A Citizens’ Indictment of Co-Conspirators BP and BO
Picture Ali Baba and the forty thieves (read OPEC et al) sitting around a sumptuous dinner table after a big heist at the local commodity exchange. British Petroleum (BP) says to Barack Obama (BO), “Please, just one more day to cap this gusher. Remember, the tanker sitting above this well can hold 1.4 million barrels of oil. At $75 a barrel were talking 105 million dollars every time we fill a tanker. Ahh, nothing like a real undersea gusher sittin’ atop a 100 million barrel oil field. This is the big one, BO! The real megilla! I mean the CASH COW that never stops giving!” And so it was.
The grand daddy of British Petroleum is the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the first oil company to exploit the petroleum reserves in the Middle East. They’ve been around a long time and pretty much set the standard for the drilling and extracting of black gold, especially in the foreign lands and waters around the world. Back in 1908 when they were founded, there were basically no rules. No regulations, and therefore no regulators. And, believe it or not, not much has really changed since then in spite of the various US agencies, departments and bureaucrats tasked with this highly dubious function. Here is the product of this woefully lacking oversight:
What’s the point here? The point is that there are gushers big and small that blow under water just like the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Goes on all the time, except most are strictly underwater, not on top with a huge explosion, raging fireball and miles high smoke plume. However they do happen just like this, and it may take a day, or a week, to get it under control. In the meantime a whole lot of oil has just spilled into the oceans of the world. These kinds of incidents are very difficult to identify since there is so much drilling and extracting going on around the world, especially with a very lax regulatory regime in place to monitor them. Essentially, it is anything goes, anytime, anywhere in the world. And so it does.
It truly is a miracle that, with the number of oil and gas platforms operating just offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, this was one of the first to really blow BIG on top of the water followed by the dramatic sinking of a $500 million oil platform. Just look at the photo below of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Platform in its moment of sinking to get a sense of just how apocalyptic this event really was. We’re talking the end of an era here. The termination point for an energy paradigm defined by oil and natural gas. A very fitting time indeed for the planet to transition away from hydrocarbon fuels, forever. And toward a truly green and clean energy platform, sustainable and renewable source, and environmentally friendly and ecologically sound method of production, dissemination and utilization.
KATRINA a million times over for the BO Administration
Back to BP and BO and their complicity in the worst environmental catastrophe of the modern age. Here we have a foreign national corporation dictating to the US Government how an ongoing undersea “ginormous oil volcano” will be dealt with. The permitting authority is the US Government (out to lunch). The regulatory body is the US Government (AWOL). And the legal jurisdiction is the US Government (nobody home). Meanwhile, the Mother of all Gushers is letting loose as much as 2 & 1/2 million gallons of oil a day into the Gulf which is home to so much life and culture and local economy of the USA.
Before this crime against humanity occurred, where was the Department of Interior, the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency? WHERE WERE THEY?! More importantly, WHERE ARE THEY NOW!? The US Navy together with the US Transportation Command, Global Divers, Inc., every US Oil Company presently in the Gulf and so on, need to be mounting the biggest joint effort in US history to permanently cap this well. The Navy, having probed the depths of the 35, 814 foot deep Mariana Trench, has all the needed robotics, deep sea equipment, and other technology/capability necessary to plug this hole post haste. Hello!!! Anybody home?!
After this assault on the Gulf of Mexico first began, as well as throughout the continuous transgressions against Her coastline and all that lives and works there, really where is the US Federal Government?! Clearly, by its acts of omission and commission this Administration will be found guilty of a much greater violation of the public trust than any previous one. Criminal negligence, treason, misprison of felony, malfeasance, collusion with the enemy (BP) are just some of the few that come to mind in the wake of the real looming regional calamity about to materialize. The BO Administration needs to be impeached en masse and forever held up as the antithesis of what governance should stand for. For shame! Truly, a legacy full of utter shame as they spin their misdeeds as right conduct.
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“GOVERNMENT owes its existence to the people. Its primary purpose is to protect and safeguard the citizenry of the nation. It also exists to ensure the welfare of the populace, as well as to sustain an order in which all may flourish and pursue their goals. This social contract is very much a two-way street in which the governed promise to carry out their civic duties while the government fulfills the myriad responsibilities of statehood.
What are some of the basic obligations and functions, which all governments are held to and expected to perform, within this contract? They include a good faith commitment to: (i) protect the life, well-being and livelihood of each and every citizen, (ii) maintain a clean, healthy and safe environment in which to live, work and play and (iii) guarantee access to products and services which are safe, life-affirming and health promoting.
