BP CEO Tony Hayward appeared before Congress today to tell Congressional leaders why his company has failed so badly in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill response, and whether or not BP allowed the accident to occur by cutting corners on safety measures. Mike Papantonio appears on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews to give us the truth that Mr. Hayward was incapable of delivering today.
I’m at least guessing that Mike’s civil suit against BP is a class action lawsuit. Indeed, class action lawsuits do work well since there are more people to back it. For instance, if one gets a legal notice in the mail that they can take the opportunity to collect many from such a corporation and sign in agreement to it, then roughly 2 years later they can get at least some reward money in compensation. I’ve collected a little lawsuit money from a financial firm and the health insurance giant Aetna when it came to ambiguous out-of-network medical claims. So, I hope Mike will be mailing legal notifications to every citizen of the Gulf area so that they can collect compensation money from BP within the next 2 years, and maybe it would be more than just the $20 billion escrow fund. For REAL consequences for BP, they either need to go bankrupt and reallocate all their assets to the victims of the Gulf or have the corporate execs in jail. Logically, you can’t negotiate with criminals, as Mike may’ve mentioned. And as I’ve mentioned earlier today, when Tony *Soprano* Hayward was under oath at the congressional committee not being able to give solid and linear answers to the questions, then he among the other BP execs have ABSOLUTELY NO CREDIBILITY WHATSOEVER!
This BP oil spill is somewhat similar to in the show “The Sopranos” where Tony Soprano managing NJ waste management kept on authorizing the dumping of asbestos wherever he chose thereby ignoring the environmental impact. It’s all the same idea, even though truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction.
This was a great interview with Mike and Chris! Mike did not mince words here in regards to the right wing politicians and talking heads and how despicable they are! We didn’t mind Mike got personal (Re: child bride)with that pompous, pill popping lardass Limbaugh! Hell, Limbaugh does it to everybody else! When it comes to helping “Joe and Jane Regular” (I liked that one Chris!) then it’s “Oh, those poor corporations.” That’s the only people these assholes can relate too! They always see it as a hand out for those who suffer the most. That pisses me off! I could have very easily been one of those people in need in the Gulf. I do identify with them because I’m a Jane Regular too…..and proud of it! F**k these rich, greedy and detached from reality slimeballs! I’m sick and tired of them!
Listening to this interview, I feel more at ease that perhaps the 20 billion WILL be used well, effectively and for what it’s meant for: helping those devastated by this BP Catastrophe.
The images of the dying birds in the oil – very painful to see.
What Rush Limbaugh is doing, it’s nasty. There’s no doubt about it. It’s no wonder Mike is infuriated and lashes out at Limbaugh.
For myself, the fact that he’s w/a very young woman (and on his fourth marriage) and has drug problems – well, I don’t care about that. I guess that shows what kind of person he is, but I can think that there are good people who marry spouses who might be much younger than themselves. And good people who are fat. And good people who have married several times.
So, none of that is particularly Relevant to me, but I certainly see why Mike is enraged at this man’s hateful words, and THAT is what matters: that he’s a scumbag – pardon the expression – in what he THINKS and SAYS. That is what matters to me. Not what he looks like or who he marries.
Here’s the people that Limbaugh could give 2 shits about.
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/864.html
I heard that Erik Prince of Blackwater is supposely leaving the USA for the United Emirates because of his company being in trouble for what it has done in Iraq. Thanks to GOVERNMENT MONEY (OUR MONEY), his company became flithy rich; however, this guy has the gall to talk about wasteful government spending or government handsouts to the common folks. We should seize his financial assets and his passport in order to make him face justice. Why don’t he be a man about it and face the consequences for his actions. I guess the Navy didn’t or failed to teach him about honor and responsible when Prince was a Navy Seal. He is the another perfect textbook example of a bad CEO who takes the credit when things go right and then flees for his life when things go bad because he deliberately made the bad decisions even though he knew it was wrong.
I’m really happy that the 20 billion is being taken from BP. Mike says the claims process will be overseen by a man well known for his fairness and expertise in this area.
That is ALL just wonderful!!!! Obama Should be lauded for accomplishing this.
I am doubtful about the idea that 90% of the oil can be removed from the ocean by July. The reason for my doubt is articles like the recent one in The Daily Beast, which said the oil could keep spewing out until Christmas.
Also, it’s partly Obama’s fault that this Disaster has happened. He put Salazar in charge. He bragged, in his speech, I think, of what a Great job Salazar has done to clean up MMS (even prior to the BP Oil Disaster) and Clearly that is not the case.
