Patrick Shay owns a seafood business and a house on Grand Isle. On Memorial Day, he and a couple of other people set up rows of crosses not to remember the troops but "In Memory of all that is lost courtesy of BP and our Federal Government," as a large sign on his yard read. That cross says, "Marsh Grass." Others say, "Oysters" or "Dolphins." You get the idea.
"We gotta keep our wits about us and this is my way of doing it," Shay said. "This is for Louisiana...We're frustrated, we're scared and this is our way of fighting back and letting everyone know what's at stake here."
As Bob Herbert writes in today's New York Times, you may as well put America's sense of self on one of those crosses. For there is an utter helplessness in the face of the Gulf oil spill/leak/future greasy hurricane surge.
You see, you can (and you should) complain about the Obama administration's response, about what measures that are real and for show it should take. You can (and you should) condemn BP and protest and boycott. You can (and you should) rail in that "we told you so" way that the left has every right to use.
But none of it will stop the goddamn oil from flowing. And it ain't gonna stop for another two months. Those crosses will probably be black before it's over. We have become a nation that doesn't know how to deal with lost causes.
