Hey Dick Durbin, Shut Up.
After Tony Hayward makes his ridiculous and impossible promise to “clean up every drop of oil”, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois engages in some pointless grandstanding. It starts around the 6-minute mark and goes like this:
BP, in my mind no longer stands for “British Petroleum”: it stands for “Beyond Patience”. People have been waiting 34 days for British Petroleum to cap this well and stop the damage that’s been happening across the Gulf of Mexico. Excuses don’t count anymore: you caused this mess, now stop the damage and clean up the mess.
BLAH-DE-BLAH-BLAH-BLAH FLIBBERTY FLABBERY FLOO WALLA WALLA BING BANG.
I called up Durbin’s office, and was told there’s some discussion of Congressional hearings and an investigation, a thoroughly uninspiring answer. Didn’t we just have congressional hearings about Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and the market meltdown? Did anyone go to jail as a result? No: all that went out were sternly worded letters (©), which were promptly ignored. The current status of the financial reform bill that came in its wake can be described as “gutted”.
I asked the young woman who answered the phone to pass along a message for Senator Durbin: unless you are ready to arrest the CEO of BP and hold him without bail as a flight risk, freeze their US assets, and bar the company from ever doing business in the US again, you are doing nothing but flapping your gums and grandstanding. So either do that or stop wasting everyone’s time. Put Tony Hayward IN JAIL or SHUT THE FUCK UP.
