Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Green Like Snot

It's my day off, so what stupid thing do I do?
I turn on the computer to catch up on the news.
What a yutz.

My search engine reveals a veritable sea of environmental concerns.

Apparently everyone is going "green."

Yippee!

First, Yahoo tells me that "the majority of Americans still believe in global warming."

The majority being a whopping 75%.
Coincidentally, that's the same percentage who believe in heaven.


Then I see the economic feasibility of alternative energy being discussed here, in the typical "speaking to a toddler" method that characterizes what passes for news these days. Here, we're told that we may have 100 more years of heavy hydrocarbon use ahead of us before alternative infrastructure is in place.

Hmmm...100 years?

Didn't it take us roughly only 100 years to sink ourselves into tarball goulash?
& that was when the machinery responsible was confined primarily to the West.
Now that the whole world is emulating US & spewing toxic goop into the air & water, how much worse will shit be in another 100 years?

Then we have this giggler:

Fishermen, property owners and businesspeople who have filed damage claims with BP are angrily complaining of delays, excessive paperwork and skimpy payments that have put them on the verge of going under as the financial and environmental toll of the seven-week-old disaster grows.

Under federal law, BP PLC is required to pay for a range of losses, including property damage and lost earnings, and the company has disputed any notion that the claims process is slow or that it has been dragging its feet.

But on Thursday, Tracy Wareing, of the National Incident Command office, said administration officials raised a "pressing concern" during a meeting Wednesday with BP executives about the time the company has been taking to provide relief payments.

She said the company would change the way it processes such claims and expedite payments. Among other things, it will drop the current practice of waiting to make such payments until businesses have closed their books for each month.


Brian O'Neill, who handled claims against Exxon for the law firm Faegre & Benson, begs to differ:

"If you were affected in Louisiana, to use a legal term, you are just fucked.
These big oil companies, they have a different view of time and politics than we do. Exxon sure weathered it really well. The market went up the next day for Exxon stock [after the settlement]. They just thrived despite treating an entire state poorly. And there is a lesson there for BP, and that is: it really doesn't matter whether you treat these people nicely or not. The only difference is if you extract oil. At some point in time, the administration and the states will resolve all their dealings and it will leave fisherman and the tourist industry to resolve their differences in the courts. It could be another 20 years till then because BP [is] going to defend this like Exxon did."


Surely, he's joking.

BP is a fine upstanding corporation who would never do such dastardly things.

In fact, here's what former BP CEO Sir John Browne had to say just a few years ago:

"There is a sense of trepidation about the new century and, of course, many of the fears are raised by the unresolved challenges to the natural environment...I know there is a view that business is simply the cause of many of the environmental problems, but I hope we're moving beyond that argument...We have to help people transcend the harsh trade off which says - you can have economic growth & pollution...or you can have a clean environment but no growth. That's an unacceptable trade off."

Gosh, my ball sac got all tingly just typing that.

& here's BP's mission statement as further "proof" of their caramel coated goodness:

At BP our aspirations are – no accidents, no harm to people and no damage to the environment.
We are committed to the protection of the natural environment, to the safety of the communities in which we operate, and to the health, safety and security of our people.
Everyone who works for BP, everywhere, has a responsibility for getting HSSE (Health,Safety,Security & Environment) right.


• Comply with the requirements of the HSSE management system at your work location – including the use of relevant standards, instructions and processes – and with the golden rules of safety. • Stop any work that becomes unsafe. • Only undertake work for which you are trained, competent, medically fit and sufficiently rested and alert to carry out. • Make sure you know what to do if an emergency occurs at your place of work. • Help ensure that those who work with you – employees, contractors and other third parties – act consistently with BP’s HSSE commitments. • Promptly report to local BP management any accident, injury, illness, unsafe or unhealthy condition, incident, spill or release of material to the environment, so that steps can be taken to correct, prevent or control those conditions immediately. Never assume that someone else will report a risk or concern. • Seek advice and help if: – You are ever unclear about your HSSE obligations. – You have a concern about a potential or actual breach of HSSE law or a BP HSSE requirement.


In addition to fully complying with all legal requirements, we will constantly strive to drive down the environmental and health impact of our operations through the responsible use of natural resources and the reduction of waste and emissions. These challenges apply to all parts of our business and to all facilities, plants, refineries and offices – wherever we operate in the world. Working to protect the natural environment and the health and safety of the communities in which we operate is a core commitment of our company. For this reason, the group reports externally on our environmental, health and safety record.


