BP = Biggest Polluter

I''ve listened to the yammering on CNN tonight following BP's announcement that the "Top Kill" method of sealing the oil geyser in the Gulf of Mexico has failed. I really don't think anyone up the food chain has the foggiest idea of the depth of rage that's simmering in the hearts of sentient Americans about this cataclysm.

If the stone in my heart is any indication, we are cold with rage.

That this happened anywhere, ever.
That deep-sea drilling was ever undertaken in the absense of redundant safeguards and rapid, effective fixes.
That our government issued permits on the word of multinational corporations.
That our Congress and our Presidents, past and current, have more allegiance to Big Oil than to the land, the sea, the wildlife, the people, and our economy.
That our coastlines are not sacred ground.
That our coastlines are not protected as if they are critical to national security.
That nearly six weeks have passed without perceptible efforts to protect the wetlands and the coastline.
That there have not been fleets of tankers out there sucking up this muck for nearly six weeks.
That our Navy, Coast Guard, and National Guard are not deployed en force from the Keys to the Chandeleurs, protecting and cleaning up this toxic waste.
That, incomprehensibly, our Congress in its wisdom enacted LIABILITY LIMITS to protect Big Oil!
That BP is more concerned with its stock price than with fixing this.
That our President hasn't had the wit, apparently, to triage, assigning stopping the geyser to BP; cleanup to US and state goverments; and environmental assessments to qualified scientists.
That BP can prohibit anybody from our beaches and seas.
That our media really couldn't be bothered to cover this until five weeks into the catastrophe.

I can't read the future, but I have the worst feeling about this. I want to wipe the smug faces of every oilman on the planet, and every member of our "oversight" agencies, and our Congress, in the gunk of this cataclysm.

I want everyone to remember that Cheney let the oil industry write our energy policy and staff our supervisory and oversight authorities.

I want to nationalize the fortunes of the Bushes and the Cheneys and the Carlyle Group, and I want to nationalize BP -- all of it -- and use these resources to fund safe alternatives and o restore the Gulf to wholeness.

I want these people to hang by the neck until they are dead. Some things I can forgive, but this? It's not forgiveable, and if it were, it's not the place of this generation to presume to forgive it.

Not one more well. Not now. Not ever.