From Denny: Talk about the ultimate Bozo Sapien Award going to Texas Congressman Joe Barton! We have to paint him into the Incredibly Stupid corner. Oh, that's right, he did it to himself.
Check out Barton's Words From A Bought and Paid For Fool Who Is A Traitor To His Country:
Texas Rep. Joe Barton from the House investigation bench about this oil spill to BP CEO Tony Hayward at the witness table, "I apologize."
"I do not want to live in a country where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong it is subject to some sort of political pressure that is — again, in my words, amounts to a shakedown. So, I apologize."
One of the many outraged responses to Rep. Barton is one from Vice President Joe Biden: "I find it incredibly insensitive, incredibly out of touch. There's no shakedown. It's insisting on responsible conduct and a responsible response to something they caused."
From House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "While people in the Gulf are suffering from the actions of BP, the Republicans in the Congress are apologizing to BP."
My dear readers and blogging friends, let me share a thought with you about the facts. How much in campaign donations do you think Rep. Barton has received from the oil and gas industry since early 2009? Another player, Anadarko Petroleum, owns a 25 percent stake in the same oil field where the Deepwater Horizon rig sunk. The Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign finance watchdog group in Washington, lists Barton's donations from that company at $100,470. Pretty sweet deal for just a Congressman. Of course, the standard running joke spoken among lobbyists is that "it costs about $100,000 to buy and own a Congressman - and it costs $200,000 to buy and own a Senator."
Just how long standing is Rep. Barton's relationship with the oil and gas industry? In other words, just how long has he been in their back pockets? Try since 1990 he has received a boatload of cash from the industry and various political action committees associated with this industry. He has received over $1.4 million poured into his political campaigns. And, yes, he is the one House member who has received the most from the oil and gas industry. Gee, "Do ya think?" there is a correlation as to why he is the ranking member of the House energy committee for the Republicans?
Rep. Barton is the guy we all have to blame for the VP Cheney closed door off-the-record-illegal meetings with energy lobbyists writing America's energy policies and legislation. Barton shepherded major energy legislation that has negatively impacted our lives for years. Barton loaded up that legislation with billions of dollars of tax breaks and royalty relief for oil and gas companies who were drilling and doing exploration domestically. This guy is an embarrassment to America for taking advantage of millions of fellow Americans just to line his wallet. Yet another reason not to live in Texas.
Did you watch the hearing or see some of the longer news clips of BP's CEO Tony Hayward's very delighted and smug reaction as Rep. Barton was making his apology? That's what concerned me greatly, Hayward's body language reaction. BP has been waging a public relations war across America to weasel out of paying up for their damages. Just recently, they kicked Hayward out of the public limelight in the TV ads. Now they have hired actors with Louisiana accents who claim they grew up here - to screw us again BP style. BP never quits with the insensitivity and insults and double-dealing and lying and cheating and... (you fill in the blanks)
The weird thing here is that if BP just manned up and did the honorable thing it would have cost them so much less. But because they are a ruthless greedy corporate culture they look for ways to cheat. Had BP paid for the Super Tankers to create a ring around the oil spill and suck up the gushing oil and processed it this disaster would have been containable to the deep ocean instead of tar balls rolling in to our shores on the latest tide. No, these guys are so cheap they are bankrupting their multinational company. Why has the board of BP not kicked this guy out on his ear and withheld any golden parachute in exchange for refusing criminal prosecution?
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On a lighter side, and far funnier, is this video clip of mocking the politicized actions of GOP Texas Congressman Joe Barton by comics like Stephanie Miller, radio talk show host featured on The Ed Show:
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*** Photo by I'm Fantastic @ flickr
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