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From the Ground: BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence
Orange Beach, Alabama -- While President Obama insists that the federal government is firmly in control of the response to BP's spill in the Gulf, people in coastal communities where I visited last week in Louisiana and Alabama know an inconvenient truth: BP -- not our president -- controls the response. In fact, people on the ground say things are out of control in the gulf.
Even worse, as my latest week of adventures illustrate, BP is using federal agencies to shield itself from public accountability.
For example, while flying on a small plane from New Orleans to Orange Beach, the pilot suddenly exclaimed, "Look at that!" The thin red line marking the federal flight restrictions of 3,000 feet over the oiled Gulf region had just jumped to include the coastal barrier islands off Alabama.
"There's only one reason for that," the pilot said. "BP doesn't want the media taking pictures of oil on the beaches. You should see the oil that's about six miles off the coast," he said grimly. We looked down at the wavy orange boom surrounding the islands below us. The pilot shook his head. "There's no way those booms are going to stop what's offshore from hitting those beaches."
BP knows this as well -- boom can only deflect oil under the calmest of sea conditions, not barricade it -- so they have stepped up their already aggressive effort to control what the public sees.
At the same time I was en route to Orange Beach, Clint Guidry with the Louisiana Shrimp Association and Dean Blanchard, who owns the largest shrimp processor in Louisiana, were in Grand Isle taking Anderson Cooper out in a small boat to see the oiled beaches. The U.S. Coast Guard held up the boat for 20 minutes - an intimidation tactic intended to stop the cameras from recording BP's damage. Luckily for Cooper and the viewing public, Dean Blanchard is not easily intimidated.
A few days later, the gig was up with the booms. Oil was making landfall in four states and even BP can't be everywhere at once. CBS 60 Minutes Australia found entire sections of boom hung up in marsh grasses two feet above the water off Venice. On the same day on the other side of Barataria Bay, Louisiana Bayoukeeper documented pools of oil and oiled pelicans inside the boom -- on the supposedly protected landward side -- of Queen Bess Island off Grand Isle.
With oil undisputedly hitting the beaches and the number of dead wildlife mounting, BP is switching tactics. In Orange Beach, people told me BP wouldn't let them collect carcasses. Instead, the company was raking up carcasses of oiled seabirds. "The heads separate from the bodies," one upset resident told me. "There's no way those birds are going to be autopsied. BP is destroying evidence!"
Provided by Riki Ott. Laughing gull head is separated from body during collection, rendering it useless for autopsy. Waveland, MS. May 13, 2010.
The body count of affected wildlife is crucial to prove the harm caused by the spill, and also serves as an invaluable tool to evaluate damages to public property -- the dolphins, sea turtles, whales, sea birds, fish, and more, that are owned by the American public. Disappeared body counts means disappeared damages -- and disappeared liability for BP. BP should not be collecting carcasses. The job should be given to NOAA, a federal agency, and volunteers, as was done during the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
NOAA should also be conducting carcass drift studies. Only one percent of the dead sea birds made landfall in the Gulf of Alaska, for example. That means for every one bird that was found, another 99 were carried out to sea by currents. Further, NOAA should be conducting aerial surveys to look for carcasses in the offshore rips where the currents converge. That's where the carcasses will pile up -- a fact we learned during the Exxon Valdez spill. Maybe that's another reason for BP's "no camera" policy and the flight restrictions.
On Saturday June 12, people across America will stand up and speak out with one voice to protest BP's treatment of the Gulf, neglect for the response workers, and their response to government authority. President Obama needs to hear and see the people waving cameras and respirators. Until the media is allowed unrestricted access to the Gulf and impacted beaches, BP -- not the President of United States -- will remain in charge of the Gulf response.
For more information on community rallies, please visit HERE.
65 Comments so far
Show AllI didn't read the article, the headlines were enough.....
From The Ground: BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence.
They couldn't,and can't do this with out a whole lot of
government help on the inside.....so the headline should
read...
The U.S. Federal Government , once again, with holding
life threatening information from the American Public.
However , we only have a few journalists with balls and they
get no playtime in the major media.
I have this recurring thought ...
A malevolent race of aliens have been monitoring the human race for several centuries now - and their conclusion:
... these people are less than morons.
Anybody still not convinced we live in a fascist country?
When for-hire private muscle can keep citizens off of 'public beaches' you know the game is over.
It's not "for-hire private muscle." It's our own government.
you can then collate both your posts into one:
"FOR HIRE BY PRIVATE CORPORATIONS = our own government".
