Well, that was fast. Barely 10 minutes into Thursday's landmark congressional testimony — where BP CEO Tony Hayward and other leading company executives are revisiting the Gulf Coast oil spill before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee — the first controversial statement has entered the record.
And no, it didn't come from the gaffe-prone BP brass. Instead, GOP Rep. Joe Barton of Texas — the ranking member on the House Energy Committee — made a decisive splash in his opening remarks. A staunch conservative who has a long record of backing oil industry interests, Barton apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward for the "shakedown" the Obama White House pulled on the company. (Barton has received more than $1.5 million in campaign donations from the oil industry, according to Open Secrets, a nonpartisan watchdog group.)
More to the article through the link.
I just wanna ask what in the fuck is this guy thinking? Cue the Republican apologists in 3...2...1...
He's going to get a lot of shit for this. I hope this is all over the media, these assholes are supposed to be working for the people, not themselves. Just see the video of the congressman assaulting the people that pay his salary, demanding to know who they are. I'm so sick of this shit.
Left wing, right wing, they're all fucking pigs with their snouts in the same troughs. Donations, campaign contributions etc should all be illegal, they do nothing to further the ideals of democracy and just entrench the already powerful.
Failing that, make these people accountable for every penny in donations, and make all their statements, views and votes, incomes etc easily accessible online, all in the one place. Click the congresscritter's ugly mug and see everything they've ever done in their political career.
Yes, I know, this will never happen, unfortunately. But it should.
Well, that was fast. Barely 10 minutes into Thursday's landmark congressional testimony — where BP CEO Tony Hayward and other leading company executives are revisiting the Gulf Coast oil spill before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee — the first controversial statement has entered the record.
And no, it didn't come from the gaffe-prone BP brass. Instead, GOP Rep. Joe Barton of Texas — the ranking member on the House Energy Committee — made a decisive splash in his opening remarks. A staunch conservative who has a long record of backing oil industry interests, Barton apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward for the "shakedown" the Obama White House pulled on the company. (Barton has received more than $1.5 million in campaign donations from the oil industry, according to Open Secrets, a nonpartisan watchdog group.)
I guess Ugmo's not going to come along and tell you you're trolling. Oh well.
During his time in the Senate and while running for president, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the oil giant and is the top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years, according to financial disclosure records. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/05 ... z0rGtth1Na
Joe Biden is the one who leaned across the table during the White House meeting with BP and told them that if they didn't go along with the $20 billion fund to be administered by Obama's regime, then Obama would "do it to them." And this isn't a shakedown? What Obama did to BP was nothing less than a Chicago-style Jesse Jackson corporate shakedown.
Essentially seizing the assets from a private company, and using the power of the federal government to dole out that money as it sees fit? Obama is essentially creating his own system of laws, a system that somehow grants the president of the United States the power to do something like this, and the liberals can't understand why anybody would call it a shakedown?
I'd be more inclined to agree it was a shakedown if, you know, there was some reason they shouldn't be establishing the fund. "Shakedown" implies that it is wrong for BP to pony up the money.
Argue all you want about methods, but can you honestly say that BP shouldn't be paying for this?
tin00can wrote:I'd be more inclined to agree it was a shakedown if, you know, there was some reason they shouldn't be establishing the fund. "Shakedown" implies that it is wrong for BP to pony up the money.
Argue all you want about methods, but can you honestly say that BP shouldn't be paying for this?
Nowhere in my post did I say that BP should not pay. They will, as will the taxpayer in the end.
Now, can you honestly say that you believe that Obama has the legal authority to seize the assets of a private company, and use the power of the federal government to distribute that money as it sees fit?
If so, there's no hope for you.
Luckily for Obama, BP went along with his "orders", as he had no legal leg to stand on.
tin00can wrote:I'd be more inclined to agree it was a shakedown if, you know, there was some reason they shouldn't be establishing the fund. "Shakedown" implies that it is wrong for BP to pony up the money.
Argue all you want about methods, but can you honestly say that BP shouldn't be paying for this?
Of course they should be paying.
However, don't think for one second that the "never let a good crisis go to waste" team weren't salivating over this.
It's a shakedown, plain and simple.
Obama and crew are lawyers, and they got everywhere in life and got everything in life by stealing from other people.
This whole thing was a fucking show trial.
Did you see that circus freak Henry Nostrilman ?
To Obama and crew's credit, they did a heck of a job shifting some blame away from them.
Why the hell aren't Obama and crew being grilled like BP ? Why was the administration not responding to Jindal's request for berms for almost a month ?
Why the HELL did they send the coast guard out and pull union bullshit on the barges that were cleaning it up "you don't have life preservers and permits"
They let it drag out so they could show pictures of oil covered birds when talking about their environmental scam, and they told the local do-gooders to get out of there because they want THEIR people getting paid.
Why have they refused assistance from countries overseas who have the experience and the tools to assist with this ?
What's the over/under on how long it is before the print media gets a bailout ?
Don't forget: Against Gov. Jindal's Wishes, Crude-Sucking Barges Stopped by Coast Guard
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has spent the past week and half fighting to get working barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state's oil-soaked waters. By Thursday morning, against the governor's wishes, those barges still were sitting idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.
