Reporters clash with Coast Guard, BP security

Similarly, on the issue of media access, BP insisted in an email (PDF) last week that the company "has not and will not prevent anyone working in the cleanup operation from sharing his or her own experiences or opinions." (Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles, who sent the email Wednesday, was responding to reports that the company was trying to block press access to Gulf workers and oil-soaked portions of the coast.)

But it appears that Suttles either has issues with the truth or has very little idea what's going on in his company.

Scott Walker, a reporter from NBC New Orleans affiliate WDSU, tried to interview cleanup workers on a public Grand Isle beach Friday, and even specifically cited Suttles' note — yet was blocked by someone who identified himself as an employee of "Talon Security." The employee claimed that Suttles' "email does not say, did not explicitly give you permission to do that." Here's video of an employee of a private company — not an official of the local, state or federal government — attempting to prevent Walker, a private citizen, from accessing certain areas of a public beach:

A Yahoo! search of companies named Talon Security yielded several firms under that name. Yahoo! News contacted many of them, but none has yet confirmed that it is providing security services for BP in south Louisiana.

Even more recently, reporter Bigad Shaban of CBS affiliate WWL in New Orleans accompanied U.S. David Vitter (R-La.) on a tour of spill-affected areas Monday. They stopped off at the Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Buras, La., but Shaban and his cameraman were denied entry. Coast Guard officials told the men that their presence would "hurt" the wildlife being treated there. Vitter attempted to intervene, but according to Shaban's account of the incident on Shaban's Twitter feed, Coast Guard officials asked to speak to Vitter "in private." According to Shaban, Vitter commented, "I'm no wildlife expert, but that's BS."

news.yahoo.com...

What the hell is going on out there? And why wasn't this brought up by Obama last night? I would certainly hoped he mentioned this with his meeting with the CEO today. LOL.

It's great to see that a transnational corporation apparently has more right to US LAND than we do.....

Who is TALON SECURITY??????????


[edit on 16-6-2010 by David9176]

reply to post by David9176

One thing you have to remember about security officers is that they are always told to never talk to the press , but to refer press questions to the client contact. And if their job is to keep you out of a certain area, even if you disagree with it, they have every right to call the cops on you for it.

reply to post by rangersdad


Unless employed by the state or feds, no private security guard has any authority to bar access to a public beach. That's state land. Even in construction zones on state roads and such, only law enforcement can physically restrict access.

Whatcha hiding, BP?

reply to post by burdman30ott6


Exactly. So why are they being allowed to do this? Shouldn't this be all over the news?

if americans allow themselvess to be pushed around by security guards like this then they realy don't have an hope in hell's chance.

Do i have to come over myself to show you how it's done or what.

This video has featured in quite a few threads already.

I just think when he does get to the guys cleaning up they look like prisoners. This might explain the armed guards and why none of them want to talk.

reply to post by David9176


Last night *may* have represented a marked turning point after which we can rationally expect more coverage of this and other issues in the media, David. I was amazed to see a clip of the current administration sycophants on MSNBC deeply criticize Obama and the handling of the spill on air. In fact, some of what they directed at Obama was almost mocking in tone to the degree that you would have thought GWB was still in the White House.

It will be interesting to see if this shift in attitude holds. If it does, expect news items such as this Gestapo-esque restriction of press access to become headline news on all the cable networks. The only reason it hasn't already done so is because MSNBC and CNN have been highly reluctant to report anything which could cause the adminsitration to be viewed in a negative light and FOX has taken the same slant, only towards the corporate side with BP. Some news is filtering out today showing just how firmly behind Obama BP is and has historically been, so the FOX issue may break at anytime.

Unfortunately, my expectations are very guarded at this time. Let's just say I will not be at all surprised to see these media outlets remain silent on this news in the coming weeks, instead hyping "personal sit down interviews" with Obama, "exclusive" to each network. Obviously, I am talking about a form of presidential/political payola taking place, where the adminsitration trades sit downs in exchange for sunshine and farts.

