As I've been following the news about the oil that has been gushing (one week), and gushing (two weeks), and gushing (three weeks), and gushing into the Gulf of Mexico since April 20—more than one month—I'm pretty upset. I am generally a supporter of President Obama, but he really screwed up on this one. He should have sent in our highly trained US military. They would've figured out how much oil was "leaking" and how to fix it instead wasting time pointing fingers while our natural environment became polluted at an unprecedented level. Then he should've sent the bill to BP.
Obama should also listen to Her Deepness. If there is any good news in all this, it is Dr. Sylvia Earle. Alas, she is not a lesbian, but she is a feminist, a pioneer, an adventurer, a goddess. She testified before Congress a few days ago, calling for the nation to act to protect the marine resources in the Gulf of Mexico. "These are assets worth protecting as if our lives depend on them, because in no small measure, they do," she said in her deep, calm voice.Among her many achievements, she's the former chief scientist for NOAA and now an explorer-in-residence for National Geographic. She's been called a "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress, the first "Hero for the Planet" by Time, and "Her Deepness" by The New Yorker. Coolest of all, she holds the record for the deepest untethered dive by any human being (1,250 feet in a special diving suit) and set a record for deepest solo dive (3,300 feet in a submersible rover).
Perhaps most interesting to us sapphists, however, is the fact that in 1970 she led a team of female oceanographers on an undersea mission. The "women aquanauts" (awesome!!) lived for fourteen days in a small structure 50 feet underwater. It was part of 
the government-funded Tektite II Project, designed to study undersea habitat. It was a project of the U.S. Navy, the Department of the Interior and NASA. I believe this black-and-white photo from Life shows the women diving to the aquanaut facility. And I think these are the aquanauts in their bikinis, with Earle on the far left. No question, they should be in charge.
