Sure, We Love The Pelicans But We Need That Oil Money

Don't consider this a post about the oil spill. This post is about dependency and choices. Human nature is the same no matter what the personal situation is for people. When people become dependent on something for their survival it causes them to compromise other parts of their life to ensure that the support keeps coming. You have these young parents in the inner city that don't have a lot of education and opportunities so they get on government assistance. As years pass a lot of them depend on it. When you become totally dependent on it they don't really want to find a better job or get married because all of these things jeopardize their qualifications for assistance. Most of these people know that they should be trying to do better but they have never had to live without it so it's scary. That's why they appear to seem more ignorant than what they really are. The same rule applies to illegal money too. Those mothers you see on television crying after their sons are killed knew what a lot of them were doing but how do you put a stop to that when he's supporting the entire household financially. They don't want their sons risking their lives every day but they can't afford all the things he likes and where is that money going to come from if he's not hustling? Those kids weren't born criminals and their parents weren't born bad parents. They are all just dependent on a lifestyle that doesn't lend itself to good choices.

I feel the same way about my state and everyone fighting back against President Obama's moratorium on oil drilling in the Gulf Of Mexico until it's clear everything is safe. The fact that so many people are paranoid about a break in drilling even with thousands of gallons of petroleum washing up on the coast shows just how much we need oil money at all cost. We can't have it both ways.

I've lost count of how many days since the Deepwater Horizon exploded but since then all I have been hearing is people wanting the federal government to come in and fix the problem. Every night on the news you have to watch fisherman talking about losing their culture. You have to see birds and other animals fighting for their lives coated in brown oil. You have to see all these people with tears in their eyes and government officials looking helpless because they know there's nothing we can do about the situation because the oil is still leaking. Then the president comes in to take ownership of the situation and decides that since this is the worse environmental disaster in the nation's history it's probably a good idea that we make sure everything is being done correctly on the other rigs because if this happens again without safety measures in place then everything is doomed if it's not doomed already. That sounds reasonable to me especially since another leak from another well was found yesterday but now the sky is falling and the rigs are all going to move to other countries because they can't wait until everything is checked out for safety.

First of all, the only people I am concerned about are the ones that work on these rig projects. Their livelihoods are affected but they should be able to be paid by BP just like the fishermen because all of this is fallout of the oil spill. That takes care of them for the few months when no drilling is going on. Secondly, I find the notion that these oil companies are going to pull up those rigs and go to other countries. Even if they did they would come right back as soon as the moratorium is over. There is no way all of those oil companies are going to leave billions of dollars worth of oil alone forever because they had to pause a few months. Our country is going to drill for oil anywhere and everywhere we can. President Obama has already stated he's committed to it so there is no need to worry. We'll be back to risking our wetlands and hurricane protection in no time. That's what dependent people do. Louisiana is acting like the welfare queens of America. We want to do the right thing for our people and our culture but we are too afraid of what's going to happen if we lose that check so we let bad choices happen.