Corrupt as hell, but the only way to break that cycle is to hit the news channels in their wallets by getting the majority of America to stop watching Obama interviews, conferences, speeches, etc. The almighty ratings point is still the alpha dog among these "journalists," political foibles be damned.

Why are people allowing rent a cops with no authority to prohibit them from access to public land? I'll telll you why, because they are brainwashed and programed to never question an authority figure. Hack into the program folks, free yourself. You are sovereign unto your own consciousness. We are in a magnificently complex computer simulation called the Universe. Remember the movie "The Matrix"? Be like Neo.

Great find David! S+F

FDR took care of those corporate goons who tried to harm the strikers in Flint, MI in 1936. They sent in their own police, FDR responded and sent in the National Guard, their mission? It was to shoot any private goons who tried to touch the strikers.

If Obama would grow a pair of balls and stand up to BP and seize their assets and nationalize them, it would scare the hell out of the entire corporate world. No one since JFK has had the balls to interfere with a corporation and since Obama's speech last night he has pretty much proven himself incompetent.

These are our beaches, they are maintained with our money. They don't belong to BP.

I am so #ing mad right now.

If I lived in Louisiana I would walk right on down there and start a live feed straight to the internet, let the world know what BP's doing.

Is this the Talon Security under discussion?

talonsecurity.ca...

CX.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


The left is turning on Obama. They are flat out PISSED OFF.

They want action against BP...but he's not going to do it. I listen to a radio show each day after Glen Beck....called the Thom Hartmann Program who is rated the #1 Progressive talk show host (yes you may not have heard of him)....but he was IRATE as well as most EVERY SINGLE CALLER.

The left is officially PISSED at Obama.

He blew it last night. The left is tired of defending him and they want ACTION...and Obama isn't delivering.

They will hit a breaking point...i've warned about it. People had hope for him...whether you or I agreed with that notion or not....and they are seeing what they hoped for being CRUSHED.

Originally posted by David9176
the Thom Hartmann Program who is rated the #1 Progressive talk show host (yes you may not have heard of him)....

My reputataion precedes me, aparently. I've heard of him, but have never listened to his show. I am not surprised at his reaction, however. Olberman is about the furthest left media personality I know of. I never dreamed that Obama could do or say anything which would cause Olberman to turn on him as swiftly as he did last night. He almost came off as apologetic to have ever supported Obama. I mean, seeing wishy-washy Chris "noball" Matthews comparing Obama to Carter and saying Obama seems to have no executive level leadership was not surprising... seeing Olberman nodding his head in agreement = epic evidence of the party's core abandoning this administration.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


I have been saying that for awhile. The Progressives put him in and the Progressives will take his ass out. We now constitute about 53% of the party, and just ask LBJ and JC what happens when you anger the left. LBJ never survived his primaries.

I will take a serious bet here and when 2012 comes I will look back and say I'm right. Obama will be challenged by a Progressive, not a sympathetic Corporate Capitalist and wolf in sheep’s clothing. My bets are on Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich or Elizabeth Warren.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


Hartmann is very similar to Dylan Ratigan...at least in views. They are one of the FEW people who are slamming the crappy financial reform that is happening and the blatant corruption by corporate interests in this country.

I don't agree with everything they say...but they are the only ones who seem to be fighting for the little man.

it's not Beck...nor Hannity. THEY DO NOT FIGHT FOR THE LITTLE MAN.

They fight for the status quo, they fight for the corporate elite.

People criticize me for my changing views...but my views have changed because I opened my mind and let myself take in ALL VIEWS.

The left is angry..it's been festering for awhile....but as I stated...breaking point will be reached soon if things don't change.

reply to post by Misoir

If Obama would grow a pair of balls and stand up to BP and seize their assets and nationalize them, it would scare the hell out of the entire corporate world. No one since JFK has had the balls to interfere with a corporation and since Obama's speech last night he has pretty much proven himself incompetent.

