BP Finds a Champion

Thanks for highlighting this, JNS. The video is actually worth watching. Even Hayward seems to realize how insane Barton is:
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http://www.balloon-juice.com/2010/06/17/joe-barton-apologizes-to-bp/#comment-1835349
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And even though Barton said he’s speaking for himself on this, other Republicans have also come out to criticize the $20 billion fund that Obama secured for restitution to those hurt by the spill — Michelle Bachmann, Tom Price, Haley Barbour, etc.
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Bizarrely, the GOP is rushing to the defense of BP here. We all knew where their loyalties lay, but man, I thought they’d at least try to be subtle about it.

Screwed up the link — that takes you to the comments. The video is at the top of the post, which should be accessible here:
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http://www.balloon-juice.com/2010/06/17/joe-barton-apologizes-to-bp/

Gobsmacked. Literally Speechless. Did he think he was in a private meeting. The Last 20 yrs, the oil company has given him over a million bucks..for a congressman in a SAFE R district. You stay Classy Joe.

By this impeccable logic, everytime a criminal cops a plea and forgoes a jury trial, it represents a ‘shakedown’ on the part of the Attorney General’s office. It’s good to know where this particular “Law and Order” Republican stands on due process.

“But we have a due process system, where we go through hearings, in some cases court cases, litigation, and determine what those damages are and when those damages should be paid.”

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And the people from the Exxon Valdez are just getting paid after 20 yrs too late. A-freakin-Mazing.

Talk about lemmings…

Sorry in advance to thinking Texans everywhere
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It seems to me that Texas is becoming, well, increasingly Texan…

For an election cycle that should, for a lot of reasons, be great for republicans they sure are trying to make it hard on themselves.

At least one?

The Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative members of the House, released a statement today calling the $20 billion BP escrow account a “Chicago-style political shakedown.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) called the escrow “a redistribution-of-wealth fund” that could serve as a “gateway” for “more money to government.”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_06/024298.php

Shakedown and slush fund are the GOP talking points today.

It’s official: PONers need to be treated for crack addiction.

Also: The party that wants to get rid of Miranda, habeus corpus, the Geneva convention on torture, and strip citizenship of those accused (not convicted) of terrorism — these people are concerned about due process?

I guess they are concerned when it affects their consituents (ie the multinational oil companies).

PONers are on the take; many Democrats lack a spine. When will doing the right thing ever happen?

I’m baffled as to how else to register my astonishment at the GOP / Barton dialogue. I really am.

“U.S. banks may end free checking accounts: report”

Once again our government helping the poor. Thank God those banks are going to pay for future financial meltdowns.

Hahah Good one

Hey, freeinpa:
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The title of the blog is “BP Finds a Champion”…

As opposed to the party that wants to re-distribute wealth, provide certain groups special rights, support equal outcome instead of equal rights,defend pornographers, sex offenders, illegals and terrorists. Manage to see criminals in every corporation but turn a blind eye to corrupt labor unions, incompetent education system and useless career liberal politicians.

Wow did you read that all by yourself?

What the post does show since you have a problem understanding, is here are the result of the last “crisis” the Obama admin and Demo Congress fixed. Now we will get a ring side seat to see how much money it will cause taxpayers as Demos fix another “crisis”

Love the questioning of Heyward. Democrats wondering why because he is CEO he doesn’t know every detail about every step of the operation. This from guys who don’t even read bills they write.

Now Waxman asking him if he focused like a laser beam on safety as he promised when he took over as CEO. I seem to remember another CEO (of the US) who said he would focus like a laser beam on jobs. I guess we missed the footnote that was in between golf, entertaining and being the First Tourist

The left once again knows no shame!

“Wow did you read that all by yourself?”
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Yes, but what baffles me is that you didn’t…
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“What the post does show since you have a problem understanding, is here are the result of the last “crisis” the Obama admin and Demo Congress fixed. Now we will get a ring side seat to see how much money it will cause taxpayers as Demos fix another “crisis”"
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So what you are saying is that there really isn’t a crisis? And you are saying that the financial meltdown wasn’t a crisis either?
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Hmmm. Okaaaaaaaaay. You’re really hitting on all four, er, make that three, today, freeinpa.
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I think it’s best to leave you to wrestle with these thoughts in your own world. It obviously has nothing to do with what’s happening here on Earth…

Well, no, we just think that the CEO is actually..umm…responsible….for what happens on his watch. You know, that big word conservatives sling around but never actually apply?

