BP is paying the man in charge of overseeing its $20 billion victim compensation fund for its devastation of the Gulf of Mexico over $10 million a year. The choice of Washington attorney Kenneth Feinberg to manage the fund in June 2010 was widely lauded at the time, as he had dealt with the challenging tasks of managing the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and serving as Obama’s special master for TARP executive compensation. “I’m running an independent claims facility,” Feinberg told the world. Since then, however, Feinberg has battled with the victims of BP’s toxic crime, trying to compel them to accept small checks in return for signing away any further right to challenge BP. He claimed that “the Gulf of Mexico should largely recover from BP’s oil spill by the end of next year,” in flat contradiction to all scientific evidence.
A federal judge rebuked Feinberg for claiming to be “independent” when he is in fact a paid contractor of BP. Feinberg’s compensation from BP — which pays for the services of four attorneys — dwarfs what nearly any of the claimants are receiving for having their livelihoods and communities devastated and poisoned. Meanwhile, BP is complaining that Feinberg’s settlements are too generous.
1in·de·pen·dent
adj \ˌin-də-ˈpen-dənt\: not subject to another’s authority or jurisdiction; autonomous; free: an independent businessman.
Chris–if that were Clinton’s crime, he wouldn’t be on the list. No. He sold pardons and transferred technology to Red China. Beyond that more generally he and his co-conspirator have sold their enfluence to anyone with enough money. “I’m President of the World!!!!”
Obama–will live long enough to be ashamed of himself.
and Chris, only because I admire your postings so much: thats not what fungible means at all. Even treating the laws “the same” as if they can all be ignored does not make them the same “in fact” which is the essence of fungibility. Close in a tangential incorrect way but no banana.
#22
‘Malleable’ would have been a better word.
I don’t mean that laws can be disregarded by the president, but presidents get away with significant rule-breaking with only some staff legal trouble. Bad stuff, but it isn’t going to change anytime soon.
What I don’t get at all are claims of duplicity with substance by Obama from the TEA idiots. Reagan and Bush II were melding ideology/crime/politics in their foreign policy. Little O’s foibles aren’t anything like that.
Clinton was hooked up with Wal-Mart, but everyone brings a regional power with them: Bush I and II(Big Oil), Mitt Romney(Mormons), Huckabee(Southern Evangelicals) and Obama(Chicago Machine).
It goes to the idea of someone being “acceptably dirty.”
Obama doesn’t appear to be doing much of anything. At least I knew why everyone was attacking Clinton.
#26,
Yes, the drapes DO match the carpet.
#19 I misspoke, I hate progressive philosophy as represented by Obama & crew…which is a perversion.
Ralph Nadar and Ron Paul were on Judge Napolitano’s “Freedom Watch” the other day…discussing where they agree…
Ron Paul and Ralph Nader joined Judge Andrew Napolitano on Freedom Watch to discuss the possibility of fighting the establishment through a libertarian-progressive alliance.
http://ronpaul.com/2011-01-20/ron-paul-and-ralph-nader-a-libertarian-progressive-alliance/
So I misspoke, I don’t hate people, I hate the elements of tyrannical philosophy in progressivism.
How much revenue does a 4-partner law firm bring in? $10m doesn’t sound unreasonable when you consider oeverhead, staff, salaries, etc.
#11
A presidential candidate has corporate campaign contributors? I’m shocked, SHOCKED! I wish it weren’t, but its the way things are. Especially since Citizens United.
BP doesn’t even make the top 20
http://opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00009638
As for your second link, yes Obama was caving to “Drill,Baby, Drill” pressure at that time. Requirements were being eased and offshore drilling was being opened up, in large part due to pressure to do so from conservatives. Then BP lubed the gulf, and the brakes were put on.
So he loosened regulation and promoted offshore drilling. So you’re lambasting Obama for acting like a Republican. And this makes him corrupt…
Your closing conspiracy theory is just laughable: 2+2=22.
#23–Chris==malleable is better than fungible but still not quite right. I think your target is a bit off. Its not what Presidents “do” but rather that the mechanism/counterpoint/law enforcement/political will is just not there to oppose them. Democrats cower in fear that if they oppose gun laws, or foreign wars, or invasion of privacy rights that the PUKES will frame them as weak willed commie lovers or as Alfie would say: progressives. A label they cannot abide so they run scared to point out the obvious. Obama did it right off the bat by saying he would “look forward” rather than to the past: ie–a stay out of jail card for all the criminals in the Bush Admin and on Wallstreet.
So, like “Weapons of Mass Destruction” or “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques” or “Investment Opportunity Act” look to “redefining laws to achieve their nefarious ends” as the technique that is in play. Its fun. Watch the news. Anytime new terminology is introduced, watch for the perfidy that will come knocking on your door. Its never far away.
