Hey Boomers. Not feeling well right now, Ol Fishgrease isn't. We're being lied to, consistently, by BP, Our Government and in the most damaging fashion, by Our News Media. Before any of you jump my ass about making such an accusatory claim, irresponsibly, please let me admit that "Lie" is a relative term.
WMDs in Iraq was such a relative lie. Some of you will claim that Bush-Cheney's use of the WMD lie to get us into a useless, probably-illegal war was in no way a relative lie. Maybe so. But Colin Powell didn't think it was a lie -- I remain convinced that he did not think it was a lie. I think there's a chance, however slim, that George W. Bush himself thought there were really Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. What makes it a lie is that there weren't fucking Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq and somebody had a pretty god damned good idea that there weren't.
Take the hop with me here and we'll continue. Or not, if you wish. This diary won't be as entertaining or light hearted as my previous ones because this isn't funny.
OH AND PLEASE KEEP THE MOTHERSHIP TK JS DIARY REC'D UP!!!!
HERE!!!!!!
The level of lies we're being told about BP's Oil Disaster this fine Friday ahead of a Holiday Weekend, are analogous to the WMD lies that got Congress and the American Public to accept entering the War In Iraq -- Operation Screaming Fucking Desert Storm Of Eagles And Shit or whatever it was called. These lies don't have the same consequences as those; probably not, anyway -- but they're lies nonetheless, and we should be outraged.
Who's Lying?
Who has a pretty god damned good idea that what we're being told isn't the truth? BP, of course. They purposely arrange everything so there's always a very small, dispersed-oil-droplet-sized kernel of truth -- just as they've done since the well blew out back in April. But BP is lying. The lies originate with BP. Now. BP knew, 3 hours into the first try of Top Kill Wednesday evening, not only that it would not be successful, ever, but that it COULD not be successful. Some Kossacks are saying BP knew before they first started pumping Top Kill, that it would not be successful. I don't believe that. Most of the real Oilfield Experts and Scientists involved with the superb team designing Top Kill wouldn't have given the same 60% to 70% chance of success we got from BP management, but most or all of them thought there was some chance. The Non-Oilfield Scientists? Who gives a fuck what they thought? I don't. You may, but I've heard Non-Oilfield Scientists talk about all this on the TV News shows and they spout the same ridiculous crap as Non-Oilfield Non-Scientists. I don't want to hear that they were the ones who suggested the team use Gamma Ray Imaging in the prep for Top Kill. Horse. Shit. The company that did that imaging is an oilfield company and they do it every day, subsea and on land. NOT a new idea.
But that doesn't matter.
NO ONE on the team now thinks there remains a chance Top Kill has done anything, or will do anything but fail. Could I be wrong about that? Yes. Am I? Nope. Top Kill has failed. It failed 3 hours into the first stage of pumping. And everyone on the Top Kill team knows it. Why is BP telling us it will be another 48 hours before we know whether or not Top Kill will work? Why did I, like you, wake up this morning to news telling us Top Kill was a "Partial Success"? Because BP is lying. Calling it a success because while they're pumping mud, they limit the amount of oil and gas coming up out of the well, is like saying that LiquidPaper® is a WMD. It's just as truthful. Want to see what a truthful statement regarding Top Kill would look like, entering this Holiday Weekend? Here:
While we're pumping mud, we're limiting the amount of hyrdocarbons entering the Gulf of Mexico. Between stages of pumping mud, the well is expelling more mud than hydrocarbons and that is also good. Top Kill will not kill this well and will not allow us to set a cement plug. We are preparing a more robust version of the (LMRP) Top Hat oil gathering equipment that stands a good chance of collecting all the oil from the leak, once we cut the riser off and perform some other work. You can sometimes see us performing that work on the Live Feed. Until that work toward our next step is complete, we will continue pumping mud from time to time. While we know it will not kill the well, it does limit the well expelling hydrocarbons into the Gulf of Mexico until we're ready for the next operation. And that's a good thing.
Now. Are you dejected? You've just been told the truth. Does it depress you? Or are you encouraged, because there is some good being done and you're being told the truth? BP's lies have become the process. They cannot stop. Lies are in BP's DNA.
Is Our Government Lying?
No. They sometimes repeat lies, just as President Obama did this afternoon in a statement from a beach he visited in Louisiana, which is NOT the beach we've seen workers raking up big globs of oil from (by the way). I do not believe President Obama knows the truth about the failure of Top Kill to perform its original purpose and I certainly do not believe he would repeat a lie, knowing it is a lie. I'm unhappy with the Obama Administration's overall response to this crisis, but I will not address that here or in the comments below. That is a political opinion, and one I could easily be wrong about. You may find me ranting about it in the comments of other diaries, but not here.
Is US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen lying? No. US Coast Guard Admiral Baghdad Bob Thad Allen may well be an idiot, but he's not a liar. He's doing the best job he can. He says he feels it is an honor to serve, and I'm certain that is a true expression of his feelings. I personally feel he is doing and has done a piss poor job, but not all of that is his fault. Someone else should have been in charge of cleanup-protection, as an entirely separate entity from the Plug-The-Damned-Leak operation from like Day-Three. They were not. That's not a lie, it's a mistake. I make mistakes and so do you. All of that is, once again, my opinion and I could be wrong as hell about it.
