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“IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY PEACE AND PROSPERITY… ” Dec 18, 2010

(then, I’m sorry to say,”PREPARE FOR WAR”)

The Human race is perplexing.
On the one hand, we little two-legged wonders of Creational Happenstance are capable of much that is heart warming and inspiring. People can be uncommonly kind, brave, gentle, touching, wise, compassionate and loving.
On the other hand, Homo Sapiens (from the Latin, meaning “wise”, “knowing”) might be one day written off by a Space Alien as a truly primitive species.
Nasty, brutish, jealous, envious, untrustworthy, proud, and vicious.

(It will depend where they land in their space ship, I guess. Hopefully they won’t decide to grace our planet with an arrival in, say, downtown Detroit on a Saturday Night, and get their warm InterGalactic greetings speech interrupted by “Gimme your f@#k’n MONEY, MOTHERF$#@!!ER!”, and a Galactic First: the very first recorded mugging of E.T.)

For my two cents’ worth (if you’re kind) fundamentally, “power corrupts”.
That’s probably why I describe myself as a non-violent Anarchist. It seems that Man has this uncanny ability to start out with good intentions, rise above his old station, and spontaneously transform himself into an incipient tyrant. Actions that our humble fellow, at his original stage in Life, would instantly repudiate and abhor, take on a different light entirely once POWER has rung on his door bell. That is why so many politicians behave as if the Rules and Laws of this Great Country simply do not apply to THEM. Dammit, they are SPECIAL. They even have SPECIAL Retirement benefits, a SPECIAL Health care Plan, and SPECIAL privileges.
(But don’t worry, they are THERE TO SERVE YOU.)

Will the Tea Party be any different? Now they too have arrived at the halls of power, wealth and lobby-ism ad infinitum? I wonder. Do you notice there are NO spending cuts? Yep, the politicos are still spending on their pork barrel priorities, playing the boo-hoo compassion card, and ignoring hard, cold Reality. It’s called “postponing the Day of the Reckoning”, or “kicking the can down the street”.
Do you think we Oil and Gas Workers can all go back to sleep? Go back to working, hunting, fishing, sleeping, drinking beer, chasing girls, riding motorbikes, and trusting politicians? Is that what you think? Or do you suspect that, fundamentally, most of them don’t give a rat’s ass about you and me, UNLESS THEY PERCEIVE IT TO AFFECT THEIR VOTES????
(Aaaahhh…. The Achilles tendon of the slimey politico creeps who fleece us blind, whilst telling us how much they care…)
They worry about their voter base.

Hmmm…. So how do we rattle their cages? That is the question.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Where the Oil and Gas Worker is concerned, I have spoken with hundreds in the last weeks and months. And I have an inbox full of quiet anger. I’m glad it’s not directed at me. (Well, a few are, but that’s okay. My dog will have ’em.)
Nobody trusts Government anymore. At least, nobody with a job and a family to support. Nobody trusts a word politicians say. The history of startling about face U-turns, when faced with political expediency, makes us well aware that our jobs and livelihoods are on the chopping block.
Nobody trusts the new MMS, the paper pushing agency now know as BOEMRE. As somebody said, this BOEMRE may be a BOEMRE by name and a Bummer by Nature.
All the signs are that the pace of permit issue is going to be “super slo-mo”. Molassis on a cold tile floor. A bicycle minus the wheels. A game of football with a lead ball. A whole new concept of meditating on the meaning of Eternal Life: “waiting for BOEMRE”.
Bureaucrats afraid to Death of the bureaucrat above him who is watching. And who in turn, is being watched by the dogsbody above HIM. There may be lip service to “The Taxpayer” and lip service and platitudes to “The Industry”, but does anybody seriously doubt this is headed for lethargy, delays, confusion, and MASS lay-offs?
But like all Government Agencies, there is a hiring boom underway (some great salaries, check it out) and the job comes with great perks. You can demand an engineer draw up everything. In triplicate. Even simple, routine, hum drum issues. Then you can pull a long face, look officious, “file it”, and watch grown men with thirty plus years in the Oil and gas Fields turn blue in the face and cry.
That kind of power represents Nirvana to anybody with a fragile ego, or who secretly believes that Oil and Gas need to be replaced with Alternative (CLEAN) Energy anyway. I wonder how many crypto Greenpeace/Treehugger/Rainbow Foundation activists will flock to that opportunity. Especially as the word is out that people with an Oil and Gas background are NOT being welcomed. The czars are apparently worried that they would have “prior allegiances”, and would not be objective. Brace yourself for a slew of fresh, wide-eyed college graduates with fancy degrees, no practical Oil and Gas experience, who WILL be in charge. Of YOUR job.
Needless to say, I want to be wrong. I want to believe in a dynamic, sincere, enthusiastic, realistic, HIGHLY EFFICIENT agency. That has the absolute interests of the Oil and Gas Workers and their dependents firmly in its sights. Trouble is…
I don’t.
* * * * * * *
If you are still reading, then you don’t either. So, what can we do?
Organize.
What and How?
Well, it will take many, many, committed people.
It has been suggested that we could set up some sort of “Brotherhood of Oil and Gas Workers”.
Nicknamed; “The Oily Fingers”.
Let the Employer and Contractor Oilmen associations that already exist do their thing in their ongoing dealings with Government: which is basically to appeal to the reason and the common sense of the politicians.
(Good luck with that)
Let us, the Oily Fingers, the little guys, quietly get ourselves organized. We don’t mean “Trade Union”. Or socialism. We mean “just us”.
1) The workers directly in the Oil patch. Oil and Gas men.
(you know who you are) (that’s a BUNCH) (tens of thousands) (think: screw with the voter base)
2) The service workers who in turn support the oil patch workers.
(aaaah…. Truck drivers, welders, painters, fabricators, catering workers, gas filling stations, convenience shops along Gulf transit routes, fast food restaurants, parts suppliers, sub contractors, sub-sub contractors, sub-sub-sub contractors, and every Tom, Dick and Harry who knows perfectly well that if the crazy politicians and the environmental whackos and the Green la-la-lah nincompoops have their dogmatic way, that we’ll ALL JOLLY WELL STARVE….) (hundreds of thousands) (voter base, voter base, voter base)

