Shoot Yourself In The Foot And Yell "That'll Teach 'Em!"

This bit of news broke today:

APNewsBreak: BP giving financial help to stations

By HARRY R. WEBER (AP) – 4 hours ago

HOUSTON — Gas could become cheaper at some BP pumps after the oil company agreed to measures meant to help distributors and station owners offset a consumer boycott against BP fuel that was sparked by the out-of-control spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Click here to read the complete article.

I've seen at least a few individuals crowing about this development. It seems they think they're somehow successfully "punishing" BP.

Ridiculous.

Furthering reducing the cash flow of BP means the chances increase that the bill for cleaning up the Gulf spill will fall on U.S. tax payers. After all, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990's liability cap is still the law of the land...

BP is not the only company involved here - what responsibility for this event should be laid at the feet of Transocean, the company that actually owned the sunken rig? What of others? (There's at least three others - can you even name them?)

Why is it a good thing to harm the livelihoods of people who are somehow related to BP, but who could not have had anything to do with the events leading up to the rig explosion? Do you think the guy who owns the gas station down the road that you refuse to buy a cup of coffee from anymore had anything to do with it?

Is trashing the retirement funds of tens of thousands of people in Britain, the U.S., and other locales a useful response to oil being in the water?

But hey, who cares? Right? We're sticking it to "the man" here!

If there were a BP station in my town or anywhere nearby, I'd shop there every day. It would help pay for getting this mess cleaned up faster.