If the friend is a shark from the Gulf coast - better trust the wife

Second question - do the words trust and multi-billion dollar corporation belong in the same sentence.

My choice -- as far as I'm concerned from knowing BP's past and what the present plans for the Gov and BP were just before the drill, I would say they all need to be sent out with boats and kept offshore until they clean that place up -- even if they have to drink it clean.

Anyone STILL wondering why I said to boycott? Anyone still fooled that BP will be springing for this disaster? Kill that company.

Noooooooo!

I trust myself first and foremost. After that, my parents and a family member or two and that's as far as the list goes.

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Kay, here's what National Geographic says about how much oil has been removed from the Gulf.
Much Gulf Oil Remains, Deeply Hidden and Under Beaches

Thom - Thanks for that link. At least I'm not alone in thinking this is a "mission accomplished" charade.

At least someone seems to have settled on an "amount leaked" - spokesperson on CNN (fm gvt agency) said 205 million gallons last week.
And the artile says the same in 'barrels'. That's a first !

I would love to believe it's over - but my gut tells me you don't go from environmental catastrophe to all clear in 2-3 weeks which is what we are asked to believe.

Guess we'll see, won't we?

I always liked that bumper sticker "Question Authority"

As a whole I don't trust the government, local or national. I don't trust the media overall either. I especially don't trust BP and 'guilty" is the right word to descibe them in my opinion also.

However, I can't really compare the fed governments news conference the other day with the pie chart to the Mission Accomplished deal in 2003. The differences are huge. After that Mission Accomplished message happened about 3,000 Americans died, tens of thousands others were injured, hundreds of billions were spent, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed and are still being killed and millions were displaced.

Yeah, the admin perhaps said things in an overly optimistic way but they didn't really say the crisis was over either. NOAA Director Jane Lubchenco said at that White House briefing "No one is saying it's not a threat anymore. Diluted and out of sight doesn't necessarily mean benign."

and "I think the common view of most of the scientists inside and outside government is that the effects of this spill will likely linger for decades. The fact that so much of the oil has been removed and in the process of being degraded is very significant and means that the impact will not be even worse than it might have been. But the oil that was released and has already impacted wildlife at the surface, young juvenile stages and eggs beneath the surface, will likely have very considerable impacts for years and possibly decades to come."

Lubchenco also said that dissolved oil (like "sugar into your coffee or your teacup") is not necessarily less dangerous than dispersed oil ("broken up from large chunks into smaller chunks").

I think one of the things that the government was also saying was that some of the original guesses that the oil might reach all the way up to the East coast are not going to happen. So, there is a sense of relief in a way.

I don't think I've heard anyone say the cleanup work is over though. The oil on the surface in the gulf just isn't there like it was. I read something last week saying there were hundreds of skimmers working one day and only one barrel of oil was skimmed. So, of course these skimmers don't seem to be needed now.

One more point, isn't it perhaps a good thing to be optimistic about this for the sake of the local tourist industry? From what I understand the local tourist business has been devastated by the crisis.

Most definitely not alone.

The 'world' is already in trouble..........and it is all about the oil.
Far too few people in our world understand that.
I'd take a shot at saying if you asked any young adult/recent grad. what their plan is for us when the oil runs out; they'd look at you like you were whacko, jump in their Hummer and send a text on their phone about the crazy ole fart they just ran across that thinks the world is coming to an end.

*sigh*

I trust Marge. Dontcha know.

You're right, Steve - fresh fish doesn't smell fishy....but the boats that bring it in day after day often do

There are a couple oyster processing places in Biloxi - and you hold your breath when you drive by them!

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Update From the Gulf:

10 days ago when the official word from both govt and BP was "oil is almost gone" - satellite views showed 1200 square miles of oil slick and flyovers confirmed it.

Local fishing community is highly skeptical of the "sniff test" and organizations are forming to demand testing...

t r u t h o u t | Gulf Coast Fishermen Challenge US Government Over Dispersants

Meanwhile, the "cash only" businesses run along the coast for years are now getting attention. Income wasn't delcared for tax purposes so that's going to cause a problem with the BP fund dispersal.

Cash Business In Gulf Makes Compensation Difficult : NPR

Feinberg mentioned the possibility of a tax amnesty but after mentioning it said he couldn't grant such a thing. Will be interesting to see how that is handled.

Most interesting news - the New Orleans news station announced tonight there was a govt program in the works run through the agriculture dept that would pay fishermen on the gulf $12k each....can't find reference to it online but the news story said it was just announced so who knows?

I don't see any reason the fed govt would be paying $360 million in addition to the payouts due from the BP fund so will be looking for more on this one. I hope the news report was wrong.

kay