Two news stories that don’t quite mesh - Story No. 1: “BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said Wednesday the British energy giant cared about the fate of the small people hit by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, vowing to look after all affected…he said the British energy giant had always met our obligations and responsibilities. We have made clear from the first moment of this tragedy that we will live up to all our legitimate responsibilities…adding all claims for compensation would be met swiftly and fairly. We will look after the people affected, and we will repair the damage to this region…President Obama said he had urged the BP bosses to remember when they were meeting in the boardroom to keep in mind those individuals, that they are desperate, may lose business that have been in their families for two or three generations. Svanberg agreed…: We care about the small people.”
Do Svanberg and Obama really care about “the small people”? Story No. 2 tells of how the funds will be provided and who will be the source of them. The Headline reads: “Obama Bullies BP Into 20 Billion Fund For Oil Spill Victims... But British Pensioners Will Pick Up The Bill.” The article states: “The crisis engulfing BP has plumbed new depths as President Obama bullied the company into depositing 20 billion into a fund to settle compensation claims for the calamitous Gulf of Mexico oil spill. After a face-to-face showdown with the President at the White House, BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg revealed the payment meant the oil giant would be forced to suspend dividends to its shareholders until at least next year.” Ah, yes – “the small people” about whom President Obama and Carl-Henric Svanberg care – share their dividends in yet another redistribution of wealth. The Poet had it correct when he penned in Gentlemen-Rankers:
We're poor little lambs who've lost our way, Baa! Baa! Baa!
We have done with Hope and Honor, we are lost to Love and Truth,
We are dropping down the ladder rung by rung,
And the measure of our torment is the measure of our youth.
God help us, for we knew the worst too young!
Our shame is clean repentance for the crime that brought the sentence,
Our pride it is to know no spur of pride,
And the Curse of Reuben (See: Genesis 35:22) holds us till an alien turf enfolds us
And we die, and none can tell Them where we died.
We're poor little lambs who've lost our way, Baa! Baa! Baa!
Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree, Damned from here to Eternity,
God ha' mercy on such as we, Baa! Yah! Bah!
In II Samuel 12:1 through 9, Nathan…speaks to King David about “the small people” in these words: "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him. David burned with anger against the man and said…As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity. Then Nathan said to David, You are the man! This is what the Lord…says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you…I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own…” The poor little lambs slaughtered yet again. Bah! Yah! Bah! Consider these things with me!
Do Svanberg and Obama really care about “the small people”? Story No. 2 tells of how the funds will be provided and who will be the source of them. The Headline reads: “Obama Bullies BP Into 20 Billion Fund For Oil Spill Victims... But British Pensioners Will Pick Up The Bill.” The article states: “The crisis engulfing BP has plumbed new depths as President Obama bullied the company into depositing 20 billion into a fund to settle compensation claims for the calamitous Gulf of Mexico oil spill. After a face-to-face showdown with the President at the White House, BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg revealed the payment meant the oil giant would be forced to suspend dividends to its shareholders until at least next year.” Ah, yes – “the small people” about whom President Obama and Carl-Henric Svanberg care – share their dividends in yet another redistribution of wealth. The Poet had it correct when he penned in Gentlemen-Rankers:
We're poor little lambs who've lost our way, Baa! Baa! Baa!
We have done with Hope and Honor, we are lost to Love and Truth,
We are dropping down the ladder rung by rung,
And the measure of our torment is the measure of our youth.
God help us, for we knew the worst too young!
Our shame is clean repentance for the crime that brought the sentence,
Our pride it is to know no spur of pride,
And the Curse of Reuben (See: Genesis 35:22) holds us till an alien turf enfolds us
And we die, and none can tell Them where we died.
We're poor little lambs who've lost our way, Baa! Baa! Baa!
Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree, Damned from here to Eternity,
God ha' mercy on such as we, Baa! Yah! Bah!
In II Samuel 12:1 through 9, Nathan…speaks to King David about “the small people” in these words: "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him. David burned with anger against the man and said…As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity. Then Nathan said to David, You are the man! This is what the Lord…says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you…I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own…” The poor little lambs slaughtered yet again. Bah! Yah! Bah! Consider these things with me!
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