One would be wrong.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100620/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_commission
The panel appointed by President Barack Obama to investigate the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is short on technical expertise but long on talking publicly about "America's addiction to oil." One member has blogged about it regularly.
Only one of the seven commissioners, the dean of Harvard's engineering and applied sciences school, has a prominent engineering background — but it's in optics and physics. Another is an environmental scientist with expertise in coastal areas and the after-effects of oil spills. Both are praised by other scientists.
The five other commissioners are experts in policy and management.
Apparently, PresBo believes that engineering knowledge isn't helpful... but POLITICAL pandering IS.
Why else stock the panel with people who have been outspoken against "big oil" in the past? It doesn't even sound like they're going to do much worrying about "determining" anything. They already KNOW what is wrong, and most have some idea what they want the panel to recommend. And the panel hasn't even had it's first meeting yet!
The commission has yet to meet, yet some panel members had made their views known.
Environmental activist Frances Beinecke on May 27 blogged: "We can blame BP for the disaster and we should. We can blame lack of adequate government oversight for the disaster and we should. But in the end, we also must place the blame where it originated: America's addiction to oil." And on June 3, May 27, May 22, May 18, May 4, she called for bans on drilling offshore and the Arctic.
"Even as questions persist, there is one thing I know for certain: the Gulf oil spill isn't just an accident. It's the result of a failed energy policy," Beinecke wrote on May 20.
Two other commissioners also have gone public to urge bans on drilling.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't an INVESTIGATIVE committee formed to determine what went wrong actually... oh, I don't know... RESERVE JUDGEMENT until they've actually done some investigating?????
Doesn't that sound more reasonable than pre-forming opinions not only on what caused the problems but also on how to prevent future incidents?
So PresBo's response to this oil spill is NOT to actually try to fix it, but rather to play politics. INSTEAD of dealing with the actual problem, he wants to score political points.
It's business as usual for PresBo.
You are suggesting we need engineers on a commission? I think from the 18-odd commissions in effect...there's not a single engineer on any of these.
ReplyDeleteMy brother made a comment once (he's an engineer)...that when it came down to jury selection...he'd never be selected. He'd been told by some professor (Auburn naturally)...that both prosecutors and defense lawyers hate engineers. They ask questions and actually get into the inner workings of the entire legal mess. One engineer on a jury...could sway the entire jury in one direction or another...depending on the evidence presented.
I'm thinking Obama didn't want engineers on any of these commissions...because they'd naturally ask indepth questions and probably sway the entire commission in the same way they'd sway a jury.
Having engineers on a panel intended to diagnose what is likely an engineering problem doesn't sound that crazy to me.
ReplyDeleteBut at the very least he should staff the panel with people who haven't alredy made up their minds on what happened and what they will suggest to "fix" it.
I fail to see how an engineer or two could "sway" this panel... most of them seem to have made up their minds without even needing to meet ONCE!