Well, goodness, I am just shocked. A big oil company trying to pull one over on us....can hardly imagine.

What did you expect from a company like BP?

Here is a link that might be useful: from Jimmy Kimmel Live last night

Throwing up now.

That's pretty bad, Mona. My heart breaks for the fishermen down there. BP had best pay them all lost wages from now until this is completely gone.

I told my husband yesterday that I'm very surprised BP didn't have a backup plan in case a pipe burst. It seems like the natural thing to do, right?

And I had no idea BP was a British company.

Is the U.S. doing ANYTHING to help?

Pulling scams is listed somewhere in their mission statement....

What we stand for
BP wants to be recognised as a great company competitively successful and a force for progress. We have a fundamental belief that we can make a difference in the world.
We help the world meet its growing need for heat, light and mobility. We strive to do that by producing energy that is affordable, secure and doesnÂt damage the environment.
BP is progressive, responsible, innovative and performance driven

But wait there's more!

Responsible
We are committed to the safety and development of our people and the communities and societies in which we operate. We aim for no accidents, no harm to people and no damage to the environment.

Sorry, but I have to wonder if it was only BP involved in the PR "show" of supposed efforts being made to clean up the areas devasted by this oil spill.

It may just be that I am becoming exceedingly cynical in my old age...

BP is an abominable company. Many of us who live in Texas know this. Rather than reforming its ways after one disaster or after many, the company launched a massive PR campaign, complete with lovely mission statements, vapid commercials, and little yellow and green flowers, which succeeded in bamboozling an uncritical public. DH and I ridicule these commercials when we see them. NB I am not one who reflexively hates all corporations, but I do loathe that one. The notion that BP was given an award for safety practices is beyond absurd. Straight out of Vonnegut. Someone appears to have had the sense to pull the commercial about the small ecological foot print of the Deepwater Horizon. I can't even discuss this coherently I am so furious.

We aim for no accidents, no harm to people and no damage to the environment.

And yet they have the worst safety record in the oil industry.

OSHA statistics show BP ran up 760 "egregious, willful" safety violations, while Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had eight, Citgo had two and Exxon had one comparable citation.

Work, I'm a cynic too, but believe me, this BS is real

And I had no idea BP was a British company.

Oak, a lot of companies doing business in the U.S. are foreign-owned. Here's a list of oil companies. You can see which ones are American-owned.

Work, I'm wondering the same thing. I think the "staging" involved more than BP.

Mona, tell us more. Who do you think was staging besides BP?

"BP is an abominable company. Many of us who live in Texas know this. Rather than reforming its ways after one disaster or after many, the company launched a massive PR campaign... "NB I am not one who reflexively hates all corporations, but I do loathe that one. "

I completely agree Kitchendetective! But then, I live in Texas... Hubby is lucky to have survived his encounters with BP. A few of his late friends weren't so lucky...

natal, I have several thoughts on this.

I find it strange that there was no TV coverage of the workers leaving the cleanup area right after the photo-op. And we know this did happen because local government officials and local citizens have said they saw this happen.

Then, I've been waiting for Obama to comment on this charade. And neither he nor any White House spokesperson has said anything about this. Why the silence?

Now, I'm suspicious by nature since I've heard and seen lots of "stuff" in my years...and maybe I'm jumping to conclusions.... but I wonder if this wasn't a show to appease the American people and to try to calm the waters of unrest.

Mona, what are you insinuating? That the President was behind the staging? I think you're grasping at straws. The guilty party here is not the government.

Not that he was behind it, but he's done nothing to criticize BP for doing this. Maybe the recipients of big BP money were helping to stage this hoax?

You don't find it strange that there was no filming of the workers' departures? That can't just be a coincidence.

Natal, I know BP is the guilty party and when BP pulls a stunt like this it should be exposed for the arrogant, irresponsible company it is. This should have had world wide coverage and it didn't happen. I'm asking, "Why?"

Mona, the coverage is there. It just depends on what network/media source you're accessing. I've found CNN to have fairly decent coverage. And since I live in south Louisiana our local stations are covering pretty well too.

If you really want to complain about Obama's visit ask why he didn't take a boat ride into the marshes to see where the oil has already destroyed the ecosystem. Or ask why he didn't take the time to sit down with the shrimpers and fisherman and discuss how there lives are hanging by a thread. Picking at a staged event by BP as if it were a conspiracy is ludicrous!

Natal, I have asked those very same questions. Why do you think he didn't take the time to do those things?

No idea. He actually stayed longer than intended. He spoke to the people in charge and that was most important, but it would have been nice had he been able to go that extra mile.

The most critical thing is that he stand by his words!

Do you think he's being badly advised? It just would have made sense and better PR if he'd talked with the locals and gone to see the damage for himself.

I agree; he needs to stand by what he's said.

I have 2 very close friends who live in New Orleans and they tell me that their mood and the mood of the people is dour regarding Obama's visit. They do feel he should have done more.

I could give a flip about better PR. You can see what's it doing for BP.

I don't care about his image and how the local people view him. I care about the oil spill, the shore line, the economy and the wildlife and how/when it's going to be fixed.

Bottom line, I think every last cent that BP has should be used to clean up this mess and their CEO's should be out there sweating on the shorelines.

I'm looking at it from a political prospective and how it makes him look bad. Surely his advisors would have known his short visit would be criticized. So, I wonder did he just not listen to their advice? Or is someone close to him not looking out for his best political interests?

Look, I'm just thinking aloud. I have a habit of wondering why people act the way they do in different situations. It's one of my many quirks.

