BP Says Oil Spill Is 'Drop In The Ocean'

[Turborama]

Source: Sky News

=snip=

BP's chief executive Tony Hayward said he felt under no pressure to stand down but admitted his future depends on how the company deals with the crisis.

In an http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/13/bp-boss-admits-mistakes-gulf-oil-spill">interview with The Guardian newspaper he said: "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume."

But http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article7125936.ece">speaking to The Times newspaper he said: "I think I will be judged by the response. I don't feel my job is on the line but of course that might change."

Mr Hayward, who has been at BP for 28 years, said he has had trouble sleeping and has received hate mail since the Deepwater Horizon blew up.

Read more: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Gulf-Of-Mexico-Oil-Spill-BP-Boss-Tony-Hayward-Says-The-Leak-Is-Tiny-Compared-To-Entire-Ocean/Article/201005215631647?lpos=World_News_Top_Stories_Header_2&lid=ARTICLE_15631647_Gulf_Of_Mexico_Oil_Spill:_BP_Bo

---

The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/13/bp-oil-spill-ocean-footage">Oil leak 'may be 12 times BP estimate'

It's good to see the newspapers and some TV news stations are keeping up with reporting on this unmitigated disaster.


The "Top Hat" containment chamber they're sending down.

[maddezmom]

1. he's lost the plot

:eyes:

[Turborama]

2. Assuming he even had the plot in the 1st place

:hi:

[maddezmom]

3. well we know he had no plan

I can't believe he'd utter such callous words while trying to win the "hearts and minds" so to speak.

[fascisthunter]

45. he's an arrogant sociopath

you and I will never understand because we are born with a conscience.

[subsuelo]

57. it's a good thing that Obama's administration is taking such dramatic action

There doesn't seem to be much chance they'll escape the Crimes against Humanity trials.

:sarcasm:

[fascisthunter]

58. no shit, right?

[jimshoes]

dupe

God Damn you.

[jimshoes]

4. The time for lame semantics has long since passed

you evil fuck. Word games and false equivalancies are all you have and that just ain't good enough pardner. So rather than killing what's left of the Gulf, please get the fuck out of the way and let someone who gives a shit try to contain the armageddon you've unleashed at the bottom of the ocean. God Damn you.

[timtom]

30. You've expressed my feelings, exactly!

And it's not about Volume of ocean vs Volume of oil, it's all about Surface Area!!
He's just another lying miscreant.

[lostnfound]

36. Good point. Surface area = 579,000 square miles. Oil slick > 6,200 sq miles

So thanks for destroying at least 1% of our Gulf.. and counting. But it's the northwestern third of the Gulf that will be directly affected -- you are at 3% covered. Now consider the population of sea creatures concentrated around the coasts, and maybe you are up closer to 10% affected. So far. Except the damage goes deeper and farther than that, because the animals swim, and the pollutants disperse. And how fast is it coming out of that hole in the ground today?

[Amonester]

106. The sociopath doesn't give a flying f**k about any other being

He only cares about his own bottom line, his golden parachute (to come soon) and his (I'm sure) bloated pension plan.

That's it.

(And I'm sure he's gonna get them all too.)

[Jamastiene]

124. I could not have said it better.

:thumbsup:

[Thor_MN]

136. Wonder if he would mind me putting a drop in his water glass.

"The solution to pollution is dilution" was tossed out in the 60's and 70's. The republicans have been trying to make it return with corporation-friendly "self-policing" and other nonsense, but anyone that does not get their information from faux and rush knows that the world is a finite thing. We simply can not go on destroying the planet if we plan to continue to live in it. The planet will eventually recover from whatever we do it it, but it may be only after we get rid of ourselves.

[jimshoes]

5. dupe

[crikkett]

118. You were really clicking weren't you?

3 dupes... it's happened to me before

:hi:

[truthisfreedom]

6. This "drop in the ocean" comment will be his undoing. He never should have spoken to the press

if he wanted to keep his job. What an idiot.

[NewJeffCT]

51. It's a "Heckuva job, Brownie" sort of moment

WTF was he thinking?

[Prometheus Bound]

7. Well that's a relief.

[depakid]

8. When governments create a pattern where no almost no one is held accountable for corporate crimes

and torture- is it any wonder that we hear profoundly callous statements like this in the midst of unmitigated disasters?

[liberation]

9. Well, then it is safe to assume BP will have no problem in paying for the cleanup in its entirety

Oh, and the consequences for this drop in the water should be minimal... so they will pay for them too, right?

I mean it is just a drop. Then let's hold BP to it, I say.

[Carolina]

80. great point!

[ixion]

10. so he's making jokes about it? Time for criminal charges

because his only concern is 'perception' and framing, obviously.

