Satirist Harry Shearer gets serious about the oil spill

Satirist, voice actor and radio host Harry Shearer spends much of his time in New Orleans. As the BP oil well continues to spew into the Gulf, he looks at the effect of the disaster on the culture of the city. In a region where the sea food industry co-exists with oil, he says it’s becoming impossible to trust either the government or the private sector.

“The administration stands un-inoculated politically against the impression that it’s impotent in the face of BP’s cupidity, laxity, and mendacity,” Shearer wrote in a Huffington Post blog last month.

Shearer also provides numerous voices for “The Simpsons,” is working on a documentary “The Big Uneasy,” about Hurricane Katrina, and hosts public radio’s Le Show.