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The oil polluting Louisiana’s marshes lies about 5,000 miles away from Britain’s coastline. But while wildlife, the fishing industry and tourism here are safe from the slick, the leak is hitting Britons’ pockets and their pride.
By Wednesday night, BP's shares had lost more than half of their market value -- or at least $71 billion -- in the 52 days since the crisis began. Almost every pension fund in the U.K. owns shares in the energy giant, raising serious questions about the impact the firm's plummeting value will have on the retirement plans for millions of Britons. President Barack Obama's threat to block a BP dividend payment in order to ensure victims of the spill get compensation has also sparked widespread alarm.
“Obama’s boot on the throat of British pensioners” read the front-page headline in Thursday's Daily Telegraph, which added that the president's "attacks on BP were blamed for wiping billions off the company’s value."
'Aggressive rhetoric'
“U.K. alarm over attack on BP” was the Financial Times' take on the crisis, which it suggested could damage transatlantic relations. The newspaper accused President Barack Obama of employing "increasingly aggressive rhetoric" against BP.
Shares in BP hit their lowest level in 13 years on Thursday. According to the Telegraph, BP executives are so worried that Obama’s comments could continue to drive down BP's share price that the firm has asked Prime Minister David Cameron to intervene. Cameron is due to speak with Obama this weekend.
Obama and U.S. officials have repeatedly referred to BP as “British Petroleum” -- despite the fact that the company officially changed its name in 2000. Some have interpreted this as an attack on the country's reputation.
Last Friday, Obama declared “what I don’t want to hear is, when they’re spending that kind of money on their shareholders and … TV advertising, that they’re nickel-and-diming fishermen or small businesses here in the Gulf.”
'Matter of national concern'
Some are concerned about the battering the U.K.'s image is taking in the U.S.
"I do think there's something slightly worrying about the anti-British rhetoric that seems to be permeating from America,” Boris Johnson, London's New York-born mayor, told the BBC on Thursday. “I do think that it starts to become a matter of national concern if a great British company is being continually beaten up on the international airwaves.
"I would like to see a bit of cool heads and a bit of calm reflection about how to deal with this problem rather than endlessly buck passing and name calling."
At London’s King’s Cross train station, Thelma Aengenheister echoed the mayor’s sentiments.
“It’s easier for Obama to kick a British company than an American one; there will be fewer repercussions,” said the 80-year-old, who was on her way to Brussels. “It’s like kicking someone when they’re down. But I do feel for the people of Louisiana, it must be dreadful for them.”
While making cappuccinos and lattes, coffee-stand owner Haroon admitted he was "worried" about the impact losing BP's dividend would potentially have on his pension plan.
"A lot of pension funds will have invested in BP because of the dividend,” said the 34-year-old, who lives in south London.
But despite fear over the value of their pensions, there is little sympathy for Tony Hayward, BP's gaffe-prone chief executive who has been criticized for his handling of the disaster.
Kirsty Anthony, a 41-year-old teacher, said that she believed Hayward should be "sacked."
“I’m worried about the wildlife and I think most British people think he should be held accountable; Obama would blame a U.S. company just the same,” Anthony added.
Harsher treatment?
However, some newspaper columnists have claimed that the language used against BP has been much harsher than the treatment of U.S. company ExxonMobil after the Exxon Valdez oil tanker sank off Alaska in 1989.
Others have noted that when the North Sea oil rig Piper Alpha exploded in 1988, killing 167 people, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher did not verbally attack its American owners.
Some pundits even claim Obama has a deep-seated dislike for Britain.
Stephen Glover, a columnist for the right-wing Daily Mail tabloid, wrote: "The president's public evisceration of BP cannot merely be explained by his feelings of impotence or his political predicament.
"I don't wish to sound paranoid, but it is pretty clear that Mr Obama does not much like anything that is British. There is an anti-British undertow throughout his book 'Dreams From My Father', with slighting references to the country and its citizens."
Glover suggested that Obama’s allegation that his grandfather was tortured by British authorities in Kenya in the 1950s “helped to shape his feelings about Britain.”
He added that Obama displays “no affection for, or interest in, this country and its history,” and noted how upon entering the Oval Office, he immediately returned a bust of Winston Churchill that had been loaned to George W. Bush.
However, that view didn't find much support on the streets of London.
IT consultant Paul Titley said that blame for such an environmental catastrophe had to be placed somewhere.
“I don’t think Americans dislike British people,” he said. “Thankfully, I don’t have money tied up in BP. I don’t have a pension. … I live for today.”
Leave a Comment:
There correct!
.
"Oh what a tangled web".
Our world has become so intertwined that any actions by one country has unintended consequences in others. I would guess that BP will soon become a good investment, because the cleanup will cost nothing like the $71 Billion in lost market value, while their long-term prospects are only slightly diminished. In fact, when Obama over-reacts and cuts American production, it will only lead to higher oil prices - and increased profits to BP.
The biggest travesty in all this is that these poor animals are all oil covered and dying. The oceans are polluted and even though the humanitarian efforts to rescue and clean the animals is a wonderful and heartfelt endeavor, the animals go right back to the ocean to become oil covered again. The world should be thinking about the living creatures that are dying throughout the Gulf. My home is in Fort Myers, Florida and I see the dolphins and all the pelicans and exotic birds from the shoreline. What breaks my heart is that they all may die as the slick fastly approaches the shore lines that over the years have been a very calming effect for myself and so many other Americans and now it may be blackened by oil. Humans certainly know how to destroy a planet...and it gets worse all the time. Think about mother nature, the beauty of our country and the helpless animals that will needlessly die and be destroyed by the oil slick versus pensions, money and finger pointing. Just figure out a way to clean it up and save the planet...what's left of it.
Saddam's ghost lives! God's payback for the illegal invasion of Iraq ordered by Bush/Chenney with lapdog Tony Blair ... God works in mysterious ways...bummer this happened with Obama in charge
I think the British should send all their horses and all their men to help the US put Humpty Dumpty together again. If the effect is that serious and I really think it is, then instead of complaining the whole world should jump in on the action. There is millions of FREE barrels of oil in the gulf to whoever can suck it out. Otherwise pretty soon the whole east coast of North America, Europe and West Africa will be polluted. The threat is serious!!!! So all you rich guys with some boats get out there and start collecting!
This is a MESS!!! I'm upset that this even happened. Then the fact that media always has to point at OBAMA. WHY??? What did he do but try to make sure the people and area this happened to are taken care of. It's such a shame that they are worried about money (pensions) when they have profited for years, and when THEY screw up you want to point the finger at our President. He's not drilling for money, causing animals to be covered in oil, or causing innocent people to loose their companies. BP is to blame! Duh
keep smokin that crack, gina.
