The answer is blowing in the wind

Gordon Robinson, Contributor

United Kingdom oil giant BP Plc is teaching the world lessons that hundreds of scientists and one 'Inconvenient Truth' could not.

Finally, we must acknowledge the reality that if we do not respect and protect our planet, it will deteriorate and die. We must start grasping the fullness of Newton's Law about actions begetting equal and opposite reactions.

"How many years can a mountain exist

Before it's washed to the sea?

Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist

Before they're allowed to be free?

Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head

Pretending he just doesn't see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind"

One man's greed causes another's famine. One man's sloth creates another's work. Greed + Sloth = Exploding offshore oil rig pumping 60,000 barrels of oil per day into the ocean from an uncappable hole 5,000 feet below the surface. It'll get worse.

Kudos to Barack Obama for limiting the finger-pointing and reacting as practically as possible. When a finger points, four usually point at you so, in these dire circumstances, why bother? We're all to blame for this mess, but the overwhelming majority of the blame rests with the American people whose insatiable demand for oil provided the environment that created cartels like OPEC from which it's easy to connect the dots to the world's current struggles with terrorism and oil giants like BP Plc.

The legendary Bob Dylan sums it up astutely:

"How many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky?

Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows

That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind"

Mantras like "drill, baby, drill" - a Republican Party rallying cry during its modern-day Custer's last stand against native uprising in 2008 - is what has helped to bring this expensive piece of global education upon us. Sarah (tall and) Palin's been very quiet since BP's rig exploded. Does she still support Alaskan offshore drilling as she did while squinting disapprovingly at Obama from behind rose-tinted spectacles while running for vice-president with John (I'm-not-a-Maverick) McPain? Is she still sounding like Dolly Parton singing a bad country song about gold-diggers?

"I'll oil wells love you.

I'll oil wells care.

I'll oil wells need you.

I'll miss you oil wells dear"

Blaming BP for the devastating oil leak is like blaming 'Zekes' or 'Presi' for crimes originating in garrisons. Who created the demand which BP flourished supplying? Who facilitated Zekes' control of the nation's capital when the government publicly admitted it could not? How does Presi allegedly build a fortress against law enforcement with tacit government support? How come? Whose fault? Zekes'? Presi's? BP's?

Of course not. It's our fault. In Jamaica, we allow frustration with bureacracy to lead us to surreptitious but active support of an available alternative garrison sub-culture. We've bred the crime monster against which we daily rail.

greed creating monsters

In Texas, where the greed for oil created the oil monster, an entire nation state (the second largest in the United States Federation) was stolen from Mexico in a bloody coup brewing from 1803 when Americans insisted that they had bought Texas, then a Spanish Colony, from France. Their claims (and clandestine invasions) failed but, after the 1821 Mexican War of Independence, liberal immigration policies by the Mexican government (in hindsight, a bit of cruel irony) gave Americans another toe-hold. An open revolt was initially quashed by the Mexican army led by Mexican President Santa Anna himself (including at The Alamo) but General Sam Houston's army later returned the favour, capturing Santa Anna and forcing him to sign a treaty ceding Texas. Suddenly, all Texas' vast natural resources belonged to America. They began by exploiting the obvious opportunities in cattle farming but, in 1901, fortuitously came upon an even more profitable natural resource - oil. By 1972, Texas was producing three million barrels per day. And so the craving began.

The federation's appetite grew until its gluttony led it into bed with an oil cartel whose motives, like the Mississippi river, ran quiet and deep, and by the time those motives became clear, the USA was so embedded that not even Saudi Arabian led terrorist attacks could prompt divorce. So, America's greed for oil ends up endangering its own life as the perceived lifeblood turns into poison. Will we act on the lessons learned? Windmills, anybody?

Peace and love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.