No what I am saying and you will never understand is that government will never fix a crisis especially one they were up to their ears involved.

The “fixed” financial crisis is fixed when the biggest issue was housing which is still in decline and Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, the ATM’s of sub-prime lending still have the taxpayers on the hook for trillions That’s the fix that liberals bring.

So how culpable is Obama for he unemployment, foreclosures and even the oil spill since it happened on Obama’s watch. Let’s see how fast the finger pointing starts, now

And let’s not forget the deficit and national debt too

the fund seems like a good idea and an efficient way of doing things. The charge that there is no legal basis might be true but since BP agreed to it voluntarily it doesn’t really matter. I can’t imaging why Barton is doing this.
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Pretty much everyone on this site is convinced all corporations are driven by pure evil, so any ideas on what diabolical motivations are behind the agreement? It doesn’t cap liabilities, anyone who is denied can still appeal to the courts, and it hasn’t bought them any good PR (see Obama’s speech)

free, I begrudge no one their right to partake in things like this, but you’ve posted seven items so far here and none of them deal with the topic at hand. Just the usual name calling and feeble attempts at changing the subject.

God are you boring. And predictable.

Have a good life.

So, let me get this straight: One of the criticisms of Obama by the Republicans has been that he is an “apologist” for the U.S. and his attitude demeans our worldwide stature. Now after an environmental tragedy on U.S. soil by a foreign entity, a Republican “apologizes” to that outsider for having to take financial responsibility and provide assistance for U.S. citizens who will be affected for decades. The hypocrisy and cynicism is astounding. I wonder what he would have said if the oil spill was off the coast of Texas, not Louisiana.

From a report in May from Reuters:

“BP’s annual report showed $8.3 billion in cash on hand at Dec. 31, and cash from operations of $27.7 billion.

BP generates $13 billion in free cash flow a year, has $5 billion to $8 billion in cash on hand and access to loan lines if necessary, according to various analysts’ estimates.”

From a report in late April in the Houston Chronicle:

“BP’s quarterly profits jumped to $6.08 billion from $2.56 billion during the January-to-March period in 2009, while revenue rose to $74.42 billion from $48.09 billion. Excluding special items, the results beat analyst expectations.”

In other words, this is both a good business decision that they can afford and a small victory in the PR battle.

And I’ve yet to hear a good explanation as to why any honest American elected official would be opposed to this.

Wow, Just. Wow.

Barton must have seen a poll that shows Texans are afraid to challenge oil companies because otherwise he would certainly care that he looks like a craven asterick-hole for expressing sympathy for BP.

I recommend everyone go over to Andrew’s site and read his “Getting S**T Done” post.

And let’s see how the MSM handles these Republicans who are so anxious to get out their tiny violins and beg for mercy for BP. If nothing else perhaps the reality of what Obama has to face in Washington when it comes to dealing with the GOP will finally sink into the collective tiny mind of the MSM.

Blossom, excellent point about Republicans sucking up to a foreign corporation. And I’m sure it has nothing to do with the money that is poured into the coffers of Congress.

virginiagentl:

Priceless. I noticed you managed to ignore “It’s official: PONers need to be treated for crack addiction.” which is typical of the posting of the left especially in response to anyone who has the temerity to disagree with the left.

And if you mean by not dealing with the topic at hand, that the government fixing this crisis is a farce you are right. All the posts point to the inability of the government to fix these problems while the folks on the left here make fun and denigrate a Congressman who spoke what many would like to say. And yet you don’t have a problem with that name-calling or denigration.

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So when you decide to call your like minded friends out on the same of which the you accuse me then by all means post it. Otherwise STFU your hypocritical dolt

Just to add to Barton’s “credibility” on this topic, check out this gem found by the Huffington Post:

“‘Offshore drilling and production platforms are so technologically advanced that one platform on the surface of the water can handle production from several different wells several miles apart, house a myriad of technologically advanced computer systems, employ scores of personnel, generate electricity, enable people to face and conquer the adversities of living in the middle of the ocean, and do so 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; all without so much as losing a gum wrapper over the side of the platform. It is truly amazing,’ Barton said, at an opening for a Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing on April 29, 2004.”

free, way to raise to the challenge.

I criticize you for name calling and trying to change the subject.

And you call me names while changing the subject.

You’re a beautiful person.

