Secession...

Jambo and I had a good talk last night about secession from the United States... its legality and historical precedence. Mostly, we were referring to the States breaking with the Union beginning in 1861, but this morning, I'm thinking its more topical than either of us thought.

They have now found oil and tar balls in Lake Pontchartrain, LA (how it got there, I'm not 100% sure... but its there). To prevent further oil contamination of the estuaries and bayous of the State, Louisiana has asked that they be allowed to build rock barriers that would act as artificial reefs to catch and contain the oil before it has a chance to move inland. Well, the Feds have denied that request (specifically, the Army Corps of Engineers did), saying that the barriers were more harmful to the environment than the oil they'd be stopping.

Governor Jindal seems to have flipped out. In an article I read, the ACoE gives some lame excuses... but Jindal jumps in and blames the entire fiasco on the Fed's inept handling of useless regulation and micromanagement of the clean up. If ever there was a man ready to say the word "secede" it was Bobby Jindal... he keeps repeating the phrase "Get out of our way!" and it is beginning to show in the national polls, I think, because Obama's "handling" of the crisis is costing him opinion points left and right.

In all seriousness, I think this oil spill crisis is going to throw Bobby into the 2012 fray, whether he wants it or not. Who else is facing off, nose-to-nose, with Obama and the Feds the way Jindal is? Jindal isn't pointing fingers at BP and whining and crying... he's SCREAMING to be allowed to fix the problems as they come up the best way his State can, and with each idea and proposal, he is thwarted by the Federal bureaucracy. The man is looking like a frigging GENIUS, if for no other reason than he is pointing out that the Federal Government is NOT THE CURE-ALL Obama promised it would be.

If the Feds can't determine the fastest, most expedient manner in which to clean up this oil (or at least keep it off of our most fragile shores), and WON'T allow the States effected to do it for themselves, how can he HOPE to sell his agenda for such vastly more complicated schemes like "health care" or revamping the American economy?

What a joke...