It is now clear that this sacred trust has been flagrantly violated in the most profound and fundamental ways by the US Government. Therefore, WE THE PEOPLE, hand down the following “citizen’s indictment” in these United States of America against the current and previous US Administrations. Since this is a multi-count indictment of tremendous breadth and depth, we have taken the liberty of outlining each count as succinctly as possible. As each investigator employs their own unique process of “discovery”, all are encouraged to flesh out the skeleton of this indictment to their complete satisfaction. Given the enormous amount of information and data now available in the: (i) public record, (ii) governmental and private sectors, (iii) academic arena and (iv) internet base world wide web, there is a great abundance of factual evidence presented by highly authoritative sources concerning the following allegations. The only constraints in ferreting out all of the pertinent facts/details will be one’s own initiative and dedication to the truth. WE THE PEOPLE, hereby submit, with both regret and resolve, the following bill of indictment for immediate prosecution.”
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A very similar citizen’s indictment (introduction shown above) was presented for an equally heinous crime committed against the American people several years ago. Since the elements of the indictment are fundamentally the same in both crimes, it is quite interesting that the present Administration is now on the hook for conduct for which they rightfully castigated the previous Administration. A rogue federal government has allowed a foreign corporation to assault its homeland, coastal waters, citizen, as well as their homes, businesses and way of life. Where BP is the actual criminal committing the crime, our own government has given them the gun, and allowed them to pull the trigger repeatedly without fear of prosecution.
It is important to understand that this behavior (industry MO) is the status quo throughout the oil and gas industry worldwide. Doesn’t make it right in any way, shape or form, obviously. Just shows how imperative it is for this industry to receive its comeuppance.
Furthermore, these oil and gas companies have written the book on how to steal resources from those who are powerless to defend themselves or their property. In this regard they have been on the forefront of the corporate agenda that persuades whole nations to give up their oil and gas and pipelines, lest they become the victim of the latest and greatest Shock & Awe campaign (aka nation building and democracy promotion by the US State Department, US Chamber of Commerce, US Business Roundtable & the POTUS). The examples of this corporate intimidation are truly endless and can be illustrated by the illegal wars waged upon Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia/Bosnia/Kosovo, and South Ossetia. Likewise, the various color revolutions throughout the former Soviet States to include Georgia, Ukraine, Kryrgyzstan, as well as the ongoing green revolution in Iran, all give glaring testimony to a modus operandi that is simply without conscience.
When corporate entities are so accustomed to getting their way – anytime, anywhere, anyhow – for well over a hundred years, it is easy to see how even America would sooner or later become a victim of their terror. In these days of time compression, as karmic slack begins to shorten, blowback is occurring much more quickly and frequently. Witness the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic ash cloud hovering over Europe not too long after a number of European nations (particularly Great Britain & The Netherlands) literally bankrupted Iceland. We now witness American, British and Israeli attempts to steal the resources of Iran under the widely known false pretext (Remember Iraq?) of preventing nuclear weaponization by that country. This, right after the aforementioned grand thefts and ongoing genocides in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Pakistan, incidentally, is also an integral part of this grand strategy known as the Great Game, which is why extrajudicial killing of innocent civilians by drones take place routinely there. Quite unfortunate for anyone who happens to live on the chessboard that either sits on top of oil and gas reserves, or has major pipelines running through there homeland.
Highly unfortunate indeed, as we now experience on our very own Gulf Coast. Only this time they messed with the wrong crowd. They actually messed with their own kind which is demonstrative of how the capitalistic divide and conquer strategy is currently working itself up the food chain. In the instant case there are certainly elements of both environmental terrorism and corporate sabotage at work to bring about another opportunity for disaster capitalism to save the day. Here’s the short story so that you may really wrap your mind around the crazy dynamic that is driving most of today’s world events. By the way, ‘crazy’ in that the craziest among them are running the asylum known as plant Earth. As follows:
During the devolution of the corrupt, crony-ridden, corporate side of the capitalistic system there will always comes a time when the snake of capitalism starts to eat itself. That time is now, and has been for unfolding for the past many years. Only now it is really beginning to devour itself in a feeding frenzy. As the global economy finds itself in a freefall due to the inevitable monetary meltdown (read collapse of fiat money) there is a bold and forceful shift to commodities by anyone or entity who has capital or the means to harvest any commodities of inherent value such as gold, oil, diamonds, various ores used in manufacturing, etc. See the gold breakout in real time, as well as BP’s desperate attempts to capture the oil instead of permanently capping the wellhead. Since all fiat currencies are on their way to zero – their actual worth – these commodities become much more valuable to the investors of the world. No one has interest anymore in artificially propping up the US$ because it is now apparent that the current and past Administrations have conspired to bankrupt the nation. You might observe how the Chinese, among many other nations, have stopped purchasing US Treasuries.
