The BP Escrow Fund

As part of Operation Blame BP, the centerpiece of his Gulf rescue effort, Obama is reportedly set to demand that BP set up an escrow fund to compensate victims of the Gulf oil spill.  The WaPo says that, properly structured, this could be a good idea.  The WSJ thinks that this will inevitably become an extra-legal slush fund driven by politics rather than law.  Gee, would a politician from Chicago think that way?  What the WSJ does not mention is that it would be a bi-partisan slush fund, since Republican governors in the Gulf states would presumably benefit as well.

Comments

[Captain Hate]

How is this different than Jesse Jackson shaking down companies? Isn't this what we have laws and courts for?

[Rob Craword]

What makes you think the states will have any say in where the money goes?

[narciso]

I feel like Michael Corleone lecturing his wife 'you're the one being naive Kate' to the
Washington Post, when she saids about ordering assassination "President's don't do this,' which was untrue in the era that it was made, and even more so, in the time it
reflects, re Darlan and North Africa

[narciso]

And a little unintentional humor, regarding my personal fave 'Charmin Charlie' in the LUN

[narciso]

Btw, I think Sally Quinn is trying for another
round of "Clarice's Pieces' in the LUN,

[Jane]

The WSJ thinks that this will inevitably become an extra-legal slush fund driven by politics rather than law.

As I said - Blago on steroids.

[narciso]

So, what's the topic, on the show, today, Jane

[Melinda Romanoff]

Blago was, and still is, a bit player. The real thieves are on the sidelines, yanking on the strings.

Executive branch slush fund, haven't seen one of those in a while.

[Jane]

I'm just doing my outline Narciso - the news of the day: oil spill, last week's primaries,
discovery of minerals in Afghanistan, Etheridge, Blago, adminstration ignoring all the flooding, Yucca mountainthanks Clarice),Pelosi's office, Sally Quinn on divorce, The president's new regulations for illegals being held: movie night, dance classes, Michelle's diet, high speed internet -
that sort of thing.

[Rob Crawford]

Via Insty, LUN:

Last week, with little fanfare, among the ever deteriorating oil spill crisis, the White House quietly noted the issuance of an executive order "Establishing the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council", in which the president, citing the “authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America” is now actively engaging in "lifestyle behavior modification" for American citizens that do not exhibit "healthy behavior."

There is no authority under the Constitution and thus the laws, that gives the president power over our "lifestyle behavior".

(And, curiously, it apparently excludes the incredibly risky behavior of promiscuity.)

[Jim]

It attracted "post partisan" Florida governor charlie crist. Like the stimulus charlie is all over this like "tan" on brown rice.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Rob-

This New York Post piece will highlight the joys of the future of Obamacare, on top of that little exec Order of last Friday.

[peter]

Good spotting, Rob C.

[It's hard to believe a reservoir that can bleed itself hasn't already done so.]

So why did Halliburton run and not stay and change BP's mind. Was BP so filled with hubris over there political associations that they overrode the engineering advice? I think this may be a particularly ironic situation in which Obama finds himself; Beyond Petroleum was, and still is, a big player in the Brave New Green World he and his masters want to bring about. This relationship has allowed this careless pratfalling, and the closets aren't big enough for all the skeletons.
==========

[narciso]

They thought themselves on the side of the angels, as per Lord Browne, the previous CEO's
self delusion, not like Halliburton, which is
like the villainous RDA of Avatar, then again
they had a former board member as CIA director
(Pannetta), a chief scientist at Interior,
they had an in with the White House Chief of Staff, they thoughr they had their bases coverend

[George]

I demand that all those BP contributions that went to the Obama campaign now go into this fund.

[There was dirty work at the crossroads.]

There is a mighty crux here.
==============

[Melinda Romanoff]

kim-

They thought they were buying "indulgences".

All that it bought them was patsy status and a raidable till.

[Ignatz]

May already have been linked but here is a good non-chicken-little AEI analysis of the gulf spill.

