If I were Tony Hayward...

[gregintenn]

...the CEO of BP, I'd beat the **** out of the next moron who asked me a question, and immediatly suspend all business with the Unitd States. I don't like the oil spill any more than the nest guy, but for our politicians to make a political show of it instead of trying to clean it up is pitiful. It shows the complete lack of leadership in our once great country. I am truly saddened by it.

[Guest db99wj]

He's f*^#ed in anything he says, his point was that they are concerned for all the residents, workers, etc down there, and they care for their well being, he said "little" people and it was blown way out of proportion.

I would do the same thing, greg, I would not speak to the media again other than a written press release, basically telling them, I don't have time to talk, we are trying to get this fixed.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Spot on! He was talking the way his culture raised him to. It's become more of a

political mess and he will be the sacrificial lamb. Too many emotions in this gulf

problem. Bad enough without it and the politicians use it as a tool.

[hipower]

As with most political administrations, this one is just desperately trying to appear that it is in control of the situation; when in reality they have absloutely now idea what to do, where to start, or who to ask for help.

When you decline the offer of help from those in the business of cleaning up oil, you clearly show that you have your head up your rear and don't have a clue.

So you do the nest best thing--blame everyone you can, make a lot of noise and try to bluff and bluster your way out. Throw out so much BS that you take the attention off the fact that you're out of your depth.

[gregintenn]

It sure isn't like BP stands to gain anything in this debacle. You'd think they meant to do this. Imagine how this same scenerio would have played out had it happened when Bush was still in office. Tony Hayward would have been off the hook and Bush would have been burned at the stake.

[Mike.357]

my concern is that BP's main intention now may be to salvage as much of the oil as possible to refine it rather than shut the well down.

IIRC it was not Hayward who referred to "small people" but rather another PB exec.

And of course by small he did not demean anyone. He just meant people like you and me.

And of course Biden threatened BP over the 20 mil saying something to the effect that either pay up or we will take it from you. So just how was Biden going to just take it?

Gotta love the way our exec branch operates by use of threats and extortion.

Edited June 17, 2010 by Mike.357

[BigPoppa]

Did I just stumble into the "BP Admiration / Oil Spill Love Society" meeting ? Seriously.

Who gives a rat's a$$ if BP were to suspend business in the United States ? There are plenty of other energy companies, safer and more environmentally aware, to do business with. Imagine the financial hit BP would take if it did that. Who cares ? Good riddance.

BP rack jobbers are already counting the days until their contract expires with BP, so they can sign with other oil companies.

They're going to skim what usable oil they can off the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, and then sell it back to us at inflated prices. Yeah....what a bunch of sweethearts.

They made nearly $ 30 Billion (that's with a "B") in profits last year alone, yet were so keen to save money and cut corners, they declined to put on a $ 500,000 blowout backup on the Mississippi Canyon rig that would have prevented all of this. This on top of the at least 26 deaths and 200 injuries to workers and sub-contractors since 2005.

I'll conclude with mentioning BP's 767 OSHA and EPA violations and citations since 2000. Contrast that with Conoco (8) and Exxon/Mobil (1).

Sooooo.................yeah........tears on my pillow for BP ? Nope.

Hayward and the Swedish guy should be in Louisiana every day until Christmas cleaning oiled birds and packing sandbags.

[Guest db99wj]

Did I just stumble into the "BP Admiration / Oil Spill Love Society" meeting ? Seriously.

Who gives a rat's a$$ if BP were to suspend business in the United States ? There are plenty of other energy companies, safer and more environmentally aware, to do business with. Imagine the financial hit BP would take if it did that. Who cares ? Good riddance.

BP rack jobbers are already counting the days until their contract expires with BP, so they can sign with other oil companies.

They're going to skim what usable oil they can off the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, and then sell it back to us at inflated prices. Yeah....what a bunch of sweethearts.

They made nearly $ 30 Billion (that's with a "B") in profits last year alone, yet were so keen to save money and cut corners, they declined to put on a $ 500,000 blowout backup on the Mississippi Canyon rig that would have prevented all of this. This on top of the at least 26 deaths and 200 injuries to workers and sub-contractors since 2005.

I'll conclude with mentioning BP's 767 OSHA and EPA violations and citations since 2000. Contrast that with Conoco (8) and Exxon/Mobil (1).

Sooooo.................yeah........tears on my pillow for BP ? Nope.

Hayward and the Swedish guy should be in Louisiana every day until Christmas cleaning oiled birds and packing sandbags.

My point is that they are jumping all over him for a word that doesn't mean shi+ and deflects from the real problem, that there is a huge leak that is still spewing. The media has lost its interest in the leak, they are looking at the blame game because of ratings.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Yeh, say it however you want, but the public lynching that's going on in the

congressional committee is nothing but plain stupid. If I were Tony Hayward,

sitting there all morning getting slapped around, I would have said "Enough of this,

I have work to do." That's exactly what those mouthpieces in congress need

to hear.

They are only posturing and it's a circus. I'm not shedding tears about BP. It's

ridiculous when politicians, the same ones that are holding up resources to fix

things, are making it more emotional and being more concerned with blame.

