Monday, July 19, 2010

The US Needs Eyes of Our Own in BP's Mess

With the stresses of the new 'temp-cap', the nearness of completion of at least one of the relief wells, and BP's track record, we desperately need to finish this off by putting an independent observation camera, and yes, with live HD webcam included, for ourselves.

BP's BS is pretty insulting so far.

Remember several things:
1) They lied about everything they could so far
2) Didn't provide live webcam for more than a week
3) When they did, it wasn't really LIVE, and wasn't the same HD they were using
4) After we got the HD version, we were 'docked' (so to speak) from watching the LIVE anymore, relying instead on various media reports so random and inconsistent that they make paparazzi look like Geraldo in comparison
5) Basically they're liars, and intentionally deceived us on numbers of issues, still apparently focusing on that bottom line, that is to say, 'getting that bottom oil line up to the surface, to make more money', when really, it should have been an issue involving a more aggressive approach to merely 'capping' what they screwed up in the first place!

I said it before, and here again--first of all, WE, the US, wouldn't be caught dead ruining an entire continent's coastline!

If we misanthropically got involved in something this atrocious through some faulty alliance with another ‘sovereign nation’, we'd sell our souls to make it right, and probably our childrens’, too, to pay the other nation back for their losses, forever.

That would be just.

This travesty continues to be made by BP's greed, which we're guilty of too, but here's what BP has on us—an attitude best described by using words like this--empiricism, primacy, superiority, pomposity, and, generally speaking, cockiness.

That attitude that's best captured by the guilty little smirk by Tony Hayward's face during the house hearings, even during the justifiably righteous outburst from the independent shrimper who disrupted the hearing to yell out that he should be arrested, that he was committing a crime.

And hasn’t it been a crime?  Hayward took time off for an Isle of Wight yacht race with his son  sailing the crystal clear waters off the crud-free coastline of ‘Great’ Britain while his front man stood up for the media to tell us how great he was.

Hayward was only passing down some of that civic responsibility to his son, I guess.  Hearing BP’s 2nd-in-command step up for him sounded vaguely familiar—his statements glorifying Hayward’s supposed  dedication to safety, and BP’s as well, sounded just like what we heard from Toyota during their recent ’15 minutes of shame’ (multiplied a little).

BP also lied to the Aussie news agency reporting the event by  asserting that Hayward’s absence was only temporary, that the ‘latest reports’ said he’d be returning after his ‘vacation’.

No, he didn’t.  Shortly afterward, he was gone, escaping criticism, and responsibility.

Probably found a new appreciation for the cleaner waters of home.

The Australian TV station that aired one report wrote the headline “BP Boss Tony Hayward in Another PR ‘Disaster’”.  I think they overlooked that it’s the 'Worst Man-made Disaster Ever'.

I just wish we could water down the truth like that…or at least the oil, right?

We need to 'get some eyes' of our own down there, if only just to quell any lingering 'problems' remaining to be tied off.

BP does not care—we’d be foolish to believe thy do.

If the entire coastline, hey even the entire North American continent, literally exploded in a ball of flame, BP themselves would merely yacht over to begin the economy they most likely feel they 'richly deserve' (here, here).

But, seriously--we need any high-profile people with undersea cameras (like James Cameron) to return to the scene of the crime, and monitor the aftermath for months, even years, while we set up government facilities to do the same.  After all, when it’s over, we’re not going to be the best of friends with any companies that ‘used to be’ BP, so they’re probably not going to feel ‘rich enough’ to self-govern in the future.