Mona, you & I both know it wouldn't matter what he did. Unfortunately, the early prognostications are probably going to be correct. This is Obama's Katrina and no amount of PR can change that.

The tentacles of BP in the federal government run verrrry deep. This wasn't a natural disaster, this was purely man made, and as such, is going to be a joke in placing blame and getting the mess cleaned up.

We have a tendency to blame the POTUS in everything (just like we did for Bush with Katrina and Carter for the Iran hostages) but the POTUS tends to just be a figure head. He can't say 'ok, EPA get out there and fine the hell out of BP and make them clean it up.' If ONLY it were that easy. Litigation will tie this thing up for decades. There's been no regulatory enforcement because of the deepness of the ties of big oil in government.

On a tiny, minute scale for example, I have some people who did some destruction to less than 1/4 acre of a significant wetland. I am required to notice them, give them an opportunity to contest the order to fix the mess, and this could theoretically be tied up in court for a couple of years BEFORE any work gets done to fix the mess. And then, there is no guarantee that the work will be done or if done, will be successful.

So lets magnify this by what is happening here with BP. And lets look at the liability cap that is in place. The reality is that BP is not going to do anything but make a PR show. No one is going to be able to 'fix' this. It's a F-ed up disaster that is going to be something we're going to be paying for for generations.

And there will be no serious sanctions imposed on BP. They pay their fines, do some feel good crap. A few months later the American people are all focusing on the latest celebrity cause du jour, or the next political snafu and we forget about this disaster and BP goes on it's merry way. Meanwhile an entire region is devastated beyond repair. And there STILL won't be any serious overhaul of the regulatory system because Big Oil has deep fingers, and no one wants 'bigger government'.

natal, you know I'm not an Obama supporter. But I disagree with you on this being his Katrina.

I really think if he had canceled his weekend vacation in Chicago and instead spent the time in NOLA with his family it would have given him a jump start as far as looking truly concerned over the spill.

It's not too late for him, I think. I think he needs to get really angry and show the people just how d___ed mad he is!!! He needs to stop being polite about this spill and start glaring into the TV cameras as he vows to make sure this is fixed and damages are paid for by BP.

And there STILL won't be any serious overhaul of the regulatory system because Big Oil has deep fingers, and no one wants 'bigger government'.

We may not have a choice.

Good link.

natal, thanks for the link. Couldn't agree more!

Re it not being possible that Obama or Obama's people could have known of the charade: at this point, we should have learned to take the *worst* possible thing we can think of, expand it exponentially, and that *might* approach what the truth is. I voted for him and I don't put his office above that at all. He might be able to say he had nothing to do with it, but that could easily mean that his staff took care of it for him.

I do agree w/George Lakoff's recent piece asserting that Obama's press conference this week in which he said we "don't know the facts" if we think he's not been urgently involved--WELL, even if he *has* been involved, as a former supervisor of mine used to say, it's not enough to lay the egg--you have to crow about it too. Obama can't just hole himself in and get things done, he owes the country (and the world) communication and a narrative by which we can feel some sense that someone's got control of the situation and it's not spinning out into chaos. That's what a leader does.

Not that any of this matters. This is, as pesky pointed out, in no way "Obama's Katrina". GWB must be laughing like a hyena at getting away without blame for gutting regulatory agencies and having the inevitable fallout blamed on the next guy to walk through the door. Not to mention Cheney's sniggering...

And finally, in the biggest most depressing picture, it's important to remember BP is not a 'person' by any other definition than that it can donate unlimited funds to political candidates. Sweeby's and other Texans' stories here have been amazing and saddening to read, but then again to anyone who has been watching from far away, it's always been clear that BP is a cold, heartless, profit making killing machine from way back.

It has been a major player in 20th c. geopolitics writ large. BP (along with a consortium, but BP was one of the leaders) is largely responsible for the *formation* of Iraq in its present state--one determined and ruled by the needs of the oil industry.

"BP was one of the first companies to exploit Iraqi oil. In 1925, a 75-year concession contract was granted to a consortium [3] 23.75% owned by BP, together with other British, French and American companies.
Combined with two further contracts signed in the 1930s, the consortium gained control over all of Iraqs oil.
The terms of the contracts, reflected the fact that Iraq was occupied by Britain (under a League of Nations Mandate) with a British-installed Monarch King Faisal. The deals gave most of the oil revenue to the companies, along with complete control over decision-making. Yet these terms long outlasted the occupation. The historical parallels to the present day are stark."

I'm beginning to think the only way out of all this morass is a serious concerted revolt against forces that have WAY more power than we do as individuals, and have not scrupled at using it, fatally, to get their way. This is nothing; they'll mobilize entire nations' armies simply for profit and greed. Scares the **** out of me for my daughter and all our children.

"This is Obama's Katrina and no amount of PR can change that."

That sure wouldn't be fair...
We knew five days in advance that Katrina was a huge storm of devastating severity that was most likely going to hit New Orleans -- and also how underprepared New Orleans was for a storm of that magnitude. What preparations were made? And once the storm was safely past, what quick responses went into deployment?

Yes, this BP disaster is awful. But that would be like blaming whoever was president when the Exxon Valdez disaster occured. (Who was that?)

No, it wouldn't be fair, but that's what attackers are already calling it.

Katrina didn't flood NO ... the failed levees did. And that was a result of a flawed design by the Army Corps of Engineers. The majority of people evacuated the city. Those without transportation were left behind. There were no quick responses. City, state, and federal governments failed the citizens.