[gregintenn]

I'm totally indifferent to BP. Succeed or fail; makes no difference to me. What I hate is the ignorant a$$holes who are trying to make themselves look good using this crisis. I saw them do the same thing with that Toyota exec. I'd love to see one of these guys tell Congress to F*** off and walk out. They couldn't do much about it.

[towerclimber37]

I have to agree. While I think BP needs to get their act together BIGTIME, I think that this is a situation of a bunch of asshats (congress) trying to bring a bunch of cheap basterds to accounts..but they don't have a clue how to do it.

I think BP knows, though, that if they don't figure out a way to fix this, America will hit them in the pocketbook..they're already doing it with the boycott.

[mikegideon]

...the CEO of BP, I'd beat the **** out of the next moron who asked me a question, and immediatly suspend all business with the Unitd States. I don't like the oil spill any more than the nest guy, but for our politicians to make a political show of it instead of trying to clean it up is pitiful. It shows the complete lack of leadership in our once great country. I am truly saddened by it.

AR and I were so pissed about it after watching, that we hijacked Suntzu's thread earlier. Somebody mentioned politicians, and it was on.

I don't care for Hayward, and BP is proving to be a real crappy company, but that overpoliticized BS today just made me mad. beating the crap out of the guy, over and over again accomplished nothing.

With that said, the 20 bil escrow is a good thing. It's not extortion at all. It's about getting the claims paid.

[gregintenn]

What happened to the cleanup fund George Bush SR. set up with a tax on every barrel of oil? This was done about 20 years ago, in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. I've heard nothing of this mentioned by the media or the great prophet Obama.

[mikegideon]

That fund was mentioned early on. It's for cleanup. As I understand it, the new 20 bil goes to the people and businesses to cover lost wages and revenues. Then, there's another 100 mil that goes to cover lost wages for oil workers during the moratorium.

[Oh Shoot]

There will be a ripple through the economy that 20 Billion won't scratch.

I still think that over time, this may have trillion dollar implications.

I see little reason to think this will be fixed by August. Not THIS August, anyway.

- OS

[gregintenn]

Why not kill two birds with one stone and hire the people losing income because of the oil spill to help clean up the oil spill, instead of paying group to clean up and another to do nothing?

[gregintenn]

I was in Moblie the first of the week and heard a fellow say there were hundreds of folks there to clean up, but weren't allowed to do anything. They were sitting around the hotel bar awaiting some sort of training.

[mikegideon]

There will be a ripple through the economy that 20 Billion won't scratch.

I still think that over time, this may have trillion dollar implications.

I see little reason to think this will be fixed by August. Not THIS August, anyway.

- OS

The relief well will work if they can hit their mark. All this other crap has been a tap dance.

[56FordGuy]

With that said, the 20 bil escrow is a good thing. It's not extortion at all. It's about getting the claims paid.

From what I understand, BP has been sued 4200 times over this incident already, and 2100 of those claims have been settled. That was before the fund was demanded.

Can't wait to see how much the government speeds the process along.

[mikegideon]

Why not kill two birds with one stone and hire the people losing income because of the oil spill to help clean up the oil spill, instead of paying group to clean up and another to do nothing?

I don't know what's up with that. I know folks are pissed about it. It's all of our gov'ment idiots just bouncing off of each other.

[mikegideon]

From what I understand, BP has been sued 4200 times over this incident already, and 2100 of those claims have been settled. That was before the fund was demanded.

Can't wait to see how much the government speeds the process along.

The 9/11 guy is running it. I think that went ok, but wouldn't swear to it.

[Oh Shoot]

The relief well will work if they can hit their mark. All this other crap has been a tap dance.

Except they're aiming at a possibly already compromised part of the system.

Except that this same technique was tried in Mexican leak in '79, which was a lot lower volume/pressure, in much shallower water, and still took 9 months.

- OS

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I was in Moblie the first of the week and heard a fellow say there were hundreds of folks there to clean up, but weren't allowed to do anything. They were sitting around the hotel bar awaiting some sort of training.

The bureaucracy got in the way, not to mention the Jones Act(not for that,

but others).Things would have gone a lot better if there weren't so much

political crap thrown in for all their stupid reasons, if any. The White House went one way, John Podesta got involved, the tree huggers, congress went another way. You name it. when a bureaucracy is created, it usually helps no one and costs everyone.

A panel to oversee the well repair or something another and everyone on the panel knows nothing about oil wells or recovery. What's wrong with this picture? There is no one in the Executive branch of government that is

qualified to manage a fireworks stand and all they want to do is posture.

It's just a dramatic pause for political reasons that is wasted time.

[Links2k]

It's crazy how you people believe that one group is better than the other. The politicians convince you to take care of yourself (which is a good thing) while they (politicians) take care of each other. BP should pay until they bleed! If that spill had happened in Tn we would not care who stopped it. We would just want it stopped and we would want the owner of the well to make things right.

Edited June 18, 2010 by LINKS2K

[tntnixon]

If you bankrupt the company by beating them up too bad, there will be nobody left to pay but the taxpayers. Somehow, our "leaders" don't understand this concept.