[narciso]

The parallel is inexact, but the fate of Bacardi in Cuba, after it had underwrote part
of Castro's rise to power, re Gjelten's profile in instructive

[Jane]

What is the remedy to an unconstitutional executive order?

[Janet]

The WaPo reports the Etheridge assault in the Style section today. Celebrity gossip...with Dems. it is just celebrity gossip. If he was a Rep. the assault would have dire political overtones worthy of page 1 headlines.
The MSM is the enemy.

[Jane]

Janet,

I agree. The MSM is also scared because they know if this administration tanks, they go with him. We need to use that to our advantage.

Rob,

The more I think about that order, the more my blood boils. I'm gonna talk about it on the radio.

[gmax]

You know one benefit of the oil spill, is those extremely irritating commercial interviewing men( and women ) in the street prattling on about solar and wind energy, that was the Beyond Petroleum schtick, has disappeared. I wonder why! LOL

[Got a get little of that alliteration.]

gmax, yet another irony; some of the money for promoting pie in the sky energy schemes is gone. Rainbows and unicorn farts, as they say in the biz.

I've made the analogy that the physical manifestations of the tarballs will be trifling compared to the manner in which this affair will gum up global governance ongoing.
================

[Yeh, unto Eternity.]

That's very good, Iggy, and it ties into the idiocy of his political decision to suspend all drilling. A big mistake, for which he will pay, and pay, and pay, pal.
=================

[narciso]

Yes, but he still wants to implement that crazy scheme, as his speech before talking to Swanberg will show?

[Rob Crawford]

What is the remedy to an unconstitutional executive order?

"He has made his order. Now let him enforce it."

Plus booting the petty tyrant out of office.

[So, Gaia's blood is black? Does that make her 'black-hearted'?]

A measure of his madness, narciso. Really, a measure of the monstrosity of the beast. It is big, many headed, er Hydra Headed. It has suffered only a flesh would. Unknowable things about climate will determine whether or not the Knight is Black, or if the blood clots over the flesh wound.
================

[narciso]

I call it by that many tentacled squid creature of Lovecraft's imagining, R'yleh's
a bit aways, but not in spirit

[peter]

They thought they were buying "indulgences".

All that it bought them was patsy status and a raidable till.

!!!!!LOL!!!!!!!

[You shoulda left comments open on that one, Tom. Or Typhess.]

Holey Simoley, the Vasty Deeps erupt.
=========

[::grin::]

'Vasty Deeps' of course being Jane of the Boiling Blood and Burning Hair. Woof!
=======

[Lightworker, bah. Where's the sweetness and light?]

Yeah, and the till he's raiding was, until now, that of widders and orphings if fabled isles.
=================

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 17 at Raz today. GOP by 10 on generic congressional, 46-36.

Obama held hostage, Day 57.

[Janet]

One more long off topic from the WaPo -
Today they review Glenn Beck's new book & a new CD by Drake.
The Beck review is what you would expect. The plod thickens, literary value - none, collection of his railings,...
The come away thought though is "...by the rebelliousness it incites among anti-government extremists." and "The danger of books like this is that radical readers may take the story's fiction for fact, ..."The Overton Window" risks falling into the tradition of other anti-government novels such as "The Turner Diaries" by William L. Pierce, which became a handbook of extremists and inspired Timothy McVeigh to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995."

The Drake CD review has a different feel.
"But what should truly endear Drake to the masses is his supreme self-awareness." and "As a singer, he croons each refrain with conversational ease -- a nuance inherited from 50 Cent"

Here is a flavor of Drake's lyrics (edited) the song is Over, one the WaPo recommends -

Bottles on me, long as someone drink it
Never drop the ball, f**k are y’all thinkin’?
Makin’ sure the Young Money ship is never sinkin’
‘Bout to set it off in this b**ch, Jada Pinkett
I shouldn’t've drove, tell me how I’m gettin’ home
You too fine to be layin’ down in bed alone
I could teach you how to speak my language, Rosetta Stone
I swear this life is like the sweetest thing I’ve ever known
‘Bout to go Thriller Mike Jackson on these n**gas
All I need’s a f**king red jacket with some zippers
Super good smiddoke, a package of the swishers
I did it overnight, it couldn’t happen any quicker
Y’all know them? Well, f**k it, me either
But point the biggest skeptic out, I’ll make him a believer
It wouldn’t be the first time I done it, throwin’ hundreds
When I should be throwin’ ones, b**ch, I run it Ahhhh!