[Kablooie]

11. Agatha Christie could have told him it only takes one drop in the tea.

[northernlights]

12. yeah, and fuck you too Tony.

at least now there is no doubt where you really stand and what your priorities really are. :grr: :grr: :grr:

[dotymed]

13. Another "tiny drop"

How many "tiny drops" does it take to eradicate a once healthy eco-sphere? We do know that all life is dependent on our oceans, which has to endure so many of these "tiny drops." From nuclear wastes to gushing oil wells. How many "tiny drops" of poison does it take in a potable drinking water supply before it is no longer safe for consumption? The wildlife and flora that exist in the ocean, like us, depend on a healthy environment to survive. What an idiotic "reason" for minimizing the effects of this poison on the population of our oceans.

[Spheric]

95. A quart of motor oil can contaminate up to 250,000 gallons of drinking water...

So, what the hell? He should earn a striped shirt for that statement alone.

:grr:

[DailyGrind51]

14. Let the U.S. Navy take over plug and clean operations and then nationalize BP America!

[bulloney]

15. Well hey, Tony! You're only one out of 6 billion people. Does that make you any less significant?

Just saying.

[Hubert Flottz]

16. Poor old guy...

I'll bet his millions in the bank will help ease the pain.

[Botany]

17. Science experiment for Tony

fill your kitchen sink about 3/4s up w/ water and then put 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil on top of it and
watch what happens

[Delphinus]

19. But,

according to what I just read (and perhaps did not understand), because it came from the ocean floor, it's being evaporated.

Oh, and they're using all that oil dispersant, so no harm, no foul.

:sarcasm:

[AlbertCat]

88. 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil on top of it and watch what happens

Then let it sit for week and then....



DRINK IT UP!


Go on! It's just a drop!

[ima_sinnic]

18. at BP for 28 yrs? then you've got $$ coming out yr ass--enough to slink away with forever

fucking greedheads.

capitalism is a fucking CRIME and should be punishable by death.
the resources of the world belong to the world's people, not to the richest scumbags with the least conscience.

[Flatulo]

56. Do you work? Do you receive a wage? Do you sell your labor

for money?

That's capitalism, isn't it?

Do you think you should be executed for working and earning a living?

[ima_sinnic]

60. I ain't buying your craptastic system

"working and earning a living" is not the same as treating the world's resources as my own personal property, to be hogged and wasted and sold "at a profit." I've known since I was 5 years old that the capitalist system is unnatural, wasteful, and destructive as I could sense the absolute lack of necessity of introducing a new model of car every year, just for the sake of being "new" and wasting what had already been produced.

oh, the worshippers of capitalism always have their self-righteous, indignant little snits about people like me, but ask me if I care. I see PIGS who care only about enriching their own greedy little selves, and to hell with the planet and everybody on it. They treat workers--i.e., humanity--as "inputs" and think they own them (if you've finished your tasks for the day, do you think you can leave?). They treat things like water, land, forests, animals, and oceans as somehow "belonging" to them.

what we see in the Gulf is just one little example of the attitude of capitalist scumsucker pigs. They make disposable junk that becomes obsolete quickly and convince people that they "need" it. They are the leaders of the totally stupid, ruining the planet for their own existence.

[AllyCat]

63. +1

[Turborama]

65. Toothbrushes

Something that I've always thought as a prime example of introducing a new product every 5 minutes, just for the sake of being "new".

[ima_sinnic]

68. ironic--I remember coming back to U.S. from more than a yr in Jamaica,

where many people were grindingly poor and stocks were often quite sparse in stores and being shocked and disgusted specifically at the wanton, ostentatious display of unnecessary plastic crappy toothbrushes. I complained to my father, a kindly and well-meaning Democrat, but misguided, that the stores were full of too many different toothbrushes and that was unnecessarily wasteful. He could only say that that kept people in jobs.

whatever.

[Flatulo]

70. Classic commie dogma... you must drive a Yugo.

The product of a much more efficient and non-dog-eat-dog socialist paradise known as the former Soviet Union.

[ima_sinnic]

73. whatever floats your crapitalist boat, go for it

classic greedhead dogma ... you must have a "choice" in your daily plastic junk, or your life isn't worth living :cry:

[Flatulo]

90. Capitalism produced the $500 PC or laptop you are most likely

typing on. Maybe you're too young to remember, but a basic no-frills PC used to be $4000 back in the 'late 80s.

And as far as 'classic greedhead dogma' goes, unless you are giving up your entire wages to the less fortunate and eating shrubbery, you are part of the system. Can I assume that you're trying to earn a living and make a better life for yourself and your family?

The only reason you aren't creating oil spills is that you're not clever or ambitious enough.

[ima_sinnic]

99. I'm older than you are, I remember plenty

as far as my not being "clever or ambitious enough," take your fucking shit and shove it. I'm not interested, is why. I take your insult to mean you know what's important in life: money money money money MONEY, the thing you would do ANYTHING for.

don't you have some air to pollute or land to steal, some people to stomp over in your quest for PROFIT? how can you take the time from counting your gold to sit at the computer? or do you have some minimum-wage serf to wipe your ass?

[Flatulo]

102. Nice rant, too bad you're so bitter. I assume from your posts

that you are quite the angry person.

It's a shame, life is short and dead is forever. I choose to enjoy the creature comforts that my brains and ambition allow me to obtain for myself and my loved ones.

