If BP were to equip workers with air masks [respirators] it would indicate that BP knows there is something toxic about the $hit workers are being exposed to. Admission of a problem is admission of guilt -- which would, and should, be used against them in a court of law [to assess liability].

I've since found this matter was recently addressed, within the context of a broader discussion, on Democracy Now, May 27/10: Coast Guard Grounds Ships Involved in Spill Cleanup After 7 Fall Ill; BP Reportedly Preventing Fishermen from Wearing Respirators. Amy Goodman interviewed Clint Guidry, President of the Louisiana Shrimp Association, who did maintenance on oil refineries in 1980s-90s for Brown & Root Industrial Services. Excerpt:

AMY GOODMAN: What about respirators? Are people wearing respirators?

CLINT GUIDRY: No, ma'am. Having had prior experience...I brought them down to these people. And when they tried to wear them, the BP representatives on site told them that it wasn't a dangerous situation, and they didn't need to wear them, and if they did, they would be taken off the job.

AMY GOODMAN: But how does wearing respirators threaten BP? How do the workers, the cleanup crews, wearing respirators, how does that threaten BP?

CLINT GUIDRY: If you would do your research, the same situation occurred with Exxon Valdez over twenty years ago. It is a question of liability. The minute BP declares that there is a respiratory danger on the situation is the day that they let the door open for liability suits down the line. If they could have gotten away with covering this up, like they did in Alaska Valdez situation, like Exxon, they would not have to pay a penny for any kind of health-related claims...

I worked with a company by the name of Brown & Root Industrial Services...you're exposed to all the dangerous chemicals that come with oil refinery work--the benzenes, the ethylenes, the tylenes. My specialty was working acid units...I've worked in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, California.

The last job I held with Brown & Root was in St. Croix at the Hess refinery. I was responsible for up to 800 people. And we always got the job done safely, and we always got it in on time. But we had proper protective equipment. What you want to do when confronted with a situation like this is stop. Stop. If anything, you overprotect. Nobody has ever been killed by being overprotective.

It's telling that a few weeks after Kennedy got in, LBJ got out.  Johnson always was, uh, "conflict averse."

Humphrey at that point became the candidate and defender of the administration's war, but he supposedly lamented privately to Johnson that he would "never be able to beat the Kennedys."  Lyndon basically told him to stop whining and suck it up like a man.  Elsewhere, when he heard the news of Johnson's withdrawal, MLK privately told associates that it seemed like the wily LBJ was just stepping aside temporarily, that later in the season he would re-emerge to grab the nomination.  And indeed the record shows that Johnson in the weeks before the convention wanted to do just that.

As for Sirhan, the official LAPD-derived evidence (not surprisingly) doesn't add up.  Plenty of material on the internet (see CTKA site) and several fine books cover this (e.g., by Phil Melanson, and the classic early book by authors Wm Turner and Jonn Christian, plus the more recent book The Assassinations edited by DiEugenio and Pease)

Two New Jersey men arrested at a New York airport planned to travel to Somalia to "wage violent jihad," and also had expressed a willingness to commit violent acts in the United States, according to prosecutors and a federal criminal complaint.

Mohamed Mahmoud Alessa, 20, of North Bergen, New Jersey, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, of Elmwood Park, New Jersey, were taken into custody Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The two intended to take separate flights to Egypt on their way to Somalia "to join designated foreign terrorist organization al-Shabaab and wage violent jihad," federal prosecutors said in a statement.

The two are charged with conspiring to kill, maim and kidnap people outside the United States, according to court documents.

The FBI received a tip regarding the men's activities in October 2006, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey.

There ARE people who are very good at "talking people down" in these situations..But all the screaming and gun brandishing has to be cut out and a non-threatening (appearing) perimeter set up.