Louisiana politics is not for the faint of heart. The shenanigans that go on inside of the house that Huey built would make even New Jersey lawmakers laugh. However, the recent actions (or lack thereof) by Louisiana's elected officials have those of us that normally would chuckle shaking our heads in disbelief. Instead of asking for help from the federal government in cleaning up the state's beaches, the state Seante is asking for help from God to end this disaster.
The Louisiana State Senate designated yesterday a statewide day of prayer. The resolution was introduced by Senator Robert Adley (R-Benton), who said in a press release that, "It is clearly time for a miracle for us." Adley is correct. The Gulf Coast region needs an act of God by God himself to fix this mess. However, Adley is incorrect in his assertion that "the efforts made by mortals to try to solve this crisis have been to no avail." At best, the efforts of those mortals to prevent the initial blow-out and clean up the resulting mess have been half-hearted. TransOcean and BP's gross negligence was the result of their desire to save money. The two companies, the leasee and the owner, respectively, failed to implement safety devices and shut-off valves on the Deepwater Horizon because it was not mandated by federal law. BP's use of booms, junk shot, top hats, top kills, and dispersant are no more effective today than they were thirty-one years ago. State officials have not been any more effective in their clean-up efforts. Governor Bobby Jindal has failed to declare a state of emergency and ask President Obama for federal assistance to help clean Louisiana's shores. Instead, Governor Jindal (pardon the pun) drags his feet in the sand and complains about the lack of federal involvement in an attempt to discredit President Obama's administration and to drum up support for the GOP and himself in this Congressional election year (which is also one year away from Louisiana's statewide elections). Simply put, British Petroleum and Bobby Jindal are protecting their bottom lines--BP, its pocketbooks; Jindal, his and his party's chances during the upcoming election seasons.
If a miracle is needed to fix the problem in the Gulf of Mexico, why would God want to give us a "Get out of Jail Free" card? After all, Transocean, Halliburton, and BP could have invested a few hundred thousand dollars in safety mechanisms that, theoretically, could have prevented this disaster from happening. BP could have used some of the millions of dollars it spent on its public relations campaign to speed up the clean-up process and to develop new technologies to clean up oil spills like this one. The Good Lord gave the human race the intelligence and the resources it needs to prevent disasters like this one from happening. Those responsible for disasters like this shouldn't be pleading to a higher power for a bailout when their own laziness results in a tragedy like this.
Senator Adley's resolution and the day of prayer itself were wonderful gestures, as they showed the world that Louisianians are holding out hope for a miracle that will end this disaster. However, the prayers of the faithful do not take oil out of the water or off of the beaches of Louisiana and the rest of the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico. Only BP and the workers on the ground have the ability to do this. Asking God to clean this mess is impractical and irresponsible. To quote Freddie Mercury, "If there is a god in the sky looking down, what can He think of what we've done to the world that He created?"
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