Moronica in the Gulf

Well, the worst case scenario has happened in the Gulf of Mexico. A BP oil well blew up and now thousands upon thousands of barrels of continually leaking oil is in the process of turning the Gulf of Mexico into the floor of a badly kept Auto repair shop. The cause of this disaster is still unknown and is threatening to make the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska look like a minor oil leak. Men have died, shrimp fishing grounds are ruined and pristine beaches and not going to be so pristine anymore. What a shame.
Back in the 2008 election, and I know I am going to hear about this, the Republican mantra for solving our oil problems was to drill, baby, drill. Both John McCain and Sarah Palin espoused this mantra in their campaign. They wanted to open up unspoiled areas in Alaska, Florida and anywhere else where there may be a barrel or two of oil to be found for drilling. We can now see where this policy would have led us if enacted without protective regulations. Even President Obama has now loosened the noose to allow drilling in certain areas that have been off limits.
While we do need new sources of oil we have to do it smartly. Certain groups of people do not want to do things the way countries in Europe do. Why is that? Here is a perfect case in point of why we should look at Europe for ideas to better our nation. Norway, for example, does not allowing offshore drilling UNLESS the rig is equipped with a shutoff valve at the base of the pipeline before it enters the ground. We in the United States do not. Why is that? Why are we not smart enough to take these steps to prevent a disaster like the one that is now occurring in the Gulf. A shut off valve would have been triggered and the oil leak would have been stopped, but NOOOOO!!! Heaven forbid that the oil companies spend some of their billions in profits to protect us against situations like this but that would mean government interference of the oil company's right to pollute our lands and seas. We can't have that now can we. Heaven forbid we have a regulation that requires all offshore rigs to have a shutoff valve in case of a disaster. Since they do it in Europe we cannot do it here because we cannot adopt anything European as that would mean we might start leaning towards becoming a more socialist type nation. And again we cannot have that.
Again certain groups have been clamoring to open up areas for drilling that are now off limits. We cannot have this until steps are taken to protect the environment from accidents like this. Areas of the Gulf will now be polluted for years and the total extent of the damage has yet to be calculated as the leak is nowhere near under control at this time. Shutoff valves must be required on all new rigs and older rigs need to be retrofitted with them immediately. So it reduces an oil companies profit from 15 billion dollars down to 14 billion dollars for a year. So what? We deserve to have our environment protected so that we can enjoy it and so can the animal life of the area without fear of something like this ruining it for all. Is it too much of a price to pay for this protection? I do not believe so and the government should take immediate steps to prevent this from happening again. The right of an oil company to ruin our environment is a right I would gladly like to see taken away.
So sayeth your King.