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This week brought what President Obama termed the "ridiculous spectacle" of executives from three companies involved in the catastrophic Gulf oil spill testifying in front of Congress, each desperately trying to blame the other. Think "The Three Stooges Go To Washington" -- Moe, Larry, and Halliburton. Seeing Dick Cheney's old company, the poster child for crony capitalism, back in the spotlight was like one of those horror movies where the crazed killer keeps popping back up from the grave. You thought they were dead and buried when government audits showed the company had bilked taxpayers out of hundreds of millions during the war in Iraq? Well, they're baaa-aack! This is how it works in America these days. Chronic corruption and incompetence are not a disqualifier. As Chris Matthews put it: "It seems like a third world banana republic would do things this way!"

 
 
 

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cybervigilante
06:20 PM on 05/17/2010
Obama isn't a leader - he's a good speechmaker, he's pretty, and he's a faux republican.

The health care bill is a disgrace - a total giveaway to the insurance and drug industry. Insurers cheered it because they wrote it. No single payer, no savings on Canadian drugs.

We give billions to banks, but where are any jobs bills, or job training bills, when jobs will bring us back, not banks? God forbid Obama proposed something liberal, like Lyndon Johnson's CETA.

We now have more troops deployed overseas, not fewer.

Financial reform is a shredded joke, and the best proposals, like breaking up the "too big to fail" banks, were Opposed by this Administration and Geithner the Wall St. Crony.

Obama is semi-republican. Hillary was much more liberal. Heck, Nixon was more liberal. If you look at many of Nixon's actual proposals, current Dems would run screaming from them as too socialist. He proposed the EPA and also proposed a minimum income for everyone. Today's sniveling Dems would be afraid to propose either. If a repug drops his hat, all the dems in Congress bend over and cower, even With a majority. And Obama, like the DLC, turns us more and more to the pro-corporate right. This is NOT th e Party of the People any more. We need a new one, but the two parties maintain a stranglehold.

Democrats will stay in bed rather than vote for a milquetoast President and his cowering Dem enablers.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Jay Dickson
09:50 PM on 05/16/2010
I love when Miss Arianna uses the word ridiculously amuzing ;o)
09:36 PM on 05/16/2010
When you consider how our SEC ignored tips for 10 yrs. regarding Madoff, along with the Fannie and Freddie disaster, the astronomical deficient and other government atrocities----- you'd think Obama would be coming from a solution-providing standpoint, rather than a critical standpoint., especially since Democrats have had control of Congress over the past 4 years, since 2006.
Instead of bashing another industry, and inciting more hatred and anger, Obama needs to bring everyone together to focus on problem solving the oil spill. That's what a true leader does.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
ProfessorDuh
09:31 PM on 05/16/2010
If you want a real monster that keeps coming back from the grave, think Blackwater-Xe. Their mass murder keeps shambling from Baghdad streets right toward Main Street.
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booboo111
micro-bio
09:23 PM on 05/16/2010
Memo to Chris Matthews. This IS a third world country.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
ProfessorDuh
09:31 PM on 05/16/2010
Precisely. Matthews is always the last to know.
09:20 PM on 05/16/2010
Sunday night's 60 Minutes blockbuster interview with the BP oil rig worker is going to be big trouble for BP and for President Obama.

Up to now it could have been assumed that this disaster was an "accident". Now that assumption is blown away. It appears that BP's management is directly involved in the decisions which led to the explosion and that this was known immediately after the explosion.

This report may turn also out to be President Obama's "What-did-the-president-know-and-when-did-he-know-it?" moment. It may also explain the letter sent to BP a couple of days ago by Obama's Sec. of Energy basically asking BP to put in writing what they have verbally told the president and the president has told the American people, "BP will pay for all the damage, even beyond the legal limit of $75,000,000."