PROVING that the US government does the bidding of a few private hands at the expense of the people and the environment.
Teddy, the proof is in the pudding (or I suppose in this case "the pooling.")
It is mind boggling (at least to me) that "our" government would allow itself to be subserviant to a fucking corporation. But here it is in black and white...altitude limits imposed on all aircraft, public banned from their own beaches, scientific coverup regarding well head flow, etc., etc. ad nauseum.
We have massive ecological and economical devastation on our southern shores, the shores of the fucking United States for God's sake, and the government charged with protecting our borders, economy, and security sides with the goddamn perpetrator!!!
I can see only one possible silver lining to this catagory five funnel cloud...perhaps this is the incident that will finally unite "conservatives" and progressives. This is a great big kick in the balls to the American people, regardless of political identity, race, region of residence, education level, and anyone else short of the motherfucking richpigs. This isn't about anything other than class level, and it's way past time for the richfilthpigs to pay with their blood.
Gotta sign off...I'm just too angry to even think rationally!!!
***FUCK YOU BP (BLOATED PIGS)*** and the corporae pigs you rode in on!!!
Change we can believe in? Mr. Obama, you did a good job marketing your sorry ass during the campaign, but now, you are naked as a Jaybird for all to see. During my 53 years on this planet, I have never, repeat never, seen someone with your gall and overt cowardness. You sir, are more worthless than an oil soaked slug. You make Benedict Arnold look like a national hero and George W. Bu$h look like a fucking genius. Now 'scuse me while I go puke.
I'll hold the bag for you aussie. Then we clean up and go get those fucking bastards
When will people stop driving, consuming oil and polluting? We need car-free cities, bicycle cities, eco-cities, local organic farms, rooftop gardens, backyard gardens, local agriculture jobs.
http://EcoCityBuilders.org -- http://CarFree.com -- http://BicycleCity.com -- http://new.carfreecity.us -- http://PostCarbon.org -- http://PostCarbonCities.net -- http://CultureChange.org --
SHUT DOWN OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING:
http://www.imaja.com/lists/deepwaterhorizon.html
The Consequences of Automobiles:
http://www.natcap.org/sitepages/pid56.php
SHUT DOWN THE OIL-ADDICTED WAR CRIMINALS:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/ -- http://www.warcriminalswatch.org/ -- http://www.couragetoresist.org -- http://WorldCantWait.net -- http://DefundWar.org -- http://www.unitedforpeace.org/ - No Nukes! No Wars! Fund Human Needs! Protect the Environment!
Thank you , SUSTAINABLELOVE , for the links.
We do need all the things listed in this post, but unfortunately, there isn't time to transform the lifestyles of 7 billion people before the mess builds up to the point of total toxicity. Hate to throw cold water (or should that be cold oil) in the faces of those who still hope things can somehow be turned around.
What we're facing is a big die off. The only question is will it be all of us or just most of us.
You may be right and it looks that way to me, too, but the thing is, preparing for the "big die off" is not an entirely different process from "turning things around."
We'll have to live an entirely different life than we are used to and reject the system that brought us to this state of affairs, either by conscious will or by necessity.
But likely there will be terrible suffering and violence. The corporate cocoon is a lie.
Won't be all, but there will not be much left for those that remain. At the very least for several hundred years.
My prediction is;
US will become 100% totalitarian. People will be rounded up and placed in 'internment camps' (See concentration camps). Police state, implemented by the elites. Canada and Mexico will be invaded and resources stripped. Possible war with south america, for resources of course.
Europe will survive, if only just. They will be affected by the large toxic cloud of fallout because Israel will have nuc'd all nations that they hate, being almost everyone.
Middle East will be dead due to Israeli policy of, if we are going down everybody is coming with us.
South Asia will starve. Most likely nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
East Asia. China will struggle, aggressively invading its neighbours in a vain attempt to feed its population.
Hope it all doesn't happen. And no I am not one of 'those' conspiracy theorists.
Above is an assessment of what could happen based on the way things are going now.
CC
In other words: this Administration is just as crooked, just as much in the pockets of the oil industry, as the last one. Just what did progressives gain from all that work put into electing Obama? Blame for his crimes, that's what.
Live and learn. You have to have a genuinely progressive alternative, one that supports sustainability and fights corporate control of government and our lives.
Your wish is granted: the Green Party, www.gp.org.
And thanks, Riki, for your heroic efforts.
Another environmental disaster that's so sad and so unnecessary.
