BP Oil Spill - One Year Later

Today is the one year anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It seems much longer ago than that to me. Kos has a summary of the toll in terms of human life (11 dead) and many tens of thousands of wildlife lost. The long-term effects on the Gulf and its residents is, of course, yet to be tallied. Thank you corporate greed and corner-cutting! And thank you, too, laissez-faire deregulators for your role in the disaster. One year later, and the House Rethugs/ New Confederate Party wants to gut environmental and industry oversight. It's all too mind-boggling.

Getting His Life Back

Disgraced BP CEO Tony Hayward was forced to step down from his position at Big Polluter, effective October 1. As information seeps out about BP's corner-cutting and willful violations of safety regulations, it's obvious that Hayward was comfy with the rule-averse, bottom-line driven corporate culture at BP.

In a delicious twist, BP is assigning Hayward to (bwahahaha) its Russian projects to a "non-executive board position." We wonder if he can adapt to those cold Siberian winters, so far from his sailboat.

(photo: We hear that ice sailing is big in Krasnoyarsk)

Screwy Louie's "Things I Learnt In History Class"

Think Progress reports on Texas Rethug Rep. Screwy Louie Gohmert's criticizing President Obama for being mean to BP. Just another Rethug saying what the rest of them are thinking but are too cowardly to let the public know? True. But Gohmert, being the certified cashew that he is, has to go a few, um, goosesteps further by comparing Obama to... wait for it: Hitler (yawn). Quoting an article by fellow cashew Thomas "Not" Sowell, Screwy Louie likes what he sees in Sowell's flaky analysis of the establishment of the BP compensation fund and its clear (to Sowell and Screwy Louie at least) antecedent in Hitler's rise to power. He must've been reading those new, revisionist text books the State of Texas has ordered up -- you know, the ones celebrating Jefferson Davis and saying the Founding Fathers created a Christian nation?!

And these are the jackasses that are supposed to be capturing the House in November? God help us.

(Image: Rep. Screwy Louie Gohmert, Montgomery Burns' doppelganger.)

He Has His Life Back

And a posh life it is! A yacht race around the Isle of Wight can't be wrong! Why, it should put an even bigger smirk on his puss than he's had nonstop throughout the past two months! We're so happy to see BP's toff CEO back in the lap of luxury and, to premempt the Rethugs, we'd like to apologize for keeping tony Tony from his upper-crusty friends.

"Thank You, Sir, May I Have Another?!"

Fellow Rethugs are furious over Rep. Joe "Not A Smart 'Un" Barton (Rethug-Big Oil-TX) for letting the cat out of the bag and apologizing to BP's CEO Tony "I Want My Life Back" Hayward. See, aside from wingnuts like Oxycontin Rush Limpballs and Minnesota loon Michele Bachmann, they didn't want the public to know how much they identify with Big Oil, or any other bank/ corporation/ or Wall Street firm until at least after the 2010 midterms. That way, they can keep their numbnut tea bagger base and the rest of the voting population from knowing just how much they owe to Big Oil, etc., and how it's all in tune with their e Coli/ bridge collapse/ oilmaggedon laissez faire philosophy.

At least Barton, though not a smart 'un (he's also a climate change denier), is honest about his crackpot views.

Tweet You, BP!

The catastrophic oil spill has led to some gallows humor using "teh awesome" system of twits and tweets. Crooks and Liars has the rundown of a fake BP Public Relations Twitter account with a series of jabs at B(ig) P(olluter). Very sadly, the wildlife that we see every time we turn on the news aren't laughing, nor are the residents of the Gulf coast who have had their lives turned upside down.

BP: Bigger Price?

It's past time to do something serious about BP's sluggish pace in stopping the oil blowout that's over a month old. One Dem Senator, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, is introducing legislation that would change the current limit on liability from a measly $75 million to an unrestricted amount. Good for him. Maybe knowing that each day wasted on stopping this disaster will cost them dearly will concentrate the minds at BP.

It's also discouraging that the Obama Administration, while having responded quickly with Coast Guard and other Federal resources, seems paralyzed and unable to get BP moving more effectively. The Feds, of course, don't have the technology that the big oil companies have to potentially cap the deep-water blowout, but questions are being raised about the lack of urgency in preventing the oil from reaching the marshes and beaches along the coast. One problems seems to be Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who hasn't been at all impressive either in terms of crisis management and communication, or in terms of his management of the dysfunctional Minerals Management Service, which is rife with problems, most of which he admittedly inherited. Will his be the first head to roll? Stay tuned.