BP America President and Chairman Lamar McKay Breathes Fire -- And, What is Comedian Eddie Izzard Doing at the Senate Hearing?

Yahoo had a link to an AP story about the BP Gulf Coast Oil Spill. Apparently, it's a disaster.

With BP finally gaining some control over the amount of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, scientists are increasingly worried that huge plumes of crude already spilled could get caught in a current that would carry the mess all the way to the Florida Keys and beyond, damaging coral reefs and killing wildlife.

What's even worse, if the accompanying Reuters photograph is to be believed, is that BP America's president and chairman Lamar McKay is a dragon who is breathing fire on the area of the gulf where the spill took place:

The caption reads,

Flames rise in a representative drawing as BP America Chairman and President Lamar McKay testifies at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on "Gulf Coast Catastrophe: Assessing the Nation's Response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill" on Capitol Hill in Washington May 17, 2010.

What does "representative drawing" mean? Is the water in the gulf on fire or is it not?

Apparently, during this important senate committee hearing, Mr. McKay sat beside a huge artist's depiction of what it might look like if the gulf was on fire. Or something. The other photos and captions and the main story aren't much help.

Either that, or the Reuters photographer risked his life to get a photo of a real-life human dragon.

Strangely enough, multitalented British actor and comedian Eddie Izzard was also present at this hearing:

I'm all for laughing in the face of tragedy, but for crying out loud why was Mr. Izzard invited to a US senate hearing on the gulf oil spill?