Political Lipskip

Coast Guard Shuts Down Oil Sucking Barges in Louisiana

I think I have to stop reading news blogs. I can’t take it anymore. The absolute incompetence and complete stupidity being demonstrated by the Administration and Coast Guard is going to be my undoing. Do these people actually want to stop the oil from reaching our shores or is it more important to follow some dipshit bureaucratic handbook? Gateway Pundit reports from ABCNews that Governor Jindal’s crude sucking barges have been ordered shut down by the feds. Get this:

Eight days ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state’s oil-soaked waters. Today, against the governor’s wishes, those barges sat idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.

“It’s the most frustrating thing,” the Republican governor said today in Buras, La. “Literally, yesterday morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges.”

Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP’s oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.

“These barges work. You’ve seen them work. You’ve seen them suck oil out of the water,” said Jindal.

So why stop now?

“The Coast Guard came and shut them down,” Jindal said. “You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, ‘Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.’”

A Coast Guard representative told ABC News today that it shares the same goal as the governor.

“We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer.

But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.

Fire extinguishers and life vests. Are you freaking kidding me? Is anyone in the impereial federal government operating with more than half of a brain. I sit here literally seething.