"It's the most frustrating thing," the Republican governor told ABC News while visiting Buras, La. "Literally, [Wednesday] morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges." http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bp-oil-spill-g ... d=10946379
tin00can wrote:I'd be more inclined to agree it was a shakedown if, you know, there was some reason they shouldn't be establishing the fund. "Shakedown" implies that it is wrong for BP to pony up the money.
Argue all you want about methods, but can you honestly say that BP shouldn't be paying for this?
Of course they should be paying.
However, don't think for one second that the "never let a good crisis go to waste" team weren't salivating over this.
It's a shakedown, plain and simple.
Obama and crew are lawyers, and they got everywhere in life and got everything in life by stealing from other people.
This whole thing was a fucking show trial.
Did you see that circus freak Henry Nostrilman ?
To Obama and crew's credit, they did a heck of a job shifting some blame away from them.
Why the hell aren't Obama and crew being grilled like BP ? Why was the administration not responding to Jindal's request for berms for almost a month ?
Why the HELL did they send the coast guard out and pull union bullshit on the barges that were cleaning it up "you don't have life preservers and permits"
They let it drag out so they could show pictures of oil covered birds when talking about their environmental scam, and they told the local do-gooders to get out of there because they want THEIR people getting paid.
Why have they refused assistance from countries overseas who have the experience and the tools to assist with this ?
What's the over/under on how long it is before the print media gets a bailout ?
A few things:
1. As for "Obama and his crew are lawyers" - most people in DC are lawyers, and would exploit this situation. Are you trying to say they are unique in some sense?
2. I agree with most of the rest of your points.
3. What does a potential print media bailout have to do with this?
Emergencies require emergency measures. We don't usually tolerate military checkpoints in civilian areas, but for 6 months or more after Katrina we accepted them as a necessary security measure.
Our CEO negotiated a deal with them and moved to establish the payment fund before they could find a faw to slide out of it. You should be glad he didn't give BP a chance to slither out of it.
This may be a man-made mess, but it's bigger than any natural disaster we have faced. And the fund will be administerd by Mr. Feinberg, who paid out the 9/11 fund to everyone's approval. Not Congress, not the President, a neutral 3rd party.
tin00can wrote:I'd be more inclined to agree it was a shakedown if, you know, there was some reason they shouldn't be establishing the fund. "Shakedown" implies that it is wrong for BP to pony up the money.
Argue all you want about methods, but can you honestly say that BP shouldn't be paying for this?
Of course they should be paying.
However, don't think for one second that the "never let a good crisis go to waste" team weren't salivating over this.
It's a shakedown, plain and simple.
Obama and crew are lawyers, and they got everywhere in life and got everything in life by stealing from other people.
This whole thing was a fucking show trial.
Did you see that circus freak Henry Nostrilman ?
To Obama and crew's credit, they did a heck of a job shifting some blame away from them.
Why the hell aren't Obama and crew being grilled like BP ? Why was the administration not responding to Jindal's request for berms for almost a month ?
Why the HELL did they send the coast guard out and pull union bullshit on the barges that were cleaning it up "you don't have life preservers and permits"
They let it drag out so they could show pictures of oil covered birds when talking about their environmental scam, and they told the local do-gooders to get out of there because they want THEIR people getting paid.
Why have they refused assistance from countries overseas who have the experience and the tools to assist with this ?
What's the over/under on how long it is before the print media gets a bailout ?
Well if they're trying to exploit this thing for political purposes they have fucked up so far. The party of effective government has been pretty ineffective! So I'm not buying your sinister plan idea.
I don't think it was a shakedown as much as it was a mutually beneficial backroom deal. BP was under no legal obligation to hand over that money but they did so for reasons that can be speculated, and it sure as hell wasn't over guilt or the kindness of their hearts. I would like to know what was said in that room.
GreatWhiteSnake wrote:I'm 46 and my dad's 67 and we kiss each other on the mouth and my 9 yo old son and I do too. It's because we love each other. A lot. And could give a shit what anyone else thinks about us kissing on the mouth.
tin00can wrote:I'd be more inclined to agree it was a shakedown if, you know, there was some reason they shouldn't be establishing the fund. "Shakedown" implies that it is wrong for BP to pony up the money.
Argue all you want about methods, but can you honestly say that BP shouldn't be paying for this?
Of course they should be paying.
However, don't think for one second that the "never let a good crisis go to waste" team weren't salivating over this.
It's a shakedown, plain and simple.
Obama and crew are lawyers, and they got everywhere in life and got everything in life by stealing from other people.
This whole thing was a fucking show trial.
Did you see that circus freak Henry Nostrilman ?
To Obama and crew's credit, they did a heck of a job shifting some blame away from them.
Why the hell aren't Obama and crew being grilled like BP ? Why was the administration not responding to Jindal's request for berms for almost a month ?
Why the HELL did they send the coast guard out and pull union bullshit on the barges that were cleaning it up "you don't have life preservers and permits"
They let it drag out so they could show pictures of oil covered birds when talking about their environmental scam, and they told the local do-gooders to get out of there because they want THEIR people getting paid.
Why have they refused assistance from countries overseas who have the experience and the tools to assist with this ?
What's the over/under on how long it is before the print media gets a bailout ?
A few things:
1. As for "Obama and his crew are lawyers" - most people in DC are lawyers, and would exploit this situation. Are you trying to say they are unique in some sense?
2. I agree with most of the rest of your points.
3. What does a potential print media bailout have to do with this?
I know most people in Washington are lawyers. However, Obama's side of the fence are also huge union guys.
