Joe Barton apologizes to BP (w video)-Then GOP leaders force him to apologize

Thank you, truthtelling. I listened to the morning’s proceedings on C-span 3.  I had it on in the background and as soon Barton made this ludicrous apology, I stopped dead.  He even said that the money committment was a “tragedy.”  I’m sure that played exceedingly well with residents of the Gulf, who are painfully aware of what a real tragedy looks, smells and feels like.

I poked around and found out that yes, Barton has a considerable history with Big Oil funding but that he was, in fact, mouthing the words and sentiments of not only Rush Limbaugh but 100+ members of the Republican caucas/study group.  I suspect the idea was to dull anything approaching a positive kick that the Administration might be getting from yesterday’s $20 billion arrangement.

However, the message backfired, badly.

I also agree: Obama has failed miserably on this issue, the way the entire crisis has been handled, but now it’s time to save what can be saved and give people and the region some relief. 

Barton’s apologizing to the perpetrator of this disaster was beyond ridiculous.  Obviously, it didn’t poll well either because members of the Republican leadership have all speed-walked away from the comments.

I hope the funds are distributed quickly and fairly.  Gulf residents deserve a break already. 

It was technically a shakedown.  We have a rule of law.

Where is Obama going to come up with his share from exacerbating the damages?

Some of you may remember that my hose on the washer blew and sprayed water all over the kitchen, laundry room and closet.  Had I just looked at it and left on vacation and worked around the insuing flood for 8 weeks, the insurance company would have told me to go to hell.  I had a duty to contain the situation and mitigate the damages.

And, for a group of thieving liars that wrecked the economy of the world strong arming someone is pathetic.

>:o

Well here’s Stupak’s thought on it:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/06/17/stupak_legitimate_for_bp_escrow_account_to_fund_health_care.html

O/T At what point do these people stop acting like children 
unbelievable. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLYBYj3K4R8&feature=player_embedded

And then there’s more help from BO
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bp-oil-spill-gov-bobby-jindals-wishes-crude/story?id=10946379

sowsear-
Obama, Poser an Chief.
He  nauseating.

OT

17 Afghan Soldiers that were assigned to San Antonio flight school have been missing for up to 2 years.  They had high security badges, etc………………………

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/17/afghan-military-deserters-missing-air-force-base/

OMFG!

>:o

CNN showing the burns going on right now to burn the oil – what should have been done from the beginning.

>:o

They are now doing 2000 to 5000 barrels an hour – 30,000 a day.

:’(

senior Defense Department official in Washington told Fox News he had no direct knowledge of the 17 men being AWOL. The official added that this is not the first time foreign trainees have gone missing, and said some cases in the past have turned out to be more of an immigration concern than a national security threat
<img style=”width: 22px; height: 22px;” src=”http://kona.kontera.com/javascript/lib/imgs/grey_loader.gif”/>

.

sure, more of an immigration problem than a security threat…tell us some more fairy tales.

Well then, hopefully they will head into Arizona after July 29 and if they get stopped for jaywalking or a broken tail light, the Arizona police will be able to ask them for identification.

I need to go to work.  I am going crazy watching this crap 24/7.

:’(

They weren’t Afghan soldiers, but this last week there were 2 separate incidents of 1 male and then 1male and female trying to get onto military bases. The couple had a bunch of weapons and I didn’t get the story on the single man, except it was reported his wife thought he was going to Iraq.

How many miliary bases/personnel have been “targeted” in the last year? Scary stuff .

Barton aside, it was a shakedown, a political shakedown. President Obama wanted to look as if he were doing something so the government and BP moved a pile of money from one side of the table to the other side. Problem solved, everybody can quit complaining now.

The gulf coast is not for sale, the people who live there are not for sale. There is nothing you can give people to make up for what has been lost, what will be lost. And compensation rarely trickles down anyway. What’s the loss of your land, your livlihood, your community, your life, going for these days? A few thousand bucks?

Also nagging in the back of my mind, who sent these people out looking for oil? We did, our economy depends on it. Who bent the regulations and lowered the safety standards? Our government, our economy depends on it. We want to demonize BP and act as if they exist in a vacuum, as if they are motivated by nothing but greed. That may be partially true, but what drives all this greed? We do, with our demand for oil. BP is not a demon while we are all victims, as pure as the driven snow. This spill belongs to all of us and that gulf does too.

We can punish and demonize BP all we want, but it won’t solve the problem.

God gave us the resources necessary to thrive.  Our job was to extract them safely and use them responsibly.  It is not selfish to use what was provided. 

This is one of several very bad blowouts.  There are 10′s of thousands of wells all over the world.  It is bad.  It wasn’t an accident.  It was criminal.  While none of us can watch or know what our own children are up to 24 hours a day, a CEO can’t watch or know what his employees are up to 24 hours a day.  Some employees just like some children are risk takers – the details aren’t necessarily important to them.

Once it blew it became Obama’s problem.  As Ratigan said this morning, the blowout and capping are BP’s problem.  The containment was Obama’s problem – he failed miserably. 

