is ridiculous. Here I am an average person trying to be a good steward for the environment, and there she blows about a removable sleeve (Never heard of a cloth napkin, lady) and a "reality show"! This woman has more money than sense and little compassion in my book.

Hat tip to JammieWearingFool for pointing me in this direction!

What are Democrats trying to accomplish?

I am an unabashed conservative. Not a Rush Limbaugh ditto-head. Not a right wingnut. Not a Phred Phelps Pflamer. Just a conservative leaning toward moderate that is trying to understand what is happening on the political scene.

I'm one of the people that Democrats would want to woo to their side. I'm not enamored with Bush, although I have supported him and do support (with only a little reservation) the war effort. I'm not happy with the leftward swing of those who call themselves conservative. I have strong feelings about social issues and care about the environment.

But I have to wonder what the Democrats are doing to attract people like me. First consider their leading presidential candidates. Hillary Clinton, based on her past baggage and association with "only the second president to be impeached in all of US history" (I'm quoting my dear husband), with her failed health care plan from the Clinton administration, and with her socialistic leanings does little to inspire trust in voters like me. She might rise to the occasion if she were elected, but she has no clue what to do with the war. Nor do the other Democratic candidates. It's complicated, but there is no "plan," as Kerry would say, on the Democrat side to end the war (nor any clear vision of the consequences of such action) outside of the "death by a thousand cuts" agenda.

Barak Obama is a man with so little experience who got lucky to be catapulted to national attention. He is more liberal than Hillary Clinton, and the church he claims to belong to has a statement of faith that appears to promote a bigoted form of reverse discrimination (everywhere you see the word "black" replace it with "white" and it could be the statement of faith of a racist white supremacist church.) Where DO the Democrats get these "leaders"? Don't they vet them first? Or maybe their leading candidates really do represent the views of the Democratic leadership. I find that possibility concerning!

Speaking of 'Death by a Thousand Cuts,' the flood of subpoenas demanded by the Democrats because of the legitimate firing of a few attorneys is this side of ridiculous. Here are some comments by Mark Davis:

What they seek to destroy is this presidency they loathe with their every breath. Mr. Gonzales has plenty to answer for, but the elevation of these attorney dismissals to a Watergate-caliber controversy is wholly without basis.

Add the irony that the voices stoking the scandal imagery are from the same congressional and journalistic outposts that have sugar-coated the Clinton years for more than a decade, and the spectacle borders on the obscene.

I've not even gotten into the shenanigans of Pelosi, (Barely had Pelosi been sworn in as Speaker of the House when the Dems began their assault on gun rights, free speech, freedom of religion, the right of bloggers to alert readers to contact Congress concerning pending legislation, and a host of other subversive legislation) Murtha and Dean, but to me they are equally disappointing for their pandering to the left wing of their party.

I'm not one of those voters who decides to skip voting in despair and disgust, but it may be that, again, I vote for the lesser of two evils in hopes that some real leadership will rise up in the next six years.