BP to Texas - Trust me

With all respect to journalistic integrity, I need to confess that I'm from Texas (originally). Maybe that's why I find this so funny.

I don't want to oversimplify, but Texas is an oil state. The state continues to be dominated by the petrochemical industry and its governor, Rick Perry, sleeps on a waterbed inflated with oil, combs his hair with oil, uses it to clean things, and worships the sacred PetroGod. No one could possibly be a bigger supporter of oil than Guv Rick.

The BP Oil Spill hasn't affected Texas beaches to the extent that it's affected other states, yet there have been some tar balls washing up on its beaches. Of course a former Texas governor (Preston Smith, Dolph Briscoe...they all run together in a giant oil slick of corruption) once said that tar balls were natural and had nothing to do with oil production.

The former governor's opinion on tar balls notwithstanding, Guv Rick went to his Big Daddy BP and ask for a 25 million dollar cash advance to pay for future Texas oil spill clean ups. After all, Guv Rick figured, Big Daddy BP gave it to his other kids (Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi).

It seems only fair. After all, Texas should have "most favored son" status, as BP's U.S. operations are headquartered in Houston and BP is heavily invested in Texas.

BP said no. They did make a small (comparatively) pledge to the Texas Coastal Protection Fund.

Now, Son of Oil Guv Rick is in a snit. He wrote a nasty letter to BP and someone gave it to Reuters. Nice. Reuters quotes him as saying to BP "you are essentially asking Texas to just trust you."

Very nice.

How does Guv Rick explain to the voters that the oil god doesn't love them as much as the other children? How does he explain that, even though they pledged their souls to PetroGod, they don't get their handout?

Finally, will Guv Rick get a new polo pony to make up for his hurt feelings?

For more thoughts on BP, click here.

If you're reading this somewhere that doesn't show links, just go to http://snowboardingjapan.blogspot.com and see the whole thing!