BRITISH PETROLEUM: BUYING SILENCE

UPDATE:  VIRUS WARNING FROM OCTOPUS:   Do not open any BP News notices from G-Mail or Twitter. There is an attached virus that will prevent your computer from powering up. Thank you, Libby of The Impolitic for the heads up.  Now, back to my post:

Since the beginning of the Gulf oil spill, several writers of the Swash Zone have posted articles on the disaster, which have apparently been NOTICED! Earlier this week, I received an eel-mail notification from Twitter informing us that British Petroleum is following our postings. Apparently, BP News is bogus (please heed the above virus warning).

In case you haven’t followed the latest news, BP is trying to enlist every marine science researcher, every employee of a marine science ecosystem center, and every academic from a college or university within a THOUSAND MILE RADIUS of the Gulf.  In exchange for money (read: a per diem consulting fee of $250 per day for a brief junket to the Gulf), BP has every chump and stooge sign a strict NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT that subjects them to strict guidelines with respect to information released to the public or the media.  In other words, all information flow is subject to the control of BP!

Three weeks ago, National Public Radio (NPR) reported this story: By Hiring Gulf Scientists, BP May Be Buying Silence

University of South Alabama's Bob Shipp says BP's lawyers tried to hire his whole Department of Marine Sciences to do research for them. Under the deal, the scientists could disclose their results only if BP said so. Otherwise, they'd have to keep it secret for three years.

"They wanted the oversight authority to keep us from publishing things if, for whatever reason, they didn't want them to be published," Shipp says. "People were muzzled as part of the contract. They were muzzled, and certainly it's not something we could live with."

But professors from some universities, like LSU, Texas A&M and the University of Southern Mississippi, did accept BP offers.

This is happening where I live. Recently, several BP representatives contacted employees of the local Marine Science Center of Volusia County. I have friends working there, and this post will piss off a lot of people. I don’t give a damn! What pisses me off more is the sound of BP goosesteps marching in my backyard.

ANOTHER UPDATE: How timely! Here is today’s New York Times Op-Ed on the Gulf oil spill: A Gulf Science Blackout.

I will keep you informed as I learn more.

HELP BRITISH PETROLEUM IMPROVE ITS PUBLIC IMAGE

Understatement of the year: British Petroleum seems to have a public relations problem, and the website of logo design, LogoMyWay.com, is sponsoring a contest to help BP improve its corporate image. Here is a sampling of logos submitted thus far:

IF ALL THE ANIMALS CEASED TO EXIST, HUMAN BEINGS WOULD DIE OF A GREAT LONELINESS OF SPIRIT

If Chief Seattle were alive today to witness what we have done to our world, he would be shocked, heartbroken, and demoralized. When words fails, all we can do now is look upon our mighty works and despair:

BPocalypse

Every day, I check the latest updates on the Gulf oil spill. The spill is massive; the response of BP is slimier than a cesspool; and our government appears incompetent and impotent. Last night, this article caught my attention, Loop Current Is Now Drawing The BP Oil Disaster To Florida Keys. Sometimes a reader comment is better than the article, such as this one (which follows after the jump):

BRITISH PETROLEUM BLOWS CRUDE UP THEIR NOSTRILS

By Octopus

I have not had time to digest this latest report, so here it is … raw:

Scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick [my bold] in spots. The discovery is fresh evidence that the leak from the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates that the government and BP have given (…) The plumes are depleting the oxygen dissolved in the gulf, worrying scientists, who fear that the oxygen level could eventually fall so low as to kill off much of the sea life near the plumes.

Are you pissed off yet? There is more …

BP has resisted entreaties from scientists that they be allowed to use sophisticated instruments at the ocean floor that would give a far more accurate picture of how much oil is really gushing from the well  (…)  “The answer is no to that,” a BP spokesman, Tom Mueller, said on Saturday.

And here is another clusterfuck of the highest order:

"It appears that the application of the subsea dispersant is actually working,” Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer for exploration and production, said Saturday. “The oil in the immediate vicinity of the well and the ships and rigs working in the area is diminished from previous observations.”

Did I read this correctly? “Enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots.”  Yet, the highly toxic subsea dispersant is actually working! As their Pinocchio noses grow to astronomical size, those BP executives should use mile-long straws to blow crude up their nostrils. Which is larger? The size of the oil plume or the size of their assholes?