From Denny: Here in Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf coast region absolutely no one trusts the word of anyone who speaks for BP. They have lied to the President, to the American people and to the residents of the Gulf coast.
What's the latest insult besides lying TV ads trying to rebuild their reputation in America? Well, for one thing Americans are so furious with them that the company is seriously considering changing the name of its brand on its gas stations. Barring that they are also considering selling off their gas stations. "Ya think?" That alone is recognition they know they screwed up and can't get consumer confidence back.
The next big insult is BP is drawing down all the clean up operation boats and other equipment. Uh, hello, (waving from the Louisiana marshlands) there are still miles and miles of filthy Louisiana marshes in need of clean up of which BP has done little or practically nothing. Just ask Parish President Billy Nungesser. He will give BP and the media a piece of his mind, though I'm surprised the poor man has any mind left after this environmental fiasco. Billy has had to do a lot of screaming and complaining just to get the attention necessary to begin to get a few oil skimmers for the marshes. It's shameful how BP has treated America, our President and this region. Yet, here we sit - the Gulf of Mexico - with the largest oil reserve in the world of the richest deposit and BP continues to lie to us.
The latest out of the incoming CEO is that BP will supposedly stay forever and clean up the Gulf, all the while they have ordered in the majority of the clean up crews on the beaches and the clean up boats out in the Gulf. What's wrong with this picture? A lot.
Let's start with the cover up that has created a greater environmental disaster than the oil ever did. The spraying of dispersant, millions of gallons, broke up the oil. Sounds good, doesn't it? The problem is that all that accomplished was to send the oil under the surface and down into the middle levels and down on to the ocean floor. By dispersing the oil to all the levels of the ocean it has created far greater kill off of marine life than if the oil remained on the surface of the water. Had it remained on the surface then that wonderful retrofitted oil tanker, The Whale, from Taiwan could have easily scooped up the majority of the oil and most of this disaster would never have been that bad. Instead, by using dispersant the oil was in too small of particles that The Whale was unable to retrieve the oil at all.
We have millions of gallons of crude oil sitting on the bottom of the ocean and killing off the plankton that feed the marine life. This plankton also provide hatcheries for the young like the bluefin tuna - which may become extinct as a result of losing their spawning ground.
When the crude oil is not sitting on the ocean it gets disturbed by the currents and sent in waves to the beaches. The oil down there can also get disturbed by hurricanes. Most of all, it will eventually travel into the loop current and start going all over the world to contaminate the oceans of other countries. Any way you look at it we will have a huge dead zone at the mouth of the mighty Mississippi River and parts, if not all, of the Gulf of Mexico.
Surprisingly, BP still has contracts with the American government to supply the military effort. What's more strange is our government is still willing to allow these lying jerks to drill for oil anywhere in America. As it stands, BP has an oil rig out in the Gulf called the Atlantis that is three times the size of the Deepwater Horizon rig that blew up and created the current mess. Safety violations are rampant on the Atlantis and the word is it could blow any time as the situation is critical. Then BP has their refusal to properly maintain the Alaskan pipeline and so there are critical areas there that could be compromised any time.
With BP everything turns out to be a ticking time bomb. Why does anyone tolerate them? BP can walk away but the rest of us have to live here, whether it's Alaska or the Gulf coast. It's time sanity rule in Washington, D.C., and get serious about taking BP to the woodshed and take back our oil and our dignity while we are at it.
And while you are at it, Mr. President, lift the oil drilling moratorium because it's causing a huge wave of home foreclosures and bankruptcies across Louisiana and this region. You are killing the regional economy and have caused severe job loss. Make the Democrats look good in November and lift the moratorium.
Let's solve the various problems - instead of freezing everything on hold that solves nothing but create terrible hardships for hard working people: the middle class. The job of the federal government is to send out the safety inspectors to those oil rigs who are not in compliance with safety regulations. Even if you don't have enough properly trained yet, send out what you do have and hire all you need from the private sector. Then send BP the bill. Works for me; it should work for you.
What would work even more for me and the rest of the Gulf coast residents? How about collecting all those fines BP owes the federal government? What about the oil royalties BP - and all the other oil companies - owe the state of Louisiana that the corrupt people at MMS put into their own wallets or put back into BP's coffers?
*** For more cartoons this week:
WikiLeaks, America, Tea Party, World Politics Cartoons - 31 July 2010
Funny Hunh?! Cartoons - 31 July 2010
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