Thought-provoking column on BP:

Has US bloodlust for BP gone too far?

As each day goes by, the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico becomes more gruesome. Oil-drenched birds and turtles wash up along the shoreline, pristine beaches are polluted by balls of tar and an oily slick laps at Louisiana’s ecologically fragile marshland. Understandably, Americans are livid. But has the bloodlust directed at BP gone too far?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jun/10/us-bloodlust-bp-oil-spill

The author’s point is especially powerful in Decatur, where BP employs 300 at a former Amoco plant that has nothing to do with the oil spill beyond using refined petroleum. We all are guilty of that sin every time we fill up our gas tank.

My previous take on a related issue: Attacking BP is not so easy

Gulf Coast disaster a lesson in hubris

Rage, grief and disgust war for dominance as we watch red-black globs tainting our white beaches, coating pelicans, killing marine life.
While it’s worth the effort of finding out who to blame, the heartbreaking truth is it matters little. As more and more oil gushes into the Gulf, as hydrocarbon globules slither onto the beaches and marshes, we know that no one can make this right. A place of beauty, sacred to so many Alabamians, is being scarred.
Flowing in with the ugly Gulf tide, in addition to oil, is a painful lesson in our relationship with the world.
We are not a part of the Earth in the same way the dying pelicans and dolphins are. We are of the Earth, but have the ability to destroy it. We can work toward the world’s continuation or we can stand in opposition to its life-giving power.
Far more comforting to believe ourselves powerless. It we are trivial, we are not responsible. With weakness comes a release from culpability.
The oil spill accuses us, painfully, of our strength. We impact our planet in a way no other creature can. We have the power to destroy.
Power without humility is fatal. BP officials knew they had the power to tap the raging pressure below the sea floor; they lacked the humility to recognize that once the pressure escaped, they could not bottle it back up.
The collapse of BP would be a minor footnote in the unfolding disaster, but all of us can learn from its hubris.
Our power to break is not always accompanied by the power to fix. With our strength comes a responsibility to refrain from action until we understand our limits.
The devastation on the Gulf Coast is a testament both to our strength and our ignorance. It is a slap in the face of our belief that we can handle the Earth with impunity.
Wisely used, our ability to affect the planet and its inhabitants is a positive. We can stop climate change. We can prevent the extinction of species. We can clean, rather than foul, our air and water.
Like a global bully, however, we show far more muscle than brain. Too often we destroy, marveling at our intellect and forgetting the wisdom that must accompany it.
Buried in the oil-drenched sand of Dauphin Island and Gulf Shores is a lesson on hubris. It is a lesson we need to heed.

Election coverage

We’ve been working hard at The Daily to provide thorough election coverage to our readers. If you remain undecided in advance of the June 1 primaries, some links to our stories are below. First, a link to the Morgan County ballots. For other counties, click here and choose.

Democratic primary ballot

Republican primary ballot

Now for our coverage. This is far from complete, biased heavily on stories I have written, including some opinion pieces. If you have questions about a race not mentioned here, I encourage you to go to The Daily and type the candidate’s name into the search bar or click on the Election 2010 graphic on the home page.

For governor:

DEM, Artur G. Davis: 1, 2

DEM, Ron Sparks: 1, 2

REP, Bradley Byrne: 1,

REP, Robert Bentley: 1

REP, Tim James: 1, 2

For 5th District of U.S. House:

DEM, Mitchell Howie: 1

DEM, David Maker: 1

DEM, Steve Raby: 1, 2, 3

DEM, Taze Shepard: 1

REP, Mo Brooks: 1

REP, Les Phillip: 1, 2

More later…

Finally, Artur makes sense

U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, should be Alabama’s best hope as the next governor. He is intelligent, and understands that Alabamians have been duped for decades by special interests. Too often, though, he has chosen political expediency over principle. The most glaring example was when he voted against health care reform. Whatever you think about health reform, there can be no doubt it would benefit his constituents.

So I was happy when I received a mass fund-raising e-mail from him the other day. Mostly the normal political stuff, but this was significant:

There’s us, who recognize that whatever we thought about the substance of the national debate over health care reform, that debate is settled. And there’s them, a group of 23 state senators who voted last week to allow Alabama to opt out of the law.

The ultimate question with Davis is whether he would quit pandering to the polls when he becomes governor. Those who respect his abilities but are flabbergasted by his recent alienation of populist principles are left either giving up on him, or hoping he is a Trojan Horse. Maybe the real Artur Davis is a statesman who recognizes the sad plight of most Alabamians. Maybe the real Artur Davis will show his face as governor.

I’m not big on voting for Trojan Horses, but I did get some relief from his e-mail.

Eric Fleischauer

At ULA, reliability trumps cost

There’s no room for error when launching key military spacecraft, Gary Payton, the deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space programs, said Friday.

“We’re at the point now where our programs are so critical to the warfighter that we cannot afford a launch failure,” he said. Critical launches this year — all being carried to orbit with ULA’s Atlas V or Delta IV — include four “first of their kind” spacecraft: the first GPS Block 2F satellite, the first Space Based Surveillance System satellite, the first Advanced EHF communications satellite, and ORS-1, the first Operationally Responsive Space operational satellite.

“So I need four good launch vehicles,” he said.

With expensive and important payloads, the cost of the rocket is secondary.

“I am paying extra for mission assurance on all of our launch vehicles, but to me that’s great,” Payton said. “I would love to save $10 million on a launch, but if it costs me — if that launch vehicle fails and I splash a $2 billion satellite — then I’ve been pushing on the wrong end of the lever.”

“Launch reliability is my top priority. Our constellations for any of our missions cannot tolerate a launch failure.”

Payton’s comments are a reminder that human-rating ULA rockets should not be a major step. The cost of their payloads and their importance to our troops mean ULA is already building in as much reliability as possible.

◊Eric Fleischauer