I seriously didn't know this thread was about the oil spill, I ignored rule no. 1:

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Not to be total crazy guy here, but how mutha uckin AWESOME would a flaming hurricane be? I would not even mind dying in something like that just so I could actually see something THAT cool.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

I get that the ice was a problem, but it was my understanding that the ice build up was in the tube they were using to recover leaking oil. I'm not talking about recovery. I'm saying let the oil continue to flow through the top of the dome until the bastard is bolted down and sealed in place. Once that occurs, THEN put a lid on it.

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Sounds to me like they still want to harvest oil from the site, no?

Ref:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/01/gulf.o ... index.html

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Hold my beer and watch this...

HOLY FUCK

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mechaphil

I didn't need a personal connection for this disaster to enrage and depress me, but...I have tickets to go to the Caribbean for my honeymoon in August. When I bought them two months ago, my biggest concern was the potential for hurricanes. But the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico border each other, and if the spill isn't stopped by then, who's to say there won't be oil all over the beaches I want to lounge on?

Boo-fucking-who for me though. I'm worried about my vacation while so, so many more have to worry about their homes and their livelihoods. Just saying, that's yet another reason this whole situation fills me with despair.

Who knows what will ever come of it, but the US DOJ just announced they are starting a criminal investigation of BP.

i put it in lapeer, it goes halfway to you guys in buffalo to the east, and almost to milwaukee in the west.

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I think BP has already taken their hit.
The estimate for what the total costs to them (contain, cleanup, fines, lawsuits etc.) is right around $20 Billion. Their market cap has taken a $50 Billion hit because investors are overreacting to what those costs may be.
To put that in perspective, it'll cost them 1 year of profits.

Maybe they'll find a scapegoat, but it'll just be a token to make people feel better.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

yeah this whole notion of vindication through punishment is getting out of hand. make them clean up completely and keep all the people employed and that will be good.

I disagree that criminal charges wouldn't be a deterrent for other oil executives. What damage does losing stockholders' money do to contracted corporate executives? Maybe it could affect their bonuses, but as we've seen from examples in the banking industry, often bonuses are a part of their contracts and they get them whether or not the company loses money.

Or perhaps I should say the logic for criminal punishments as a deterrent is the same as the logic of capital punishment as a deterrent. It could well be that neither one actually works as a deterrent, but that doesn't stop people from thinking it will. And I don't mean to speak for you Cross, but somehow I think you are a proponent of capital punishment. If I'm wrong, my error. But if I'm right, explain the difference in logic to me.

And for the record, I don't think capital punishment is a deterrent in general. I think corporate prison sentences might (and I stress might) be though because, to stereotype, I would imagine that the average CEO has protecting his or her butt more in mind before deciding on a course of action than does the average murderer, who is committing a crime of passion and probably not thinking through action and consequence in a logical manner.

I didn't say anything about whether criminal charges would be a deterrent...maybe they would be, but honestly I don't expect anything to come out of this (criminally speaking).

The Feds can investigate all they want, but they're the ones that signed the permission slip for the risky behavior. I don't see anyone ending up in jail.

Look at other major engineering disasters, sometimes the lead engineer or architect can end up in trouble but usually it's 20 years of finger pointing in court and some fines.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

You're almost definitely right that no one will end up going to jail. But from the revelations that keep coming to light about the relationship between the government and the oil industry, I think some jail terms on both sides are warranted, and that such an action would wake people the fuck up in a way loss of profits never will.

The head of the MMS has already "resigned" and I think that may be the extent of the government action.
The convict-able offender here is the corrupt culture...it's just hard to convict that.

That's why I don't think this will amount to much unless they find a scapegoat...a sacrificial lamb.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

The video game world has decided to take care of the disaster themselves.

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mechaphil

Awesome...guess what?

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/another ... ll_ne.html

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Are you fucking kidding me? This thing has been leaking oil for over a month and no news reports on it?

No reports at all....they had to catch it from satellite images.
The owners probably thought they could just disperse the stuff on the surface and let the rest blend in with the mess from the Deepwater Horizon.

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Hold my beer and watch this...