Except for what we can see in the Gulf, the truth may never be fully known:
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19660
I cannot say that I agree with "-- the dolphins, sea turtles, whales, sea birds, fish, and more, that are owned by the American public."
We have some responsibility towards these animals but the idea that anyone "owns" them is abhorrent. More and more I think that along with the concept of "ownership" there needs to be the concept of "limits to ownership" and the word "enough" needs to be taught to some people.
___
Will we soon start to get news and pictures from "embedded journalists" participating on BP ships in the Gulf?
Ownership is the heart of the class war that's been waged for thousands of years under various guises. Ultimately the pure capitalists desire to own every single thing of any potential value, to the exclusion of everyone else. So the point is utterly philosophic in that if something is 'not owned' then it is free for the taking. And the inverse is that if a resource is 'owned by everyone' then it is not owned at all - hence 'communism'. Our nation has seen every single publicly owned resource (or , if you like, "un-owned") sold off to private interests without compensation to the body politic, 'we the people', for generations, and it is hailed as 'free market' capitalism. Meanwhile we are bullshitted into believing that when publicly owned resources are exploited by private interests, and the owners (we the people) ARE compensated it is 'socialism' (see 'communism') - as is done in Alaska when the oil companies are required to pay the people for what they extract.
Idiots.
When some conservative asshole tries to tell you 'you can't put a value on (human) life' it is simply class code for 'life has no value'. But they turn around and call some tribesman inhuman for actually putting a value on (human) life, like demanding a bride price or any exchange of goods or services at all in compensation for a life taken or damaged.
Utter hypocrisy.
If something belongs to everyone, including the birds and the dolphins, it is both 'not owned' and is owned by all. When such things are exploited or destroyed without compensation you are robbed nonetheless. Conservatives believe in personal responsibility. So why would they force you and the rest of us to respond to their crimes and incompetence? They lie.
Conservatives are selfish liars
That is already happening
Immediately, Obama must have the Justice department file a suit for damages against BP in the amount of ten billion dollars. Then they must get an injunction preventing that company from paying out dividends and bonuses. This of course won't happen and BP will be looted by it's management and stockholders leaving it bankrupt forcing taxpayers to foot the bill and probably recapitalize that miserable corporation with billions of US taxpayer dollars. I believe that is the American way.
It won't be until . . .
The Tampa Bay Rays baseball team are playing an evening game at their ballpark when a rain storm comes in off the Gulf.
After a few minutes of rain, many of the folks who have remained in their seats during the rain delay are beginning to notice that they are being covered in an brown substance.
Eventually these people realize that the substance is oil from this horrific oil deluge off the Gulf Coast, which has mixed in with the rain. The entire stadium erupts into a frenzy.
"PAY! NO! ATTENTION!" to that brown substance falling from the sky
God help these people and the sea and wildlife all along the Gulf Coast
nice image, however, the Rays play indoors, (air-conditioned comfort, dontcha know)
Billmelater, thanks for the correction. How nice it would be if all that we had to worry about was whether the Rays Stadium was domed or not.
I pray they can stop this oil deluge. The people of the Gulf Coast don't deserve this. BP had NO F'n right drilling into the Earth's mantle at sea and at these depths. They knew something such as this could occur.
Thanks again for the correction
RSN today reprinted a story from yesterday in the New York Times. Reporters from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans phoned the Coast Guard-FAA Command Center to request permission to fly over restricted air space in the Gulf of Mexico to take pictures. A BP contractor answered the phone! At the FAA Command Center! Permission denied, of course.
WSWS.org reports:
"Indeed, plans are already being hatched to shield BP’s banks, major shareholders and bondholders from potentially billions of dollars in cleanup costs and fines by means of financial maneuvers that will ultimately offload these costs onto the public."
Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/pers-j11.shtml
"From the Ground: BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence."
And who or what is permitting them do so? Perhaps, more importantly, is why?
This is a long pipe Miggy! I saw today that they are drilling two relief wells, on at about 8000 feet, and the other at about 13,000 feet. The wells will go directly into the underground riser pipe of the original well. My guess is that the 8k well, will start reducing the oil flow first, and if they can seal it off completely, there will be no need to continue with the second, deeper, well. If that fails, then the scenario you depict might very well ensue. A concern is that the dirt presently belching up through the BOP with the oil will erode it and cause the well to blow out completely (in reference you gave to the fact that the pipe must be thinning).
