Very alarming: CBS news threatened with arrest... by BP/Coast Guard (added video link)

[Bonobo]

Video links here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6496749n
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/05/18/VI2010051804651.html

Text link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/18/national/main6496846.shtml

"When CBS News tried to reach the beach, covered in oil, a boat of BP contractors with two Coast Guard officers on board told us to turn around under threat of arrest."

Apparently the sleazy media won't take this one too easly:
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS288&q=CBS+news+threatened+with+arrest+BP&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

-------------------------------------
Would anyone care to argue whether or not this represents fascism?

:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

[spanone]

1. they need lawyers immediately. cbs has floors of them.

[rhett o rick]

167. Those lawyers are working for the ruling clas CBS doesnt care if they get run off by the guvment.

CBS is a tool of the ruling class.

[DebJ]

2. Ok, so who 'owns' the beach?

[gateley]

4. The American People? Not sure, but willing to bet the owner isn't a British oil company. nt

[leftofcool]

39. The US Government owns most of the coast lines

especially where there is shipping. Other parts are owned by individual states and a little bit belongs to the people.

[mopinko]

76. my recollection, from my one visit to florida

was that there is almost no public beach on the gulf. it's almost all privately owned. will defer to locals if they come along with better info.

[1monster]

119. In Florida, the law states that all beaches between the mean high tide and low tide marks

belong to the people.

There are a few exceptions, but not many, and most of those deal with inlets where one side is part of a river that is opening out to the sea.

In practice, however, unless there is public access to the beach, private property, condo, and hotel owners often impede people from using the public beaches by denying public access to the beaches through their properties which ajoin each other.

[gulfbreeze]

165. The beachfront cannot be privately owned

I'm from the panhandle and everyone has access to the entire stretch of beach w/ or w/o houses there.

[rhett o rick]

92. Those with the largest guns. nm

[laurel46]

102. those with the largest guns...

still have to sleep sometime. from wiki:

Two Westlake Park, is a property located in the heart of the Energy Corridor in Houston, Texas - United States. Completed in 1982, Two Westlake Park is a 17-story office building that contains 381,327 square feet.<1>
The 55,000-square-foot WestLake Club, an athletic and social club, is located at this property.<1> The 17-story, 25-year-old, Class-A office building sits on more than five acres at 580 Westlake Park. The tower is just over 97 percent occupied. Tenants include Conoco-Phillips, BP and Merrill Lynch.<2>

[rhett o rick]

103. I hope you arent intimating what it sounds like. That is fantasy and folly. nm

[laurel46]

109. on no, I didn't mean that!

Sorry just a play on a saying. I mean that no one can be protected from protests and was thinking more about the SEUI unions picketing. Thanks for pointing that out, the misinterpretation from my poorly worded post, I do not advocate violence. I really was inspired by the picketing and wished I were closer, I am to Houston.

[rhett o rick]

133. What picketing? nm

[Bette Noir]

94. I don't know about the East or Gulf coasts, but in Oregon and California,

the individual states own the beaches.

[valerief]

118. Dubai? nt

[Devil_Fish]

140. It dosn't matter, BP owns the Oil and keep your damn hands off of it. N/T

[gateley]

3. No argument from me. How scary. I hope they do a BIG news story about it. nt

[LakeSamish706]

10. Yeah, like thats going to happen.... The MSM is pro Republican, but they really don't give

a shit about Democrats in general.

[Bonobo]

14. You may be wrong on this one.

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS288&q=CBS+news+threatened+with+arrest+BP&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Ultimately, they want to sell advertising. THAT is what they care about. Not party affiliations. Look at the google search link below. And this JUST happened. It will snowball.

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS288&q=CBS+news+threatened+with+arrest+BP&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

[Cetacea]

27. +1

[Cetacea]

30. dupe

[lonestarnot]

36. Katie on the story now.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6496749n I can't hear it for some reason? :shrug:

[Kalun D]

57. One Video

Linked at different places, only one paragraph talks about the media being censored. That's hardly widespread coverage

[Karenina]

73. BP, aided and abetted by the Gubmint

is preventing too many people from doing too many common sense things, while seemingly having other priorities than plugging the oil geyser. Let's see just how loud CBS gets. I don't expect this to end well...

