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BP Is a Corporate Criminal
Gosh, how quickly things turn. One day, you're a strutting peacock — the next day, you're just another gasping, oil-covered bird.
In early April, BP was strutting about in full corporate splendor, showing off the $9 billion in profits that it had soaked up in just the first three months of this year. It was also basking in a corporate re-imaging campaign, depicting itself as a clean-energy pioneer and declaring that BP now stood for "Beyond Petroleum."
Since its Gulf of Mexico well blew out on April 20, however, BP has proven to be beyond belief. The wider and deeper that this catastrophe spreads, the more we discover just how oily this giant is.
From the time it was known as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and set out to grab and control the rich petroleum reserves owned by what is now Iran, BP has been a recidivist global criminal. In the past three decades, it grew huge by swallowing such competitors as Standard Oil of Ohio, Amoco and Arco. Along the way, it has been implicated in bribery, overthrowing governments, plunder and money laundering, plus having established one of the worst safety and environmental records in an industry that is notoriously reckless on both counts.
And now, its rap sheet grows almost daily. In fact, the Center for Public Integrity has revealed that the oil giant's current catastrophic mess should come as no surprise, for it has a long and sorry record of causing calamities. In the last three years, the center says, an astonishing "97 percent of all flagrant violations found in the refining industry by government safety inspectors" came at BP facilities. These included 760 violations rated as "egregious" and "willful." In contrast, the oil company with the second-worst record had only eight such citations.
While its CEO, Tony Hayward, claims that its gulf blowout was simply a tragic accident that no one could've foreseen, internal corporate documents reveal that BP itself had been struggling for nearly a year with its inability to get this well under control.
Also, it had been willfully violating its own safety policies and had flat out lied to regulators about its ability to cope with what's delicately called a major "petroleum release" in the Gulf of Mexico.
"What the hell did we do to deserve this?" Hayward asked shortly after his faulty well exploded. Excuse us, Tony, but you're not the victim here — and this disaster is not the work of fate. Rather, the deadly gusher in the gulf is a direct product of BP's reckless pursuit of profits. You waltzed around environmental protections, deliberately avoided installing relatively cheap safety equipment, and cavalierly lied about the likelihood of disaster and your ability to cope with it.
"It wasn't our accident," the CEO later declared, as oil was spreading. Wow, Tony, in one four-word sentence, you told two lies. First, BP owns the well, and it is your mess. Second, the mess was not an "accident," but the inevitable result of hubris and greed flowing straight from BP's executive suite.
"The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean," Hayward told the media, trying to sidestep the fact that BP's mess was fast becoming America's worst oil calamity. Indeed, Tony coolly explained that the amount of oil spewing from the well "is tiny in relation to the total water volume." This flabbergasting comment came only two weeks before it was revealed that the amount of gushing oil was 19 times more than BP had been claiming.
Eleven oil workers are dead, thousands of Gulf Coast people have had their livelihoods devastated and unfathomable damage is being done to the gulf ecology. Imagine how the authorities would be treating the offender if BP were a person. It would've been put behind bars long ago — if not on death row.
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118 Comments so far
Show AllI met someone who advocated the "Whale Wars" paradigm. Vandalism and property destruction becomes the working model. For every dollar put into the pockets of our political representatives, one dollar of destruction is brought upon the contributing corporation. Running tote boards on the internet provide the score.
I love the term "pigocracy" that Bill coined. It is so apt. We really have to string these people up! There must be a law somewhere to hold them accountable.
The people running this pigocracy are lawless criminals. The legal and court systems are used only as a mechanism to rubber stamp their criminal behavior. I submit the abandonment of habeas corpus, the proliferation of illegal search and seizure, the practice of torture against perceived enemies, the drone bombing of citizens of other sovereign nations, government mandated purchase of private goods and services, the raids of the treasury by private banking interests, all as blatant examples of a lawless nation led by lawless criminals. The list grows on a daily basis and we all know that BP will never be held accountable under this failed system of government.
Treat BP as an individual.
http://coyotesings.wordpress.com/
Yes, Wild Turkey,
As an "individual", BP would be liable for more than it currently is as a corporation. Bravo, Wild Turkey!
Helloo to all the small people!
