I'm as disgusted as the rest of the country with the way BP gambled on getting away with experimental technology seemingly without any safeguards or even a reasonable plan B. This picture by NASA of the BP oil slick - which now seems to be a great under-estimation of the first disclosed figure of 5,000 gallons a day - is from their Satelite. If you can see it from space, imagine exactly how big it really is, folks.
Unfortunately, our government, both this current crew - which seems to be in a toothless daze of late - and the previous ones have allowed corporations to get away with literally, murder. With all the devastation it is easy to forget that 11 people also died in that initial explosion. Does anyone know their names or care about their mothers and fathers, siblings and kids?
No, we are too worried about what is going to happen to all the people on the Gulf Coast, and perhaps the Atlantic Coast, the islands and who the heck knows where that oil will eventually go.
We would like to forget that BP essentially told the Environmental Protection Agency to shove it when told not to use the poisonous chemical disbursant their subsidiaries manufacture. Yes, they are doing... well... what they have always done. Whatever the hell they want!
They are only concerned that they disburse as much of the slick as possible so that the damages that will be decided by a jury - because this will go to court - are unable to actually determine how much damage they did. You see, if you disburse the oil, no one can measure it. Punitive and negligence damages are based on the amount of oil that was released. Getting the picture?
What the cost is to the U.S. Taxpayer and the people who depend on having a coastline in some way for their livings is meaningless to BP. There is no way to describe what will happen to the value of those coastal towns and properties over the next ten years as the oil comes in and sullies the beaches and kills everything in its path. All that marine life, all those coastal marshes and all this destruction for no good reason. Imagine something as innocent as children who want to go swimming when school gets out. How do you explain to a six-year-old that some bad men didn't care about anything but money? What about the families who had their boats ready to go into the water? They won't be able to breath around that oil never mind go for a boat ride. It is just not right and we are all pretty astounded that BP just didn't care.
Every other country that allows drilling has stringent regulations for safety. Not us. We're the cowboy Americans. BP knows it could not possibly get away with this in England or Canada or anywhere else but a developing country. It is just plain stupid, folks. We let them get away with this stuff over and over again and nobody pays any consequences. It is obvious that Corporate America cannot be trusted. Oh, I know there are good people in corporations, I used to be one of them, but I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about the cads like the top echelon over at BP.
Watch the pelicans, as in their oil slicked-down feathers they can't fly or feed. Imagine what we don't see. Maybe the large fish like whales can swim away, but what about crabs, shrimp and oysters? Those beds and shrimp fishing areas will be destroyed for decades. We see the volunteers trying to pick up the oil and save the birds, but you know what? It should be those BP guys out there. They should have to pick up as the chain gang of miscreants who created this.
One BP spokesman had the guts to say it was not going to be anything but a modest problem. I'm too angry and disgusted now to remember his exact words, but he didn't think it was a big deal. Why should he? His investments are still worth billions and even though I am starting to think there is a crime that has been committed here that should be investigated, you know BP's billions will bury our government in paper and nothing will ever be done.
Obviously BP has a board of directors filled with sociopaths as they simply do not give a damn. Sadly, the Corporations plundering our country, the oceans and the world's resources are just mowing us down. Money, power and more money and power. It is very scary what greedy, evil people can do.
This is a plea to all the people who can legally vote but do not. Let's do some housecleaning in Congress, because, candidly, that's where the bucks have been parking lately. The lobbyists are crawling up everybody's you-know-what and until we reform campaign finance, it will continue just this way. Corporations like BP will do what they want, flaunting their power and telling our government to shove off.
It makes me sad, frustrated and anxious, but I promise you, I will be telephone-banking and I will be calling other voters and trying to inspire some action. This has got to stop. America is not for sale. It doesn't belong to BP or anyone like them. Our resources belong to each and everyone of us but in order to protect them we have to participate fully as citizens. Let's get out there and change things.
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