Well, the top kill failed.

I don’t know why this surprises me…especially since Thad Allen said a couple of days ago it was a success. If there is one thing I think we’ve all learned over this past month, it’s that if the head of the Coast Guard makes a claim it is 1. untrue, and 2. been fed to him by British Petroleum.

Not only is the BP Gulf Oil Catastrophe been a battle against oil, it’s been a battle of information, with British Petroleum winning time and time again with the full support and complicity of the Coast Guard and the federal government. From the estimates of the amount of oil leaking daily to the acreage of marshland being inundated, and now to the success of the top kill…the information has been wrong.

Wrong.

Count on it.

Right now, it’s about all we can count on.

I am reminded of stories I read over and over about mercenaries patrolling the streets of New Orleans post – Katrina who answered to nobody. Well, in the Gulf we have mercenaries of a different sort, patrolling the waters to keep the reporters out, which of course everyone denies – even after CBS gets it on film. It’s a public relations battle that has very little to do with controlling the oil or cleaning things up, and everything to do with litigation and liability. Yet again a corporation is defending it’s bottom line at the expense of all else. This tale is old and tired, and so is the ensuing cover-ups and other assorted bullshit games. We had Obama down to check out tar balls on Port Fourton Beach and while there, British Petroleum bussed in over 400 workers to clean up, all in good position for the press, workers who hadn’t been to that beach until just before the press arrived and of course, in true BP style…what happened after Obama left?

So did the workers.

I’m again reminded of Bush and Katrina, when that jack-ass went down to New Orleans for the big press conference, brought in generators to a neighborhood that had no power and lit things up bright as day, but when the press conference was over, they took the generators with them…And just like Bush did in them dark days, BP and Obama talk on and on how they’re working tirelessly to make things right, how the administration has been on this since day one and in charge, I have to wonder why British Petroleum continues to use Corexit chemical dispersals in the Gulf, even after the EPA orders them to use something less toxic.

A story today in New Orleans Ladder states that the majority of pelicans found dead have no oil on them at all…is Corexit causing this?

I never…I mean never thought I would have empathy for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. I mean, he’s a developers wet dram come true, but as I listen to him out there making demands that no one seems to listen too, how can I not have empathy for his situation? I wonder if he wishes Blanco were still in charge.

So, in any case…Obama, please stop bending over for BP, they aren’t even using a boom. Weeks ago, I read a quote by Rush Limbaugh calling this your Katrina and I remember thinking…okay, that’s a stretch. Not anymore. I’m starting to agree and let me tell you how much it pisses me off to be agreeing with that freaking guy. Your press secretary comments how those of us who feel this way just don’t have the information. Okay…fine…then give us the damned information. Stop managing our expectations. We’re adults. We can take it. Show us how our opinions are wrong because I can tell you right now, taking your word for it is a luxury you lost weeks ago.

And British Petroleum, when I die…I’ll see you in hell and we’ll have some words and more, because Christ knows it’s the only way a simple American like me can get close enough to let you know just how much you’ve destroyed (wildlife, wetlands, livelihoods, economies, etc…) by cutting corners on that oil well, all in pursuit of profits that were already setting records. Sieze BP’s assets and take them now.

Confidentially…to Thad Allen… you realize everyone thinks you’re a joke, right? I mean, this isn’t new to you I hope. And if it is, well, we’re all in even more trouble than I thought.

And to anyone who might think that just since I drive a car, power an apartment and a computer I should back off because I need the oil that BP sells…blow me. I might also need to undergo surgery someday, but that doesn’t mean that if the doctor sews up some gauze in my chest I should just thank him for the full body infection.

Nope, the doctor would pay…and so should British Petroleum.