An unknown quantity of Gulf seafood is tainted with oil and/or dispersant. See this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this.
Some have speculated that Gulf seafood would be quietly sold to makers of cat and dog food, to avoid public scrutiny.
But the Secretary of Navy has a different idea - force the good men and women in our armed services to eat it.
As the Times Picayune reported yesterday:
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who doubles as President Barack Obama's point man on Gulf Coast oil spill recovery, is pressing America's armed services to consume as much Gulf seafood as possible.
Navy Capt. Beci Brenton said Monday that Mabus has talked with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the secretaries of the Air Force and Army, and his staff has talked to the Defense Commissary Agency, which operates a worldwide chain of stores for military personnel, making the point "that we should be buying Gulf Coast seafood."
I have friends who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the thought of folks in our armed services being fed Gulf seafood angers me.
Of course, the U.S. considers oil to be a national security issue, and the government spends a lot of money to get oil over to the various war theaters.
Indeed, BP is the main contractor supplying oil to the U.S. military.
The cynical might argue that Secretary Mabus is being callous in allowing our good service men and women to eat tainted seafood.
But maybe Secretary Mabus has an ingenious plan to cheaply transport BP oil into Iraq and Afghanistan: shipping Gulf seafood to commissaries and mess halls, and then having the troops march on their stomachs and transport the oil out into the field.
Yes, the last sentence is parody.
