A Whale Of A Mistake

Last month at work we made half a dozen trips up and down the Mississippi River from New Orleans on down to below Venice, Louisiana. On every trip we kept passing by the HUGE ship, 'A Whale'. This ship is a specialized oil recovery vessel brought here to skim oil out of the Gulf. The mistake was that the ship is incapable of skimming oil that has been dispersed. The skimmers on board this massive vessel suck up too much water and can't seperate it out fast enough. Plus, the ship is so huge that it can't navigate quick enough to track down the narrow bands of oil that change with the currents and wind flow. The ship is currently anchored just north of Venice and has been for at least 5 weeks. It is fully crewed, 'cause we see the guys walking around on deck. The swabbies have a swinging scaffold hanging over the side and have been buffing and painting a stripe down the hull. It kinda makes ya wonder who is "footin' da bill" for this whale of a mistake don't it?