[gristy]

75. 6 hits in news.google

:(
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&tbo=p&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS288&tbs=nws%3A1&q=CBS+news+threatened+with+arrest+BP&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

[fascisthunter]

141. which political party aids corporate america more?

[defendandprotect]

149. No . . . they'd cancel any liberal show no matter how much in ads it brought in . . .

and we've seen that more than once -- Phil Donahue, #1 show -- cancelled

by NBC.

And, later, other liberal shows, the same fate.

Radio, as well.

Also, keep in mind that the networks get 80% -- 80% -- of campaign finance funds

for political ads!!

How many right wing organizations have been kept in power with the wealth of the right

wing? Most of them -- 99% --

The right wing has to control media -- all of it -- any bit of truth that gets thru

is a danger to them. PLUS, they need to run right wing propaganda to confuse the public --

as W said . . . he had to keep "catapulting the propaganda."

Right wing myth/propaganda is like a mirror -- if any pebble of truth hits it, it

immediately shatters!

[rhett o rick]

104. This isnt a Democrat vs. Republican issue any more. That is a diversion.

This is a class struggle. Many if not the majority of Democrats in Congress are on the side of the ruling class.

[Kalun D]

157. Agree

with that one, most of the Dems are sold out or controlled

[subsuelo]

163. thank you n/t

[lark]

105. No, they are pro big business because that's who owns them

It's just Repigs are more corporatist than Dems are. I wish I could say that most of "our" Dem reps are not corporatist at all, but they are, just less sold out completely than the Repigs.

[blindpig]

111. This has nothing to do with the parties,

both are wholly owned subsidiaries of Big Capital.

Are we ready yet? We better get ready.

[jtrockville]

26. Right. Big Story. Just like the Big Story Dan Rather uncovered.

It will be swept away. Muzzled, like all other inconvenient information.

[Sebastian Doyle]

5. Mussolini would definitely say so

what better definition of "merging corporatism with the state" could you find?

If I was one of the coast guard officers, I'd throw those fucking pigs overboard and let them drown in their own disaster.

[FarPoint]

6. Let them get arrested.......

It sure works for us when protesting.......more attention....then file suit! O8)

[flamingdem]

7. +1

[marylanddem]

28. Yes, totally agree...

Stand up for something, for God's sake...

[defendandprotect]

151. There's also a long list of dead journalists . . . !!!

[Webster Green]

8. This is unacceptable.

This is fucking bullshit.

How dare these mutherfuckers stop the media from covering this disaster. :wtf:

[TheEuclideanOne]

107. Better question. How dare we let them?

When watching the story, they talk about how the Coast Guard under orders of BP prevented them from covering the damages at the beaches. Then the newscaster switches to a story about the turtles that were killed. I was thinking to myself...WTF?!?!?! Back up one fucking minute.... The Coast Guard is taking orders from BP and the news just moves ahead like that is normal? Shouldn't the Coast guard be shooting the execs at BP instead of taking orders from them?

[Webster Green]

110. Indeed!

I'm so pissed! I can't believe we let BP take control of the Coast guard. :wtf:

[earth mom]

166. Word!!!

:grr:

[Cetacea]

9. This is huge.

[Bonobo]

11. Yes, it is. Look at this google search link.

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS288&q=CBS+news+threatened+with+arrest+BP&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

[lonestarnot]

16. I knew shooteminthefacedick would have his dick in the works somehow.

Not mentioned yet.

[1monster]

121. Yeah? Two of those links in the top five lead right back her to THIS thread.

[lonestarnot]

12. What? Is there such a thing as maritime marshall law by a private corp?

[Octafish]

13. BP has ALWAYS outranked the Coast Guard.

CBS is lucky they weren't shot dead, like if this were Nigeria or someplace without autobahns.

Hell. Only BFEE outranks BP.