“…re-distribute wealth..”
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Correction, give very tiny amounts of money for food, shelter and basic medicine for the poor at the expense of those who can most afford it, benefited the most and, sometimes either investors in or employers of the poorest”
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“.. provide certain groups special rights..”
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Correction, will not let the KKK gather and attack black people (let’s be real, that is what you mean since that is what hate crimes laws forbid)
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“… support equal outcome instead of equal rights…”
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Support equal education instead of a caste system for the wealthiest only.
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“..illegals and terrorists…”
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You mean “.. give due process of the law to undocumented workers and terror suspects so that we can hold the morale high ground and not disintegrate our country’s freedoms for the terrorists to win..”
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“.. sex offenders..”
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The strictest laws against sex offenders were signed by Clinton.
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“”..Manage to see criminals in every corporation…”
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Incomplete “..Manage to see criminals [the few] corporation[s] which have done billions of dollars in harm due to reckless behavior…”
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“..but turn a blind eye to corrupt labor unions,..”
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No, there are very frequent trials of union officials if they are involved in corruption
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“..incompetent education system..”
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That is work tirelessly to improve our education instead of firing everybody in sight.
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“..and useless career liberal politicians…”
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Democrats didn’t shed a tear for Charlie Rangle nor any other recent politician caught in a scandal.
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Larry Craig refused to step down as did David Vitter while Jim McGrevy and Elliot Spitzer stepped down very promptly.
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” As opposed to the party that wants to
give very tiny amounts of money for food, shelter and basic medicine for the poor at the expense of those who can most afford it, benefited the most and, sometimes either investors in or employers of the poorest, will not let the KKK gather and attack black people support equal education instead of a caste system for the wealthiest only, give due process of the law to undocumented workers and terror suspects so that we can hold the moral high ground and not disintegrate our country’s freedoms for the terrorists to win manage to see criminals the few corporations which have done billions of dollars in harm due to reckless behavior”
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Now that’s better.

BP has already admitted fault in this incident.To hell with allowing them to tie up compensation to victims (our gulf coast citizens).Lawyers could slow this down for years.Obama scored big on this case.We have to protect our country and our people,not some big corporation that paid off Barton the scumbag republican.

“The “fixed” financial crisis is fixed when the biggest issue was housing which is still in decline and Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, the ATM’s of sub-prime lending still have the taxpayers on the hook for trillions That’s the fix that liberals bring.”
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“In addition to the government conservatorship, which CBO estimates will increase the federal government’s net liabilities by $238 billion, several government agencies have taken steps to increase liquidity within Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Among these steps includes:[33]

1. Federal Reserve purchases of $23 billion in GSE debt (out of a potential $100 billion) and $53 billion in GSE-held mortgage backed securities (out of a potential $500 billion).
2. Federal Reserve purchases of $24 billion in GSE debt.
3. Treasury Department purchases of $14 billion in GSE stock (out of a potential $200 billion).
4. Treasury Department purchases of $71 billion in mortgage backed securities
5. Federal Reserve extension of primary credit rate for loans to the GSEs”
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_takeover_of_Fannie_Mae_and_Freddie_Mac#National_debt_accounting

“Iraq war is costing $100,000 per minute

By Mark Mazzetti and Joel Havemann

Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — The White House said Thursday that it plans to ask Congress for an additional $70 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, driving the cost of military operations in the two countries to $120 billion this year, the highest ever.”
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002780385_spending03.html
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So, $238,000,000,000 to save people’s homes and stop the economy from going into the next Great Depression were even the most selfish people who ever lived like yourself will not have to suffer vs $100,000 per minute to kill people in a country we should have left alone.
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Hence, it would have bought 2,380,000 minutes of killing more people. 4 years, six months 10 months 18 hours 40 min we could have, instead, spent on killing people for no reason.
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Yeah, Freon in Pa has his priorities just fine.
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No, he does not need a psychiatrist.

The apology from Rep Barton is akin to the outrage the liberal left threw out during the recent water boarding discussion and the liberal left’s claim, terrorists have rights meme.
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Barton said, “But we have a due process system, where we go through hearings, in some cases court cases, litigation, and determine what those damages are and when those damages should be paid.”

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This statement is true, probably more true than anyone can claim on the left that water boarding somehow breaks someone’s constitutional rights or that a terrorist from another country deserves consitutional protection and due process.
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Go for it my little liberal friends. Please explain how you can be on one side, and then take what Barton said as some sort of Democrat Party campaign ad this fall.

