Just catching up on old papers/mail and noticed Mr. Goens' article "Political blame game doesn't work". I'm not sure why it is not posted online...
I agreed with Mr. Goens' analysis of the blame game (i.e., Obama is not to blame for the spill and the political blame game does no good), until he ironically turned around and decided to blame "our greed." Along with BP, he blamed us for "refusing to demand our government find an alternative that will break our dependency on oil."
The government has spent billions of taxpayer dollars on alternative energy research going back to the 1970s. Private investors and venture capitalists are spending record amounts (the prediction is $5 billion this year alone). But yet, according to Mr. Goens, the gulf spill is the fault of the taxpayers for not demanding that some alternative be found. If science has not yet bowed to billions of dollars, why should it bow to public pressure? Of course, the answer is that science does not work that way and neither do basic economic forces like supply and demand.
Blaming the public does no good and is quite silly.
Original Post