As Oil Company Profits Continue to Soar Leaving New York Families Feeling the Pain at the Pump, Senator Gillibrand Calls to Close Big Oil Loophole

This Week, Speaker Boehner Visited NY Calling For Trillions Of Dollars In Cuts, But Won’t Include Billions to Big Oil On The Chopping Block

Gillibrand Calls For An End To Balancing The Deficit On The Backs Of Families, While Oil Companies Receive Billions in Subsidies

New Yorkers Currently Paying More Than $4.16 Per Gallon For Regular Gas

Following House Speaker John Boehner’s visit to New York this week when he called for trillions of dollars in federal budget cuts, with the gaping exception of $21 billion in subsidies to oil companies enjoying record profits, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today called for the elimination of the tax loopholes that currently subsidize big oil companies.

Last week, the five largest, most profitable oil companies in the world, BP, Exxon, Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips (Big 5) reported a combined $32.3 billion in first-quarter earnings, making at least 50 percent more than last year. Meanwhile, New York State gas prices have skyrocketed over the past few months, leaving middle class families feeling the pain at the pump. New Yorkers are currently paying an average of more than $4.16 a gallon for regular gas.

The Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act would eliminate tax loopholes for the Big 5. In the last ten years, the Big 5 have recorded nearly $1 trillion in profits, as well as billions in taxpayer subsidies. These enormous revenues have gone to buying stock and issuing dividends, essentially lining the pockets of executives and shareholders, while working class and elderly Americans are being asked to sacrifice in order to balance the budget.

“This is a step in the right direction for both America’s energy and economic policies,” Senator Gillibrand said. “Today, New York’s families are paying more than $4 per gallon to fill up their gas tanks, while the Big 5 are using taxpayer dollars to increase their bottom line. Our families are already struggling in this difficult economy, and we must take action against rising gas prices. This legislation will force the world’s wealthiest oil companies to pay their fair share and simultaneously help cut our nation’s deficit.”

The elimination of existing subsidies for the Big 5 would not result in decreased oil production, as the CEO of ConocoPhillips, Jim Mulva, has testified, “With respect to oil and gas exploration and production, we do not need incentives.” However, this legislation would put an end to obviously unnecessary tax loopholes, and use those savings to reduce the federal budget.

The bill will include:

• Modifications of foreign tax credit rules applicable to major integrated oil companies which are dual capacity taxpayers. U.S. taxpayers are taxed on their income worldwide, but are entitled to a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for any income taxes paid to a foreign government. U.S. oil and gas companies have been accused of disguising royalty payments to foreign governments as foreign taxes. This allows them to lower their taxes in the U.S. The bill would close this loophole that amounts to a U.S. subsidy for foreign oil production for the Big 5.
• Limitations on deductions for income attributable to the production of oil, natural gas, or primary products thereof. In 2004 Congress enacted Section 199, the domestic manufacturing tax deduction. In 2008 Congress froze the Section 199 deduction at 6% for all oil and gas activity. The bill eliminates the Section 199 deduction for the Big 5.
• Limitations on deductions for intangible drilling and development costs. This would deny the Big 5 oil companies the option of expensing Intangible Drilling Costs (IDCs) and require such costs be capitalized. IDCs are expenditures such as wages, fuel, repairs, hauling, and supplies necessary for the drilling of oil wells. Currently, integrated oil companies can expense 70% of the cost of IDCs. The bill requires the Big 5 to capitalize all of its IDC costs.
• Limitations on percentage depletion allowances for oil and gas wells. Firms that extract oil and gas are permitted a deduction to recover their capital investment under one of two methods. Cost depletion allows for the recovery of the actual capital investment—the costs of discovering, purchasing, and developing the well—over the period the well produces income. Under this method, the taxpayer’s total deductions cannot exceed its original investment. Percentage depletion allows the cost recovery to be computed using a percentage of the revenue from the sale of the oil or gas. Under this method, total deductions could (and often do) exceed the taxpayer’s capital investment. The bill repeals percentage depletion for the Big 5.
• Limitations on deductions for tertiary injectants. Tertiary injectants are used in enhanced oil recovery to drive more oil from an existing well. Currently, oil companies are allowed to deduct the cost of tertiary injectants rather than capitalizing their costs and recovering them over time. The bill requires the Big 5 to capitalize the cost of tertiary injectants it uses during the year and recover those costs over time.
• The repeal of Outer Continental Shelf deep water and deep gas royalty relief. This repeals Sections 344 and 345 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Section 344 extended existing deep gas incentives and Section 345 provided additional mandatory royalty relief for certain deepwater oil and gas production. These changes will help ensure that Americans receive fair value for Federally-owned fossil fuel resources.
• Deficit Reduction. All savings realized as the result of the bill’s elimination of the tax breaks and other subsidies currently going to the major integrated oil companies are devoted to deficit reduction.

