"I do not want to live in a county where anytime a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong, [it is] subject to some sort of political pressure that, again, in my words, amounts to a shakedown."

I guess I a not smart enough to know what Rep Barton means by "legitimately wrong." I always thought that (even in Texas) when you do something wrong you pay a penalty. Perhaps the problem is that Barton is not smart enough to say something that is meaningful.

But his statement suggests an invitation. Why doesn't he leave? To use the words Republicans throw at critics of the country: "If you don't like it here, go somewhere else!"

Congressman Ed Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat, had the right official response: "Not only is the compensation fund that was created yesterday...not a slush fund, and not a shakedown.... (Rather) it was the government of the United States working to protect the most vulnerable citizens we have in our country right now. It is BP's spill, but it is America's ocean."

------------------

This article makes the case that BP wholeheartedly embraced the $20 billion fund, which will be filled over a four-year period with small quarterly deposits.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25751.htm

I suppose dirtbag Barton prefers moral and political corruption to healthy oceans.

-"It is BP's spill, but it is America's ocean."

America owns the ocean? This is news to other countries. But as far as giving advice to avoid accountability, nobody does that better than Obama. Remember the FISA laws? Telecoms broke them enough times to send their CEOs to prison for a long time. What did Obama do? He reversed himself and voted them a get out of jail free card. Remember the torture program? How is the president's investigation into that law breaking going? Oh yeah, it isn't. Of course, it must be a tough investigation, well with both Bush and Cheney having admitted to torture on national tv.

Now his government has rubber stamped BP's applications to waive the environmental review laws. Obama let them drill without a disaster plan and without assesing the risks in advance as required by law.

So now, once again we have the "nation" magazine warning you about the other team, those nasty Republicans. What a surprise.

Aren't there still some laws on treason?

What a typically superficial and worthless article from Nichols.

Those bad ol Rs and Barton, it's all their fault. After all, Ds don't take money from corporate interests and always act in the interests of their constituents, right John?

No Ds ever voted to give Big Oil subsidies?
No Ds ever voted to give Big Oil liability caps?
No Ds ever voted to give Big Oil tax breaks?
NO Ds ever voted to weaken regulation on Big Oil?

Now that the Ds have majorities in both Houses and the WH, we have seen such an improvement, golly gee how wonderful.

This entire hearing is completely phony in the first place, it is for public relations purposes only. No new legislation with any teeth is being proposed. It is just more empty rhetoric and bullshit to placate the masses, meanwhile business as usual.

Nichols is not stupid, so I can assume he is part of the problem and supports the status quo.

"Say it ain't so Joe."

Oh yeah, he did say that.... If a CITIZEN or a CORPORATION does something Legitmately wrong" that there should not be a government shakedown. Say What?

Well, at least he included citizens...however, how many citizens feel that so many local laws are all ready a shakedown? Wow, Joe, you've just started a new anti-tax revolution in your own home state.

In fact, many citizens feel that all of that TARP business was a real shakedown, and YOU, Joe, no longer want to live in a country that does this.

Well, Joe, I guess you've seen the report that the sea floor is imploding, and even Texas will need to get out of town fast. Got a nice little island picked out in Dubai, have you?

However, Joe, the worst news is the medical diagnosis...I'm, afraid Joe, that you're suffering from a debilitating and terminal disease.... a naturally occuring form of osmosis and spontaneous genetic cloning caused by a too close proximity to oil.

Yes, Joe, you've got TAR BALLS, and there is something Legitimately WRONG with this.

Barton: "I think it is a tragedy in the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to... a shakedown" A quick trip to the Gulf Coast might settle in Barton's mind what a 'tragedy in the first proportion' actually looks like.

The first sentence.

"Just to be clear, it was BP that caused what is now recognized as the worst environmental disaster in american history."

What a misleading pile of crap.

I will not go into how "the worst environmental disaster" is false, but I will focus on responsibility.

John Nichols, once again, prefers to ignore the real history of the democrat complicity (which continues) in order to use this disaster to make Obama and company (Inc.) look better than their partners in crime.

BP is merely typical of what passes for leadership in this blatantly corrupt empire of greed and indifference.

What "caused" this disaster is the lack of responsible government and their bi-partisan gutting of regulations.

Even as this horror was unfolding and growing, the Obama dimwits were granting more permits for more of the same.
Yes, the words of Joe Barton are hard to fathom, UNLESS you realize that the words are what the vast majority of these frauds in the halls of congress would prefer to be saying.

Also,
As Obama and the Corporatists (both parties) saunter cock-like around this poultry farm of a nation, you are a foolish cluck if you don't suspect that they will find a way to help bail-out BP or help arrange another corporate takeover of BP by some other greedy predators.

The criminality of this disaster (and many others - wars of aggression, bailouts, increasing carbon consumption, nuclear advocacy, detention without legal representation,....) lies within this government.

