Monday May 24th 2010

Today i am going to discuss the story that is headlines for all of the nation,the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.This tragedy continues unabated and the damage to the ocean and coastal wetlands is just beginning to come into focus.It will take decades and much research to realise just how damaging this spill is,but the immediate focus is on mitigating the damage as much as possible.I must say that i am concerned about how little attention is being given to the real reason behind this horrible disaster.We as a nation are using way too much oil and not using the national attention on this disaster to start the discussion about weaning of fossil fuels and onto renewables.The press like to focus on whatever brings viewers to their shows or newspapers,more attention equals more advertisement income.This is a bad situation because it means that again,money is more important than the facts or the truth.So as the Gulf Coast suffers day after day,the press continues to look for ways to increase profits.The media today is like most large corporations,they have executives not editors making the critical decisions.This is not only a conflict, in my mind it negates the very reason the press exists.A free press is the foundation of a free society,and when the reporters on the street cannot report the truth because it conflicts with the bottom line of the corporations the work for than it spells the end of true freedom..If a story is going to hurt or harm the parent companies or subsidiaries reputation or bottom line,or create a liability situation the story will just not be told.I am totally convinced that this nation is on a slippery slope to no longer being a free and democratic "Constitutional Democracy".The broken and corrupt situation related to our current press and the way it involves story telling can be described in many ways,but i personally believe that it is broken beyond repair.As i continue to write about this oil spill in the gulf i will describe things that you will not see addressed in the national or even local press. Last night,as i watched the news,well,i feel i must first say that i do not have cable or sattalite television in my home.The antenna on my roof brings only the free digital signals of the major networks and pbs into my home.With that caviate the news on the major networks in a Nation that is fighting two wars and facing the worlds worst ecological disaster can go from a short 8 minute story related to these to a story about the Kardashian familys fame and fortune shows how this system is corrupted and broken.Nowhere in the national news should there be anything related to this rediculous and meaningless rich family and their exploits.It shows the stark contrast that these news corporations have related to news cycles.They need to gain attention for the programming that brings the money in,I am describing this because i believe it shows how bad off we are as citizens.We cannot think for one moment that reporters can honestly tell us the reality and repercussions of this oil spill or the wars.Giant global corporations will not allow these news organizations tell us anything related to the truth.Even the Newshour on PBS is sponsored by these giant global corporations so they cannot and will not report anything that could harm their sponsors.The Gulf oil spill is going to ruin gulf coast states not only for the immediate future,but for decades and maybe even a century or more.In my opinion this catastrophy will be the last nail in the coffin of tens if not hundreds of thousands of businesses and families.The income of these coastal communities rely on late spring,summer and early fall for most of their income.The fishing vessals,homes and businesses that must have vacation related incomes is almost hard to describe.With just one season to be lost results in devastating and disasterous situations related to making normal everyday decisions.How to make the boat payments or how to access credit for payroll or stocking shelves becomes impossible.The economic repercussions will take a long time to realize,but the immediate problems go by the wayside to focus on stopping the flow of oil and rescuing the fish,birds,animals and sea mammals affected by this spill.The tourism related businesses that make up the majority of these coastal communities were just beginning to recover from Hurricane Katrina and the devastation related to that,and now they must deal with another season of cancelled vacations and Government and Corporate delay in lending help.
How to continue to access the economic consequences will be very slow,and this is only one tiny peice of a very giant and complicated puzzle.Yesterday while i watched the White House press conferance related to this oil spill i was sicked by a statement from the Military spokesman for this spill.After touring coastal communities yesterday,some senators,congressional representatives and the Secratary of the Interior made some statements to the effect of pushing BP aside and assuming control of the cleanup.US Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen said that those statements were more out of frustration than based in fact.The truth,said the Commandant,is that there is absolutely no mechanism available to take control from this Global Oil giant.We are not capable of doing anything except oversite because the equiptment and expertise all belongs to the companies responsable for this Catastrophy.I find it not only strange and coincidental but highly suspicious that this spill took place on April 20th.I truely belive that it was not an accident,in my opinion it was very possibly a terrorist attack that is being covered up at the highest levels.It is just too coincidental that this happened on a date that is related to other attacks on American sovreignty.This is just my opinion and i have nothing to present that could prove this to be accurate but i do believe it is the case.
As the trick bag to stop the flow from the wellhead and broken riser of the deep water horizen gets more and more depleted,we are told that using mud to plug the well from below may be the answer.If that doesn't work they are going to try a"junk shot"using golf balls shredded tires and other things to plug the well from below.Now we get to wait and see,but if these things don't work the only other way may be drill another hole and plug this well from underneath which could take until August to accomplish.If this is the only way to get this accomplished the ecological and economic damage is going to grow to a worldwide situation.Already it is being catagorised as unprecidented in scope,but the reality is much more than that.Estimates so far as to the amount of oil flowing out of this well are all over the place,from the press releases of the company to the Government estimates to independant scientific estimates.All of these are just that,estimates,and the truth behind the statistics will only be known when this finally comes to an end.I am not confident any of the estimates are acurate,and the true damage to the entire ecosystem will remain unanswered for a long time.There was an unrelated study related to the worlds fish stocks released recently,and it showed very dire results that will be compounded by the results of this oil spill.This report,from the Pew Environmental Group,shows that the worlds fish stocks are severely depleted from over-fishing and could "crash" by mid-century.This report stated that the health of marine life on the high seas is troubling and without immediate global action we are going to see very dire consequences manifest across the globe.Adding this Oil spill to an already stressed system may just hasten the demise of many of the Oceans that we and many other nations rely on.
The more and more i read about this disaster,the more i feel the truth is being either ignored or purposely covered up.I will continue to write about this as the days and weeks go by,and i truely hope i am wrong about what i have said related to the results of this spill.Until next time,thank you for reading. spacewalker