Disaster by MarkFiore - YouTube

It's disaster movie time, thanks to nuclear industry ineptness and tragic natural disasters. Take a look at different facets of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. And while you're at it, send some help to Japan! (A Mark Fiore political animation.)

Oil 2-Inches Thick Found On Gulf Sea Floor | BP Gulf Oil Spill | WKRG.com

Far beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, deeper than divers can go, scientists say they are finding oil from the busted BP well on the sea's muddy and mysterious bottom.

Oil at least two inches thick was found Sunday night and Monday morning about a mile beneath the surface. Under it was a layer of dead shrimp and other small animals, said University of Georgia researcher Samantha Joye, speaking from the helm of a research vessel in the Gulf.

The latest findings show that while the federal government initially proclaimed much of the spilled oil gone, now it's not so clear.

At these depths, the ocean is a cold and dark world. Yet scientists say that even though it may be out of sight, oil found there could do significant harm to the strange creatures that dwell in the depths - tube worms, tiny crustaceans and mollusks, single-cell organisms and Halloween-scary fish with bulging eyes and skeletal frames.

"I expected to find oil on the sea floor," Joye said Monday morning in a ship-to-shore telephone interview. "I did not expect to find this much. I didn't expect to find layers two inches thick. It's weird the stuff we found last night. Some of it was really dense and thick."

Joye said 10 of her 14 samples showed visible oil, including all the ones taken north of the busted well. She found oil on the sea floor as far as 80 miles away from the site of the spill.

"It's kind of like having a blizzard where the snow comes in and covers everything," Joye said.
And the look of the oil, its state of degradation, the way it settled on freshly dead animals all made it unlikely that the crude was from the millions of gallons of oil that naturally seep into the Gulf from the sea bottom each year, she said. Later this week, the oil will be tested for the chemical fingerprints that would conclusively link it to the BP spill.m the sea bottom each year, she said. Later this week, the oil will be tested for the chemical fingerprints that would conclusively link it to the BP spill.

"It has to be a recent event," Joye said. "There's still pieces of warm bodies there."

Since the well was capped on July 15 after some 200 million gallons flowed into the Gulf, there have been signs of resilience on the surface and the shore. Sheens have disappeared, while some marshlands have shoots of green. This seeming recovery is likely a result of massive amounts of chemical dispersants, warm waters and a Gulf that is used to degrading massive amounts of oil, scientists say.

Animal deaths also are far short of worst-case scenarios. But at the same time, a massive invisible plume of oil has been found under the surface, shifting scientists' concerns from what can be easily seen to what can't be.

For Ian MacDonald, a Florida State University biological oceanographer who wasn't part of Joye's team, the latest findings confirm that government assessments about how much oil remains - especially a report on the subject by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in August - were too optimistic.

The oil "did not disappear," he said. "It sank."

Not all scientists agree with this assessment.

Ed Overton, a Louisiana State University chemist who has analyzed the spill for NOAA, doubted much oil was resting on the bottom. He said the heavier components in oil - the asphalts - make up only about 1 percent of the oil that was spilled.

And Roger Sassen, an organic geochemist at Texas A&M University who has studied natural oil seeps, said so much oil seeps naturally into the Gulf each year that it's hard to argue that the BP spill will make a significant difference.

Nonetheless, the big questions now are exactly how much oil is at the bottom and how many organisms are being exposed to it, said Robert Carney, an oceanographer and deep-sea expert at Louisiana State University. The answers to those questions could shed some light on the unseen damage to wildlife from the oil spill.

