What the BP Oil Disater really means for America

Global Rumblings Miami, Florida Ann Warren, Key West, Florida Date: Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 8:02 AM An except from Rense.com:   The BP spill or leak, or whatever you want to call it, is a true disaster on a number of levels, many not easily seen or realized by most Americans. Of course, BP is to blame. Does that surprise anyone? That a corporation that has served as the United Fruit of the Middle East for decades now would put profit way above safety and environmental concern should surprise nobody. That a company that served as a corporate pimp for assassinations in Iraq and elsewhere would get itself into such a foul fix is not the least surprising. That a company that continues to supply the Pentagon, two American wars and nearly every American military base in the world with fuel and oil would not really be held to task should surprise nobody. That a company that has secretly served as a major supplier of information and corporate intelligence to the CIA and Pentagon for decades now should not receive a slap on the wrist should surprise nobody. That BP has not yet actually set aside any money whatsoever for reparations and damages, or anything else, should surprise nobody. But BP's past and current actions mean little to the true disaster that has taken shape in the Gulf. There are other things to be seriously considered.   First and foremost is that the disaster represents a dismal failure of leadership in America. One can't help but see the paralysis, fear and frustration on the faces of Obama's expert advisors and elite czars. Carol Browner has become a ghost of her former self, already haunted by her looming legacy as the environmentalist who failed to prevent a national disaster. Ken Salazar can't seem to lose his silly trademark cowboy hat, but nobody mistakes him for not being the Cadillac cowhand he really is. Janet Napolitano can't seem to get much of anything right, but have no fear America, she's working on it, and hey, everybody makes mistakes now and then, don't they. Vice President Joe Biden couldn't even get his feigned passions in the right order for his one visit and pre-packaged speech to the Gulf, before he flew off for a weekend round of golf, and then on to that other disaster, Iraq. Press aides privately said the fouled air near the spill was bad for the VP's hair implants. Then there is the president himself who can't seem to hit his right stride with anything he does or says about the BP disaster. His Oval Office talk to the country was forgettable before it was even over, leaving many listeners secretly wishing he had used parts of Jimmy Carter's infamous 'Malaise' talk. Oddly, the once-King of Hope and Change offers neither in a time of crisis. His leadership skills seem to have evaporated at a most inopportune time. Incredibly, Obama does not seem to see or grasp that government incompetence, red tape, and needless bureaucracy and regulations are severely hampering any attempts to slow the leak or to clean up the terrible harm it is spewing. This was once America, the country that could rise to any occasion, face any adversity, fight off any enemy; the country that was known for innovation, technological wonders and advancements, but now that nation can't gather the wherewithal to plug a major leak. Go figure.   People who live around the Gulf are in a mixed sate of mind so far, but the hallmarks of that state can be safely listed as confused, angry, disgusted, mistrustful, hateful, and afraid. Please notice that I didn't list hopeful or optimistic. Nobody I know feels those ways. If anything, the BP disaster has pushed those undecided about the ineptitude of government over to the side of those who think the two words are synonymous.   In terms of the big picture, the BP disaster marks the beginning of the real decline of America as an empire and a world power. Make no mistake that people in many parts of the world today openly mock our nation for its near-complete inability to truly rally as a people and to show a true spirit of nationalism in the face of adversity. It's summer, and countless numbers of high school and college students are jobless, not to mention millions of jobless workers, yet nobody considers hiring any of these people for disaster clean up. We are told that the BP disaster is a national problem and a national emergency, if not an international one, yet there is no real sense of urgency anywhere, except perhaps for the pressing problem of immigration in Arizona. It's too bad fish and water mammals and sea birds don't vote. If they did, this disaster would have been behind us weeks ago.