Oddly, it has also giving me the strangest feeling of deja vu.

Wait, it'll come to me...

Oh shit!

Enron's vision is to become the world's leading energy company-creating innovative and efficient energy solutions for growing ecoonomies and a better environment worldwide.
We treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. We do not tolerate abusive or disrespectful treatment. Ruthlessness, callousness and arrogance don't belong here.


We are dedicated to conducting business according to all applicable local and international laws & regulations, including, but not limited to, the U.S. Corrupt Practices Act, and with the highest professional and ethical standards.
We are commited to operating safely and conducting business worldwide in compliance with all applicable environmental, health and safety laws and regulations and strive to improve the lives of the people in the regions we operate. These laws, regulations, and standards are designed to safeguard the environment, human health, wildlife, and natural resources. Our commitment to observe them faithfully is an integral part of our business and of our values.

But, surely BP will be different, right?

Enron was just one of those corporate bad apples, right?

Surely the Gulf disaster is just one tiny mar on BP's otherwise pristine surface.

Oh no!!!

As if there wasn't enough oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico, satellite images have revealed a 10-mile-long slick from another drilling rig, which apparently began leaking days after the Deepwater Horizon disaster began.

Citing an environmental group and federal documents, the Mobile, Ala., Press- Register reports that the smaller leak, from the Ocean Saratoga platform, apparently began around April 30 and was noted by federal officials May 15. But they and Diamond Offshore officials aren't saying anything else about it.


Oh shit!!!

While BP touts the mild success of its most recent attempt to contain the massive gusher spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, they would probably rather people don’t notice the other spill they recently caused, this one of deadly benzene from a refinery in Texas City, TX. The refinery released more than 400 pounds a day of the chemical over a 40-day period from early April to mid May of this year, BP quietly informed the state environmental regulator yesterday. Over that period, the refinery released 500,000 pounds of benzene and other toxic chemicals into the air, the Galveston Daily News reports.


Oh fuck!!!

With the Gulf Coast dying of oil poisoning, there's no space in the press for British Petroleum's latest spill, just this week: over 100,000 gallons, at its Alaska pipeline operation. A hundred thousand used to be a lot. Still is.

On Tuesday, Pump Station 9, at Delta Junction on the 800-mile pipeline, busted. Thousands of barrels began spewing an explosive cocktail of hydrocarbons after "procedures weren't properly implemented" by BP operators, say state inspectors. "Procedures weren't properly implemented" is, it seems, BP's company motto.

Few Americans know that BP owns the controlling stake in the trans-Alaska pipeline; but, unlike with the Deepwater Horizon, BP keeps its Limey name off the Big Pipe.

There's another reason to keep their name off the Pipe: their management of the pipe stinks. It's corroded, it's undermanned and "basic maintenance" is a term BP never heard of.

How does BP get away with it? The same way the Godfather got away with it: bad things happen to folks who blow the whistle. BP has a habit of hunting down and destroying the careers of those who warn of pipeline problems.



I know, I know, utterly shocking.
At least, that's how it appears in the media coverage.
Oh the outrage.
Oh the indignation.
Oh the utter horror at all the poor lost wildlife, & jobs, & beachfront property.
Oh poor beleaguered Jimmie Buffet.

So, has everyone been living under a rock?

This is corporatism.
This has always been corporatism.
They are sociopaths
who use mission statements
& charitable contributions
& manufactured good will
for one thing
& one thing only,
their profit.



This is globalization at its finest. Private corporations using their own security forces to shield themselves from public scrutiny. And why shouldn't they? We've allowed them to dismantle our society in exchange for cheap crappy consumer goods.
We allow them to write our laws & empty our wallets & own our politicians. We allow them to spy on us & spurt their decayed jism all over the natural world.
Why shouldn't they feel entitled?

We have always allowed these people to muck about with possibly earth changing enterprises
& we allow them to muck about in the cheapest & most profitable to them way imaginable. All done behind a curtain of proprietary rights.

WASHINGTON – BP took measures to cut costs in the weeks before the catastrophic blowout in the Gulf of Mexico as it dealt with one problem after another, prompting a BP engineer to describe the doomed rig as a "nightmare well," according to internal documents released Monday.

The comment by BP engineer Brian Morel came in an e-mail April 14, six days before the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion that killed 11 people and has sent tens of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf in the nation's worst environmental disaster.