I guess there are no worries as to what these types of songs will incite...just the pro-constitution writings of Glenn Beck are the worry.

[peter]

Drinking girlie drinks. LUN, of course

[Janet]

Peter, That cup needs to be filled with oil.

[Danube of Thought]

Anybody know anything about Petraeus collapsing in his chair during testimony?

[narciso]

Just like the Four Tops and the Temptations, eh, Janet

[Melinda Romanoff]

DoT-

He recently had prostate surgery, as I understand it.

[Danube of Thought]

Drudge has video from Fox News.

Then there's this:

PRINCETON, NJ -- President Barack Obama's job approval rating is 46% for the week ending June 13, with an identical number disapproving. This matches the lowest weekly job approval rating of Obama's presidency, recorded two weeks earlier, and is slightly lower than the 47% from a week ago.

[DebinNC]

FOX quotes Carl Levin saying Petraeus was dehydrated but "appears to be doing very well".

[DebinNC]

NYT: The general had just completed a series of questions from Senators Levin and John McCain of Arizona, the ranking Republican, whether it was possible to meet Mr. Obama’s deadline — and whether it was wise to signal to allies an enemies a firm date to begin withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan. Aides escorted the general from the meeting room.

[PD Shaw]

I think BP is going to have at least three problems with the slush fund concept:

1. Some of these damages claims are premature until the response is complete, like lost income. Piecemeal distribution is going to make the payouts more complicated and less valid.

2. Early payouts will encourage waste. The Gulf condos, already in trouble from the recession, will probably cut back on advertising and reduce staff if BP is paying the freight.

3. Some of the methods of valuing damages are strongly disputed. For example, natural resource damage contingency valuation is when there is no marketplace-based damages that can be proven, so a theoretic marketplace for the natural resource is invented to invent the damage amount.

It probably still makes sense for BP to spread some money here, but it will be reluctant to give up control.

[Ignatz]

The most amazing thing from that AEI paper I linked above is that while the BP spill will leak 165-400,000 tons of oil by mid August, the Gulf of Mexico itself naturally seeps 80-200,000 tons per year.
Of course it's basin wide and doesn't come out of pressurized gushers but still that's a whole lot of oil, cumulatively.

[squaredance]

Oh, they will just go further into their agenda--they will go for broke and strike for blood. Just look at them: Agiprop, seziure and class warfare. Seize the means of production. This is all they can think of; it is all they know. How is this different in any way to the seizure of the oil industry by Chavez when he rose to power. That is what you must get clear. It is not in anyway meaningful way any different at all. Think about what it means for the future of liberty in this nation if they set this precedent. What a monstrous demonstration of the sure fact that the rule of law no longer obtains in the USA.

The only way to stop it is for the GOP and people like the Tea Party people to stand up to it and do it right now.

The message is simple: "We will be using petroleum for the next 40 years as as our one of primary mean of energy--that an nuclear.
We are falling behind. It takes long term planning. The Brazilians, the Chinese and the Russians are laughing at us. Yes, it is unfortunate, but environmental lunacy, Marxist cant and corrupt political practices put us here. Let us step ahead by setting the clock back. Drill baby drill? Youbetcha! Will be the leading nation of the world or a fifth rate left wing nation?"

But they will not. Expect tonight an "impassioned denouncement" of all that is sane, rational and in the interest of this nation. It will be like hearing a High school (female) senior class president rail at "Evil Oil" while posing a just insane "roadmap of our energy future". The MSM will bang the drum deafeningly and Obama will get over. They even stand a good chance of getting cap and trade through now. Enough of the public will buy into this nonsense for the damage to last for a generation. We have Reichstag moment. It may (or may not) be an accident, but it does not matter. They are riding with it just as the Nazis did the Reichstag fire. It is in fact a more historical moment than that fire. Wake up, it is happening. It could not be more serious.