"Deep-sea animals, in general, tend to produce fewer offspring than shallower water animals, so if they are going to have a population impact, it may be more sensitive in deep water," he said. "There is also some evidence that deep-sea animals live longer than shallower water species, so the impact may stay around longer."

At first, scientists, the media and the federal government focused their attention on tracking rainbow sheens approaching land, tar balls hitting beaches, measuring oil in marshes and scouting for oiled birds and sea turtles. But a spate of recent studies increasingly points to the deep.

NOAA's Aug. 4 pronouncement that the oil was mostly gone also indicated that some 53 million gallons remained in the Gulf. At the time, federal officials said some of that could be on the sea floor, adding that the rest was mostly broken down naturally or by the widespread use of chemical dispersants.

"As we get into weathered oil, there is more likelihood that it will get into the sediment," said Steve Murawski, chief scientist at the National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of NOAA.

Getting a handle on where the oil is at extreme depths will not be easy. Scientists will have to use expensive 1,000-pound devices that look like moon landers. The spindly legged machines land on the bottom and shoot tubes into the sea floor to collect 20-inch-long samples.

The terrain is exceedingly difficult. The area where the busted BP well sits is on the continental slope, formed by millions of years of deposits from the Mississippi River. It's a region of bumps and valleys, salt domes, canyons and slopes.

Government scientists acknowledge they've not done enough to look for oil in the obscure corners of the Gulf's bottom, but promise to do a better job.

Joye's latest discovery backs up the findings of a University of South Florida crew that reported pulling up oily sediment in August.

Sediment brought up still needs to undergo laboratory testing to verify that the oil found on the bottom comes from the BP oil spill.

For oil to sink, it must attach itself to materials that are heavier than water, such as detritus, flecks of mud, sands and other particles. Such materials are abundant in the Gulf in places where rivers, especially the Mississippi, flush mud and sand into the open sea. Oil also can sink as it ages and becomes more tar-like in a process known as weathering.

Scientists also say the oil may be sinking because it was broken up into tiny droplets by dispersants, making the oil so small that it wasn't buoyant enough to rise. One problem with oil at the sea floor is that it will take longer to degrade because of cold temperatures in the deep.

Be The One - Sign It, Share It - Restorethegulf.com Add Your Name to the Petition

Sign it. Share it. Be the One. Visit restorethegulf.com to add your name to the petition demanding complete restoration of America's Gulf. Presented by Women of the Storm.

This video was shot in the New Orleans area and in various other locations around the country. It features (in order of appearance) Sandra Bullock, Blake Lively, Wendell Pierce, Lenny Kravitz, Jack Del Rio, Alfre Woodard, Dr. John, Harry Shearer, Clay Hensley, Dave Matthews, Bryan Batt, Justin Shiels, John Goodman, Emeril Lagasse, Roberto Méndez, Eric Harvey, Payton Manning, Leah Chase, James Carville, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Lisa Mackel Smith, Shirley Lee, Anne Milling and Mary Matalin.

BP Faces Lawsuit from New York State Controller Thomas DiNapoli Over State Pension Fund by Kenneth Lovett - NY Daily News

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State Controller Thomas DiNapoli announced he's suing BP on behalf of the state pension fund.

DiNapoli, the sole trustee of the $132.6 billion fund, decided on the lawsuit because the April 20 explosion that sent oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico has trashed BP's stock.

In a statement, DiNapoli accused BP of misleading investors about its safety procedures and its ability to respond to events like the ongoing oil spill.

"We're going to hold it accountable," the New York Democrat said.

The Daily News first reported the possibility of the lawsuit last week while revealing that state pension fund lost $30 million on its slumping BP shares.

"It's my duty to protect the interests of the fund and the retirees and employees who rely on it," DiNapoli said Wednesday.

DiNapoli hired Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll to represent the fund, which will seek lead plaintiff status in order to give "the fund and other investors their best chance at recovering damages."

DiNapoli said the fund once held more than 19 million BP shares, before recently selling off 1.5 million shares.

BP stock as of midday Wednesday was trading at $29.67 a share, a huge drop from the $60.48 a share before the catastrophe.