The e-mail was among dozens of internal documents released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is investigating the explosion and its aftermath.

In a letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward, Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Bart Stupak, D-Mich., noted at least five questionable decisions BP made in the days leading up to the explosion.

"The common feature of these five decisions is that they posed a trade-off between cost and well safety," said Waxman and Stupak. Waxman chairs the energy panel while Stupak heads a subcommittee on oversight and investigations.

"Time after time, it appears that BP made decisions that increased the risk of a blowout to save the company time or expense," the lawmakers wrote in the 14-page letter to Hayward. "If this is what happened, BP's carelessness and complacency have inflicted a heavy toll on the Gulf, its inhabitants, and the workers on the rig."


& again:

BP insists it has not tried to prevent oil spill cleanup workers from wearing masks and respirators to protect themselves from chemical exposure while doing their work and dismissed claims that their efforts to prevent their use are relted to cost-cutting or concerns over optics. Yet as recently as this past weekend, Kerry Kennedy of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights told Fox News that she'd heard from numerous cleanup workers that BP officials have repeatedly discouraged protective gear, saying such gear would only "spread hysteria" over the spill's fallout.



No matter how much Mr. Obama yammers on about "kicking ass," in the end, he will lose.
When I see the Coast Guard delivering ultimatums to BP I just want to laugh.
What are they gonna do?
Start sinking British Petroleum tankers?
I think not.
In the end, BP will do what BP wants.
It always has
& it always will.

But, then again, we have savior Obama. We saw how he stood tall for the public option & dismantled America's torture infrastructure & brought all those soldiers home from their manufactured wars, right?
When he belches CEO's & Generals both get knock kneed & quivery.

NEW ORLEANS – After 50 years of watching wetlands created by the fertile Mississippi River turn into open water, Louisiana residents finally got what they'd long awaited: A U.S. president saying he'll fight to save what little is left along their eroding coast.

Though details were vague
, President Barack Obama's pledge to restore the Gulf Coast's degraded coast line has multibillion-dollar implications for the region's culture and economy and could preserve wildlife endangered by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In an Oval Office address Tuesday night, Obama said he was committed to making sure southern Louisiana, which is hemorrhaging a football field of marshland every 38 minutes, and other coastline are saved.

"We need a long-term plan to restore the unique beauty and bounty of this region," Obama said. "The oil spill represents just the latest blow to a place that has already suffered multiple economic disasters and decades of environmental degradation that has led to disappearing wetlands and habitats."


Please...please...not more vague promises...& more hypnotizing platitudes from the black guy.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Oh, what did we expect since our government doesn't work much different, does it?

The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.


"Previously unknown," huh?
Right.
Evidently the Soviets knew in the late 80s. Which practically guarantees that the US knew.
It does explain why we're so committed to waging war there, doesn't it?
I wonder who will profit most from this little discovery, the Afghan people or corporate multinationals.
I think I know who smart money would bet on.

So America, shove yer outrage & yer new "green lifestyle" right up yer ass.
It's much too little & way too fucking late to do the least bit of good.
Really.

11 comments:

ericswan said...

You the man. Way more information here than I knew was out there. Alex is taking a hit because he isn't down there scraping tar balls off those beachfront properties. Makes me wonder where we go from here.

just_another_dick said...

Eric, you might want to check out this link:

http://www.manticoregroup.com/radio/2010/06jun/VSR-100613-jfox.mp3

It's an interview with UFO documentary filmmaker James Fox on Veritas Radio.
Mr. Fox is, as far as I can tell, the first one to expose BP's use of private security to stifle public inquiry.
He had called Veritas Radio early last week reporting what is now national news.
I foolishly dismissed him at the time.
My bad.

During this latest call to Veritas he documents how BP is now spraying their toxic oil dispersing goop over populated areas as the oil moves closer to shore.

If you go to their website:

http://veritasshow.blogspot.com/

you'll find a few other disturbing reports from people calling from the Gulf.
As an added bonus, Veritas has a fresh interview with your man Joe Farrell.


Octopuses eh, "Jeff?"
You're not the disembodied spirit of Danny Cassolaro are you?
On the off chance that you are, I gotta know, did you really off yourself man?

ericswan said...

Google is such a crap shoot these days that blogging is not worth the double, triple, quadrupel attempts to post. Check out this vid on the gulf gusher at my blocked constipated, government controlled blog. Oh, and I hear Bill Ayres and the Weathermen got this government appointment to put a committee of eugenicists together. There is no end in sight.

http://www.hakkor.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

The investigative journalists who were murdered/suicided are not well known to be sure. But from this knowledge so-called leaders of the truth belittle innocents and try to make them feel guilty about murders they had nothing to do with.