Interesting point, Gina! Cheney and Bush are smiling all the way to the bank with their profits from Halliburton! By the way, which happens to be the lead contractor of the infamous, 'Deepwater-Horizon' Did you know that on April 12th, Halliburton (HAL) purchased Boots and Coots (WEL) for $240 million? They're a deep water Oil Disaster Recovery Company! A week later on Earth day, April 22nd...the rig exploded, spewing millions of gallons of crude. Hmmm.. I wonder which company is going to clean this mess up?
Cheney Bush still have their pockets lined with oil prifits and option grants priced in the single digits!!
Pray4TheGulf.com we need your prayers. Please Forward Thanks
BP is too now "too big to fail" in part because of the pension problems it would cause.
I see another US taxpayer bailout on the horizon.
That's how it has all has been working and will continue to work until our currency becomes worthless as the taxpayers and their children go broke.
The financial reform which was supposed to put an end to this nonsense is filled with loopholes that will keep the bailouts coming as needed.
Does anybody realize that there were multiple failures and if this had not happend in 5000' of water it would have been stopped along time ago..remember BP wants this fixes as fast as anybody does it is their oil blowing out of the well... It is the US who leased the land to BP and all the other operators in the deep water of the Gulf... Did the oil companys get ahead of themselves yes this type of thing has never happened in the Gulf were you have Blow Out Preventors fail at the ocean floor. Everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon about blaming the OIL companys 25 % of US consumpsion comes out of the Gulf. We can stop drilling in the gulf and 10 of thousands of jobs will be lost and 10 of millions of dollars will be lost.. Oh if you like that idea when winter comes don't be crying about how cold it is or how much gas cost because it is all IMPORTED....
11 People died because BP cut corners and they already admitted as such. When BP decided that the price of human life was their bottom line, they lost any right to supported.
The real issues are almost always overlooked when a disaster occurs.
What has been overlooked is that no CEO of a major oil company does not have all the facts when a disaster occurs.
So, what does that mean? That all of the questions that have been asked about the disaster, lack of knowledge of the amouint of oil flow, the rig explosion etc. clearly points in another direction.
Not to be cold about this but..The deaths on an offshore oil have long be computed and estimated by actuarials. Both from the standpoint of explosions to leaks to the probabilty of helicopters crashing into the rig when landing or taking off. This is simply business to know these things.
When put into a context of everything that has occured it lends itself to an ungly conclusion of future profits being protected. Now a lot of folks don't want to hear this but here it is...
BP in thier "white paper" already had forecasts of different scenarios of what could happen in a deep water blow out of a well. Guess what people..What do you think is behind the development of the emergency shut off valve and it's dead man'shut-off.
When a scenario develops in any disater you put into action the plan that will work the best for the future profits. These plans are shared with interested partners.
The question in this case is who are the interested partners? Once that is know then you know wether to pursue it or leave it alone.
Which is the best case here in this BP disaster? Well some of the facts or effects are obvious here.
* The USA will be hesitant in its oil prospecting and production in the future. (1st clue)
* The USA'a attention will publicly be diverted for a while to this disater. (2nd clue)
* Who will benefit from a free for all at BP's stock and or divestiture of certain holdings. (3rd clue)
* the American public will be put to sleep by BP's overdiligence in paying or not paying those whose coastal lively hoods are impacted. ( this is a distraction not a clue).
* What is the projection of world wide oil reserves through the year 2020. That's right 2020 and this is not a new projection. (4th clue)
So when you look at this from another perspective it presents a different picture on this terrible disaster.
People, you have 20,000 oil rigs in the gulf, law of averages says there may be a problem. The government gave permission for BP to drill in deep water. There was a special on this on PBS. The problem is with technology not BP. There was supposed to be a blow out preventor on the well, it didn't work. Plus, the whole rig sank to the bottom breaking the connection.
Yes there is pollution, yes there is endangered wild life, yes it's a mess, but if you need a job well go there. Solutions are a dime a dozen, the people at BP are doing the best they can. These are the pros. Sounds to me that the media needs to tone it down a little, especially for the gulf region.
They are sucking up the spill better than before and another solution will happen soon. Instead of complaining about it send money to help the victims.
President Obama is dealing with the oil situation as much as he should for now. Tony Hayward was dragging his feet hoping the American People (AGAIN) would jump in and foot the bill. considering the oil companies have been GOUGING us for so long, it's now payback time.
MR. HAYWARD GET IT TOGETHER AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR RESPONSIBILTY. SPEND SOME OF THOSE HUGE PROFITS YOU GAUGED OUT OF US AND WHEN THAT'S GONE, DIP INTO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT!
I'm sure most of the Pension's that are taking a hit are from already FATCAT'S. I'm sure there's enough to last til their dying day. After all The America'sn have had to survive and make ends meet the last 8 years of BUSH & CHENEY. Isn't it ode that gas prices have declined (some) since OBAMA took over. It's obvious Bush & Cheney controlled the Gas hikes. After all they were OIL TYCOON'S before they entered the White House and screwed up America. Their pockets got real fat in those 8 years.
OBAMA, YOU ARE DOING A GREAT JOB!! THANK YOU FOR NOT SPENDING MOST OF YOUR TIME GOLFING, CAMP DAVIS, THE RANCH AND JUMP STARING WAR'S TO SERVE YOUR OWN AGENDA. AT LEAST YOUR SPREADING YOUR TIME AROUND TO TAKE CARE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND IT'S BACKYARD BEFORE YOU SPEND 8 YEARS IGNORING AMERICA AND ONLY DEAL WITH IDIOT'S WHO CONTINUE TO SIT AROUND AND FEED OF THE AMERICAN TAX PAYER WHO ARE ALREADY PUSH TO THE LIMITS.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
I know I will not stop at any gas station that has BP,
Dummy, what about the North Sea oil Rig (Exploding)1988 Killing 167 People (American Owners) the Brits said nothing.
The US Gov't is far more responsible for this crisis than BP. BP didn't swear to protect this land and its' citizens. BP said 'I'm here to make money, what rules must I follow in order to do so?". Ok so there are 16,000 different rules to follow. Anyone with an IQ higher than that of an imbred child should know that all 16,000 rules will not be followed to a T.
It was up to the gov't to decide whether this type of drilling would be safe. It was also their job to regulate the industry to insure it was safe. It was also their job to pounce on the situation the moment a threat was evident.
The gov't allowing BP to handle the situation these last 55 days or so is unacceptable. The moment Ohdumbo decided BP was better qualified to handle the situation he waived his right to complain about the results.
Of course it is ok to be upset with BP right now but let us Americans not be so pathetic and ignorant about the circumstances. If I hire a babysitter, lay down the rules, come home early and find that she choked to death on her own vomit, guess what? I think alot of people are going to be upset with me for leaving the booze cabinet unlocked.
