Friday, June 18, 2010

I Think I Smell a Rat

I am not good at much of anything, terrible pool player, fair golfer, awful housekeeper, but I have always been cursed with one exceptional talent. I can smell bullshsit, horseshit, and rats as well as and usually better than the average K-9. And with all the posturing and pontificating during the hearings with BP’s CEO today, rat odor drifted all about.

First, BP is a rat, plain and simple, a corporate rat. The Supreme Court holds that a corporation is a person with Constitutional rights of a person, which is ratty theory because as one wise son claims you can’t hang a corporation, put it in jail, or give it a traffic ticket it. The officers of BP or any huge corporation are not liable for a blessed thing except making money for their stock holders, regardless of impact on others. Consequently, they can be called into a Congressional hearing for several hours of tongue lashing, but the bottom line is that they do not give a rat’s behind what is said about them or to them; they will make out just fine as long as they don’t get indicted on criminal charges. So all Tony Hayward’s apologies and ignorance about what’s going on in his company is simply rat-odor. Remember, these dudes get paid magna-bucks for knowing how to operate fortunes ( Tony Hayward made a mere 4.7 million in 2009), but in every ratty case I can remember from Exxon to Enron to BP, the big cheese, when put on the girddle of public inspection, either didn’t get the memo, make the decision, or was out of the loop when the poop washed ashore. I do not care what Tony Hayward made or what he will make; the rat stink will rise when we find out all this stutter-stepping and juking by him was all fancy footwork- a stall to buy BP time to head for sheltered bankruptcy or another method to avoid paying up( anyone know British law?). I know about the 20 billion funds, but unless that is delivered in a couple of trunks of cash, I remain skeptical. As I wrote in my last rambling, do not forget the ratty, Valdez award diminished from 5 billion, to 2.5 billion to 508 million. (Ooops-a-doozle, one other rat-speak of note: who said,” “You have my word we will make you whole again.”? Nope, not Tony Hayward (oh he might have) it was Don Cornett, Exxon executive.)

Another sad waft of rat odor rises from all the schemers and liars and cheats who, as I type, are padding expenses, profits, anticipated revenues, and whatnot in order to get in on the 20 billion. Now these vermin will obfuscate the efforts of honest people who have really suffered. Plus, awards to the honest will be diminished because some of the crooks will actually pull it off. And just think about all the drag-heeled, round-heeled, skunk-breathed lawyers who are lined up to open offices all along the Gulf so that they can start representing the entrepreneurs in Minnesota who lost money because they couldn’t get Gulf oysters. And my dear folks we have not heard yet about the no-bid contracts that are, in my estimation, being hid out until some cyber-reporter finds out. Oh, wow there’s a whole lot of stinking going on that we won’t know about right away. More about this later, I guarantee.

The biggest rats of all, as you probably, know are presently in Congress. First that moron from Texas calls the 20 billion fund, a shakedown. That would be Texas republican, Joe Barton, no doubt looking to find a wedge of lunatic votes to help him get a rung up on the ladder to a Presidential nomination. Echoing Barton’s opinion was another “fiscal” conservative republican, Tom Price of Georgia, imbecile-at-large. Jayzus, that notion was then picked up by Rust Limpbag, dope addict, felon, lard-ass, calling it a slush fund. Well, I am too transparent in my feelings about that fat bastard, but Waxman, Engel, Melancon, Stupak, Gingrey , et.al. are the worst rodents of all. This sordid cabal of elected officials has known all along (since taking office and before) that the Mineral Management Service had been stuffed with cronies of Dick Cheney’s (he of secret meetings with oil industry). Cheney used his Wyoming buddy, Sansonetti, a GOP activist to select personnel for Department of the interior. AND from 2000 to 2008, both directors of MMS were from Wyoming republican politics. The former resigned over failure to collect royalties (did he go to jail?) and the later is now the president of a lobbying group, National Ocean Industries Group. (Once again our tax dollars go for years to do-nothings who then flop over to work for a lobby.) All these representatives screaming at Tony Hayward have known for years that the agency responsible for regulating safety on oil rigs was plum full of top dogs, hand selected by politicians close to Big Oil, yet not one did anything about it. That is Ratsville at its best, an act, and tomfoolery, TV-face-time at the expense of the nation and for the good of nobody.

Of course, this gift of mine isn’t so special: you all know they are rats, all of them don’t you? Or are you one of those who think there are only demorats, no republican rats on board?

“I Think I Smell a Rat”- Buddy Guy

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Right on Greg-O!!!