"We the People."

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Disaster in Gulf goes beyond spill



First published in print: Sunday, July 11, 2010

CNN's Anderson Cooper, reporting on press restrictions in covering the Gulf Coast oil crisis, ended his report with, "We are not the enemy here."

Those words sent a chill right through me. The free press is the life blood of our democracy and when Cooper says "we," I hear "We the People." Now we not only have to witness BP's ham-handed cover-up of this disaster, we also must deal with the unnecessary press restrictions imposed by the Coast Guard. This, on top of the meek posturing of the Obama administration that gives BP total control over this scene.

We now have a British corporation, with the enforcement of the U.S. Coast Guard, preventing an American citizen from taking pictures and reporting on the worst ecological disaster in our history.

We have three Gulf Coast disasters right now. The gusher of oil caused by corporate negligence and greed is the most obvious. The sinister undermining of the health and safety of Gulf Coast workers and residents by the absence of government oversight of this industry and its "clean up" (cover-up) efforts. The final disaster is the Obama administration's failure to protect free speech.

What are our elected representatives in Washington doing to address these three disasters?

Are they picking up the phone and calling the White House? Are they going to see to it that the men responsible are investigated and held to account in a meaningful way?

Will they speak out, as so many of their constituents have, on the abuse of power by federal agencies in the protection of corporate interests at the expense of our freedom?

Robert Alft

Voorheesville