Corporations are people too! It's just that they, and all employees working under them, are free from all prison time and from all fines if they don't have the money. Now, give the head of BP his life back.
Great piece by Hightower (of course); Great comments! Congrats to Common Dreams for having the best progressive site on the web, and the most intelligent comments, by far.
What should we do? Well, violent revolutions are just a way of replacing old power junkies with new power junkies. Seems obvious to me that the only solution is to find another Martin Luther King Jr. and organize massive, non-violent civil disobedience. Disrupt "business as usual," make the congestion as bad as possible, refuse to pay taxes until our "representatives" start representing us (and the planet). Email campaigns (think Move-on) are useless. Demonstrations are just a form of public masturbation. The Reagan Devolution has created a citizenry of spoiled children, who want services but are not willing to pay for them. The real issue is not the size of government, but its role. As several comments herein have noted, that role should be to protect us from the economic elite (predators), not to protect them from us. Remember the comment by an expatriate in Paris in "Sicko" when asked why healthcare was so much better in France? She said, "In France, the government fears the people; in America, the people fear the government."
Somebody with charisma and a loud, authoritative voice (obviously NOT Obama) has to find a way to get access to the MSM and start telling us to stop whining and start acting like responsible adults. We may be the world's oldest continuous democracy, but our "democracy" is on life support. Frankly, I am as angry at good people who "know better" as I am at the mini-humans who are exploiting a failed system to maximize their personal rewards. All governments, even the most repressive, exist only with the consent and cooperation of the governed. Time for those who do "know better" to withhold their consent and cooperation, despite the inevitable intermediate consequences. Working within the system is no longer an option.
I don't think a loud, charismatic voice is what we need.
Someone below has said that we live in a Pigocracy which I think is a pretty good description. Not even a pretense of Noblesse oblige. Corporations own and operate the government. Public "participation" is pretty much window dressing and theater. The Republican and Democratic Parties are also pretty much wholly owned subsidiaries of multi-national corporations.
An antidote may be found in "Be the Change: How to get what you want in your community by Thomas Linzey. The Community Environmental Defense Fund organizes Democracy School in communities. I think it is pretty much the only avenue of change left open. It is local and involves a change of life style i.e. going to town meetings and getting out from behind the computer. It is exciting and it is growing. Check it out.
I am also interested in the Constitutional Convention route to force an amendment stripping Corporations of their artificial personhood and put them firmly back under the control of state legislatures and eliminating them from the political discussion. They have one reason for existing which is the profit of their shareholders. This does not equal public good in any way. Any public good is coincidental to corporate activity which is making a profit for their shareholders. The journey from entirely restricted corporate entities which were forbidden from political activity, forbidden from owning other corporations, forbidden from owning more land than they needed for their corporate operation to the monsters they are today is an interesting and important part of untaught American history.
The rich and landed represented primarily by a Supreme Court which over many years made decisions which favored profit over public good and property rights over human rights, were successful in giving corporations the actual reins of power and protecting their interests at the expense of the common good.
best wishes
>>Time for those who do "know better" to withhold their consent and cooperation, despite the inevitable intermediate consequences. Working within the system is no longer an option.
Go ahead and quit your job and drop out of society. If you think you are marginalized today, wait until you are homeless and hungry. That will really take care of those corporate fascists.
Your post offers no solutions and you remind me of someone who wishes to cut off their nose to spite their face. We are well past the point of Gandhi and King. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence realizes that these corporate fascists are growing in strength and power on a daily basis and that they will not relinquish the levers of power voluntarily. The time for considering real solutions is now upon us.
needlessly incendiary comment deleted by author
Actually, a little incendiary may be exactly what's called for.
Fire it up.
Mr. Wonderful, Obama, had over one year to address the problems with regulating the oil industry.
Obama did nothing. He is as culpable as BP.
