Comments about the BP Gulf Oil Disaster

Okay.  First, this is not a "spill".  I spill milk on the kitchen table and don't take the economies of four states or create massive ocean dead zones  BP's Gulf Oil Disaster is not directly related to my novel, but indirectly, it is. Both are about endless corporate avarice, fraud, and criminal negligence, and the government corruption and incompetence that create these nightmares.  I am posting comments to The Huffington Post, Raw Story, and any other news outlet that will let me vent. I've been doing this for some time and I'll update this page over time.  I apologize if this seems over-the-top, but this is the only therapy I can get when the energy and minerals industries (among others) are causing so much hardship and environmental destruction.  That, and I'm working on another novel.  It's all cheaper than a shrink. And the one possible upside to this monstrous disaster in the Gulf is that maybe, just maybe, we'll wake up.

Huffington Post, July 25, 2010

When the Philip Morris Tobacco Company decided their public image needed a facelift (I mean, the tobacco industry sell products that everyone knows is addictive and kills 450,000 American every year - and that is not terrorism?), Philip Morris changed their name to a nice cozy, ambiguously fluffy name: Altria Group. That was years ago and you've probably never heard of the Altria Group. So now BP will get a new CEO (Criminal Executive Officer), a new name, (something like "The Butterscotch Boys"?), and all of their problems will magically go away. Right. But 450,00 Americans still die every year from tobacco (imagine what it is worldwide), abject government failure to properly regulate these industries will still be the norm, and the environmental and financial disaster that is the Gulf will continue for many years. This is the price we pay when big business runs our government. There is a name for this form of government, and it is not "democracy".

Raw Story, July 7, 2010

We need to understand the fact that the all-powerful oil and mining/drilling companies are predators. They predate the environment, decimating entire eco-systems, wiping out river systems and lakes with toxic mining effluent and causing widespread poisoning of water supplies by hydraulic fracturing, (a toxic new method of drilling wells for oil and natural gas). These CEOs and their companies DO NOT GIVE A DAMN about permanent poisoning, large-scale die-offs, and the human cost. The Southeast U.S. will be an environmental and economic dead zone for many years. BP's immediate concern? Inject toxic dispersants into the oil stream to HIDE the oil beneath the water surface. And here is the other shoe. Government oversight of these dangerous industries have failed us miserably. Corporations are predators, and our government has broken down, complicit by incompetence or outright corruption. For BP? MAKE GREED PAY. Boycott the company forever. Sue the company forever. Destroy BP. Make this a battle cry. Prosecute these criminals. Join an environmental organization. Read my fact-based, award winning thriller, THE MINE, about corporate greed, youthful idealism, and survival. MAKE GREED PAY. - Daniel Cobb

Los Angeles Times, July 5, 2010

Months and millions of barrels later, BP is still running the show. Dear God. Perhaps, after such a horrific disaster, we might wake up. The Gulf oil spill is currently wrecking the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the Gulf, killing the fisheries, killing tourism, killing the beaches and the vast diversity of life in the Gulf wetlands and in the ocean. The toll is immeasurable. But, this was bound to happen. There are thousands of such wells in the Gulf and we can say, "Hey, only one went so catastrophically wrong!"  But it only takes one! Remember this when they want to drill off your coast. And you know damned well what created this disaster: Avarice. Greed run amok. The industry is drilling dangerous wells over a mile deep, with no failsafe method to stop a blowout. This is the pinnacle of irresponsibility, but it is commonplace. Greed drives everything. Hold BP accountable. Bankrupt the company. Sue forever. Make them pay. Close down their American operations. Make Greed Pay.

Copyright © Daniel Cobb