And Nobody Cares

Thomas Lindaman writes:

It seems that BP has been used as a political pinata lately for anyone and everyone with an ax to grind. Want more regulation of the oil industry? Talk about BP. Want to pass crap and spayed...I mean cap and trade? Talk about BP. Want to score cheap political points in an attempt to look and sound like you care about the environment? Talk about BP.

Yet, we're not hearing very much from the other side of the debate, whether it's out of fear, apathy, or what have you. It's time we stop that. Now is not the time to be silent, but the time to roar in the face of outlandish bullcrap about BP.

I support BP because I understand the pressures they're under to address the issue in the Gulf, pressures both internal and external.

That they created.

I support BP because they're not out there grandstanding for the public.

When you murder 11 workers and create one of the worst man-made ecological disasters in history, it's kind of hard to grandstand. Though they did try passing the buck.

Instead, they're quietly reminding people that they're doing what they can while working on the problem far more than their vocal opposition is. If talk could plug the hole, the Left would have had this leak taken care of in a day or two. Unfortunately for them, it's not, and BP's the one doing the heavy lifting while the Left jacks their jaws at every opportunity.

They deserve everything they got. You reap what you sow.

I support BP because most of their franchises are locally-owned. If you boycott BP, you're hurting the small businessman and their customers. Yep, your attempt to "make a statement" will wind up putting a mom and pop operation out of business and won't hurt the main company at all. Not to mention, you're most likely going to cause more trouble for the people who rely on those BPs for their gas and other services. Makes you look a lot less like a group looking out for the little guys, doesn't it?

Right-wingers have never cared about small business, so you can't play that card. You care about the corporation. Even though the right-wing blogosphere are people that have no money themselves. The CEOs would piss on your faces and laugh about it.

And yes, people's jobs and the economy are at stake. If you live in the Gulf, and your job isn't in the oil industry, you probably just lost it. Compare your little sob story, to what was lost due to this one single oil spill. Apparently you favor those workers over fishermen for some reason, care to clue me in as to why?

Yup, families will lose jobs . Maybe they can get re-hired in the newly created BP safety and clean-up Research and Development division and then move back to their old jobs.

What's more, jobs is a completely irrelevant argument. You don't keep open a business that can cause this much damage to an ecosystem, to other businesses like fishermen or tour boats and takes risks that resulted in 11 lost lives, just to save a few jobs.

You know who else lost their jobs? The dead oil rig workers, whose graves you're gleefully dancing on.

I support BP because I see how the Obama Administration has hamstrung their efforts to clean up the mess

Prove it.

while simultaneously raising the bar for them to act.

I support BP because it's frightfully easy to bash a faceless corporation based on what limited information we have, but it's a lot harder to give them the benefit of the doubt as we all learn more about the circumstances behind the explosion.

I support BP because the fact is what happened on that oil rig is the exception, not the rule. Believe it or not, drilling for oil has gotten more environmentally friendly than its critics lead you to believe. To toss aside offshore drilling because of a unique situation is hardly smart policy.

I support BP because behind the corporate logo is people of all walks of life, blue collar and white collar, all trying to make a living. How anyone in good conscience can punish them for actions they didn't take is beyond me.

I support BP because we're going to need them and other oil companies to keep producing until we can develop effective and efficient alternatives to oil. Killing them off now before there's a viable replacement is folly, regardless of where you stand on this issue.

I support BP because their President showed far more restraint on Capitol Hill than I would have at the sanctimonious asshats trying to score cheap political points by only giving one side of the story.

I support BP because I feel they've been maligned enough by people who know too little about them to make an informed statement. The talking airheads can dish it out, but ask them to come up with viable solutions to what BP is doing and watch them sputter like the dolts they are.

An adequate disaster plan is supposed to be in place before drilling begins. BP's plan was approved and drilling permitted before Obama was president. It is the height of dishonesty (an outright lie) to claim that the plan's failure was in any way Obama's fault.

If BP followed standard industry protocols, and actually fixed their safety equipment, this would have never happened. If they simply put more regulation on equipment inspections, this type of problem is preventable.

BP has to prove that they can operate safely AND manage disaster successfully. Trying to shift attention to a third party (Obama) is pure chickenshit on the part of right-wingers, and will only work on the idiot right-wing half of the population.

All Big Oil companies, including BP, had the same contingency plan for a spill, which includes an emergency contact number to a guy who has been dead for five years.

So, BP didn't want to pay to make their shit safer? Fine, now they have to pay ten times as much on the back end now that they've fucked everything up.

FEMA was prepared and organized to respond to a disaster such as a hurricane, and they failed. BP is prepared and organized to respond to an oil spill and so far, they've failed. One of these organizations is a part of the US government. The other is not. One of these organizations is equipped to deal with oil spills, the other is not. Were that a US government owned rig, this would be a colossal failure of a response or prevention effort. But it was privately owned - all the government could do is accept their word that they are all prepared for a response to such an event. Yes, the MMS was supposed to be overseeing this, but it wasn't. For a long time, in fact - about 8 years before Obama took office, and a year since.

Anyone who can hold this against the government not being completely prepared for a totally unprecedented event in the private sector - is an intellectually blind fool.

That's disingenuous, since the only thing Obama did wrong in this mess was not fire all of Bush's oil cronies from the MMS when he took charge.

Right-wingers are saying we should not vote Democrat because Democrats don't clean up Republican messes as fast or as thoroughly as they should. So vote Republican, since they'll fuck things up and you KNOW they'll fuck things up, but at least you won't get your hopes up that things will get better.

Finally, I support BP because at the end of the day, it's the right thing to do.

BP killed eleven workers, and you guys suck their dick. Typical of right-wing corporate anarchists. The right-wingers could not be happier about this disaster. The more people suffer, the happier they are... because that's how they operate. Off of fear, and misery. They are feeding off of ignorance and fear and knee-jerk reactions.

I can just see these right-wingers trying to be lawyers at a murder trial if BP was a single person: "We admit that Mr. BP shot that man in the head. But he mopped up the blood, so he's a good guy!"

Obama's approach led to BP providing BILLIONS dedicated to cleanup and reparations... WAY more than the $3 billion "cap". He got what's really important... he got a SHITLOAD of money for the victims, a shitload more than a grandstanding Bush-type would have.

And you right-wingers absolutely HATE that. So you'll have to excuse us when we state the fact that your crocodile tears aren't convincing anyone.