60 Minutes - excellent report on Gulf Oil disaster: BP over-ruled the rig operator about putting

concrete plugs in well. Transocean wanted to keep the mud in the pipe till AFTER the last concrete plug was put in. BP over-ruled him..said go ahead and remove the mud before putting in last concrete plug. This meant there was nothing to hold back any pressure from gas in the formation they drilled into.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/16/60minutes/main6490197_page4.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody


Also, the blow-out preventer was damaged a couple weeks before the accident. Pieces of a part called an "annualar" (a big damn gasket) came up the pipe. This was a clear sign of trouble. There were also other parts of the BOP which weren't working.

Here's the link to the start of the show. TApe and transcript:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/16/60minutes/main6490197.shtml

Pure Insanity. I don't know what to say.

Government .... more of the Bush-Republican model of Corporate Feudalism, where the Corporations are our lords and we are the serfs. Supposedly we should trust corporations to make public policy decisions for us. Hand over our democracy to the Corporate boards of directors.

After the Deregulation Disaster wiped out 2.6 million jobs in 2008 http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/news/economy/jobs_december/">Worst year for jobs since '45 - CNN

After the Predatory Lending Housing bubble which the Bush administration ignored (and even stopped 50 states Attorneys General from reining in predatory lenders (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html">Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime - Spitzer, WaPo

I guess some people have become so accustomed to getting in the rear end from the Republicans they think it's the way things should be!!

"I can be president, don'tcha know!