A Few Shrimp Short of a Cocktail

 (Warning to my gentle readers -- this post contains some strong language that may be considered offensive. Just so you'll know!)

Sometimes, it really is as Darth Vader said: "All too easy."

Much has been written, said, and even shouted (kudos to my friend, PBB, and her cohorts in Washington!) about the response of British Petroleum to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf this past summer. Evidently, BP and our own Federal government would have us believe that the response has been both swift and effective-- some have even dared to term it compassionate (i.e., "We feel your pain.")

 As the aforementioned PBB might well say it, "Bullshit!"

Thanks to the efforts of many vigilant individuals, most of them outside of the official response teams (read "those bought by BP and sworn to silence,") the horrors of the spill and its aftermath have been documented and broadcast to the world. We have seen what's really happening down there in the Gulf-- and it ain't pretty!

This week, BP's Chief Operating Officer Mike Utsler decided to host a "media event" in a local restaurant in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. This is the "home" of fictional character Benjamin "Bubba" Blue of Forrest Gump fame, but it IS a real town, with real people affected by the ongoing oil saga.

Particularly hard-hit have been the professional fishermen and all who depend on their trade. Seafood is not just big business in places like Bayou La Batre, it is the only business.

Well, Mr. Utsler wanted to show the world that seafood from the Gulf is safe to eat. In his own words, "The seafood in the Gulf of Mexico is the most tested seafood. It is safe. It is sound. I eat it everywhere I go almost everyday." This statement was, of course, issued with a big smile on his face as he invited a few locals and members of the media to join him in dining at the Lighthouse Restaurant.

According to reporter Jessica Taloney of WKRG-TV, all seemed well and good as the assembled crowd began munching down on crab claws, mullet, oysters, and real, bona fide Gulf shrimp-- all at BP's expense, of course. (You can check the report for yourself here.)

But apparently, there was more than met the eyes at this Alabama chow-down. When Ms. Taloney asked the workers at the restaurant about the items on the menu, she learned that "the crab claws, which were bought from a local distributor, were shipped in from Baltimore, Maryland. The mullet was caught in Florida. The oysters came from Texas and Florida. And, the shrimp, though it is local, was caught before the oil spill, then frozen and served up daily." (emphasis mine)

Just kind of makes you want to ask, "WTF, BP?" Just how dumb do they think we really are, and how much longer will they be allowed to pull publicity stunts like this?

Unless, of course, they think that we are in the same predicament that reporter Taloney used to sum up the day at the diner in Bayou La Batre: it was "a few shrimp short of a cocktail."