Gulf Spill Dispersants Sickening Residents?

If there is anything that modern history has proven, it is the limits of human understanding. Every human solution seems to create new and interesting problems. The Gulf Oil Spill is no exception. While direct environmental damage appears to have been much lighter than the Exxon Valdeez spill, evidence is mounting that the chemicals used to prevent oil slicks - called "dispersants" - are ravaging the bodies of some residents.

Many of the chemicals present in the oil and dispersants are known to cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, kidney damage, altered renal function, and irritation of the digestive tract. They have also caused lung damage, burning pain in the nose and throat, coughing, pulmonary edema, cancer, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, difficulty breathing, delayed reaction time and memory difficulties.

Further health problems include stomach discomfort, liver and kidney damage, unconsciousness, tiredness/lethargy, irritation of the upper respiratory tract, hematological disorders, and death. Pathways of exposure to the chemicals are inhalation, ingestion, skin, and eye contact...

Since the onset of his symptoms, Doom has been dealing with ongoing internal bleeding, nose bleeds, bleeding from his ears, blood in his stool, headaches, severe diarrhea, two to five seizures per day, paralysis in his left leg and arm, and failing vision.

"A toxicologist that interpreted my blood VOC results told me they didn't know how I was alive," Doom explained. "My Hexane was off the charts, and I have 2 and 3 Methylpentane, Iso-octane, Ethylbenze, and mp-Xylene."

While I have great sympathy for those affected by this disaster, I will admit that I am shocked by the high number of people in this article who chose to go swimming in the Gulf during the disaster. Did they expect that there would be no consequences for swimming in seawater tainted by oil and chemical dispersants?

Gulf Oil Spill drives Southerners to the Jersey Shore

It may have been inevitable as BP and the Federal Government have fiddled while the Gulf of Mexico has been fouled by the oil spill. Southern tourists who would normally vacation along the afflicted shores of the Gulf are seeking other destinations. And many are headed for the Jersey Shore. This is good news for New Jersey tourism, but may be extra-bad news for Gulf towns whose only real economy is serving tourists.

Local tourism officials can't provide hard numbers, but cars from Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and other states below the Mason-Dixon Line appear to be in greater supply at the Shore this summer.

"I'm hearing a lot more southern accents this year," said Susan Martin, a reservations manager at the Golden Inn in Avalon. "And I just love the sound of it."

There has been an increase in the number of Southerners booking rooms, Martin said. They don't say why they are coming, she said, but many have identified themselves as first-timers.

The newcomers are finding their way largely on their own, say those in the tourism industry. New Jersey this year eliminated its national multimillion-dollar Shore promotional campaign, leaving resort towns complaining even before the gulf disaster about their inability to compete with rivals such as Ocean City, Md.

Irony, Thy Name is Minnesota

I love "unintended consequences" stories, but sometimes you come across a story where the outcome was entirely foreseeable and thus not truly "unintended". Take the case of Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who defied the census and advised her constituents to do the same. Her reasoning was that the Constitution only required enumeration and no more from citizens.

What was the outcome? It appears that Minnesota will be losing a congressional seat from the census... and it is almost certain to be hers. Oops. Perhaps it is time to rethink the strategy. Then again, it is probably too late.

Be alert, new banking fees are on the way

Most consumers are not aware of it, but the CARD Act of 2009 and the new Regulation E (which seeks to reduce Overdraft fees) are sure to have a significant impact on the way they do banking. These two regulatory changes are designed to cut down on practices which are consumer-unfriendly, but which contributed significantly to the bottom line. Without these options, be expecting banks to go out of their way to create and assess new fees to make up the lost revenue. Be especially mindful of inactive accounts which you may have forgotten, which banks may now start charging "inactivity" fees against.

Green Law pays Paper companies to increase use of fossil fuels

Thomas Paine once said, "That government is best which governs least." This saying is widely quoted among the Conservative community to justify smaller government. But Conservatives have not done a great job in the last decade to really illustrate why Big Government is a bad idea.

Enter the paper industry and George W Bush. During his administration, a law was passed giving tax credits to companies who made use of alternative energies in place of fossil fuels, or to companies who combined an alternative fuel with a taxable fuel. The paper industry - depressed by the current economy and the use of paper amidst eBooks, internet advertising, and the fall of newspapers - has begun adding diesel fuel to a fossil-fuel-free process in order to claim a tax credit.

Despite the obvious contrivance of the procedure, Wrobleski is unapologetic: "The credit is supposed to encourage the use of green fuel." Sure, I said, but isn't it a bit weird you're now adding diesel fuel to the process in order to take advantage of it? "It is what it is," she said.
Others are less charitable. "You use the toilet every day," said one hedge fund analyst who's been closely following the issue. "Imagine if you could start pouring a little gasoline into the bowl and get fifty cents a gallon every time you flushed."
No one in Congress seems to have anticipated this creative maneuver. This past fall the Joint Committee on Taxation computed the cost of extending the tax credit for three months and projected it would cost a manageable $61 million. It now appears that the extension (which was passed as part of the TARP) could cost as much as $2 billion before the credits expire at the end of this calendar year.

This needs to be reported in every major paper in American. It hardly makes me hopeful that President Obama's complex stimulus plan will accomplish the aims it was designed for. More likely, it will be misused by a number of companies to accomplish their own means at the expense of the tax-payer.