OPINION:
In listening to “America’s Morning News” today, I heard Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid bemoaning the BP oil spill disaster. Comparing it to the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989, Mr. Reid underscored the relatively moderate amount of oil spilled by Exxon, using data to impress upon his listeners the grave danger we are in due to exorbitant amounts of oil now spewing out on the gulf seafloor. BP’s executives, Mr. Reid said, must pay a price for their negligence. I’m sure Mr. Reid will make sure they do.
I wonder if Mr. Reid will ever pay a price for the role he played in causing our money to hemorrhage at alarming rates over the past year. I’ve heard it said that at former President George W. Bush’s worst of times, he presided over a deficit of $400 billion. We thought that was bad. Compare that to President Obama’s trillions of dollars in debt. Mr. Reid has been Mr. Obama’s partner in crime in this disastrous money leak all along. When will the American people get the chance to send these negligent lawmakers, who have never produced any single good that the American people can buy, to prison? These are lawmakers who know only how to bribe, bully and steal from the electorate - but not how to generate wealth or advance the human condition.
Let us consider Mr. Reid’s words on the Senate floor last week: “Wall Street isn’t the only place where a reckless pursuit of profits has proved destructive. … In the weeks since the Deepwater Horizon explosion, as much as 20 million gallons of oil have spewed into the Gulf of Mexico. Their greed led to 11 horrific and unnecessary deaths. It has harmed an enormous tourism industry, threatened business at countless fisheries and disrupted life for many along the Gulf Coast. As the pollution grows worse, those consequences will only compound.”
It is interesting how little of that speech needs to be changed in order for it to be true of the Obama administration: In the months since Mr. Obama took office, as much as $2 trillion has spewed into the black hole of the federal government. Federal greed has led to countless horrific and unnecessary deaths of private businesses. It has harmed an enormous tourism industry (i.e., Las Vegas), threatened business at countless levels and numerous sectors and disrupted life for many all over our great nation. As the deficit grows worse, those consequences will only compound.
BP’s punishment should be repeated by the Obama-Reid-Pelosi trifecta.
LISA WHEELER
Springfield, Va.
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