“Pretty much everyone on this site is convinced all corporations are driven by pure evil, so any ideas on what diabolical motivations are behind the agreement? It doesn’t cap liabilities, anyone who is denied can still appeal to the courts, and it hasn’t bought them any good PR (see Obama’s speech).”
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swissArmyBrainBETA,
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Your missing the specifics and the point of complaints about BP.
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Drilling for oil is not immoral.
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Making a profit from the oil is not immoral.
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Cutting corners for additional profits with a high probability of the injury and/or death of your workers and, possibly (but not in this case) bystanders and causing billions of dollars of damage and the unnecessary killing of millions of wildlife is evil.
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Just like is driving a truck for a living immoral?
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Absolutely not!
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Is driving a truck over weight unable to stop while you just finished drinking a liter of whiskey immoral.
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YES! THAT WOULD BE VERY IMMORAL!

“.Obama scored big on this case.” Not that anyone, Rs or Ds, and least of all the people of the Gulf seem to want to acknowledge. I listened to everyone criticize Obama last night on CNN left and right and marginalize any compensation (uncapped) that he has wrought. And looking at some responses on NPR from commenters, people are starting to fall into the Barton camp. It’s just astounding the level of 1)hypocrisy and 2) idiocy. Louisiana has already begun to lose my sympathies for their continued insistence that “something be done” and yet show absolutely NO ease up even in the face of cash to give them some breathing room. No one says it makes things all better but it is more than I have ever seen obtained in any other environmental disaster. It boggles my mind.

You can’t even comprehend, so why bother.

Rusty,
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That is one of the most absurd comparisons I have ever heard you make and you have been a hard core idiot, so this is where your dropping down to Freon in Pa.
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1. 1torture (noun)
2. 2torture (transitive verb)

1. What Kind of
Style is
“Retrosexual?”
2.
3.

Main Entry: 1tor·ture
Pronunciation: \ˈtȯr-chər\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French, from Old French, from Late Latin tortura, from Latin tortus, past participle of torquēre to twist; probably akin to Old High German drāhsil turner, Greek atraktos spindle
Date: 1540

1 a : anguish of body or mind : agony b : something that causes agony or pain
2 : the infliction of intense pain (as from burning, crushing, or wounding) to punish, coerce, or afford sadistic pleasure
3 : distortion or overrefinement of a meaning or an argument : straining
4: A weekend in a fishing cabin with Freon in Pa and rusty.”
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http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/torture
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Water boarding absolutely is torture.
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This case is not about individuals. It is about a huge corporate error.
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Half of business ownership and management is when you make the right decisions and make profits and the other other half is when you make bad decisions and take losses.
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BP will not reward shareholders for trusting the managers who were incompetent and breaking the law.
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In a worse case scenario BP will sell off some of it’s assets to a competitor where those assets will be used.
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That is so extremely dissimilar to giving up the pretense that waterboarding is not torture that I can not believe you even put the two in the same entry.

elaborate, please.

This has happened before!

After 9/11 Kenneth Feinberg was appointed by Bush to be the “Special Master” of compensation for the families of the victims.

Kenneth Feinberg is the same man appointed to handle BP’s $20 billion.

It is a simple restitution fund just like after 9/11, but, if the victims later endure additional problems, they can sue for or get additional money if they win in court.

This system for the most part, bypassed tort attorneys, who Republicans want to murder. So, since it bypassed tort attorneys, if anything, Republicans should be dancing in the street.

Joe Barton is enraged for three reasons;

1) Conservatives were a total failure for six years and he was a part of the problem but does not want to admit it.

2) Republicans lost the presidency by a clear margin two years ago as they did not have the Senate.

3) He and fellow Republicans just lost one of their best campaign talking points since Obama did do a good job of securing restitution.

Even Tony Hayward was looking as if he wanted to object to Joe Barton’s strange ramblings and apologize more.

Joe Barton was trying to be more Catholic than the pope, as they say, by being more pro-oil than the oil company itself.

Well, freep, since you asked:
Unemployment: There’s really only so much the prez can do about unemployment. Plus, we’ve been in a recession since 2007. So unemployment isn’t Obama’s fault-yet. But the longer he’s in charge, failure to correct an existing problem increasingly becomes his problem.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/01/news/economy/recession/index.htm
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Foreclosure: Again, well before Obama took office. Like, oh, late 2007. So see the above answer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/16/AR2009011604724.html
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BP The area where Obama has the most culpability. Failure to enforce regulations is certainly his problem. However, since the accident was a result of a private business that drastically over-estimated it’s own ability, Obama’s problem is the regulation-or lack thereof-on his watch. Or are you actually suggesting that the gov’t should have a heavy hand in regulating potentially damaging industry? So, is the spill His problem? Absolutely. Is it his fault? Unless you can demonstrate that his administration failed at a key point that would clearly have prevented the spill, I would say no. I would say it’s primarily the fault of BP and whoever they contracted to.