CBS must have given Obama advanced notice of their expose. Obama must have realized that BP was now going to lawyer up and renege on their promise to pay all the bills. With the new information of BP's culpability, the law suits that will be filed become slam-dunks in court. This is probably why BP was trying to get Gulf residents to sign away their claims for $5,000 cash. Was Obama finessed by BP to buy them time, or was Obama doing them a big political favor? Stay tuned.
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kamachanda
Mr. President, Tear this Wall Street down!
09:38 PM on 05/16/2010
If brain dead conservatives try to turn this into a "what dis the president know and when did he know it" media circus, we can kiss effectively dealing with this environmental catastrophe a goodbye. The idea that the president is given omnipresent knowledge of all the small details of all the unfolding events in the world is frankly delusional. The only one I know who believed that was George (I talk to God) W Bush and that didn't work out well for him or for this country.
08:00 PM on 05/16/2010
Besides the federal government, both political parties, Halliburton, Transocean, and BP, some responsibility for the gulf ecological disaster should be put on the American public and its addiction to oil. If you drive a car that gets less than 30 mpg, have not insulated your home, and do not buy locally, you have contributed to this disaster. BP may be the pusher, but we are the addicts.
HUFFPOST PUNDIT
ThatsTheTheWayItIs
religion, ideology, partisanship are delusional
08:19 PM on 05/16/2010
I said the same thing a couple of days ago, maybe more emphatic, got a mixed response. I got more personal; asked people what kind of car they drove.
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08:41 PM on 05/16/2010
don`t reward incompetence by passing the buck.driving a car and not insulating your home palls into insignificance compared to no bid contracts ,blind congress critters ,fraudulent banks,Wall St. rip offs,crocked health care providers etc.
They deserve your contempt .
Speak up and stop exceptting incompetence and fraud....if you did it you would be in a cell with Bubba !
09:16 PM on 05/16/2010
In spirit I would agree but I would also note that 30 mpg is an arbitrary number, most homes are insulated, at least to the extent required by local building codes when the home was built, and most people prefer to buy locally when what is needed is produced locally. The latest BP failure, like the refinery fire in Texas, is concrete and real. The thousands of barrels of crude oil polluting the Gulf of Mexico are concrete and real. The failure to prepare for disaster, the delays in bringing the well under control and the failure to accept blame are concrete and real. Addiction to oil is a chronic malaise but these failures are the kind of specific cause that may prove fatal unless we manage the chronic disease.
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choctawwritergirl
Screenwriter & Futurist
07:06 PM on 05/16/2010
"Super Narcissism" the mass mental illness of American Politicians, CEOs, Celebrities, 15 minutes of famers, WallStreet Banksters (esp Goldman Sachs) and Robber Barons of the new millenium. And predatory capitalism and false self love is the virus that causes this deadly disease.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
lisalulu
I stand for Planned Parenthood.
08:30 PM on 05/16/2010
Very nice, Fanned, Faved.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
Puller58
Man of Mystery
06:38 PM on 05/16/2010
Part of the problem is that people are being played in the game of the lesser of two evils. Regardless of how many times Obama and the Democrats sellout, we're told we must vote for them or the GOP will take over and do evil things. Things can't get much worse at the rate we're going, and as it is the GOP might as well be in charge for all the corrupt dealmaking and corporate friendly legislation that is coming out.
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
beingthebest
try as I might, I'm only human
06:47 PM on 05/16/2010
Not even close. Are you forgetting the 8 years of Bush? Things can be MUCH worse.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
stape45
No brag, just fact.
06:59 PM on 05/16/2010
Precisely. At the rate we HAD BEEN going, things would be much worse right now than they are.
At least they would be worse for a vast majority of Americans.
09:42 PM on 05/16/2010
Democrats have been in Control of Congress since 2006 - over 4 years. The lies, bribes,
corruption are worse than ever.
HUFFPOST PUNDIT
ThatsTheTheWayItIs
religion, ideology, partisanship are delusional
08:23 PM on 05/16/2010
Specifically: what "corrupt dealmaking and corporate friendly legislation" was done or passed during the last 16 months? Since Jan 2009? A year ago January, remember?

Spoiler alert: none. It was all done before Obama became President.
And note that since, Republicans have blocked all laws, AND all Obama appointments, including ones to the MMS that oversees drilling.

