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Gulf Update - Head for the Hills

True to Doc's never ending quest for Truth, here's an Update....the kind WC'ers need to remain relevant in this rapidly changing world.

I know you dedicated pixel pushers have little if any time to view news, so this one might just save your lives.

The gusher is spreading and threatening to bury us all alive in....well, read for yourselves, my friends.

 

This Post is dedicated to my friend Web(doc made me do it)Gizmos who really cares passionately about this topic. Thanks for caring so much, WG.

 

News
Massive Flow Of Bullshit Continues To Gush From BP Headquarters

June 7, 2010 | ISSUE 46•23

 

LONDON—As the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico entered its eighth week Wednesday, fears continued to grow that the massive flow of bullshit still gushing from the headquarters of oil giant BP could prove catastrophic if nothing is done to contain it.

The toxic bullshit, which began to spew from the mouths of BP executives shortly after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April, has completely devastated the Gulf region, delaying cleanup efforts, affecting thousands of jobs, and endangering the lives of all nearby wildlife.

"Everything we can see at the moment suggests that the overall environmental impact of this will be very, very modest," said BP CEO Tony Hayward, letting loose a colossal stream of undiluted bullshit. "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean, and the volume of oil we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total volume of water."


Hayward's comments fueled fears that the spouting of overwhelmingly thick and slimy bullshit may never subside.

According to sources, the sheer quantity of bullshit pouring out of Hayward is unprecedented, and it has thoroughly drenched the coastlines of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, with no end in sight.

Though no one knows exactly how much of the dangerous bullshit is currently gushing from BP headquarters, estimates put the number at somewhere between 25,000 and 70,000 words a day.

"We're looking at a truly staggering load of shit here," said Rebecca Palmer, an environmental scientist at the University of Georgia, who claimed that only BP has the ability to stem the flow of bullshit and plug it at its source. "And this is just the beginning—we're only seeing the surface-level bullshit. It could be years before we sift through it all and figure out just how deep this bullshit goes."

Congressional hearings aimed at stopping the bullshit have thus far failed to do so, with officials from BP and its contractors Halliburton and Transocean only adding to the powerful torrents of bullshit by blaming one another for the accident.

Along with the region's wildlife and fragile ecosystem, countless livelihoods have been jeopardized by BP's unchecked flow of corporate shit. Those who depend on fishing or tourism for their income are already feeling the noxious effects of the bullshit firsthand, as out-of-control platitudes begin to reach land and seep ashore.


Dense streams of shit are expected to continue spreading throughout the region and the entire United States.

"This bullshit, it's everywhere," said Louisiana fisherman Doug LaRoux, who lost his house to a tide of government bullshit following Hurricane Katrina. "It reeks. Big buckets of disgusting shit are oozing everywhere you look and I don't know if it's ever going to stop. I feel helpless"

Added LaRoux, "I never thought I'd be the victim of so much bullshit."

Observers have noted that after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, corporate bullshit gushed up like a geyser for two decades and didn't wane until the oil company had bullshit its way through an exhaustive process of court appeals that ultimately reduced payouts to victims by 90 percent.

Despite Hayward's denials that BP is at fault for the environmental disaster and his concern that it will result in "illegitimate" American lawsuits, the embattled CEO has still managed to trickle out a few last drips of bullshit sympathy for Gulf Coast residents.

"I'm as devastated as you are by this," Hayward said after a meeting with cleanup crews on Louisiana's Fourchon Beach. "We will clean every last drop up and we will remediate all of the environmental damage."

"There's no one that wants this thing over with more than I do," he added a week later, just absolutely defying belief with the thickest, most dangerous bullshit yet. "I'd like my life back."

Millions of Americans reported feeling ill and disoriented upon contact with that particularly vile plume of bullshit.

Many environmentalists, including Palmer, have called for a boycott of BP until the bullshit stops or is at least under control, but they emphasize that in the long term, Americans will have to change their habits if they wish to avoid future catastrophes.

"We must all work together if we're going to cure our nation of this addiction," Palmer said. "The sad fact is, the United States has been running on bullshit for decades."

 

28,666 views 89 replies
Reply #51 Top

Quoting WebGizmos, reply 50

The cries for the US to take over the company are so counter productive. Does the US want to be responsible;e for all the British pensioners, all the retired dividend dependents? I think not. I am not defending BP's actions past or present. There will be a heavy load to haul in this clean up and recovery and it would be poor judgement to kill the horse that you expect to haul that load for political posturing or out of anger. The urge to demonize should be avoided.