It's unclear whether the city pension fund system will join the lawsuit.

The city's five pension funds, valued at about $100 billion, as of last week held $110 million in BP stock, less than half of the $228 million the city held a month before the disaster.

The city pension funds sold off 10 million BP shares since the beginning of April, and now hold about 15 million shares.

Pensacola Beach Covered In Oil - YouTube

YouTube video by - pcolagregg

The beach is covered in oil tonight. I walked for two hours from near Peg Legs west about one mile past the Fort Pickens gate and saw nothing but oil everywhere

Oiled Birds in the Gulf of Mexico - June 2010 - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Images of oiled birds from the Gulf Coast taken by Cornell Lab teams in June 2010. Birds were oiled as the result of the BP oil leak. Species seen include American White Pelican, Brown Pelican, Snowy Egret, Sanderling, terns and gulls.

Trust Me - Video by Mark Fiore

Witness the wonders of voluntary regulation and self-policing businesses in this animated political cartoon. Tony Hayward and BP aren't the first to revel in the wonders of poor government oversight. Obama gets blamed for BP's oil spill and much more! A Mark Fiore political animation.

Watch more videos at: http://www.MarkFiore.com

Weiner: “BP Should Not Be in Charge of Anything in this Operation”...

Calls on BP to be Removed from the Claims Process & Media Access

Today, during the House Energy and Environment subcommittee hearing, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Queens & Brooklyn) questioned the Chairman and President of BP America, Lamar McKay.

Watch Rep. Weiner’s Testimony:

“It seems we are all saying the same thing; that BP should not be in charge of anything in this operation anymore,” said Weiner. “BP has done nothing to establish any level of credibility.”

“If we know BP is conflicted about being truthful with information, they should have no control in determining what access the American people have to learn what’s going on. BP should have no control over the access of the media nor should they have control over any access of experts in the field.

"Why should there be any decision-making ability on your part at all here? That's one thing my Republican friends, who want to criticise the administration for not doing enough, maybe we agree on. Maybe we need to have BP involved a heck of a lot less, with anything to do with our environment, anything to do with our citizens."

“If we know BP is conflicted about wanting to understate costs - that the basic element of a corporation, they want to take in as much as they can and give out as little as they can- why is there any role for them to play in claims? Why should there be any decision making ability on the part of BP at all here. While they sit here saying over and over again that they are going to pay all legitimate claims, my question is: Who determines what legitimate, and I believe it should be the American people, not BP.

Bloomberg: Insensitivity Towards Oil Disaster Victims? - The Ed Shultz Show - msnbc

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Ed Schultz and his panel discuss NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's defense of BP and whether he disregarded those negatively affected by the oil spill disaster...

It's just another example of our out-of-touch "green" Mayor's sheer callousness and utter disrespect for the environment and working-class people...He's for the rich and only the rich 24/7...

BP Execs Should Be Treated Like Criminals - My Letter to the Editor - YourNabe.com

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Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, has come under fire for his company's handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

Dear Editor;

I am writing to share two thoughts with your readership about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:

1. Imagine what would have happened if environmental activists had entered British Petroleum’s offices and thrown two buckets of seawater on its carpeting. It is my belief they would have been arrested as terrorists and would be sitting in jail right now.

2. I hope the Obama administration and the U.S. Department of Justice know you cannot spell the word “suBPoena” without “BP.”

I believe the executives at BP involved with this disaster in the Gulf of Mexico are criminals of the first order, and should be treated as the environmental terrorists they are and should spend a lot of time in jail.

David M. Quintana
Ozone Park

BP Spills Coffee - Upright Citizens Brigade - YouTube Video

UCBComedy — This is what happens when BP spills coffee.

Upright Citizens Brigade:

Director: Peter Schultz & Brandon Bassham; Writers: Gavin Speiller, Eric Scott, Erik Tanouye, & John Frusciante; Editor: Peter Schultz, Starring: Eric Scott, Nat Freedberg, Kevin Cragg, Gavin Speiller, Kate McKinnon, John Frusciante, Zhubin Parang, Devlyn Corrigan, Erik Tanouye, Rob Lathan; Producer: Todd Bieber

Anthony Weiner: BP Defenders With British Accents Are Lying (VIDEO) - The Huffington Post

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Those sneaky Brits with their fancy accents and top hats and monocles are pulling the wool right over eyes!

Or so says Rep. Anthony Weiner.

The oft-outspoken Queens congressman was on "Morning Joe" to discuss the BP oil disaster when he decided to clue the American people into what's really going on behind-the-scenes.

Weiner's money quote:

Here's a viewer's guide to BP media briefings. Whenever you hear someone with a British accent talking about this on behalf of British Petroleum they are not telling you the truth. That's the bottom-line.

You! - YouTube Video from MarkFiore

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See the latest in BP oil spill clean-up! Will the environmental disaster in the Gulf coast ever end? Learn all about Tony Hayward, BP, top hats . . . and cats! A Mark Fiore political animation.

Gillibrand to EPA: Don't Let Gulf Oil Spill Workers Follow the Same Fate as 9/11 Workers...

Senator Says Administration Should Invoke Imminent Harm Authority and Force Release of Confidential Information on Oil Dispersant Chemicals

With Thousands of Americans Suffering From 9/11-Related Illnesses, Nation Should Protect Responders in Gulf from the Same Fate

As British Petroleum (BP) dumps unprecedented levels of chemicals into the Gulf of Mexico to disperse the oil, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is urging Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to use her legal authority to force BP to disclose confidential information related to the chemicals used in the dispersants. There are growing concerns over the confidential chemical make-up of the dispersant being used in the Gulf and its potential long-term health risk to workers in the clean-up effort and further damages to the local environment, on top of exposure to the oil.

“Reports from Gulf Coast emergency rooms, where response workers are being treated, have noted respiratory problems, as well as headaches and nausea,” Senator Gillibrand writes in her letter. “In my home state of New York, we are acutely aware of the long-term health effects of exposure to harmful and toxic substances in the aftermath of a crisis. Thousands of first responders, construction workers, and community members are suffering and some have died from contact with hazardous substances that were released into the area around Ground Zero in the aftermath of the tragic 9/11 attacks. In the case of the BP oil disaster, public disclosure of this chemical information would ensure these kinds of illnesses do not happen again to the workers and community members that are being exposed right now.”

Providing the public with detailed information about the chemicals that are being used in the clean-up would increase transparency and ensure that all necessary safety procedures are being taken and allow independent researchers to explore the long-term risk to clean-up workers and the environment.

Senator Gillibrand’s full letter to EPA Administrator Jackson is below:


June 4, 2010

The Honorable Lisa Jackson

Administrator

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20460

Dear Administrator Jackson,

I am writing today to urge you to exercise imminent harm authority as Administrator in disclosing the confidential information related to the dispersants currently being used in the Gulf of Mexico in response to the British Petroleum (BP) oil disaster. President Obama has called the BP oil spill “the greatest environmental disaster of its kind in our history,” and the public is seeking greater transparency in addressing this catastrophe. While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made some information about the dispersants available to the public, BP and Nalco, the manufacturer of COREXIT dispersants, have maintained secrecy surrounding these chemicals, and their health effects, prohibiting public access to critical safety information.

The unprecedented amount of these chemicals being used to fight the oil has turned the Gulf Coast into an experiment for the short and long-term effects of their massive use. In order to understand the impacts of their application, and protect the coast from more devastating damage, EPA must make public this essential information concerning toxicity, efficacy, and human health and ecological risks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that long-term human exposure to dispersants can cause central nervous system problems, or do damage to blood, kidneys or livers. Reports from Gulf Coast emergency rooms, where response workers are being treated, have noted respiratory problems, as well as headaches and nausea.

On May 24^th, you expressed concern over the environmental unknowns of dispersants, which include the long-term effects on aquatic life. The use of these dispersants has raised questions about infiltration into the food chain as phytoplankton potentially ingests these chemical compounds.

Under Section 14(a)(3) of the Toxic Substance Control Act, the Administrator has the authority to disclose data if determined, “necessary to protect health or the environment against an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment.” Given the very serious health and environmental concerns associated with exposure to these chemicals, I believe it is essential that this information be made public without delay.