By reading the article above, It appears that the people in UK misses the point, this is not a "Personal Issue", it is more a "Business Issue", and it is not a resentment against the UK, or the citizens across the shores.
BP or any other company, needs to evaluate their business methodologies including all the "What If" situations, before engaging in a business operation, the tragedy in the gulf of Mexico oil spill, is an example of the irresponsible way of doing business in the fashion of "Big Oil", of not having a plan for the "what if" sutuations.
It is non sense to compare the current oil spill created by BP, that the Exxon Valdez, the amount of the damage is several times greater this time, and the amount of people affected too, not to mention the ecological damage which may never be restored.
I sympathize with the investment community weather in the UK or not, about the effect that the value of their investments may have had due to the prince plunge of the PB stock, however, this should be a lesson for Board Members and CEOs, that they are ultimate responsible to their investors and that their irresponsible manner in which business and decisions are made are the cause to the present troubles that bp is facing with the Gulf Oil Spill.
The lack of transparency and cooperation that bp officers have displayed, make their situation worse, not to mention their public image, and the bp officers are so naive to think that their PR television spots are sufficient to remediate their tarnished image and lack of public trust.
I believe that any corporate officers and board member should have taken lessons from the Enron and Arthur Andersen experience, as ultimate responsibility is concern.
CNN in their excellent coverage has kept the general public inform and in particular Anderson Cooper who almost every day makes an invitation to bp officers to appear on his news program, and bp continuously decline the invitation.
This tragedy is the result of corporate in the name of profit irresponsibility behavior, and many other people, besides investors, pay a greater price.
It is heartbreaking to see the results of this spill...oiled marshes, dead animals, lost livelihoods, just to name a few. BP not only soiled America because of their safety violations, they let down their investors also in the UK. However, BP will spring back from this at some point...Hopefully the Gulf region will normalize and overcome this horrible turn of events. But it is going to take some time and hard work to clean up the awful mess as well as billions; BP is simply going to have to spring for it as they were the ones who caused it! Certainly there will be a diminishing of profits in the short term but BP will recover in the long term.
Brits have no reason to be drilling in AMERICAN waters.
I am a resident of south Louisiana who loves just about everything British. I don't blame Great Britian or the British people for the oil spill but I do blame BP. I work as an engineer in a chem plant owned by a large corporation and understand the drive to "balance risk versus cost" all too well. Sometimes you make a calculated risk and the rewards are great and sometimes you take risks and fail big time. BP took risks to save money and lost in a big way. It is unfortunate that BP's actions will negativley impact the British economy and the British citizens, but BP's gambles are destroying Gulf Coast economies from Florida to Louisiana and they need to be made to pay. BP is a large coporation that will, if not pressured heavily, try to wriggle its way out of paying claims to save money. President Obama is simply applying that pressure. I don't like President Obama, didn't even vote for him, but I will defend him in this instance. He's simply applying the pressure necessary to get BP to understand that we won't accept them dragging their feet in their response to claims. The British people would expect their Prime Minister to pressure an American company and if he didn't, he'd be crucified in the media. The Exxon Valdez and the Pipe Alpha incidents happened years ago when, quite frankly, the world was a different (and I believe, better) place. I hope that this incident does not further sour the relationship between our two countries. I love Great Britian and visit there every chance I get, and will continue to do so. This issue has nothing to do with being anti-British or anti-American, I just hope that neither side uses this as an excuse to drive a wedge between our two countries.
I read earlier that somebody said BP owns the rig. People get your facts straight. BP leases the technology from another source to get the oil. The land or sea bottom is leased to BP from our government. BP is not the scapegoat for all this, Clinton is the one who gave BP permission to drill here. Get the facts correct before you speak.
Granted, there has been an accident. Many countries have offered to get the best rrecovery vehicles here to help, but our government has done nothing.
Get it right people.
All things considered, when this whole thing is impacting the welfare, and way-of-life for those down south, then I don't give a flying f_ck about this company or the british shareholders. The President is right and eventually this could become an act of war if BP's home, UK, doesn't accept responsibility for this and put BP in their place. Consider this, the destruction of us tourism, fishing industry and the destruction of all the ecosystems for decades to come. ACT of WAR on BP! They're are pretty much a COUNTRY in and of themselves so why not take control of their major headquarters with our military and use the profits they make to clean up the mess. HHHmmm, let's see if the British Parliament has a problem with that. Chances are, they'll leave BP out to dry...
Maybe companies will now look at their Maintenance bills instead of cutting corners and costing the company BILLIONS for maybe a $100 repair. I have no sorrow for BP. They reaped what they sowed and that's that. Karma's a Mother ****er.
I think that it's a shame that they want to say how great BP is and all when BP has had the first and second highest fines by OSHA in history!!! Yet, instead of fixing the problems before things went horribly wrong they rather pay the fines and continued production and put the lives of people and animals in danger!!! The reason I know they did it on purpose is that their fine was for willful citations! That means that they were told what they were doing wrong and dangerous and given a chance to fix their problems but decided to not fix or change it but to continue their ways! So much for trying to make the world a better and greener place as BP says on their advertisements! So I think that the British need to blame BP for being so negligent at what they do.
I live in South Louisiana and am affected by what is going on. The people here are either fisherman or work in the oilfield so our entire income is in jeopardy not just our pensions!! And to some of you who say that BP doesn't own the rig just leases the sea bottom need to understand that BP is and knew they were responsible for what happens on what they consider their property!!!!! Besides BP is the one who gets the oil that Transocean captures out the ground there since it's their lease. And right now it's BP that is trying to just capture the oil like they say instead of trying to seal, cap, or stop the oil from continuing to spill out! But I guess that since the boats are skimming the water for the oil and can filter what ever is captured and are capturing oil from the site itself what is the reason for BP to stop the spill. Everything they have tried always has some kind of piping or hole to still get the oil instead of sealing it there and waiting for the relief well to get to the oil but I guess that August is too long for them to wait to get the oil that's at that site!!! By the way, you don't have to believe me about their fines and the reasons for them check it for yourself at osha.gov and when there search BP on their site!!! Very well put Bayoucat!!
Tom - "our government has done nothing"
Funny, you insist on everyone else using FACTS, and then you spew idiocy.
"I think we elected a teleprompter"
And you wonder why no one listens to you.
Drop the ignorant hyperbole, and try the truth you two. People will ignore you a LOT less.
Misplaced anger, the only ones to blame here are the BP personnel who allowed this to happen. My response? Too bad. This teleprompter business is ludicrous. Name one president that did not use a teleprompter in the last forty years.
Ridiculous. This is about corporate malfeasance, not Nationalism.
Maybe we are even, though.
