Louisiana Rep. Charlie Melancon moved to tears by gulf spill

[kpete]

Source: Washington Post

Louisiana Rep. Charlie Melancon moved to tears by gulf spill

By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 11, 2010; C01

GRAND ISLE, LA. -- Great globs of oil are churning in the surf. Muck-covered pelicans sit offshore, white only in their eyes. Here -- in a beach town living its nightmare -- Rep. Charlie Melancon (D) gets up at a community meeting.

He does whatever is the opposite of grandstanding: He explains what he can't do to help.

"I, like you, am just feeling so helpless that there's a hole out there," Melancon says to the crowd, filling the compact First Baptist Church. "Until we get that hole stopped, we're all in peril."

For all the politicians bogged down in the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, this is the essential dilemma: How does one look effective while actually flailing?

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/10/AR2010061005116_pf.html

[derby378]

1. Since Texas hasn't been hit by the disaster yet, my mind is racing...

I feel so fortunate that the oil has yet to reach our shores and ecosystems, yet at the same time I can't help but feel shame and guilt at what has happened to our friends in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Our coastal reserves will endure for now, but the operative phrase is for now. I fear we too will share in the Gulf's collective suffering because of BP's pallid incompetence.

[jwirr]

2. The problem with all of us is that we are expecting miracles but we

do not believe in them! Since when do we the people of this world think that we can somehow live without problems if we JUST.......
And some problems do not have answers. I get upset every time I see the add for a world without hunger. Sure it is possible in an ideal world with people who are all childlike and have already learned to share. But that world does not exist. Human nature is the problem.

I feel sorry for the politicians in the Gulf area because they are seeing something that they may not have the power to fix, like a father who is watching his child die. We have a lot of problems for the future that are going to be like this: climate change/global warming, oil depletion, over population, food shortages, epidemics, etc. There will be some that we can do something about but we had better toughen up because there may be others that will not be fixed and the only thing we can hope for is survival.

[kestrel91316]

3. This oil leak is a GOOD thing: it has forced fishermen to stop harvesting

abominations like shrimp and oysters, which are forbidden by the bible anyway. So it's good for people's eternal souls.

:sarcasm:

[wordpix]

4. at least he is not blaming O for the "moratorium" closing 33 wells out of 5106

he needs to sue BP on behalf of his district, IMO