A Rant on BP. . .

So last week, I finally broke down and ordered HBO from my local cable outlet.  In the orgy of television watching the followed, I saw "Treme," David Simon's show about New Orleans post-Katrina (great show by the way).  Just as Simon's beloved Baltimore, New Orleans is basically a fucked up place, but beloved nonetheless. 

One thing that got me is how New Orleans has now gone from mostly fucked - as in, sure the town is destroyed, but there needs to be a city around the largest American port - to totally fucked.  The BP oil rig disaster is currently devastating a way of life - fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida - in ways beyond our comprehension.  Worst of all, it becomes clearer and clearer every day that BP, with the okay of the Feds, ignored all possible safety precautions that could have prevented the disaster. 

So, another day, another mess for the Obama Administration.  Never have I ever seen an Administration have to deal with so many crises at once.  And thanks to decades of deregulation, we're going to see one crisis after another pop up seemingly from nowhere.   Worst of all, our leaders are stuck in the Clintonian era of paying down deficits and deregulation.  Morons.

In this instance, and rather than consensus building, Obama needs to bring down the hammer.  Order the government to seize all of BP's assets to insure that BP has the money to pay for the cleanup.  Fire every Federal employee that he can, and who is responsible for this mess.  Push the DOJ to file criminal charges against all parties involved, and hire the local fishing fleet to clean up the mess.  Hire Samuel L. Jackson* to act as his spokesman for anything BP related.  "Yes, the President stripped BP of all of its drilling contracts, and I HOPE BP BURNS IN HELL!!!"

*Editor's Note: My suggestion of Samuel L. Jackson has nothing to do with anyone's race, but rather has everything to do with Mr. Jackson's ability to express righteous indignation better than anyone else alive.

Anyway, I think you get the idea. The thing is, the people are pissed, and someone needs to be made an example of.  And given that BP is an oil company, and a foreign company, and they've totally ruined the fishing industry in the Gulf for at least a generation, why not completely fuck them up?