Eating Some (Oily) Crow

Martha Steward went to jail. When are criminal charges going
to be brought aganist the Board of BP?

–bks

Sorry. Martha Stewart! All she did was lie about a minor stock
transaction. BP lied about their capacity to respond (and kept
right on lying.

–bks

I’m unlurking for a minute here because I’m so struck by what’s missing it seems in the coverage of this disaster, especially in view of the coverage given to the coal miners we have lost recently. Where is the coverage of the eleven men who lost their lives on this rig? Where are the photos of the funerals? Where are the stories of the families left behind? Where are the photos of home town memorial events? There are stories about financial losses for the fishermen, the oystermen, the resort owners, and worries about the birds and ecosystem of the Gulf, all of them legitimate concerns. But, do we value these things more than the lives of these men? Do we hate the oil companies so much that we can’t somehow honor these lives and the families impacted by their loss?

(Full disclosure: I have close family members and friends who work in the oil business and this is a repeated refrain in conversations with them about BP’s most recent malfeasance.)

Charlene,

I’m so very glad you left this message. Up until a few days ago, I had also been keeping an eye out for photos of the oil rig workers, especially after the memorial service, and I, too, found it odd that imagery was so scarce. So, after reading your comment, I decided to look again. This time, I found quite a few photos of the service, this particular one standing out … for its innocence and its irony, I guess.

Still, the way memorializing has become so ritualized in America over the past few years, it is still strange that the rig workers have had so little visibility in the unfolding crisis.

(I hope you, and all the other loyal but quite readers, will “unlurk” more often, by the way.)

a clip from the memorial service
for the fallen workers.

Do we hate the oil companies so much that we can’t somehow honor these lives and the families impacted by their loss?

it’s BP who has been bent over backwards to minimize the impact of this tragedy by controlling the story and limiting media access. even scientists have been barred from places on the gulf. workers who survived the rig explosion were coerced by BP to sign contracts barring them from discussing what they witnessed.

it wasn’t BP but transocean who organized the memorial for the workers more than a month after the tragedy.

nobody is more responsible for downplaying this story than the oil company itself, with president obama acting unbelievable complaint in abiding by BP’s wishes.

Thank you Michael and yg for the responses and the links. Earlier this morning on bagnews I saw a comment, which I can’t find now, in a post about controlling photos of our wounded and dead during war. The comment was something to the effect that Bush learned from Vietnam and BP learned from Exxon Valdez. Apparently very true. Couldn’t help but notice that both of the links posted were to British press coverage. Although I don’t like it one bit, I guess I can’t fault BP management for trying to save their collective behinds, but the cooperation of our government and our media in behalf of BP is disturbing. Disheartening.

It’s so troubling to me how the problem of media and image control has gotten worse, and more insidious, since Obama came into office. Alan Chin’s description of the “open access” to Dover speaks to this. What we have now, as opposed to during the Bush era, is the gesture of openness or “controlled transparency” when the powerful, in government or the corporate state, deems it serves a useful purpose.

I am struck by how much better this administration is than any of the recent others. Bush would not have admitted (STILL has not admitted!) to a mistake, nor would he have accepted responsibility. While the media continues to highlight whatever mistakes it can find, the Obama administration gets it mostly right.

The problem with this oil spill is not that it could have been capped if the administration had only acted sooner; the problem is that this spill cannot be capped because it is beyond the limits of our technology to do so. The fault for this spill lies with all of us. We all use internal combustion engines, eat factory-farmed food, purchase products made of plastic, wear clothing made of synthetic fabrics. WE are the problem, and while the president stands up and ‘eats crow’ as you say, we watch from our microfiber sofas on our flatscreen teevees, snacking on corn chips from plastic bags; and we click our tongues and shake our heads. Hypocrisy has become our religion.

more could have been done to manage the oil from hitting the wetlands. can’t blame bush for obama sitting idly by, allowing BP to promiscuously spray toxins all over the place, poisoning marine life.

this gulf clean up worker ended up in the hospital sick, suffering nosebleeds, among other symptoms. the head of BP blames food poisoning.

How fast would you have been able to act in that situation? Would you have known? The MMS is filled with burrowers, and the administration is forced to accept their judgment while waiting for better information.

Be honest. If the administration had said, “No disperants!” you’d be whining about that, too.

Er. Dispersants. Dispersents? Whatever. You know what I mean.

