Sympathy for BP?

Naaah. Never. No way. They have made a mess the likes of which we have never before seen, one that will have bad effects for decades, probably centuries.

But I came close to feeling a twinge of compassion for BP's Tony Hayward today. Damn close. Poor ol' Tony had to appear before a congressional committee today.

Frankly, I think I'd rather be forced to go out naked to scoop the noxious sludge from BP's shattered well than be grilled by the unprincipled, generally senile, always self-important and beyond-clueless loons who populate the halls of Congress.

I had no idea they are all experts on the mechanics and engineering aspects of oil drilling and disaster preparedness. No inkling that a superannuated hack from Michigan, a public-trough-guzzling drone from California or the rest of these buffoons could manage a pair of shoelaces without help from one of their hordes of well-paid flunkies, much less spout technical buzz-terms so freely.

In fact, they can't. Said flunkies burned the midnight oil to come up with rhetorical questions for their bosses to throw at Hayward. Always in the most self-righteous, angry tone they can muster*. Looking carefully, one could see the Congress-crooks' eyes dipping to the cheat sheets before them when they asked about the details that led up to the disaster.

Meet any one of them on the street and ask about "blow-out preventers" or types of concrete well-shafts and their eyes would glaze over.

Granted, Hayward didn't come out of the hearing smelling like roses. He was evasive, scripted and woefully uninformed about what his company did and is doing. Not my idea of a proper CEO, he came across as slightly lower than a conscienceless P.R. hack trying to excuse massive corporate idiocy.

In his defense, he had Eric Holder, the so-called Attorney General peeping over his shoulder muttering threats about criminal prosecutions**. Anyone in that situation would be smart to take the fifth whenever inquisitors try to pin them to stupid/illegal/unethical activity.

There were two questions within the mental capabilities of the freeloading Lords (and Ladies) of Congress and, so far as I know, neither was asked of BP today:

1. How and when will the damn flow of oil be stopped?

2. How and when will you clean up the foul mess?

No matter how and when, I suspect it'll cost BP far more than the $20 billion they have committed to pony up. Good. Whatever it takes. They made the mess, they must clean it up.

Of course I hope we'll see how that money is doled out. I don't trust anyone even remotely connected to the government to pass it along honestly and fairly.

But what I want to see now is steady, total concentration on the only two goals that mean anything at this time: stopping the flow of oil and cleaning it up before it destroys more of our environment. That attitude is, sadly, beyond the ideologically motivated leeches in Washington who, in the final analysis, care more about advancing their own agendas and covering their own sorry asses than protecting citizens and the environment.

At the moment when the oil rig caught fire and started belching out an uncontrolled flood of oil, BP bore sole responsibility. Now, almost two months later, they share culpability with hideously incompetent jerks in the government who, in a rush to make political hay out of an unspeakable disaster, have dredged up every possible obstacle to a speedy resolution. And have lied, singly and collectively, about their roles.

If anything could divert any of my anger away from BP, it is the unconscionable antics of the president and both parties in congress.

Obama calls this a "war," a meme that has spread like wildfire among the chattering fools in the political world. It is a war he is unfit to lead and Congress is incapable of conducting.

Had these inept partisan hacks been running things in December, 1941, we would have responded to the Japanese attack. By 1950, if we were lucky.

If ever we have needed genuine leaders and doers, it is now. We don't have them. Tomorrow, next week or next month is too late.


* The tone of voice they generally save for members of the Opposition Party or constituents who dare ask them to justify their actions.

** The same threats he has so far managed not to make to some genuine criminals, but hey, the law is flexible, don't you know....