We gave the world Goldman Sachs, and they returned the favor with BP.
All's fair in love, war, Corporate interests, and the categorical destruction of the environment.
Cheerio!
With such loss of livelihood, and life to both human and animal, that this environmental and economic catastrophe caused by the ineptitude and incompetence of BP, and Britain has the audacity and arrogance to express its dislike of comments being made about British Petroleum?! Shame on you BP and shame on you England! We'll all shed a little tear for both of you once we're finished cleaning up your mess. If BP deserves anything it is certainly more than a few comments of deserving outrage in the media; BP deserves to be fined into bankruptcy. As for those fools who submitted reports about walruses in the Gulf of Mexico, and who decided to open this well without following proper safety precautions, tar and feathering sounds adequate enough.
Did that management team for AIG -GB who helped to sink the global economy pay back those bonuses yet? Hmmm Just asking.....
First people in this country are supposed to anti semetic, now we are anti British. Hmm... Who knew?
Makes one wonder who will be tacking the old ANTI on this country next .....LOL
Anyhooo, one thing for sure I think we are still anti AlQuieda(sp).... or is that antiTaliban .... or is that anti being blown up.....or anti terrorist.... Hmmmm
But on the other hand we are definately for sure ... anti ecoterrorism, anti destruction of property, anti distruction of family businesses etc in the gulf states, Anti destruction of the Gulf, anti distruction of the wetlands, anti destruction of tourism, anti destruction of the beaches, anti destruction of the wildlife, etc etc etc
Just saying we - in this the US of A - are anti.....something else too....OK?
"They're".
Ken Johnson
Maybe you should educate yourself a little more about this event before stating your opinion about Bush and Cheney....
......A week later on Earth day, April 22nd...the rig exploded, spewing millions of gallons of crude. Hmmm.. I wonder which company is........
The oil rig exploded on April 20, not Earth day, go eat some more granola and learn to read.
WTF? There's nothing anti-British about being anti-BP, just like there's nothing anti-American about being anti-Monsanto. Wake up, people! Yes, politics is politics and it's always easier to criticize someone else's entity, but there isn't really anything ethnic ort nationalistic here. See it for what it is, not what's easy to criticize.
Agreed, When this all started it was like watching 3 kids pointing fingers at each other for who started the fight. But as time went on BP's response to the situation was muted and slow. This is what is upsetting. The they did it mentality. Companies want all the rewards but none of the issues. It was a BP setup and BP is responsible.
The deaths of 167 people is sad, but cannot be compared to what is happening in the gulf today. These are 2 different types of accidents. The gulf is a hot spot and needs to be quickly addressed. Today only the shores are affected, but what happens if hurricanes start coming though and it starts raining oil hundreds of mile inland? That will be the next disaster BP will need to face.
At some point corps must be held accountable, as are all 5 year-olds, for cleaning up after themselves. It is nonsense to argue that facing risk is enough burden to justify whatever. Maybe, with a little bit of luck, the Brits will 'help' us Yanks to impose such responsibility on our corps. What, if any, effort was made by the pension funds (as shareholders) to prevent BP's course of conduct, for many years, leading to this spill? Sure seems like their 'cost-cutting' on preventing this disaster done it. What part of 'risk-taking' is not understood? Glad I have no money there.
The Brits can see what happened to Americans when our investments went belly up... Enron, WorldCom, BSC, LEH FNM Freddie Mac, etc ... If BP has to go broke to fix the disaster in the gulf then so be it, another British oil company will take it's place, tehre's no replacing the gulf
Many lives are affected each day on both sides of the water. We should not want a company
to go broke, becasue of a mistake, but to fix the mistake. This great disaster is not to be blamed
on Saddam or anyone else in particular, but to a group of experts who did not see the problem,
before lives were taken. We just all need to work together and each do whatever is possible
to help fix the problem, along with the experts at BP.
Good point!
I agree with Faye....stop bashing each other and work to correct the mistake. I believe there was a lot of Americans working on that rig at the time this disaster happened. Us Americans need to learn to get along with other countries and stop acting as though we are too big and too good to not care about others. Let's clean this up...name bashing is not the answer to such a big disaster.
EXACTLY!! I love the Brits, I love England, always have, always will. What I think they don't see, is that BP also failed THEM, by not properly maintaining and monitoring their INVESTMENTS! BP hit THEM just as bad as BP hit us.
Can't blame the US for this, CAN fault the regulators a bit (didn't anyone review the emergency plan from BP that included dead people as contacts, and out of date phone numbers?!), but the bottom line is this is BP's mess.
And I STILL don't see what more Obama can do. All of you Obama bashers out there, instead of simply claiming he's not doing anything, how about you detail some things he CAN DO to help? What ISN'T he doing that you expect to see?
He should get are Navy salvage & are Army corps involved!
And what would they do? What equipment do they have that is relevant and not already in BP's hands?
Gee, how about their blaming the REAL cause of the decline in their pensions.....their stupidity to invest all of their pension funds in a known bad company? BP is notorious for their safety violations and other infractions of regulations. They are destroying the economy of a huge portion of the US (if not the entire country in a domino effect), and the Brits can only complain about the loss of pension investments because of BP's carelessness? It just goes to show how greedy people are these days. Wait until all of those investors (in Britain and the US, as well as other parts of the world) have to pay for this damage for the next two or three decades or more.
They want to bring the whole world economy to its knee's so they can invoke fascism!!!!
Who are they you ask? BILDERBERGERS!!!!!
The Brits should know it is Bush's fault.
Glover: Obama doesn't much like anything American either. He's just found a way to extend his charity by using the Robinhood Ways to buy votes.
It's beyond stupid to think that the American President doesn't like America or American things. That's just idiotic.
Beyond stupid is an understatement! It is entirely and totally ignorant to think such.
I have to agree, He seems out of touch with America and has even delivered speeches to the nation without the flag prominent. I do not know what he is trying to do to the country, but either he has no grasp of what being president is, or he is trying to make us a laughingstock. He could have taken charge of the disaster, and with our military's assistance this could be solved much more quickly. Instead Obama plays the blame game with BP, and why? If fixing it was a big deal to him, why has he not stepped in and started using what authority he has obtained? He could make this into a administrational triumph, instead he is sitting there pointing at BP (when they owned the rig, but another company was running it at the time of the disaster) telling them to fix it. If Bush had acted like this, (I am referring to Obama's gift to Thatcher, and the huge list of other kindergarten mistakes) everyone would have been clammering for his empeachment. I don't care the skin color, in fact I was glad we got an African-American president finally. However, the man clearly does not like America, or he is the most clueless president we have had. Say what you like, but something is way wrong with this guy.
Blade, I believe you are Rush Limbaugh. You speak like him. You had to make the point of mentioning his skin color, that in itself shows you have a problem with it.
