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Monday, August 23, 2010

The Gulf, the Lies and Pictures

BPs attempts to try to green-wash this catastrophe is as welcome the White House's own whitewash.
At first BP estimated 1000 barrels a day were leaking into the Gulf.
That figure quickly rose to 5000 barrels a day and was parroted by the federal government.
When in reality the figure was closer to 53,000 barrels a day.
BPs efforts to stifle the flow of information and skew the numbers is understandable if you consider that without precise accounting of the flow rate BP's attorneys can argue (indefinitely) that without accurate info it will be difficult to calculate all the fines.

WASHINGTON (guardian,co.uk) The White House energy adviser, Carol Browner, said a new assessment had found that about 75% of the oil had been captured, burned off, evaporated or broken down in the Gulf.
"It was captured. It was skimmed. It was burned. It was contained. Mother Nature did her part," Browner said of the Gulf oil spill. She added that about 25% remained." BULLSHIT!!!

BP tried to cover it up. The Coast Guard 'guarded' BP and served as their enablers. The Coast Guard did not actually 'guard' the coast and their oversight borders on criminal.
BP lied as to the oil flow rate (barrels per day) and ignored the EPAs call to stop using Corexit. BP continued to spray Corexit directly into the massive leak at the well head as well continuing to spray the surface areas (land & water) up & down the coast under the guise of night.
And the Coast Guard watched.
As you may know 'BP' is British Petroleum and in the UK chemical dispersants are banned. They are toxic and they know it but BP is obviously more interested in manipulating the oil flow rate numbers as that drives the cost of fines based on barrels per day along with bonus fines for gross negligence. The Clean Water Act states BP must pay $1100 per barrel spilled and $4300 per barrel if gross negligence is proven.
Watch as this process unfolds and see if justice is served because this assault on the environment is clearly gross negligence.

The White House has again demonstrated how complicit they can be when it comes to corporate interests. The White House had claimed "the worst was over" and backed up a claim based on misinformation from NOAA's Jane Lubchenko.
WASHINGTON (Reuters)Most oil from the BP spill is gone from the Gulf of Mexico or has degraded into tiny particles, with 26 percent remaining as a sheen or tarballs, buried in sediment or washed ashore, U.S. scientists said on Wednesday.

"At least 50 percent of the oil that was released is now completely gone from the system, and most of the remainder is degrading rapidly or is being removed from the beaches,” Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told a White House briefing.

In the big picture it doesn't matter what BP or the White House releases as information because apparently it's all crap and I don't want "rosy pictures" painted by the MSM or being spoon fed crap
from different agencies of the federal government.
You would have to be an idiot to believe the BP commercials as their tools line up to tell you that BP will be there until the Gulf is cleaned up.
BP's strategy to deploy skimmers and spray Corexit at the same time is redundant.
If they wanted to contain it and collect it, then skim it. If they wanted to hide it beneath the surface and increase the toxic effects of this catastrophe then spray Corexit.

A plume of oil 22 miles long lies beneath the surface along the coast. The critters suffer in the Gulfs oil, here are some pictures @the Washington Post

Here's a 4 page article @ Mother Jones titled "The BP Cover Up"..(in the Gulf)
It's a lot to take in and really depressing but the story has to be told.

If it isn't obvious yet BP is deplorable... Let Rachel explain...

Thursday, August 19, 2010

!st Amendment Rights at Risk

"I believe that Net Neutrality is the 1st Amendment issue of our time"
Sen. Al Franken D/Minn.


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Senator Al warns us of the threat from corporate media. If these mega-media mergers are allowed eventually they will control the flow of information. It's bad now, really bad but imagine if they controlled not only the news on TV but the internet too. Scary scary stuff.
We have seen what happens when corporations and/or their lobbys dictate policy. We've seen it with banks, pharmaceuticals and energy. Over & over again our government conspires with corporations to keep them happy, all the while sacrificing control either through deregulation or giving them a seat at the table to dictate policy.

We need more like Al.

Here is a link to Al's petition.

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