Comments on: Obama Takes a Shot at Bush’s Incompetence in His Katrina Speech

By: Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:46:17 +0000

There are a lot of polls out there. There’s also the very real factor of time impacting the level of pain people recall.

There is no comparison to be made between Katrina and BP disaster.

You are clearly trying to exonerate Bush by prosecuting Obama, but you’re making false equivalencies and the agenda is transparent.

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By: Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:42:16 +0000

English Saddle, I am in agreement with you. The old “left-wing media” and “liberal media elite” crap is just that – crap. It’s simply not true. MSNBC is the liberal equivalent of FOX. The media, unlike the country, is right-leaning, and the media demonstrably did not hate George W. Bush.

As to the Beck comments on the other thread, I am also in agreement. A pretense of reasonableness is not reasonableness.

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By: Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:39:44 +0000

Exactly, Sarah, and excellent points all. It’s not surprising which way FOX leans, or the Tea Party, both being billionaire-funded groups…It’s sad to see the downtrodden victims being caught up in the defend the rich corporations rhetoric.

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By: Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:47:37 +0000

BP is a global company and the point is still the same re jurisdiction and for that matter, where the money goes and just who this is benefiting. Just like most global companies, there is no single investor with clear control, and no country which can claim a majority ownership, although if you want to be technical, the EU appears to own approx 50% making it a foreign owned company by majority over the other countries’ stock holders which are smaller in percentage.

But then there’s the issue of the stock price plummeting and what was the huge exposure of British pension funds to BP – and the resulting outcry. One can hardly claim they are an American company when Tory Boris Johnson was demanding Obama get the American press to tone it down so the British investment BP wouldn’t be vulnerable to more risk. Johnson went to so far as to refer to BP criticism as “anti British rhetoric”.

In what can only be seen as conservatives on both sides of the pond playing similar games, Johnson also suggested that BP should not be blamed for the spill, even though they had appointed a dead person to be the recommended expert in case of trouble. Any criticism of BP brought British (and American) conservatives out to defend the company.

They then accused the President of being a bigot and a xenophobe for holding BP accountable, much like Sarah Palin takes umbrage when you ask her what she reads. Yes, this is YOUR fault, not hers. And never mind the bad management of BP, when the stock prices fall it’s the American President’s fault for daring to hold them accountable and he must be a bigot for doing so. A bigot against the Brits? Yes. So they do get Fox over there and the rich white people are also terrified of being unfairly treated due to their race and nationality. What with all of the problems aimed at wealthy white Brits.

BP only owned 65% of Deepwater Horizon rig but they are still responsible. US contractors like Cheney’s Halliburton shared some of the blame, but they are not responsible for the clean up.

IF we are getting picky about percentages over perception, should we also look at assets? BP agreed to sell U.S., Canada and Egypt assets to Apache in order to pay off part of the spill costs.

The point? You are more than right to call them a non-American company. 40 percent British owned which is the largest majority and obviously the Brits agree with your assessment.

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By: EnglishSaddle

EnglishSaddle — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:14:16 +0000

But is not the “american energy solution” that conservatives pretend it is!

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