"They killed William Cooper!"

Respectfully, how does a potential freelance writer know if an unfortunate death of an investigative journalist was not due to factors unrelated to the subject matter he/she reported on. The local cops killed Cooper but it may have been that Cooper was overly-choleric in his own private dealings with people in his own neighborhood. He may have been caught in his own whip and pushed his own envelope too far with people that had no interest in murdering him.

Many investigations into the murders/suicides have no names that turn up as possible assassins. He/she reported on Bush therefore Bush had him/her killed. Unfortunately for potential freelance writers official investigations come up with hardly anything worth reporting. Just like what Wells wrote last year or so at RI, Kennedy's "back and to the left" head shot is all we have for evidence.
Another example is so and so died in a plane crash and it is suspicious but investigations into the possible murder come up with no names.

Alternate news many times is identical to mainstream news in that we are left holding the bag. With alternate news we have another bag to hold on to. One seems to be in a denser fog with alternate news coverage and declare that one has seen the light. That light may be leading one into an intellectual abyss that seems to feed off of peoples want to be in a proper state of agency. No answers or solutions just feelings of doing what is right. But no action can possibly be taken unless we are close to the situation being read about.

Okay choir I'm done. Time for me to get busy with another activity. Take care and thanks for the articles and posts. I'm still interested in a lot of the reporting and articles. I'm not so sure I'm a beacon of light as a member of the choir, though. It is that I've developed a tolerance to better ingest the more unique types of reporting. No matter how insane I may become as a result. So far only temporarily so.

Unknown said...

Richard and Eric over the weekend I inherited a collection of over 100 books and papers examining Roman Catholicism. I wanted to share this with you men.

Green is the color that priests wear during ordinary time based on the Roman Rite. I do not honor the hierarchy within Christianity. Be as a child is the authority I see. Children have more authority as believers than adults do I must say.

Mr. B

Morocco Bama said...

Eric's link juxtaposes sensational and unverifiable implications of the Gulf Oil Incident with advocation for the Abiotic Oil Theory. That should be a red flag to anyone that there is duplicity afoot.

If oil was Abiotic and consistently replenishes so there is no scarcity, do those who advocate for that theory also advocate that we should just continue to poke holes in the earth and burn the shit for the rest of time?

Bigfoot said...

Pretty soon we'll all be able to head to our local beach wearing big cheesy smiles on our faces as we stand at the oils edge with our containers & hose and siphon ourselves silly directly from the sea. Free energy at last and home refinery kits for xmas.

Peace, coke and nike -Bfoot

ericswan said...

And how would that affect global warming?

On a personal note, the Gulf of Mexico is not private property and given the present situation, it is not property exclusive to the U.S.

I think we are all due a little piece of the 20 billion in escrow so just send it up here and preferably in yuan.

just_another_dick said...

Eric, just look at the blog as sewage.
Sewage released under the "better out than in" plan

I agree with you about googling. Although I think it's more like a rigged crap shoot.
I really couldn't tell you how I find information anymore. Truthfully, the information seems to find me.

Maybe the multiverse has a stream of pure information that somehow "googles" sympathetic receivers.
There are days I sit here staring at the computer and all it does is stare back. Then there are days when it's like being sucked into a big information water slide that seems to hurtle on forever.

Mr. B., sorry I didn't recognize your "real" name. I know you used it before but I...ummmmm...kind of forgot.
Sorry.

My problem with the "assassinate troublemakers scenario" is that there seem to be a hell of a lot of troublemakers.
What's the criteria they use to choose targets.

For example, Cassolaro apparently had no intention of writing a piece of investigative journalism. He seemed to favor a fictionalized treatment of his octopus instead.
So, why would he merit assassination while others keep breathing?

I'm just about finished with the first Steamshovel Press compilation.
Thomas had an article that mentions a guy named Bud Culligan who insisted he was a government assassin from the 40s to the 90s, responsible for 117 assassinations.
His reason for going semi-public was that he just wanted to retire with his wife and the CIA wouldn't let him.
While the story sounds somewhat dubious, Culligan has filed 4 different lawsuits against the CIA & has much corroborating evidence to back up his claims.
Other than the Kenn Thomas article, finding information about Culligan is near impossible.
Evidently he published a book but it was suppressed in this country & is also all but impossible to find.
The guy was in his 60s 15 years ago so, for all I know, he could be dead by now.