I also see, in the Daily Beast, that Obama may want to start controlling the Internet. There is much I fear about this president, but Mike’s strategy, re: the Oil Disaster, of not directly criticizing Obama, seems a very astute one.
I still am not happy over the fact that James Carville was at Rush Limbaugh’s wedding, btw….
There’s an article in the NYTimes that shows the complex difficulties Obama faces, re: corporations and reigning them in:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/us/18assess.html?hp
Also, thinking back to the “water gun” party (or whatever it was) were Rahm Emmanuel and Joe Biden frolicked w/members of the press – I guess we can’t be too surprised that this would happen – the White House curry favor w/members of the press and vice versa. I’m sure it has happened w/other presidencies.
The fact is, we don’t want the Entire press owned by Obama – or Any leader in charge. Firing Helen Thomas was a mistake, therefore. (Oh, wait, she “retired”. Okay).
G, good points about Eric Prick.
If Obama really is the change we wanted to believe in, such as reigning in corporations and bringing upon more transparency, then Gobama – faster!
Indeed, Obama needs to focus more on the progressives that helped get him elected and stop trying to please or appease the right.
G,
I heard all this about Eric Prick. He wants to leave the US for things he’s done? He belongs in prison. Along with the fact he has nothing to say about anything. But this is how this country operates.
To All–
Here’s a video making the rounds on the interent…they are using humor to show BP’s incompetence. Excellent and the size of it….not far fetched at all.
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/868.html
I look at the brasscheck video regarding BP’s incomptence. Funny stuff. I’m surprise that the lawyer who is overseeing the fund is a fair lawyer even though he is a corporate lawyer as Mike puts it. It is rare to find a lawyer like that.
If businesses and their lawyers did not make things so complex, we would not have a need for lawyers at all. But nowadays, corporations have their lawyers take you to court on even minor stuff just to punish you and to set an example to other people who think about filing even a tiny complaint against them.
G,
Need lawyers for everything these days. Did you see the video Lea Morris narrated? Good stuff.
Colleen,
I felt guilty and tried not to laugh, because this BP Oil Disaster is so horrible, but I couldn’t help it – esp. when the Halliburton guys came in and spilled Even More stuff!!!! I also love that they got Kevin Costner on the phone (sheesh, that guy hasn’t had a hit in Years)!
I have to admit, as well, that everything Mike said about Rush Limbaugh not only absolutely true, Mike also used some very pointed expressions that I (in all honesty) I find very funny. It’s both awful and funny, what that despicable Rush Limbaugh spews out. Mike calling him a (if I got it correctly) “golden miked, silver spooned windbag” is hilarious!!! AND true.
That got jumbled. It’s not funny, what Rush Dimbaulb spews out, it’s just awful, but what Mike said about him is funny.
Something else to admire Obama for:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/us/politics/19arizona.html?hp
There’s much that worries me deeply about Obama – but at least he’ doing some things as they should be done. Giving aid to Palestine, getting a staggering amount of money from BP (and not allowing BP to manage those funds) and now fighting that crazy, awful immigration law in Arizona.
Still, I’m going to keep reading Glenn Greenwald everyday, because he writes about the dangers in this presidency, and we need to have that. We need Wikileaks, as well.
Mara,
I originally saw that video on Rachel….she even had to laugh because basically that’s how these BP idiots are handling the “spill.” But rachel of course knows how unfunny it all is. I like what is written under the video too.
To All–
Here’s why Stephen Colbert should be Secretary of State….excellent!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-greenwald/stephen-colbert-for-secre_b_616932.html?ir=Daily%20Brief
Also, Mara I read your link. Obama is doing a few good things, but we must mind Glenn Greenwald and others like him. Yes, we do need WikiLeaks. The people have the right to know what’s REALLY going on!
Colleen,
I’m going to watch your Colbert video – I could use some more laughs!!!
Especially after This – the execution by firing squad – of that man who so cruelly and viciously killed 2 others – and who, it must be said, had so many cruel and vicious things done to him, leading up to His murderous rampage.
That said, I just DO believe in the power of redemption. I DO believe people can change, and I DO believe we should honor that and stop the endless violence, esp. state sponsored violence. Lifelong imprisonment is the proper punishment, not gunfire or even lethal injection, as it’s Always an act of violence to Punish violence, and that makes no sense to me.