I’m still waiting for my compensation check for all the damage done to my economic statis by the thieves in congress and wall street.  This was criminal.  This was intentional.

>:o

G20 Summit turns ugly over fossil fuels and distribution of wealth…Americans should avoid the area.
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE65E4RB20100617

Hayward says he wasn’t in the loop…but he knew when to dump his stock
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100618/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

I haven’t been following Sarah Palin, but I consider her an expert in Oil Company litigation so I would be interested in what she thinks of the escrow account. Remember, this simply reserves the money, it isn’t a payout.
Large companies have an unfair advantage on individuals. With lawyers on staff, they can keep something going until everyone on the other side dies. (a bit of an exaggeration, but not much).
What do you think jbjd?

America still hasn’t identify the root of the problem?

Does this ring the bell? 

http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2010/03/hirsi-ali-europe-is-sleepwalking.html

Mekka is the source of the problems and must be held responsible for the conflicts in this world!

America still hasn’t identify the root of the problem? 
 
Does this ring the bell?   
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2010/03/hirsi-ali-europe-is-sleepwalking.html 
 
Mekka is the source of the problems and must be held responsible for the conflicts in this world!

While none of us can watch or know what our own children are up to 24 hours a day, a CEO can’t watch or know what his employees are up to 24 hours a day.  Some employees just like some children are risk takers – the details aren’t necessarily important to them. 

Having owned and advised corporations, I believe that the fish stinks from the head down. The head of the company sets the tone for everyone else.
You are right about employees being like children, Carol. They will get away with as much as Senior manadement lets them.
In the case of my family the words “My Mom will kill me.” or “My Dad will kill me.” have been passed down for generations.

There was a point to be made in this horrendous political blunder, but framing it as an apology to BP was not going to win friends and influence people . . .

This joker points out the exact problem with the GOP. What a horrible fix we are in. 

Ya think, oowawa.    Clowns to the right of us, clowns to the left of us.  We are drowning in bloody clowns.

Truthtelling

I couldn’t disagree with you more.  The one that should be removed from office is Obama.  By his inactions, the gulf spill is unmanageable.  If you look at the way Rudy Guilani handled 9/11 vs. Obama, we are losing the war.  Barton is a convenient scapegoat to get off topic.

Yes, BP did get the White House to say they do not want to see BP driven into bankruptcy. But who does that promise really serve? Clinton administration Deputy Attorney General turned BP lawyer Jamie Gorelick explains: “We know what it looks like when a company is driven into bankruptcy. The claims that come first are the creditors, then the employees, then the environmental claims, and then the likes of shrimpers. This would not be a good result for anyone.” Now look at how the deal between the White House and BP is structured. BP is not handing over a $20 billion novelty check tomorrow. Instead they are set to pay $3 billion in the third quarter of this year, $2 billion in the fourth, and then $1.25 billion per quarter thereafter. In the meantime, BP has identified $20 billion worth of assets in the United States that the federal government now has a lien on. In the event of a bankruptcy, guess who gets to jump in line and have their claims honored first? Still guessing? Then ask Chrysler’s secured creditors.

Yttik

Excellent post!

He may sell his company issued stock the same time every year.  Has anyone checked?

The CEO of my company sold his stock the 1st of every quarter without fail.

I didn’t hear an opinion on the escrow account from her.  However, everyone from Rudy on down has been parroting her remarks from the last couple of weeks regarding who, how, when and where what should have been happening.

Exactly.  And Obama’s intentional vilifying of these companies have driven the value down.  I’m sure he could be held liable for criminal charges for driving their stock down.

>:o

Sarah just endorsed 3 more women for office.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/sarah-palin/the-nature-of-those-tough-self-sufficient-bears/399842678434

There are so many details we do not know.  I have a feeling that this is a dance between Obama and BP considering how tied they are before and after the elections.  We do not know the impact of the details on all parties concerned.  I don’t think there was a need to apologize to BP because they goofed and they have to pay.  But what are the conditions of the escrow?  How will it be managed.  Is this another commission-type set up where things just get slowed down while the major players our searching for their wiggle rooms?  Does this leave Obama off the hook as well because he got BP (pre arranged I imagine) to set up that escrow account?  I have this uneasy feeling that once again, we are all being played for fools.

Yes, just a coincidence that he and Goldman Sachs dumped their shares big time. If Hayward dumped that much stock each quarter, he wouldn’t have much left the next time

EllenD, I was in the middle of commenting hours ago, when I was sidetracked.  And now, you ask the very question that would have been the subject of my comment!

The most important line in tt007′s article is this:  “BP agreed to the escrow account and other measure…”  See, everything they did was voluntary.  Why?  Because, had the U.S. wanted, it could have gone into court and asked for and received preliminary economic relief, say, in the form of a lien, for example.  After all, based on BP’s own estimates of the barrels of oil leaking into the Gulf, they are certain to have to pay a fine exceeding the amount they willingly put into escrow.

(Note, I have not put words like ‘voluntary’ or ‘willingly’ in single quotes. Given BO’s propensity to take over American owned companies; and the disdain he exhibits for anything British, who knows what he would do with BP assets if he gets riled enough that their ‘negligence’ is making him look like a fool.)

