second battle is the effort to contain the tens of millions of gallons of oil that have already polluted the gulf and its coastline. Here, too, the administration has gone by the book and pressured BP to honor its responsibilities. It should be clear by now that this has been a mistake.

The Post reported Monday that the administration has received offers of assistance from 17 nations. Sweden has volunteered to send three ships that can each collect about 15,000 gallons of oil an hour. Norway has offered to send nearly a third of its oil-spill response equipment. Japan has offered to send some boom, which authorities on the scene complain is in short supply.

The Swedes, the Norwegians, the Japanese and most of the other would-be Samaritans are still waiting to hear from the U.S. government or BP. Last week, according to The Post, the administration did ask the European Union to help with any specialized equipment it might have. But meanwhile, oil has penetrated the marshes of southern Louisiana and is lapping onto the beaches of Alabama and Florida. The main spill is spreading, and hurricane season is upon us.

Every available piece of equipment in the world that can vacuum, skim, scoop or sop up oil ought to be in the gulf by now, deployed under a central -- probably military -- command structure. The beaches should be defended as if from a threatened enemy invasion. This is a time for overkill, for the Powell Doctrine, for "decisive force."

Of course in the case of BP it's clear that they need not worry about targeting high levels of compliance as they simply bought politicians instead. And it's precisely that kind of environment that empowers the dice rollers within an organization.

I'm asking you for your good and for your nation's security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel.

at least that's an action plan of sorts

this today from a blogger who was a strong Obama supporter & has a few ideas about what Obama could do "short of ordering the Navy to randomly fire torpedoes at the leaking wellsite and making BP executives do a perp walk":

I do not understand why he did not announce the commandeering of oil tankers. I don't understand why we have not accepted the Swedish skimmer offer. I do not understand why he did not call for a national volunteer movement to clean the gulf. I did not hear Obama exert his supreme power to move all the levers of government to solve the greatest environmental disaster in US history. . . . I cannot understand why the President did not demand specific dollar amounts escrowed for the benefit of victims and all the gulf states. The President offered no specifics on how the fund would work, other than to say it will "not be controlled by BP," and "administered by an independent, third party." I do not understand why Obama parroted BP's guarantees that 90% of the spill will be contained soon. August is not soon and the only way to cap the disaster is an unpredictable bottom kill. The relief wells are not a guarantee. The Mexican Ixtoc oil gusher had to drill five relief wells in a shallow water disaster. How the President can parrot BP's apologies and message is hard to understand. . . . Mr. President, you failed your first Oval Office speech. . . . though I lean progressive and will continue to do so, I hope someone runs in a primary against you.

Life and limb, human well being, ecological devastation: all just trifling considerations to be subsumed under the all powerful, overriding "cost benefit analysis" model; a prime example of Nietzsche's "Life cutting into life", if there ever was one..

The largest commodities fine was against 4 BP traders $300 million in 2007.

Seems like $20bil is a comfortable start. They will have to put $20bil up as collateral in US assets, and then $5bil/year for four years.