I
wasn't around in 1775 to see what our forefathers said about British King
George III and his 'vexatious' taxes, but I've been front and center to witness
many of the vitriolic epithets being hurled at BP CEO Tony Hayward in the
aftermath of the horrific Gulf oil spill.

In
an interesting twist on this mega-disaster, relations between the U.S. and
Britain have become strained, to say the least. Americans HATE Hayward and BP while (whilst?) Brits aren't pleased
with the way their home-grown multination petroleum concern or its leader are
being pilloried by Obama, pundits and plebeians alike.

It
seems the Brits are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. One
particularly vociferous John Bull blogger criticized our president for his '…
crude, bigoted, xenophobic display of partisan, political, presidential
petulance against a multination conglomerate.' I love alliteration.

The
mayor of London has also weighed in.

Last,
but not least, Peppercom's very-own London-based Carl 'Union Jack' Foster
uncovered another British blog that posited the following:

–
the contract was American

–
the contractors were American

–
the subcontractors were America

–
the platform was American

–
the failed blowout preventer was American

–
BP is simply the brand name for a corporation which is 40 percent American

Still, don't let a few inconvenient things like the facts get in the way of a
handy bit of xenophobic scapegoating, instead of accepting that the great
American public's continued demand for ever-increasing amounts of cheap
gasoline is entirely to blame. Hmmmm.

Rhetoric
aside, Mr. Hayward has done everything possible to make himself and his
organization look dimwitted, heavy-handed and just plain incompetent (i.e. 'I
want my life back.'). And, BP's inability to fix the problem while constantly
underestimating the volume of crude pouring into the Gulf doesn't help (nor did
Heyward's saying '…The Gulf is a big ocean.').

Still,
being the magnanimous blogger that I am, I can see both sides of the story. So,
to allow both parties to air their grievances, I've decided to devote this
week's little-known and seldom-heard RepChatter podcast to the issue*.
Representing the U.S. side of the discussion will be Peppercom's very own
charter member of the Tea Party movement, the xenophobic Edward M. 'Ted'
Birkhahn. And, arguing for Queen and country will be none other than the aforementioned
Carl Foster (a direct descendent of the Duke of Wellington. Or, maybe it was
Walter Wellington. I'm not sure).

Either
way, I'm psyched for what may well very be the second battle of Lexington and
Concord. Tony Hayward may not be King George III, but that doesn't mean we
can't tar and feather him all the same (especially since we can repurpose some
of his own damn BP oil for the tar). We'll post the podcast as soon as it's
recorded.

*If you'd like to participate in this RepChatter podcast recording on June 18 at 12pm EST, please send an email to lbegley@peppercom.com and you'll receive a dial-in number.