Oily rhetoric

Just to add to the vacuous comments by Tony Hayward (BP's CEO and this month's winner of the made-up-just-now Most Hated CEO) about this "disruption" (FAIL.  Try "DESTRUCTION") because of an inconvenient oil spill, and how this has "cost him a lot of money" (oh my heart bleeds oil for you):

BP CEO Tony Hayward promised that the company would clean up every drop of oil and "restore the shoreline to its original state."

So far, he's has almost redeemed himself.  I say "almost" because he has failed to clarify if this will be cleaned up out of BP's coffers in its entirety, or if the American victims (read: taxpayers) are expected to contribute.

"BP will be here for a very long time. We realize this is just the beginning," he said.

Actually, that scares me.  Just the beginning of what. exactly?  More oil spills?  More failed attempts at ceasing this damage on the coastline and the innocent creatures who once happily populated it?  More pointless rhetoric and failed attempts at sympathy for the CEO?

I've got nothing against drilling for oil - I do not think this one event (well ok, there have been a few) should prevent further oil exploration and drilling.  But I do have everything against BP's rhetoric.  Especially when they have so blatantly prioritised spending enormous sums of money on hypocritical greenie sycophantic advertising, and it seems very little on the safety and maintenance of their oil wells and for the people who staff them, and the innocent wildlife who tolerated giant rigs being randomly placed through their habitats.

And where exactly are those hypocritical greenies who benefited financially from BPs fawning?

“[T]he Nature Conservancy lists BP as one of its business partners. The Conservancy also has given BP a seat on its International Leadership Council and has accepted nearly $10 million in cash and land contributions from BP and affiliated corporations over the years,” Joe Stephens wrote for the Post May 24.

It’s not just Nature Conservancy either, the Post found $2 million in donations to Conservation International and relationships between BP and other lefty activist groups Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Sierra Club and Audubon.

Hard to know what to do.  If I exercise my consumer choice and avoid BP, I'm still unable to shop around for a competitive price, and the only people who will be affected by my boycott are BP's innocent franchise owners and their employees. 

Feeling conflicted.