My feeling is not to neccessarily take over BP...but to understand that...yeah...BP was at the helm when this started...but it has become such a disaster that we should not just stand by and watch and wait for BP to solve the problem which they obviously don't have a clue on how to accomplish that. This in my opinion has now become a problem for all of us. In cases like this I think we should band together...solve the problem...do the clean up...and then place the blame squarely where it belongs and bill whoever is responsible and let the chips fall where they may...no matter what part of the world they are based out of. And I agree that blaming a group of people for the mistake of a company is just childish and ignorant.

 

We are in agreement!

Reply #52 Top

The damages and penalties are going to be enormous based on the increased estimates of the amount of oil escaping into the Gulf.  The market is telling us that the company is at risk for non-survival.  Also telling us this is the administration's expressed objection to BP's paying it's usual dividend.  The Obama administration wants to be certain that when the time comes to pay the damages and penalties, there will be money there for that purpose.  I am a regular listener to CNBC which covers the markets.  None of the invenstment experts on the show are suggesting that anyone buy BP stock at this point.  I know that I wouldn't.  40 % of the stock is owned by Americans so its not just British pensioners who are in jeopardy.

Reply #53 Top

Survival may come down to whether there is a finding of "gross" negligence by BP.  If that finding is made, the penalties go from $1000+ per barrel to over $4000 per barrel.  Depending on how much oil is ultimately determined to have escaped into the Gulf, this could raise BP's exposure to something in the area of $70 Billion.

Reply #54 Top

Quoting WebGizmos,
reply 50

The cries for the US to take over the company are so counter productive. Does the US want to be responsible;e for all the British pensioners, all the retired dividend dependents? I think not. I am not defending BP's actions past or present. There will be a heavy load to haul in this clean up and recovery and it would be poor judgement to kill the horse that you expect to haul that load for political posturing or out of anger. The urge to demonize should be avoided.

My feeling is not to neccessarily take over BP...but to understand that...yeah...BP was at the helm when this started...but it has become such a disaster that we should not just stand by and watch and wait for BP to solve the problem which they obviously don't have a clue on how to accomplish that. This in my opinion has now become a problem for all of us. In cases like this I think we should band together...solve the problem...do the clean up...and then place the blame squarely where it belongs and bill whoever is responsible and let the chips fall where they may...no matter what part of the world they are based out of. And I agree that blaming a group of people for the mistake of a company is just childish and ignorant.



We are in agreement!

We usually are Kenwas! ;)

Reply #55 Top

40 % of the stock is owned by Americans so its not just British pensioners who are in jeopardy.

This is what I wrote:

Tony Hayward and his band of know nothing spin shmucks are busy figuring how to cheat widows/orphans and retired folks of their dividends in order to shore up his gazillion dollar cash flow.

I don't believe BP will go out of business. The damages may come out in the $30 Billion range, but that's (a poor pun, but true) a drop in the ocean...as Tony put it.

If they go out of business, that's what'll happen...no one's going to give them a write-off on this, Ken. In fact, receivership might be the right way to go, but who'd run that company? Who has the know how? The last group of knuckle heads I'd trust to do that would be the government. They'd be the only group capable of losing money running an oil company. In fact we've already had a President who accomplished that feat.

Now, it's estimated by the government scientific panel (based on the vids at the well head) that twice what they estimated has spilled.

My concern is the people/animals/environmental damage done by this spill and doing everything humanly possible to mitigate it, and recover what is possible to recover. After that, setting in place regulations and inspections to prevent recurrences and prevent other disasters.  After that's done, resuming this cautiously. If that means rationing, so be it.

The primary concern should be the safety of the world and all that dwell on and in it. Sustainability comes next and finding other sources of energy...safer for all of us.

What kind of legacy are we to leave our children?

Reply #56 Top

I guess we just look at this differently Doc.  To say "If that means rationing, so be it" is very cavalier of you.  As you list people first oof the things to be saved and recovered I am surprised that you do not include the millions of people, small businesses, large businesses that will be under severe stress if we have a rationed fuel supply.  But so be it....

It is funny though that every one of the gulf states that are most affected by this disaster wants moratorium lifted and the rigs back in operation ASAP.  But what do they know about what is best for them?

Reply #57 Top

Quoting kenwas, reply 56
I guess we just look at this differently Doc.  To say "If that means rationing, so be it" is very cavalier of you.  As you list people first oof the things to be saved and recovered I am surprised that you do not include the millions of people, small businesses, large businesses that will be under severe stress if we have a rationed fuel supply.  But so be it....

It is funny though that every one of the gulf states that are most affected by this disaster wants moratorium lifted and the rigs back in operation ASAP.  But what do they know about what is best for them?

I look at it more globally, Ken. More from a species stand point. Individuals are selfish, not willing to do what has to be done...decreasing consumption, raising the health and education of the lowliest, ending conspicuous consumption in favor or sustainability for all people. The people in the gulf area and their suffering does not elude me. However, just because that's how they prefer to live doesn't make it right. Is it right for anyone to live inflated existences while children elsewhere starve? I'm not advocating Communism. I am advocating a much fairer division of resources, and responsibility towards other humans.