They will have just destroyed our relationship with the UK...this is now gone. They will have made the USA an international pariah so far as large scale international engineering firms go. They are turning us into to a gigantic Ecuador.

And they are getting away with this because of incompetence, not even despite it.

Obama and his backers have profoundly damaged this nation in less than 2 years--well nigh destroyed it. It is as though we have lost a major war and now are occupied and forced into reparations and humiliations by a cruel conqueror.

It may already be irreparable. That is the point. They do not worry if their short term "policies" can be undone later for the real damage is that they can be done in the first place. This they well know. This is one of the main points of their assault. They have destroyed trust and faith in the USA as a nation and civilization. It is already done. The only way out of this is to severely punish these people, and not just at the ballot box.

Wake up. look around you. Speak out to all around you.

[narciso]

I would get woozy too, if I couldn't give a straight answer on that, which is no, btw,

[gmax]

Squaredance I think you need to see the Battleground survey that NPR is pimping. Out of 70 congressional swing districts, the survey is coming up R +8. Fully supported by RAS showing R +10. The highly motivated to vote numbers make it more like +14.

This is not going to be an election that can be spun anyway other than a huge repudiation of all things Obama and all things Democrat Party.

The repairs begin January 1, and repealing ObamaCare or at least defunding it, will be high on that list of things to be addressed.

[jimmyk]

I would assume that with the Feds involved, Davis-Bacon will kick in and there will be thousands of cushy union jobs that will make the whole cleanup cost triple what it should. The SEIU is already gearing up.

[rse]

The cleanup crews look like they were picked up at the homeless shelter and at least one the other day was actually wearing prison pants.

They are moving in packs of 12-15 along the shoreline looking for tarballs even though none have appeared within 100 miles.

Some of these workers are being bused in from LA.

It's like they asked SEIU who to hire to be as offputting as possible.

[gmax]

The unions are the whole reason why the Jones Act has not been waived. Dockworkers and other AFL CIO concerns trump good common sense, again.

[Captain Hate]

Yeah narc, I don't see how the answer could be anything but that.

gmax, I hope you're right. When I start hearing namby-pamby crap from the likes of Cornyn continually, I start thinking that squaredance's dire predictions are pretty damn likely. The Repuke party needs at least a partial cleaning. I can understand Scott Brown voting the way that he does (although the Financial reform was a big disappointment) but some of the more entrenched ones from conservative states have got to go. Thank god Cheeto Crist is gone.

[DebinNC]

NYT piece on tonight's speech from WH insiders: "Advisors say"..."advisors say"..."Administration officials describe"... and actual quotes from Dan Pfeiffer, White House Communication Director.

Apparently, the effort to replace Obama's Katrina with Obama's 9-11 failed. Instead, Obama will say the oil spill is like the recession and the Obama remedies will work as well on the oil spill as they have on the economy. Whoa.

[narciso]

I don't get Cornyn, when you think State Supreme Court judge from Texas, you don't get this image, maybe we should have gotten Harriet Myers couldn't do worse, in the slot

[centralcal]

DoT: Some other good Rasmussen polling news:

66% Say they are angry with the media

Just yesterday, I believe Clarice was saying how when Obama and crew go down, he will be taking the media with him - therefore, they are doing everything they can to help.

[Janet]

The repairs begin January 1,

I'm such a pessimist. It seems like once leftist regulations are in place, it is almost impossible to get rid of them. The left are masters at litigation & roadblocks to stop any rollbacks of their regulations. We can chip away at some of the damage but irreversible damage has been done.
Shutting OFF the water in Calif. to save some guppy is done quickly...getting the water turned back ON to save farmers, produce, and jobs looks like it will take years...litigation, studies, meetings, more regulations. They win by drowning us in paper.

[Thomas Collins]

Peter on Obama:

"Drinking girlie drinks."