TSB “curriculum”.
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Perry
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Barton.
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We’ve had a lot of crackpot ideas come from there in the last year or two.
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They are giving Texas a bad name. The ‘Texan’ in italics is their idea of what a Texan is.
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It’s a lot like the conservative image problem…

That’s par for the course for freeinpa. He jumps in with positively inane and insulting things to get you to argue with him.
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That’s when he’s at his best. He tosses insults, then runs like hell.
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I have come to the conclusion that freeinpa grew up in an abusive environment, and this is his way of getting strokes…

53, heads up: IIRC, I think apollo lives in Texas but hopefully there won’t be a bloody debate over school standards here. (Or better yet, there will be but at least you won’t be arguing with freepa or rusty since PA school stds. aren’t the topic.) If only wordpress would let us post multiple links / reply again, that would help with info.

Hey Freep – I made the ‘crack’ reference and I meant every word. For guys like Barton and Bachmann to support the unsupportable, to defend the indefensible, they have to really be on medication (legal or otherwise) to actually believe what they say on this issue.

“..illegals and terrorists…”
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“You mean “.. give due process of the law to undocumented workers and terror suspects so that we can hold the morale high ground and not disintegrate our country’s freedoms for the terrorists to win..”

Sorry, but “undocumented workers” are “illegals”. People can try to sugar coat it all they want, but it’s the still “illegal”.

“So when you decide to call your like minded friends out on the same of which the you accuse me then by all means post it. Otherwise STFU your hypocritical dolt.”
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So what you’re saying is that your new defensive stance is …. “but they did it first”? This is the kind of excuse 3rd graders give for why they pushed the girl down in the dirt; because she hurt their feelings.
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Really? That’s your foundation argument for why you’re right and everyone else is apparently wrong? Seriously, grow up.

I was thinking so anyway, others complained too when I rounded on Texas before, too, which is why I apologized in advance.
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Apolloyon07 is a respectable individual at whom none of my commentary is directed. I’m not down on Texas, except the “Texas” that these nutjobs envision.
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Ergo, my comment about the image problem conservatives have. Like the Texas issue, Appollyon07 is not the one making it tough and is far from these loonies. I understand his discomfort.
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I’m guessing that Apollo is a real American, Texan, and conservative.
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It’s people and events I mention that make it hard.
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FYI, if Ellen Craswell had won the governorship in our state back in ’88, I would have been just as hard on Washington.

Would a hearty ‘Amen!’ slide this boat into the river?

It’s great ammo, Rusty.
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Thanks for helping us tamp the powder around it…

I think sometimes my humor is too subtle, or, maybe nobody bothered to comment.
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See above:
“1. 1toorture (noun)…
4: A weekend in a fishing cabin with Freon in Pa and rusty.”
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There appears to be some people in politics that put money ahead of life and country. It’s real easy to be cynical and say all politicians are the same, but they are not. Now is the chance for some Republicans to stand up and not only disagree with the comment made, but to chastise it nothing short of traitorous. To not do so would be to imply that, if we were in charge, our loyalty simply goes to the highest bidder, not matter what the consequence. Our forefathers are turning in their graves.

According to the NY Times:

“Individuals and political action committees in the oil and gas industry have been Mr. Barton’s biggest source of campaign money, it reported, contributing $1.4 million since the 1990 election cycle.”

Excuse me, but for whom does Barton work?

We have the worst politicians money can buy — and they have all been bought — lock, stock, and barrel –

by barrels of oil —

Guilty of a class C misdemeanor equal to the punishment of loitering.
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The problem is not about them being here to having dinner with the relatives or to help take care of their grandchildren. They issue is if they are working and, therefore, lowering pay for people who are here legally.
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“Illegal” implies felony such as, when you let your parking meter expire, it is illegal, but does that make you “an illegal driver”?
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Also, do you say your grandparents, great grandparents or whomever it is who came to this country for the first time from someplace else were “aliens”?
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Technically they were, in legal terms, “aliens”. However, the word “alien” is usually reserved for fictional creatures from other planets and winguts.

Sad to see David Brooks partially agreeing with Joe Barton, as I wrote in my blog, capturingthenews.com. Brooks wants BP’s victims to try for compensation only through the courts. But CNN does a nice job of reminding us how badly that worked with Exxon Valdez, in its interview with the lawyer for the victims.