Monday, June 21, 2010

Not been here in a while...

Again. Been off. No real reason why...I guess I have "blog fatigue"...but, I'm still here.

I promised to chat about my China trip, aye? Well, China was excellent. Went to three cities- Beijing, Wuhan and Xiamen.

Was surprised that Xiamen was more like South Beach Miami, Fla. Very much a tropical place and tourist destination. Very trendy...lot's of bars and such. It is also a port city.

Beijing is stricly business. No frills and no fuzzy stuff. Straight up concrete for the most part. Yes, it has some sites to see- Tiananmen Square and Chairman Mao's body, etc...but, nothing really to report.

Wuhan is more like a rural linked city. Right in Central China. Went to a few housing bloc's and some agricultural farms...it was "ok".

All in all, a fantastic trip.

Monday, June 7, 2010

How the world turns...

Dang. The oil spill in The Gulf of Mexico is more serious than I thought. Apparently, British Petroleum, BP, does not have the technology to fix the oil leak from it's pipeline.

How could that be? You mean to tell me, you have the technology to drill baby drill, but not the technology to stop the leak? Totally unacceptable.

What is even more ironic, is the issue that BP is supposedly one of the more "eco-friendly" oil companies and it prides itself on its performance as it relates to changing its production model to one of a more new energy model. I guess this is all out of the window.

In the meantime, BP is being hit in the stock market as stocks plunged more than 45 percent.

Tony Hayward, BP's CEO, has been wavering in the media as he is, apparently, caught out in mis-statement after mis-statement.

It is not good for BP. As for The Bahamas, we are preparing for the worst. We have already reached out to officials from BP and the U.S. government as it relates to disaster management of the oil spill- BP has committed to pick up the tab of the clean up and the U.S. government will offer assistance as necessary.

Apparently, the oil spill, once it gets into the Gulf "slip-stream", can reach The Northern border of The Bahamas within another 30 days or so. Floridians are already bracing for the worse and persons in Louisiana and Alabama, are already seeing oil clumps washing up on shore.

Additionally, the marsh lands in The Gulf off of the Coast of L.A. and Ala., are already taking the toll as animals and wildlife are being found oil slathered and the marsh lands are drenched in crude oil.

Without a doubt it is a national disaster and an international incident.

Through all of this the fishermen in The Gulf Coast have been more than hit hard. They have not been able to earn a livelihood as a result of the disaster as fishing spots are now disaster areas. In addition, shipping lanes are being affected as ships going through the Gulf, are having to 1. take extra precautions to avoid the deepest part of the slick, as well as 2. having to clean off their tankers and ships, after every trip as a result of the heavy crude that is sticking to them.

I pray for the best, but the disaster shocked everyone and no one expected it to last this long. To me, this should have been resolved in a matter of days- the capping of the oil pipe-line, that is. Instead, BP showed a nasty side of business practice by showing that drilling, was more important than disaster management and safety.

Help and hope for the coast!