How to get away with murder!

Please note: I’m gonna follow a format with my blogs. I will write a blog about some anecdote about my life and the next blog will be about politics. I feel that I should warn the reader, you have every right to know what I am about to say and have the choice to not give two shits. I will always give a warning right before I write something political, so you can always choose not to read it. (Credit that idea to George Orwell) This blog is political, feel free to skip. Cheers!

Also, I will have footnotes in this blog again. So the numbers you see after sentences are there for a reason. My sources will be at the bottom of this article. Once again… Cheers!

So, I have been following the news lately and my years as a history major has really taught how to take a news story and read between the lines. Over the past couple of weeks, I have discovered something huge; it could be potentially very VERY bad. Still, if a lot of people find out, some people may find it very VERY good and who am I to deprive them of this knowledge? Okay, brace yourself, here’s what I found out…

I know how to get away with murder.

Yea, pretty explosive, huh?

There’s a simple formula, which I will share with all my dedicated readers (i.e. – me, re-reading my blogs when I’m bored). But first let me tell you how I figured this out…

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon Oil rig exploded, killed 11 workers, and then went out to gush out a total (so far at least) of 250,000,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. (1) The oil company known as “BP” (the oil company formally known as “British Petroleum”) was in charge of this oil rig and have effectively wormed there way out of murder charges… so far.

All oil rigs are supposed to be under strict supervision by the U.S. government, there are supposed to be yearly checks of all the systems, to ensure that something of this magnitude never happens. Unfortunately, BP gave federal inspectors “gifts” such as free dinners and tickets to sporting events. I don’t know about you, but to me – those gifts, sound a lot like bribes. Then inspectors allowed BP to fill out their own safety inspection charts in pencil, mail it back to the government inspectors. The inspectors would then write over the “findings” in pen to make sure it was official. Apparently, this has been going for quite some time, at least since 2005. (2)

So, after many “passed” safety inspections, something tragic and completely “unforeseen” happened; an explosion. After all these passed safety inspections, I’m just as surprise as the next person. The explosion led to the immediate death of 11 oil rig workers. Yet the man who is in charge of BP is walking around the Southern United States, assuring the public that everything is fine and he feels bad about the deaths. This reminds me of a Demetri Martin joke… sadly:

“Saying ‘I’m sorry’ is the same as saying ‘I apologize.’ Except at a funeral.” I mean, does this guy really care. He’s in no ‘real’ trouble, just bad P.R.

Speaking of P.R. (public relations, for those of you who do not know) BP has stated multiple times it will through Robert Dudley - the man in charge of BP’s operations in the America’s and Asia stating: "We will do whatever it takes to get the job done in Louisiana." (3) Whatever it takes, huh? So, does taking shortcuts and, in turn, making things worse count as ‘whatever it takes?’ Let me Explain. Most of the time, chemicals are used to clean up oil spills (I’m not sure how putting more chemicals into an already toxic situation makes things better in the end – but I digress). The main chemicals that BP is using are called ‘Corexit EC9500A’ and ‘Corexit EC9527A.’ I can hear people screaming already. “So what, if it is a bit toxic!? We need these chemicals to clean everything up!” But … the EPA has stated that those two chemicals aren’t the best to clean up the mess and there very less toxic chemicals out there that could clean up the oil. It’s hard to think that a company would chemicals that aren’t the cleanest or the best – even though they are committed to doing whatever it takes to clean up. Just how bad is ‘Corexit EC9500A and EC9527A?’ It’s been known to cause vomiting, headaches and reproductive problems. Oh and here’s the kicker, Corexit EC9500A and EC9527A are banned in Britain! That’s right; BP is using such a chemical so toxic, it is illegal to use in its home country. (4)

So, BP has gotten away with the deaths of eleven workers, spilling over 200 million gallons of oil into the ocean (and still counting), bribed and forged inspectors, and are using chemicals that would only make the Gulf of Mexico even more toxic… sad, very, very sad – but wait! There’s more!

BP, in move to make it look like they’re doing something progress, has hired fisherman in the Gulf area to help clean up the spill. Cause, y’know, giving a fisherman a job for a couple of months is gonna support him for the rest of his life after he lost his livelihood. Anyways, these fishermen are out there on the frontlines of the spill and surrounded by a plethora of chemicals. BP has told these pseudo-cleanup workers not to wear respirators. (5) Why, you ask. Well, if the fisherman were to wear respirators, BP would then be held liable for any sickness caused by oil fumes and chemical dispersants. BP believes that there is no problem and there is no need to protect yourself. Fisherman are getting sick, the U.S. Coast Guard has told all the volunteer ships in the area to stop working until they can wear respirators and did you know what BP has said? They said that any people hired by BP and use a respirator would be fired and that the people who have gotten sick, well, they got sick by food poisoning. (6)

The gulf is a mess, people are getting sick – now let’s look at the effects on the wildlife. You didn’t think I’d forget that, would ya? So far thousands of birds, fish, and aquatic mammals have killed and that’s just the short term effect. The long term effects still remain unknown but it seems unlikely that any predictions are positive. Let’s just focus on one animal, a fish to be accurate: the Louisiana Pancake batfish, cute name – ugly fish. So what’s so important about this fish? Well, it was recently discovered, it’s so new in fact that it is yet considered a species because there hasn’t been enough time to determine an exact species, some are pretty positive that it belong to the batfish family. The Pancake Batfish is threatened to extinction because of this oil spill. This fish may be gone before we even knew what we had, of course, that statement really only effects animal lovers and environmentalists, so what – it’s just one fish. That is true, it is only one fish… sadly, and that one fish is a link in the Gulf of Mexico’s food chain. Yup. Without the Louisiana Pancake Batfish, all fish in the Gulf could be affected, even long after this oil spill. Marlins and Tuna have been found with the Pancake Batfish in their stomachs. (7) Worst case scenario – the entire food chain and balance of life in the Gulf could be effects forever. Say goodbye to tuna melts!