[jtrockville]

38. ^ SHOCKING

[Bonobo]

42. You're the best, Octafish. Thanks for the education all these years. nt

[Cetacea]

45. +1000

[harun]

74. +1

[laughingliberal]

15. What? You thought it was a free country or something? nt

[Bonobo]

18. No, that is not something that I thought.

It is why I have left the US. Things have gotten disturbingly scary. It will get worse as our economy continues to crumble.

[laughingliberal]

19. Word nt

[Berserker]

17. Berserker to BP and Coast Guard

Fuck you I'm going in arrest me.

[liberalla]

20. This is pissing me off.

I better see this on the national news tomorrow.

[Cetacea]

22. Hopefully it will piss off a lot of journalists, too

This is so beyond surreal...

[liberalla]

50. This could be a career-making story for an ambitious journalist.

There are many who wish for that... let's see who rises to the challenge. I hope it's someone who wants to serve the public interest, not just their own. Of course they need to have the guts and the smarts, too.

[FailureToCommunicate]

117. Turn on the searchlights... and send the signal for...Geraldo Rivera!

Ego too big to fail!

[marylanddem]

21. "This BP's rules, not ours,"

So the US Coast Guard takes its orders from BP? Unfuckingbelievable.

[Bonobo]

23. Unbelievable, and yet. There it is. In front of our faces.

We can no longer say we do not know what time it is.

"You don't need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows."
-Bob Dylan

[marylanddem]

24. The CBS crew should have let itself get arrested.

Stand up to their asses & see what happens...But I agree with you about the weatherman...

Journalists, well, should begin, just begin, to be as brave as - say - the civil rights workers who went down south in the 1960's.

Don't back down. Fuck em.

[Ignis]

125. It's refreshingly honest, at least.

I vote we remove those pesky American flags from the Coast Guard's uniform and replace them with the logos of their corporate sponsors.

:argh:

[LeftyFingerPop]

25. Since when does BP own the beach?

Or do they?

[jtrockville]

29. Since we gave it to them. We are now a wholly owned subsidiary.

And we didn't even put up a fight.

[LeftyFingerPop]

32. Did you see the Tony Hayward vid today where he says...

that the environmental impact will be minimal? This is like some kind of futuristic surrealism.

[jtrockville]

34. I read the transcript. The denial is astounding. It won't make it go away.

This will end badly.

[defendandprotect]

152. Orwellian Newspeak --

[Cetacea]

37. This is the story CBS team was working on

Heavy Sludge Oozes into Marshes of Louisiana

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/18/national/main6496846.shtml

[proud patriot]

31. ummmm shouldn't that be the other way around

x(

[LeftyFingerPop]

33. It is only a matter of time before violence breaks out on the southern coast.

Methinks BP better get their shit together.

[jtrockville]

41. Maybe that's what's needed.

The pacifist in me cringes at that thought tip-toeing across my mind. But there it is.

[LeftyFingerPop]

46. Same with me. Those southern states have had the shit kicked out of them twice in 5 years.

Over 300,000 people stand to lose their livelihoods, and a foreign company is not letting our news people in. It does not look good.

[reggie the dog]

99. ANY company using soldiers to enforce their rules is bad.

Not just foreign companies. When companies have the states army stop reporters I am pretty sure that is evidence of what I have been arguing for years. The USA is a fascist oligarcy in which the 2 main political parties are in reality one party with 2 flavors but which both work for the benifit of corporations, not the people in the USA.

[Kalun D]

158. ^^^^^^^^+++++++++1000

totally agree

[kiers]

161. whats so "Foreign" about BP

they pay all the senators in Dollars. That's enough aint it.

[Brother Buzz]

35. Think BP is pissed after the riviting 60 minutes piece last Sunday?

I can only assume some Coast Guard brass is going to take some heat; heads will roll.

[chill_wind]

40. Our military now answers to BP? President Obama- HELLO?

eom

[Bonobo]

43. Yes.

Would this fall under the category of treason, sedition? Is it technically a coup?

Certainly it must stray close to this.

[reggie the dog]

100. Following orders from a private company

instead of following orders from military heirarchy.... smells like treason to me.

