This Judge Is a Loser

Warning to readers: this judge is a “loser.” This judge (Martin Feldman) should be cleaning the beaches and the pelicans of the Gulf of Mexico instead of issuing out “justice.” This judge has, or has had, interests in Transocean and Halliburton, which were the two “allies” of BP in the accidental leak, and in four other companies connected to the big oil tankers (Prospect Energy, Hercules Offshore, Parker Drilling and ATP Oil & Gas).

And this judge goes and opines that Obama should not detain the oil drilling in the great marine depths. What an “arbitrary and capricious” decision! Nothing has happened here, so let’s just leave it up to BP’s free will as to whether they will do their part in repairing this disaster.

The most scandalous fact is that this judge — behind the backs of the State of Louisiana and Gov. Bobby Jindal — has been practicing that double standard Republicans have become so good at: with one hand, raising Cain, and making the bed of the oil tankers with the other.

Even worse, the majority of the people of the Gulf of Mexico think that it’s a bad idea to temporarily prohibit oil prospecting and expect the government to be even more permissive in granting new licenses. A New Orleans newspaper, the Times-Picayune, has rallied to the repetitive choir of “Drill, baby, Drill!”, claiming that the temporary close of the 33 exploratory oil wells will mean the loss of 24,000 work positions.

“This is environmental disaster. Let’s not make an economic disaster,” proclaims lawyer Henry Dart, who represents the State of Louisiana and speaks without a doubt for hundreds of thousands of countrymen that consume oil, which is the pillar of the local economy, next to fishing and tourism.

Looking in from the outside, and contemplating the ravages that already affected the water in the Mississippi delta before the spill, people ask themselves what would have to happen in order for Louisiana and the United States to come out of their proverbial blindness. According to a recent poll from the New York Times, the majority of North Americans want an alternative to oil within the next 25 years, but this same majority opposes paying a cent more for a precious gallon of gasoline.

The crude oil, in the meantime, keeps poisoning the sea at the rate of 60,000 barrels per day, and it’s been 64 days.