HARP, OMG, I just answered EllenD’s question, and basically said the same thing!  (But I didn’t know the terms of BP’s agreement; now, I will check.)

It was only a matter of time before a Republican showed his stupidity on this subject. Democrats do not have a monopoly on low IQ’s.

“Where is Obama going to come up with his share from exacerbating the damages?”

Are you kidding me?  BP caused the ENTIRE CRISIS by not having an emergency shutoff system.

“The gulf coast is not for sale, the people who live there are not for sale. There is nothing you can give people to make up for what has been lost, what will be lost. And compensation rarely trickles down anyway. What’s the loss of your land, your livlihood, your community, your life, going for these days? A few thousand bucks? “

Yes, I’m sure the residents of the Gulf are furious that Obama extracted $20 billion from BP on the first pass.  Without any future caps.  With no end in sight to future liability.

That’s called Getting It Done.

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by john w smart, john w smart. john w smart said: * "This joker points out the exact problem with the GOP. What a horrible fix we are in. " http://bit.ly/cs6qoW [...]

BP Fund Pays for Health Care

Rep. Bart Stupak was interviewed by John King of CNN.  One of the points negotiated with BP about the $20 billion dollar fund was if someone lost their job and then lost their health care, a claim to legitimately cover their hc is reasonable.  What do you think?

BP was on the ground floor lobbying for Cap and Trade.
I have a feeling that Obama will bail BP out – too big too fail. or someone will buy out BP at a reduce cost (Lehman Brothers bought out by Sachs)

Read this article on how thick BP and Obama  are:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Once-a-government-pet-BP-now-a-capitalist-tool-95942659.html

BP’s $20 Billion Dollar Agreement

- BP paid another $100 million for workers made unemployed by Obama’s indefinite ban on off-shore oil drilling

- BP received no assurances that Obama would not ask for more money if the ban becomes permanent

- the fund is completely separate from any environmental damages which could top $30 billion

- BP is still liable for all individual and state claims in court

- this $20 billion is just a down payment because they received no assurances that the economic damages would not be higher

FYI – APPROXIMATELY 40% OF BP STOCK - OWNED BY AMERICANS AND RETIREMENT FUND ACCOUNTS

BP is responsible for the massive leak.  However, it is Obama and his administration that have morphed this into a greater ecological and economical disaster by his incompetence.  BO has not moved Heaven and Earth to clean up the oil.  These oil rigs will move to other areas and millions of dollars in jobs, infrastructure, etc. will be lost. 

“Peggy Sue,”  not only did Barton simply echo GOP talking points too well for his own good, he was singing off the your PUMAtard hymn sheet as well;  I mean didn’t you just love “Chicago style shakedown?”   Anyway let’s get back to bashing Obama for not plugging the leak here and now by calling the Superheroes of the  Justice League of America, or something. 

Screw Obama Dbb. He and his family have been partying and living high off the hog while their fellow Americans suffer. Now call me a racist. I dare ya. I’m in the mood to open a can of whoop-ass.

Jackie: Here’s the deal:  “Getting it Done” sounds an awful lot like “Mission Accomplished”.   If barry and co. uses the cash to stuff down the pipe and stop the gusher, then and only then would I consider his activities to-date “Getting it Done”.   Who is he channeling now, Larry the Cable Guy?  

Do you know barry personally or are you related to him in some way, because man, you’re completely incapabable of any rational critique of the guy.

Well silly us for being concerned then. The incompetence of this government from the top to the bottom, and that includes the leaders in the military is appalling.

No one has more respect for our men and women in uniform than I do but that respect doesn’t extend to many/most of the armchair warriors in the Pentagon

You just can’t help yourself, can you, Dbb?  I can tell you this I and despise Obamacrats as much as the loons that Barton represents.  Blind devotion and mean-spiritedness to the extreme.  It’s really all the same regardless of party affiliation.

Celebrate while you can.  The Gulf is dying, the President is failing, miserably and the polls reflect the country’s mood. 

Jackie, your comment isn’t a valid response to carol haka.

Yes, BP caused the crisis, though if you’re honest you’ll reserve a good chunk of blame for US regulators who gave BP pass after pass on inspections. 

But laying blame isn’t going to do a damn thing to stop it.  carol’s point now takes precedence.  By law, it is Obama’s responsibility to fix it.  He has turned away offers of help from several countries.  If you can come up with a valid reason for declining the offers of skimmers or oil boom I’d love to hear it.

C’mon, Jackie…put down the kool-aid for just a few minutes and think!

I couldn’t agree with you more EWard. Every time we get sent off on some “fauxrage” rampage over some dunderheaded comment by some pol we are ignoring the very real and very visceral rage we feel about the circumstances in the gulf.

Unlike some I don’t for one moment believe it was deliberate. I believe it was a combination of things starting with cost-cutting measure in the name of greed at BP, lax or absent regulation and enforcement of those regulations by the government and our own insatiable thirst for oil.

I believe all those things, plus going so deep without having a contingency plan if things went wrong resulted in what we see in the gulf now.