Is there anything else? BP has killed eleven people and thousands of animals, they have poisoned an entire corner of the Earth; Hell, they’ve even been poisoning people trying to help the situation! Well, at least BP will be getting there’s soon enough. Haven’t you looked, there stocks have been dropping. On April 23, three days after the deaths and the spill, BP stock was $59.88 a share, as of today (June 17, 2010) it is now $31.85. (8) That’s a drop $23.08. That’s a lot of money to lose. BP has also stated it will pay for everything. (9) Well, thank you, I mean you did cause the mess but at least you’re admitting you’ll clean it. I mean I guess you’re a little bit better than Union Carbine, Beatrice Foods, and W.R. Grace. High estimates say that the costs of everything: the clean-up, the repair, the law suits, etc. could cost as must as $30 billion dollars! (10) $30 billion! That’s insane. If I saw 1/30 of that money I would pay off all my friends and families bills and take them on a vacation around the world for the rest of our lives! Holy Shit! $30 BILLION! How is BP ever going to pay that? Oh wait… BP revenues in 2009 were $246.1 billion. If my math stands correct (and please point it out if it is wrong) that’s about $674 million a day. One month of revenue will pay for this entire mess. So, does BP really care about this – probably not? Sure they look bad, but new news will eventually happen and the general public will forget, or at least not care anymore. BP will raise the price of oil and gas to make up for their mistakes. So in the end, who’s really paying for this? We are. Gas costs will go up, for two reasons: the aforementioned process to recoup losses and the fact that a bunch of oil has been lost, making it even scarcer. The gulf cost will lose its tourism industry. People will no longer want to go to beaches covered in oil. The people will have to pay in their sense of identity. Fish will be poisoned to the point where many people will have to pay for this mess by giving up their livelihood. When everything is all said and done BP will have gotten out of this almost completely unhurt – save except for the intense wrist slipping they’ll get.

As sad as it is, what can we do? It’s the type of society we live in. A society ran by major corporations and profits. As long as we live in an elitist society, people will continue to get away with murder. Well, we’ve finally reached what I was originally going to tell you. How to get away with murder: MAKE AS MUCH MONEY AS YOU CAN! THEN KILL WHOMEVER YOU WANT! It’s a pretty simple formula. Let’s look at it from this prospective. I go and top off my gas tank, drive to downtown Plymouth and via some freak accident, my car catches fire, explodes, and kills eleven people. (I mean, it wasn’t so much of a freak accident. I’ve been giving my local mechanic $20 to pass my car’s inspection once a year) Not only did I kill a handful of human beings; the explosion tore apart some buildings – killing the infrastructure of Plymouth. Now people aren’t going to come to my hometown. Well, what reason do they have? There’s nothing there to see anymore and God forbid it could happen again. Other people have other cars in the area. People are dead; the town is dead – what’s next… the fire department using toxic chemical to put out the fire? Maybe there were some endangered species in the area and I ruined their habitat too, the point is – I, personally, couldn’t create as much destruction as BP, yet if this were happen to me. I’D GO TO JAIL! Wait… scratch that. I would be considered a homegrown terrorist and probably executed. Something like almost just happened in NYC (though it wasn’t supposed to be an accident) and that person’s never going to see the light of day again! Yet, the owners of BP are still walking around the Gulf coast saying they’re trying to help… when, in essence, all they are doing is trying to save face until the whole thing is forgotten! It’s really pathetic and as much as I blame BP, I blame the general public for not caring as much. What are we doing?! I mean… really… what are we doing? Nothing, we’re all complaining about it but are refusing to actually do anything – like move away from our oil dependence or boycotting BP. The fact is the American public will remain apathetic until they are affected personally. And I pity those who live on the Gulf coast because the rest of the world will maybe say they are sorry and then change the channel on the TV. People… WAKE UP! This is affecting you. It’s only a matter of time until something horrible happens in your back yard. You have the choice. Act now to make sure nothing like this ever happens again or you can just wait until it does. At which I’ll be laughing … or dead.

Footnotes:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill
2. http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/25/oil.spill.interior/index.html
3. http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2010/05/bp_will_do_what.html
4. http://www.propublica.org/ion/blog/item/In-Gulf-Spill-BP-Using-Dispersants-Banned-in-UK
5. http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/27/coast_guard_grounds_ships_involved_in
6. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/31/oil.spill.order/index.html
7. http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/14/gulf.oil.threatened.species/index.html?hpt=C1
8. http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:BP
9. http://www.cbs19.tv/Global/story.asp?S=12415856
10. http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article216745.ece