That is quite the opposite of being "cavalier". Being cavalier would be (barring the use of less attractive terms) disregarding the suffering of immense masses of people on this planet starving and ill while bemoaning the terrible loss of fishing and oystering and "a way of life".

There has to be moderation. We can't go on using 90% of the world's resources without consideration. We are not 90% of the world's population, are we? Or is there some special entitlement we enjoy simply because of the American Industrialization? Isn't it ironic that the very forces which caused the careless drilling and over/unbalanced utilization of the earth's limited resources engendered this disaster?

I am not saying "YOU have to ration the folks in the Gulf states while I enjoy limitless consumption." That would be unconscionable, right?

But what you're saying is "The world can exist on 10% while America/the West get 90%". That isn't reverse rationing? That is unsustainable and indefensible....but then, "That's just the way it is...we can't do anything about it."

I am perfectly willing to be rationed, as long a EVERYONE, including the leaders are also rationed. No one is more entitled to healthy food, good health care, a job, shelter and clothing than anyone else. Does that sound cavalier to you?

As far as I'm concerned they can have their way of life back and drill....as long as it is made safe. They might know what's 'best' for themselves (if best=best money), but they do not have the right to do that under unsafe conditions. I won't suffer the illnesses nor pay my hard earned money to buy them that option.

Reply #58 Top

Well, if you are now expanding the subject of the thread to the global condition of mankind and the unfair balance of wealth, etc, I'll just drop out of the conversation.  I was talking about the position of BP in relation to this specific disaster, and not the establishment of a global government that can divide all the resources based on some criteria that I suppose a grand committee creates but yes, with moderation.  I guess your point is that this is not really BP's fault but my fault and your fault fro driving my car when other people in the world are starving.  But guess what , I would be willing to bet that if I reduced my level of consumption and everyone in America did the same, there would be just as many people starving , just as many wars, just as many crazies as there are now.  Probably more as we would not be there to help feed them or give them protection.  You don't help an alcoholic by drinking with him Seth.

Sorry, I said I was out of here and I am....... 

 

Reply #59 Top

No NWO, Ken. I was hoping to live to see people kinder to one another...care about the other who really is no different from us.

It's BP's fault for being negligent. But who drives the engine. Is it the drug dealer or the person who buys? If there's no market....

No guarantees...no simple solutions, I'm afraid, but when one craps on the floor, it's bad policy to let him get away with it until one day, totally fed up, one shoots the puppy.

Better to housebreak them when they're small, no? Wish you wouldn't leave...though there's nothing I can do to prevent that, I suppose...

Reply #60 Top

Survival [here] is all about how civil you all remain.

[Just a subtle reminder, folks]

 

As for this oil spill being the worst disaster ever....think Chernobyl.

Think Bikini Attol

Think Maralinga

Think Hiroshima

Think Nagasaki

3 mile Island

Ad nauseum.

oh....Exxon Valdez

The whole world WANTS that oil....so the whole world is responsible for the endangerment of our environment.

Suck it up and kick your/our collective arses for being dependent on dangerous resource technology.

Reply #61 Top

Quoting Jafo, reply 60

The whole world WANTS that oil....so the whole world is responsible for the endangerment of our environment.

Suck it up and kick your/our collective arses for being dependent on dangerous resource technology.


I don't think the whole world WANTS that oil.  The whole world WANTS transportation, and the people who are making bank on oil are playing some pretty tough political games to make sure they hold a monopoly on the thing that gives us transportation.  The idea of alternative fuels is being suppressed.

Reply #62 Top

Quoting k10w3, reply 61
The idea of alternative fuels is being suppressed.

Yes it is.

The dividends coming from oil/coal goes into a lot of funds which enable capitalist society to function. No one is going to shoot the cash cow.

Until Government wake up and start looking after the best interest of the people, not corporations, we will never move forward on this. Its our own fault, we have structured society to be depended on economic growth.

I am afraid that alternative fuels will never take off unless a Government throws a lot of money at it.

Reply #63 Top

Quoting k10w3,
reply 61
The idea of alternative fuels is being suppressed.

Yes it is.

The dividends coming from oil/coal goes into a lot of funds which enable capitalist society to function. No one is going to shoot the cash cow.

Until Government wake up and start looking after the best interest of the people not corporations we will never move forward on this. Its our own fault, we have structured society to be depended on economic growth.

I am afraid that alternative fuels will never take off unless a Government throws a lot of money at it.

