America Is Bee Pee'd Off

BP isn't exactly winning the hearts and minds of America out here with their 0 for 6, soon to be 0 for 7 performance in capping this well.  In fact, people are starting to get really, really mad at the company.

Anger over the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is spilling into streets as protests are organized at BP’s offices and gas stations around the country. 

A multi-group protest made up of environmental groups is planned for Friday in Washington D.C., for example, while a week of demonstrations in several cities was kicked off yesterday by a new campaign, Seize BP. 

Besides the organized demonstrations, anti-BP Facebook accounts have popped up online. And in New York City, some one or several people have splattered what looks like brown paint on the logo of three different BP gas stations. 

Becoming the corporate poster child for greed and destruction was pretty difficult considering how well Goldman Sachs had settled into the role of Biggest Corporate Assholes In America.  But BP's managed to destroy entire industries for generations like Gulf fishing in just a month and a half (and unlike Goldman, there's not a line of other big players lining up to back BP, either.)  Unlike the call for a government takeover of the banking industry, seizing BP as a punitive measure is starting to gain real momentum.

After several protests in May, Seize BP kicked off a week of demonstrations on Thursday in Washington, New York and Chicago and has plans to continue into next week in 26 cities and towns across the country. 

The group is pushing for the U.S. government to seize BP’s funds and place it in trusts now to help reimburse those affected by the oil spill, said Carl Messineo, spokesperson of Seize BP. 

“We’re seeking urgent and immediate resolution,” said Messineo. 

Online, the Boycott BP Facebook group has over 330,000 members, calling for a boycott of all of BP stations including their other brands including Castrol and Amoco. BP’s official Facebook group, by comparison, has just over 8,000 members.  

I just don't see how BP survives this as a company.  I certainly don't see how BP CEO Tony Hayward doesn't lose his job over this.  As far as that boycott goes, there's a couple of BP stations I plan to no longer visit here.

And I'm betting before this is all over, a whole lot of Americans will be doing the same.