Obama could yet slip on the BP oil slick!

A fascinating article at The American Thinker by Bruce Thompson in which he quotes from a story by Rebecca Mowbray of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.  In essence, the White House is being even more slippery than ever by trying every legal trick in the book to avoid handing over documents exchanged between the top brass, including Obama, during the BP oil spill in the Gulf.  Obama's government have taken BP to court in the hope of extracting huge fines for their alleged shoddy behaviour but, as any 'fule do kno', there are always two sides to every tale and so now BP is insisting on its right to see what the White House was ordering and arranging during the crisis in order to see if in fact their own efforts were actually hampered by the Feds.  As told by Ms. Mowbray:

BP says it may need the documents to defend itself against the government's lawsuit and potential fines. The documents in question include Department of Energy "issuance guidance and directives to BP," "the commencement or termination of specific response actions," and whether various efforts to shut down the well were "appropriate spill containment measures."

The government says that BP's argument misses the context of the litigation. The U.S. government is required to oversee the response to disasters, and needed to take a more active role because BP couldn't shut down the well. The government is also compelled to enforce environmental laws.

They should hang the words of Sir Walter Scott over the presidential desk in the White House:

Oh! what a tangled web we weave,

When first we practice to deceive.

Meanwhile, of course, the lawyers get richer - so no change there, then!

 

Comments

[Whyaxye]

"They should hang the words of Sir Walter Scott over the presidential desk in the White House:

Oh! what a tangled web we weave,

When first we practice to deceive."

I take your point, but the operative word here is "first". Unfortunately, politicians' skill in lying usually improves as they get the taste for it.

[David Duff]

Gloomy but true, 'W'.