What the fuck is wrong with these people? The criticism is that the only reason the US is attacking BP is because it’s a British company, and they’re whining about losing money from their pension funds. Dear fuckheads: your precious company has had more safety and operating violations in the last two years than all the other oil companies combined. Now they’ve reaped a disaster that will likely have decades of repercussions and destroy the livelihoods of thousands of Gulf Coast residents and the incomes of those dependent on the tourism industry. Well, the hate is only beginning folks, and nobody is responsible for this except BP and its contractors, so get fucking used to it.
How about changing the name of the island to the Windsor Isles? This much bad publicity requires a re-branding of everything associated with the word British. Like the popular intertube exploit, the British Bangwanger, should probably be changed to “that chair from Burn After Reading” Zot.
Leave the term British and Brit to BP and make them stick with it.
Actually the argument is that BP is no longer the short form of “British Petroleum” (seriously, try and find the phrase on their website outside of the history sections), yet American politicians are insisting on calling them “British Petroleum” in an effort to distance the US from any sort of responsibility or obligation and make it look like a British failure. From this side of the Atlantic it is quite noticeable.
Yes, it must be a xenophobic propaganda effort. It’s not because the company was called British Petroleum for 45 years and changed its name a decade ago. We’re trying to foist it all off on the limeys. We’re that evil. :rolleyes:
No, almost no one says anything other than BP. I can’t even recall hearing anyone saying “British Petroleum.” Somebody might have put together a series of clips of politicians saying “British Petroleum”, but they must have used them all. Virtually nobody in the press or in Congress says anything other than BP, right from the beginning.
Lest I get accused of Angle abuse, I’ll add that this failure does not belong to any country. U.S. regulators fell down on the job, and Transocean and Halliburton are U.S.-founded companies and they were working to satisfy American demand for oil.
Good thing the CEO of BP, who said, “I want my life back,” has an American accent, and that the plurality ownership of BP (40%) are not Britannic.
I’ve been really surprised by this, to tell you the truth. There was even a segment on the CBS news this evening about how people are blaming the spill on the country across the pond. This is just normal know-nothingness–the only ones to blame are the international corporation BP, and the international drilling contractor Transocean–and I see no indication that the U.S. government has such an attitude.
“Over-paid, over-drilled, and over here,
Get smart, Briton, disappear,
The oil’s at the gates of Rome,
Briton, go home” *
- Reference available upon request **
** Ah forget it. Richard Thompson - “Yankee, Go Home” off Amnesia
I think I sometimes hear “British Petroleum” used when leading off a story but typically it’s pretty much BP constantly. It’s kind of like using a person’s full name or “The New York Times” at the start then shortening to “Mr. Soandso” or “the Times” for the rest.
The regulators are getting reamed pretty hard over their lax “oversight” - aren’t they the ones who were literally in bed with people from oil companies? - but I’m going to get out my world’s tiniest violin and play a tune for BP if I hear more from them about how bad their stock is tanking because of this and how much money they’re having to spend on cleanup. Tonight’s news was saying how BP had promised that the captured oil would go to funding wildlife recovery/sanctuaries but now there’s reports that they’re just burning captured oil.
Well all I can say is that is how it is seen here. Nancy Pelosi was seen very pointedly saying “British Petroleum” on the news today, for example. In the UK it is rare, if ever, to hear “British Petroleum” so to us it really stands out when someone uses it and feels as if someone is trying to make a point about the name.
There is also a lot of bad feeling here now in that the US Government has done next to nothing to reign in the US Banking Industry that pretty much screwed the world, but are coming down heavily against BP because they are a foreign-based PLC.
Who benefits if this is turned into a nationalistic, US vs. UK thing? BP.
I think the press in the UK is trying to make something out of nothing and I wonder why.
It was an accident waiting to happen. The oil companies were constantly fighting to weaken and cheapen regulation. It would be just bad luck for BP if it weren’t for their abysmal safety record. BP was the worst of the lot by far.
Then BP has been lying from day one.
Man, fuck these assholes. This is just another shallow attempt to deflect attention from their fuck ups. If I were the president, I’d start using the phrase even more just to piss off these wankers.
I mainly hear BP but I think some people say “British Petroleum” because “BP” sounds like an informal abbreviation. Even if that is technically the name of the company these days.
Someone I know on another forum went off on a tear today about how the US picking on Britain for this. Did the Queen just put out a memo?
Its just to cover their embarassment for when they lose to us at…what do they call that stupid game, again?
Global Warming?
No, no, no. Its got a ball, a couple of nets, but everything else is fucked up.
OK, I’ll bite: What does BP stand for?
Brokkian Ultra Krikkit?
Back in 2000 they started telling us it stood for Beyond Petroleum.
Perversely that might have more truth in it now that back then.
Billionaire Polluters?