What did we get for it? Nothing!
(AP) NEW ORLEANS - The big set of sand barriers erected by Louisiana’s governor to protect the coastline at the height of the Gulf oil spill was criticized by a presidential commission Thursday as a colossal, $200 million waste of BP’s money so far.
Precious little oil ever washed up on the berms, according to the commission -- a finding corroborated by a log of oil sightings and other government documents obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.
Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered the berms built over the objections of scientists and federal agencies -- and secured money from BP to do it -- out of frustration over what he saw as inaction by the Obama administration. During the crisis, Jindal boasted that the sand walls were stopping oil from coming ashore, and the idea proved popular in Louisiana.
Actually, we wasted $360 million, destroyed the environment, and diverted funds from other, more effective measures to protect Louisiana’s coastline. But no fear: Jindal’s campaign contributors got taken care of:
The berm project has been a boon to Louisiana industry: although many of the dredging companies working on the project have out-of-state headquarters, all have a major presence in Louisiana. The Shaw Group, the lead contractor on the project, is based in Baton Rouge and has been one of Mr. Jindal’s leading campaign contributors over the years.
All together now, children: Nobody could have anticipated that!
So just to recap: we have the Republican governor and his Greek chorus of equally ambitious GOP partisans using the oil spill to portray the Obama Administration as inept in a crisis. They demand the construction of a massive multimillion-dollar project which scientists and engineers say won’t work, and use the media to complain that the big bad government is "dithering," while never addressing any of the factual concerns experts raise about the project. The Obama Administration predictably caves out of fear of bad PR, and six months later we find the experts were right, and Bobby Jindal's project is a massive, expensive FAIL.
As the final cherry on top of a giant pie of suckitude, we have Jindal whining about "partisan revisionist history at taxpayer expense," government bureaucracies, and how his own failure proves the need for smaller government. WTF?
This is what happens when you cave to Republicans. You end up wasting massive amounts of money, you don’t fix the problem, and the assholes say mean things about you anyway. The only winners are the GOP moneybags who rake in the government contracts.
Lesson learned? Don't listen to this maroon:
