Well it is unbelievably well over a month that oil has been spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, with no end in sight, and the greediest incarnation of human to ever evolve, "the dreaded oil company executive", have still failed to address the problem.
It would hardly be unfair or presumptuous to speculate that they have most probably spent more time and money researching how they can limit their liabilities from this disaster, than they have into actually fixing the leak.

So while Oil companies are allowed to put greater effort into promoting lies and disinformation about issues like Global Warming, than they do into implementing adequate safety protocols for their operations, whilst treating the whole planet with utter contempt, we have to ask how long can we allow these crooks to regulate themselves?
The whole issue of regulation is going to turn around, as normal people are fed up with the corporatisation of our society, where these behemoths place themselves above the laws of any nation, because of their wealth and power.
We are witnessing an arrogant indifference to the common people that would have even made the court of the Bourbon Royals blush with shame.
In fact the whole malaise where the obscenely wealthy and privileged are seemingly exempt from the restrictions placed on 'common' people, is frighteningly reminiscent of those pre-revolution days of debauchery and decadence.

People have already died, more will die, the eco-systems will be polluted for hundreds of years or more, and these execs will minimise their losses, evade responsibility, most likely by blaming an intoxicated worker, already dead, and unable to defend themselves, for a human error, and then avoid facing the financial responsibility for the mess they alone have made.

I am not overstating the case when I say these executives all deserve to spend a long time in jail.
They took hundreds of millions in salary, to be the ones responsible, to be the ones who decided what safety regulations to ignore, what protocols to refuse to comply with, what shortcuts their company could take to ensure the absolute greatest financial return for themselves and their shareholders.
Well now it is time to make them take that responsibility, for their actions.
In fact it would be prudent to assume that all documents that would display the cavalier neglect of safety protocols stemming from directives from the top, are being tracked down and destroyed with far greater zeal than any of the endeavours to actually cap the leak.

So while some will think that calling for the imprisonment of executives for crimes against humanity is an insane rant, the fact remains that this tragedy was avoidable, and those responsible for not avoiding it should be held accountable.
The locals who played no part in this tragedy are paying dearly, and will do so for a very long time to come, and they, and we deserve justice, and the corporations need to learn that they will be allowed to be a law unto themselves, no more.

yes, the spill is entirely of BP's doing.

be it an accident or result of poor practises, they should be made to foot the bill for all adversely affected by it.

Only the mindless fail to see the risk to democracy that large corporations represent.

I know you joke Locutius, but there will be people on the ground there, watching wildlife suffer and die horribly, they will see families lose everything, their businesses, their livelihoods, their homes, and their will be some, who would want someone to take responsibility, someone to pay the price, and who knows what sort of behaviours that could spark?

We already have Eco-Terrorists who are very extreme, and events like this will only inspire others to join them.
That is why governments need to be seen to be taking decisive punitive action against these corporate vandals, before the loonies try to do the job for them.

You can see this spill from space now, way to go BP, maybe you can challenge Exxon for the arseholes of the universe title this year?

The bigger the business, the greater its contempt for democracy.

No Mozz I was deadly serious..ok maybe about shooting them..maybe after the clean up give them a choice of a bullet or continue living in a third world nation employed as a factory hand, in one of the multinationals chemical factories or mining industries.

AFTER

making them personally, at a hands on level part of the clean up operation

...while living and eating with the locals that are affected....

then take all their money and assets

then put them in prision.... or the above, permanate residence in say Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

watch the safety proceedures improve overnight...oh and possibly workers conditions in third world countries.

I think we should give the executives a few thousand rolls of duct tape and send them down in a submersible, and not let them come up until they fix it.

The fact that they do not have adequate systems to cope with this type of a leak shows how cavalier these corporations are when it comes to safety, which is partly why I am still opposed to nuclear power generation, I do not trust the bastards.

On the subject of what way to seal the pipe, I find it staggering that they do not have some simple devices that could do the job.
You would think that they would have back up plans in case something goes wrong, but I guess that would cost money that could be better spent on gold and jewel encrusted toilets for the executive washrooms.

I was reading a bit about the limited liability laws they have in the US, which means that BP will only be responsible for a maximum of 75 million in damages, cost over that will be met by the poor taxpayers.
It also pointed out that the oil industry will reap another 45 billion in Tax subsidies over the next ten years.

Thes guys are laughing all the way to the bank, they actually get subsidised for digging oil wells, as if they would not look for oil and dig it up if they did not get subsidies.

They are obscenely profitable, and obscenely corrupt, paying massive amounts to lobbyists to promote their personal interests above those of normal citizens.

The Exxon Valdez saga is a perfect example, they were ordered to pay 5 billion in damages, they fought it in court for twenty years, then had the damages dropped to 500 million, of which they can claim 40% tax deduction.
So, after holding out for twenty years, they paid just 300 million of the 5 billion they were ordered, while their gross misconduct caused the vastness and scale of a spill that is still impacting on the local environment, with many people suffering from illnesses possibly linked to the spill.
They should just make all these corporations join up, and call themselves, Evil Bastards Incorporated.