If you want to piss and moan at the unfairness of it all, be my guest. I'd rather work and be productive and create something other than hot air. I'm quite happy with my life.

[ima_sinnic]

103. how nice you're not inconvenienced by the mess made by your fellow

greedy capitalist friends, the dead animals don't bother you, the stinking ruined beaches don't affect you, the sight of blight and squalor will never touch your privileged eyes.

I've chosen to live way out in the country away from your industrial mess and "conveniences," where I see bees much less numerous and strange weather patterns because of human endeavors that have messed up the climate. Any extra that I make in self-employment (as an editor of ESL writing, so basically helping people improve their English) I pretty much give away--much as microloans to third-world countries impoverished by greedy thieving capitalists--as well as the fruits of my labor in gardening and growing fruit trees.

how nice that desecration of nature doesn't "anger" you. that's because, for you, it's just there to be used, and used up, never mind how others will cope when it's gone, because, for capitalists, it doesn't matter, right? because it won't be in YOUR lifetime, so who cares.

[Flatulo]

105. You're so wrong about me. Assume what you will, and let your anger consume you.

You've built quite a straw man around me based on my questioning of your statement that 'capitalism is a crime, deserving of the death penalty'.

I see a lot of people on this board ranting and raving about the evils of capitalism, and it's been my observation that the loudest rants come from the people who happen to suck the most at it.

Capitalism and environmentalism are not mutually exclusive. In fact, many clever people make quite a bit of money and create quite a few jobs from the business of protecting and/or cleaning up the environment.

So hate away, you goddamned hypocrite, while you live your oh so correct life on land that was stolen by force from indigenous people who had been there for 100,000 yesrs before you came. Burn your wood and pollute the air the rest of us have to breathe.

[ima_sinnic]

123. awww, poor widdle you, breathing my wood smoke

isn't the wood there to be exploited?
unlike oil, it IS a renewable resource.
my life, and everyone's, is polluted in every way by the outputs and waste of mindless consumerism driven by capitalism.

I have boxes left over from selling on eBay and at flea markets of crap bought at yard sales to resell--endless crap that people "couldn't live without" that somehow, now, they're living without.

the production of all that crap was an endless chain of pollution, from extraction of raw materials and concomitant burning of fossil fuels to running of factories to packaging that was thrown in landfills to transport to stores--eventually the crap will be in landfills after its temporary stay in my storage room, after I donate it to a thrift shop, put it on freecycle, or take it to the dump myself. so I'm not going to feel a whole lot of guilt over polluting your precious air with my wood smoke. Or would you rather I bought oil?

[Flatulo]

127. Actually, I don't care if you burn your own poo. My point is that

if you are exhaling, you are part of the problem.

And all those plastic toothbrushes that so traumatized your childhood? They would not exist if there were not a demand for every single one of them. They would vanish in a heartbeat, just like the buggy whips that came before them, and the hula hoops that came after them.

That's what's so friggin' cool about capitalism. The absolute best products at the absolute best prices will always bubble to the top in a free market. The ONLY way to prevent this from happening is to have some tyrannical entity step in and ban the production of this or that. Because free people have good ideas that they want to sell to other free people.

Yeah, it tends to fuck up the planet. But when people are tired of seeing the planet getting fucked up, other free people will come up with ways to un-fuck the planet, which they will sell at a profit to people who are willing to pay to un-fuck the planet.

As for me having a minimm wage serf wipe my ass? What would be so wrong with that? Do you oppose a minimum wage, or do you oppose the wiping of one's ass? (I'm leaning towards the latter). If a free person were willing to wipe my ass for a freely agreed upon wage, and I freely agreed to pay the wage, why would this offend you?

DO you know that this happens every hour of every day? Home health workers wipe the asses of the elderly and the infirm. They do it for money. They do it for not very much money.

Do you oppose this? Should people do it for free? or not at all?

I struggling to understand the commie mind here.

[ima_sinnic]

129. if you weren't so disdainful about "commies," I might want to engage with you

First, I was offended by the toothbrushes, because there is no need whatsoever to destroy resources for things that are only gimmicks. There is no "demand" for a toothbrush with little lights on it with a licensed cartoon character. Any "demand" is purely fabricated out of whole cloth. Nobody would be "deprived" without that toothbrush. Somehow I made it through childhood with a basic toothbrush--in fact, the lack of gimmicks and gewgaws made a child's life a lot simpler in the 50s.

In my little part-time endeavor of buying and reselling yard sale items, I saw many things that at one time even I had "longed for" and always thought ironically--gee, at one time I really wanted this, now I have it and can't wait to get rid of it again. The "stuff" poured through my fingers, it was endless, and deep down, it made me sick. Among other things, I had a giant box full of useless plastic McDonald's toys for a quarter each. Kids had "played" with them for about 15 minutes and then discarded them.