Impeach this bastard, make him resign. Make him one of the small people.
dch
either you are another moron, or a republican who is trying to turn everyone against obama
i vote for moron
You think you’re going to persuade anyone with insults instead of arguments? DCH makes an excellent point.
cant convince morons
djb: “cant convince morons”
Wrong, amigo. Obama convinced you, didn't he?
just trying to point out the endless string of moronic statements by people like you
whose if they don't have hidden agendas, like being sent by republicans to tear down their 'opponents' are in fact just blowhards
who like to pretend they are better than other people
i vote for blowhard in your case
And this little exchange is exactly what the elite love. We fight and bicker over idiotic things like OBAMA, and while we are, they continue their raping and pillaging and propagandist tactics of getting us to buy, buy, buy!
When will we ever learn?
djb: "Moron!" "Blowhard!"
Typical obamabot displaying his awesome debating skills. Go back to your special ed classes where you came from and leave politics to those with IQs over 70.
just trying to point out the endless string of moronic statements by people like you
whose if they don't have hidden agendas, like being sent by republicans to tear down their 'opponents' are in fact just blowhards
who like to pretend they are better than other people
i vote for blowhard in your case
Do you refer to Obama the warmonger? Obama the banking industry lackey? Obama the health care insurance lackey? Which Obama is it exactly whom you support?
Get over the divide and conquer one party rule masquerading as a "two party system".
So when do the ceos go to jail, and as Thom Hartmann, asks when will they face the corporate death penalty?!
BP IS A CORPORATE CRIMINAL?! They're ALL corporate criminals. Every. Single. Last. One.
And they are running the world. The "heads" of countries are now just PR fronts for the trans-national corporations.
How about Monsanto if you want to talk criminal?
Or how about Dow Chemical?
Or what about Wal-Mart?
Let's discuss Exxon-Mobil.
How about Blackwater?
What about the corporate media?
We could talk about McDonalds, and all the other fast-food chains.
Come on. BP is an easy target. They've ALL been wandering the planet raping and pillaging as they go since, at least, the end of WWII. But, my-oh-my, haven't we got lovely consumer products because of it?
Astute observations. Allowing these corporate criminals to run rampant on the planet imperils the lives of all living creatures on the planet.
At one point, Jim Hightower wrote: "It wasn't our accident," the CEO later declared, as oil was spreading.
Remember this one. You will hear it again. BP is cooking up another similar disaster in the Malvinas Islands in the South Atlantic. They have a well right now in 3,000 meters (over 10,000 feet) of water and are getting geared up to put in another. Never mind that the area they are drilling in is still in dispute between Britain and Argentina. Never mind that it is twice as deep and more than twice as unsafe as deepwater horizon. BP doesn't care. It has a nice little shell company in charge of the drilling. This company, Rockhopper, says it is a local enterprise, but is owned and run by two residents of England who are, guess what?, former BP employees. When this one blows out there will be no stopping the leak as the rockhopper penguins who the well is named after will, in BP's eyes, be the only ones injured. Once enough oil has leaked out, fouling all the water around the archipelago, BP will generously offer to airlift all the 2,000 British colonists back to England so Her Majesty's Government can return the isles back to Argentina. And all along they will say that the accident belonged to Rockhopper, not BP.
What Jim is saying in this piece is that we don't have to wait until we are tired of hearing about the misdeeds of our corporate criminals; we have enough on these suckers right now to yank their tickets before they finish us off.
I believe drilling is taking place off the coast of Brazil in ten thousand or more feet of water. I don't know what companies are there, but there are accidents waiting to happen.
Anyone watch the spillcam tonight? There is an awful lot
of fire tonight. Do you believe it possible that they are
blowing oxygen to burn what they can down there?
Why is there a no fly zone??
One report I saw on television stated that those apparent "licks of flame" that we see are actually the dispersants being added at the well head. Of course it is these dispersants that serve to keep a large portion of the oil under the surface of the gulf, thus, out of sight, out of mind.
It seems that the way Americans have been behaving..in all things...
IF some responsible authority - some alien - told americans that there will be more such disasters - BUT there will be OIL that's "affordable" -- they'll go right ahead and drive, drive, drive.....
IF SAME entity told americans that they have to STOP driving.....radically change everything.........Americans would REVOLT en masse.
