The idea that this is an unprecedented event is simply false. There have been worse spills in the Gulf of Mexico and much worse spills elsewhere in the world. Is it a mess? Certainly! Does it need to be stopped? Of Course! Is it permanent? Not any more than the 1979 spill http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100604/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_gulf_oil_spill_ixtoc

Accidents are the price for any activity. We don't stop all activity because things sometimes go wrong. This one is worse than it needed to be because we forced the oil companies to drill in 5,000 feet of water rather than in shallow water or on land where they could have stopped it almost immediately.

In a few years the mess will be a memory, I'm just hoping stupid over-reactions don't cause us to do stupid things that cost us jobs and prosperity.

We all like to think of ourselves as rugged individualists. But when push comes to shove most of us are sheep who do what we are told. Worst of all, a lot of us become unpaid agents of whoever is controlling the agenda by enforcing the current dogma on the few rugged individualists who actually exist.