Dim Bulb Barton

From Bloomberg:

U.S. House Republicans urged passage of a measure to block a phase-out of traditional light bulbs, as the Obama administration called the bill anti-consumer.

The legislation, which was debated on the House floor yesterday and may be voted on this week, would cost Americans $6 billion in energy savings in 2015, the White House said in a statement yesterday.

Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, introduced the proposal to invalidate lighting efficiency standards that would effectively ban bulbs similar to the one invented by Thomas Edison more than 130 years ago. The requirements were included in a 2007 energy law signed by Republican President George W. Bush.

You remember ol’ Joe Barton, dont’cha, kids? He was the one who called the deal worked out between President Obama and BP in which BP would set up a $20 billion fun to pay for damages after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico a “shakedown,” and who apologized to Tony Hayward when he testified in front of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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A Few of My Favorite Zings

To the tune of My Favorite Things (music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein):

Health care and midterms and all kinds of fighting,
Rallies and scandals, it was so exciting,
Tea party darlings were at it again,
All this shit happened in 2010.

Nothing but heartache for millions of Haitians,
While dumb old Pat Robertson hurled accusations,
John Roberts’ activist band of Supremes,
Were simply the court of a lobbyist’s dreams.

It’s Comical, Part 6: What a Character Edition

We’ve focused on comic book and book covers, and today I thought we’d concentrate on the characters.  When I was little, I always read Blondie comics, and my favorite characters were Dagwood and his boss, Mr. Dithers.  I did a bit of a update during the Chimpy administration years.  Here’s Chimpy with his boss, Deadeye Dick Cheney (with an appearance at the end by Laura Pickles Bush and Barney).  Of course, Deadeye Dick never dithered…

If You Think BP’s Honest, You Don’t Know Dudley…I mean, Diddly!

From The Washington Post:

Meet BP’s Bob Dudley, the human relief well.

This week the Mississippi-bred, wispy-haired Dudley has been paraded through the Gulf coast, the White House and press corps as the new face of BP’s fight to contain the damage the oil spill has unleashed on U.S. shores — and the company’s reputation.

Why do I get the feeling that the emphasis will be on the company’s rep, not the damage that’s already been done and will be done?

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Bob’s Your Uncle. No, Wait, Bob’s Your Replacement. No, Wait, Bob’s Your Boat!

From The New York Times:

BP officials on Saturday scrambled yet again to respond to another public relations challenge when their embattled chief executive, Tony Hayward, spent the day off the coast of England watching his yacht compete in one of the world’s largest races.

Two days after Mr. Hayward angered lawmakers on Capitol Hill with his refusal to provide details during testimony about the worst offshore oil spill in United States history, and one day after BP’s chairman said the chief executive would not be as involved in daily operations in the Gulf of Mexico, Mr. Hayward sparked new controversy from afar.

“He is having some rare private time with his son,” a BP spokeswoman, Sheila Williams, said in a telephone interview on Saturday.

Rare private time?  Have you seen how many people work on those yachts?  There were 1754 yachts racing.  Once again, private time?  If you want some private time with your kid, Tony, rent a friggin’ movie and don’t piss off millions of Americans!

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The Oil Is Slick, But These Guys Aren’t

From Joel Connelly at seattlepi:

As slick attacks on President Obama’s oil spill leadership spread across conservative media — and mainstream Washington, D.C. pundits display their disconnect with America — a defining question gets overlooked.

Do our elected officials’ sympathies lie with what BP’s chairman called the “small people,” those with livelihoods put at jeopardy, or with Big Oil?

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(Click on the image for a larger version and then on that for an even bigger one)

Whistling in the Dark-o?

From Bloomberg Businessweek:

June 19 (Bloomberg) — Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the Texas oil company that owns 25 percent of the damaged well pouring crude into the Gulf of Mexico, said BP Plc, the project’s operator, should pay the costs from the spill because it acted recklessly and unsafely at the drilling site.

BP didn’t monitor or react to warning signs as the Macondo well was drilled, Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett said yesterday in a statement. BP is responsible for damages under such conditions, Anadarko said.

“BP’s behavior and actions likely represent gross negligence or willful misconduct and thus affect the obligations of the parties under the operating agreement,” Hackett said in the statement.

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A Sorry Excuse for a Congressman

From POLITICAL HOTSHEET at CBS NEWS:

BP CEO Tony Hayward [was] in the midst of a harsh grilling today on Capitol Hill, where he [was] testifying House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing on “The Role of BP in the Deepwater Horizon Explosion and Oil Spill.”

But not long after the hearing began, Hayward got something not many expected from lawmakers: An apology.

Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the committee, apologized to Hayward for what he described as a “shakedown” at the White House yesterday. He was referring to the deal worked out between the Obama administration and BP to set up a $20 billion fund administered by a third party to pay for damages from the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

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