El Whapo, you are just ignorant.
Yes Jhall. Everyone who has an opinion contrary to yours is in fact Rush Limbaugh. We cannot disapprove of the piss poor job our black president does because he is black and that would be racist.
Obama in '12, Obama in '12. If you don't vote for him clearly you are a racist.
Patrick your on drugs
It's great to see the Brits get screwed as well... after all they supported this community organizer just as much as the electorate hear did.
There is nothing 'great' about the effects of this spill/leak/devastation is having on Btits, Americans or the environment.
Just what sort of thoughtless soul would even say such a thing.
'We're suffering so isn't it great that others get to suffer too!' I can't imagine what sort of sick and twisted mentality it takes to say such things. I fell sorry for this poor twisted soul.
Commonsense_texan: It is "here" not "hear". If you are 10 the mistake is forgivable. I suspect you are simply stupid based on your pathetic comment.
Learn to spell before you spout off unfounded criticism at a highly educated and accomplished world leader. It's HERE, not hear!
CZECKMEJT: how you jumped from an oil spill to slavery is a mystery! maybe you should stick to leaving comments on sites which welcome an extremly biased and borderline racist outlook....
Yes how BP initially handled the situation should have been done better but the effects of publicly announcing something so devastating to the environment would and has had an immense effect on the companies stock value, the longer it was delayed no doubt limited the financial impact for a while at least. Im fairly certain that outside of the public eye BP has been trying everything possible to fix the problem but unfortunately the leak is in an inhospitable and hard to reach place which makes it somewhat harder to rectify.
And as for the future my prediction is that the US will withhold the dividend payment to BP which will help their deflating economy, BP will be bailed out by the UK government to try and reduce the financial impact on an already overburdened recession hit UK economy, oil prices will rise yet again to increase profit margins and the british taxpayer will foot the bill for a poorly run british company....again!
On the flip side the oil reserves are in sharp decline already and will be gone in a few decades at best so there wont be too many more of these. My biggest regret is the waste of a dwindling resource that we all desperately need each and every day of our lives :/
Way to represent Texas there big guy. Spellcheck don't fix stupid...
If only common sense was a little more....(sigh)....
Czek, you do realise the "Brits" that came here from England have been dead for a very long time. The British that are alive now had nothing to with slavery.
I had no idea this country was currently under British rule. BTW, it was laziness that fostered slavery. Always has for the thousands of years it has been around.
Other than that, I am speechless of your ignorance.
Man I wish the oil spill would have happened on the West Coast... Maybe like right off the coast of Los Angeles...It would have turn @!$%#ty people their rightful color BROWN>>>>>
Plenty of oil on the West Coast already due to the swimming illegals
Let me guess, you (Scole-529355) and Jimmy the Texan are good god fearing Christians, go to church every Sunday and donate 10% of your hard earned money to them to do good deeds in the community.
Let me guess, you Scole-529355 and Jimmy the Texan are both god fearing Christians and donate 10% of your hard earned money to your respective churches to allow the church to do good deeds in the community
lol lol lol Ah yes... the famed Yank racism in action! Don't you just love it? Ooooh look momma, that idjut's neck is awwwllllllll reeeeeedddddd! LMFAO
Hey wait! Fox News says Obama isn't being emotional enough! Now the Brits think he's being TOO angry? OMG, who can you believe anymore?
Yes, El Whaco -- you've hit the nail on the head. Obama hates America, hates the troops, hates the flag, hates freedom and wants the terrorists to win. You teabaggers sure know how to call a spade a spade...
You're cracked if you think this mess is anything but the combined fault BP, TransOcean, and limited regulation. Simply put, if the well was drilled properly, the piping were inspecting regularly, the valves tested as prescribed, and redundant shut-off methods installed, would this be an issue?
Blaming the President because a corporation (or in this case, corporations) blew it, especially when the rig was installed BEFORE the President took office, is about as sound reasoning as not taking responsibility for your own actions.
Should this result in more stringint regulation? Absolutely. Is that something the President can do? Of cousre. Should the President be more engaged in the issue? I don't see how - there are daily briefings, conference calls, and action being taken. Unless you'd like to see the President on the coast with a chamois - then you're just being unrealistic. That is of course, unless you get yourself down there first.
Monday morning quarterbacking by the uninformed - always cheap, good entertainment.
thank you for an intelligent and informed comment (among so many that do not qualify as such)
one other responsible party we all need to face is ourselves! our dependency on oil, our lack of foresight in planning a response to an accident like this (especially in view of previous accidents) and our naive attitude in allowing corporations total control over providing for the safety of oil rigs in our waters....we are to blame. time to look in the mirror! and time to take some real steps to wean ourselves from the oil and the culture we have created around automobiles.
but it was Obama and his Administration that signed off on the rigs safety reports and ignored many other responsibilitiesprior to the rigs explosion. Some of you Obama Zombies just don't see that Mr. "Hollywood" Obama was not doing or saying anything at all for the first month, hell he still hasn't even spoken to the CEO of BP as of yet and this Coast Guard spokesman just materialized very recently.
Obama seems to have all sorts of time to pose with sports teams and go on other trip, none of which deals with this national emergency, our all time high debt and especially JOBS ..... the guy is a clown and now has proved to everyone he just doesn't have the tools to perform his job, even the left of his party have started to revolt and those more moderate on the left have begun to see the light.
So well said friend....de-regulation of everything from oil, to meat production is coming back to bite us in the rear ends.
R. Auberger: So you think that the president or someone from his administration personally goes down, inspects the oil rigs, and signs off on them? Wow.
If we had a President with some common sense and some Real World Expereince, he might be smart enough to quit putting people in positions where they have no business being. Just because you have a PHD (MMS for example) or are a good politician or donated X $ to the cause doesn't qualify you for any kiind of responsible position except a BSer. PHD's can be obtained w/o any understanding of the real world and or how the information learned can be actually applied to evgery day life and its problems !! That's what our Pres has surrounded himself with for advisors, and he is now paying the price because he cannot put his ego aside to admit his mistakes. His only true world is the academic and legal one and neither equips one for real world problems. Also, the advisors that are so good a spouting slander at others aren't any good for the real problems of the world, either.
Yeah, neither of the Bush boys put any of their friends or cronies in positions for which they were not qualified...hahaha
Your president and current administration has given this oil platform safety awards and accolations whereas the previous administration were issuing the same platform fines for safety violations.
Obama has recieved more political contributions from BP than any other politician in US history.
This President and administration has claimed that BP has been taking orders from the administration since day one and must recieve permission to try alternative methods. Remember the "Boot on the Throat comment".
You people need to realize that this self serving pathetic jackass you call a president is incompedent and his comments and actions have proven it.
