Open mouth, insert foot

I love that the CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, spent the weekend at a yachting event in the small portion of the ocean that they have apparently managed to not destroy yet. I say give them time. But seriously, of ALLLLLLL the things he could have done to spend time with his family......sailing on the ocean or watching a yacht race? Really? This is the man who was quoted as saying he wanted his life back. Tell that to the people who make a living off the ocean his company just ruined. But, isn't it really all about giving the shareholders a good return on their investment dollars?

This country stands for the right to have your own opinions and to express those opinions. Free speech is a cornerstone of all that America stands for. The only speech that is not protected is speech that is meant to start a public riot. The best example is shouting fire in a crowded movie theater. The exception to the free speech rule comes in play when you join the military. You have the right to your own opinion about anything and everything. You can think the President is an idiot, BUT, you cannot share that opinion with the press. The President, like him or not, is your Commander in Chief and as such, is in charge. To speak ill of your superiors is considered insubordination. To voice your negative opinions of any of your leaders to the press, especially if you are the guy in charge of the unit, is gross insubordination. To put it into perspective, imagine what would happen to you at work if you said the sorts of things that were said to your boss. Better yet, how well would it go over if you put it in the company newsletter? Yeah, it is like that.

The old and the new

Having been to court today, I was reminded in no uncertain terms that stupid people keep criminal defense attorneys employed. I don't like to deal with them, but I have to thank them for their existence.

Last night I was surprised to receive a text from Ian. He was sitting in St. Louis and just wanted to say hi. Kaz quickly informed me that Fort Leonard Wood was still another 3 hours south of St. Louis so Ian was in for a long bus ride. My only advice for him was to SLEEP every single available second he had because as soon as his feet hit the ground he could count on being severely sleep deprived for the next 9 weeks. Poor kid, he said it was too cold to sleep on the bus.

I have now had custody of Michael's old cold for over a week. I am no longer convinced I am dying, or begging for the relief death would offer, but I am still thinking it sucks to be me every time I cough.

BP is still f'ing up the clean-up and trying to pretend it isn't really all that bad. As Bill Maher said, it was all just a conspiracy by pelicans to get a free bath.

There isn't really anything new to report, but the title was catchy.

The "A" word

Appalling? Apocalyptic? Awesome? Words being used to describe the oil disaster include; heartbreaking, total destruction of the marine ecosystem, horrific, impossible, amazing, startling, shocking, arresting and upsetting. Mere words cannot begin to describe the shock and awe of this catastrophic disaster. The word that is being bandied about the most about the oil spill is accountability. Everyone agrees that BP should be held accountable for everything that has happened and take full responsibility for the billions that will be needed to clean this mess up, or at least make a full press effort to clean up THEIR mess.

The one word that seems to have escaped the war of words is...."AVOIDABLE"

It is my understanding that BP bypassed the safety concerns of its employees and took the cheap way out to get at the oil at the bottom of the ocean. We need to acknowledge the 500 pound purple gorilla in the middle of the room. Really?

A no brainer REALLY?!

I LOVE the fact that everyone in Washington is spending all this time, money, energy and effort to try and determine how much oil is spilling forth into the Gulf in order to figure out if the oil executives may have lied about the damage they were causing. REALLY???? We know for a fact they lied and misled the government and the public. Does it really matter if we know exactly how much they lied? We know it is bad, how bad it is makes no difference when it comes to playing the blame game. I would think that they would all realize that it is more important to expend more effort cleaning up what is spilling instead of wasting energy and time trying to figuring out how much is spilling at any given moment. I will tell you what to do. Give each an every politician and oil executive a mop, a scoop and a bucket and tell them to argue and point fingers WHILE THEY ARE CLEANING THE SHIT UP! It seemed like a no brainer to me, but maybe that is because I have a brain and a conscience and they have neither.