If… that whole merry lot get REALLY TICKED OFF… well, watch out, you comrades up there in Washington. You hyenas who tax, and spend, and lie, and deceive, and cheat, and illustrate at every twist and turn that you don’t give a tuppeny damn about the will of the American People.

Let’s look at an Outline of broad principles.

Suggestions that have been made include the following:
1) The Brotherhood would make no distinction between Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, White, Black, Hispanic, Yellow, Brown, Legal Immigrant, Il-legal Immigrant, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Islamic, etc, etc.
We’re not interested. There are plenty of other venues all that can be argued and fought over. If you are working in the Oil and Gas Patch, or in one of the many supporting industries, then WE ARE BROTHERS. Period. There may be times we will depend on you. Or you on us.
2) The Brotherhood identifies their common reliance on employment provided by the Oil and Gas industry Employers. What affects those employers, affects us. If they hurt, we hurt.
3) The Brotherhood could draft up a constitution outlining its core beliefs.
A Constitution Committee of volunteers could maybe draw up a draft.
4) The Brotherhood could encourage the setting up of Local Chapters in different towns and States.
A Local Chapter Formation Committee of volunteers could maybe encourage that.
5) The Brotherhood could seek to find ways to respectfully remember those who have died in the Deepwater Tragedy, and in other accidents in the Gulf of Mexico. How are the families doing? Is it right that they are just forgotten, but the oiled Pelicans are constantly paraded before us? A Remembrance and Support Committee could maybe look at that.
(if you knew a family of a deceased Oil Worker was struggling, would you donate $10? I bet you would – in a heart beat.)
6) The Brotherhood could set up a Politician Watch Committee. This committee could blatantly gather intelligence and news reports on (initially) all Gulf State Politicians.
Now that starts to become personal. You bet.

WHO are they? (Let’s get your NAME, Mister Politician, your picture, up on the Oily Finger web site.)
WHERE do they have their constituency?
WHERE is their VOTER BASE? (har-har)
What is their voting record?

(How do you, Mister elected Politico career Meister, feel about Oil and Gas? Have you supported the Oil and Gas Worker? Have you spoken out against the systematic persecution of the Oil and Gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico? Have you spoken out against the drilling ban? Have you lodged vehement protests against the Permit Moratorium? If not, why not?)
7) The Brotherhood could set up an Enemy Politician Harassment Committee.

How do we do that? Easy. Remember most politicians are incompetent hypocrites and cowards. They don’t even read the bills they vote on. If Comrade Pelosi says “vote on it!” then they vote on it. (Wot’s it about? I dunno. You expect me to READ the damn thing??)
ALL they care about is their votes. So if some elected whacko thinks that ALTERNATIVE GREEN ENERGY is the voter’s favorite, the only way to go, and that WIND, SOLAR, GEOTHERMAL and FLOWER POWER will easily and totally replace Oil and Gas, and if he votes and speaks that environmental Green mumbo-jumbo politically correct Geek speak, well, that’s fine, we will declare him an ENEMY POLITICIAN, and label him as such on the web site. Then it’s just a matter of going after him, and attacking his voter base. Make sure that all the voters who have anything to do with earning a living directly or indirectly from Oil and Gas KNOW this idiot’s policies.

We can take a leaf out of the book of the Minute Men. These stalwarts are protesting the abandonment of the US border, and the tens of thousands of illegals flooding across every week.
Here is the Minutemen’s Strategy Book:
*** Carefully monitor the Enemy, and track his movements.
*** Report a planned public event, such as a town hall meeting, back to the Enemy Politician Harassment Committee as soon as possible.
*** Inform the troops.
*** Turn out as many volunteers as you can, and crowd the town hall meeting.
*** Go well prepared, and ask lots of awkward questions. Show the incompetent bum up for what he is.
*** Record the whole thing on video.
*** Post to the web site and the Internet.
*** Make sure his voter base get the video, and see for themselves what a clown this politician is, and realize that their future “vote for the clown” is a vote against their own jobs!

Hmmm…..

Would that work for the Brotherhood of Oil and Gas Workers?

I don’t see why not.

(To be continued…)

Horace Oilee

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Last edited by Horace Oilee on December 18, 2010, 9:15 pm