[Homesteader]

It is obvious that corporations are only responsible to themselves. Their profits are privatized and their losses are socialized. Much of the profit comes from extraction of natural resources held in common and pollution of resources held in common.The end result is all that has been discussed ad nauseum.

Something needs to change. . . what do you suggest?

[dorlomin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Homesteader', '
')Something needs to change. . . what do you suggest?

[Graeme]

BP May Be Barred From U.S. Contracts Under Plan Weighed by EPA

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Obama administration may prohibit BP Plc from getting government contracts after it obtains more information about the company’s oil spill polluting the Gulf of Mexico.

The Environmental Protection Agency was already in talks with BP about its conduct, such as past convictions for violating the Clean Air Act, before the explosion on a BP-leased oil rig on April 20, the agency said today in a statement. After the spill that followed, the discussions were put on hold, the agency said.

BP would lose billions of dollars in revenue should the U.S. freeze the entire London-based company out of all government contracts. Such a move would prohibit BP from drilling for oil and gas in federally controlled areas.

“Potentially, BP could be prevented from having any contracts with the federal government at all, which is quite far-reaching,” John Pendergrass, a senior attorney with the Washington-based Environmental Law Institute, said in an interview.

In addition to drilling leases, London-based BP’s contracts with the U.S. have involved services such as a $1.1 billion contract awarded in 2008 to supply aviation fuel to the Defense Department.

[Graeme]

BP calls in Costner's $26m vacuum cleaners to mop up huge oil spill

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')esperate times call for desperate measures. So with hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico each day, and its corporate image starting to resemble the tar-covered sea creatures now washing on to Louisiana's fragile shoreline, BP has called on Kevin Costner to help stave off environmental Armageddon.

The Hollywood star has been bobbing around the Mississippi Delta helping representatives of the British oil firm and US coastguard test-drive a stainless steel device called the Ocean Therapy. In a claim which sounds as unlikely as the plot premise of Waterworld, he says it can quickly and efficiently clean oil from tainted sea water.

Bizarrely, Costner may be on to something. The actor has spent 15 years and roughly $26m (£18m) of his personal fortune developing the patented machine with the help of his elder brother Dan, a scientist. It works like a giant vacuum cleaner, sucking up dirty liquid and then using a high-speed centrifuge to separate it into oil, and heavier water.

When he allowed the local media to see Ocean Therapy in action – albeit on dry land – it appeared to work as advertised. Yesterday, six of the devices were attached to boats and floated into the Gulf, so the organisers of the clean-up operation could see whether they might also be capable of functioning on the high seas.

[Crazy_Dad]

The USA government should nationalise all BP assets , and repossess all of their foreign assets by force if required. This may just pay for the tip of the ice berg. If these guys are allowed to get away with it, then the Standard Oil Mob(They never went away), [yes I know BP were not the spawn of SO] will carry on BAU. Who cares if a company goes broke. It's not like there are no replacements. But at least there will be a precedent for MAKING THE BASTARDS PAY.

[mcgowanjm]

Further, that Obama hasn't gone on Nat'l TV
to tell the American people that this is a Planet Killing
Event.

And for those thinking I exagerate, imagine the GOM/Everglades
being dead of all aquatic life.

30 Million people and their Standard of Living/Way of life
destroyed so that BP could save this well for production.

America's Chernobyl and DC is making their Soviet
counterparts look good.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')

For those too young to remember, the Ukraine reactor exploded on April 26, 1986, burning the full gamut of deadly radioactive materials and nuclear fission products continuously for 10 days, with massive radioactive emissions continuing for roughly another 10 days. According to a new book put out by The New York Academy of Sciences, "Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment,"13 this phenomenal work, edited by ionizing radiation expert, Janette Sherman-Nevinger, M.D.,14 radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl explosion and subsequent fires spread around the globe.



At least three billion people - nearly half the earth's inhabitants - are living in areas contaminated by Chernobyl's radioactive fallout. Some of the radioactive chemicals, such as Uranium 235 emitted by the Chernobyl explosion and fires into the environment and atmosphere, will be around for billions of years.

[evilgenius]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Homesteader', 'I')t is obvious that corporations are only responsible to themselves. Their profits are privatized and their losses are socialized. Much of the profit comes from extraction of natural resources held in common and pollution of resources held in common.The end result is all that has been discussed ad nauseum.

Something needs to change. . . what do you suggest?

[rockdoc123]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')herefore, the public has a right of expectation. In recent years there has been a drift away from that notion, to one of get rich quick on the part of the public. Instead of viewing corporations as entities that could theoretically be owned by any combination of individuals, in other words, the public has come increasingly to give over the idea of control to management in a kind of blind trust state of mind (this best facilitates the interests of the short-term thinking that this characterizes). This attitude has allowed management to acquire power on a level never before seen, power that no longer need act in the best interest of 'any' shareholder, but only in the interest of the short-term shareholder (which happens also to be management's position in the scheme of things as well).