Hightower is broadly correct, though I wouldn't say the merger with Amoco was "swallowing it up" that said... it's an oversimplification to solely beat up BP, when 1. Government control was deliberately and arguably criminally slackened with George W "if your wells ain't rocking don't come knocking" Bush 2. Halliburton and several other companies were jointly responsible for the failures 3.Complaining about BPs behaviour is a bit like a crack addict complaining about his dealer not being ethical. There are 4800 rigs in the Gulf helping to generate the 900 million gallons of oil that the US demands be supplied EVERY DAY. When are the consumers going to start taking some responsibility for their addiction? And when are the activists going to start finding productive ways to help their Government pass meaningful legislation to start to make a shift to wind and solar power and better energy conservation. The US consumes more oil per capita than just about any place barring Iceland. Also if the politicians we elect are in the pockets of Oil who's fault is that?
One thing Hightower says that needs clarification: He says 97 percent of flagrant violations are connected with BP. That statement would be more meaningful if we knew how much drilling was done by BP and other companies. For example, if BP does 97 percent of the drilling, then it is appropriate that 97 percent of the complaints should be directed at BP. This is not to let BP off. It is just that we should be clear about this.
Heaping the blame on BP is to hide the blame the US carries.
Simply put, almost everyone who writes here is dependent on oil.
Be a man and take the blame!
Then shut up and work to rid yourselves of this dependence.
I except my part of the blame, and have been in a position that I haven't
had to burn on drop of gasoline for almost four months. Don't even cut the grass.
However, not everyone is in a position to do this.
While Americans in general have a lot blame themselves for, they did come out
in huge numbers in 2006, to to attempt to turn the ship, they laid partial waste
to the screwed up Repub party. Then in 2008, one of Obama's main themes was
a change in energy policy, the public responded well to this voting in record numbers, and in the first time in a long time had 60 majority Senators.
In two election cycyes, the Americans about trashed the Republican Party looking
for leadership and change. While the majority of Americans would have resisted
drasic cuts in petr use,, many were ready for this, and with a helpful president
many others would have been persuaded. We could have had that change of direction.
While I knew better than to vote for Obama, I still was encouraged at what change
that I thought he might bring. We got absolutly nothing for our efforts, the
Democrats have spent the last two years resurecting the Republican Party, it was
almost dead. This was done on purpose and by design at the direction of the overlords.
Americans are fatigued now, I doubt there will ever be that much interest generated
again for a long while, but then it will be to late.
Yes, individually, we all need to change our ways, but as a whole, from 2006 thru
2008, was the best public response that have seen from the public for forty years.
I also believe it was our last horaah, we won't get another chance.
The planet is to far gone, and the fascist have strengthened their hold.
PEACE.
deleted by author
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-countries-consume-the-most-oil.htm There is a lot of work to be done. Don't buy synthetic fabric, use petroleum based solvents including detergent, don't drive a car, don't use plastic unless it will save your life, don't use splenda...really don't use it. Can anyone add to this list?
The majority of petroleum products does not go to fuel private cars. It is used by airlines, the military, industry, for heating, for asphalt. Nice that you all are not driving and using plastic, but your efforts really don't amount to a hill of beans. This oil coming out of the ground will be burned--if not by you then by the Chinese or the Indians or the wealthy people in all nations. And Americans and the people of the rest of the world will continue to deny, deny, deny that bad outcomes have happened and will continue to happen.
Where I live, everyone is signing mineral leases to their land in order to get the fossil fuel people to put down gas wells. It's the method that requires fracturing rock layers and flushing them with water to drive out the gas. This is in the Great Lakes state. People don't care water may be contaminated in the process--they just want to get rich. I love the hypocrisy--how they love to go out and take nature walks: "I love Nature!" Like hell. And the local energy cooperative just voted in board members who are committed to building more coal-fired plants. Folks around here don't believe in climate change. And they never will. They will deny it until their very blood begins to boil in their veins.
You raise some good points. The issue is pervasive and you can not just take away everything without replacing it with something, Human beings have forgotten how to live in a natural way, speak to the natural world or what it feels like to live by natural rhythum. Turtles are a good example, they follow the magnetic energy of the earth. They cross the Alantic ocean on thier migratory path and return to thier nesting grounds. We use to have some of these same abilities but we gave up a lot of that power. When you say people don't believe in climate change it is really they don't believe in the issue, the climate does nothing but change. Maybe they don't believe they can change the climate?