Imagine the child laborers in China breathing the toxic fumes in plastic factories so some little kid in the U.S. could have a plastic doodad that he or she would forget about in 5 minutes. The cost of that item, in terms of human suffering (child laborers work 12-14 hrs/da, with no safety protection, no oversight for their health and welfare, no realistic break schedule--but I know, from the papers from Asians I have corrected, that the children's income is sorely needed and that I should be more tolerant of child employment, so I consider that, too--but it is still suffering), and the environmental costs--the raw materials extraction, manufacturing processes and waste, packaging, transportation, and then disposal--it all has a cost, and we are now starting to bear those costs in terms of global warming, overflowing landfills, and natural disasters triggered by natural chains of cause and effect--all to fill artificial "demand."

The destruction of the planet, the suffering, the disparity is just not worth it to fulfill the "demand" for stuff that is basically not needed in any way. People no longer know the difference between needs and wants. That is what is so offensive to me about capitalism--the creation of "demand" for junk that simply WASTES resources. I abhor waste. I reuse plastic bags umpteen times, for example. I rarely buy anything new anymore; I look for items in thrift shops after putting them on a list and wait till they appear instead of running to Target every time I "need" something.

I don't consider myself "better" than anyone but just wish people would also learn to be less wasteful and less inclined to impulsively buy every googaw that shows up. On the occasions when I do buy stuff at a place like Target, I see what others are buying and feel like telling them, that item will end up in a yard sale within 2 years, or in the landfill, or in a thrift shop--you don't need it.

[Flatulo]

134. Thanks for a much more civil response. What initially prompted me

to respond to you was your remark that capitalism was a 'crime' worthy of the death penalty. I think that comment was a bit over the top, and when I see posts like that I tend to respond, sometimes strongly.

Let me state in no uncertain terms that the recent calamity in the gulf is an unrivaled catastrophe, and if it can be shown in a court of law that any of the parties involved in this enterprise did not follow the strictest environmental protections, they should be sued into oblivion, and their principals should face lengthy prison sentences.

And let me further state that I completely get your point that the demand for the many geegaws and doodads that litter are lives and the planet is completely manufactured. Myself? I'm driving a 10 year old car that gets excellent gas mileage, and I live in a stupidly small and inexpensive home that costs nearly nothing to live in, heat or maintain. I even work for a company that manufactures solar cells and panels (although you would just not even believe the toxic shit that is used to make these things). So I get the minimalist approach, and I even laud your resolve to leave as small a footprint as possible.

However, the only thing that annoys me more than wanton waste of resources is some government mandating, under threat of force, that people do not have the right to create and produce (and smoke or ingest) anything that their minds can imagine, or that the same people do not have the right to market, sel, purchase, use (and resue) such geegaws and doodads.

I'm not a laissez-faire libertarian, although some libertarian principles strongly resonate with me (maximal freedom, self-defense, property rights). I believe that a legitimate government has the right to regulate trade that would be harmful to its citizens, the environment, or its national security. I also believe that we need to beef up these regulations, and not just because of the current mess in the Gulf.

Maybe because I'm an engineer I have a lot of faith (well, I don't believe in faith - I believe in data) that we can have our cake and eat it too. We can have TV with 500 channels, nice cars that are fuel efficient, homes that don't kill us, clean air and water, and freedom, all at the same time. Communist governments have a piss-poor record at all of the above, which is why I bristle at the notion of using force (because even though it's not spoken aloud, force is always implied) to prevent people from bringing things to market that they think can be sold to other people.

I also tend to jump at any opportunuity to point out what I see as the hypocricies when posters seem to me to 'take the high ground' by comparing their lifestyle to my own. For example, burning wood is not necessarily cleaner or more efficient than petrol. The reason why petroleum replaced wood as the fuel of choice for locomotion is that its energy density is up to 4X higher.

Yeah, wood burning can be cheaper, and I support your right to not engage the petrochemical industry, but for the vast majority of Americans, moving out into the stix and burning wood is simply not an option. Our jobs are in urban areas, and we need to burn petroleum to get our asses there so that we can earn an income and feed our kids.

[Flatulo]

109. By the way, care to share with us the rate of return on your microloans?

I hear they can yield as much as 5 points.

Not too shabby for someone who would never exploit the poor downtrodden indigenous people of Whereverthefuck.

[ima_sinnic]

122. they are interest free, through kiva.org

I realized that would be the most important thing to you.
that's the only thing that matters to people like you.
I'm not at all "wrong" about you.

[Flatulo]

128. Well done, then. That's a very nice and selfless gesture. nt

I give to various charities myself, usually those associated with medical research.

[ellie]

130. "The only reason you aren't creating oil spills

is that you're not clever or ambitious enough"?

What?

[Flatulo]

135. My point being that we all contribute, in ways both small and large,

to polluting the planet.

Man, through a quirk of evolution, is the only ceature to ever inhabit this world that has the ability to significantly alter the environment.

Some of us alter it in little ways, like shitting and exhaling and burning stuff to keep warm. Others, like oil company executives, alter it in large ways, by spilling oil in the process of getting it to the rest of us so that we can burn it and keep warm.

