To: Snowshoe who wrote (73678 ) 5/25/2010 4:27:33 PM From: Maurice Winn 1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 74559 That was my experience too: <I've dealt with a several people from BP and its predecessor Sohio over the years. All were decent folks except for one very senior manager who was a totally arrogant prick. I think it's guys like him who set the stage for these disasters. > In the dozen years I worked there [in NZ and HQ in London and Belgium] it was totally uncool to lose cool. The only swearing I ever heard was from a woman who presumably thought it made her look tough whereas it just made her look silly. Being pleasant and reasonable was a valued characteristic. Not everyone achieved that all the time, but certainly the management were well up on it. John Williams and a few others notwithstanding. [John never got far though]. Tony Hayward is obviously an exponent of it. Increasingly, people are starting to notice that BP might not be totally responsible for everything. Government people were busy watching porn on government computers instead of well performance. Transocean was busy doing things such as running the platform. The blow out preventer was not made by BP nor Transocean but was bought and installed as one might buy a Toyota which makes brakes and the driver is not necessarily considered at fault if the car takes off uncontrollably and the passenger who has hired the taxi to take them to the airport is certainly not liable - though the government inspectors who check safety might be. That's not to say that I believe the ridiculous "unintended acceleration" claims by clumsy and incompetent motorists. Letting a floor mat get tangled in an accelerator is obviously the fault of the person who doesn't bother straightening the mat, as I do in my Camry on a regular basis and always have done. If I didn't think oil prices are going to fall, I'd probably buy BP shares about now while the hysterics are foaming at the mouth, climbing all over themselves to show how horrified they are that some left footed mud crabs are getting oiled and some pelican plumage is polluted. Yes, that's unpleasant and I was very disappointed that the Manukau Harbour was totally killed apart from anaerobic bacteria for decades. But I don't pretend that the demise of my harbour [which few other people seemed to notice or care about] was a huge catastrophe. If was very annoying for me. But nobody is coming to compensate me for loss of fishing and enjoyment and despoliation of my natural world. Perhaps I should phone the media and they could come in droves. Of course they won't because what is fun with the current mess is that it's BP - the English company and the 4 July celebrations are about down with the English, and Obama doesn't like the English though he bows enthusiastically to the Islamic Jihad rulers in Saudi Arabia - he has his boot on the throat of BP. Now there's an ugly expression which people who are subject to his power, such as Americans, should take note of and beware of. "First he came for the English and BP, but I'm not English and I don't like Big Oil so serve them right ...." Oil always attracts lots of attention too. As does money and BP has lots of money. The environment is now the most popular strutting and posing topic too so that attracts swarms. "Look how much I care about the environment - much more than you, you heathen". It's all a storm in a teacup. In a few weeks it will all be over and it will be back to wondering how to pay the mortgage and why all that spending on government isn't making life better. "We send $trillions to Washington but they seem to just spend it on themselves and pour it down the drain". Mqurice