The issue is then not with one rogue company, such as BP, but with all companies as to whether a governing structure that merely expects the resolution of the public interest as a matter of course can continue. It may be time to restructure the executive idea of corporate governance in order to create parties in seeming opposition (so as to have checks and balances built in) at the level of management. The true interests of the public demand it.

[Graeme]

Do you really think that shareholders are acting in the interest of the wider public?

[mcgowanjm]

^
^
I_We're so far past this now.

A Corporatocracy for the Plutocracy is what we now
have.

The Greatest Concentration of Wealth in World History
which will now cause the Greatest Economic Collapse
in World History.

In case people here haven't been paying attention,
BP/theUS Gov't/USNavy are now one and the same.

Everyday you here what little News your TV is providing
lead with BP thinking/planning/saying, that's your
Corporatocracy/Plutocracy in Action.

US now in a state of collapse. As Despair spreads from
Louisiana East.

TEOTWAWKI

Desperation is setting in in Southeast Louisiana. "I spoke to a group of fishermen, mainly Vietnamese Americans and a group of them came up to me and said, they told me that they contemplated suicide because they're in such despair," says Congressman Joseph Cao. He says fishermen are feeling compounded stress on top of post-Katrina troubles. "For some people, this is almost a boiling point where they can no longer handle it and they're going to crack."

"These are grown men that broke down and cried this morning because they don't know what to do and we don't know how long it's going to be," says Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser.

This is the price of having thousands of oil wells at sea. Sooner or later, stuff happens.

Big Difference here.

This well might as well be on the Moon.

While All the Might of the World's Greatest Empire stands Impotent.

We are losing our Empire now. Our USA by October. Collapse of the NOGC+ Florida now assured.

Ex. Anyone want to move to Florida now? Buy a house? 8D While your TV tells you everything's A-OK. Keep consuming, Serf.

As I've been saying from Day 1:

It's easy to say what is risky and there's no doubt that it's risky to use a nuke. But doing nothing and waiting for an iffy solution that will take months and allow massive volumes of oil continuing to destroy not just the gulf but possibly the Atlantic, the gulf stream and who knows how many ecosystems, endangered species and hundreds of thousands or millions of people's jobs and ways of life-- ... that's not risky. That's certain damage. We don't know how much, but so far, the estimates from BP and the ethically impaired government agencies have been so lowball, so inadequate that we don't even know the true worst case scenarios."

While there's EXACTLY ONE place on the Planet that NoOne ANYWHERE will explode a NUKE, worried for some reason, a REASON that applies no where else on the Planet, that radiation might hurt someone:

41 Miles SE of the MS River Mouth, 5 000 ft down.

[evilgenius]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rockdoc123', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')herefore, the public has a right of expectation. In recent years there has been a drift away from that notion, to one of get rich quick on the part of the public. Instead of viewing corporations as entities that could theoretically be owned by any combination of individuals, in other words, the public has come increasingly to give over the idea of control to management in a kind of blind trust state of mind (this best facilitates the interests of the short-term thinking that this characterizes). This attitude has allowed management to acquire power on a level never before seen, power that no longer need act in the best interest of 'any' shareholder, but only in the interest of the short-term shareholder (which happens also to be management's position in the scheme of things as well).

The issue is then not with one rogue company, such as BP, but with all companies as to whether a governing structure that merely expects the resolution of the public interest as a matter of course can continue. It may be time to restructure the executive idea of corporate governance in order to create parties in seeming opposition (so as to have checks and balances built in) at the level of management. The true interests of the public demand it.

[rockdoc123]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')o you really think that shareholders are acting in the interest of the wider public?

[Graeme]

Well, it looks like these shareholders are not very happy with BP.

BP shareholders file lawsuit over rig disaster

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') stockholder lawsuit claims "gross mismanagement" by top BP officials has severely damaged the company's reputation and hurt its value.

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Superior Court in Anchorage, alleges the officials did not take the necessary steps to ensure BP compliance with safety rules and environmental safeguards, citing last month's oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, a 2005 refinery blast in Texas and concerns US Reps. Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak raised earlier this year about BP operations on Alaska's North Slope.

"Defendants' disdain for safety and environmental laws, and the resulting loss of lives and property, has plunged BP into a public relations crisis," the lawsuit claims.

This has resulted in BP being "tagged as an unsafe company and gross polluter, all of which are extremely negative developments which are hurting BP's business."

