Unfortunately for Obama, this disaster was caused by Hard Men.

fireclown: El Nino: Ah! I get it.. Phil thinks that when a company makes a mistake, the government should come in and clean up their mistakes! Right? ..Right?

well, after all this talk of the advantage of increased governmental involvement in matters of business, perhaps he has finally seen the light.

You know, it costs a lot of taxpayer money for the government to step in afterwards. Since Phil is a fiscal Conservative, he would also probably agree that the government should step in beforehand.. maybe to provide rules and regulations so that this doesn't happen in the first place...

...Right?

Firefighter of the year awaits the call-up ...

El Nino: You know, it costs a lot of taxpayer money for the government to step in afterwards. Since Phil is a fiscal Conservative, he would also probably agree that the government should step in beforehand.. maybe to provide rules and regulations so that this doesn't happen in the first place...

...Right?

I have to call a reality check here. Oil refining is hardly free of regulation. They are also enormously expensive to the point where they are ridiculously overengineered to prevent this kind of freak accident.

fireclown: El Nino: You know, it costs a lot of taxpayer money for the government to step in afterwards. Since Phil is a fiscal Conservative, he would also probably agree that the government should step in beforehand.. maybe to provide rules and regulations so that this doesn't happen in the first place...

...Right?

I have to call a reality check here. Oil refining is hardly free of regulation. They are also enormously expensive to the point where they are ridiculously overengineered to prevent this kind of freak accident.

It was a drilling platform, not a refinery.

Phil Herup: The President just sat back and did nothing for days and days.


This is Obama's Katrina

This is Obama's Waterloo.

Obama to send top men to observe oil spill. Top Men



"You know, in certain older civilized cultures, when men failed as entirely as you have, they would throw themselves on their swords."

Damn you, IXI Jim IXI! Beat me by 23 seconds.

/shakes tiny fist
//but seriously, we were the first to get the reference?

I've spent too much time on fark; I can't see "Herup" without reading it as herup-a-derp.

jigger: It was a drilling platform, not a refinery.

My bad. Those things cost what, 100,000 bucks or so?

So how's that Drilly-Baby-Drilly goin' for yah?

fireclown: El Nino: You know, it costs a lot of taxpayer money for the government to step in afterwards. Since Phil is a fiscal Conservative, he would also probably agree that the government should step in beforehand.. maybe to provide rules and regulations so that this doesn't happen in the first place...

...Right?

I have to call a reality check here. Oil refining is hardly free of regulation. They are also enormously expensive to the point where they are ridiculously overengineered to prevent this kind of freak accident.

I like this argument.

"Your honor, he's hardly ever murdered before! It's more of a freak accident."

IXI Jim IXI: "Go on..."



what is the Chiwetel Ejiofor reference?

Ulfhednar: Shatner's Bassoon: BooBoo23: Bullshiat. The words, "I'm pregnant" easily trump that.

What you say is true. I heard those words yesterday.

/still in shock

Uh, .... you do know how those things happen, right?

The penis goes in the vagina.

when will they send Top Shop?

jtips: when will they send Top Shop?

Look, the government deals in trillions of dollars..

....they can't afford Top Shop.

El Nino: I have to call a reality check here. Oil refining is hardly free of regulation. They are also enormously expensive to the point where they are ridiculously overengineered to prevent this kind of freak accident.

I like this argument.

"Your honor, he's hardly ever murdered before! It's more of a freak accident."

Aight. So what type of of further regulation would you propose in this wildly unregulated industry?

jigger: fireclown: El Nino: Oil refining is hardly free of regulation. They are also enormously expensive to the point where they are ridiculously overengineered to prevent this kind of freak accident.

It was a drilling platform, not a refinery.

Correct, of course, but so was fireclown - at least in the sense that offshore drilling is as regulated as all get out, and do have standard, required equipment to prevent blowouts.

JonnyBGoode: //but seriously, we were the first to get the reference?

To be fair, I think the actual wording was "key members of Parliament".

However, if George Clinton isn't going to worry about it, why should we?

fireclown: jigger: It was a drilling platform, not a refinery.

My bad. Those things cost what, 100,000 bucks or so?

Canadian.

leonel: So how's that Drilly-Baby-Drilly goin' for yah?

If you drive a car, stop.

These rigs have a history of having very high safety records; I'm actually surprised it failed as catastrophically as it did. I'm wondering if it wasn't sabotage. Environmental terrorism. We'll probably never know.

fireclown: El Nino: I have to call a reality check here. Oil refining is hardly free of regulation. They are also enormously expensive to the point where they are ridiculously overengineered to prevent this kind of freak accident.

I like this argument.

"Your honor, he's hardly ever murdered before! It's more of a freak accident."

Aight. So what type of of further regulation would you propose in this wildly unregulated industry?


I'm expecting, "Yo dawg, I herd u don't like blowouts, so we're making you install a blowout protector on top of your blowout protector."

throughthewire: jigger: fireclown: El Nino: Oil refining is hardly free of regulation. They are also enormously expensive to the point where they are ridiculously overengineered to prevent this kind of freak accident.

