US GOVERNMENT UN-PREPARED FOR OIL SPILL

One thing that is evident from the oil spill event in the Gulf is that our government was un-prepared for this disaster. What if BP had just walked away from it and said its your problem, US? Our government should have a plan to handle this kind of event. If the government does not have the equipment or expertise to handle an oil spill (it doesn't) then it should at least have a group of oil companies that will be ready, under contract, to work with the US to handle the problem. One thing that the government should have been able to do is quickly organize a group of people to help prevent the oil from hitting our Gulf shores. Of course it did not, and look at the devastation of our marshlands and beaches, as well as the destruction of fishing grounds, and the livelihoods of Gulf fisherman! But all the government seemed to be able to do was build a few berms and rant and rave at BP. It did finally get a trust fund set up for affected people. The fund should have been set up right away so that thousands of people did not have to go without an income all this time. Another pathetic aspect is that we are losing a lot of oil that could have been saved and used, if the MMS regulators had acted properly to enforce safety rules and regulations. Hopefully this spill will be corrected someday soon and the government will be ready if such a disaster should happen again--hopefully it will not. In the meantime we need to quickly correct and implement the required safety regulation, as needed, that will protect us from another spill, and then resume deep water drilling as quickly as possible!