If we didn't need to oil to keep warm and locomote to our jobs, there would be no market for getting it out of the ground.

We're all part of the problem.

[lark]

83. I didn't see the Soviet Union's banks destroying the world's

economy, it was the Capitalistic banks that ripped off everyone.

I'll take "none of the above" thank you.

[Flatulo]

87. Yeah, infinitely better that their collectivization policies killed 30 million people.

[booley]

93. Just a word from the excluded middle

I know, it's not as fun as arguing from one extreme or another.

But besides the fact that the death toll from capitalism is just as big if not bigger (just not as well advertised) I would also make a point, really a question...

Why should we be stuck between only two bad systems? Can't we find an better system that doesn't have the horrible abuses of the previous two?

That Soviet style communism was bad does not mean that the Lassaiz Faire Capitalism we have here is good.

Especially when in both cases, a lot of the problems stemmed from the same source (group think and ideological purity)

[Flatulo]

94. Actually, I agree with you. We need a major tune-up.

Some bankers and hedge-fund managers need to go to jail. Some companies need to be fined heavily for mis-managing the rpecious resources they've been allowed to exploit.

But really, the poster I am debating with seems to want a complete state-run economy. Give me a break. That model has produced more hardships than all natural disaster combined.

[defendandprotect]

138. They had totalitarian communism . . . unchangeable . . . we have totalitarian capitalism . . .

unchangeable? We'll find out, maybe?

[Flatulo]

67. So I'm just going to go ahead and put you down as a 'No'.

[Carolina]

81. TOUCHE!

[austin78704]

111. Capitalism isn't the problem

Capitalism is nothing more than an economic system. All of the evils you see in it can exist just as easily under any other economic system because they are not the products of a healthy economy--they are the result of corruption, laziness, and stupidity.

Corruption, laziness, and stupidity are products of individuals, and those individuals will not vanish just because of a change in economic models.

I'm all for solving problems, but solve actual problems.

[defendandprotect]

139. No -- capitalism is a ridiculous "King-of-the-Hill" system . . . .

intended to move the wealth and natural resources of any nation from the

many to the few.

It is not merely an economic system. It is a system based on total exploitation

of nature, natural resources, animal-life -- and even of other human beings

according to various myths of inferiority.

Capitalism isn't about competitition -- it's about killing the competition.

It's impossible for true capitalism to exist without government subsidy or

regulation.

FDR did save capitalism from itself -- from its own greed -- by regulating it.

Rather, capitalism should have been overturned then.

Unregulated capitalism, which we have again, is merely organized crime.

We have to stop judging everything by the yardstick of a dollar bill!

As many have said before me, a dollar bill is worthless -- you can't eat it,

you can't drink it, you can't plant it -- stare at it but you'll never see a

susnset or a rainbow. Nature is ALL.

[Ter]

98. You are why we lose elections

Really death? Come on...

[ima_sinnic]

100. "we"?

oh, yes, be my guest and give the guy a BONUS!
isn't that the American Way when a capitalist pig fucks up?

[Ter]

101. Who's talking about giving him a bonus?

America always was capitalist and always will be. It's not ever gonna change. Luckily Obama doesn't agree with your anti-capitalist tirade, or he would lose 49 states in 2012.

[newspeak]

133. Anyone see Rachel Maddow last night?

When the so-called regulators are partying with oil lobbyists and corporate heads, there is very little interest in protecting the people or the commons. A corporation today can say they are American, but yet, have their home office in Switzerland, the Cayman's or Dubai. As corporations become more global, they wind up superseding environmental and labor laws. Some snub at government's attempts to regulate their damage. It is predatory capitalism at it's finest and most corporations could care less what environmental or human damage they create as long as they can make a buck.

A corporation can be sociopathic--they can harm thousands with no conscience at all because they are a piece of paper (actually a group of people hiding behind a piece of paper). If countries do not hold them accountable for the misery they cause, they will keep doing the same thing.

I am for well regulated capitalism-I am for those corporations who are responsible and feel an obligation to communities and their workers. I am not for those corporations that leave destruction and death in their wake just because they took the short cut or didn't want to spend the money for safety. If an individual caused as much damage, they'd be tried and put in prison for life--a corporation does it, and they usually get handslap (mostly monetary). How does that keep them from continuing their same damaging acts?

Now * stated that corporations should police themselves--I mean they have such a great record policing themselves. :sarcasm: And this is what happens when corporations police themselves or regulators are corrupted (worked in the industry) by corporations. Corporations should not have the same rights as an individual (actually they have more rights and less responsibility). Strip their personhood and regulate.

[defendandprotect]

141. Agree, totally . . . and corporations will supercede our Constitutions . . .

seems to me they are already doing that --

What we have now is corporate fascism --

totalitarian capitalism --

And we already had regulated capitalism and they bought their way out of it--

How many families being harmed even now -- how many wars for capitalism and oil?

Capitalism and democracy are not synonymous -- capitalism is the enemy of democracy.



:)

[defendandprotect]

140. Capitalism is a killer . . . how many killed for the sake of the oil industry alone?

How many elites are not capitalists?