If Obama is complicit with BP in hiding relevant facts, then he is obstructing justice, and even other potential solutions, and should be impeached.
It is very unfortunate that American politicians are owned lock stock and barrel by the corporations.
The American public will end up wear the cost of this disaster. BP will walk away, zero responsibility taken, no charges laid etc. etc. Obomber will lose the next election, if that's what you call it(US has never been a democracy). Another zealot will take charge and continue to destroy what is left.
Sad sad story, but its true.
CC
The toxic political culture of the south is coming back to haunt it. These people vote for conservatives and will continue to as long as they can blame someone else for disasters like this.
People, people - it doesn't matter anymore.
We gotta stop screwing around and accept the cold, hard truth:
The Gulf is done. There is no saving it. Not only is the Gulf already dead, we've been flat-out warned oil will continue gushing until at least September.
That's getting up towards the HALF A BILLION gallon range...
We should let the 'experts' do what they can to stem the oil flow and start focusing on the WORST CASE SCENARIO. Which is already upon us:
40-50 million Americans living in a Toxic Waste Zone that will take 200 years to 'recover,' if it ever does.
That's now problem no. 1.
We will have a nuclear melt in short order.
Chocolate and yellow cake. Yum Yum!
Bet top dollar that with all the subsidies and investment going on with nuclear energy we will see a major meltdown in the US. Point is, what happened and is happening in the gulf is a result of attempting to extract a resource from a very hard to get place. It went bad, very bad. How many off shore rigs are there around the globe? And of those, how many are in deep water? It was only a matter of when, not if. Same goes for nuclear. The more plants in operation, more risk. Matter of when not if. I for one am so glad to be living in a nuclear free country (It is illegal in New Zealand). I really how that deep water prospecting stops here as a result of what is happening in the gulf.
CC
Seems the greedy amongst us enjoy playing russian roulette with our--excuse me, their planet. And New Zealand is not exempt.
The 100,000 year Milankovitch Ice Age cycle will eventually kick in.
It will be very interesting how that would interact with the current global warming. Most likely the current global warming will cause massive crop failure and famine after which the new Ice Age will clear everything away.
Aside from the nuclear release at Chernobyl, this may be the first large ecological disaster to hit mainly white people in a "developed" area. In Bhopal, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Haiti, New Orleans the displaced people are on their own after a disaster. We do not dwell on the water shortages as described by Vandana Shiva, and the exoduses and wars caused by them. We often attribute these conflicts to primitive tribal rivalries and our eyes glaze over. We are hardened to these conditions, viewing them as an unavoidable, and subconsciously discounting the people because they are poor and brown.
Clearly this latest killing of a region is not an act of nature, but the result of arrogance and greed, the result of sidestepping caution and common sense in order to speed up production. The fishers, shrimpers, motel owners, retirees are familiar to the white American mind, not to be so easily blamed for their own misfortune. The creatures of the Gulf will be mourned by animal lovers.
Will there be a plan for the inevitable wave of Gulf Coast eco-refugees? Or will the people here follow our ingrained habit of turning our backs on inconvenient situations? Will the government stay in denial mode in order to avoid embarrassment and financial responsibility for BP? Will Obama talk about kicking ass and meanwhile privately assure Tony Hayward that the consequences for BP will be controlled? Will we see a new wave of forgotten wanderers like the Okies of the thirties left to their own resources with no place to go?
Will there be an outcry to restrict the operation of dangerous polluting companies and to make them pay for damages? Will we call for windmills and solar energy and for public transportation to reduce our dependence on foreign AND domestic oil? Will we call for an end to militarism, which uses up so much of our oil? Can we get our next door neighbor to turn off the TV and take notice? Or will we incredibly and astonishingly increase our allegience to politicians who want to expand drilling, and who have cool hair and clothes?
Joe
A friend told me yesterday that all desalinization plants like the water supply in Tampa and all Water Cooled towers used in every power plant and many industries not just nuclear, will be fouled and probably shut down.... without water and power it is gonna be a horrible nightmare beyond our imagination.
The fish and birds are now....
Jim you are on the money with this post. I'll bet they are already shutting in power plants along the texas coast.
Upon reading your post it was all I could do not to burst out laughing. Not in derision, not in sarcasm, but in glee.
With the loss of those desalination plants, the air-conditioned metropolitan mecca's of the south will be uninhabitable. No water for drinking, washing, watering the manicured laws, no water for the swimming pools...