It was a drilling platform, not a refinery.

Correct, of course, but so was fireclown - at least in the sense that offshore drilling is as regulated as all get out, and do have standard, required equipment to prevent blowouts.

I see you have outdone me in pedantry. You win the prize.

fireclown:
"Your honor, he's hardly ever murdered before! It's more of a freak accident."

Aight. So what type of of further regulation would you propose in this wildly unregulated industry?

Unfortunately for our discussion, my knowledge on methods to further regulatory action in the oil industry is sub-par at best. I'm merely stating that it's mega-disasters, caused by mega-corporations, that make it hard to follow the mantra that less government in industry leads to positive overall gains for the country.

I dunno if that's the point you were trying to make or not.. I was just busting balls. :)

But my point still stands.

Top men huh, I always knew Obama was a power bottom.

JonnyBGoode: These rigs have a history of having very high safety records; I'm actually surprised it failed as catastrophically as it did. I'm wondering if it wasn't sabotage. Environmental terrorism.

I'd love to hear an even remotely plausible scenario on how someone would expect to pull that off. It wasn't sabotage or terrorism.

We'll probably never know.

Yes, we will. Offshore drilling is not going to stop, and everyone who does it will want to know exactly how this happened.

This is Obama's victory lap

Actually, I'm off point.

All I was trying to do was pick on a Phil for implying that the government should take a larger role in this, when he's usually making the opposite point. It's almost as if he didn't apply any critical thinking to his statement at all..

JonnyBGoode: These rigs have a history of having very high safety records; I'm actually surprised it failed as catastrophically as it did. I'm wondering if it wasn't sabotage. Environmental terrorism. We'll probably never know.

Except that this exact same thing happened in Australia not very long ago at all...and it was Halliburton doing the cementing there too...

So, if by "Environmental Terrorism" you meant "Halliburton", then...well, yeah.

jigger: I see you have outdone me in pedantry. You win the prize.




/Yay! I win!

ju66l3r: Except that this exact same thing happened in Australia not very long ago at all...and it was Halliburton doing the cementing there too...

Halliburton doesn't 'do' the cementing. They supply the cement to specifications of the drilling engineers.

/we hope it's to specifications

throughthewire: Halliburton doesn't 'do' the cementing. They supply the cement to specifications of the drilling engineers.

/we hope it's to specifications

Hopefully, they're not also in charge of wiring the toilets.

Gyrfalcon: El Nino: Actually, I'm off point.

All I was trying to do was pick on a Phil for implying that the government should take a larger role in this, when he's usually making the opposite point. It's almost as if he didn't apply any critical thinking to his statement at all..

No, it's EXACTLY like that.



:)

throughthewire: ju66l3r: Except that this exact same thing happened in Australia not very long ago at all...and it was Halliburton doing the cementing there too...

Halliburton doesn't 'do' the cementing. They supply the cement to specifications of the drilling engineers.

/we hope it's to specifications

I find your response shallow and pedantic.

fireclown: TheJoe03: This is Obama's Katrina

Really? I haven't seen any dead people yet. If this is his Katrina then he's doing a lot better than his predecessor.

Joke if you must, Obama would be wise to have some kind of plan in place. People have long memories for oil spills.

So they'll stop demanding more offshore drilling?

fireclown: Joke if you must, Obama would be wise to have some kind of plan in place. People have long memories for oil spills.

As well they should -- that stuff is valuable. Spewing it out into the ocean is so wasteful it should be criminal.

IXI Jim IXI: Hopefully, they're not also in charge of wiring the toilets.

Electric-toilets? Sounds like an even less pleasant version of the electric-chair.

ju66l3r: throughthewire: ju66l3r: Except that this exact same thing happened in Australia not very long ago at all...and it was Halliburton doing the cementing there too...

Halliburton doesn't 'do' the cementing. They supply the cement to specifications of the drilling engineers.

/we hope it's to specifications

I find your response shallow and pedantic.

Thanks!

Phil Herup: The President just sat back and did nothing for days and days.

This is Obama's Katrina


What? The free market can no longer take care of itself?

And here I thought that voluntary safeguards would keep this sort of thing from happening - and that private industry could clean up their own mistakes.

But at least Phil is now endorsing government intervention. Glad to have him aboard.

rufus-t-firefly: But at least Phil is now endorsing government intervention.



There is a time and place for gov't, this is one of them.


The other time is when you have E.T. at at your house.

NeauxFear: Nabb1: What the hell took so long? Was it John McCain's birthday last week or something?

Scuttlebutt up at the corner store just now (the BP command post is 2 miles away in Schriever) said that BP and Transocean were colluding to cover up the severity, then it leaked (pardon the pun), and now the feds are all over it. This place is blowing up, though, as various task forces are moving in.

Which means that the goverment will "federalize" this spill. BP will go broke after that, money is of no object now.