There will be plenty of time, years in fact, to point fingers, file charges, play Washington’s favorite “blame game” and perhaps even in time find out exactly what really happened. (Not that I believe that will happen, too many “important” asses to cover.)

For now, the only job the pinhead in the White House should be doing is directing experts in the field and as many ships, people, money or whatever they need to stop the flow or oil and keep as much as possible from reaching the shore.

It isn’t his job to party on, raise money for the Democratic Party or point his skinny phalanges at anyone. His job is to lead this country, to reassure it and to do whatever it takes to fix what can be fixed.

No you drivel-tongued idiot we don’t expect you to slurp it up with a straw, but if you were any kind of a leader you’d find a way that has the same outcome. Stop posturing and posing, fix the problem.

I think it’s a way to help cover up the fact that the health care bill is a piece of crap.

 I thought from the minute I heard about the $20 billion shakedown that this administration would use it as a slushfund.

Jackie, I’ll believe he got it done when that $20 billion gets into the hands of shrimpers, fishermen and resort owners.

THEN he will have gotten it done. 

For now, that’s $20 billion sitting in an account in some friend’s bank.

It has been reported that the enforcer, Joe Biden, walked in and laid out the terms to BP. In the past, we would have seen undercover video of the shakedown.
The public flogging yesterday may have given many some fleeting gratification.
Me? If my engine needs to be rebuilt, I want a mechanic, not a politican who has looked at a diagram.
I truly want the best outcome possible for the victims in the Gulf region, and also for our country as a whole. Franchises, pension funds, and eventual all taxpayers will be hurt by this disaster.
When the first stories about grifters swarming the area come out, and they will, the anger may cause the residents of the Gulf to be abandoned.
The first response should have been to do everything humanly possible to reduce the damages, and then apply every resource to the clean-up.
Instead, we have political posturing to cover-up for an inept administration, without investigating the cause of the disaster. This accident may eventually be attributed to a handful of people who were determined to bring this well in under budget and ahead of time, in order to secure bonuses.
Greed is deadly in many cases.

Gosh, that all looks SO good.  BP’s gonna pay bigtime.  Everyone’s gonna come out whole.

So when do they start passing out the money?  To whom?  On what basis?

Huh?  Oh.  Sorry.  I thought that money was really going to get to the people who needed it.  My bad.

No, Jackie, that’s called getting one thing done in a series of mishandlings.  Until the President gets someone to cut through the BS and red tape down on the Gulf so people on the ground can save what can be saved, his numbers will continue to sink.  BP has proven itself an unreliable partner in the cleanup or even admitting the extent of the disaster.  Throwing toxic dispersants all over the area isn’t getting the job done nor are agencies working at cross purposes.

I’m glad the monies will be set aside.  The people of the Gulf need some relief. But this isn’t “geeting the job done” by a long shot.

The pot calling the kettle black….

Congress has some balls playing this game. They are part of the problem. Markey? If Markey had a ny brains he would still be on the lower part of the human food chain.

John Boehner and Eric Cantor? Eh.. what planet have they been on representing aliens? Excuse me… These two idiots voted with the rest to give the Oil Companies a piece of the Gulf knows as the OCS while keeping MMS in a state of stupor.

Miller? Shit… Another walking cluster fuck. Pensacola ground zero? Please! LA, MS, AL and FL are all in the same boat and the bulk of the oil is still in open waters. But that may change if the currents begin to change as expected.

Then we will find ground zero….

Until then the best thing Congress can do is shut the fack up and fix there own problems before they start this holier then thou shit….

What we need is for all the pols to just STFU and quit their posturing for the cameras aka trolling for votes.

Assign competent and knowledgeable people to fix the damn leak, clean up the mess, prevent as much as possible from reaching shore and then run the mouth. And don’t open it again unless you really can take a straw and slurp up some oil. Then get all your useless asses down to the gulf coast and slurp away. Otherwise, to repeat myself, just STFU!

Trying to outdo each other in BP bashing is only putting more CO2 into the atmosphere. And I would think that all the hot air is contributing to “global warming”.

I like that “skinny phalanges” statement.  He is looking more and more like Ichabod Crane with the weight loss.

Rep. Issa has declared if they win the House, he is doubling his staff to investigate the WH and Obama.  Here’s hoping.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38697.html

>:o

Creeper, Carol Haka said this:

“Where is Obama going to come up with his share from exacerbating the damages?”

I responded with:

“Are you kidding me?  BP caused the ENTIRE CRISIS by not having an emergency shutoff system.”

You responded to me with:

“Jackie, your comment isn’t a valid response to carol haka.”

Then followed that up with:

“But laying blame isn’t going to do a damn thing to stop it.”

You see how Carol started the whole “laying blame” at the top?  If my reply to carol wasn’t “valid”, because I was “laying blame”, then neither was her blaming of Obama for the crisis to begin with.  Neither is your blaming of him “valid”, either, by your own standard.