Business as usual will be ensured.

With all due respect to my "liberal" friends apologies are in order.
The POTUS has unilaterally called in a private entity and demanded that it turn over a large sum to his chosen management.
No legislative or judicial action. No preexisting authority. Just a ukase.
PLEASE ask whether you are comfortable with this type of power in one person's hands.
If you are comfortable would you still be so if that person were [a POTUS whose position you don't support]
Apologies not to BP but to the founders of this country.

First of all this is not a spill. It's an environmental catastrophe that has ruined our oceans for decades if not centures, so let's get the spill word out of our discussion. Second, it's not BP's catastrophe it's a world catastrophe. BTW where is Haliburton in the discussion? Oh yes, we have to take care of Herr Cheney. Third, it's not America's ocean, it's the world's ocean. We're all connected whether we like it or not.

It's not going to be just Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi that will be affected by the disaster. The disaster is far more personal for the residents of those states, who are amongst the poorest of the poor of our f'd up country, but we'll all feel it to some degree.

I'd love to know who decided and how it was decided that $20 billion was the payback amount. Sounds like a Geithner move. There is no dollar amount that can remedy the environmental and economic damage that's been done. Our lives will change dramatically because of this in terms of our economic future, food supplies, toxins and the health of the unborn, just to name a few.

I have to stop writing now, I'm beginning to foam at the mouth I'm so angry.

First paragraph is true but does not tell the whole story. Without a permit from the Obama Administration no spill would have happened. Salazar has approved over 200 such permits for drilling in deep water without/ and void of any standards of safety as noted on another CD article of a couple of weeks back. What is the lesson? Take the Republican apologist along with the Dem apologists like Nichols and his and Obama's eco la la and shove it up their rear end; then feel free to hand them a resounding defeat in 2012 by voting Green or other third party candidate that the authentic left may rally around. I am still willing to vote for Nader again if he runs.

First paragraph is true but does not tell the whole story. Without a permit from the Obama Administration no spill would have happened. Salazar has approved over 200 such permits for drilling in deep water without/ and void of any standards of safety as noted on another CD article of a couple of weeks back. What is the lesson? Take the Republican apologist along with the Dem apologists like Nichols and his and Obama's eco la la and shove it up their rear end; then feel free to hand them a resounding defeat in 2012 by voting Green or other third party candidate that the authentic left may rally around. I am still willing to vote for Nader again if he runs.

Mr. Nichols, you like many others have missed a main question here. During Mr. Obama's meeting with Mr. Hayward, Attorney General Eric Holder was present, why? Was this another one of President Obama's give a lot to get a little maneuvers to benefit corporate interests, again? $20 billion for the clean up in exchange for what? No criminal charges against BP or any of it's top officials?
Can you say quid pro quo? Just a thought!

6-19-10
JEEZ! I didn’t know Chris Matthews had a Saturday show on too. The guy is a real political addict isn’t he? Like a junkie on a 7 day search for his fix. I wake up Saturday morning and there’s Matthews with his so-called EXPERTS trying to tell me Republicans are going to gain 32-39 seats in the House and 5-6 in the Senate… WHAT?

Please tell me Republicans/Conservatives aren’t THAT stupid, misinformed, pig-headed, delusional and shameless. It just isn’t possible the Right is thinking of voting for Republicans. REALLY? After the Bush/Cheney disaster and the scandalous, self-serving Republican controlled Congress of 1994 to 2006?

WAIT! You morons aren’t falling for the FOX Spin… ahhh, News and AM Radio Free Conservative propaganda are you? …cause that would be just NUTS? I mean, with all the legitimate evidence, fact, statistics and content against them… They’ve been consistently WRONG about the issues and have given voters such BAD advice during elections. Fall for all that Conservative think tank, Heritage Foundation, William Krystol crap again …give power back to the Republican Party and your children and grandchildren are going to HATE YOU GUTS FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO THEIR FUTURE!

I heard what Chris Matthews said about Americans missing the two party system on 6-7-10. That might be true if both Party’s were working for the American PEOPLE. But that’s not where were at, is it Mr. Anchor Man (ancHOr, lol) You tell me smart guy, just what would you miss about the Republican Party?

Only a damned masochist or a traitor would miss all the waste, fraud, abuse of power, scandal, incompetence, lies, corruption, deregulation, special interests pandering, welfare for rich guys, sexual deviancy, media consolidation, arms dealing, war profiteering, Constitutional violations, the Corporate Crime Wave? What is it you find so stimulating about Republican LOW GRADE THOUGHT PROCESSES?

COME ON, please tell me! I blame the news media for not doing the job of keeping the public informed. All we get is weak *** opinions flowing like the spittle from the corners of Chris Matthews thin lips.