He's not going to do it. Last night made it official. I really think it was his last chance.

Everyone keeps calling him a communist, marxist, etc.....but the truth is he's been catering to corporations nearly since day 1.

The right is slandering him on things that his actions don't reflect.

BTW....we don't really even need to nationalize them...we can sieze their assets and sell them off....

Remember anti-trust laws?

Most don't....at least not since Reagan.............

[edit on 16-6-2010 by David9176]

reply to post by David9176


The left thought they had their revolution when they elected Obama. Remember, "Change has come to America". We were convinced that Obama was going to flip Washington on its' head and clean house, and do what is in the interests of the people. At least that is what he tried to sell to us and we bought it.

Now the right is having their revolution and it is called the Tea Party. They are cleaning out many in their house. We thought electing a single leader would clean things out and that is a huge mistake. We must clean out from the bottom up.

And I'm sick of calling myself a Progressive, I don't think using the word Progress is the real character of the movement. The Right is trying to find their heritage of non-intervention, limited government, moral order and cultural heritage which WAS the Republican Party before 1968. And the Left is trying to find their heritage of non-intervention, smart government, moral freedom and cultural liberalism which WAS the Democratic Party before 1968.

I don't know what happened after JFK but our country entered the #ter and both parties became lying leeches sucking out our blood. I'm sick of being called a Left-wing Liberal/Progressive for standing up for working families and wanting the government to step in and assist people in need and stop catering to corporate interests. Nationalize banks and start lending out Social Credit to people with bad credit and low income to try and get them off of welfare and become entrepreneurs.

That is what the Democrats use to be, not afraid to stand up to big business and clean house when we needed to. To help the minorities achieve equal rights give people their moral freedoms, to help liberate people in a time of need from some tyrant causing genocide. That is the Democratic Party, and I want them back.

[edit on 6/16/2010 by Misoir]

reply to post by David9176


I like Beck, but I recognize that the man is basically in the same vein as Jon Stewart and Colbert. He's an excellent presenter and has a brain, but he relies on a staff of writers for his program and his books.

The only time I have ever really liked Hannitty is when he's not been the host of a show. I have listened to him several times on Opie & Anthony and find him to be far more genuine in that format, completely different from the phoniness he exudes on his own show.

Truth be known, any show I listen to is for entertainment. If I wish to hear actual news and valuable commentary, I turn to NPR or local PBS radio.

Phones with internet access, camera phones, cameras of any sort or recording devices are not allowed ????I ask WHY and did the long neck manitees wash up as they are almost extinct? are ther hundreds of dolphins and porpuses washed up ??? are the hundred plus pound turtles washing up and losing the egg laying area??
Over 20 million pounds of fish are allready found dead and the other creatures that feed on them and feed us are being killed off ( I like Alligator)
Preventing clean up and news crews until the science ?? teams ok the areas and detaining citizens and confiscating equipment seems illogical!!
Maybe I watched the wrong interview of a hotel owner not being allowed to go down the beach from his hotel (need to learn to save those items)
and his camera confiscated and threatened with detainment and possible arrest ON HIS OWN PROPERTY
This clean up? is making less since to me every day!
Just out of couriosity has anybody tried to find out the regestry of the ships that are sucking up the oil . Besides Mexico,Carribean nations, Cuba and the United States who is getting the oil that we alredy paid for??

reply to post by Misoir


If I may veer off topic for a bit, I think that all of our problems with both parties started to occur when everything had to be "politically correct." That was the begining of the downhill slide.

But like everyone else I would also like to know what BP is really hiding. We all know its bad, probably to the point of being "biblical proportions" bad. I never believed them when they said it was only 40,000 gallons a day, come on now....when I first saw it I was asking how many "miilions of gallons of oil a day" is leaking out. They must think that the general public is stupid for believing what they say since they are the "experts" after all.