As to Obama turning away help from some countries, he has accepted help from others.  Just because it is his responsibility to fix this mess doesn’t mean any and all critics can dictate to him the exact way in which they feel he and the federal government should do it.  The administration is actually allowed to make each call on its own merits.  That’s what being in charge means.  They actually have quite a lot more information on what’s going on than you, I or anyone else working their keyboards furiously on the Internet has at their disposal. 

That doesn’t mean, of course, that the relief effort or Obama should be above criticism.  Of course not.  It just means that Obama not going this or that way in his decisions does not equal Obama doing nothing, or screwing everything up.  Obama not accepting each and every offer of assistance does not automatically mean a bad decision.  Should every damn boat on the planet head to the Gulf right now?  Would that actually be helpful?  We get reports of a difficulty in coordinating all the various relief and cleanup efforts?  Would adding other countries into the mix really help? 

He is making daily calls each day on how best to grapple with this unprecedented disaster.  One not of his own making, no matter how much the folks at NQ would like to frame it that way.

“Jackie, I’ll believe he got it done when that $20 billion gets into the hands of shrimpers, fishermen and resort owners. 
 
THEN he will have gotten it done. ”

And once that money is dispersed to the affected individuals, you will have nothing to say.

Last night on the panel on Brett Baier’s “Special Report” Bill Crystal said something that surprised the hell out of me.

According to Crystal, “Democrats are perceived as evil and Republicans as stupid”, or something to that effect, I may have the words a little wrong. Still it’s an amazing thing for Crystal to say, donchathink?

Glad you liked the phrase carol haka. I’ve used the phrase “pointing his finger” so many times, not nearly as often as he’s done it though, that I was trying to be “original”. Probably watched too many episodes of “Bones”.

BP currently has 600 claims adjusters who have processed half the claims they’ve received for damages.  I think they’re getting it done already.  Giving the government $20 billion dollars and what?  Training new governement employees to process claims?  The same people who administered payments after Katrina and gave away almost $2 billion in fraudulent payments to people lying about where they lived, social security numbers, etc? Oh yah, they did such a great job guarding taxpayer money, I’m sure they’ll be more careful with money received from BP to make sure it’s not paid out fraudulently.  The people who couldn’t process cash for clunkers claims in a reasonable amount of time are now going to process claims for people who need the money just to survive?

Please, it might work long term so claimants don’t have to engage in long drawn out expensive legal suits. They could just request reimbursement from the fund verses hiring lawyers and doing civil suits. But for short term immediate payments, I don’t know if it will work better than what BP is currently doing.

It seems to me that the government (Obama) wants to look tough and of course, take credit for getting claimants their money because they have to go through them to file a claim.  And BP is willing to do so because having a fund cuts down on their legal expenses in regards to future civil suits and is convenient if payments are slow.  Claimants will have to file with the fund and of course, the government will do the processing and investigating of the claims saving BP money. Also, if BP handled all claims and didn’t pay in a timely manner, there’d be hell to pay in public opinion. But once the government gets the money, it’s all on them if payments are slow, fraudulently paid, etc. 

If this benefits BP or the Obama Administration is still yet to be seen. I do think it was a shakedown of sorts and don’t blame Barton for saying so. 

“Do you know barry personally or are you related to him in some way, because man, you’re completely incapabable of any rational critique of the guy.”

That’s actually a pretty revealing question on your part.  You see, everything in PUMA-world, NQ, etc., is TOTALLY PERSONAL.  You all just hate, hate, hate Obama.  That’s all you know, that’s all you care to know.  That’s your whole political philosophy: “I Hate Barack Obama”. 

So when someone like me comes along and endorses something the president is doing, you project your own totally personal frame onto me, view me as the opposite of you, and assume it’s idol-worship that fuels my endorsement.

Back here on Planet Earth, it’s not nearly so personal to me.  I’m a progressive Democrat.  That’s what I’ve been my whole life, long before I ever heard of anyone named Barack Obama.  I vote for progressive Democrats, because I want to see progressive policies implemented (universal health care, minority and women’s rights, the protection of civil liberties, social justice, environmental protection, regulation of industry, the development and enhancement of a social safety net, etc.).  While Obama is hardly perfect in all of these areas, he is the best choice we currently have to get these issues put into and protected in law.  And so I support his administration.  If it was Hillary the nominee, I would have voted for her, she would be president right now, and would have my full support.  Because it’s not so maniacally personal to me as it is to you.  It is about the policy, not the person.

Whereas I have a coherent political ideology that involves many different actors and a coalition of various interlocking interests, you all just have a coalition that revolves around blind, seething rage at one particular individual.  And that is why PUMAism utterly fails as a movement.  It is only focused on a negative: the destruction of Barack Obama’s presidency.  That’s inspiring only to a very narrow group of the unhinged.

When Barack Obama leaves the White House, I will still have progressive causes to fight for.  But you?  You won’t know what to do with yourself, will you?