A wholesale exodus from the blighted Gulf Coast. All those very pissed off Southerners looking for a new place to live, armed, 'Tea Partied', and more than willing to blame the Elitist enclaves of Washington and New York.
I smell... the prospect of a new Civil War.
I feel no sense of glee at this. No water for cooking rice or filling baby bottles... Misery does not necessarily lead to anything good. Sometimes it is just misery, and it hits those with fewest resources the hardest. Those who can move or buy bottled water will be relatively OK. As usual, the poor would be abandoned and forgotten.
Joe
The ways of BP resemble more and more those of the George W. Bush administration.
Time to change its name to "Bush Petroleum"?
OK, just for the hell of it I'll ask the question:
Does anyone here think that the Gulf oil disaster will be a political "tipping point" that radicalizes the American people? In some ways, I dont see how this could not radicalize the American people, and yet, from past experience, I wonder if even this will wake people up to the need to stop the corporate plutocracy.
On Huffpo, there is an article about Mayor Bloomberg asking people to "leave BP alone." This is all getting incredibly disgusting.
I have entertained the thought that many living in the Gulf region will suddenly find themselves 'Environmentalists'. It'll be interesting to see what happens when Caribbean nations begin their own legal proceedings against BP. I rather doubt that Obama's admin will allow any real accountability. I'm now convinced utterly that Obama is really Bush doing a minstrel act. It may even be possible that it is really Dick Cheney behind the shoe polish. Anyone that hasn't been radicalized over the last decade has either been asleep or has sided with the liars that call themselves Americans, Capitalists (rather than monopolists), Conservatives, or Christians. These assholes would kill Jesus on sight (again) if he dared show his face.
They have been killing Jesus Christ for two thousand years. So what else is new.
"The body count of affected wildlife is crucial to prove the harm caused by the spill, and also serves as an invaluable tool to evaluate damages to public property -- the dolphins, sea turtles, whales, sea birds, fish, and more, that are owned by the American public."
Ummm, excuse me, but since when do we *OWN* any of these animals or for that matter, any animals period?
We humans have one advantage and one advantage only over some of the more intelligent species, such as bottle nosed dolphins. There are in fact scientists that have speculated that dolphinns may in fact be more intelligent than humans, and the only reason they have failed to progress is due to the lack of opposing thumbs. Where would we as a species be without that benefit? Think about that for a moment.
We as a species not only have a complete disregard for the creatures that share this planet with us, we think we own them. They are ours to do with as we please. Unfortunately, there are far too few people that realize that we basically exist in a living equation, an equation that depends on balance.
We, as a species, fail to see that we are not the preferred species that God entitled us to be, but merely a piece of a far larger realm that must maintain and will maintain balance, whether we as humans like it or not. The ecosystem on this planet is entirely connected, with all plants and animals each being a small part to achieve balance. If a certain species (human beings for example) upset the balance of the entire realm, it won't adjust to us, it will either force us to adjust to it or eliminate us, simple as that.
We, as a collective majority underclass created by corporate rule and greed have the numbers to force the greedy to change and ensure that the resources are properly used and allocated. The resources are meant to be used conservatively, not exploited for the benefit of a select few. There is enough for everyone, plus the ability to protect the balance of the ecosystem. Unfortunately, greed doesn't see this as a viable option.
Good investigative reporting, Riki.
Too bad the big boys in the media monopoly continue to lie, hide, and deceive people about the 'fix' behind this latest supposedly unpredictable 'accidental spill' (as the vaunted lying NY Times calls it).
Yes the 'fix' is in.
Both phony 'Vichy' political regime(s) in the US are covering-up the truth of what actually CAUSED this disaster, and the lying 'Vichy' corporatist media are helping cover-up the real CAUSE of this latest disaster, and the conned American people are getting more frustrated and MAD.
But while the 'fix' is in, average people are beginning to understand what the 'fix' is covering up ---- the 'fix' is covering up for the unmentioned EMPIRE at the root of all our problems, tragedies, 'sorrows', and horrors.
And we're starting to undestand that the 'fix' is covering up for EMPIRE!