Is The News Media Lying? Huh? Are They? Huh?
The News Media, the MSM, is THE most disfunctional segment of our society. They're not lying because they don't know what lying is. If they tried to lie, they would fuck it up. They cannot do their jobs and they're not capable of doing their jobs, informing us of the facts. They've sold the truth for continued access to compulsive liars. I would not doubt for one second that some MSM reporter has literally blown BP Tony Hayward for another fix of lies. If you told me you had a photo of dozens of MSM reporters lined up to literally blow BP Tony Hayward in exchange for lies, I would not need to see that photo to verify that happened.
My recent success on Daily Kos is proof that the MSM don't and can't do their jobs. I answer questions. When I don't have the answers, I try to find them. If I cannot find the answers, I say that. If I'm not pretty sure of the accuracy of one of my answers, I try to remember to say that too. This has made me a PPFG here on Daily Kos recently. It's not my writing. I'm not a good writer. It's not my expertise. I'm not an expert. If the MSM did their job... AT ALL... I would still be a 7-Year Kossack without a single rec list diary. I would be fine with that, too. Listen, Web Radio Show people, dozens of you, I don't want to be on your shows. Please quit asking. That's not modesty nor a strong desire for anonymity, that's A GUY WHO DOESN'T WANT TO BE ON YOUR FUCKING WEB RADIO SHOW!!!
Gary Coleman just died. Shit. God bless him.
Yesterday, at the end of the business day while the evening news programs were rushing their shows together, BP announced that they had shut down pumping at midnight. This, when everyone, including the News Media, Admiral Thad Allen and President Obama thought the pumping operation continued for the 16 HOURS it was shut down! Immediately afterwards, some people in the News Media even began to show a faint hint of outrage, almost as if they had been lied to or something. By this morning, that outrage had been magically converted into mere confusion. Unremarkable. The MSM is confused about something? Good. You got the sports page there? You hear about Sestak? Even now, some questions are being asked about the withholding of that information, but they are questions of confusion. And no one is asking about the greater lie: the failure of Top Kill to perform its original purpose, and the lack of truthful estimates regarding it's chances of killing the well. Watch all the shows tonight on CNN and MSNBC. Especially the ones we love (hullo Rachel and Keith!). We can hardly expect them to make the firm accusations I'm making, but can't we expect them to ask the question? Can't we expect them to see a little ways through the mud-fog and just ask the fucking question?
That's just the MSM. Their honor is not at stake here, assuming they have any. But, how can Admiral Thad Allen not publicly chew BP's ass for making him look like a uninformed moron yesterday? How about President Obama? Rahm? You're good at chewing ass. How about it? WTF???
A Few Other Things
In all the leak-spill diaries, we've seen with increasing frequency, people posting quotes from and links to TheOilDrum, claiming that site is populated by Oilfield Industry Experts. I've found one there. One Expert. ROCKMAN. Whoever this old guy is, he knows his shit, especially regarding this blowout and possible means of stopping it. I value, and will defer to his opinion on anything. Otherwise, TheOilDrum front pagers read too much like BP and Unified Comand apologists for my liking. Maybe not for yours. That's fine. But in the general discussions over there, you'll find just as many NUKE-IT posts as here and just as many wildly uninformed guesses as here. It's not a site filled with industry experts. Basically, my suggestion (you're free to ignore it) is that if it's ROCKMAN, read it, link it, quote it, believe it. If it's anyone else, your mileage WILL vary.
Another thing. Sometimes in DKos comments and more often in my email, I get people assaulting me telling me that I'm wrong and that the booming techniques I advocated in my first booming diary... are wrong. Won't work in The Gulf. Fishgrease doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. Listen, you stupid pricks. Despite its title, that diary was not an actual Booming School (really?). It was an editorial. It contained concepts that while true, were simplified such that OF FUCKING COURSE they couldn't be used in a huge number of real-world booming situations. At the time, it was a fact that most of the boom being floated down in The Gulf was for PR purposes only. If you want to go to a real Booming School, contact a company named Dowcar. Be ready to fork over a good chunk of cash for their schools, because they're the best and the best is expensive. They invented most of modern fastwater booming. You can't get into one of their schools right now, because those guys are down in the Gulf right now working 20-hour shifts. They're floating good boom and they're re-floating bad boom. They're not floating PR boom because I know those guys and girls and they would quit first. They would quit using language that makes mine sound like that of a Sunday School Teacher. Things are getting better down there now. Took a month, but things are getting better.
And here:
Deepwater Horizon: The first 30 days This is a GREAT diary. It obviously took a lot of work. Bookmark it and encourage Hayate Yagami to keep it updated. History is important shit. Give Hayate Yagami some love while you're at it.
ALSO: Please do not imbed CNN clips. You may link them, but do not imbed them. They cause trouble with some browsers and prohibit people from commenting. EVERYONE should be able to comment on Daily Kos, regardless of their browser choice.