BP is currently siphoning 10,000 barrels of oil per day from the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer. Why are they being permitted to keep, refine and sell that oil?
Adding... I think we often overlook the mindset of the corporation. When you and I look at the video of the oil spewing from the leak, we see tragedy and destruction. When men and women in board rooms and stockholder meetings see the oil spewing from the leak, they see money. Literally, the oil is money to them and every drop that's not collected is money lost. That's how they think.
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When BP says its doing everything it can to clean up the spill and cap the well, assume they're lying and cutting corners. Frank Rich:
In the last three years, according to the Center for Public Integrity, BP accounted for "97 percent of all flagrant violations found in the refining industry by government safety inspectors" — including 760 citations for "egregious, willful" violations (compared with only eight at the two oil companies that tied for second place). Hayward's predecessor at BP, ousted in a sex-and-blackmail scandal in 2007, had placed cost-cutting (and ever more obscene profits) over safety, culminating in the BP Texas City refinery explosion that killed 15 and injured 170 in 2005. Last October The Times uncovered documents revealing that BP had still failed to address hundreds of safety hazards at that refinery in the four years after the explosion, prompting the largest fine in the history of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (The fine, $87 million, was no doubt regarded as petty cash by a company whose profit reached nearly $17 billion last year.)
Again, BP will do the minimum necessary. It's the nature of the corporation.
By the way, Rich's larger point is pretty spot on.
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| BP TO TRY NEW APPROACH AS SPILL BECOMES WORST IN | ||
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Amazingly, there are still oil spill deniers
Boss Hogg, for example, thinks his beaches in Mississippi are just fine and dandy. Here's Haley Barbour on Fox News Sunday:
"The truth is," he said, "we have had virtually no oil. If you were on the Mississippi Gulf coast anytime in the last 48 days you didn't see any oil at all. We have had a few tar balls but we have had tar balls every year, as a natural product of the Gulf of Mexico. 250,000 to 750,000 barrels of oil seep into the Gulf of Mexico through the floor every year. So, tar balls are no big deal. In fact, I read that Pensacola or the Florida beaches when they have tar balls yesterday didn't even close. They just sent people out to pick them up and throw them in the bag.""...The Mississippi gulf coast is beautiful. As I tell people, the coast is clear. Come on down!"
The ability for Republicans to deny reality is beyond comprehension.
So when will Boss Hogg pull on his old-timey bathing trunks and take a dive into Gulf, then eat a plate of shrimp caught nearby? After all, it's just food mousse. Natural!
Adding... Yet when it comes down to a question of the president's "leadership," the oil spill is a "disaster."
So which is it, Boss Hogg? A "disaster" or "food mousse toothpaste" that happens naturally every day?
Barbour is seriously topping Sarah Palin in the moron category right now, and I didn't think that was possible.
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Marc Perkel:
It's interesting to see Republicans and Tea Baggers changing their tune when they want the government to bail them out after the capitalists have failed. After all, isn't the oil spill "Free Enterprise"? They didn't like the government bailing out the banks, but they want the government to bail out the oil companies and help clean up the spill? I thought they believed that wasn't the government's role. They shouldn't interfere with the "free market system".
Not the conservatives want the government to "take over". They want government run beach protection? Are they asking for socialized government run environmental protection? Isn't this just more "government regulation". Just another "big government takeover"? Why do we care about the environment? That's what those liberal progressive tree hugging global warming socialist hippies want. Not the conservatives are calling out to the "federal bureaucracy" for a "bailout". What about British Petroleum's God given right to make a profit?
When things are good it's easy for Tea Baggers to run their mouth. But when the disasters come and we have to deal with reality all of a sudden they change their tune and come crying to Uncle Sam wanting the liberals to clean up their mistakes. I think the news media is giving these people intellectual welfare to even listen to them anymore.
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BP seems to be dedicated to fouling the environment everywhere it sets up an operation:
The massive BP oil refinery in Whiting, Ind., is planning to dump significantly more ammonia and industrial sludge into Lake Michigan, running counter to years of efforts to clean up the Great Lakes.
Indiana regulators exempted BP from state environmental laws to clear the way for a $3.8 billion expansion that will allow the company to refine heavier Canadian crude oil. They justified the move in part by noting the project will create 80 new jobs.
Under BP's new state water permit, the refinery -- already one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes -- can release 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan each day. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish, while sludge is full of concentrated heavy metals.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/chi-pollute_15jul15,0,823234.story
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Awesome news: Spain moves to ban bullfights.
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It would be great if the White House staff would read Frank Rich's column today and take heed. But, since they're the smartest people in the world (and they know it), it's hard for them to take the advice of others. But, if they could listen to someone outside of their bubble, this column would be a good place to start.
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Thirty-seven of the 64 active or senior judges in key Gulf Coast districts in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida have links to oil, gas and related energy industries, including some who own stocks or bonds in BP PLC, Halliburton or Transocean — and others who regularly list receiving royalties from oil and gas production wells, according to the reports judges must file each year. The AP reviewed 2008 disclosure forms, the most recent available.
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Update:
And if you're waiting for any BP execs to face prosecution, don't hold your breath:
Over the years, the Justice Department has repeatedly pursued criminal charges in major environmental accidents, from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 to the Three Mile Island nuclear accident a decade earlier. In most high-profile environmental cases, criminal charges are brought mainly against the companies involved, while corporate executives typically escape punishment.
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At least there was one place in American life where government isn't intruding:
And yet, in their investigations of nearly 400 offshore incidents, Minerals Management Service officials failed to travel to one-third of the accident scenes, collected only 16 fines and did not investigate every blowout as their own rules require.
Also, too, that's yet another solid piece from the Houston Chronicle, which is beating the national press on a daily basis.
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How to clean a Pelican: http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-clean-pelican.html
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Doctors group says Bush Administration conducted medical experiments on detainees.
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World's Sexiest Men Gather For Rush Limbaugh's Fourth Wedding
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