From the VOMITORIUM

By now hopefully you have heard about the world’s largest oil spill and all the drama that has gone with it trying to put a ‘cork in the hole’….all the political back and forth….all the political theater….all the accusations….and all the lunacies…..but with all that said there is another part of the story that few seem willing to cover, other than a 30 second sound bite and the rumblings from the radio loudmouths that have NO idea what is happening other than their convoluted sense of reality……and what would that be, Professor?…….the politics of an oil spill…..

There has been a wealth of hearing on the Hill about the spill and the response and who is to blame…..Newser.com has reported on yesterday’s House hearing with the CEO of BP….

While other congressmen were heaping abuse on BP CEO Tony Hayward in this morning’s hearings, one Republican abruptly shifted gears in his opening remarks and apologized to the man in the hot seat. Rep. Joe Barton told Hayward he was “ashamed” of the pressure the White House put on BP to create the $20 billion escrow fund to cover losses to victims of the spill. “I think it’s a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would call a shakedown,” the Texan said. “In this case a $20 billion shakedown.” Barton said the administration has no authority to ask for this “$20 billion slush fund” and that litigation provides adequate due process for awarding damages. “I apologize,” he said to Hayward. “I do not want to live in a country where every time a corporation does something wrong, it’s subject to a political process that amounts to a shakedown.” Later, Dem Rep. Ed Markey begged to differ, noting that litigation by victims of the Exxon Valdez spill took years to be settled, and criminal charges in the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India more than a quarter century.

Smoking’ Joe Barton of Texas?  Would like very much to see which of the oil companies pays his salary in Washington….of course, the GOP jumped his butt and forced him to apologize to the American people….which he did but he was NOT sincere….

Oh, there is always more when dealing with something as hot and volatile as the oil spill….there is a fight going on in the Senate about the liability of an oil company when they cause an environmental and economic disaster……

From Meredith Shiner of Politico:

Democrats attempted Thursday to create unlimited liability for oil companies, and for the fourth time since the Gulf crisis began, Republicans objected.

But Republicans worry that by setting unlimited liability for companies wishing to drill for oil, smaller domestic companies effectively would be shut out of the market. Inhofe, echoing the sentiments of colleague Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who has rejected Menendez’s requests in the past, said that by passing this bill, Congress would be favoring the Big Oil entities Democrats have been maligning.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38666.html#ixzz0rBq2ddYf

Mississippi’s Governor Haley Barbour  said Wednesday he has concerns over the $20 billion BP is required to put into an escrow to compensate victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Mr. Barbour says he has concerns because BP may need the assets in order to fund drilling and oil operations.

“If they take a huge amount of money and put it in an escrow account so they can’t use it to drill oil wells and produce revenue, are they going to be able to pay us?” the governor told The Associated Press.

“We need them to generate revenue to be able to pay us,” said Mr. Barbour, a Republican. “I worry that this escrow account reduces the chance of that rather than increasing the chances of that.”