I had a deep sea fishing trip in the Gulf cancelled...

[AnArmyVeteran]

I looked forward to spending a day with my son fishing from a large boat. I had it planned for three months. It would have been a nice experience to share. But today I received an email the trip was being canceled.

Now that the food chain is ingesting all kinds of toxins into their bodies from the massive oil disaster nothing caught in the Gulf would be safe. The cancellation of my trip is minor compared to the loss of livelihoods of millions of people who rely on the Gulf. Just like contamination of the food chain, all the jobs associated with the fishing industry are in grave danger.

BP is busy pointing fingers at everyone but themselves for the disaster. Their CEO shows why he is the leader of that company. He has zero regard for others and he is completely irresponsible, the two traits which make 'greatness' in a capitalistic corporation. BP even tried to prey on the most vulnerable people by getting them to sign away their rights for a measly $5,000. The irresponsibility of corporations are without limit.

Because of laws passed in 1991, BP is only liable for up to a paltry $75 million. Democratic lawmakers are trying to raise that to $10 billion, and they say there are precedents to make their law retroactive. But why have any limits at all? Why a $10 billion dollar cap when the company caused disaster could result in 50-100 billion in direct losses, and ten years or more of contamination to the environment? The law should have no caps on liability and if needed, every BP asset should be seized and used to pay the victims for their crime. Yes, it is a 'crime' when a company could have prevented the disaster with a low cost $500,000 acoustic valve, but choose not to. It's equivalent to leaving a loaded gun in a day care center full of toddlers. Eventually one of them would be killed. BP knew the risks, but they just didn't care. The democratic sponsored law should also prevent any BP drilling near the US forever and also include provisions to seize the wealth of the CEO and his bevy of executives who make millions a year. Yeah, I know, that would be hard to enforce since BP isn't a US company. But we can stop them from drilling in our waters.

My fishing trip is insignificant and unimportant. But my heart aches for all those whose lives will be destroyed by the irresponsibility of BP, Halliburton and their soulless executives who won't lose a minute of sleep or a dime of losses from their fat, overpaid salaries.

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. What part of the gulf were you supposed to visit?

Just curious as to how far down the coast they are preparing for this.

[Mimosa]

2. ArmyVeteran, ITA with you

AV said:

Because of laws passed in 1991, BP is only liable for up to a paltry $75 million. Democratic lawmakers are trying to raise that to $10 billion, and they say there are precedents to make their law retroactive. But why have any limits at all? Why a $10 billion dollar cap when the company caused disaster could result in 50-100 billion in direct losses, and ten years or more of contamination to the environment? The law should have no caps on liability and if needed, every BP asset should be seized and used to pay the victims for their crime. Yes, it is a 'crime' when a company could have prevented the disaster with a low cost $500,000 acoustic valve, but chose not to.

AV, they should have to clean up everything. NO CAP. And maybe a few people ought to go to jail.

1991...who was President back then?

Politicians of both parties have taken the money from oil lobbyists. They are all complicit.

[SPedigrees]

5. Bush Sr was president in 1991.

The bulk of deregulation has occurred with republicans holding the reins.

[CanonRay]

6. Yes, but he had a Democratic Congress

They're all in bed with the oil companies.

[AnArmyVeteran]

7. GHW Bush, Rove, Cheney, Baby Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld, all Fox News, RW radio hosts should be in prison.

[SPedigrees]

3. I could not agree more about penalties for BP

and any other oil co whose negligence and greed cause disasters such as this one. Sorry about your fishing trip. It may be minor in the grand scheme of things, but it's a loss nonetheless. (Maybe you can take your kid out on a boat in a yet untainted ocean.)

[revolution breeze]

4. They are still takiing out charter trips west of the mouth

of the Mississippi River. Of course it is a different story from the mouth of the river east to the Florida Gulf Coast. We are keeping a close eye on the Rigolets right now (hubby spent yesterday up to his hips in swamp water).

[revolution breeze]

8. Fishing charter operators west of Mississippi River

'We're open, there's no oil, and fish are biting'

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/fishing_charter_operators_west.html