I don’t think the administration is unsympathetic to the workers who were exposed – I believe the information they were receiving was conflicting, and that their order to stop spraying toxins came out of regard for the workers who were being affected. The administration is not, in fact, hand in glove with BP, regardless of what the mendacious media claims.

be honest? would you be this indulgent and tolerant if this was happening under bush?

Bush would have stood up and said it was all the fault of liberals, he was just a victim here, and we should all get behind BP and support them in their hour of need. So, no, I wouldn’t be tolerant of the party whose drive to deregulate and whose love affair with Big Oil brought us to this place.

Surely you’re able to comprehend the difference between that idiot and this grown-up.

take party loyalty out of it and judge obama on his own merits.

he didn’t even meet with and talk to aggrieved locals after his second photo op where he parachuted in for only 3 hours. a photo op where the visuals minimized the impact of the oil spill.

he handed oil companies waivers to his own moratorium to freeze offshore drilling.

after EPA demanded BP stop using corexit, BP disregarded EPA’s orders. obama didn’t apply any consequence or punishment to BP for flouting government orders, essentially ceding authority to BP and allowing them to call all the shots. obama shrugged off health concerns, didn’t even demand use of respirators for workers and allowed BP to continue in their spraying.

secretary salazar has a long history of currying oil industry favor, including fighting to give them huge subsidies and tax breaks.

allowing 30 days of risking human health and condemning wildlife to poison before even raising an objection is not a “grown up” thing to do.

my comprehension isn’t clouded by idealism. it is guided facts on the ground.

More like guided by the propaganda that passes as news. All of those allegations are just that: allegations. ‘Parachuted in’ for only three hours, visuals minimized impact, obama ’shrugged off’ health concerns, obama didn’t apply pressure, didn’t demand use of respirators, ‘allowing’ 30 days of the spraying of poison…

No spin there, no sirree. Just ‘unclouded’ comprehension.

But, really, how do you know that ANY of that is true? I prefer to give the administration the benefit of the doubt, since my memory actually extends beyond January of 2009.

spin? i watched the announcement obama held on the beach with my own two eyes.

you don’t believe BP has been spraying for over 30 days? and is continuing to spray. who gave them authority to do so?

google salazar and see how much of a corporate hand maiden he’s been. what does this say about obama that he would nominate such a man?

go ahead and dismiss everything unflattering to this administration as sheer invention. even non-corporate media outlets like democracy now,mother jones and nation magazine are not to be trusted. must be nice in to live in a “see no evil, hear no evil” world. i find it strange this view that posits obama as a helpless victim of circumstance who can never been faulted. who remains a sterling hero no matter his actions or lack of leadership. i’m sure this is how bush supporters felt.

the lack of demand for accountability isn’t giving the administration the benefit of a doubt. it’s denialism and a double standard.

The two big forces driving media spin right now are:
1. petrodollars and the continued profit therein
2. a partisan Republican spin to make this a negative for Obama

Both these forces are weakened when the loss of human life becomes a part of the story. For #1, you emphasize cost/benefit: “sure oil is costly, but you don’t want to give up your car, do you?” Bringing in death forces one to consider that high-risk drilling is about more than dollars and cents. Re. #2, it would be very hard, for even the most right-leaning individual, to view memorial pictures of the 11 lost workers and in any rational sense feel their death is Obama’s fault. So that side of the story gets squashed.

Obviously BP has been spraying. I am guessing that the administration had a trade-off to do before they could say with authority that the spraying should be stopped. Nobody knows what to do here. Nobody has an answer. You can stand around and sling blame at the guy who drew the short straw, or you can be glad that at least this time the guy is smart, ethical, and willing to take advice.

I don’t even know what to say to you. You give the benefit of the doubt to people who will say anything and spin anything for a headline and a buck. I give the benefit of the doubt to the administration because I believe that they are trying to do what is best for everybody in a situation where there aren’t going to be any winners. You’re as partisan as you say I am. So. Take yourself to a mirror and give yourself a lecture on denialism and double standards.

Nobody knows what to do here. Nobody has an answer.

i don’t think ineffectiveness and cluelessness is the legacy you want to bestow upon this administration.

environmentalists and biologists know what to do. they’ve demanded stop spraying solvents all over the place. their pleas go ignored.

meanwhile, i’ve heard the rationale given as to why tankers are not commissioned to siphon up the oil in the middle of the gulf. BP and this administration offer the same excuse: the oil is too dispersed for this to be effective. no mention is made of the giant plumes underneath the surface. BP refuses to even acknowledge their existence.