A true patriot, a real Great American would get involved and fight the good fight of OUR time… Concerned Citizens need to RISE UP. CRUSH THE REPUBLICAN PARTY! JESUS favors the Concerned Citizens that have been working so hard to save this nation from the dreaded Republican plaque. Progressives are like the “Saints come marching in”. We still BELIEVE in life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, equal rights and justice. OF, BY and FOR the PEOPLE is foremost in our minds.

Like I say in my fiction novel:
“We don’t care if the Republicans get equal time. The only reason these devils get elected is because of those DAMNED computerized voting machines. Give them no quarter, hunt them down in the streets before they can finish destroying the good ol’ USA.
We want Dick Cheney’s head on a stake, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck hung from the trees. We want to see a long line of handcuffed perpetrators from the Oil Industry, Wall Street, the Banks and War Profiteers. A firing squad is too good for all those government regulators who weren’t doing their job.”

There’s no argument here… NO “it’s all because of Obama/Biden…” NO
“it’s the fault of the Democrats when they took over congress in 2006”. One only needs to get their head out of Limbaughs/Palins/Becks @$$ and go search out the facts, statistics and CONTENT! It’s not that hard to find legitimate data on the subject and issues. It’s the least any American citizen could do BEFORE they trash their own President.

I so sick of these centrist right fake Democrats. They’re nothing but COWARDS and sell outs. Maybe they could talk about what a bunch of Dumb@$$es Arkansas voters are for listening to Bill Clinton and vote for Blanche Lincoln… #*~/’n corporatists!

NOTE: Rudy Giuliani was on “Morning Joe” (MSNBC) 6-17-10. Email sent to show:

Giuliani sounds like some old blue hair woman on a Frank Luntz focus group. “Don’t blame Bush/Cheney”. 18 months or 20 years from now Bush/Cheney polices are still going to be affecting the American People. The debt load alone will plague our grandchildren. You can blame President Obama all you traitors want, but please give me an example of a President who entered office with MORE problems left over from the previous Administration.

The Italian-Americans have an old saying about Giuliani. It’s something about how Rudy got rid of the Mafia in NYC and the Government took over Organized Crime… lol

How can Americans forget that Bush/Cheney almost ruined the USA? It would be like if that idiot Giuliani could forget 9/11. Republicans/Conservatives must be BRAIN DAMAGED OR SOMETHING. The ideological superiority complexes, odd paranoia, religious delusions, pathological lying and shameless hypocrisy. Something is definitely wrong with these people. It was just too easy for the Conservative wackos to forget Republicans are the root of every problem the USA is facing…

cyberbitchslap2.blogspot.com

Well 59% of Americans don't really understand how the free market works. The free market and the invisible hand that governs it, as Tom Tomorrow aptly notes, operates to maximize private gain and socialize risk and loss. Then why did they make a deal with Obama and surrender $20 Billion to a recovery fund? My guess is that by agreeing to the $20 Billion early on and by specifying a payment schedule of how much is to be surrendered each year they have effectively, without saying so capped their economic and for them, (they hope) their political losses. It may work, for them, for Obama and for many gullible enough to accept this as a victory (add in John Nichols too). The Republicans might have a point about going through the legal system to recover losses instead of having it adjudicated through a separate fund if our courts were not just as corrupt as our legislature which doesn't even have the ability to lift a pitiful $50 million dollar cap on liability. This is not a victory but given the woefully biased and undemocratic state of our governance it may be the best that we can get.

Pretty much says it all.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/06/19-0

Nichols ought to really just keep his tripe over at Huffington Post with the rest of the sheeple.

There seems to be an awful lot of categorical, sloppy thinking in these comments. In particular, many commenters try to make the point that dems as well as republicans are responsible for the oil spill. There may be truth in this, but accurate, realistic thought requires more complex analysis: We need to consider the "extent" of responsibility attributable to both sides. Otherwise, we end up with a false equivalence that muddies the waters of many related issues.

For example, if 10% of democrats supported deregulation compared to 95% of republicans, concluding that "both sides are responsible" would be a gross oversimplification. A more realistic conclusion would be "republicans are 9 times as responsible as democrats". For an event-based example, see yesterday's Media Matters article at http://mediamatters.org/research/201006180053.

There are many other similar measures of "extent" that tend to be ignored, such as those concerning the originators of the deregulation, the motives underlying the deregulation, the overall impact of the deregulation, and so on.

I'm not trying to be an apologist for the democrats, as I'm extremely disappointed in many of them. But I'm also disappointed to see progressives making the same sorts of cognitive mistakes as conservatives (though not nearly as flagrant).

Obama did not cause this spill. Almost 35 years of Repuglican't deregulation and neutering of government to enforce laws has caused this spill.

_Every_ Repug who apologizes to BP for Obama getting tough on them should be REMOVED FROM OFFICE.

VOTE OUT THE REGRESSIVES!

What bastards! On who's side are they anyhow? Kissing BP's ass...does that mean more money in their re-election coffers?