BP playing games with people's lives
From Denny: For all the efforts of the Obama White House, BP continues to play games with people's lives down here on the Gulf Coast. There's even an attorney in Texas who has been suing BP for years and says this typical bad attitude and stingy behavior is their SOP - standard operating procedure.
BP's Dirty Little Legal Strategies
BP attorneys know that average people can't hold out for long. The average middle class person does not have the cash reserves of a multi-national corporation. It's a game of "wait and see who blinks first" because the average person cannot hold out beyond a few months. They cash in their kids' college funds, deplete their savings and retirement accounts, sell off stocks and bonds, you name it - all to pay the groceries and stay afloat another day. Eventually, the average middle class person runs out of things to sell or accounts to raid and they are cooked, forced into bankruptcy court. Going into bankruptcy court is exactly the tactic BP is playing because, again, it will delay by months, maybe years, any reckoning for BP. BP gets to walk away free as a bird while leaving a wide swath of devastation in their wake.
BP is counting on the average people hurt by this environmental disaster, mostly very small businesses, to fold and take a small settlement for all their financial ruin and emotional anguish. There are thousands of people who have rightful claims who are being delayed for months or denied for capricious reasons. No matter how many times the national media have reported this outrageous behavior from BP the practices have not stopped.
The President must step in to discipline BP
It's time for the President to step in and resolve this garbage from BP. For the federal government to go around suing Arizona over what is an impractical law to enforce anyway and then suing Louisiana because they are trying to keep their economy afloat is not what I expect from my federal government. Both states are strapped for funds, only making the situations far worse for the populace. The federal government should be in the business of suing Big Business for all the havoc they have wreaked upon this economy by sending jobs overseas that started this tumbling into unpaid debts. Big Banks have yet to be brought to heel like the behemoth junkyard dogs they are, taking advantage of biting the public just "because they can," knowing no one will put a stop to their shady bullying practices.
From the very beginning of this oil spill environmental disaster, BP started sledgehammering the surviving oil workers - from the 22 April explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig - by forcing them to sign waivers that BP was not at fault. That happened within hours of being rescued at sea and the survivors were taken to yet another offshore oil rig to be interrogated and pressured into signing away their rights to sue BP for injuries. Funny thing, though, those oil rigs are within our national waters as well as within Louisiana jurisdiction. It's a long standing tradition in Louisiana, because of the old French Napoleonic Code, that you can never sign away your rights, even under duress. The courts protect the rights of the average citizen.
At the rate we are going it actually may be the Louisiana courts who will save the day instead of who should be the standard bearers for the American people: our federal government and the President. As it stands, the now increasingly desperate middle class does not have a champion in this White House and we have not had a champion to fight for us for ten years now. The American people cannot hold out any longer. Something must be done.
November Elections could prove tragic for all
Of course, the American people are primed to take matters into their own hands come election time this November. The House is said to have about a possible 67 seat loss if the voting attitude remains ugly. The Senate is looking at losing anywhere from three to ten seats for the Democrats. This Democratic Congress frittered away their majority by passing useless and often damaging legislation, still not taking care of the middle class. All they did was answer to their Big Business handlers.
Speaker Pelosi, an American political heroine under appreciated
The notable exception was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who has done all the heavy lifting by delivering almost 300 passed bills. What did Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accomplish? He passed only one bill - gift-wrapped by Pelosi. All of those bills should have been easy slam dunks. Reid needs to be replaced. Clearly, he is no former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle who cleverly outmaneuvered the Republicans at every turn to make the most for the Democrats. Speaking of Daschle, this White House needs to hire him and use his organizational skills to head up this economic initiative I've suggested in my last posts. Either that or get him to teach the next Senate leader how to handle the heat and get things passed in a timely manner and not watered down into oblivion.
Democrats gang up on Press Secretary Gibbs for speaking the truth
Many Democratic leaders are angry at Press Secretary Gibbs for speaking the obvious. First of all, he was not hired to be a diplomat or a politician. He's a journalist and a man of integrity. Lay off his one yard line. He isn't the problem; you are. The public is angry at all the politicians for handling huge problems so ineptly and not in a timely manner. Don't take it out on Gibbs for speaking to the truth of your political consequences where you have fallen down on the job. Do the job we hired you to do. We hired all of you and we can fire you. It's time the American public get some respect around here. You are in office to serve us - not the other way around. Get that thought straight in your heads and we will finally be on the same page to pull together to get problems solved.
Get Axelrod out of the daily White House NOW
The whole reason this White House trotted out Gibbs for the talk shows is because they did some polling to discover that Axelrod polls lousy. People do trust Gibbs as he polls well with the public. People don't trust Axelrod and it's no wonder as his own body language betrays him. The man is always sneering contempt at others. Watch him in interview with Jon Stewart, a case in point of many. Stewart kept backing up with aversion from Axelrod who was trying to blow some charm past him. Stewart clearly did not trust or like Axelrod.