In my home state of New York, we are acutely aware of the long-term health effects of exposure to harmful and toxic substances in the aftermath of a crisis. Thousands of first responders, construction workers, and community members are suffering and some have died from contact with hazardous substances that were released into the area around Ground Zero in the aftermath of the tragic 9/11 attacks. In the case of the BP oil disaster, public disclosure of this chemical information would ensure these kinds of illnesses do not happen again to the workers and community members that are being exposed right now.

As we continue to witness the devastation that the Gulf Coast is facing, it is important that the process and efforts are transparent. Considering the long-term effects of this disaster on wildlife and coastal communities, it is vital that this information be made available to understand the full extent of this disaster and the clean-up efforts.

I thank you for your immediate attention to this request, and ask that you contact me or my staff if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Kirsten E. Gillibrand
United States Senator

Senator Gillibrand Wants BP Held Criminally Responsible for Oil Spill by Mark Scott - WBFO

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Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is one of a number of US Senators who want BP Oil to be held criminally responsible for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Senator Gillibrand was among a handful of senators who signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, expressing concerns "about the truthfulness and accuracy of statements submitted by BP." Late Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder says federal authorities have opened criminal and civil investigations. He's not saying which companies or individuals might be the targets of the probe. Holder says federal clean air and pollution laws give him the power to open the investigations.

But during an appearance in Buffalo late last week, Gillibrand said BP needs to be held accountable.

"BP needs to pay for the entire clean-up," Gillibrand said. "There is no reason why the taxpayer should be soaked by this bill."

Going forward, Gillibrand says better protections are needed to hold oil companies doing such drilling far more accountable. She fears the damage will last generations.

Gillibrand said President Obama is doing the best he can in response to the disaster.

The Gulf of Oil from Space in 35 Days by Julia Whitty - Mother Jones

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NASA has compiled a 35-day timelapse series of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The images are from its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flies aboard the Aqua and Terra satellites. Both satellites are part of the international Earth Observing System and both orbit the globe from pole to pole, observing most of the planet every day. These images are of oil at the surface only.

Photo of the Day: Oil Ashore - ProPublica

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A BP cleanup crew shovels oil from a beach on May 24, 2010, at Port Fourchon, La. (John Moore/Getty Images)

With its one-month anniversary passed, the Gulf oil spill has reached the shoreline, and it isn't pretty. Today's photo depicts the onshore efforts of a BP cleanup crew as it took shovels and garbage bags to the shores of Port Fourchon, La. BP CEO Tony Hayward visited the beach on Monday with reporters in tow and said BP was committed to cleaning up "every last drop ." But with 32 national wildlife refuges at risk of being affected by the BP oil spill, officials from Texas to Florida are worried that cleanup, if possible, may come too late .

Check out ProPublica: full overage of the Gulf oil spill.

Check out our slideshow of photos from the Gulf oil spill, which we update daily.

Map: How the Gulf Oil Spill Looks Compared to NYC by John Del Signore - Gothamist

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Just in case it's not abundantly clear how catastrophic the ongoing Gulf oil spill really is, Google Earth is putting it in horrific perspective for you, letting you fathom just how enormous the spill is by transposing the giant mess over your home town. Via Paul Rademacher, a Google Maps engineering manager, here's the oil spill as it looks compared in size to NYC. As you can see, the oil slick is saturating the entire metropolitan area but carefully avoiding Newark, where even toxic oil is too scared to ooze.

Mike Papantonio: BP - The Manslaughter Felon - Quick TAKES & Tasty Tidbits:

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Now that the Roberts court says corporations have the same rights on campaign contributions as individuals, it's time to see these same executives of corporate America spending some time in jail, like ordinary Americans...

Mike Papantonio of Ring of Fire Radio discusses the history of BP and Halliburton, including their past as convicted felons. These two felons are responsible for the oil spill that is dumping millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and we're supposed to expect them to tell us the truth about what happened? Given their histories, that seems highly unlikely.

Can we also talk eco-terrorism here? When are we going to properly penalize for corporate crimes? To be sure, folks are in US jails for a long time for a lot less. I'm happy to add my voice to Shannyn Moore's chorus, "Jail, Baby, Jail!"