BP stooges

[Are_grits_groceries]

"Why aren't you criticizing BP? You are letting them get away with murder and make billions of dollars from it. You are their partners in crime. BP stooges!"

I don't believe that statement is true. I don't trust BP at all. However, I don't believe that the people who aren't criticizing them are their stooges.

I believe that they are sincere in their beliefs in this matter. I believe that they are supporting a course of action that they feel is the right one to resolve this situation in both the areas of the cleanup and in plugging the gusher. Some people are probably making this BP statement or a variation of it. I probably have in all of the back and forth and posts, but I was wrong in most cases if I did so.

However if I did believe it, I could expand on this theme and use many other names. I could continue to call into account every single poster every single time they made any positive statements about BP. I could refuse to consider any other valid alternative possibilities for the statements. I could refuse to believe that any part of your support is true.

I'll bet some people's hair caught fire just reading that name and the first sentence. It isn't true and it probably makes you furious that this could be said. The names are adding insult to injury to say the least.

This is how I feel when I have made ANY criticism about the actions taken in the Gulf. I am attacked as if I am a mole for the RNC. I told that I am not a true liberal. The names and criticisms are endless in variety.

When I consider what I have posted, I realize I was wrong on some statements. I didn't make them up out of whole cloth or post them knowing that they were wrong. I believed that they were valid. I still believe that much of what I have pointed out is still valid and should be questioned.

I didn't believe then nor do I believe now that anybody is exempt from criticism. ANYBODY!

Why use a broad brush and make leaps to the very worst assumption about someone? Why use the names? Why use vituperation and destructive comments about posters?

I'll bet this will start a thread of names and fire. I meant it to show what I see happening and not just in this case.

This will probably start another long thread of the same behavior unfortunately. All of it has to be false even if some of it is true. I am posting about how I feel.

Start your engines. Both sides please heap you fury here. Let the games begin. However, it's not a game and a sad way to interact with each other.

[dipsydoodle]

1. An issue which don't seem to get mentioned much here

is the significance of that oilfield to the USA. Its not a matter of love 'em or hate BP : nobody loves them but they may be a necessary evil. Broadly speaking the USA needs BP's know how in the Gulf which is what I think contributed to your President being comfortbale with saying that BP will cover every single dime of the restoration costs - I don't think there is any doubt that they will. That just happens to be the second largest known field on planet. It covers 25,000 sg miles and is composed of gas and oil in a ratio of c. 10:1. It's capability is to produce 500,000 barrels of a day for more than a decade plus an enormous amount of natural gas.

Its either use it or lose some of your love of oil.

[Are_grits_groceries]

3. And now this is where I would jump in and

automatically dismiss what you posted because you didn't critize BP. You wrote what you believe and you stated why. You want them on the job.

I don't agree with the part that they will pay for all of it but because you do that doesn't make you a BP stooge by a long shot. I could argue about some other things.

Does my disagreement make me someone who quotes RW meme or wants President Obama to fail? These are some of the posts that automatically appear if I post my problems with an issue. Even if you or I are wrong, that still doesn't make our blanket assumptions about each other true.

This is an example of what I am talking about if automatic responses are given if you make certain arguments.

I am NOT calling you a BP stooge. Somebody else may run right past that part.

[dipsydoodle]

6. It ultimately may be easier than you think for them to pay for it.

They'll use the income from the oil and gas and write their other costs off elsewhere. I'm ok for the time being just waiting to see the outcome of a variety of court cases and unlike some here I'm not a barrack room lawyer pre-judging what was negligence and what was sods law. If you think about it the whole exercise was fraught with danger.

I'll go back now to pondering what on earth could possess anyone to watch the live feed down there. Trust me - watching it definately won't affect the outcome.

:hi:

BTW - I only get grits when I'm with friends in OH and KY and that's only cos I ask for them - baloney too. They don't sell grits or baloney in the UK. :(

[KharmaTrain]

7. Instant Experts...

Always happens when there's a major news stories...our corporate media assumes the position of all knowing about all...suddenly we're all "experts" on the BOP and thus can speculate and Monday Morning quarterback which then leads to blaming and hand wringing. Add to this each person's agenda and it leads to a lot of what we're seeing here over the past couple weeks. For those who hate corporates (and I'm not too fancy with most of them) and/or big oil (also not a favorite), this disaster is played to the worst...an "Armegeddon" and how anyone who uses oil or, as you say, try to rationalize what is going on here as some "enabler". Inversely there are those (few on DU) who think this is an "accident" and "shit happens"...that it's all part of "progress". Those in the middle get it from both sides.

You are right...as long as this country is addicted to oil, the platforms in the Gulf will be cranking out the black gold and the incentive will be there to drill for more. As far as indemnity...with the massive amounts BP earns it can easily afford to stall and delay...let time and inflation minimize its financial impact. The real damage to BP here is their name...and their mishandling of this situation will connect them with this disaster for years to come...not the type of thing a PR department likes to deal with.

Cheers...

[Are_grits_groceries]

8. Can you get MoonPies??

I won't watch the live feed either. I have no idea what the changes mean. I would just guess myself into an early grave. I also try to ignore the Dow.
:hi:

[dipsydoodle]

9. Had to look that up..........lol.

From the description I read they sound kinda like our Wagon Wheels.



:hi:

[Are_grits_groceries]

10. I'd have to eat one to be sure.

I am to MoonPies what Robert Parker is to wine.

[dipsydoodle]

11. Ours are probably just inferior copies

They're like two biscuits with marsh mallow in between and maybe some jam/jellow to you I think and covered with chocolate. I have avoided buying them years, other than maybe when I'm going fishing , because they're "moresome" so I eat a whole pack of 8 whatever in one go. :)

They're about 4 inches across and 1/2 or so thick.

[Ex Lurker]

2. The evidence is overwhelming that Thad Allen is being kept out of the loop

and he stand up there and shills for BP. If he's just a figurehead, he ought to have enough pride in himself and his uniform to resign in protest.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

4. who built the rig so close to the mainland

why was this allowed?

[dipsydoodle]

5. The whole field occupies 25,000 sq miles.

Maybe that was the shallowest point in terms of drilling depth. :shrug:

Under the circumstances which have prevailed I don't think that proximity to shore makes much difference given that the escapage in such volume would eventually reach shore anyway.