Look at the video at 2:04, especially. It’s very moving. I found it so, anyway.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/jun/18/killer-executed-firing-squad-utah
I did get to see the Lea Morris video. Very moving. I amaze that we did not have a spill like that back in California. Remember the infamous Santa Barbara spill and some of the other oil spills off California back in the 1970s or late 60s? It seems that the oil companies were suffering from one accident to another in that state durng that time period. In Contra Costa County near Martinez, California, there is a Shell Oil refinery that is always breaking down because the managers keep putting off maintenance and inspection safety checks. What does to Contra Costa County government do about it, not a thing? You know why? Because it is basically a conservative one. Just wait till one day, when an accident happens and all that toxic stuff in the air hits places like Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Orinda, and Moraga where those communities are high income areas. Then those people will get the message.
Colleen,
Very good Colbert video. He tells it like it is.
I still believe that the death penalty still use be use against organized crime syndicates, corporate and white collar criminals like Massey, Prince, and the BP oil executives, and corrupt judges, district attorneys, and police officers who deliberately send innocent people to long terms in prison or had them executed. To me, there is no hope of remorse or act of redemption by these people.
G,
Good luck getting the govt. to use the death penalty as you would wish.
As I’ve mentioned, I’m reading a book by Michael Parenti, called: “God and His Demons” which unmasks the horror that so much of religion engages in.
Little did I know that Parenti wrote this article: “The JFK Assassination: Defending The Gangster State” – in 1996!
From the article:
“Much of history is a chronicle of immense atrocities…This is true whether it be the slaveholders of ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the antebellum American South; or the feudal aristocracy of medieval Europe; or the financial moguls of modern capitalist society.”
“The state is the instrument used in all these societies by the wealthy few to impoverish and maintain control over the many.”
“National security state agencies like the CIA, in the service of dominant economic interests, have enlisted the efforts of mobsters, drug traffickers, assassins, and torturers, systematically targeting peasant leaders, intellectuals, journalists, student leaders, clergy, labor union leaders, workers, and community activists in numerous countries.”
“The dirty truth is that Kennedy was heartily hated by right-wing forces in this country, including many powerful people in the intelligence organizations. He had betrayed the national interest as they defined it, by refusing to go all out against Cuba, making overtures of rapproachment with Castro, and refusing to escalate the ground war in Vietnam. They also saw him as an anti-business liberal who was taking the country down the wrong path.”
Read the full article here:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Parenti/JFK_Assass_GangsterState.html
Mara,
Thanks for the excellent link!!!! This Michael Parenti sounds alright to me! He believes (like most smart people do) Oswald did not act alone. Scott and I will always believe that the JFK murder was a set up. No doubt.
Colleen,
Michael Parenti strikes me as a writer who clearly and honestly illustrates all that he is writes about – be it JFK’s murder or, in this most recent book of his, the many sins of all varieties of religion.
This is quite a world we are living in.
Obama Gives. Obama Takes Away.
Get ready for the Protecting Cyberspace as a Naional Asset Act, courtesy of the likes of Joe Lieberman and Blanche Lincoln, among others.
Get ready for the NCCC (National Center for CyberSecurity and Communications) – Just the Acronym you’ve been Waiting for!!
Get ready for Obama to shut down the Internet for up to 30 days around, oh, well, maybe around the time Wikileaks is about to release their latest massacre video, this time in Afghanistan and this time involving scores of murdered children.
Yes, it’s Nice to see change at work….and “emergency powers” always has a fine, stirring sound to it!
“The President must notify Congress in advance before exercising these emergency powers. Any emergency measures imposed must be the least disruptive necessary to respond to the threat and will expire after 30 days unless the President extends them.”
http://www.govinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=2631
Mara,
Thanks for this piece of info. Hello 1984! Yes, Obama gives then takes away. If they try to take people’s internet connection away, that will REALLY rankle the masses!!!!
If you want to see people in the streets, this is the issue it will be over. Because this cuts both ways–right and left!
You know, between Obama and the corporations that are breaking America’s back driving the 95-99% of us poor, it’s like that line towards the end of the movie “Last Action Hero” where the glass-eyed villain says “bad guys can win.” But, I hope when Obama campaigned on “yes we can”, that didn’t imply that “yes, corporate criminals can win.”
Colleen writes:
“If you want to see people in the streets, this is the issue it will be over. Because this cuts both ways–right and left!”
Oh yeah! People LOVE their internet! No doubt about it! However, you can Bet they will be alot more savvy (I *think*) then we realize. They will find a way to punish WikiLeaks.
I guess Julian Assange isn’t going to be showing up to any of those fun water balloon parties, and super soaker fests.
What a party pooper! C’mon, Julian, Play ALONG!!! Play Nice. Get ALONG with the other children!!!!
