A very sad Day

I've never attempted to write anything like this before, and probably I'm wrong in writing this on this forum, but before I retire for the night I have to blow off some steam, and have no other place to do so but here. If the moderators wish to remove it or if the members feel that it's not something that should be brought up on this forum I can also understand and I apologize for expounding off with my feelings.

This evening after dinner my wife and I took a ride. We went 15 miles north of town and sat at watched approx 200 head of elk, cows, calves and bulls in velvet. On the return trip we saw a cow moose and her calf crossing the freeway. I mentioned to my wife how nice it is to live in Montana, and go for a ride and see no traffic and enjoy the wildlife.

We returned home, and poured a cup of coffee and turned on the TV to watch the news. Obviously the news was primarily about the oil spill. I looked at my wife and she was crying. I asked what was wrong and her answer was the oil spill and what it was doing to our country. I have no shame to admit I joined her in shedding tears. I'm sure that most have seen the television commercial where Chief Iron Eyes was sitting on a horse looking at trash in a field and tears were rolling down his cheeks. This is how we felt.

I'm 73 years old, and I love this country. I probably have way more Archie Bunker blood in my veins than I should, but I certainly wish I have been born 73 years sooner, and I'm really hoping that I don't have many more the way things are going. I know I'm glad that I'm not starting a new family today.

I apologize for voicing my feelings, just had to get it off my chest, thanks for letting me vent.

Jiggs Elphison
 
Jiggs I too remember the commercial about trash you speak of. Amazingly enough, I think there is less trash along our roads (except by my driveway!) on the average. I cannnot nor do I think anyone can conceive the results of this spill. We as a nation have to comprehend we are not going to give up our dependence on oil, so forcing a company to drill so far out that procedures set in place don't work on pipes so far under with so much extra pressure. I am not pointing any fingers as I am ignorant of most of the facts of this.
Please don't perish prematurly! I really enjoy your posts! God bless you for your thoughts for the country, the people who are going to lose everything, from fishermen to people who rent cottages or food joints. I will stop here so I don't become political Jiggs, my grandson and I caused a young, very young fawn to jump up and run a zig zag pattern to another bed this evening while feeding his pony I brought home for him yesterday. Nothing like the eyes of a 3 year old pointing out the first deer he has seen up close and personal and watching him watch it run and bed down and him pointing. Keep the faith, the youngs ones have some good ones and this ole world will keep on spinning after our old fashioned ideas are put to rest.
 
Trade in your car for a horse, or bicycle. :D

If we were not forced to drill for oil at over a MILE, (get that in your head, OK a MILE under the ocean), then when this kind of accident occurs, it would be much easier to manage. :(

Look at why we are drilling where we cannot easily fix any mistakes, and in all human endeavors that will be mistakes made. :dunno:

Don't get me wrong, what has happened is a horrible tragedy, but, it will pass.

I only hope that from the mistakes that were made, the companies involved learn something. :thumb:
 
I couldn't agree more Jiggs. I don't shed tears I just get angry. I hate politicians who Immediately look to place blame and cover their butts rather than fix the problem first. I can't stand companies that cut corners on safety or technology just to add to their bottom line.
Its a fact that we are going to be dependent on oil for quite some time and we need to drill where ever we can find it. But there has to be fail proof methods of preventing damage to the environment and excessively harsh penalties for those that cause them.
My heart really goes out to those who are economically affected by BP's actions.
I'm not one of those who demand a boycott of BP gasoline. There are too many families from the US that would be affected by this silly action, but BP has to pay up big time. We need public over-site to make sure that all the money goes to clean up and to those affected not into the pockets of greedy politicians.
 
i too like nature jiggs, and was in alaska to see the valdez aftermath and what they are still dealing with there but they did do a real good job at fixing that mess but time will tell how this one goes.. and for your drives ,,count your blessings that you can still see them.. every drive you take is one memory that others cant take away..
 
Your post is fine. I agree.
The Gulf oil spill is something to cry about.
It is an environmental tragedy beyond comprehension. And, remember, humans are part of the environment. People are suffering there, not just pelicans.
 
i've been watching this spill since it started out as an accident, then evolving through governmental delays, foot dragging, refusal to use technology for taking care of problems like this, simply because it wasn't created here, to the mess it has become today. what really gets me, and don't get me wrong, it's one big mess, but it is not the worst thing to happen like this in the gulf, and surrounding area. the worst was world war 2. i spent the morning the other day just looking up shipping losses, looking up tankers that were lost in the gulf of mexico, the east coast, and the carribbean, and here's what i came up with.... (the majority of the sinkings were between feb and dec of 1942)

gulf of mexico: 18 tankers sunk, over 1,234,794 barrells (67,913,670 gallons) of crude oil and other products (gasoline, kerosene, heating oil, etc), went into the gulf.

carribbean: 42 tankers sunk, 1,757,708 barrells (97,223,940 gallons) of crude oil and other products went into the carribbean. (which is really close to the gulf of mexico).

east coast of united states: 35 tankers sunk, 2,869,730 barrells (157,835,150 gallons) went into the waters around the east coast.

for a total of 95 tankers sunk (i did not included tankers damaged), 5,862,232 barrells (322,422,760 gallons) of crude oil and other products dumped into the waters ranging from the east coast, to the gulf of mexico, to the carribbean.

all this oil and such spilled, and none of our modern techniques to clean it up. kind of puts this one accident in perspective, doesn't it?
 
a BIBLE VERSE stated that the seas will give up the dead---do this implies that all life in the sea will die in a short time-period ?
 
I've watched all the political (can I say political here) maneuvering, and finger pointing and such since the spill began. I hate what it's doing to the coast line. I also have another perspective of the whole thing... I worked for many years in the transportation industry and many of my clients were the oil drilling companies that were drilling around the world. From what I have been hearing and seeing, a lot of precautions were not taken and some were blatantly ignored. The unfortunate and tragic thing is that along with a destroyed coast line, we also lost 11 men which also destroyed 11 families. I believe the company is doing what it can to stem the flow of oil... as has been pointed out, the well head is 5000 feet under water and it must be incredibly difficult to operate at that depth.

I read somewhere that we never needed to drill off shore... there is an oil reserve in your territory Jiggs that is greater than all of the oil in the middle east that has never been tapped.

At any rate, we will be under this for many years to come.... I heard that 20 years after the Valdez, there is still oil coming ashore in Alaska... we may not have to wait for global warming.... we can find other ways to destroy ourselves. As Josef said, the human race may perish, but the earth will rebuild herself...she has something humans don't have.... TIME... watch the TV series "Life after People"
 
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