[evilgenius]

I know that the issue of corporate governance shakes the fundamental assertions of capitalism. As such it would be wrong to panic and start thinking along the lines of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. My criticisms pertain to what I think is the glaring need for more control by shareholders over what goes on, more than simply saying "sell". Why does the system upon which so many vital things are built only allow for this all or nothing form of communication? Where is the ability of the shareholder to agitate for percentages or have philosophical input? Indeed, how do we even conceive of such a governing system?

A few corollaries would be the examples in nature of brain function, how synapses are not straight linear run-throughs establishing thoughts, rather that plus incredible branching into other regions along the way qualifying and defining thoughts in a complex way. Also, take parliamentary systems and the role of unwritten constitutions upon parliamentary procedure and etiquette. At any point in time the leaders can, and do sometimes, choose to ignore the unwritten. They do this at their and the nation's peril. Similarly, I believe today's executives ignore the position of 'any' shareholder in favor or the position of the 'short-term' shareholder (who more closely reflects their own point of view and interests). A shareholder who believes in a particular company, but sees this going on, ought to have more choice than to have to give up on something they believe in.

It would have been ludicrous if I had been advocating abolition of corporate governance. I am not asserting that. That would also be knee jerk and just as much of an on/off boolean concept as I am suggesting the current method is. I can see that this point of view runs pretty close to the rocks if it also does not understand that shareholders will want a mile if they are given an inch, hence the mention of percentages.

I believe this lies at the heart of the current BP crisis as well as many other crises developed and developing around the globe. It is by no means the primary driver in most cases, but it is an issue of import.

[eXpat]

Gulf of Mexico oil spill: BP faces growing calls for boycott of its US products
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')P's problems mounted on Wednesday as the number of followers of a Facebook group called "Boycott BP" grew to almost 34,000.
The group was set up in the US by a man who calls himself "BayouLee", referring to the name given to the part of Louisiana worst affected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to date.

The group's aim is to encourage people to boycott BP petrol stations.
Its Facebook page details the names of the various brands BP uses to trade in the US – including Castrol, Amoco and the Wild Bean Cafe – and also contains an open letter to BP written by one of the group.

One member, David Medearis, suggests BP stands for "Broken Pipe," saying that the spill "is just the tip of the environmental iceberg".

Another, Leah Marie Headley Mills, with reference to BP chief executive Tony Hayward's earlier comments that the impact of the spill would be "very modest", writes: "The only thing that has been modest about this whole deal is BP's effort to fix their mistake!"

[Buggy]

Folks, It's time. These will break your heart.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/0 ... 60813.html

[timmac]

I understand the problems with BP and the spill but Boycotting them or Banning them I find hard to swallow when no one speaks out about Boycotting Saudi Arabia's oil when there is tons of proff that the are funding our enemies and killing American military personal and civilian citizens...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')audi officials are also reported to send explosives and weapons to the terrorist groups.

Meanwhile, Secretary General of the Saudi National Security Council Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz is said to be the main guilty behind the case.

The report came as earlier last week, Saudi army officer Abdullah al-Qahtani was arrested in Iraq over charges of planning a terrorist attack during the upcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

[Graeme]

BP Gulf Spill Now Equaling Exxon Valdez Every 3.5 Days
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')nitially, BP reported a 1,000 barrels per day leak, then 5,000 after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) estimate, while independent analysis of company supplied video and satellite imagery suggest somewhere between 50 - 100,000 barrels, the consensus settling on 70,000 or an Exxon Valdez equivalent every 3.5 days - by far, America's greatest ever environmental disaster, and growing worse daily.

The University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science's satellite imagery analysis reported on May 18 that the spill covers 7,500 square miles, or about the size of New Jersey. Other accounts say 10,000 square miles or a Maryland equivalent. Either way, it's huge and an ecological disaster of historic proportions.

New video footage "indicates that around 95,000 barrels, or 4 million gallons, a day of crude oil may be spewing from the leaking wellhead," according to Purdue University's Professor Steve Wereley's May 19 testimony to the House Commerce and Energy Committee. He based his calculation on BP video, saying the spill could be from 76,000 - 104,000 barrels daily, but wants more footage over a longer period for a more precise calculation, what BP hasn't released up to now and won't, absent Interior Department pressure to do it.

Yet if the wellhead fails completely, these figures potentially could double, begging the question about how long Washington, BP, and the major media can deny the peril, pretending it's minor.

[americandream]

Ok, don't boycott BP. Whilst you're at it, better stock up on pop corn.

[timmac]

But boycotting them now will do no good, at least let them try and finish the job..

How bout we stop selling all grain to all foreign countries and turn all that grain into fuel, Iam game are you...........