Obama's people are not in charge, Bush people are.
Thank the Republicans, who hope people are dumb enough to blame Obama.
Apparently they are right.
09:43 PM on 05/16/2010
Democrats have been in control of congress since 2006., its been over 4 years. Wake up.
06:19 PM on 05/16/2010
This website is becoming a clone of the Obama administration. I will be deleting my account at the end of the day. Goodbye everyone.
06:26 PM on 05/16/2010
Alas, it is not that easy being in the "hot" chair. It does change the perspective. The problem is, though, as I see, that the Americans immediately blames the new President for everything when it is truly a process of many years Republican cronyism. I agree with the writer that in order for Huffington Post to become most effective, it should be critical of everyone. That is what is important.
06:40 PM on 05/16/2010
Don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out...
06:48 PM on 05/16/2010
I'll bet you are either a moderator or an Obama crony, same thing really.
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06:17 PM on 05/16/2010
That's because we have become a third word banana republic - the only thing we don't have is the bananas.
HUFFPOST PUNDIT
ThatsTheTheWayItIs
religion, ideology, partisanship are delusional
08:25 PM on 05/16/2010
Speak for yourself :-)
06:16 PM on 05/16/2010
The GOP has 'sided' with BP...Lets see how that plays out with the Gulf Coast boys come November.
06:09 PM on 05/16/2010
This is rich. The guy who has done nothing but blame Bush for everything telling these guys it's a ridiculous spectacle? I agree, he is a ridiculous spectacle. And crony capitalism? How many lobbyists have gotten "waivers" to do exactly what he called corrupt crony capitalism during his campaign. Gimme a break.
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09:06 PM on 05/16/2010
Actually, other than when he running for president, Obama hasn't blamed Bush that much.
09:45 PM on 05/16/2010
right. Its the pot calling the kettle...
06:06 PM on 05/16/2010
Arianna, there's a RISING CRESCENDO that Americans DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY for our BAILOUT TRILLION$$,
from the corrupt GS banksters who SATURATE the Obama administration, who DOMINATE Pelosi's 110th Congress.....

But HuffPost has the gaudy, DISTRACTION headlines & "nothing to see here, move along, move along" attitude of the NY Times, WashPost & lesser corporate-propaganda "mainstream media."

IT's a shame, because HuffPost HAD the potential to be a truly informative & INVESTIGATIVE news/media info source.

Oh well, I guess HuffPost wants to be like BOB WOODWARD, the hero & "courageous investigative reporters" of Watergate
who is now mocked as a fawning toady to official Washington with his "BUSH AT WAR,"
"PLAN OF ATTACK," "THE COMMANDERS"

and especially Woodward's FAWNING, outright SYCOPHANTIC book,
"MAESTRO," about Alan Greenspan, who LONG ago was exposed (Greenspan's FRAUD)
and -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/greenspans-testimony-will_b_526403.html

< Alan Greenspan testifies before the Angelides Commission.... Without wishing him any personal ill will, let's hope he gets a grilling. We come not to bury Greenspan, but to ... well, actually WE DO COME TO BURY HIM. For the greater good of all, he and the RADICAL PHILOSOPHY _HE REPRESENTS__ MUST BE EXPOSED for all to see. >

Yep, EVERYTHING that "the Great" Bob Woodward wrote about Alan Greenspan was FARCE, & ENABLED the DESTRUCTION of the American economy....

It is a shame that HuffPost is NO LONGER DETERMINED to "EXPOSE" those LOOT, PLUNDER, & PILLAGE economic farces that are constantly being ENABLED by Huffpost's media "competitors."
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06:18 PM on 05/16/2010
Okay Glenn
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choctawwritergirl
Screenwriter & Futurist
07:02 PM on 05/16/2010
Ayn Rand was, along with GREENSPAN and his CRONIES, a "SUPER NARCISSIST" -- those who focus only on self and those whom they can suck dry of money, sex and anything else these self-ordained Queens & Kings of "MEAN" desire.

There is a chapter in Linda Martinez's book Freeing yourself from the Narcissist in your life about Rand. Everybody should check this book out and read it.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
lisakaz2
Da ministero dell'interno di Snark.
06:05 PM on 05/16/2010
Indeed, Matthews makes a good pt. Rich friends beats competence. Seen in much of my adult life.