The Current Louisiana leadership has no comprehensive rehabilitation for their State.

To begin with the President and his staff, including the Coast Guard, have done incredible work.  I was reading comments yesterday by Jindal, the Parish Presidents and other right wing pundits; I was not impressed.

Ret. Adm. Thad Allen met Friday with Louisiana's parish presidents to discuss clean-up efforts on the state's coastline. Some local officials are suspicious of the government's claim that most of the oil that leaked in the BP oil spill has been cleaned up or broken down by dispersants. They don't want the Coast Guard to remove any equipment until they're satisfied the job is complete.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/npr.php?id=129195927

In one comment Jindal and a Louisiana parish president stated the gulf fisheries can't be open because the oil was still an issue.  I get the impression Jindal is sad to see the crisis end.  The State of Louisiana chronically states each Parish has unique needs and has to have individual plans for restoration.  Fine, but, there can't be THAT many issues that differ from each other.  It is appearing more and more like Louisiana politics and not a real emergency.

Not long ago Jindal was stating he had the best seafood in the nation and it was safe.  It was even being certified to be safe.

..."We need to be able to demonstrate, based on hundreds of samples every month, that this continues to be the safest seafood you can get anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world," Jindal said at a press conference Monday in Venice....

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/08/with_commercial_fisheries_reop.html

Now it seems as though the same people that were forcing the Gulf fish onto the dinner plates of Americans can't find satisfaction with the same certification idea UNTIL they get a twenty year commentment by BP to carry out these tests.

Tell me that makes sense.  Jindal states the Louisiana fish are safe through certification and yet they want a 20 year commitment from BP to certify the fish is safe.

??????????????

The issue here is not what is APPROPRIATE for BP to fund or not to fund or to certify or not to certify, it is a matter of how long Jindal can keep the Louisiana people on 'the gravy train' and him in office and aspiring to be the next USA President.

The political volley has to stop.  There is no reason for Jindal and the Parish Presidents to continue to treat each parish as if it were their own 'nation.'  There are issues Louisiana faces and there is a 20 billion dollar trust fund that will settle those issues.  There is no way BP should or could commit to anything above what they already have committed to providing.

...The fund does not represent a cap on BP liabilities, (click title to entry - thank you) but will be available to satisfy legitimate claims. Further and more detailed terms regarding the establishment and operation of the claims fund and the ICF will be finalized and announced as soon as possible.
As a consequence of this agreement, the BP Board has reviewed its dividend policy. Notwithstanding BP's strong financial and asset position, the current circumstances require the Board to be prudent and it has therefore decided to cancel the previously declared first quarter dividend scheduled for payment on 21st June, and that no interim dividends will be declared in respect of the second and third quarters of 2010....
 
I don't like any of this either.  The entire disaster is monumental and it has turned the economy of the USA into mush.  The entire Gulf Coast is in ruins and we gratefully are still only looking at a 9.5% unemployment rate which never increased in the face of this mess into double digits.  The USA is losing jobs, but, can anyone ever say they didn't expect that after this struck.  No one in DC expected the 'recovery' to include an oil disaster with global implications.
 
The fact of the matter is BP has been 'on the job.'  They have never left the Gulf of Mexico and abandoned their responsiblity.  Someone has to be at least grateful for that much.  They have worked incredibly well with the Obama administration and painfully and carefully this nightmare is coming to an end.
 
One of the most bizarre comments I read yesterday stated, "The East Coast was never struck by oil spills like everyone said so therefore the officials at the head of this thing have been scaring people for no reason."
 
Like what?
 
The reason there wasn't huge oil amounts traversing the East Coast is because the oil dispersants kept it in the water column in the Gulf of Mexico.  It had nothing to do about the immediate estimates and danger to the global circulation because of the Gulf Loop Current.  NOTHING.  I wish the political lies would end so the USA could live 'with reality' and make good decisions regarding the future of its oceans and coast lines.  Florida gets my vote in being sure their beaches are nowhere near offshore drilling.
 
The people of the Gulf Coast have to take a long and hard look at the 'opportunists' that line their State and Local governments.  They have to reflect on their lives and the intensity of the misery within them.  It is unconscionable the people that service the BP oil rigs are living in poverty while stockholders are scoffing up large dividends quarter after quarter and CEOs are receiving huge bonuses.  It is an immoral 'business ethic' and it has to end.  The only way that is going to happen is for the State of Louisiana or any other state to mandate 'standards' and 'practices' that include reimbursement of 'service workers' and 'employees' that reflect a government deeply concerned for its people and the use of their limited resources.  The oil belongs to the people of the USA, not BP.  To allow corporations to have huge profit margins while the people that own the resources live in misery is a standard that is more than immoral, it is corrupt.
 
The people of the States with these issues have to prioritize their importance for a high standard of living and their abiltiy to attain it while allowing their leadership to get away with highway robbery. 
 
The States of the Gulf have to have a short and long term plan to improve their citizens' quality of life on all levels before they ever should be allowed into office.  Opportunities to 'ride the gravy train' is NOT a long term plan for the future of their citizens.