Perhaps Obama would bowl better if he'd "man up" with his drinks!

[narciso]

Take a look at the methodology of this poll;

hese findings are based on a national telephone survey of 1200 likely voters conducted in the Congressional Battleground, designated as the 60 most competitive Democratic districts, divided into two tiers of 30 districts each, and the 10 most competitive Republican districts. The survey was conducted June 7-10, 2010. The margin of error for the full sample is +/- 3 percentage points; for the 445 interviews in both Democratic Tier 1 and Tier 2 the margin of error is +/- 4.6 percentage points, and for the 310 interviews in the Republican Tier the margin of error is +/- 5.6 percentage points.

[PDinDetroit]

"Just yesterday, I believe Clarice was saying how when Obama and crew go down, he will be taking the media with him - therefore, they are doing everything they can to help."

This sounds alot like "give them enough rope and they will hang themselves". The only help they are providing is downward.

[jimmyk]

They were using prisoners on work-release for some cleanup. At least that's inexpensive, though it's not clear it was accomplishing anything. But pretty soon it will be all-SEIU, with one supervisor for ever two workers, $18/hour with paid breaks, and health and pension benefits.

[Ann]

66% Say they are angry with the media

cc:

My husband had MSNBC on this morning and I awoke to hearing Gibbs say something like..

we moved farther and farther out to sea to find more and more oil because our dependence grows and we got comfortable

Shot out of bed cussing. I am bad as hell because I realized how many people will believe this carp. Oh, and he was smiling through the whole thing here: Lying SOB

Rush just said AKOTUS Clarice, LOL!!!!!!

[centralcal]

I am listening to Rush, too, Ann.

Here is a really nifty little piece from Dan Riehl (via John Batchelor) about AKOTUS being really, really unhappy in the White House.

Read and enjoy.

[Maybe dehydrated, too. Take two salt tablets and drive on.]

Dehydrated, my ass; those final questions were apoplexy inducing. Find him a doctor.
=========

[Comanche Voter]

You think it won't be long before the Bamster is raiding this BP Escrow Fund to pay for teacher's pensions in North Dakota?
It'll take him less than a New York minute to do that.

[Tentacles, everywhere, and blowing smoke, or some darkish turbulence.]

Yeah, so they can teach the youngsters that fracturing shale gas formations leads to manifold plagues.
================

[narciso]

You're following the proper memes I've set out, Kim,

[Jane]

I'm listening to Rush too, it's good to have him back. More changes at the radio. Joe is now gone to Boston - Dick is back altho he introduced it as the "Jane Show" today which made me laugh. He mentioned something about doing a weekend show from Boston to all the affiliates, but I have no idea if he was just talking.

[narciso]

Yes, Steyn was great, Sowell was good, but you
can't replicate the original

[They shut up like giant clams.]

Yes, Beyond Squid.
====

[Singing like Obama can runs in families. Show me the Birt....er DNA test.]

cc, it looks like a laundry list of the behaviours that the Left and the Press projected onto Bush. Now, what are the chances that Obama has a doctor like one Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley had?
=======================

[Jane]

Will someone go over to You Too and tell me if it looks normal to you. Half the posts are blacked out on my browser.

Thanks

[Janet]

Yep, it looks okay Jane.

[Jane]

Wow - it's all black for me, and I can't sign in and post. Thanks for checking.

[Ann]

cc:

That was delicious. Thanks

Jane:

Looks okay here too. The "Jane Show" sounds good to me!

[Captain Hate]

Looks ok on my crummy browser, Jane.

[centralcal]

Looks good for me too, Jane.

heh - kim!

[Pofarmer]

Shutting OFF the water in Calif. to save some guppy is done quickly...getting the water turned back ON to save farmers, produce, and jobs looks like it will take years...litigation, studies, meetings, more regulations. They win by drowning us in paper.

It may be more insidious than that, even. Shutting off the water destroys property values. Lot's of that land will change hands. Who is going to wind up with it?

[Danube of Thought]

Looks good, Jane.

