Coming into office, our new president promised more transparency in government. But the recent white-washing by official sources on the amount of oil still left in the Gulf, and a possible cover-up of dead wildlife, leaves much to be desired.
John Kessler of Texas A&M, who led an on-site study of the spill by the National Science Foundation, said, "Recent reports seem to say that about 75% of the oil is taken care of and that is just not true. The fact is that 50% to 75% of the material that came out of the well is still in the water. It's just in a dissolved or dispersed form."
Journalists and scientists have been blocked from toxic areas and clean-up workers have had to sign confidentiality agreements. BP has employed research professors at public universities for up to $250 an hour, along with a gag order, on any research dealing with the spill.
A scared clean-up worker reported anonymously, "the military are watching us dolphins whales, seabirds fish are all floating dead on the surface of the water ... dead bodies as far as the eye can see."
An article from the Huffington Post said, "The evidence strongly suggests that BP worked with the Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, the FAA, private security contractors, and local law enforcement, all of which cooperated to conceal the operations disposing of the animals from the media and the public."
When the governments of Iran or China suppress news and freedom of speech, we call it "authoritarianism" and "tyranny." Why would we call it anything else when it happens here?