I love how the well was built under the Bush administration which allowed them to not put the appropriate valves on to save $m and yet somehow the Obama administration is to blame? Tomcat I think i just heard Rush say jump; shouldn't you be yelling how high?
Yeah, I'm sure Obama is giddy about 'selling out' America for the $77,000 he got from BP over the years.
I'd certainly sell my soul for $77,000, and I've little doubt he would either.
</sarcasm>
The British are showing Obama what to do if someone bashes their country. Even though the British are still mad they lost the Revolution,and we had to bail them out of WW2. Maybe if everybody worked together, they might solve the problem, and stop pointing fingers.
It shows me just how current you are with your facts. The US is the country that went to England with their bancruptcy in 1933, remember the "New Deal". Just who do you think owns the US lock stock and barrel.
Maybe the Brits can 'help' us Yanks control our corporations in return. Somebody's got to do it, and they have always led our path.
I don't think anyone cares about the Revolution in Britian it's just not an issue for us ! as for bailing us out in WW2 how do you figure that? you make it sound like you where doing us a favour!! Japan attack the US and a week later Germany declared war on America, America didn't join the war to save Britain!! America got rich from the war and Britian lost an Empire.
Sorry for whats happened with BP but it's really not Britians fault it's a massive multinational company and the falling share price are hitting just as many US investers as they are in Britain.
We had WWII won when we won the Battle of Britain in 1940 against all odds and at huge cost. without air superiority Hitler did not dare to invade England! You guys just got in to Lend Lease us equipment at an outrageous profit so the Yanks could ramp up your Military/Industrial complex to create great wealth with fewer people to share it. My old man fought from Dunkirk through North Africa. Then to Anzio, then through Italy to Belgium, 8 hard years fighting and no respite. The Brits also destroyed the German Navy! When the "Bama bankrupts BP, he will wreck the world's greatest partnership, no doubt his Kenyan Father(British) imbued him with hatred, just as his Palestinian Radical friends have taught him to hate Israel, the best joke of all is the BP is the major supplier of fuel to the U.S. military, I think we should sell it to somone else!
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae caused the World financial crisis, they are friends of Barrie too! Franklin Raynes cooked the books for a 100 million bonus and Barrie rails against Wall Street. I
Most People have forgot about the Revolution accept America. ww2 believe me America could not have survived with out the help of the British. most people around the world knows this only America don't.
come on now, it's not an attack on The British people. This spill is all about money over saftey and common sense "Plan B" if you will. Sorry but I think if it would have been an American company, we would have nationalized it already. When The Exxon spill happend, it was the start of the modern age of mass media, so the coverage and images were all new. Bottom line, it's not an attack on London, it's an attack on a big corp down playing everything when now we know it's been understated in scope
"I don't wish to sound paranoid, but it is pretty clear that Mr Obama does not much like anything that is British. There is an anti-British undertow throughout his book 'Dreams From My Father,' with slighting references to the country and its citizens."
Wouldn't it be ironic if Obama caused a war between the US and the Brits ! Reparations now BP!!! Reparations NOW!!!
Hey Kornfed - grow up and get a job! Actually get a brain limpwristed conservative crybaby. There's no anti-British undertone in Obama's book, just in your putrid imagination. Thankfully we have Obama in the White House because if War Criminals Bush and Cheney were still there there probably would be war.
BP = Believable? Poppycock!
Hahah, this is fun
Eric they are not there though and no matter how many times you call their names it will not put them there. Although I am beginning to wonder why this POTUS bothers to go to the WH. Every time something happens all anyone can speak of his Pres Bush.
brothers fight each other. the point is they're both still around next week.
Eric, you sound like a lovechild liberal crybaby. Get yourself common sense. You can't blaim Bush for every disaster during his administration if you don't blame Obama during his as well. Reality check - go cash one and see our government for what it is..... it will help if you remove your liberal, socialist glasses.
Carla,were I Obama I'd be sick and tired of cleaning up Bush's messes.
I think the British people should consider the extensive damage that BRITISH PETROLEUM has caused in the USA, not only in the Gulf of Mexico, which is destroying destroying a lucritrive fishing business which provided quality seafood around the world, not just in the USA, but destroying marshland needed to protect the mainland from hurricanes, and countless other industries revolving around the fishing industry.
BP, in its reach for the almighty dollar, has destroyed Pruduo Bay, the land its pipes traversed from Pruduo Bay and has killed TOO MANY of its employees in the name of cutting corners to increase dividends for spoiled, rich OLD PEOPLE who have leaned on way too many middle and lower class workers sweat and blood for their easy, uppitty, spoiled lifestyles. Not only has it trampled on USA enviornment and people, when we were all suffering from the price of gasoline skyrocketting, they scr*ewed around with the oil prices to bring them higher, all in the name of increased dividends for their spoiled stockholders.
Once again, Britans are bellowing about their wallet thickness with total disregard of enviornmental and human issues as they rape the US soils - but they have been doing this since we claimed the USA as our own in 1776!!!!! The American Revolution told Britain we own our own country, but still the British find ways to rape our country.
As those bristish pensioners consider how to buy their next Rolls Royce or Mercedes, will they wonder about the homeless familes that will result from a destroyed industry. leaving families unable to provide for their kids - NOT IN A HEARTBEAT!!! Let British people find a way to live without trashing the USA.
I have read that BP gets 80% of its oil from USA leases - so our domestic oil supplies, even when tapped, become foreign oil for British Petroleum and Dutch Shell. Lets get the G.d- d--n foreigners away from our resources and let AMERICANS reap what America has to offer, not some British rich b-t--h
Recycled hope... is there a brain in that head of yours? Helloooo??? Anyone home??? Did you read the article which came before your spouting rubbish? Did you read the bit about pension funds and a newsvendor (who clearly has a Rolls Royce waiting for him, selling newspapers from a street corner is SOOOOO lucrative) The people you describe a a minority, and well hllooooo lookeee how many Yanks there are in that minority of shareholders! The majority of investment is made by companies with thousands of clients who pay a SMALL amount into a mutual pension fund (with me so far? Good I am trying to make it easy for you) every month which will then mean they don't starve on a government pension when they retire. As for homeless families... what would you rather be... homesless in the USA or DEAD in Bhopal India thanks to an AMERICAN firm called Union Carbide... oh and you amuse me about getting goddamned (see I will use that word whereas you as a coward won't) foreigners away from American resources... fair enough... let's all laugh our asses off as Britain boots out useless American car makers like Ford and GM... and once again see them go bankrupt and even BETTER... let's watch as China (those damned commies) forecloses on the MASSIVE US debt to them ad see big mouthed idiots like you on the streets cos... oh... you lost your job! Laugh it up sucker!
@SCOLE-529355
You're a moron......