Put Axelrod out in the political field for elections
If this White House actually wants to continue to hold onto Axelrod then get him out of the daily White House, off the talk shows, and back into the political field getting candidates elected. That's what he is good enough at doing and that is all he should be doing. He has failed miserably at policy advice, especially the domestic agenda. His calls have hit it wrong every time for 18 months now. Don't allow Axelrod's bad prognosticating to take down this first African-American presidency just because you don't have the stomach to part ways with an old friend. Who needs friends that stab you in the back at every turn? Axelrod is not just tone deaf he is heart deaf and truly cannot identify or understand those who are suffering in this country. Move him and his aides down the road where they can be useful.
How the American public is getting ready to vote: no more corporate politicians
What both the Democrats and the Republicans are not paying enough attention to is that the public is so disillusioned with the political process they will not vote at all. The flip side of that scenario is they just may decide to vote and will start voting in all the obscure political candidates. If you think you have a mess now arguing over political philosophies and trying to pass legislation, welcome to the chaotic world of twenty different political parties sitting at the table instead of two.
The public may just hit on the idea to only vote in non-corporate politicians, if they have to reach down to the third tier candidates to get any real representation. That's going to put in office some real loony tunes like the Tea Party, the Modern Whig Party or communists. Then there are others like the Libertarians who basically don't believe in government and would dismantle all the safety regulations in place. The Green Party is worldwide and promotes some great ideas but refuses to protect the citizens with any force.
Here's just a short list of possibilities that could either improve or screw up our politics beyond repair:
America First Party - conservative
American Party - conservative
America's Independent Party - conservative
Boston Tea Party - conservative
Communist Party of the United States of America - communist
Florida Whig Party - conservative
Green Party - world wide party promoting social and economic justice, ecological wisdom, non-violence.
Independence Party of America - populist
Moderate Party - democracy and peaceful security
Modern Whig Party - conservative
National Socialist Movement - socialist
Objectivist Party - Fiscal: Laissez-faire, Social: Individualism
Party for Socialism and Liberation - Communism, Marxism-Leninism brand
Peace and Freedom Party - left wing socialist and feminist
Progressive Labor Party - global armed communist revolution
Prohibition Party - from 1869 they still promote fiscal and social conservatism
Reform Party of the United States of America - Ross Perot's populism and centrism
Socialist Equality Party - anti-war, pro-choice, socialist economics
Socialist Party USA - democratic socialism
Socialist Workers Party - socialism since 1938
United States Marijuana Party - Anti-Prohibitionism. This party is a real grinner, however, should politics turn sour in America, just think of how many people would put in office a politician from this party just for a reality joke.
Unity Party of America - centrism with a lot of members in many states, fiscal and social moderates
Workers Party - left wing of anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism
Working Families Party - progressive, populism, social democracy
A Job For Every American Policy
The country is past due allowing patience with our politicians. The time is now for this White House to put the full court press on turning things around: the economy. You can't campaign on Hope, sell Hope and then refuse to deliver. Hope isn't about thinking things will get better so just sit tight and wait a few decades. Hope is about the impending call to action and the immediate work to procure tangible results.
This White House's new slogan should be: A job for every American. FDR had his chicken in every pot during the crushing starvation of the Great Depression. Now, it's Obama's turn to create jobs. Americans want to earn their way in life. Provide the tools for them to do it. "A job for every American." Sounds good to me.
Here's a few interesting news links:
Gulf Residents Grow Desperate in BP Claim Wait
Money, Patience Wearing Thin for Tens of Thousands Whose Claims Oil Company Hasn't Decided to Pay
Mary Landrieu: Drilling Moratorium Could Cost More Jobs than Oil Spill
Congress turns to task of preventing another Gulf oil spill
Members of a House committee on Wednesday began shaping a bill that targets the problems laid bare by the Gulf oil spill, from lax regulation to inadequate accident-response plans.
BP Oil Spill: Is it time for the Pentagon to take over?
The BP oil spill relief effort lacks a clear command-and-control structure, senators said at a hearing Friday. Some suggest that greater Pentagon involvement would help.
Is stimulus plan working? The arguments pro and con.
A white House report released Wednesday said the stimulus plan has saved or created as many as 3.6 million jobs. But polls show Americans are skeptical.
As Senate takes up financial reform bill, a look inside the sausage
The Dodd-Frank financial reform bill leaves too much discretion to regulators, creating the risk of regulation uncertainty for an industry that needs less risk, not more.
Look to can-do governors for ideas on jobs and economy
In November, 37 states will elect governors, and there's really only one issue that will sway voters' choices: how to boost jobs with economic growth.
How Many Senate Seats Will Democrats Lose in November?
White House Defends Campaign Efforts
Lesson Learned from Gibbs' Gaffe: Perception is Everything
New Black Panther Case Spurs Civil Rights Commission to Challenge DOJ
Six months after the Haiti earthquake, what progress?
Post-Cold War, Dark Side of Spy Game Moves East
Most U.S. Espionage Doesn't Involve Russia but Iran, North Korea, Syria and al Qaeda
John Kerry: White House Afghan Strategy Unclear
Republican Richard Lugar Also Voices "Lack of Clarity" of U.S. War Goals
What Kandahar residents say about the Afghanistan war: It's complicated
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