[salguine]

51. What are you calling Obama for? HE fucking answers to corporations! HELLO?

[Mendocino]

44. So the CoastGuard is now the "Blackwater" Navy?

[marylanddem]

47. So it appears - I want my country back...

[Angry Dragon]

48. I am going to write my congressman...Sen. Franken

and see what he has to say about this.

Katy Couric is a poor reported/journalist/interviewer

Since when do we take orders from bp?? I think Obama needs to step into this and protect this country from invasion of a foreign corporation.

[tavalon]

71. Katy Couric is a joke

The only time I enjoyed watching her was when she interviewed Sarah Palin. She kept batting her eyes with the blue eyeshadow because even she was shocked at just how awful Palin was. But otherwise, she's just a pretty, vapid, talking head.

[LeftyFingerPop]

49. Here's a statement from the Coast Guard...

http://www.cbsnews.com/8601-500251_162-6496749.html?assetTypeId=58&tag=videoInteract;videoCommentsUrl


Tonight CBS Evening News reported they were denied access to oiled shoreline by a civilian vessel that had clean-up workers contracted by BP, as well as Coast Guard personnel on board. CBS News video taped the exchange during which time one of the contractors told them (on tape) that " ... this is BP's rules not ours."

Neither BP nor the U.S. Coast Guard, who are responding to the spill, have any rules in place that would prohibit media access to impacted areas and we were disappointed to hear of this incident. In fact, media has been actively embedded and allowed to cover response efforts since this response began, with more than 400 embeds aboard boats and aircraft to date. Just today 16 members of the press observed clean-up operations on a vessel out of Venice, La.

The only time anyone would be asked to move from an area would be if there were safety concerns, or they were interfering with response operations. This did occur off South Pass Monday which may have caused the confusion reported by CBS today.

The entities involved in the Deepwater Horizon/BP Response have already reiterated these media access guidelines to personnel involved in the response and hope it prevents any future confusion.

Rob Wyman
Lieutenant Commander, USCG
Deepwater Horizon Unified Command
Joint Information Center, Robert, LA

[Bonobo]

53. Color me unimpressed. It happened.

CBS clearly argued with them and yet they were turned away.

Those guys got their orders from somewhere. Now they are backtracking because it got noticed, that's all.

They got their orders from somewhere.

This statement was not an apology and it isn't from the top.

The message was already sent. Now they are trying to minimize the damage so it will blow over and they can go back to what they were doing -intimidating people from poking around in their mess.

This should not be let go.

[intheflow]

54. "In fact, media has been actively embedded..."

Ah. So that was this crew's crime. They weren't embedded with BP and the government so they might report something that wasn't the official story. Got it.

[Cetacea]

59. I believe they were photographing dead sea turtles

and the newly arriving sludge in the marshes. The visuals BP does not want everyone seeing.

[Ignis]

126. Bingo. It's the same approach taken in our war theatres.

A story from a non-"embedded" journalist? Well, it just didn't happen, then.

What a crock.

[lonestarnot]

55. I watched their shit happen. Liars!

[suffragette]

60. "safety concerns, or they were interfering with response operations"

Seems to me that description should be aimed squarely at BP, not CBS, since it succinctly sums up BP's actions from day one of this catastrophe.
And the Coast Guard needs to protect the coast, both its environment and citizens, not cover for the corporation which has despoiled the region.

[Bluebear]

63. Liars.

[tomm2thumbs]

68. 'safety concerns' precludes the entire Gulf, so bullsh*t to that - it's 'BP Rules' as the man said

they have bought and paid for this 'operation' and are continuing to blackwash the media, Washington and the American people with their lies.

BP is the enemy of the American people - just look at what they've done to our lifeblood Gulf, where 30% of American's seafood comes from

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/bp_has_been_allowed_too_much_c.html

But, almost a month of failed efforts and marginal progress, some critics are asking whether the administration is relying too much on the oil company, particularly on what the administration says is the No.1 mission: stopping the oil at its source nearly a mile beneath Gulf waters.