Just wait, it's only year 2 of his reign, it'll get worse. So far he's aided in the global economic collapse, sh!t all over our constitution, forced firing of a private company's CEO, forced unwanted health care changes on the United States, driven up the world's debt with his moronic bail out plans, ruined the lives of people in Louisiana by stopping a majority of their income through shutting down working deep water oil rigs, it goes on and on, but I'm tired of typing.
Sorry world, we let our ignorant vote for a person's color with only what the media told them about this fool, if any real reporting had been done he would have never been elected. More and more on the job training for the President of the X-free world, sad sad sad. We promise, NO SECOND TERM!!
The media has a hold on a very large herd of sheeples. Its hard to get them to graze off any other grass than whats right in front of them....run from the Sheppard baaaaaaaaa!!!!!
@Ridgelon
Hmmmm.....So 1. Spain and Greece's debt can be trace back to only 2 years ago (actually less than 2) when Obama took office?.......don't think so homie 2. GM's CEO drove a once prominent american company into the ground, which ANYONE would say is cause for termination. 3. EVERY 1st world country in the world has universal health care (except us).....look it up. 4. The bail out plan has now started to show big dividends as far as US jobs go, which was it's purpose.......ands seriously you think TEMPORARILY shutting down oil rigs when a travesty like this is happening is a bad idea? Have some common sense.
I'm not an Obama fan, but come on......if you're going to complain least find something worthy to complain about.
Just wait, it's only year 2 of his reign, it'll get worse. So far he's aided in the global economic collapse, sh!t all over our constitution, forced firing of a private company's CEO, forced unwanted health care changes on the United States, driven up the world's debt with his moronic bail out plans, ruined the lives of people in Louisiana by stopping a majority of their income through shutting down working deep water oil rigs,
RIDGELON, are you ignorant, or what? The crap OUR country is going through was not, is not, JUST Obama's fault. If you were to check your recent history, you will find that Bush AND Cheney, as well as our bought and paid for congress are at the root of our problems! He wouldn't have had to bail out anyone if the country had been protected from greedy, rich, uncaring @!$%#s, which from the sound of it, you think have a right to tell our government what to do. It is moronic twits such as yourself that perpetuate the problems we have as a country, and as humans.
Do you actually think he was in charge when BP started drilling in the gulf? ASSCLOWN! Bush was in office. Was he in charge when the MMS looked the other way? ASSCLOWN! Bush was in office. Do you need more examples, or will you finally go back to school and LEARN something, instead of repeating what you hear on the radio?
Come on, Ridge! Your conclusions are way off base. I hope that this travesty will promote the development of renewable energy(solar)! it seems pretty clear that Money is the driving force in our world, but profit at all costs is not paying off. When will we wake up and smell the coffee!
If I remember, Bush handed out the first bailout money, he allowed warrant less wire taps (4th amendment violation), started 2 wars with no way to pay for them not to mention they were started on false pretenses , put some horse ass doctor in charge of FEMA, suspended habeas corpus, couldn't utter a proper sentence the list goes on and on. I will take Obama any day.....
Give me Reparations, or give me death !!!
I hope they continue to lose all there pension money, and BP goes under bc of this. All the Life in the OCean that has been lost so far is horrible and the years to come bc of this.
It annoys me that politicians so often toss out statements to score political points that just confuse, cast doubt, and make things worse. What about the 40% of BP shareholders in the U.S.? That's about a billion dollars in dividend payments per quarter- how many of the American holders of BP are retired? What next, are they going to tell BP not to pay it's workers?
Beyond holding BP accountable, they should let BP's managers do what they are paid to do- find a reasonable balance between all of their stakeholders.
We must crush big oil at any cost!! Finally, something the libs find worth fighting for!!! Look out England!
And what about the culpability of our own government, and the lack of proper oversight? The politicians want to ensure no one holds them accountable in the November elections, but the truth is that the U.S. government shares some of the blame.
Thank you Dave for pointing out what our own government and news media will not tell the sheep of America......It's not just Britains that will be impacted by this. It will hurt many, many American's also. BP may be a British company, but their roots in America are very deep. Obama doesn't really care how many Americans are hurt because his Socialistic ways dictate that if you have worked hard all your life, saved and invested, then you need to give that money up to those that have never worked so we can all be just alike and depend on the government to support us. Also, unfortunately for the people of the Gulf Coast, Obama continues to let the damage on the Gulf Coast build while he focuses strictly on money from BP. Once the money is received the people of the Gulf Cost will only see a small amount of it anyway and the rest will disappear. They are better off getting the money direct from BP so it goes directly to the clean-up efforts and aid to the families. Once our government get's their hands on the money, you'll never see it again. You can count on that.
By god, you're right, Plegg. Obama should get some swim fins and a snorkel, and go stop that leak himself. Then, as he has nothing better to do, he should get a bucket and a rag and clean up that oil, and revive all the sea creatures that are dead or going to die. He CERTAINLY should stop pressureing BP to stop the leak and make repairs, dosn't he know that he's hurting all those poor, poor investers? They work so hard thinking up ways to shear the "american sheep" AND carry a coffee cup at the same time. Nice to know what people like you think about the rest of us. Sheep.
Investments are a gamble, didn't anybody ever mention that to you?
Let me use a word to send you running to hide under your bed. SOCIALISM.
My, that wa fun, but none of this is helping the problem much, is it? BP messed up big time, but neither the americans or Obama are saying it is britians fault. Nor is the usual right-wing tatic of deverting people by saying "they don't like you" working on either side of the ocean. Too bad.
Okay, sorry, but these people at BP were knowingly ignorant to the fact that they had a faulty blowout preventer and had they replaced it with a functioning one, this whole thing would never had happened! BP deserved to be bashed and called names, not to say Deepwater Horizons didn't have a part in this because they did, but it all comes down to that blowout preventer! Which is BP's fault.
BP was too worried about their wallets to care about important safety measures and precautions. Thanks to their greed we now have an endangered ecosystem, a toxic Gulf of Mexico, and a fork in the road for fisherman's livelihood!
After reading that quote and other dumb quotes hammering us Brits and BP it's time to stick in my 2 pennies worth.
