A spill is when . . . . . . .

. . . . an offloading tanker at a sea buoy has a hose break.

. . . . a ship accidentally opens a seacock to the bilge.

. . . . a tank truck overturns on a causeway.

. . . . a tanker runs aground and rips its hull.

In each of these cases, the cause was likely an accident that occurred in the course of a legal activity. But more importantly, only a part of the oil that could spill did spill. But even if all the oil that could spill did spill, it would be a known and measurable quantity.

None of this is what we have at Deepwater Horizon. What we have at Deepwater Horizon is an illegal operation in that the required proof of a reliable backup (the blowout preventer) was never demanded by a lax (or criminally ignorant) bureaucracy and never proffered by a happily law avoiding company. But more to the point, what we have is, as a practical matter, an infinite supply of oil hellbent on racing from a rip in the heart of the Earth.

And No Way To Stop It.

So please, dear complicit media, can we stop showing the world what fools you are?

It is *not* a spill.