How many wars have been fought to protect their power/profits?

See: "War is a racket!" -- Brig. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler -- google

[florida08]

20. yes it's all about you Tony

what a narcissist

[Jello Biafra]

21. If you lookup in a dictionary....

the word asshole, you will see this ahole's picture.

[era veteran]

23. My dictionary also has his picture next to COMPLETE BASTARD

Trouble sleeping? You will never get a nights sleep in prison.

[City Lights]

22. Asswipe of the highest order.

Go cheney yourself, Hayward.

[orbitalman]

24. There comes a time....

when a person has stayed too long, gotten too comfortable or gotten too old to serve competently any longer. Tony apparently has not seen that time yet for himself. He'll get broadsided unless he wises up.

[liberal N proud]

25. That is one damn big drop

[carlyhippy]

26. drop in the ocean?!!!?!! 700,000 gallons of crude oil spewing into the ocean is not a drop

1 gallon of crude oil spilling into the ocean is too much. Don't foo foo this off, you messed up..FIX IT...GET ER DONE BP!!!

[lostnfound]

37. NPR reported 3 Million gallons a day yesterday.

Or to be precise, 70,000 barrels which is equal to 2.94 Million barrels. I had my 8 year old do the math last night.

[carlyhippy]

40. good lord, and I read somewhere that it's now up to 70,000 barrels a day, every day

it sickens me. Off shore drilling rigs are so vulnerable to so many hazards, WHY would they not put remote shut offs all the way down the pipe, WHY didn't they have some safeguards in place?! god help us all.

[seafan]

27. Better to have trouble sleeping than have trouble breathing because of oil lining your lungs.

Right, Mr. Hayward?

"In the last four or five years we have made major improvements in safety performance. It has made the company much better … Four years ago it could have been very different," Hayward said.

An oil soaked bird struggles against the oil slicked side of the HOS Iron Horse supply vessel at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana Sunday, May 9, 2010.






Fury doesn't come close to describing it.


BP boss admits job on the line over Gulf oil spill





At the Broward County Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, Vicki Ryder, Marijo Beckman, Sue Nestel and Leah Weinberger -- aka the Raging Grannies -- protest BP as part of demonstrations nationwide. The group wants the government to seize BP assets to pay for damages. (ROBERT MAYER/(FORT LAUDERDALE) SUN SENTINEL / May 12, 2010)

[tanyev]

28. Go tell it to all the Gulf fishermen, Tony.

Seriously, I dare you.

[protocol rv]

33. They will be compensated

I don't think fishermen are feeling too sorry right now. They are getting work laying out booms, and they know they'll be compensated anyway. There's a lot of hysteria in the air, but the truth so far is 6 dead dolphins, 2 turtles, one pelican oiled, and a lot of ugly looking orangey water. I've only seen reports of about 200 meters of beach hit by tarballs. So what's the hysteria about? That oil is biodegradable and it should actually cause a boom in biodiversity as the critters start feeding off the bacteria that are eating the oil.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hatrack]

47. Yes, and it's a whopping $10/hour

nt

[Angry Dragon]

49. Are you for real or is this sarcasm??

[Ichingcarpenter]

59. He's for real but his facts aren't

Biodegradable crude oil .............LOL
the spill will improve the biosystem.......LOL



!!!!!

[Angry Dragon]

69. I have a huge fear about what is happening

in the world today. I honestly feel man might be on the brink of destroying much of the world. Not just this gusher but also all the other small and large disasters that are going on. More earthquakes, volcanoes, disregard for nature, disregard of man himself and no one is stepping up. Our leaders seem more concerned in keeping their jobs and filling their pockets with cash than doing their jobs. They do not look to the future but are only concerned with today. With this attitude there will be no future nor tomorrow.

[louis-t]

55. Oil is NOT 'bio-degradable'!

You are using rush's talking points. It is NOT vegetable oil. It 'degrades', it does NOT 'bio-degrade'.

[enki23]

74. yes, much of it does, in fact, biodegrade. though by no means all of it.

.

[louis-t]

92. Oil is four fifths carbon. Only by using bacterial accelerator

does it actually break down in a short amount of time. I have not seen any article or scientific data which claims that oil actually 'bio' degrades. It all says 'degrades'. I have been searching for years for any data that says otherwise.

[ronnie624]

64. A "boom in biodiversity" resulting from an oil spill?

Can you post some information about that?

[boppers]

112. Huge events trigger die offs, and resulting diversity of survivors.

This is a huge science argument, read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punctuated_equilibrium

For more details.

[ronnie624]

119. Punctuated equilibrium is not what that poster was referring to. n/t

[Carolina]

84. please tell me you forgot the sarcasm emoticon

Sheesh!

[lark]

85. tool!!!

Please tell me you are being sarcastic or are you just a troll as you appear? I never thought I'd see a reply like that on DU - totally disgusting and WRONG on every count. Why don't you move to those beaches and try to make a living off the fish/oysters/shrimp that won't be there soon. Or are you like all the rest of the fat capitalist repugs, all show and no go?