NR writes:
“…it’s like that line towards the end of the movie “Last Action Hero” where the glass-eyed villain says “bad guys can win.” But, I hope when Obama campaigned on “yes we can”, that didn’t imply that “yes, corporate criminals can win.”
I like these issues your bring up, NR. Your “Last Action Hero” quote reminds me of a song I like – by Dolly Parton – Called “Mountain Angel.” There’s a line in it that goes:
“They say good conquers evil – but here, Evil won the prize.”
This song, “Mountain Angel” was written by Parton. It might not appeal to people, much, but I just love it.
It’s about how evil corrupts innocence, basically. I guess any song that has the line:
“possessed by Satan’s insane lure”
is going to appeal to me, in all honesty. Not because I admire “Satan” (be there such a creature). It just like the dramatic intensity of the line.
That line describes so many far right moralizers, doesn’t it???
Here’s some more: “Good Stuff/Bad Stuff” re: govt. and Pres. Obama, specifically:
From Obama’s radio address:
“I was disappointed this week to see a dreary and familiar politics get in the way of our ability to move forward on a series of critical issues that have a direct impact on people’s lives,” Obama said in the speech, released Saturday. The president is eagerly awaiting progress on bills to extend unemployment benefits and provide emergency federal aid to states with calamitous finances. He also pointed out that he has 136 nominees for federal posts awaiting confirmation. “The vast majority already have support from both parties,” Obama said. “But most of them are seeing their nominations intentionally delayed by Republican leaders, or even blocked altogether.”
(That all sounds very GOOD)!!!!
And then, there is This – The Daily Beast’s Philip Shenon reports that Julian Assange has hired private lawyers to defend Bradley Manning, who is said to have leaked the “Collateral Murder” video:
“Assange had hired private lawyers several days ago because of growing alarm that the accused whistleblower is being mistreated by the Defense Department.
Manning is reported to be in military custody in Kuwait and has not been heard from publicly since he was arrested three weeks ago.”
(But the Pentagon won’t allow it).
“Ms. Jonsdottir, who said she is in daily contact with Assange in his hiding place somewhere outside the United States, said Assange was hard at work both in organizing legal assistance for Manning and in preparing for the public release of a second classified Pentagon video—this one depicting an American airstrike last year in Afghanistan that left as many as 140 civilians dead, most of them children and teenagers.”
(This new video is said to be even more horrific than the other one):
“…believed to be the most lethal American airstrike in Afghanistan in terms of civilian deaths since the United States invasion in 2001—and could release it publicly as early as next week.”
(All qoutes from The Daily Beast).
I am TOTALLY BEHIND WIKILEAKS.
If I can find a way to swing it, I’m going to donate to them. For sure, sometime this year, at some point. We Need unfettered resources like WikeLeaks that can and will alert us to what is going on in the world, and esp. in our govt.
Sometimes, though, you just have to take a break from all the pain and indulge in something that requires no thought, is incredibly stupid, but rather funny – such as a satire of some idiot from the Garden State:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqoZnCDZS4w&NR=1
(I hope I don’t get in trouble for posting that – I really am trying to do less linking)….
Mara,
I’m totally behind WikiLeaks too! I heard Iceland is going to provide a safe haven to sources like Wikileaks and others. They can get the info out there without getting in trouble. I also have to find a way to donate to WikiLeaks as well.
Also, the video you provided was a hoot! Snook it! Mara, do you “Snook it?” LMAO!!!
Colleen,
Sh*t – I’d be snooking it like crazy, if I could!!! That kind of look is Only for the young, imo.
I can’t help but love a tacky, trashy look – and these horrible reality shows are getting Addictive! Help!
I love this, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Br17W-3zs
Notice how *anything goes* but do not (repeat: DO NOT) “wear spandex w/spandex. Unless you want to look like catwoman.”
Jeez. It’s good to know these girls have SOME Litmits!!!!
I also love that “California” Katy Perry video.
I can’t help it.
I have really low-brow tastes. It’s humbling. It’s humiliating. But – it makes me human, since I am so overloaded w/great intelligence. (My modesty – so becoming, no)????
I just made myself violently ill from watching too many utube clips of that insanely tacky show: Jerseylicious.
I’m about to hurl.
I’m now Seriously ill from street-talking, big hair-teased, french-manicured, long-taloned tart-overload. Well, I guess I got the need for the tawdry and the tacky out of my system. Now, it’s back to serious politics (which, come to think of it, so often includes the tawdry, the tacky and the downRIGHT vile)…