"I think that there are experts from Woods Hole to MIT to Cal Tech down in the universities in the Gulf region who are ready, willing and able to move in and give the long-term scientific expertise to solve these problems," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, one of eight congressional panels investigating the April 20 accident.

Others have raised questions about the administration's acceptance of BP's estimates of the amount of oil being spilled; its decision to authorize the company's heavy use of dispersants to break up the oil in the Gulf, chemicals that could pose serious environmental concerns; and whether administration officials were too quick to join BP in questioning the accuracy of reports from some scientists of a large oil plume under the surface.

[tomm2thumbs]

69. I underestimated from report on the radio

Reuters has it at 40%

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1220584420100512

'...Louisiana's $2.4 billion seafood industry, which supplies up to 40 percent of U.S. seafood supply and employs over 27,000 people.'

[lark]

108. Nothing to look at here, go away

Yeah, right! Like we believe one word of that tripe. Yeah, they are so interested in the truth, they have yet to allow anyone independent of them to do studies on the gusher because they are doing their best to hide it. Liars!!

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[Botany]

130. any future confusion

Do not put bullshit on toast and tell me it is "country style apple butter."

Confusion .... :grr: please.

[Kalun D]

52. There IS No Argument

This is Fascism

and these links aren't really reporting it, just a paragraph in the story when it should be the headline

and notice Katie Couric's followup question, nothing, changes the subject.

[amborin]

56. +1

Coast Guard and NOAA are both suppressing info

[csziggy]

58. Just sent a message to my Senator about this

Next I will send one to my Representative. If every Senator and every Representative gets a message about this, maybe they will do something.

Interestingly, Sen. Bill Nelson has a really good counter of how much oil is being dumped into the Gulf. Nice graphic adjustable to various estimated rates:
Aha! He got if from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/oil-ticker/

This p[age has the code to embed it, but I cannot make it work here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/05/how-much-oil-has-spilled-in-the-gulf-of-mexico.html

[amborin]

61. NOAA suppresses inquiry:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/18/oil-spill-threatens-atlantic-coast

[Bluebear]

62. So the Coast Guard is now BP's private police force. What fresh hell is this?

[kenny blankenship]

83. The IRS is now Aetna's Collection Agency

Same fresh hell. Actually, it's getting pretty tiresome, and I think the people's patience for this may be at an end.

[skeptical cynic]

64. Reminds me of the Exxon Valdez

Bush I told the USCG what it wanted, Exxon told Bush I what it wanted.

Business as usual.

Is it really a surprise when law enforcement and the military side with corporations is a nation run by corporations?

[Cetacea]

65. Keep it kicked

[Hannah Bell]

66. not only the media is being kept out of the area, there have been other reports like this:

VENICE, LA –


Then we were off in the harbor, in Venice, LA, and headed into the mouth of the Mississipi, with a videographer from Reuters and a reporter from National Public Radio. A few miles away, we already see the thing is coming right into the river. Scary. The booms are extending everywhere. A bit later, we see workers from BP collecting sand from the beach. We have to stay behind the booms, about 100 feet (some 25 meters) from the beach. Rick Steiner, the specialist who is working with Greenpeace here, still notices a large dark spot on the coast.

As we try to approach the boom as much as we can (we can’t cross it), we hear a loud horn. A minute later a boat full of unidentified people approach us and tell us we can’t stay there.

We think, “They don’t have authority to say that!” and keep photographing the cleaning. We decide to go further, but then the Marine Guard approach us (probably warned by the unidentified guys).

“Bla bla bla, you can’t stay here, you can’t move forward, you will interfere with the cleaning .” How? We are soooo far away! But we obey.

As we leave the spot, we stop to ask to the guys in the first boat who they are.

“Are you guys working for BP?”

They hesitate, but say, “Yes.”

“Is this work to clean the beach?”

“You have to go back to town and ask the guys with the papers.”

Well, transparency is definitely not the word, here.

http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/greenpeaceusa_blog?cat=38888

[tomm2thumbs]

67. kicking - a quiet overthrow of our govt by corporate rule

not so quiet when you look at Wall Street and Washington

[Enthusiast]

70. This is corporate government.

The entire military acts at the whim of the corporations.

