Offshore drilling for oil costs jobs

It just doesn't work well. No matter how well you decorate it, it doesn't work. The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon off the coast of Louisiana threatens the entire Gulf Coast.

Who cares and why?

Obviously, there's a huge loss of recreation. That means fishermen and women can't fish, sunbathers can't tan, surfers can't surf, sailors can't sail, etc. Is that important? It matters, not only to the folks deprived of their stress relief but to millions of folks directly and indirectly dependent upon tourism for their income.

Naturally, the rich bounty that is harvested from the Gulf is also threatened. More thousands of people become unemployed.

Then there's the damage to the marine estuaries. This is where baby fish are hatched. So, the loss of jobs isn't for a season - it's for years.

Just how much oil could we have gotten from that platform and how many jobs did it produce?

For more on this, check out Carl Hiaasen's column in the Miami Herald here.