When I was in college, which seems like 100 years ago, we protested. Damn, we protested everything: The War in Vietnam, segregation in the south, administrative decisions at the university I attended. We were there, we were out, we were loud.
How uninvolved college students seem today. Iraq’s not over, Afghanistan continues, we’re getting ready to fight, at least remotely in Pakistan…and then there’s BP.
I’m so focused on this BP event, it seems to occupy my mind every minute of everyday, since it first occurred. In the old SDS days, we would have been at every major facility the company has, trying to shut it down…like Columbia University and close to Wisconsin University.
So, what’s BP focused on today: The company just hired a former Department of Energy official as it fights to defend its reputation in the face of political attacks and public rage over its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Really! Now’s not the time to worry about even a hundred grand on PR (and the woman’s probably getting two or three times that much).
It seems to me every “discretionary” cent BP has should be spent on cleaning up this mess and making those who use the Gulf to make living whole.
I think I’m now in favor of having the Feds seize every U.S. based facility the company has, seizing all funds BP has in the U.S. and shutting the company down on U.S. soil.
And you college folks out there, if you’re not outraged at this point, you’re neither showing it nor paying attention.
