Is the Coast Guard doing the right thing?

It sounds like a typical male territorial dispute. When each party is urinating on the other’s barge, thoughtfulness about what is “right” seldom comes into it.

Sounds like a lack of leadership from the Commander in Chief.

The other branches make fun of the coast guard, and this is not going to help lol. No they are not doing the right thing, there is also a safety violation in the fucking ocean lol….......

I think the Coast Guard was right in making sure that people were being safe. Shortcutting and negligence seem to be what got us into this mess. Making sure that the crews on those barges were properly protected with safety equipment was the right thing to do. It should’ve been done before the barges even started working. It sucks that they were shut down for 24 hours, but I think it’s best to be sure they have the proper safety equipment.

I believe in free speech but find Silhouette’s comment offensive. Am I out of line? If so, I apologize.

@ItsAHabit Yes you are out of line, they are just words and were not directed at any specific person on Fluther. Apology accepted lol.

@ItsAHabit I don’t think you are out of line. It bothers me some too, I just try to ignore it.

I oppose censorship and people must have the freedom to use such terms. But if they go unchallenged, they contribute to the problem of stereotypes. I’m not unhappy with Silhouette, but only with Silhouette’s choice of words.

@ItsAHabit Do you blame Obama when FedEx is late with your package?

Obama is Commander in Chief and as Harry Truman said, “The buck stops here.” He took full responsibility and didn’t try to blame things on previous administrations, the Soviet Union, sun spots, bad dandruff, or on anything else.

It is as I see it a civilians duty to help out in catastrophic events. To the extent that anyone doesn’t get hurt – and maybe that’s why the Coast Guard had to stop them. However, this is not really a natural catastrophe, and what these civilians are doing, BP should or at least give compensation for. How this crisis is handled is just crazy.

It sad that other nations including Britian, where BP is based, are offering help to clean up the oil spill in the U.S. but for a hefty price. Cleanup aid from overseas comes with a price. I feel that BP should be responsible for every penny of the clean up effort. Frankly, the British coast guards should be the head clean up crew.

Clusterfuck Nation at work. You’re right the American people will pitch in and get the job done, if the “officials” will just get out of their way. While they all line up to be the head ninny in charge, the problems spiral out of control. It’s always a bureaucratic pissing contest.

I heard one official from B P last week warning that this was a hazardous job and not every joe schmo boat owner could do it. They could end up causing more problems, rather than solving them. What would people say if the whole group suddenly went up in flames because they were unprepared?

Thanks, @YARNLADY, that was a sensible answer. (Don’t fall over.)

Nobody was out of line. You don’t like it, it’s fine by me, it is a matter of taste, my taste runs a little south of proper. To those who were offended I’m sorry, I’ll put a little effort into cleaning up my act. damn little, just a smidge

@YARNLADY For me that is a 2 fold answer….the easy one is at least they were doing something! The hard one is I am a member of our county MRC (Medical Reserve Corps) which was formed as a direct result of 9/11 where there were more volunteers than they knew what to do with and the local emergency responders and FEMA became so bogged down in managing the well wisher volunteers that they were too occupied to do the job they needed to do.

Not enough information to determine what is what…but from my perspective they will need all the oil moppers they can get.