This oil spill and BP's response (or lack thereof) has raised my BP

I don't know why more people aren't outraged with what's going on in the Gulf of Mexico. I guess I feel personally collected because my family is from Louisiana and I spend a few weeks a year in New Orleans and consider it my second home. I keep up with the news online from the Times-Picayunne and on a blog maintained by Jared Serigne. The pictures and videos alone are upsetting and add to that the fact that 11 people lost their lives because of a companies failure to ensure that safety mechanism were in place, this is downright right outrageous!

Photo credit: National Geographic

Photo credit: Daniel Beltra/Reuters

BP has a Twitter account setup to inform people of the steps they're taking to correct this problem which doesn't seem like a whole lot because all the oil is still gushing into the Gulf. It would be almost laughable if this event weren't so tragic. I took the time since the incident occurred on April 20, 2010 to read through any and all info I could find on BP.  I ran across their 2009 Sustainability Review and found three items at the very beginning that really disturbed me, especially because if they were true I wouldn't be writing this post.

Today I read the transcript of BP America's president, Lamar McKay's, testimony to the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. And all I can say is now I'm even more outraged. If you visit BP's website they go on and on about how they research prior to drilling and how safety and the environment is their number one priority. I call BULLSHIT on that because they're a company like any other company and we all know the number one priority is revenue! Well, McKay, said all the right things, but all I have to say is words without action are worthless. He seems to have a ton of questions too, the same ones I find my self asking:

First, what caused the explosion and fire on board Transocean’s Deepwater

Horizon?

Second, why did Transocean’s blowout preventer – the key fail-safe

mechanism – fail to operate?

Of course McKay and BP are not going to be taking the blame for this. They're trying to dump that on Transocean who they hired to drill the well. Transocean also owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon rig. and as McKay puts it "Transocean, as owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, had responsibility for the safety of all drilling operations." If that isn't deflection I don't know what is.

This is a story of failure. A corporations failure to properly protect it's employees and the environment and that same corporations failure to have the proper safety protocols and redundancy in place to minimize damage and loss of life.

In his closing remarks McKay went on to say:

No resource available to this company will be spared. I can assure you that
we and the entire industry will learn from this terrible event, and emerge

from it stronger, smarter and safer.

It's unfortunate that the Gulf Coast of the US had to be the classroom that this lesson was taught in. There are thousands of people who make their livings fishing those waters, there are generations of people who have fond childhood memories of frolicking in those waters and there are those who where dragged kicking and screaming during their summer vacations against their will to Breton Island and ended up marveling in the beauty of the Gulf Coast.

The cost to the environment cannot be associated to a dollar amount. The damage is irreversible and will affect our planet for generations to come. BP better get their shit together and get it together soon. While the people of the Gulf Coast are welcoming, cordial and accommodating we don't take well to people mucking up our waters.

Dorothy Irene Height (March 24, 1912 – April 20, 2010)

Today was the funeral of Dr. Dorothy Height and I cried during every minute of it. She was a pioneer of the Civil Rights and Women’s Rights movements. She was fierce, stylish, classy and intelligent. She was fearless, a leader, a soldier and a voice for those who couldn’t speak up for themselves. She was everything I wanted to be.


I remember (and shall never forget) the first time I met Dr. Height, I was a freshman at Howard University and we were both attending the same event. I was introduced to her and this woman whom I had learned about in US History and seen on TV donning some of the baddest hats ever simply said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, you’re adorable”, I was speechless, I shook her hand and mumbled something to which she replied, “Honey, speak up I can’t hear you”. We talked for about 10 minutes and headed to our respective tables. I would see her many times over the next couple of years and she always remember who I was and she always had on a different hat. She was always encouraging and asked me how school was going. Dr. Height wasn’t one of those people who pretended to care how you were doing she actually cared.

