The United States Of BP

I have absolutely no ability to comprehend what is wrong with our government regarding the BP oil problem. At first, when the right wing nutjobs were calling it "Obama's Katrina," I was like, ok, here goes the noise machine again.

But the total failure of Obama and his gang to do ANYTHING is just mind boggling.

A fisherman who was hospitalized after becoming ill while cleaning up oil in the Gulf of Mexico has filed a temporary restraining order in federal court against oil company BP.

[snip]

In his affidavit, Wunstell described his experience at the hospital.

"At West Jefferson, there were tents set up outside the hospital, where I was stripped of my clothing, washed with water and several showers, before I was allowed into the hospital," Wunstell said. "When I asked for my clothing, I was told that BP had confiscated all of my clothing and it would not be returned."

And doesn't this sound eerily familiar to this?“

But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President [Bush], I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast — black and white, rich and poor, young and old — deserve far better from their national government.

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Increased national attention was on the Gulf Coast yesterday when President Obama made a visit to assess the oil spill response effort. An official in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, is reporting that BP “bused 400 cleanup workers into Grand Isle” — at a rate of $12 an hour — to be there when Obama arrived.

I could go on and on with the comparisons, but we've been hearing and seeing the incompetency of both BP's and our government's reaction to this oil problem for more than a month now.

I'll just close with this from PBS, which is a pictorial of the damage to the wildlife in the region.

It's enough to break your heart.