[tavalon]

72. Government in collusion with corporations is the definition of fascism

[Echo In Light]

78. "But!...But!...But...!!!!...."

Unfortunately so

Evil corporate/state nexus? You're soaking in it!

[HCE SuiGeneris]

93. "You're soaking in it!"

Thanks Madge! :9

[G_j]

80. exactly, Why isn't anyone asking how BP gets to call the shots?

isn't this an issue of national security?

[fascisthunter]

95. hard to argue against that charge

this is definitely fascism

[annabanana]

77. sent links to Rachel. . .n/t

[yurbud]

79. this is what happened in Exxon Valdez: Exxon was in charge & Coast Guard was their water boy

I had and have great respect for the military, but seeing some punk ass frat boy giving orders to the Coast Guard equivalent of an admiral, pushed me a lot farther to the left.

[Ichingcarpenter]

81. They also failed to track the tanker and blamed it on bullshit

Coast Guard investigators who boarded the Exxon Valdez hours after the wreck reported that he reeked of alcohol. Many believed that Hazelwood erred in turning the ship over to Third Mate Cousins during the passage, since Cousins lacked the "pilotage endorsement" required for navigating the Sound. However, the pilotage issue was obfuscated by a previous easing of the rules by the Coast Guard. Still others pointed a finger at the Coast Guard, which failed to track the Exxon Valdez by radar through the Sound; such monitoring might have resulted in an alert that could have kept the tanker off the reef. The Coast Guard blamed faulty equipment and a change of shift for the oversight.

http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id317.htm

[Junkdrawer]

135. There's always one reporter who didn't get the message...

I'm sure calls to the CEO of CBS have been made and that reporter will soon be gone.

[kenny blankenship]

82. Government, Large corporations - what's the difference?

NSA, AT&T - what's the difference?

BP, Coast Guard - what's the difference?

Halliburton + Xe + DynCorp , US military - what's the difference?

[Echo In Light]

84. Another one of those threads... that reveals a lot in how certain types aren't posting in it

Just an observation

[Cetacea]

155. Noted.

[Angry Dragon]

85. I am finding little or no coverage of this event

time to get angry

[blindpig]

123. Stay angry..

just like the Gulf will stayed polluted.

[One_Life_To_Give]

86. Press should be allowed to track thru the oil making a further mess?

Most events like this are going to have exclusion zones. Try walking into a police scean or a burning building some time. Trips for the press usually require a PIO (Public Information Officer) and other personnel as the Incident Commander may dictate for such an evolution to be done safely.

[Kalun D]

159. Bullsh*t

multi millions of gallons of oil, stepping in it isn't going to make a damn bit of difference, and they weren't even stepping in it. Adn there wasn't even any clean up going on where they were filming.

[City Lights]

87. That's just swell.

Fuck that shit!

[HCE SuiGeneris]

88. Posited the same conclusion of Fascism yesterday.

Thanks for the leaking the news... *sigh*

[meow mix]

89. BP boot on the neck of the media

damn hobbit
=(

[Uncle Joe]

90. I believe the statement by that Coast Guard Officer said it all,

"This is BP's rules, not ours."

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6496749n

I hope the Obama Administration gets out in front of this fast, it should be U.S. Government rules.

Thanks for the thread, Bonobo.

[Union Yes]

91. K&R nt

[northernlights]

96. good. Now the media will get good and pissed

and may finally, seriously, get on this story and make it front page again, where it needs to be.

Good, too, for BP to make such a major PR misstep by pissing off the media.

[KansDem]

97. Tsk, tsk, CBS. You, along with your media brethren, created this monster...

Who would have thought it would grow so big and uncontrollable, and now threatens you.

Tsk, tsk...:nopity:

[JDPriestly]

98. The BP folks should have been put under arrest or threat of arrest

immediately after it was discovered that they chose to fail to comply with safety measures and that deaths ensued.

