{"id":23,"date":"2010-06-16T11:31:01","date_gmt":"2010-06-16T10:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/0050c0a.netsolhost.com\/thelastword\/?p=23"},"modified":"2013-10-31T12:50:35","modified_gmt":"2013-10-31T11:50:35","slug":"tarred-and-feathered-but-not-unbowed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/0050c0a.netsolhost.com\/thelastword\/archives\/23","title":{"rendered":"Tarred and Feathered but not Unbowed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><span style=\"color: #333399;\">BP, the oil industry, fishing and tourist industries and the waters of the gulf can emerge from this crisis stronger if we let them.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>My first reaction, like many, to the crisis of the Deep Horizon spill was one of great sadness for the living waters of the gulf, the families coping with loss of loved ones on the exploding rig and the coastal communities whose livelihoods were already dealt a big blow after Katrina.<\/p>\n<p>Living in the midst of a beautiful landscape here on Coniston Water with a clear view of the Old Man, I am acutely aware of the importance of the commons\u00a0we all share &#8211;\u00a0\u00a0the land, water, forests and air &#8211;\u00a0\u00a0to our survival.<\/p>\n<p>Right now the most important task at hand is to stop the leak.\u00a0 The best way to make this happen is by co-operation.\u00a0 This calls for the best of team playing.\u00a0 Forget pointing fingers, get on with the job.\u00a0 Give everyone the backing they require and move.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0relentless finger pointing and castigation of BP is futile while this crisis is ongoing.\u00a0 Whipping the backside of the main company you are calling upon to save multitudinous lives from future despair is nothing more than theatre and extremely dangerous. \u00a0For there is no good that can come from robbing the only one with pockets deep enough to save you from the motivation to keep going.\u00a0 In 2009 BP made 25.1 billion before taxes.\u00a0 The previous year, a record, they made 34.3 billion before taxes.\u00a0 These pockets, while deep, will have no motivation whatsoever to provide for the many mouths and hands outstretched if retribution is whipped up to a feeding frenzy.<\/p>\n<p>This calls for sound judgement. \u00a0To the brink but not beyond. \u00a0 The cure may hurt but must not destroy. \u00a0 Working together, everyone can grow from this disaster.\u00a0 Vigilantes beware. \u00a0 No good thing will come\u00a0from the destruction of BP and the oil companies that have provided, through good times and bad, the energy that drives the economic miracle that we call capitalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BP, the oil industry, fishing and tourist industries and the waters of the gulf can emerge from this crisis stronger if we let them. My first reaction, like many, to the crisis of the Deep Horizon spill was one of great sadness for the living waters of the gulf, the families coping with loss of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hot-topics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/0050c0a.netsolhost.com\/thelastword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/0050c0a.netsolhost.com\/thelastword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/0050c0a.netsolhost.com\/thelastword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/0050c0a.netsolhost.com\/thelastword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/0050c0a.netsolhost.com\/thelastword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/0050c0a.netsolhost.com\/thelastword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111,"href":"https:\/\/0050c0a.netsolhost.com\/thelastword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions\/111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/0050c0a.netsolhost.com\/thelastword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/0050c0a.netsolhost.com\/thelastword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/0050c0a.netsolhost.com\/thelastword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}