Oil

If everyone who is so upset, as I am, about the oil rig explosion, loss of life, and sense of doom over impending oil based devastation in our Gulf, I would suggest we stop using all petroleum based products in our daily lives. This would be- oil for our cars, tires, lotions, makeups, hair products, sunscreens, many food products, footwear, belts, daily attire that has any synthetics in it, and many other products you can research. This is almost hard to do, but you really could do it if you desired to really hit the BP company where it hurts. Most people will not- it's easier to make silly jokes and make it a political issue.
Most people who aren't from the South don't realize how economically challenged most Southern states have been - since the Civil War. If you live in Clearwater, Miami, or Key West, you don't realize how deep the industrial struggle has run for so many decades that it's in the blood, in the family trades and in the history of the South. Some people think they know, perhaps from professors who have never lived there, or from books or articles. But they don't really know how hard it is to find really good paying jobs in states other than Florida that are located below the Virginia line (where all the politicians live and some retire).
Before you throw the politics into the mix, think about all the high risk jobs out there that people do every day in our country- I have met some of them. Miners, for one. Fishermen, condo builders (not contractors, please!) and quarry excavators (there's alot of that in FL that noone cares about of course something bad happens)...but oh how we love our limestone and seafood.
Oil rigs have been there for decades. Funny how people in my little town of Dunedin just now care about them, and make it all about Sarah Palin (what an easy target she is these days!). They don't know any better, and live in an insulated little cacoon of safety, money and family ties that other's just don't have the luxury of having.
If you want to help- then help- physically! Like many others are doing in my hometown- banding together to get ready for the devastation, like we all used to do up there for hurricanes, when power was out for days, there was little food, water or signs of life for weeks. This will be far worse, but blaming some party is silly, because if people looked back far enough, they may find that their own party took part in creating these jobs in the South.