'Dangerous for the American People'

Considering his boss was the top recipient of BP donations in 2008, this is pretty much a tough sell. But whoever said Rahm Emanuel deals in the truth?

Sarah Palin unloads.

RahmEmanuel= as shallow/narrowminded/political/irresponsible as they come,to falsely claim Barton's BP comment is "GOP philosophy"Rahm,u lie

Looks like Obama plans to keep milking Barton's comments. Hey, when you have no plan, no clue and no way of cleaning up the mess, that's what you've got to do.

'I Am Ashamed of What Happened at the White House Yesterday'

As an American, I'm ashamed of what's been going on at the White House for the past 17 months. Let's hear it for Rep. Joe Barton of Texas who, I'll remind people, is speaking for himself.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward on Thursday morning for the "political pressure" his company is facing.

Barton condemned the White House's handling of a meeting Wednesday with BP officials, in which President Barack Obama pushed the company to create a $20 billion escrow account for damage claims from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The congressman called the account a "slush fund."

The statement drew a rare and forceful denunciation from the White House.

Barton made the remarks at a House Energy and Commerce committee hearing that is ongoing. Hayward is before the committee to testify about his company’s handling of spill.

"I am ashamed of what happened at the White House yesterday," said Barton, the top Republican on the committee. "It is a tragedy in the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown – in this case a $20 billion shakedown."

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said he could "not disagree more strongly" with Barton’s statement.

"This is not a shakedown," Markey said. "This is the American government and President Obama ensuring that this company is held accountable…In my opinion, this is the American government working at its best."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called on other members of Congress to repudiate Barton.

Aww, the poor babies can't handle the truth.

Waaah!

John Boehner is weak in the knees, naturally.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

Update: Assorted fallout via Memeorandum. Ironic how it took Obama eight weeks and about eight rounds of golf before he addressed the spill to a national audience and about five minutes for the White House to react to Barton.

Update: Even more fallout. Barton walks it all back. More here.

'The Democrats Have a Lot to Learn About the Right of Free Speech Under the US Constitution'

The Democrats love free speech. As long as you agree with them. They're always willing to hear one side of every issue.

UK's Lord Christopher Monckton, a former science advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, claimed House Democrats have refused to allow him to appear alongside former Vice President Al Gore at a high profile global warming hearing on Friday April 24, 2009 at 10am in Washington. Monckton told Climate Depot that the Democrats rescinded his scheduled joint appearance at the House Energy and Commerce hearing on Friday. Monckton said he was informed that he would not be allowed to testify alongside Gore when his plane landed from England Thursday afternoon.

“The House Democrats don't want Gore humiliated, so they slammed the door of the Capitol in my face,” Monckton told Climate Depot in an exclusive interview. “They are cowards.”

According to Monckton, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), Ranking Member on the Energy & Commerce Committee, had invited him to go head to head with Gore and testify at the hearing on Capitol Hill Friday. But Monckton now says that when his airplane from London landed in the U.S. on Thursday, he was informed that the former Vice-President had “chickened out” and there would be no joint appearance. Gore is scheduled to testify on Friday to the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment's fourth day of hearings on the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. The hearing will be held in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building.

According to Monckton, House Democrats told the Republican committee staff earlier this week that they would be putting forward an unnamed 'celebrity' as their star witness Friday at a multi-panel climate hearing examining the House global warming bill. The "celebrity" witness turned out to be Gore. Monckton said the GOP replied they would respond to the Democrats' "celebrity" with an unnamed "celebrity" of their own. But Monckton claims that when the Democrats were told who the GOP witness would be, they refused to allow him to testify alongside Gore.

“The Democrats have a lot to learn about the right of free speech under the US Constitution. Congress Henry Waxman's (D-CA) refusal to expose Al Gore's sci-fi comedy-horror testimony to proper, independent scrutiny by the House minority reeks of naked fear,” Monckton said from the airport Thursday evening.

Nothing like transparency and openness in government

Back to the Future: Democrats Raise Taxes

They'll never learn, which is the hallmark of idiotic socialism. Well, I'm sure the morons at the Kult of Koslam Konvention cheered when they heard this, but consumers can expect one thing: gas prices will increase to pay for this massive tax hike on oil companies. Unless, of course, the President whips out the veto pen.

House OKs new taxes on oil companies

WASHINGTON - Declaring a new direction in energy policy, the House on Saturday approved $16 billion in taxes on oil companies, while providing billions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives for renewable energy and conservation efforts.

Republican opponents said the legislation ignored the need to produce more domestic oil, natural gas and coal. One GOP lawmaker bemoaned "the pure venom ... against the oil and gas industry."

The House passed the tax provisions by a vote of 221-189. Earlier it had approved, 241-172, a companion energy package aimed at boosting energy efficiency and expanding use of biofuels, wind power and other renewable energy sources.

"We are turning to the future," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Not a word about drilling for oil on our own soil. It's all about gouging the evil oil companies, who make less revenue than the federal government does off oil. They do the heavy lifting while the government spends nothing and collects billions in taxes.

"This will save consumers money," said Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., the provision's co-sponsor, maintaining utilities will have to use less high-priced natural gas.

Nonsense. The oil companies, I guarantee you, will increase prices. I'd noticed a decrease in costs at the pump in recent weeks. So much for that.

Naturally, Pelosi whipped out the "it's for the children" canard, forgetting the fact the children's parent's will be forced to pay.

"It's about our children, about our future, the world in which they live," Pelosi said.

There are still some Republicans willing to tell the truth, however.

"There's a war going on against energy from fossil fuels," said Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas. "I can't understand the pure venom felt against the oil and gas industry."

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said the bill was "a political exercise" to promote "pet projects, ... pet ideas." He predicted it "isn't going anywhere" because President Bush will veto it if it gets to his desk. Feel free to veto, Mr. President.

Big Government Attacks Big Oil

The anti-capitalist Democrats are at it again. Build more refineries? Not on your life. Cut the taxes on gas? Forget about it. Take money from what the media now refers to as energy companies? Sure. But at the same time, they'll demagogue the rising gas prices and blame the dreaded Big Oil.

As Gas Prices Rise Again, Democrats Blame Big Oil

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Congress would look into breaking up the giant companies. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) promoted her anti-price-gouging bill, which the Senate Commerce Committee adopted on Tuesday. And Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) backed a windfall profits tax, pointing to $440 billion in profits over the past six years for the nation's five biggest oil companies.

"I think it's time to say to these people, 'Stop ripping off the American people,' " Sanders said.

Every year, it's the same nonsense from these clowns. They kvetch and moan about gas prices, yet do nothing to help alleviate the problem.

They love having it both ways, and a compliant media do little to expose their double standard.

Now in the minority, Republican lawmakers this week poked back at the Democrats' ideas. "I think it shows that they're either unbelievably naive about how markets work or unbelievably cynical," said Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-Tex.), former chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Barton said most Democrats opposed opening up new areas of Alaska or the Outer Continental Shelf for oil and gas drilling. "If you want to get prices down, you're going to have to have a supply component to energy," he said.

Here's a suggestion to get prices down. Waive the state and federal tax on gas for a week. Consumers will then realize just how much they're paying in taxes per gallon. Just don't wait around for that to happen.