I'm sorry, I don't remember where I read this, perhaps here? But someone very succinctly said in the last couple of days: Want to get off oil as a protest? Then prepare to give up EVERYTHING.
See this is what people don't get: the system is so pervasive, so completely in control, that there is no getting out. You could move to the wilderness and become a hunter-gatherer and the system would still be churning up the earth around you. "Out there" the system would still be going day-after-day-after-day, 24/7, non-stop.
Not to say that, from a personal, perhaps spiritual perspective, we SHOULD do what can. But, in the end, what is happening has taken on a life of its own. What is going to stop it? That is the question.
BP is more than entitled to a barrel of slime.
They just promised President Obama to put as much as 25% of their (trailing) annual profits into a compensation fund for victims. Let's see, that's going to pay out a penny on the dollar. This "made whole" business is slightly different if you're a small person. It's not like we're bailing out Goldman Sachs. These are only "small people", to quote the head of BP's Board of Directors. And if your bank demands $1000/month in mortgage payments, ask your bank if they'll take the Presidential made whole $10/month, a penny on the dollar and if that's good enough.
Next, BP never agreed to pay a penny this year. BP's pay-ins start next year after the elections. Ask your bank if you can start paying the mortgage at the end of next year.
It's a gentleman's agreement. Nothing is in writing. BP would never go back on their solemn word, would they? Agree now, pay much later, after the elections?
Just for the record, which of the 3rd party options are working towards and campaigning on 1) electorial reform, 2) rolling back corporate rights and activities, 3) ending illegial and unnecessary wars, 4) restoring Habeas Corpus and other rights that have been taken, 5) conservation, and 6) winding down the empire and reforming the UN.
OK then. Are any of the 3rd party options working towards and campaigning on 5 of the 6 issues mentioned? How about 4 of the 6?
Hightower writes, "Imagine how the authorities would be treating the offender if BP were a person. It would have been put behind bars long ago-if not on death row."
BP is a corporation and is therefore considered a person, legally, and while it may be hard to put it behind bars, it can be put to death.
Obama has been really busy. He had to cut out a visit to Arlington on Memeorial day, and also cut a short comemeration of D day. Lucky he made ot back for the Paul McCarty party night at the White House. Money is no object for this concerned community organizer. Day 57 he's got a plan. FOLLOWING IS A PARTIAL LIST OF FUN ACTIVITIES BHO HAS INDULGED IN SINCE OIL STARTED GUSHING:(Flow rate way under estimated)
Wasted Barrels Since the April 20 Explosion
Date Activity Time Spent Barrels Wasted
April 22 Earth Day reception 2 hours 2,500 Barrels
April 23 North Carolina vacation 2 days 60,000 Barrels
April 26 Golf at Andrew’s Air Force Base 5 hours 6,250
April 26 Host the New York Yankees at the White House 2 hours 2,500 Barrels
April 27 Rhubarb pie in Iowa 1 hour 1,250 Barrels
April 29 DNC fundraising dinner 3 hours 3,750 Barrels
April 30 Meeting with Bono 2 hours 2,500 Barrels
May 1 White House Correspondents Dinner 4 hours 5,000 Barrels
May 3 Host Navy football team at the White House 1 hour 1,250 Barrels
May 3 Dinner with CEO’s (except BP of course) 3 hours 3,750 Barrels
May 5 Cinco de Mayo Party 2 hours 2,500 Barrels
May 6 Date Night 2 hours 2,500 Barrels
May 8 Golf at Fort Belvoir 5 hours 6,250 Barrels
May 9 Hampton University Commencement 3 hours 3,750 Barrels
May 11 Golf Lunch with VP Biden 1 hour 1,250 Barrels
May 13 Stop for hot wings in Buffalo 1 hour 1,250 Barrels
May 17 Host the UCONN women’s basketball team at the White House 1 hour 1,250 Barrels
May 25 Fundraiser for Senator Barbara Boxer 2 hours 2,500 Barrels
May 26 Host Duke Basketball and US Men’s soccer at the White House 2 hours 2,500 Barrels
May 29 Vacation over Memorial Day weekend 2 days 60,000 Barrels
June 2 Paul McCartney concert and award 3 hours 3,750 Barrels
June 7 Kalamazoo Central High School Commencement 1 hour 1,250 Barrels
June 8 White House picnic 2 hours 2,500 Barrels
June 11 Date Night to a play 2 hours 2,500 Barrels
June 13 Golf at Andrews Air Force Base 4 hours 5,000 Barrels
All times are estimates – we used an estimated flow of 30,000 barrels/day
I am certainly no supporter of the actions of the Obama administration. I am, however, even less a supporter of distortion, untruth and the silliness of your effort. I also think that misspellings do a post no good either, especially when spell checks are prevalent and , in your case, very necessary.