They should have been charged with negligent homicide or manslaughter. And this should be a lesson to all CEOs who permit the kinds of violations of workplace safety rules that BP did. Let a jury decide whether what they did was a crime.

I feel terrible always asking that people be prosecuted on DU. I'm really not a vindictive person.

But I have watched arraignments in criminal courts too many mornings to accept the fact that some impoverished mother of five children gets sentenced and has her employment record ruined for shoplifting a gift for a loved one while murderers at the heads of governments and corporations walk away free.

This was no accident according to the facts that I have seen.

Where is equal justice for all in this country. Did that go the way of the American Dream of home ownership for those who work hard?

[me b zola]

101. I called my Representative to stop all BP operations immediately

I urge others to do the same.

[KansDem]

106. I think it's time for Obama to send in the National Guard...

Arrest the BP officials and seize the corporation's assets.

All the while, taking a more realistic approach to solving this environmental disaster...

[blindpig]

112. Capitalism....

it ain't playin' any more. k&r

[Paper Roses]

113. And now BP has the power to arrest? This should not stand.

The whole episode is now one big cover-up and it has to be stopped. We, as Americans, have the right to know the truth.

I am annoyed to no end that we are being given a bunch of contradictory baloney about the whole gulf disaster. We all know there is so much lying and cover up. Where are our individual rights as citizens that our government will not listen to us but will pony up with those who caused this life altering calamity?

[robertpaulsen]

114. I suppose the Coast Guard lab result that the Florida tar balls are NOT from the BP oil spill is...

just a coincidence. ;)

[CLANG]

115. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal flew over it Tuesday.

"This wasn't just sheen, we were seeing heavy oil out there," Jindal said. "This wasn't just tar balls. It shows you how quick the oil showed up."


AND WHAT ELSE DOES IT SHOW YOU BOBBY? (crickets...)

[CLANG]

116. Looks like we'll be getting more graphic images soon

• Dispersant used: More than 560,000 gallons

• Dispersant available: More than 260,000 gallons


They will be out of dispersant soon, then their hiding jig is up!

[janx]

120. Have you seen THIS?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8369027

[CLANG]

122. Yes, it's good news if the feds don't throw the letter in the circular file cabinet.

[Devil_Fish]

144. What else would they do with it? N/T

[Auggie]

124. Wait a day or two and CBS will have MILES AND MILES of beach to film...

BP can't patrol it all. Neither can the government.

[Botany]

127. Those people coast guard and BP employees need their asses kicked

no excuse for that crap ....

If I was on the gulf I would go to the beach and dare them to arrest me.

[Fleshdancer]

128. If I were a journalist, I would welcome getting arrested in this situation

What an explosive story this could have been if the journalists actually stayed.

[Crowman1979]

129. Corporations and the military! Always hand in hand, and always against the people.

Whether it would be shooting/beating workers in a labor strike, hiding mass killings or obstructing the press. You'll always find them with each other.

[xocet]

131. The Louisiana Boat Registry...

I called the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) to inquire who owned the boat (LA-8180-ER), but the phone attendant stated that this information is not available to the public due to the Privacy Act. From the side of the bow, it appears that the boat's name is "Red Bull."

Does anyone know how to find out the ownership of a boat in Louisiana? It would be interesting to know who actually owns this vessel.

[DWHR]

132. Clarification

CBS Evening News reported they were denied access to oiled
shoreline by a civilian vessel that had clean-up workers
contracted by BP, as well as Coast Guard personnel on board. 
CBS News video taped the exchange during which time one of the
contractors told them (on tape) that " ... this is BP's
rules not ours."

Neither BP nor the U.S. Coast Guard, who are responding to the
spill, have any rules in place that would prohibit media
access to impacted areas and we were disappointed to hear of
this incident.  In fact, media has been actively embedded and
allowed to cover response efforts since this response began,
with more than 400 embeds aboard boats and aircraft to date. 
Just today 16 members of the press observed clean-up
operations on a vessel out of Venice, La.

The only time anyone would be asked to move from an area would
be if there were safety concerns, or they were interfering
with response operations.  This did occur off South Pass
Monday which may have caused the confusion reported by CBS
today.