So, we have a real problem here. The den of thieves has come home and is treating their homeboys and girls just as they have treated their foreign competitors and sworn enemies from abroad. You get the picture, as seen below:
Bear in mind that BP is a foreign corporation who thinks nothing of spraying dispersants on their oil spills in the North Sea, except that the ones they’re spraying in the Gulf have been outlawed in he UK due exceptional toxicity to life and the environment. It is clear that their sensibilities are much different than those of us who live on the Gulf regarding the wanton poisoning of the environment in order to extract resources. Even though these dispersants are more toxic and hazardous than the oil, BP finds this prescription acceptable. Money (theirs) trumps our health and quality of life. And we are supposed to submit to their dictates in our own backyard. Go figure!
It was quite remarkable to be told this at the largest public hearing in Florida to date, at the St. Theresa FSU Lab, by the North FL Chamber of Commerce: The unified command structure running the entire Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Operation, both coastal and water, now includes British Petroleum. And all FL county emergency services have been directed to report to and take orders from British Petroleum. Can you imagine that?! The same rogue foreign corporation that committed the crime gets to tell you how to clean up their crime scene. Heaven help us!?Please, and quickly!
This is basically how the capitalistic divide and conquer strategy will work itself all the way up the food chain to the very top enchilada. Even the very rich and wealthy landed gentry from Stuart, FL down to Miami are not immune to the awesome fallout and far-reaching ramifications of this unprecedented disaster. Nor, especially, are those who domicile anywhere from Clearwater to Naples, FL on the western Gulf Coast. Their multi-million dollar beachfront homes are effectively not sellable from this point forward. All the swank and posh yacht clubs, country clubs and golf clubs are history, as Florida is set to become a staging ground for the largest beach remediation program ever. The intra-coastal waterways along Florida’s 1200 miles of coastline will be beyond complete repair in this generation. The irony of course is that so many of the more famous multi-generational residents made their fortunes in oil as founding members of the early companies, corporations and cartels, or by way of investment through stock ownership. Henry M. Flagler of West Palm Beach and Flagler Beach fame, for example, was a founding officer of the Standard Oil Company along with John D. Rockefeller.
Well, it is now easy to understand that in the upcoming worldwide depression there will be a flight of capital, currency and cash to anything of real value. These aforementioned commodities have now become a currency in and of themselves serving as a means of exchange in the emerging global black market economy. BO knows this and is perfectly willing to sacrifice a regional economy (oil and gas are far superior to tourism and seafood in the new economic and geopolitical calculus) to secure his piece of the action, which the US Government always receives under the table from their corporate benefactors. Not only that, but BP is privy to so much about what went wrong in the whole permitting process and development stages, in clear violation of federal law, state statutes and department rules and regulations, that they got the goods on ’em. Backed right into a corner with their own legislation. See how the lobbyists set the whole game up on behalf of their corporate paymasters.
The good news is that something like this had to happen to serve as a wake up call to this country and to the world. The status quo is no longer sustainable in many profound and fundamental ways, and something radical had to happen. In the end it will be known as the defining moment when humankind finally saw the ravages of the oil and gas industry in its most devastating form, as well as the futility of continuing down this path of planetary self-destruction. The preceding photo-documentary captures the flashpoint when the beginning of the end finally showed itself in living color, so that humanity could break free from the shackles of its addiction to petroleum.
The real good news is that, like the Phoenix of ancient lore, a new civilization will rise from the ashes of this great conflagration. As society lets go of the hydrocarbon fix, and moves toward that which is truly aligned with Mother Earth and Her well-being, it will emerge in a form that is quite superior to our current state. The nascent energy platforms that are surfacing all around us bear testimony to a future that will be incalculably cleaner, immeasurably more efficient and, believe it or not, free! In fact, they call it free energy.
Nikola Tesla, himself, demonstrated how the standing wave energy, which exists all around us, could be tapped into for the running of our civilization. The companies in his day that suppressed this vital technology are the very same ones that we are talking about here. Perhaps they can be persuaded to “switch platforms” before the rest of theirs also sink to the bottom of the sea, as this ineluctable sea change comes upon US, as it comes upon the world community of nations.
Concerned Citizens of the GULF Coast
ConcernedFLCitizens@comcast.net
May 16, 2010