Tuesday, May 4, 2010

This is just bizarre... Bill White's oil spill analysis...

First of all... is it really accurate to call this tragedy an "oil spill" so casually?

It is really more of an oil seep from the earth, based on a terrible explosive tragedy that killed about a dozen people... oil spill connotes a ship spilling oil like the Exxon Valdez... this BP event should probably have been called something else from the beginning... but since "oil spill" has taken hold I guess we are all stuck with it...

Bill White tried to seize on Rick's completely innocuous (link) comments that we don't know all the facts and it may have been an "act of God," which just refers to the legal term used by governments, insurance companies, and others who assess risk... also known as an act of Nature or freak accident or uncontrollable event... a tragic accident that may not have been preventable with our mere mortal technology... not an "act of God" in the bombastic preacher "God is punishing us" mode...

Bill White's campaign called White a "nationally recognized expert" on energy and put up a bizarre and rambling 10 page college style thesis by Bill White on this subject...


This is unreadable drivel... full of conjecture and opinions and speculation... it doesn't seem like something written by an expert on the situation.

Rick is not an expert on this. Bill White is not an expert. The only difference is that Rick has an open mind about it possibly being a fluke accident rather than an error by one of the rig operators or engineers... but Bill has made up his mind and is eager to show off how brilliant he thinks he is to everyone...

I don't think we know yet. I have read a lot about it, and it seems like it happened during a safe procedure, there were not any particular warning signs, and it may be a long time before anyone knows if it could have been prevented by anything other than not drilling there...

Rick got into a tiff (video link) with some reporters about this today and basically called them out for being sensationalistic and frankly dumb (link). Excerpt follows...
Gov. Rick Perry appeared decidedly annoyed when asked today about his mention of "acts of God" when answering a question in Washington yesterday concerning the BP PLC oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He defended his comments this way:

"Here's what I said, and I think it's an interpretation issue with one reporter, is what I think. If you will go look up the definition of 'act of God,' we've used it in legal terms for a long time in this state and the -- Nobody knows what happened, and I said that in my remarks, that there were you know a lot of speculation -- it could have been an act of God, it could have been you know, who knows?

"And I think to speculate at this particular point in time, which is what I said in my remarks, and there are those that would rather focus in on one statement without -- either not understanding which I hope they're teaching better than that in journalism school -"

He was interrupted by another question. Then, when I asked him what he meant by "act of God," he said:

"Here's what I want you to do. I want you to go look it up , the definition, in the dictionary. I meant exactly what Webster's says by that. It's something that no one can put their finger on, and it may be an accident it may be something else. I do think it is very intriguing that those of you in the media have focused in on one statement when the clear definition of that is pretty easy to get your hands on."

1 comment:

  1. Attaboy Governor Perry!! Someone needs to tell the media they are F__king up by spinning words of just conservative politicians, trying to make them look bad. The media is really stupid, I don't like any of them (I even think Fox sometimes gets it wrong from time to time, but at least they are trying and succeeding the most at being fair). The only thing I wish the Governor would say to them (of course they'd get their panties in a twist if he did) but I wish he would one day just look at them and go, "Shut the *beep* up!!! You never get anything I say right you morons, now I'm gonna have to start doing your job too... I already pick up the slack of the federal govt, now I guess I'll pick up the slack of the dumb*beep* media too!" I've never seen Perry lose his cool, it'd be awesome (and for the record, it'd be even sweeter if he lost his cool on the media)! Even when he said adios mofo he still looked like a sweet and innocent boy scout lol
    Keep it up Gov! Keep putting the media in their place!

    ReplyDelete

Hey now, campaign characters. Be nice. I know a lot of you on both sides, so I don't want any overly foul language, personal attacks on anyone other than the candidates themselves, or other party fouls. I will moderate the heck out of you if you start breaking the bounds of civility.