I agree with Feolizarte.  The Obama administration would like us to think that he summoned the chairman of BP in and ordered/ presuaded him to set up a 20 billion dollar slush fund, but he set aside only 20 minutes for the meeting? Also, BP must have hundreds of lawyers on retainer, so there was no way they would have gone to the WH and agreed to anything without knowing in advance what to expect. 
The reality is that BP would have paid with or without tthe WH involvement. We did not need the WH to negotiate a slush fund — that is what courts are for.  The WH’s job is to coordinate the clean-up and they are doing a poor job of that. The unanswered question is what impact this will have on future lawsuits — do no be surprised if the WH and BP do not already have a plan to absolve BP of any further financial liability in exchange for this photo op to make BO look like he is in charge.

“He is making daily calls each day on how best to grapple with this unprecedented disaster.”

Jackie, try to release your lamprey like lock on Obama’s anal sphincter for a moment, and pay attention.

If Obama gave a rat’s ass about the people on the Gulf, and if he cared one bit about the welfare of this country, his actions in the Gulf to date would have been completely different. He has spent more time since the explosion playing golf than he has addressing this problem. And the greater amount of the activity that he HAS spent in regard to the Gulf disaster has not been on remediation or mitigation, it has been focused on how he and his cadre can exploit this mess; never let a good catastrophe go to waste. 

The six month moratorium on further drilling was HIS call, and it was in direct defiance of his advisers. There was absolutely no rational reason to do this. Unless………..he is trying to destroy drilling operations in the Gulf so that all of the drilling platforms go elsewhere, like the waters off of Brazil. It is an outrage that Obama extorted 200 million from BP to pay the idle drill workers when they are ONLY idle because Obama has made them so. There is no court in the land that would order BP to pay damages to the other drilling interests in the Gulf, because there is no way that BP could have anticipated or controlled Obama’s bizarre decision, Obama is the liable party here.

All of Obama’s activities thus far would only make sense if he was intentionally trying to make matters worse, so that he can use this mess to ram through cap & trade, reward his beloved unions, punish his opponents, and cripple domestic oil production. No president who loves this country would have behaved even remotely the way Obama has.

Obama’s MO has become so familiar by now, that it is easily predictable. First he targets a convenient bad guy, BP will do here, although big oil in general is also pulled into the fray. Once the bad guy has been identified, he then intensifies the public’s ire toward the bad guy with howls of outrage and sanctimonious finger pointing. Next comes the phony search for solutions, and he’ll insincerely claim that he’s listening to ALL solutions, even Republican solutions, and set up commissions to study the problem. This is all pathetic theater of course, Obama and his criminal pals have had their evil plans in the pipeline long before the Gulf incident, and he is only using the mess as an excuse to ram through that which would normally enrage Americans. And the bigger the mess, the greater chance he has to sucker cretins like you Jackie to join in on stripping the rest of us of our freedoms. The global warming nonsense has been exposed as a criminal fraud, so they stopped using that as the bad guy, but then, like a gift from Allah, an accident on a BP rig gave Obama a new boogy man. It’s interesting that BP was one of the strongest proponents of cap & trade. Hmmmmm?

He did this with Healthcare, he’s doing it with banking reform, he’s used this method to stick us with the porkulus bill, and now he’ll do it with C & T.

Now Jackie, you may latch back onto Obama’s reptilian vent and suck away, I’m sure by now you need to replenish the shit in your skull, for without shit, you would be an empty skin bag.

Captain Jack,

My statement that Pensacola is grounds zero is in comparison to Joe Barton’s very landlocked neighborhood in Arlington, Texas. I’m pointing out that Miller represents a district facing the first hand threat, not the partisan political threats Arlington Texas might ponder. So yes, compared to Joe Barton’s district, Pensacola is ground zero for this disaster.

I will send you a Golld plated can opener candymarl!

Just because it is his responsibility to fix this mess doesn’t mean any and all critics can dictate to him the exact way in which they feel he and the federal government should do it. 

No Jackie, feelings, have nothing to do with the execution of US LAWS.

We get reports of a difficulty in coordinating all the various relief and cleanup efforts? 

No Jackie, the fact that you KNOW BOil can’t co-ordinate shit, and you still want to squeeze his Oozing puss for all it is worth, in the form of a question, is sad.

Jackie, it is of his own making. He was told during the transition and campaigned specifically about MMS. He was aware of the MMS FUBAR issue. HE DID NOTHING!

geez

truthteller….

I understand your point and yes to some degree you are correct.  Do note though that Miller has “supported” deep sea drilling without handcuffs attached. So he now gets what he voted for…. While Barton is todays poster child for “Can Fix Stupid”…. Miller is  running  neck and neck for the “Foot In Mouth” Award….

hate, hate, hate Obama

Hate ? Indifference = letting people freeze in his district and lying about it as he defended Rezko in court.
Hate? Racist  = And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations… BO

Inferior people should not be employed. He is incompetent and a serial liar, Jackie. No hate. Just facts.

You are such a pudknocker. but hate? naw.

you will have nothing to say. 

You think it was not a shakedown, eh?
ROLF.

