Oil spill

The "Coast Guard gives BP approval to try to cap leaking Gulf oil well; no word on start time," came the news flash, early this week.

As of Thursday, it appeared the "top kill" effort, launched Wednesday afternoon, had indeed pumped enough drilling fluid to block oil and gas spewing from the well.

That's good news, of course. But -- pardon us -- millions of gallons of crude oil had been gushing to the surface of the Gulf of Mexico for more than 30 days since one of their big rigs blew up, yet BP had to wait this week for the Coast Guard's permission to try and cap the well?

In fact, a bureaucratic logjam has been dogging these emergency efforts in the Gulf from the start.

"As thick oil flows into the sensitive marshes of the Louisiana coast, Gov. Bobby Jindal called on the White House and BP today to either stop the oil spill or get out of his way," ABC News reported Monday. "Jindal is still waiting for the federal government to provide millions of feet in boom and to approve an emergency permit for a state plan to dredge and build new barrier islands to keep the oil from reaching the marshes and wetlands."

Jindal is "so desperate for the islands," ABC reported, "he's said he'll build them even if it sends him to jail."

Um ... jail? Gov. Jindal is still waiting for federal "permits" that he's told he needs to dredge up some sand and pile it in the path of the advancing oil? When does the White House estimate these "permits" will be forthcoming? By next year's Super Bowl?

Meantime, the federal government can't seem to lay hands on enough boom to block the flow of surface oil.

If the federal government can't do anything about this problem but stand in the way and insist everyone has to have to stand around helpless till they've been issued their proper "permits," perhaps it's time for the Washington bureaucrats to step aside, abandon their absurdly bellicose "boot on their neck" rhetoric, and let others do whatever proves necessary to finish "putting a plug in it."