Editorial: Oil spill in the Gulf was slow-motion suicide in rush for more

By Bill Cato, Special to The Birmingham News
18 September 2011 […] We punched a hole in the Earth, and poison gushed from it. The fine folks at BP droned on about caps, junk shots and relief wells. They told us they were responsible and they would fix this problem. They bought full-page advertisements in newspapers throughout the Southeast. They treated that abomination like a public relations problem. And, of course, it worked. Dead dolphins wash up and there is no evidence the oil caused that. And all that oil? Gone. Miraculously. And the money to pay for the cleanup and suffering? Only a fraction has been spent. But this was no public relations problem. And BP was not solely responsible for it. This was the result of a horrendous crime we perpetrated against nature in our zeal to gorge ourselves on money, on the trinkets we collect. This slow-motion suicide attempt leads me to doubts and questions I have never before contemplated. For instance, I always took for granted that an oft-quoted verse from Ecclesiastes — “A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the Earth remains forever” — included the human race in the infinite cycle. I no longer feel assured of that. […]

VIEWPOINTS: Oil spill in the Gulf was slow-motion suicide in rush for more