Recently, Judge Andrew Napolitano asked Ron Paul this question:
When someone defends BP's right to due process, its right not to have the government intimidate $20 billion dollars out of them, that is not a defense of BP's behavior in the gulf, is it? BP should pay for all the damage it caused, but it should pay for it under the law, not some ad hoc system that the president and vice president just concocted for this crisis.
Paul's response:
If you defend the Constitution and you defend the rule of law, it sounds like you’re giving some rights to BP [but] that doesn’t mean that we’re sympathetic to BP; we’re sympathetic to the system. And it may well be that the $20 billion may even limit the scope of what BP has to pay. What I don’t like is big business and big government being in bed together and for some reason I’m very suspicious of some of these agreements because BP is not a free market company. They depend on our military and they depend on us, and they like Cap and Trade and so I’m very suspicious of the whole mess.
If we are no longer a country of laws as outlined by the Constitution and Bill of Rights, what are we?
We are born without eyesight
We are born without sin
And our mama protects us
From the cold and the rain
We're in no hurry
sugar and spice
We sing in the darkness
We open our eyes
I can't believe it
And people are strange
Our president's crazy
Did you hear what he said
Business and pleasure
Lie right to your face
Divide it in sections
And then give it away
There are no big secrets
Don't believe what you read
We have great big bodies
We got great big heads
Run-a-run-a-run it all together
Check it out - still don't make no sense
Makin' flippy floppy
Tryin to do my best
Lock the door
We kill the beast
Kill it!
—Talking Heads
What do you think? Do you think in times of extreme emergency and/or disaster that we should suspend the rule of law that governs our republic? Bush did it with Iraq and Afghanistan—we have, nearly ten years later, yet to properly declare war on either of those nations and so our presence there is illegal under the Constitution. So why not Obama and his crew?
11 comments:
I'm not defending the war by any means, but FDR was the last president to have a declaration of war but no the last to invade a foreign country. I think the two aren't quite comparable.
Again, not defending GWB, but he did have authorization to engage in a military action. It isn't a full declaration of war but that is because there are so few real men left in politics. We all know what it is. This "non-declaration of war declaration" is part of the numbing process being used in politics for the last 25 years. It's all double-speak.
Do I think BP should pay for this? Yes! Should there be a limit? Maybe but probably not. Should this have been a closed door meeting? BHO said it would be the most open administration in history? Just sayin. 70 days and nothing. A few skimmers and several rounds of golf. This is leadership? No, not really.
Dog n Pony show. Obama gets to act tough like he's making BP pay up but as Paul said 20 mil is way too cheap. The real story is that BP is beyond petroleum. They are the #1 beneficiaries of future post oil contracts. Tony Hayward sold 1.4 million shares of his personal BP stock weeks before the explosion. as did Goldman sachs. In addition, Halliburton acquired the company boots and coots about 2 weeks pre-explosion. boots and coots is the #1 oil clean up outfit in the world. Follow the money you will go so far down the rabbit hole you'll come out miles above china.
Meanwhile, the dutch offered us the worlds most efficient oil clean up ship in the world. that can, in one day, clean more surface oil than all the ships in the gulf do now. Obama will not lift the Jones act allowing foreign shipping crew in US waters...and and....theres the matter of the dutch outfit wanting to keep the harvested oil as payment to which BP said NO. BP was a huge contributor to obamas campaign as the deep water permit was issued by obama. the MMS is corrupt with former oil people and lobbyists therefore, just like the SEC was with banking and wall street, totally ineffectual at policing the permits.
Deepwater Horizon was warned many many times about the instability of the rig. THey chose to ignore these warnings.
Do i want them to pay? with their lives perhaps. Obama is a do nothing suit who should be tried and hung for TREASON. The principal players at BP should be prosecuted for criminal negligence and then shot. right after bonny frank, crissy dodd, super tan man from countrywide and the rest of the lying ass ruling elite.
do we have a republic? hell no. what we will have though, is a spoiled ocean with far reaching devastation for decades. its outrageous that a crazytown freak out hasnt happened in the streets.
but you see what they did at the G20 with even the peaceful protestors.
you got bills being sponsored to shut down the internet (the real one without gov control and filters) you got bills sponsored that allows the gov to arrest citizens for nothing more than suspicion of terrorism and no miranda or due process; you got gov control of banking, auto, health, education, finance....and cap and trade is coming. look for amnesty as well (instead of Eric Holder doing anything useful like prosecuting billion dollar theives, he harasses the sovereign state of arizona that had no choice but to step in and do the one job the feds are actually supposed to do.
ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH
this is not a republic.
Hi. What Rotty said. Great post. I wish I had more to say, but after reading K9's comment I feel the need to find a shovel and get in my own hole.
okay. today is day 70. finally obambi says 12 other nations may help - after they work out some "particulars". great.
day SEVENTY.
70 days
1,680 hours.
Milk: Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power. – Benito Mussolini
K9 & Boxer: Same as it ever was. The greatest environmental disaster in our planet's history is likely to be the death not only of our republic, but of just about any other kind of freedom-based ethic. Because in addition to that lovely smell of petrol? I also smell something else in the air: collusion on a massive scale.
There is a much larger stench than the oil killing the Gulf. The biggest stench is from the duplicity of our governments loyalty to and protection of BP.
I agree, "treason" is for damn sure the primary policy position of this
administration. We should be in the streets.
To save a lot of text, I agree with rotty as well.
I agree with Rotty and I didn't even know all this until I read it just now. I've definitely had my head in the sand (so to speak) on the issue just because I can't bear to think of it. Meanwhile, over in the UK, folks are saying things like "Don't the Americans realize that it is mostly AMERICANS who are the investors in BP?" It is all beyond my comprehension. That relief well will be the fastest drilled well in history.
Good afternoon Moi,
The $20 billion fund is smoke and mirrors. BP knew they were going to be held accountable for losses, before they walked into the president's office. They were working it into the budget. I wouldn't be surprised if it all been worked out before the meeting took place. It's simply a way for the president to make people think he's doing something. I don't really think it was intimidation. Thusly they were not denied due process.
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