Shrub, I'm not sure I buy the abiotic theory although William Engdahl, a former peak oil proponent, has come around to that belief. He insists there is copious research in Russia that supports the theory, but little of it is published in the West.
Whatever one's views, Engdahl's "Century Of War" is essential reading.
Do you think the Peak Oil folk, who always insisted that oil companies were suppressing peak oil info, were forced to re-evaluate their beliefs when big oil started talking openly about the possibility of peak oil?
In other words, if big oil is acknowledging it then it must be wrong and there must be a deeper truth they're really suppressing.
One could plummet forever down that little rabbit hole.

BF, I was thinking more along the lines of an END OF HUMANITY-FREE LUBE PROVIDED-BEACH FRONT ORGY, where we fuck ourselves senseless then fling ourselves into the goop, dying in solidarity with our pelican brethren.

Morocco Bama said...

I don't know what to believe on the origins of oil, Richard, but I do know the shit is nasty and burning it can't be very good for our health, or the health of the planet's ecology.

That being said, I think we should all reread McGowan's debate with Ruppert on Peak Oil.....especially in light of what is now occurring in the GOM. Viewed in McGowan's light, the events we are witnessing, suddenly make sense.

Here's a link to his debate:

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/davemcgowan70newsletter12oct04.shtml

Here's an excerpt:

Meanwhile, Mexico, which also hasn't been reading the 'Peak' memos, recently announced the discovery of massive quantities of new petroleum reserves. The Peakers, as we all know, repeatedly claim that no new reserves of any consequence have been found for years. In fact, they go so far as to say that there are no new reserves to be found. In one recent collection of lies posted on the FTW website, Julian Darley writes: "Major oil discoveries have declined every year so that 2003 saw no new field over 500 million barrels ... It is well over twenty years since more oil was found than consumed in a year."

(http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/031704_two_planets.html)

Really, Mr. Darley? Are you sure about that? Let's check with the Mexican press to see if you are correct:

"Three years of exploration has enabled Pemex to map oilfields that the state-owned oil monopoly believes will more than double the nation's known crude oil reserves. Luis Ramírez Corzo, Pemex's director for exploration, told EL UNIVERSAL that on a 'conservative' estimate, almost 54 billion barrels lie underneath the oilfields. That would take Mexico's reserves to 102 billion barrels, more than the United Arab Emirates (which has reserves of 97.8 billion barrels), Kuwait (94 billion) and Iran (89.7 billion), and almost as much as Iraq (112.5 billion). The official also said the discovery could enable Pemex to increase Mexico's oil production from the current level of 4 million barrels per day (bpd) to 7 million bpd. Saudi Arabia currently produces 7.5 million bpd, while Russia's oil output is 7.4 million bpd. Ramírez Corzo said the exploration, at an investment of US 4.6 billion, led to the identification of seven separate blocks rich in oil and natural gas. The most promising blocks are under water in the Gulf of Mexico, thought to contain around 45 billion barrels."

(http://www.el-universal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=6110&tabla=miami)

No new fields over 500 million barrels? How about the 45 billion new barrels sitting in the Gulf of Mexico, right in our own backyard? Isn't that just a tiny bit more than is "consumed in a year"?


Prior to reading this, I couldn't, for the life of me, figure why they would want this to happen (LIHOP), but now it makes sense in light of McGowan's article.

just_another_dick said...

To a species that seems to adore shitting where it eats, oil's nastiness just adds to its allure.

This weekend, on one of the talking head shows, someone mentioned Carter's meager attempt to start the alternative energy ball rolling. They went on to say that if we would have only followed through we'd now be better off.

Gee, do ya think?

It's such a sick joke Shrub.

Maybe if this were really a democracy populated by informed citizens instead of a corrupt corporatist trailer park/junk shop populated by easily flummoxed yahoos trapped in a TV induced right brain trance there might be some hope.
As it stands, we're pretty fucked.

Once I found out that the oil industry provided the money to launch the fledgling anti-nuclear movement in the 70s to derail any alternative energy discussions that might crop up during an oil embargo they created, I really began to see how many levels above us they plan.

Like you, I have no idea where oil came from and. Also, like you, I think the goop is quite nasty.
But it is painfully obvious that there are some very powerful motherfuckers who will continue to force feed us this shit whether we like it or not.