BP and our national government's secrecy concerning oil spill cleanup is deeply troubling.

[skip fox]

Why is not the major media delving into this? Where are the workers from? Who are they? How many hours of training? (BP says weeks, but in the Valdez spill the workers were transients with little training.)

Why can't reporters interview workers?

Why can't reporters follow the waste? See YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZnuEoyByP4

Why can't citizens see emergency removal of workers in ambulances? See YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pi8R_FUGys

Why can no one get close to the removal? Are they spraying at night? Why? Etc. Etc.

Why is our government backing the secrecy?

I don't want to think Obama is in the corporate "bag," but other reasons may well be even more frightening. Could the government be hiding a realization that the Gulf could be a dead zone? That methane release is a certainty? That regions bordering the Gulf will be dead economically for decades insofar as fishing &c. is considered. That the methane will combine with rain to destroy crops?

What?

And why the hell is this not a fertile ground for investigative journalism??? This seems like it may well be the story of our times and the silence is eerie.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Maybe you should ask .

Fox Mulder.

Since when has methane been able to combine with rain to destroy crops ?

[skip fox]

3. Perhaps such worries are groundless. Yet the past tends to indicate

that where there is secrecy (have you looked at the videos?) something is being hidden.

What about Thad Allen ordering a 30' zone (he wanted much more) between press and clean up crews? And when have we seen a worker interviewed? (You'd think, with such a story, all avenues would be joyfully covered.)

I'm not into conspiracies. In fact, Jack Gillis and I in the late 1990's battled Ken Starr's conspiracy theory that said Clinton and his lawyers authored "The Talking Points Memo" to suborn Linda Tripp's perjury.

[dipsydoodle]

4. The problem lies

in accepting some of the Micky Mouse things printed in blogs and on occasions your MSM too.

[skip fox]

6. both YouTube videos are pretty clear. And Anderson Cooper did complain.

And there were a few early reports of reporters not allowed to get close (although BP's execs said they had access, BP Security type were blocking a CNN reporter).

And why all the security?

Are state and local governments trying to protect the tourism trade? Maybe it's as simple as that, but . . .

(I live in southern Louisiana so I am confronted strongly by the perplexity)

[tiny elvis]

8. your meaning is unclear

the derogatory use of mickey mouse is supposed to mean cheaply and poorly constructed, or small time and poorly organized or executed
i will suppose the latter meaning
if the bad things are printed both here and there, what determines the goodness or badness of those things printed?
what determines acceptability?
your own credulity?

[dipsydoodle]

10. We use it as

joke or rubbish. Similarly you may have no concept of what we mean when we use bristols or raspberries.

Common sense should help determine goodness / badness / accuracy rather than simply what you, not you personally , may wish to believe anyway.

Articles usually avoid reference to implication too. e.g. when BP's lost their high credit rating some here went "whoopee" oblivious the fact that it would cause BP not to issue any more. Those were funds needed for the escrow account. Most references to their shares values fail to mention they have no bearing on BPs balance sheet etc,etc,etc.

The moral is to read between the lines and form your own opinion.

Catch you later if required - off out for N.O. jazz for 5 hours.

[BadgerKid]

2. When this incarnation of MSM isn't full of hot air

I think it's cause to be greatly concerned. I believe:

Dead zone? Yes
Methane release into the atmosphere? Yes.
Economic ramifications? Yes.

Methane is one, if not the worst, greenhouse gas.

[pitohui]

5. what freaking secrecy? i live in the area and it's all oil spill, all the time

there is no secrecy, there is practically nothing else on teevee or on the local news websites, it's all oil spill all the time 24/7

i don't know how you get "secrecy" from something is for all practical purposes a 24/7 soap opera played out constantly on teevee

if a reporter can't find someone to interview, then that reporter should maybe get a real job, if he can't "report" when the story is right out there on webcams etc with zillions of people ready to be interviewed and put their two cents in...gosh...how would he get the job done if there really was some "secrecy" about it?

as far as the methane horseshit -- i'm sure some methane has been released, in fact, they say that the methane release from cow farts in south american cattle ranches is one of the causes of global warming, since methane is a more efficient green house gas than carbon dioxide, but that doesn't mean that we should pay attention to every crap conspiracy story like the bullshit story making the rounds that the entire florida keys is about to blow up in a big ole ball of explosion, give me a break -- sometimes a story doesn't get "legs" because the story is bullshit from the get-go

there's been a "dead zone" in the gulf for years, there have been issues w. methane/greenhouse gas in the atmosphere for years, this is not secret information to anybody who ever gave a damn

[skip fox]

7. hmmm.

Did you view the videos?

I live down here too (Lafayette, Louisiana, Hub City, the heart of Cajun country) but would argue that live video cams of the gush along with interviewing only officials is not vigorous coverage in any sense. Hardly seems competent, in fact.

Of course they interview experts as well and some of these people are fantastic. (Professors from LSU, Standford scientists, toxicology doctors, etc.) But I have often seen these experts express frustration about the secrecy.

The videos are not damningly condemning, but they are not made by cranks either.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

9. The fossil fuel cartel gets what the fossil fuel cartel wants.

It doesn't matter which party is in control of things. The cartel has control of both parties and the media is pretty much controlled by them also.

I said yesterday that as soon as (if it occurrs) the GOM leak is stopped, the government agencies and BP will do the fanciest bit of CYA smoke and mirrors dance you've ever seen.

They'll announce that the crime wasn't as bad as first thought and that there will be no long term damage to the people or the environment. A lot of Americans will swalllow the lies because as the shrub used to demonstrate, thinking is hard werk!

[skip fox]

11. Just poking around and collecting, but the area seems very large

Secrecy in General

AP on June 1 reported many news outlets limitation to the story in "News outlets claim access to Gulf oil spill site is limited":

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=23004


on June 4th, Joe Davis published a short but salient article at Seattle PostGlobe with a brief list (with links) to earlier stories about forms of secrecy, "Secrecy and the BP oil spill: Media access to oil-impacted areas disputed":

http://seattlepostglobe.org/2010/06/04/secrecy-in-the-bp-oil-spill-media-access-to-oil-impacted-areas-disputed

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=23004



Blockade of Spill

An early item listed by Joe Davis (above) is Matthew Phillip's May 26th "BP's Photo Blockade of the Gulf Oil Spill" in Newsweek:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/26/the-missing-oil-spill-photos.html


Clean-Up Efforts:

--Denial of Access:

Mac McClelland earliest story (May 24) for Morther Jones about being denied access and having local police enforcing BP "rules" in "'It's BP's Oil":

http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/05/oil-spill-bp-grand-isle-beach



Mac McClelland' story for Mother Jones, "'Ignore Her,'" basically of trying to gain access to Grand Isle with a PBS producer:

http://motherjones.com/rights-stuff/2010/06/shut-down-due-bp



Effects on Beach, Wetlands, Wildlife:

--Reports/Pictures of Death and Dying Wildlife Discouraged:

BP of course doesn't want pictures of dead animal taken (can they legally prevent it?). Below is Jason Linkin's "BP Media Clampdown: No Phots of Dead Animals, Please" in The Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/02/bp-media-clampdown-no-pho_n_598119.html

(This item also show how workers are not allowed to talk to reporters.