Interesting speculation at CCal's link. This guy seems to be melting before our very eyes. And the question continues to hover: what reason did anyone have to believe that this man was up to the job?

[Rick Ballard]

PD Shaw,

Excellent comment. I'm also rather curious as to how the $20 billion figure was determined and how BP will be able to avoid stockholder suits should they bend to extortion threats by BOzo and the Dem clowns.

BOzo has already prevented mitigation by his failure to immediately waive the Jones Act and by failure to provide adequate resource coordination as mandated by existing law and plans. I have absolutely no problem with BP paying every cent required by law. If the determined sum is sufficient to bankrupt them, I would not consider the result to be unjust in the slightest. I don't see any reason why BP should pay a dime more than the sum determined by the courts either and I sure don't see why they should bend to extralegal extortion on the part of BOzo and the Democrat Clown Caucus.

[Ann]

Everyone calm down.

HotAir is reporting that Obama is going to appoint an Oil Recovery Czar tonight. That should fix everything.

[Danube of Thought]

Nice to see that the Mississippi lawsuit against Obamacare relies in part of the privacy zone of Roe v. Wade. Wouldn't that be a wonderful irony?

[susan]

Wow, the Harvard-Inbred dwelling in Obama's 57th State are mighty smart...too smart for America.

Now how many WAPO's will be on the receiving end of BP's butt-sucking BO's extortion?

[Ann]

Mr. Gibbs told ABC that in the address, “the president will outline tonight…a plan going forward, to restore the Gulf–not to where it was the day this accident happened, but to restore this Gulf to where it was years ago.”

You see, Obama is going to make the Gulf better than it was before BUSH.

[Danube of Thought]

I would expect a shareholder's derivative suit to prevent the payout of more than the law requires. But I've forgotten almost everything I ever knew about derivative actions, so I really don't know whether such an action could be maintained.

Bueller? Anyone?

[Captain Hate]

HotAir is reporting that Obama is going to appoint an Oil Recovery Czar tonight. That should fix everything.

Does the Constitution even mean anything any more?

[narciso]

How about a Hot Air Czar, you need one to collect it all in one place, to power the ships running the cleanup

[glasater]

Jane-

YouToo would not allow me to comment...

[Boatbuilder]

"...a plan going forward, to restore...this Gulf to where it was years ago."

When the unicorns roamed the beaches.

These bozos just can't help themselves. They don't have any idea what to do now, so they tell us what they are going to do in the glorious future.

Watch for some sort of insane and grandiose plan to ban all new construction and industry on the entire Gulf Coast; no fishing allowed except from wooden shrimp boats, etc; all controlled and funded by a brand new Federal Agency and czar.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

I can't imagine why he didn't already have one, can you CPT?

[centralcal]

glasater - I just test posted a comment at YOUTOO and it worked fine.

[matt]

Drudge is reporting Algore had an extramarital affair according to the "Star".

Wonder how Sally Quinn feels now. These people have no shame whatsoever whether it be Algore or his sycophants.

[Jane]

Thanks guys, I think I got it back, and then I posted Matt's great article from yesterday, if you haven't seen it.

[centralcal]

LOL, matt - Drudge has the siren and the red headlines and everything!

[matt]

viz Petraeus; he gets 4 hours of sleep/night; runs 5-6 miles every morning; took a .223 round through the lung and almost died @ 10 years ago; had prostate cancer surgery @ 6 months ago. He is one of the hardest of hard chargers.

[Jane]

BTW - that Riehl article made my day.

[narciso]

I saw it, in the newspaper checkout, hey I was surprised by Sanford, so anything is possible, but it seems a little unlikely

[Danube of Thought]

New book on Obama: Whiny Little Bitch. I'm not kidding.

[Clarice]

So the alphabets will be covering AKOTUS tonight and the cables will be on the Gore story--heh--News you can use.

[peter]

Amen to that Riehl article. I hope that Riehl is for real. Be interesting to see how they play that one--health reasons? Michelle worried that he is working too hard? Wanting to see Malia and Sasha grow up?