Franklin's Focus 6/11/10



I've been loaded down with tasks related to the third publishing of my
book on rational thinking and self counseling. My eyes hurt, my head
aches, and I'm exhausted. I mention this to explain why I'm currently
extra dependent on simply tracking down good pieces and forwarding them.

Today I wavered between the following item and an article in the
Canadian media about the deep sea drilling that is continuing unabated
on the Atlantic coast. Oil companies in Canada have spent a fortune on
campaign contributions to gain permission to continue this drilling
and to do so without truly safe equipment. Another horrendous event is
just waiting to happen on the Atlantic coast.

Canada's petrol capitalism is every bit as predatory as American
capitalism. That's why they are actually increasing and speeding up
deep sea drilling with equipment that cannot begin to handle the
blowing of a deep sea well. The American experience has not in the
least impeded the Canadian ongoing deep sea drilling and plans for
future deep sea drilling.

Obama has said he intends to pursue deep sea drilling on the Atlantic
Coast and in the Gulf despite the current cataclysmic event. Between
Obama's declared intentions and the Canadian ongoing deep sea
drilling, we may one day see the death of the Atlantic Ocean. As for
the Pacific Ocean, Obama wants to launch deep sea drilling off that
coast also. Canada will doubtlessly do the same. We then may also see
the death of the Pacific Ocean.

As I've said in the past, it is absolutely essential that corporations
be banned in America. They once were illegal, but the bribed puppets
on the Hill made corporations legal. The same holds for Canada. The
current right-wing U.S. Supreme Court has now also made it almost
impossible to rid ourselves of corporations by giving the corporations
a free hand to control our electoral system,

Considerable reportage is leaking out that describes federal
government control over the media trying to film and report on the
situation along the Gulf coast. The situation now is close to that of
a police state. Planes cannot fly reporters or photographers over the
Gulf waters. Reporters are blocked from touring the Gulf waters in
boats. And so forth. Federal authorities and BP are colluding to
restrain any accurate reporting that would refute the lies being spun
by BP and the White House.

I don't believe any of the official reports. The attached piece is by
a socialist. He amply describes the suppression of the media by
authorities.

Warmest regards,
Richard

========================================================

11 June 2010 wsws

BP and government authorities collude to suppress reality of oil spill

by David Walsh

Numerous media accounts confirm that oil giant BP, in collusion with
the Obama administration and various federal agencies, is attempting
to block information about the extent of the damage wreaked on the
Gulf Coast and other areas.
The New York Times reported Wednesday (“Efforts to Limit the Flow of
Spill News”) that “Journalists struggling to document the impact of
the oil rig explosion have repeatedly found themselves turned away
from public areas affected by the spill, and not only by BP and its
contractors, but by local law enforcement, the Coast Guard and
government officials.”
The Times article describes the media “being kept at bay” is merely
“another example of a broader problem of officials’ filtering what
images of the spill the public sees,” adding that “Scientists, too,
have complained about the trickle of information that has emerged from
BP and government sources.”
Essentially, BP and the authorities are trying to suppress information
about the oil spill just as the US military, with the complicity of
the American media, has done in Iraq and Afghanistan. From Vietnam
came images of wounded and dying soldiers, which had a significant
impact on public opinion; from the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, notes
Newsweek magazine, “pictures of dead otters, fish, and birds, as well
as oil-covered shorelines, ignited nationwide outrage and led to a
backlash against Exxon.” The Pentagon and the corporate elite have
learned a simple lesson: by whatever means necessary, prevent the
population from learning the truth.
The Times observes, “Michael Oreskes, senior managing editor at the
Associated Press, likened the situation to reporters being embedded
with the military in Afghanistan. ‘There is a continued effort to keep
control over the access,’ Mr. Oreskes said. ‘And even in places where
the government is cooperating with us to provide access, it’s still a
problem because it’s still access obtained through the government.’”
Indeed CNN has described its correspondent, Kyra Phillips, as
“embedded” with US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen.
There are numerous examples of BP and the government blocking media
coverage of the oil spill. A CBS television crew was threatened in
late May with arrest for attempting to film an oil-covered beach in
Louisiana. A vessel carrying BP contractors and Coast Guard officials
stopped the crew, and the pilot told CBS reporters, “This is BP rules,
it’s not ours.”
A reporter from Mother Jones recounted in detail how local deputies,
at the behest of BP, prevented journalists from reaching Elmer’s
Island Wildlife Refuge, also in Louisiana. An oil company
representative told the reporter, “BP’s in charge because ‘it’s BP’s
oil.’”
An airplane pilot planning to carry a New Orleans Times-Picayune
reporter over the oil slick was denied permission for the flight. “We
were questioned extensively. Who was on the aircraft? Who did they
work for?” recalled Rhonda Panepinto, who owns Southern Seaplane with
her husband, Lyle. “The minute we mentioned media, the answer was:
‘Not allowed.’”
When Associated Press photographer Gerald Herbert attempted to
accompany Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of Jacques Cousteau, on a trip to
Breton Island, a national wildlife refuge off the barrier islands of
Louisiana, the US Coast Guard intervened. Newsweek reports, “Upon
approaching the island, a Coast Guard boat stopped them. ‘The first
question was, ‘Is there any press with you?’ says Herbert.’ They
answered yes, and the Coast Guard said they couldn’t be there. ‘I had
to bite my tongue. That should have no bearing.’”
Newsweek comments: “Photographers who have traveled to the Gulf
commonly say they believe that BP has exerted more control over
coverage of the spill with the cooperation of the federal government
and local law enforcement. ‘It’s a running joke among the journalists
covering the story that the words ‘Coast Guard’ affixed to any
vehicle, vessel, or plane should be prefixed with ‘BP,’’ says Charlie
Varley, a Louisiana-based photographer. ‘It would be funny if it were
not so serious.’”
At 10 pm the evening before a scheduled trip by Senator Bill Nelson,
Democrat of Florida, along with a group of journalists, on the Gulf of
Mexico, reports the New York Times, “someone from the Department of
Homeland Security’s legislative affairs office called the senator’s
office to tell them that no journalists would be allowed.
“‘They said it was the Department of Homeland Security’s response-wide
policy not to allow elected officials and media on the same ‘federal
asset,’’ said Bryan Gulley, a spokesman for the senator. ‘No further
elaboration’ was given, Mr. Gulley added.”
A reporter and photographer from the New York Daily News were told by
a BP contractor that they could not have access to a public beach on
Grand Isle, Louisiana. A local sheriff, brought in by the BP employee,
told the reporter that “news media had to fill out paperwork and then
be escorted by a BP official to get access to the beach.” (New York
Times)
The stories go on and on, underscoring, on the one hand, the
determination of BP to conceal the catastrophe by suppressing images
of the spill on land and sea. Financial questions are at the heart of
this. The extent of the devastation has a bearing on the immediate
fate of BP’s share price, as well as the amount of the damages
eventually levied against the oil giant.
On the other hand, the collusion of the Coast Guard, the Department of
Homeland Security, the Federal Aviation Administration and other
institutions with the censorship efforts of a private corporation
reveals something about the character of the Obama administration and
all levels of the government in the US: they are entirely subservient
to the interests of big business and equally hostile to the interests
of the American population.

End