Alarm system set to quiet mode on night of rig disaster

 

From Daily Kos

Alarm system set to quiet mode on night of rig disaster

by Jed Lewison

Fri Jul 23, 2010

Here's what happens when you let a dangerous industry regulate itself:

KENNER, La. — The emergency alarm on the Deepwater Horizon was not fully activated on the day the oil rig caught fire and exploded, triggering the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a rig worker on Friday told a government panel investigating the accident.

The worker, Mike Williams, chief electronics technician aboard the Transocean rig, said the general safety alarm was habitually set to “inhibited” to avoid waking up the crew with late-night sirens.

“They did not want people woke up at 3 a.m. from false alarms,” Mr. Williams told the federal panel of investigators in this New Orleans suburb. Consequently, the alarm did not sound during the emergency, leaving workers to relay information through the loudspeaker system.

They didn't set the alarm fully because they didn't want to wake people up accidentally? Seriously? What is the point of having safety measures if you aren't going to use them? It's reminiscent of another BP-Transcoean also described by Williams last May. According to Williams, just before the accident BP had ordered Transocean to cut important safety corners, including using water instead of drilling mud in the final stages of attempting to seal the well. And now we know that not only did they order the companies to ignore important safety measures, they didn't even take advantage of the alarm system to alert them if something went wrong.

On the one hand, you'll probably have executives of other oil companies using stories like this to characterize the disaster as an example of individual corporate failure, arguing that BP and Transocean were merely reckless operators within an otherwise safe industry. But while it's true that BP and Transocean failed egregiously, it's also true that BP and Transocean weren't fringe operators. They were -- and continue to be -- two of the biggest companies in the industry. They weren't just tolerated, they were valued. And after this blows over -- if it blows over -- they will once again be welcomed back into the oil industry fold

Technorati Tags: Deepwater Horizon,Mike Williams,BP,Gulf Of Mexico,News,Current Events

Back In Action!…

…or so I hope. After being down here in the state of Florida for slightly more than a year without my blogging software, I am happy to report that almost all things are back to normal.

   We’ve missed most of the shenanigans done by the politicians for both the Governor’s seat and the Senate seat. It has been kind of fun to watch as the Republican candidates go at each other with a vengeance. I will be bringing you up to date on this, and much more, as the days go by.

    We also have the very crappy economy here in Florida to deal with, as well as the Gulf mess brought to you by those fantastic folks at BP.

   Let me not forget to mention life and its twists here in Tampa, which is where I am at at the present time.

Technorati Tags: Florida,Tampa,Economy,Politics,BP,News

Media Enablers

Daily Kos
Shame on the Media
by Dr Teeth Wed Jul 21, 2010

By now everyone knows the story of Shirley Sherrod. The new storyline is whether the Obama administration will restore her status. There is no question they should make this right, but I would prefer it happen behind the scenes.

Still, the question is not what the White House did. It isn't what the NAACP did. It isn't even what the right wing hacks did.

The question is whether the media did their due diligence, before reporting this story.
The tea partier behind this is human garbage, so let's just get that out of the way first. The internet is full of people of his ilk. You simply have to search youtube for a couple minutes, and you'll find a multitude of intellectually dishonest propaganda.

That being said, there is no defense in that fact. Journalism is not a function of populism. Before any news agency touched the story, they should have done the responsible thing. They were about to spur racial tensions, and any producer in television knew the demographic reactions, which would result.

Someone at CNN did actually dig the real story up. They followed the simple process of getting both sides of the story, and are deserving of some admiration. Of course they ran the story like everyone else, before seeking out all sides, so this admiration is tempered.

MSNBC or NBC failed to do this. CBS, ABC and newspapers failed to do this. Every morning show on every network, tapped directly into the race baiting for ratings. I refuse to give Fox News the credential of reviewing their vetting process, as they are simply a right wing blog on TV.

This isn't some complex ruse to debunk. Whenever someone sends me a link to a blog or youtube video, I assume it is bullshit. I've been on the internet as long as the world wide web has existed (and a little before that), and my skepticism is well earned. There isn't really citizen journalism, only citizen propaganda.

I do what ever reasonable person should do. I read something on the internet, then seek a credible source for it elsewhere. This level of skepticism should be the standard for everyone who isn't a political hack.

It certainly should be the standard for the media that unjustly got a good woman fired yesterday.

Those Florida Budget Cuts..

... are really starting to have an effect on the state of the state of Florida.
I see signs on government businesses on an almost daily basis saying that the particular office will be closed on such and such date due to budget cuts. In the county of Hillsborough ( Tampa ), the county commissioners take an occasional furlough due to those lousy budget cuts.
Why am I on this topic? Because of the political bullshit that those candidates for governor (Alex Sink (D), Rick Scott (R),Bill McCollum (R) )are pushing down the throats of the Florida villagers. Not only is the race for the governorship blowing smoke up our asses, but those running for the Senate ( Mark Rubio (R), Charlie Chris (R) are doing the same thing.
My problem with those Republican candidates is that they are still into pushing for more tax cuts for Florida, which will help increase jobs in the state. This crap didn't work under Jeb Bush and it is not going to work this time either.
Who will get these tax cuts? The residents of Florida? Not hardly since there is no income tax on residents. That leaves only businesses which will reap the tax cut benefits. It is reported that Florida business pays only a measly 4% in taxes, if they pay any at all. Some of those running for political office would like to see that tax rate lowered to around 1.5%.
Get real you fucks! Those libraries which close one Friday per month and the furlough which county commissioners and city council members have to take are not due to budget cuts folks. They are due to TAX CUTS brought about by your favorite Republican business lackey.