Well in that case, Jackie, you should be more upset than anyone here because barry doesn’t even do “progressive” very well — at least all by himself.  Nah, that takes a whole lot of smarmy, undergrounders like the good people at Moveon, SEIU, ACORN and their various affiliates.  If your (and their) form of progressive was a good thing, a smart thing, for this country they’d be doing their thang right out in the open and they’d have to turn away supporters.  But that’s not how they do it, see.  No, they have to use weasle words and spin and lofty language and hidden meanings in order to make it sound good.  And most of what they do is under the cover of universal banners that most people can’t argue with like “Americans for Democractic Ideals” and throw-away buzz-phrases like “social justice”, but to progressives, it’s all code for let’s turn our consititution into a dead document, fluid and useless and instead of freedom of opportunity and outcome, let’s make pretend everyone has equal capabilities and make sure everyone has the same outcome regardless of their contribution to their own ives.  Whatever defects we have as individuals — sheer laziness, willful ignorance, or even being a sociopath — won’t matter anymore because the gov’t will take care of us and make sure we all have an equal result. 

Progressives.  What a dumb idea that is.  You’d fit right in, in China or Cuba. 

..and I forgot to add:  Have ya ever noticed how the people who work so damn hard for “social justice” and “equality of result” are always wearing $1,200.00 suits, eating at the best restaurants, being driven around in nice cars, have a private plane on the tarmac and are surrounded by a posse of tough-looking henchmen, er, bodyguards?  Hmmm?  Let’s see if I’ve got this right?  “Social Justice” means enough to get by on according to “them”, but it doesn’t actually apply to “them.”  I guess being a leader in the progressive movement must pay very well…

Kenoshamarge:  “…our own insatiable thirst for oil.”

I gotta disagree with just this one point among your very many great points because I don’t know anyone personally who actually thirsts for oil.  I know we need to have it, though.  I need it to run my car, mostly.  In the NW we’re blessed with a lot of hydro-electric for electricity, but we still need oil to get around.  If  there was another technology, though, on which I could rely that is safe, relatively cheap and widely available, I’d buy it today.  But to say we have an insatiable thirst implies a complicity of the average American to a crime they didn’t commit.  In fact, it wasn’t a crime at all until someone coined the term “ecosystem.”  It was the same year the Alaska oil pipeline started — to the relief of a lot of out-of-work Northwesterners.  Catalytic converters and lead-free gas didn’t debut until some years after that. 

Unlike most of western Europe, we live in high-density cities and a LOT of suburbs.  Our entire floor plan, if you will, was laid out according to our use of the auto.  Now, just like “buying organic”, only the well-off can afford to live in the heart of an expensive urban center and walk or ride a bicycle to work (and I’ve yet to see a carpool mom do that effectively) and I never see the many bicyclists balancing a load of groceries on their expensive racing bikes.  They save those trips for the Escalades and Lexus SUVs. 

I take umbrage m’am, extreme umbrage I say, to the idea that I am somehow personally responsible for thirsting for oil. 

Jackie:  Unfortunately, no.  It’s kinda like that old lawyer joke:  “What do you call a lawyer at the bottom of the sea?”  A:  “A good start.”

Actually, Jackie, 18 million disgusted, disenfranchised voters is hardly small potatoes.  And I can speak firsthand that most of them morphed into card-carrying Tea Partiers or Tea Party sympathizers.  So dream on, Ace.  See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya!

“You think it was not a shakedown, eh?”

No, I don’t.  Not when BP walks in and agrees to the damn thing.  How stupid are you?

“Hate ? Indifference = letting people freeze in his district and lying about it as he defended Rezko in court.”

You lost me at “Rezko”. 

I’m here to let you know it’s 2010.  Don’t you wish you hadn’t spent the last 2 years re-litigating the primaries on sad little message boards?

“No, they have to use weasle words and spin and lofty language and hidden meanings in order to make it sound good.”

You mean a writing at a 10th-grade reading level?

“Actually, Jackie, 18 million disgusted, disenfranchised voters is hardly small potatoes.  And I can speak firsthand that most of them morphed into card-carrying Tea Partiers or Tea Party sympathizers.  So dream on, Ace.  See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya!”

Since 90%+ of those Hillary voters came home to the Democratic Party in the general election, you don’t quite have “18 million” on your team, “Ace”.

” I do think it was a shakedown of sorts and don’t blame Barton for saying so.”

Nah, you’re just pissed that Obama came out with some good news in the midst of your freakout.  And then Barton went and handed Dems the biggest gift of the election cycle.  If I was you, I’d be pissed too.

That’s not good news. THAT’S WHAT BP WAS ALREADY DOING!  So Obama got BP to give the money to the government to pass out instead of doing it themselves. I don’t see how that’s such a big win for Obama.  Especially if BP can blame any slow payments on the government while letting them do all the claims handling and research. 

And secondly, Barton might have handed the Dems a big gift. But tell you what, when employment does not drop and only increases due to what’s happened on the coast and the reaction to stop all offshore drilling, then Obama has ALSO handed the Republicans their biggest gift of the election cycle. You think voters are going to give a rats ass what Barton said when they’re unemployed due to the drilling shut down?  You think they’re going to care what some bozo politician said if gasoline doubles in price?  No.

I live on the gulf coast and I know what it’s doing and will do to the economy around here.

