bp - so mistreated. What did they do, anyway? Spill a little oil? poor babies.
On Jun 18, 12:36 pm, "M. Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote: > So, the government that foolishly limited BP's maximum liability, the > government that claimed it knew where best to drill, the government that > actually stopped locals from protecting their own shoreline that would be > that same government that bankrupted Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the > Post Office, Amtrak and virtually everything it has managed now wants to > decide who gets BP's cash.The Government Cannot Protect Us From Every > Catastrophe We FaceWednesday, June 16, 2010 > By Judge Andrew Napolitano > Tuesday night, in an Oval Office speech to the nation, President Obama took > the gloves off. > He lashed out at BP over the monumental oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He > vowed that he will make BP pay for all the long and short-term damage it > caused. He argued that the battle against this now nearly two-month-old > raging gusher of oil is tantamount to a war. And he asked the country to > allow him and the Congress to regulate all businesses and private homes in > the name of going green. > For most Americans, it was the first time they saw him angry although a > controlled anger from the no-drama-Obama, as his own campaign staff labeled > him two years ago. But will the president's feigned anger get the oil well > plugged? Will it get cash into the hands of those truly harmed? Will it > prevent future disasters? > No, no and no. > Here are the facts: After the Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska in 1989 had > been cleaned up and nearly paid for by Exxon, the oil companies lobbied the > Congress for liability limits maximum amounts that they could be held to pay > for in the event of a disaster. > A Republican Congress and President Clinton together made it the law that oil > companies would be limited to pay $75 million for cleanups and the taxpayers > that would be you would pay the rest. In return, the feds would be able to > tell the oil companies where to drill. > In the case of BP, it asked the state of Louisiana if it could drill in 500 > feet of water and Louisiana said it could. The federal government vetoed that > and told BP could only drill in 5,000 feet of water. > Never mind that no oil company had ever cleaned up a broken well at that > depth and never mind that the feds had never monitored a broken well at that > depth and never mind that BP only needed to set aside $75 million in case > something went wrong. The feds trumped BP's engineers and the feds trumped > the wishes of the folks who live along the Gulf Coast and the feds decided > where this oil well would be drilled. > Disaster struck. The feds did nothing. Oil gushed out in an amount that is so > great as to be immeasurable. Political pressure grew. > The president eventually panicked because he believes that his federal > government can right every wrong, regulate every activity and protect us from > every catastrophe. He is wrong. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was ready to > build barriers to protect his state's coastline and the feds said no. > The president even invoked powers that allow him to supervise the cleanup > using BP personnel and equipment. And the oil still gushes. Last week, the > president stopped all oil drilling in the Gulf putting thousands out of work. > Last night he demanded billions from BP so his team could decide who gets it > and today a terrified BP gave him all the cash he asked for. > So, the government that foolishly limited BP's maximum liability, the > government that claimed it knew where best to drill, the government that > actually stopped locals from protecting their own shoreline that would be > that same government that bankrupted Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the > Post Office, Amtrak and virtually everything it has managed now wants to > decide who gets BP's cash. > The last time this government had this much private cash to give away, during > the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, it disregarded well-settled law and gave it > to the labor unions. To whom will it give this cash the innocent injured or > its political friends? > The government cannot protect us from every catastrophe, especially ones its > rules have facilitated. How about this: That government is best which governs > least. > The people have a right to a government that obeys the laws of economics, the > laws of physics and the Constitution. Let private enterprise do what it does > best and keep politics out of the way. > If the Constitution was written to keep the government off the people's > backs, it is time for the feds to get > off.http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,594783,00.html -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