Obama spoke at another gathering to honor Memorial Day, sending his VP in his stead to Arlington. This seems an intentional mistatement to me. Why bullshit like this?
As for the rest of your sophomoric list, well, seems like a rather typical Presidential schedule to me. Why not run along back to the RNC and brag about how you sowed dissention among those "librals".....
When there are so many reasons to be very critical of the administration of Barack Obama, when there is such a need for the citizens of this nation to demand better leadership, an end to corporate piracy and its control of our legislators, a restoration of our govt to serving the needs of the people rather than the wishes of the corporate donors to campaign funds, something like your silly effort sidetracks and cheapens the debate and makes progress less obtainable.
Obama has merely proven himself--yet again--to be Public Enemy #1. He is every bit as guilty as BP for this disaster; available documentation proves it. So your apologia serves to reinforce the list you criticize and tars you as just another Democrat shill.
This clearly speaks to the fact that a third party, the GREEN PARTY, is needed here. There are going to be boots on the ground people, the GREEN PARTY is coming, mark my words. All the rest of the freaks of nature, the Dumbocraps, the Repuplikans, the Teaparty freaks, will be history.
No, see, you STILL don't get it. What it speaks of is a complete dismantling of the system as it stands now. It speak of the entire planet moving to LOCAL "economics." It speaks of forgetting the system as it now stands EVER existed. It does not fit on this planet, it never has fit on this planet, it never will fit on this planet.
And any -ism is just a continuation of a group of dumb-asses (us) thinking we can green things up and still continue pretty much on the road we are on now. I mean, come ON! Don't we all still want to take those fabulous vacays to foreign lands so we can come back and brag about how well-traveled we are? Don't we really want to go out and buy our organic food and cook it on our new ranges so we can prove how effete we are? And our new blackberries....my GOD! Don't we still want to continue texting and tweeting about our anger over what the corporations are doing to the planet?! And what about our computers?!
Well, anyway, since we know there is NEVER going to be a complete dismantling of the system until it collapses, it's a darn good thing that GOM thingy happened, eh? Cause we'd have bored every last piece of granite out of Mother Earth for our countertops, and cut every last tree for our GREEN refurbishments, and on and on and on.
Folks, this is a sick society. It doesn't need to be dressed up and polished off with some other -ism, it needs to die.
I think it demonstrates how disconnected our presidents have become from the average American. Are you trying to kill the messenger? I read about the owner of the biggest fishing concern in the Gulf complaining about how the president stayed on the property of a Coast Guard station during his visit to the Gulf Gusher. He didn't even talk with the owner of the biggest fishing concern in the area, let alone any of the other fishermen. The message? Those not connected with big multi-national corporations need not apply.
Are you kidding me??! You still buy that there is some Democrat/Republican divide in this country, don't you? Hilarious, sad, and sickening all at the same time.
OBAMA IS ONE OF THEM!! Don't you get it yet? Obviously not.
There is NEVER going to be "progress" working within the system.
And this poster's calendar of Obama's events when the worst catastrophe to, literally, ever befall the planetary race is happening is a perfect example of how COMPLETELY and UTTERLY out-of-touch the SYSTEM is to what is really happening on this planet.
WAKE THE BLEEP UP!!!
Knee jerk much? My post certainly noted my opposition to this administration, a fact you seem to have overlooked in a rush to judgment. You can post as rudely and childishly as you please, feel free to destroy your own reputation as you wish.
Now, did you have anything at all to say, anything germane to the issue at hand and my post in particular? I suppose you would rather link yourself to that ridiculous GOP plant, "Goracle" than use the brain Gaea gave you.