Yeah...and it's a crime it's being suppressed. And I don't think the whole world actually wants the oil...we just have it pounded into our heads every chance they get...they being government...that we are dependent on oil. I think people would be quite happy using alternative ways of travel if it was offered. In fact there was one car company...I forgot the name...that actually built I think it was 90 alternative fuel cars that were ready to be sold...and rather than sell them to the public...they actually loaded up these cars and took them to the crusher. And there was a group of people that actually had the money in hand to buy them all plus enough to purchase more...but the car company refused to sell them. There was even a husband/wife team that created a battery that would have provided 300 miles per charge on the batteries that could have been used.

There was even a documentary about all that...and we just love making documentaries about how smart we could be...but never actually follow through with things. We could very well get rid of oil and adopt alternative ways of transportation...but because of apathy it will never happen. People are just to damn lazy to do what it would take to make it happen and unwilling to be inconvenienced in the process. And hey...it's so much easier to just bitch about it and "appear" to care than actually caring enough to do it. 

So yeah...it's everyone's fault...whether you drive or not doesn't matter...you use something that has to be driven to your stores and what not.

Reply #64 Top

Didn't leave in anger Seth,, just didn't want to wander off into some quasi political world order conversation as compared to a discussion of the actual event at hand.

Reply #65 Top

^ Thanks, Ken... I'm made so sad by loss. I value you far too much for anything like that to happen.

Suck it up and kick your/our collective arses for being dependent on dangerous resource technology.

I'm not active enough in the causes I believe in to argue with that. However, I do believe things are hidden from general perousal, simply because of laziness, profit motive, etc. Thank G-d that's getting harder to do with info being around and being far more available to those who search.

I don't think the whole world WANTS that oil. The whole world WANTS transportation, and the people who are making bank on oil are playing some pretty tough political games to make sure they hold a monopoly on the thing that gives us transportation. The idea of alternative fuels is being suppressed.

There's truth in that, but it's getting harder and harder for folks to hide beneficial technologies and alternatives...

:)

There was even a documentary about all that...and we just love making documentaries about how smart we could be...but never actually follow through with things.

There's truth there as well. ;)

We could very well get rid of oil and adopt alternative ways of transportation...but because of apathy it will never happen.

"Never say never." ;)

 

Reply #66 Top

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Reply #67 Top

:thumbsup: Good one Chas!

Reply #68 Top

"....and the Darwin Award for Original Thinking goes to.....BP!"

Sombrero, Top hat..."Tomato Tomahto....Let's Call the whole thing off!"

Time to go electric already! ENOUGH with oil!

 

Reply #69 Top

And with all the exhausted batteries?  They go where? And all the recharge stations powered by?  Hmmmmm coal fired plants?

 

Just curious...........

Reply #70 Top

I would think there are safe ways to recycle them...these aren't AAA's...they're big boys.

As for powering them? Let's just leave things as they are...that's working out well, isn't it?

In fact, anything we do will have ramifications. We know the status quo isn't good for a number of reasons... I don't think we should sit by idly though. Too many bad outcomes for that....

Nothing will be perfect, but some solutions are less imperfect than the existing toxic mess.

Reply #71 Top

Doc, I was just kidding with you.  My goodness, we are sensitive this morning !;)))))))))))))))))))))

Reply #72 Top

I hate email for just that reason. How can one tell w/o using our beloved smilies?

If only we could power vehicles with smiles. The world would be much better off.

I've yet to hear of an Operation Sombrero/Top Hat to stem the tide of undersea leaking smilies. ;P ;) [more of an 'oldie' smilies person, myself].

 

 

Reply #73 Top

President Barack Obama wants an independent, third party to administer the escrow account and compensate those with "legitimate" claims for damages, Obama's top political adviser said Sunday. The amount of money set aside will be discussed during talks this week between the White House and BP, but Axelrod said it should be "substantial."

Gulf states also were putting the squeeze on BP. The attorney general in Florida and the state treasurer in Louisiana want BP to put a total of $7.5 billion in escrow accounts to compensate the states and their residents for damages now and in the future.

"At the end of the day, my concern is Louisiana," state treasurer, John Kennedy, told The Associated Press on Saturday. "BP ultimately will do what BP thinks is best for BP."

Reply #74 Top

Thanks for the video Chasbo, that was well worth watching.  I had seen references to that spill but hadn't gone fishing for the details.  This spill is expected to surpass it and therefore earn the title of "Worst Spill Ever".  It blew past Exxon Valdez ages ago.  Well I suppose if somebody's going to screw up, screw up big.

I really blame the industry more so than BP.  BP was just the lucky duck who happened to be holding the bag on this one.  The industry has been poking holes in the ocean floor and getting fat like ticks on a deer for all this time without investing in risk management and damage control strategy.  You poke enough holes and occasionally one of them is going to go sideways, it's inevitable.  Figure out how to deal with it in a timely manner.

Reply #75 Top

Gross negligence and willful disregard of safety standards made their luck bad.  Not fate.