I heard the Obama darted in and out of the meeting numerous times?  Why?  I can’t figure out why he needed to constantly leave.  Did he need a smoke break (but he said he quit), need to check with Rahm and Axelrod about what to say the next time he went back into the meeting, did he need to zip off sexy time text messages to Reggie Love or maybe he had to check his voice mail to see if his Sunday golf tee time was confirmed?  Maybe he needed something to calm his nerves like a shot of whiskey or ???  Remember, his doctor did caution him to watch the drinking.

“I don’t see how that’s such a big win for Obama.”

Then you should be THRILLED!!!

“I live on the gulf coast and I know what it’s doing and will do to the economy around here.”

Me too.  I’m plugging the hole right now!

“Have ya ever noticed how the people who work so damn hard for “social justice” and “equality of result” are always wearing $1,200.00 suits, eating at the best restaurants, being driven around in nice cars, have a private plane on the tarmac and are surrounded by a posse of tough-looking henchmen, er, bodyguards?”

No, none of that makes any sense, because I have none of those things, and I work hard on these issues every day. As do tens of millions of Americans with none of those things.  You’re taking a flawed cliche invented by the Right, and running off the cliff with it. 

But it is helpful to know how conspiracy-oriented your assumptions of the opposite side are.  “They support the redistribution of wealth, because…they’re all FILTHY RICH!  That makes PERFECT SENSE, in some…weird, totally doesn’t-make-any-sense way!  Yeah!”

Also, you’re describing Rush Limbaugh’s whole lifestyle.  Not so progressive.

Joe Barton, like Joe Scar from MSNBC and his fellow stooges, ASSHOLE!  How stupid can sanybody be???  US Congress…is anybody tired of those clowns, huffing and blowing, and nothing ever gets done for the American people…..

Where are the jobs, where is the assistence for MC Americans who are facing foreclosures because of the lack of jobs?????  Barry Soetoro, plug the God Damn hole and get the hell organized!!!!   Do the right thing in your presidency, dump the slush, Biden, you know, health reasons, appoint Hillary Clinton, VP…Get the hell out of the way, you can still attend to all of the fun stuff.  Clinton, 2012!!!!

Where in the world are you getting your numbers there, Chief?   What a fantasy world you are living in.  You got the “New Democratic Coalition” fever bad. 

Gosh.  “Racist” isn’t doing the trick anymore, so let’s try, um, “stupid!”  Yeah, that’ll shut ‘em up.

ooooo….hit a nerve, huh?

You’re a lap dog, Ace.  What Karl Marx called a “useful idiot.”  You need a cause, you need to “cure” people of their freedoms.  You can stay the hell out of my neighborhood.

Joe Barton should be commended… as should BP…   Commended for the ONLY people who are seeing the REALITY of the situation…  DEAL with an ACCIDENT. MAKE and effort to clean it up…  STOP all the f***king ignorant and juvenile political posturing and Chicken Little panicing…    This country is becoming MORE and more pathetic every day!!!      TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY!

I could not agree with you more Carol! When is the obassole going to talk about his culpability…   Why he couldn’t/doesn’t HELP/CONTRIBUTE to cleaning/STOPPING the spread??!! WTFFFF!!!!!

“”"Emergency cutoff system”"”  ????!!!   Honey… when you wake up and deal with reality, do let us know…   This is the typical arrogant attitude of people who are talking out their ass about things they know NOTHING about…!    Geezzzz….  Everything has such a simple answer to you eh???   Do you know ANYTHING about engineering or drilling for oil???    Obviously NOT!!!! 

You’re correct, there several reports that have BP providing this $20B the day before the meeting was scheduled. Obama gave them 20 minutes only to put the lid on complaints that he had not met with the higher ups at BP. It was all show and when he walked out and stated that he had demanded and received the $20B, he lied. If he had as he said forced BP to provide the funds, legally, it is extortion and could be considered “high crime” and therefore impeachable. I’m not going to hold my breath.

anyone else think neither obama or any of his incompetent staff even knew about the” jones act?” the first they heard of it was in the media.  duh . isnt there ANYONE in this bufoons administration that knows about protocol? cheap or inappropriate gifts, bowing down to other leaders, blaming the previous admin. for everything(something no other pres has done)being petty , name calling, finger pointing, nasty comments about anyone who dares to criticize him, and constantly using the race card, among other things.when do we get to see his white half?

Now there are reports that the LAWS ALREADY IN PLACE allow the government to fine BP enough money per barrel leaked that would have allowed them to collect 20 billion and more without the WH involvement.  Instead BP only has to pay a fraction of the 20 billion and they have several years to pay the rest — no mention of the fines and no stament that the slush fund is in addtion to those fines.  This is just another illusion created to make Obama look good while screwing the real victims over again.

Barton is an idiot — but only because he thought this was a shakedown when in fact it was just another agreement among friends aimed at saving their collective asses at the expensive of the rest of America.  BP and its well heeled lawyers are laughing all the way to the bank.

I wonder how much campaign donations these politicians received from Oil companies…anything out there?