:puke:

[AlbertCat]

91. Boy protocol!

That's almost as stupid and idiotic a statement as the "drop in the ocean" one!

Fishermen really don't want or love to fish. They really want to lay out booms! What's the dif. huh? And they will be compensated for the next 3 generations! Sweet!


Idiots abound! Selfish, unthinking, idiots in denial!

[TroglodyteScholar]

104. Yep, it's a blessing for everyone and everything. n/t

[defendandprotect]

142. There is no such thing as "compensation" for nature . . . nature is ALL . . .

There is no dollar bill which you can drink or eat or plant --

nor a dollar bill which can buy you a sunset or a rainbow.

And its ridiculous to suggest that there is anyway to replace nature with a

dollar bill.

Capitalism is a ridiculous "King-of-the-Hill" system intended to move the

wealth and natural resources from the many to the few -- and it does that

quite successfully.

Unregulated capitalism is merely organized crime.

We have to stop judging everything by the yardstick of a dollar bill.

These are suicidal concepts --

[Aviation Pro]

29. Exxon tried the same tactic after the Valdez spill....

...even took out an advertisement with Marilyn Monroe's face showing the small blemish on her left cheek.

Again, the U.S. should declare all three scumbag corporations responsible terrorist organizations, seize their assets and pursue their officers to the ground just like the Taliban and AQ.

[protocol rv]

32. Hard to tell who's at fault

It's hard to tell who's at fault. For example, I can't see why Halliburton should be blamed at all. They cemented the well, but they do not guarantee the cement placement will work, this is why the well is pressure tested. The rig owner may have some blame, as does BP, but that would have to be established in court. Since there's an industry insurance pool, a super fund, with $2.5 billion US dollars to cover the costs, it seems BP's overall costs should be about $8 billion, or say $6 billion after tax. The company is worth between $150 and $200 billion, therefore seizing the company to pay for something that costs less than 4 % of the company's worth is a tad excessive, don't you think? Furthermore, since the company is UK based, I don't see how the US government can seize it. I guess theoretically it could pass a law to take the US properties. And in such a case, BP's lawyers would have a case to make the US government pay the present value of company assets - which would amount to a lot of money the US can't afford.

Also, if there was criminal negligence, I'm sure prosecutors will go after the individuals they think are guilty, Therefore it seems you are over-reacting.

[Name removed]

39. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ichingcarpenter]

53. Not bad for an attorney working for either oil company

LOL

[Angry Dragon]

52. Yeah, everything is okay

You can tell that the generations that follow. You can tell them it was no big deal that an ecosystem was changed for every, for the worse.

[lark]

86. Tool

OK, you are just an industry apologist aren't you ducky? Go back to Free Republic where you belong.

[defendandprotect]

143. Obama has gotten poor advice on this -- should move now to zeize it all . . .

BP and Halliburton -- for whatever reasons -- being unprepared, being idiots,

being more careful of their own assets than our prized nature -- whatever . . .

this is a very dangerous situation IMO.

The well and BP assets and Halliburton assets should be seized.

And government should take over this well.

[Daemonaquila]

31. That's especially painful to anyone who has ever read Neal Stephenson.

The moment I saw this, I was reminded of the funny conversation in Zodiac that every time a chemical company has a major toxic spill, the spokesman immediately begins blathering to the cameras that it's no big deal, it's like a drop of contaminant in a railway tank car of pure water.

I have a feeling that if Stephenson saw this quote when he woke up this morning, there was a resounding *smack* as his palm hit his forehead.

[lunatica]

34. What a relief that Mr. Hayward's job isn't at risk!

:sarcasm:

During the Congressional hearing they all looked totally unconcerned while they passed the buck back and forth to each other. They're obviously quite used to being able to say whatever without consequences. They're totally convinced they're entitled to everything because they're who they are.

[Odin2005]

35. Greedy idiot!

[Jennicut]

41. And the size of the ocean justifies wrecking a tiny part of it. Lovely.

[Jefferson23]

42. He just gave Beck and Limpball their new rationale for more drilling.

[Ticonderoga]

43. Arrest this Idiot.

[earthside]

44. One tiny drop of cyanide ...

...compared to the volume of an adult human body.

Hmmm.

Do you think Mr. Hayward would want to consider that experiment to prove his point about the oil blowout?

[doubleplusgood]

48. was thinking exactly the same thing n/t

[Botany]

50. Or one little .22 slug?

n/t

[TheWatcher]

97. It would be quite difficult to argue that The Planet wouldn't be better off if ALL people like

Mr. Hayward did that experiment successfully.

[fascisthunter]

46. another sociopath in a high position

[complain jane]

114. Generally speaking,

My life lessons have taught me that you really need to be a sociopath to rise to that level.

[fascisthunter]

131. I honestly think sociopathy is a historical culprit the World Keeps Putting Up With

all one sociopath needs to do, is find a legal purpose for their fetishes. That fetish? Power, and pain of those they deem victims or lesser thans.