The entities involved in the Deepwater Horizon/BP Response
have already reiterated these media access guidelines to
personnel involved in the response and hope it prevents any
future confusion. 

Rob Wyman
Lieutenant Commander, USCG
Deepwater Horizon Unified Command
Joint Information Center, Robert, LA

[niceypoo]

134. BP is calling all the shots

Change we can believe in.

[janx]

143. See post #8 in this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8370194#8370249

[cornermouse]

139. No sale. n/t

[Devil_Fish]

145. Welcome to DU, How much is BP paying you? N/T

[Bonobo]

147. Is that you, Lt. Comdr Wyman?

If so, we already saw your statement. Kindly at least have the courtesy you read the thread that you are posting on.

[liberation]

150. The MiniTruth has spoken...

LOL

[Kalun D]

156. HEY

DWHR, should be DWHRS

D eep
W ater
wH ore
R izon
S h*tstains (actually sh*t would be better, it's not as toxic as oil)

thanks for ruining the gulf, now you're on DU trying to excuse your fascist pig actions, ain't gonna fly

""with more than 400 embeds aboard boats and aircraft to date""

yeah, they're "embedded" so you can control the "story"

never-mind, we already saw 60 minutes and anybody can see the satellite images, they don't lie

you guys are the biggest pig polluters on the planet, if there was ANY justice you guys would all go to prison for life.

Look at the fricking title of the command, they've even taken the BP company moniker LOLZ, what a bunch of fascists.

""has been actively embedded and allowed to cover response efforts since this response began""

yeah, that's why they wouldn't allow filming when the oil actually hit the shore

WHAT A BUNCH OF FILTHY GREED PIGS YOU PEOPLE ARE

FILTHY DAMN FU*KING GREED PIGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gimama]

136. K & R grrrr..! eom

[man4allcats]

137. Arrest under whose authority and on what charge?

Does BP think it has the authority to issue an arrest warrant on American citizens or anyone else for that matter? Is the Coast Guard at their beckon call to enact such arrests? And what would have been the charges in the arrests had they occurred? This all sounds highly illegal. What kind of country does BP think this is? Oh wait ...

[WillyT]

138. Big K & R !!!

:kick:

:mad:

[merkins]

142. Dangerous Precedent K&R!

[scentopine]

146. Our free market government has everything for sale... BP owns the gulf...

we traded it to them for a bunch of SUVs and a few blankets that were made in China.

Thank you BP for not shooting me, when I walk on the beach even though I deserve it.

Who says corporations aren't kind and benevolent leaders.

[defendandprotect]

148. Corporatism is fascism . .. and we've been living with that quite some long time now . . .plus ...

not only do we have a corporate-press, we all have CIA journalists --

Carl Bernstein began reporting on that in the 1970's, I believe -- See: Rolling Stone --

and Congress has constantly refused to bar CIA from our "free press."

We also have heavy infiltration of MIC/Pentagon in our "free press."



Basically, "The myth of a free press died with the assassination of President

John F. Kennedy"

[sam sarrha]

153. we already have an entrenched Fascist Government.. but it's a step up pulling guns on the media

[Bonobo]

154. IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!

Sorry to get you all excited.

There is no update. In fact, it is sinking fast down the Memory Hole. It is NOT being picked up by anyone but the usual blogs (Huff, Kos, etc.)

Apparently, the powers that be do not think it is a subject that needs to be looked into (unless you consider asking the Coast Guard to look into it and then quietly accepting their non-denial denial to be "looking into it".)

People, it seems, have largely lost the ability to independently decide what is and what is not important. The fact that this does not send off alarm bells in millions of people is itself alarming.

[Junkdrawer]

168. +1

[Kalun D]

160. K and R

Wake up DU

wake up to fascism

[Odin2005]

162. That proves whose side the government is on, and it's not ours.

Those two coast-guardsmen should be ashamed of themselves.

[datasuspect]

164. iraq was more a training exercise

they learned they can control the medium, the message, and everything else.

we'll (for the most part) only see what they want us to see.