And all I have to do is this: Bhopal and Union Carbide. Sorry for how many animals have died or whatever pollution has been caused but 26 years ago there was an explosion at an AMERICAN owned Union Carbide Chemical Plant at Bhopal. So letsfindgod, let's see how many folks found god prematurely, shall we? Here is a quote of my own: "The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.[1] Other government agencies estimate 15,000 deaths.[2] Others estimate that 8,000 died within the first weeks and that another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.[3][4] A government affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries: minor - 516,406 (92.5%), temporary partial disablement - 38,478 (6.8%), and severely and permanently disabled - ~3,900 (0.7%). The government's classification was criticized after the deaths of people who were classed as having minor injuries.[5]
Chemicals (~390 tons) abandoned at the plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater.[6][7][8] Whether the chemicals pose a health hazard is disputed.[2]
Over two decades since the tragedy, certain civil and criminal cases remain pending in the United States District Court, Manhattan and the District Court of Bhopal, India, against Union Carbide with an Indian arrest warrant also pending against Warren Anderson, CEO of Union Carbide at the time of the disaster.[9][10] Greenpeace asserts that as the Union Carbide CEO, Anderson knew about a 1982 safety audit of the Bhopal plant, which identified 30 hazardous situations and working conditions. Several of these were claimed to have been partially fixed over the period of a year. None of these, however, were related to the MIC storage tanks. In June 2010, seven ex-employees, including the former chairman of UCIL, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by law. An eighth former employee was also convicted but had died before judgment was passed"
So. If we are gonna compare how bad the disasters are, guess which one gets my and funnily enoug the rest of the world's vote... after all it was classed as the worlds worst industrial accident. And as for clean up, there are over 390 tons of chemicals still there leaking into the ground water... would any of you Americans drink that water? Why don't any of you actually remember or mention this disaster? Oh of course, because it didn't happen on American soil... after all, you screwed over one bunch of (American) Indians, what's a few more? My point: Don't be a moron and start throwing stones when you are in a glass house.
Just had a huge bust on a Mexican drug ring,,,they aint gonna like us either. Nice going Obama! Now everybody hates us !!!
kornfed: you are stupid!!
.....I find it fun to shove liberal chants of the past back in their faces....stupid? Only to the ignorant I think
They hated us anyway. U def are corn fed. lol
t
The Redcoats are coming, the Redcoats are coming !!
You're a kook.....stop posting
I'll bet im smarter than you are
Thanks for proving my point.......who says stuff like that? Oh wait, I know.......people with massive inferiority complexes.
Go ahead, toss out some of your lib talking points....I'm your Huckleberry !!!
yet again....you're a kook.
Wow, so articulate and persuasive !
Don't really need to be too persuasive when you're backing up my claim all on your own.......now grow up and get back on topic.
Give yourself another favor point, that should make you feel better !!!
I'm a conservative and I think by reading your post that you are in fact a wack job flamer. There is little to no value to anything you have posted and I believe any 12 yr old could do better ..... buck up son and stop making your self look so foolish ......
My Grandfather had a saying he used to recite ....... "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
If you have been reading these boards as I have in the last few weeks, you might act as I do now. Most of these guys posting say the same thing over and over and over and over again. Same old talking points, I'm just spicing it up a bit. You want to argue with me? im game, I'll make you look bad if I put the effort into it
Hang in ther Kornfed. The libs are easily pissed off and I for one am getting a kick out of you being able to get them to bite.
Sorry kornfed,I come to discuss and see what people are thinking.You,on the other hand,seem to enjoy pointless argument.
"Sorry kornfed,I come to discuss and see what people are thinking.You,on the other hand,seem to enjoy pointless argument."
Why do you think I come here!
BP lied to get the permits to drill and they are still laying about the magnitude of the problem! How can anyone trust a company that keeps laying like this? If the British take offense because BP is made to pay, that is their problem! They are not concerned about the ecological problem. They are more concerned about their retirement plans. Now you will know what the people in the gulf feels like when they lost everything. Sorry Brits! No sympathy here!
That's just proper karma that Britons feel the pain from their screwed up oil company British Petroleum. Since their vaunted lying oil company has spilled almost a million barrels of our oil onto our shores ruining the lives of millions of our citizens it's only fair play that their citizens feel the hurt too, and what better place than in their wallets? Maybe they should get incensed at their oil company, who is the responsible party and whose criminal executive was the one who gave the order to proceed with replacing the drilling mud with seawater despite warnings from Transocean employees. By the way Transocean, formerly Sedco of the Ixtoc oil spill infamy, is now a Swiss corporation so it can evade paying US taxes.
BP = Believable? Poppycock!
Yeah! stick it to the British who didn't blow off safety protoclos. Down with all those Britians that didn't influence the MMS. Wait, that involves millions of American BP stock holders too.
It's not the British civilians company. You would be upset too if your pension was being played around with too. All these vines are filled with hateful remarks out of frustration. Why is wrong that the British do it? Or do Americans have a monopoly on anger and frustration?
It's not the British people! It's a monstrous multi-national corporation that has no loyalties to any one country or people. The forth largest corporation in the world with arrogance to match. Only hoping that our present government will follow through with strong enforcement of the law. That may all change in 2012 if the American people elect another Dick Cheney "Drill Baby Drill" fool as president. As for the people of the UK, they are also victims of BP in another way.
I agree we need to follow through with enforcement of our laws here in the USA. That entails banning BP from ever doing business with the USA ever again!!! This is their 4th deadly crime caused, once again, by short cuts in the most dangerous industry and their 5th if you throw in sc**wing around with oil prices to increase their profits for their stockholders when we had gasoline above $4gallon.
It is time we got these arrogant foreigners OUT OF OUR COUNTRY and away from our resources. If the British pensions/stockholders are so heavily dependent upon BP's oil, 80% of which come from USA oil they drill making our domestic oil foreign oil, then they also need to revamp their portfolios. Why is it Britans are relying on such income from America's resources for an easy, lucrative retirement and here in the USA, where that oil money should be benefitting, instead we have one of the worse recessions bordering on a depression hitting all Americans hard????
Get British Petroleum and Dutch Shell away from our "domestic" oil and let American Companies be the only ones allowed to tap into American resources. Lets also ensure anyone who does does it RESPONSIBLY!!!!
BP, after 4 convictions already stemming from their greed and taking very dangerous shortcuts, had the audacity just a few days before that blow out in the Gulf of Mexico, to demand they not be liable for those "expensive" enviornmental safety studies, even though their studies kept saying the hazzards were negligible since the odds of anything happening were negligible. Theydemanded this even though they have had a history of recklessness in the oil business and when confronted with all the problems they have had, including the Gulf of Mexico disaster, they become arrogant and self righteous even though they are at fault!!!
Get BP out of America NOW and if Britans dont like it, well hell, who gives a sh_t. It is time Britan became self sufficent and stopped depending on raping other lands for their wealth!!!
This should make the England v US world cup game A LOT more interesting.......
Oh how juvenile, stop posting....
Kornfed, you're cracking me up. LOL You're full of something, but I don't think it's corn. It'll be sad when fall comes and you have to go back to gradeschool, and learn more..nothing, but in the meantime, have a nice summer.
I'm looking forward to my critical thinking class!!! I hear we get to watch Al Gore movies in it!