#28 “malleable is better than fungible but still not quite right”
Going back TWICE to question my word choice, Mr. Meaning-Context? I think words have a humbler purpose that you miss most of the time. Groups of words convey an idea. The idea is really the star of the show, and the words just help the idea get to other people.
Since you want to nitpick:
“Yes, where was that exactly?
We are abused no differently than the poor folks of Equatorial New Guinea”(from your post at #20)
Where exactly, indeed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equitorial_Guinea
#27 That is Sophistry.
BP’s bribe isn’t so bad because 19 others bribed Obama more…
It was a bribe, there are no coincidences in politics.
Obama receives big bucks, BP skips safety protocols yet get praised from Obama’s regulators for safe practices.
Had the same occurred under Bush, we’d hear calls for impeachment.
Like most Progressive bloggers and media, you are inconsistent…
That is, you lie, spin, propagandize, suppress the truth in unrighteousness…to further your statist objectives.
The public is waking up, the progressive indoctrination in public schools isn’t enough to make your advocacy of evil palatable.
Even the most brain dead are beginning to realize they are getting screwed at the pump, at the market, on the job…by progressives and their union thugs.
EVERYONE notices the derangement against Bush for every event is the antithesis of what the propaganda press displays now.
If a fraction of the corruption and incompetence of the Obama administration were evident during Bush’s presidency…
ALL YOU LIARS would be screaming for impeachment 24/7…throughout the establishment media…
No wonder Democrats are losing big…everyone is seeing right through them…everyone is sick of their lies.
#30 Continued:
Progressive sophistry is wearing thin…even the president’s lies now get headlines, that was unheard of till recently…
On Drudge the headlines are:
IN PUBLIC: Obama offers states flexibility on healthcare…
IN PRIVATE: Tells libs move will allow more expansive reform…
Progressive lies are being exposes daily, even by politicians…THAT is very unusual in our time:
Walker’s office issued this statement:
“I’m sure the President knows that most federal employees do not have collective bargaining for wages and benefits while our plan allows it for base pay. And I’m sure the President knows that the average federal worker pays twice as much for health insurance as what we are asking for in Wisconsin. At least I would hope he knows these facts.
“Furthermore, I’m sure the President knows that we have repeatedly praised the more than 300,000 government workers who come to work every day in Wisconsin.
“I’m sure that President Obama simply misunderstands the issues in Wisconsin, and isn’t acting like the union bosses in saying one thing and doing another.”
If Republican business interests were getting no bid exorbitant contracts from the politicians they put in office, the Progressive Press would be in an uproar 24/7…
But now that its the UNIONs that are bankrupting the States by putting in politicians who grant them pay packages far in excess what taxpayers receive in private industry…the media supports the theft.
That’s why progressives, Democrats in general, are losing at the ballot box…even your 24/7 establishment press can’t cover over your sophistry, your thefts, your lies, how you are screwing Joe sixpack royal…feasting on their tax dollars while they are getting foreclosed on and losing their jobs.
Its disgusting…there will be a revolution here, its happening already…we will vote progressive bastards out of office…
#31 AND I trust the investigative arm of Congress will make sure the door hits progressives in the ass on their way out.
I see orange jumpsuits in their future…
#30, #31, #32
You got a little foam on your mouth, there.
Three posts of bluster, no substance.
#33 Your sophistry is manifest to all…
So also the Ruling Elite Press, the progressive theft of the producing class is nearing its end.
Progressive philosophy seems good, but its from the pit of hell…it robs people of their dignity, makes them dependent upon a thieving Government.
They lose all incentive to climb out from subsistence living…and become slaves to the ruling elite that feeds them the crumbs…
Money they stole from those who create wealth…
While shielding their own in tax loopholes, and overseas investments…hypocrites to the core…the bastards are all millionaires…and got that way nefariously…Pelosi, Reid, Watters…but they don’t shower their wealth on the poor, that is protected…
They steal it from small business people who struggle to survive this recession…or are in foreclosure having paid hefty taxes right up until they lost their jobs…
No help for them…their former income prevents any checks for them…
Bastards…orange jumpsuits for all Congressional progressives, every one of them must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law…for crashing the economy through fannie and freddie, getting rich lending taxpayer money to people who can’t repay…
Chris–without looking, I assume there is no country of New Guinea just Guinea with or without the Equator?
I thank you for the correction, and have been made better for it.
See how easy that is?
“Fannie and Freddie play a central role in our housing finance system and must continue to do so in their current form as shareholder-owned companies. Their role in the housing market is particularly important as we work through the current housing correction. The GSEs now touch 70 percent of new mortgages and represent the only functioning secondary mortgage market. The GSEs are central to the availability of housing finance, which will determine the pace at which we emerge from this housing correction. …
OFHEO has reaffirmed that both GSEs remain adequately capitalized. At the same time, recent developments convinced policymakers and the GSEs that steps are needed to respond to market concerns and increase confidence by providing assurances of access to liquidity and capital on a temporary basis if necessary.”