American Demagoguery at its Worst

H L Mencken said that America was ruled by the booboisie. It still is, a century later. Today there are two stories. Tony Hayward is catching hell for taking Father's Day off, and BP is making progress towards capping the spill.

First, why shouldn't he take Father's Day off? Would he be helpful, a Brit, working in the Louisiana bayous scooping up oil? Aren't there enough unemployed Louisianans looking for a paycheck to fill any vacancy?

And has he ever had anything to contribute personally to capping the well? This is the worst accident in oil drilling history, and the people who will solve it are petroleum engineers, working for industry not the government. I hope they succeed soon. I don't expect all the people who happily drive cars powered by the petroleum they find to express any gratitude.

There's a lot of talk about the possible impact of a hurricane. What will eventually solve the problem is the natural process of degradation, which takes place because petroleum is a natural, organic substance. It breaks down as a function of its surface area. The surface area of the petroleum that has spilled goes up as the spill is broken up. A hurricane will speed up the process.

There are a half a quintillion gallons of water in the Gulf of Mexico. That's a real number, not like a gazillion. A quintillion is a billion billion. In six months, you will have trouble finding a beach with a tar ball on it. In two years, you'll never know this happened unless you're a research scientist and know where to look.

None of this is to deny that Joe Barton is a bought and paid mouthpiece of the petroleum industry. That's a separate issue.