In Senate testimony, oil executives pass the blame for huge spill

[The Straight Story]

In Senate testimony, oil executives pass the blame for huge spill


WASHINGTON — Three major oil industry executives agreed on one thing in a pair of Senate hearings Tuesday: Someone else was to blame for the drilling rig accident that triggered the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The senior executives from the oil behemoth BP, the offshore oil drilling company Transocean and the oilfield services contractor Halliburton pointed fingers at each other in seeking to explain what caused the accident that set afire and sank the Deepwater Horizon rig, killing 11 people.

Getting to the bottom of the accident took center stage for a day even as BP and federal agencies sought to contain or stop the three-week-old oil spill.

BP blamed the failure of Transocean's blowout preventer and raised a new question about whether Transocean disregarded "anomalous pressure test readings" just hours before the explosion. Transocean blamed decisions made by BP and cited possible flaws in the cementing job done by Halliburton. Halliburton said that it had faithfully followed BP's instructions and that Transocean had started replacing a heavy drilling mud with seawater before the well was sealed with a cement plug.

http://www.mercurynews.com/politics-government/ci_15065066

[panader0]

1. "Circular firing squad" is the term I heard on TV today.

Apparently, according to them, nobody is to blame. They are trying to set up a defense for the huge number of law suits to come.

[The Straight Story]

2. Kind of like the intelligence failures for 9/11 and the wars - no one is at fault...(nt)

[Mind_your_head]

3. yeah, "passing blame" can be a legal constrict.......

BUT WHO THE H*LL can STOP THIS OIL GUSHER!?!? It ain't gonn stop.

Where's George Petroni when you need him?

Airport Movie Review

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Actors: Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Helen Hayes, Van Heflin, George Kennedy

Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Airport
"Airport" starts as a typical busy day at a snowbound Chicago airport. The airport's GM, Mel(Burt Lancaster) is a workaholic because of a strained marriage, and his youthful assistant has a crush on him. Vernon Demarest (Dean Martin)is a cocky pilot who is married to Mel's sister, and having an affair with a stewardess. A stuck 747 is blocking runway 29, and Joe Petroni(George Kennedy)is the man to get it cleared. Things go haywire when it's discovered that a man with a bomb is on Demarest's plane. With the help of an elderly stowaway(Helen Hayes), Demarest attempts to disarm the man but fails. Once the bomb explodes, Demarest's lady love is seriously injured, and he has to bring the crippled plane back to runway 29, one way or another.
--John Harrel, Resident Scholar


In 1969, who could have imagined what frightful places airports could become. But for its time, Arthur Hailey's best-seller portrayed one metropolitan airport as a quite frenzied place, especially during a severe snowstorm. And, this novel may have been the only one to spawn one movie, three sequels, and two parodies.

With an all-star ensemble pitting arrogant pilot (Dean Martin) against the mild-manner Operations Director (Burt Lancaster), the film reveals one full night in which many characters' subplots intertwine while revealing the airport's infrastructure and many tricks of the trade.

But the major story is that of financially troubled “D.O. Guerrero” (Van Heflin) who ambles onboard a Rome-bound flight with a simple briefcase bomb poised for his wife to collect insurance. Despite a carefully planned ploy by an elderly stowaway (Helen Hayes), the bomb explodes leaving the 727 seriously crippled and needing to return home. With masterful piloting by Martin, the plane descends, desperately needing the longest runway which is still blocked by a plane that skidded earlier that evening.

With 179 souls on board, only Lancaster can give the order for an assembly of tractors to literally shred the obstacle off the needed runway. But top mechanic (George Kennedy) insists he can rock the stuck plane out of the way.

[Mind_your_head]

4. There is no 'george petroni' or (m)any with courage and convictions.

Itsall about the money.....

You ain't got the money, you ain't got "nuthin".

It bites.