Politician More Concerned with Oil Industry than Everyday Citizens

It shouldn't come as a big surprise that an elected official is more concerned with the pockets of big business (and of the elected official himself) than with the pockets of the electorate. That's politics as usual in the United States; it's the way we, the common people, have come to accept.

Usually, though, this way of doing things is the elephant in the room--everyone knows it's there, but few people speak about it. Representative Joe Barton, a Republican representative from Texas, pushed the envelope too far on Thursday, June 17, 2010 when he made an apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward.

Barton, who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was speaking at a congressional hearing with the BP head honcho. Barton preceded all other remarks to Hayward by apologizing to the corporate head about the White House's insistence that an escrow fund be established into which BP would ultimately pay $20 billion in installments--money to be paid to claimants from the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Barton called the escrow fund a "shakedown" of the oil company.

Republican party leaders were not amused by Barton's words and insisted the representative apologize for his escrow fund apology. Barton returned to the congressional hearing in the afternoon and said he was sorry if any of his words had been misconstrued, because he did hold BP responsible for the accident.

Perhaps the former ARCO exec simply had misplaced allegiance; perhaps he was thinking about his campaign coffers and how he has received more contributions from oil companies than any other politician in the last 20 years. Whatever Barton was thinking of, it wasn't me or any of my neighbors--or any of yours, either.

Personally, I find the congressional hearing a waste of time and so much hot air. The wheels of government move slowly, and those of the federal government move also imperceptibly. The escrow fund establishes accountability for actions/inactions on the part of BP; how refreshing is that?

I hope Barton's constituents are hearing what their elected official is saying--and I hope it is reflected at the polls the next time this man comes up for re-election.

Only in American Politics...

"U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey Friday said he will not ask a federal grand jury to investigate whether two top Bush administration officials should be prosecuted for contempt of Congress" (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/29/congress.attorneys/).

Harriet Miers, former White House Counsel, and Josh Bolten, White House Chief of Staff, each invoked executive privilege when subpoenaed by Congress in regards to the U.S. Attorney firings in 2006.

President Bush has asserted that to force these two individuals to testify and/or produce documents would infringe on the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of the government. Congress contends that the inaction of these two individuals in regard to the subpoenas violates a federal statute.

Can both be right? If not, which is the law? And why isn't someone asking this bigger question?

Let's see...Roger Clemens may have a Justice Department investigation as to whether he perjured himself or not...Meirs and Bolten, employees of the federal government will not be subject to such an investigation, nor will the larger matter of executive privilege versus Congress's right to subpoena individuals from the executive branch. Really, how many places in the world, let alone how many republics in the world, operate like this? Only in America...

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

Perhaps with so much of the media's attention focused on the presidential primaries, members of Congress were seeking some attention of their own with the congressional hearing on Roger Clemens and his alleged use of steriods.

It wasn't matters of national security that warranted their attention, or considerations of an economic recession, or even global warming that our elected officials chose to focus on; it was a man, a baseball player.

Many of us collectively shook our heads at that hearing, but to move from the merely silly to the ludicrous, two Representatives, Henry Waxman and Tom Davis, have in their wisdom, approached the Attorney General and asked for a judicial hearing on whether Roger Clemens committed perjury in testifying at the congressional hearing.

For some weeks now, the Justice Department has had on its plate a request authored by Representative Dennis Kucinich and backed by additional congress people, for an impeachment hearing on Vice President Cheney and some 150 lies/misstatements he is alleged to be responsible for.

Maybe the icing on the cake is that Representative Waxman is the chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

I am a mere member of the citizenry of the United States. When I weigh Roger Clemen's possible perjury against whether a top member of the administrative branch of our federal government violated the constitution, I am reminded of an old adage which goes: Wish in one hand, hold dung in the other--see which fills more quickly. (Yes, admittedly cleaned up to be politically correct.)

For the news article detailing the information for this post, please go to: http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Congress_asks_Justice_to_launch_Cle_02272008.html