Here's the "Caucus" comment that I am continuing to try to get past the NYT censors of anything to say about this hidden EMPIRE:
"Obama's Off-Color Language on the \"Spill\" (as the Times calls this global existential disaster) is nothing compared with the NY Times' own intentional \"off topic reporting\" not only on this supposedly unpredictable and accidental global oil explosion, but also on the supposedly unpredictable 'financial collapse' that the Wall Street arm of the Empire created, and the unpredictable escalation of the Middle East wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and soon Iran which the militarist arm of the same EMPIRE has caused, and the other dozens of supposedly unpredictable massive crises --- all of which are merely different styles of \"Shock Doctrine\" assaults by the global corporate/financial/militarist EMPIRE on our lives, our children, our environment and our world by this guileful and disguised ruling-elite Empire which its media accomplices jump through hoops to avoid discussing or disclosing at all costs to any of the American people --- though most other citizens of the world, with access to more honest and candid media, fully recognize and understand to be caused precisely by this American headquartered global Empire.
Obama really needs to \"kick the ass of the EMPIRE\" --- which causes all the problems of oil disasters, wars, financial looting, economic inequality, torture, social injustice, unemployment, domestic spying, police-state oppression, corporatist media lies, etc, etc, etc.
Barack, it is the hidden guileful ruling-elite Global EMPIRE that really needs its \"ass kicked\" if we are to avoid extinction --- but, hell, you know that.
You speak backstage with the ruling EMPIRE,
It's not a long-distance call for you to reach the EMPIRE.
I'd beg you to intercede on citizens behalf, but I don't want to grovel --- and besides ...
Hell, you know them first hand ---- from when they selected you.
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
One has to wonder not all that hard if there would have been so much concern and outrage if that oil company had been owned and operated by a corporation which originated from the state of Israel. One also suspects that people such as Rahm [Israel] Emanuel, Obama, Charles Schumer, and the rest of Congress would have been falling all over themselves in order to absolve any Israeli business from the havoc and misery that they would have wreaked in this country.
Many in England are upset about the u.s. being upset. Their pensions are heavily invested in BP stock and there are many in the British government who are angry at the u.s. citizenry for blaming BP and calling the u.s. zenophobic because of this. And also, it is being called 'British Petroleum', which of course it really isn't.
Plus they feel we are threatening their entire economy with our lawsuits. And some in the u.s. government are calling for BP to pay off claims before dividends. This is straining the wonderful u.s./Brit. relationship.
I wonder if they could actually declare bankruptcy. Or are they too big to fail?
They can declare bankruptcy to avoid their liabilities. Bankruptcy for a corporation does not mean they are out of money. (Look at Donald Trump) It is just a legal maneuver, a technicality that is meant to shield the personal wealth and assets of the officers and owners. We should not conclude that they will have no money to pay for damages. No matter what their legal status, their oil wells all over the world will continue pumping out wealth for years to come. They will have money for a long time.
Of course they have paid for laws that would protect them, but laws are made by humans and laws can be changed. It is our choice whether we vote for those who accept corporate privilege, who aid and abet companies like BP or whether we struggle to replace them with people who will represent us.
Joe
It seems to me (i said it before), that this operation is being handled like the Iraq invasion/occupation.
No body counts. No coffins coming back to the u.s. No numbers regarding dead and maimed Iraqi citizens.
BP et al has used bio/chemical weapons on ......ourselves. And this is one enormously classified operation.
"I keep hearing the sickness of the clean up crews being attributed to "heat stroke." The workers from the region would be especially invulnerable to the heat because they're used to it. There's a lot being hidden on health hazards, which could home to roost in a short matter of time like the gross underestimates of the escaping oil that are given by both BP and the Coast Guard."
The rise of a new 'Gulf Syndrome'?
Has the shit really hit the fan? Are we finally going to see how far a huge company will go to protect itself and how complicit the American government is in this protection? I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath.
We are living in a fascist state--have been for quite a while. Eisenhower tired to warn us, except he couldn't call it fascism. We are not supposed to be fascists, the Nazi's were, the Italians were, the Spanish were, but not us. So he called it the military industrial complex. But that is what the Nazi's were--a marriage of the military and the huge industrial companies that were operating in Germany and other countries including the United States. Fascism is the best pool for Capitalism to operate in. Capitalism has been fostering fascism ever since the beginning of the industrial revolution. The Second World War was not between democracy and fascism, it was between a rogue fascist state and fascist America/Europe plus the Soviet 'socialist' totalitarians. Fascists hate socialists, their greedy little hearts wither at the very thought of a political system based on equity and sharing. Why did Germany not pay for it's crime against the Jews by giving up a large part of its territory to them? Well, mostly because the fascist United States wanted a strong Germany in central Europe to counter a 'socialist Soviet Union'. What irony. Israel has proven to be as fascist as Germany ever was. We might as well have given Germany to the Zionists. They would have been a better bulwark than Germany was.