She would share her stories of the Civil Rights movement and always stress the importance of women, especially Black women, to carry themselves with dignity and grace – always! She spoke of the importance of education and how it should be accessible to everyone regardless of race and social standing. When I was in DC for the inauguration of President Obama it warmed my heart to see Dr. Height sitting there, she was a big part of what went on that day long before Barack Obama was even born. Her life was lived in service of others; she was always doing her part to make things better for the next generation.

She received every civilian honor imaginable and countless honorary degrees and where most people would have been haughty and snobbish she was always humble and classy. Dorothy Height was phenomenal, she was fabulous, she was caring and compassion. She was loved and will be missed.

No hat she ever wore on earth can compare to the crown she received when she made it to Heaven.

Dr. Height's funeral service is available for viewing online here.

Relationship & Infidelity Rant

The prospect of marriage is not only out the window but if recent celebrity break ups are any indicator it’s probably dead. Sandra Bullock’s husband Jesse James cheated on her. Tiger Woods cheated on his wife – numerous times. Sam Mendes tells Kate Winslet that one relationship isn’t enough for him and there are a number of other high profile break ups. Not to mention most of the women these men are seeing are far less attractive and much less successful than their current wives and girlfriends. Hello, when you’re looking to trade in, you should try trading up instead of down. There are so many people that I know whose marriages have failed or one or both spouses are currently having affairs. It causes one to wonder if monogamy died right along with chivalry.


I know plenty of men and woman who profess to be Christians and who made vows “till death do us part”. I have to wonder if that death referred to emotional death and not physical. Others will say if you aren’t happy then just leave. I have a problem with people not keeping their commitments. My grandparents were married for well over 40 years and while I’m sure it wasn’t always a walk in the park I’m convinced they were deeply in love with each other until their dying days. Were there ups and downs? Of course there were but you worked through it, you talked your problems out, and sometimes that talking would become yelling but you faced the problems – together. The husband didn’t run to another woman and the women didn’t run to another man. I’m not so jaded to believe that talking problems out will prevent infidelity but I know that open dialogue in any situation is more productive than not saying anything at all.

When people get married they should be marrying someone they love, feel they can live with and unfortunately die with. Too many relationships are built on lust instead of love nowadays. I know so many people that cheat and are cheated on and I wonder what leads to this and what if anything is gained by it. Sure, there’s the whole thrill factor but doesn’t that get old? One of my friends had an affair with a married coworker for over 3 years and bore him 2 children. His wife also had 2 children while he was having an affair. This guy had 4 kids in 2 years; his first child was born to my friend - his mistress. During the entire relationship he swore he never loved his wife, he planned on leaving her and constantly told my friend she was the love of his life. Now, over 3 years later he’s still with his wife and hasn’t spoken to my friend since May 2009, my friend gave birth to his 2nd daughter on December 31, 2009 and the guy’s wife gave birth to another daughter on March 4, 2010. Looking back on all of this I wonder what he was thinking? Was it a thrill, did he ever love my friend and more importantly did he ever love his wife?

One of my married friends and I were talking the other day over lunch about relationships and cheating spouses and she told me how glad she was to be married and didn’t know what she would do if she were single and dating right now because the prospects are so poor. I told her I was glad to be single because if I were married to some of my friend’s husbands I would have probably cut the guys throat or slit my own wrists.

I read a tweet the other day about how hard it is to date in today’s world and I’m starting to wonder if it’s harder to stay married than it is to date. So to all those married people feeling sorry for us single girls, keep your sympathy and take a good look at your own relationship cause the single girls are doing just fine and some of them are doing just fine with your husbands.
How many marriages end in divorce today? How many spouses have cheated or are contemplating it? This is a real issue and if it weren’t shows like Cheaters wouldn’t have so many viewers. Each time I turn on the TV or look at a news site I’m bombarded with facts, figures and articles on infidelity from everyday folks to politicians. It’s truly sickening. So here’s to being single for the rest of my life and being happy with someone who’ll love me forever – ME!