[caseymoz]

54. I think he just put the stake in his own heart.

He's going to be remembered now as the sleazy oil executive who tried to talk down the harm he did. And this guy is in charge, how? Why?

[Jefferson23]

61. Oil from the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989 may take centuries to disappear,

Exxon Valdez cleanup holds lessons for Gulf oil spill
Oil from the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989 may take centuries to disappear, says Exxon. How long will the Gulf oil spill linger?


By Yereth Rosen, / Correspondent / May 13, 2010

Anchorage, Alaska
Two decades after the Exxon Valdez supertanker ran aground and ripped open its cargo tanks, the spill still marks Alaska's environment. Pockets of fresh crude are buried in beaches scattered around Prince William Sound and segments outside it, in isolated spots along more than 1,200 miles of coastline that received oil in 1989.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0513/Exxon-Valdez-cleanup-holds-lessons-for-Gulf-oil-spill

[AllyCat]

62. What an a$$. These people dont' get it and they really don't care.

Put him in jail.

[lonestarnot]

66. Why that arrogant stupid motherfucker. Yeah just a drop in the bucket.

:eyes: Would he like a dead porpoise for his porch?

[ej510]

71. Another reason for publically financed elections.

[nolabear]

72. Grrrrrrrrrr. "It's just a tiny cancer and we don't know how to treat it but hey, no worries!"

Dick.

[FailureToCommunicate]

75. The drop heard 'round the world.

[Deep13]

76. No, it's millions of gallons in the ocean. nt

[greencharlie]

77. seize the company... sell the assets, jail the execs. nt

[TommyO]

78. Why don't we drop a few BP execs into the water that they've polluted?

[Owl]

79. +1

[Tarc]

82. This is how they operate, because the general public is gullible

In Neal Stephenson's "Zodiac", (excellent view of environmentalism and toxis polluters ~1988) the protagonist had an excellent analysis of slick PR guys who talk about "an eyedropper full of tocis waste in a boxcar full of water", to show the water really is still clean. These are simple concepts that the public can grasp, and why they are easily fooled unless we are able to present the reality in equally simple terms for them.

"Oil leak 'may be 12 times BP estimate'", the headline reads. Great. 12 times of what ? You can't outflank the PR machines with nebulous statistics.

[Turborama]

96. With regards to that headline

"Oil leak 'may be 12 times BP estimate'"

It was taken from the title of the link on The Guardian's front page. The headline of the actual article is...

Marine scientists study ocean-floor film of Deepwater oil leak

And the subheading is...

One analysis suggests gusher is 70,000 barrels daily, or an Exxon Valdez every four days, and 12 times more powerful than estimates by Coast Guard or BP

Direct link to the article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/13/bp-oil-spill-ocean-footage

With regards to your 1st point, that sounds like a really interesting book and I'm going to look for a copy. Thanks for the heads up.

Presenting reality in simple terms we can all relate to is why I started this sub-thread about the enormous numbers involved: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4380567#4380746

[Nordmadr]

89. I'd like to point out that BP released one video of one leak point.

To the best of my knoweldge, there are still two known leak points with one capped.

[complain jane]

115. Thanks. Good point.

I forgot about that.

[amborin]

107. why hasn't Obama taken over? put BP in trusteeship and send in the experts

fire Salazar, too, but first deal with this catastrophe, instead of allowing BP to make things worse as is currently the case

[CLANG]

108. To quote "the great one": hummina hummina hummina...

[TK421]

110. Trouble sleeping? AWWWW...poor baby!!!!

these people are fucking pigs of the worst order

[complain jane]

113. Is that top hat picture a joke?

Huh? WTF is that? That's going to shut the well off?

[BrightKnight]

120. Yes, the latest plan is called "insertion tube." It doesn't sound like they are

taking any of this seriously.

[Whoa_Nelly]

116. fuck you, BP

and all the dead critters say fuck you, too

[greengestalt]

117. A drop of oil, eh?

Would you drink a glass of water if it had "one drop" of crude oil in it?
A gallon?


What if you sold it at that dilution in bottled water?

Would people notice the taste?

Would the health department go medieval on your rear?

[diane in sf]

121. right, tell that to the ruined Gulf coast and the dead animals

[Jamastiene]

125. Perhaps we should drop Tony Hayward in next to his "drop in the ocean."

Let him swim there for a while, live there, fucking prick, that he is.

[ima_sinnic]

126. petition at SeizeBP.org to seize BP's assets to devote to cleanup, remediation

http://www.seizebp.org/

[mvd]

132. I think A Fine Frenzy says it so well on her Twitter:

http://twitter.com/AFineFrenzy

These people have to be held responsible, and our environment is far more important than the profits of these oil companies.

[defendandprotect]

137. Thank you... I missed it here, as well! --

Wouldn't you think that he'd somehow realize how insensitive if not

idiotic such a statement would be?

It's a fairly large planet, but we've managed to completely pollute it --

our oceans as well --

A little bit of poison goes a long way -- and toxic sludge is good for you --

do wah, do wah . ..