Monday, May 3, 2010

They Went That-a-Way

Faced with a precedented disaster in the Gulf, the corporate media has picked BP as the scapegoat.

Disregard that oil spills are a predicted and expected part of offshore drilling, which is why they are opposed by environmentalists. Disregard that they cannot be cleaned up easily, and that much death and damage will be done before any "clean-up" begins.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal is now posturing before the cameras, demanding the the US government and BP break out the ShamWow and wipe up the mess. This is the same Bobby Jindal who pushed for more offshore drilling.

Interesting, though, is the anointment of BP as the scapegoat. Only the non-corporate media even mention that Halliburton was working on the rig, under contract to BP.

As I pointed out in Some Pig, people are absurdly easy to misdirect. An angry mob pulls up on horseback, a man points and says "They went that-a-way", and there they all furiously ride.

Apparently, Dick Cheney and his corporation remain off-limits to criticism, and oil spills will be blamed on technical difficulties and not inherent flaws.

BP, Exxon, Shell and other oil companies have all been involved in environmental devastation over our planet.

And yet, US consumption of oil has sky rocketed even since the days when we were oil exporters! Urban sprawl, SUVs and pickup trucks, massive highway construction, it all continues.

And Obama pushes road construction as a job creator, to save us from economic downturn.

FDR had people planting trees, writing plays and compiling oral histories, along with infrastructure building.

There is no reason that we couldn't do the same now, but with public transportation and decentralized energy production as the preferred infrastructure.

Oh, wait, there is. Massive construction corporations, massive energy corporations, etc., have a complete stranglehold on our government.

The killings will continue until morale improves, and we, the people, take our country back and give the death penalty to lawless corporations.

Addendum:

Wow. It's worse than I thought. Those scapegoating BP are the responsible ones. The right wing crazies are blaming either eco-terrorists or North Korea!!!

You can't make this shit up!!! Oh, wait, they do.

Just realizing that 33% of the people of this country will believe them, no matter how crazy, is depressing.


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