Racism still effects these polls with this president.

All polls concerning this president are not accurate by a long shot due to the racism in this country.

http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/762321

Think again Andy.Current law caps 75 million for the limit as it stands.Unless they change the law fast BP could use this legally to their advantage.


WASHINGTON - U.S. law may limit how much BP has to pay for damages such as lost wages and economic suffering in the Gulf Coast oil spill, despite President Barack Obama's assurances that taxpayers will not be on the hook.

A law passed in response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska makes BP responsible for clean-up costs. But the law sets a $75 million limit on other kinds of damages.


Economic losses to the Gulf Coast are likely to exceed that. In response, several Democratic senators introduced legislation Monday to raise the liability limit to $10 billion, though it would not apply retroactively.


Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that the administration's commitment was for BP to pay for all costs associated with the spill.

Still living in a dream world, eh dragon?

http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/6216.pdf

A very interesting read!

Yes it is interesting and I didn't know about it before but from what I have read it is all powers limited to the United states of America and what he can do here.It doesn't involve what powers he has concerning other countries and what he can force them to do especially concerning the private industry.

Don't get me wrong on this issue.I hope BP ends up spending every last dime they have paying for this diaster.But I know how big oil works and the last thing in the world they are is generous in their money.Exxon was one of the richest companies in the world during their oil spill and fought for 20 years so they wouldn't have to pay a single dime to those people.I am expecting the same with BP.If they do end up paying for everything and not fighting the fines in court it will be a first in history.

Obama should be changing the laws in that 75 million dollar fine cap while that well is still gushing.Other wise legally we might be screwed.

The reason that Obama got the 20 billion was so that the cap of 75 million will not apply also so that the people do not have to litigate unless they really want to.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/66647/

Shocking: 18 Years on and Exxon Still Won't Pay $2.5 Billion for Valdez Oil Spill

And now the Supreme Court has agreed to hear Exxon try to explain why it shouldn't pay.

November 5, 2007 | The Supreme Court's recent decision to hear ExxonMobil's reasons to void the $2.5 billion punitive award in the Exxon Valdez case hit the town of Cordova, Alaska, hard. This small coastal fishing community -- my hometown -- along with the Alaska Native villages in Prince William Sound have borne the brunt of the largest crude oil spill in America's waters; a spill that took place more than 18 years ago, but one that continues to hold the region hostage.

The second painful blow was the high court's decision to not even hear our reasons why the award should be restored to the full $5 billion that a jury of peers decided was necessary to punish the corporate giant back in 1994.

While media pundits, lawyers, and scholars play the Supreme Court's decisions back and forth like a ping-pong ball, people in Cordova share a completely different perspective of this story. It's not about whether the Supreme Court should hear the case. To us, it's about justice and reparation -- making us whole, a promise Exxon made to the community five days after the spill. A promise that Exxon broke before the trial even started five years after the spill.

To us, it's about more than an oil spill, the world's largest oil corporation, and a small fishing community in Alaska. It's about America's failed legal system that inherently cannot dispense justice in the face of corporate globalization.

U.S. corporations have outgrown America's justice system. The system won't work for any community in America that is traumatized by disaster that triggers class action lawsuits -- hurricanes like Katrina, terrorist acts like 9/11, or oil spills like the Exxon Valdez. Yet sociologists warn such disasters will be a hallmark of the 21st century.

People in Cordova wonder how this happened and why our legal system no longer metes out justice. When did "punitive" stop meaning to punish? If the original punitive award of $5 billion was sufficient to change corporate behavior why was Exxon the last corporation to double hull its oil tankers to reduce risk of future spills rather than the first?

Why shouldn't Exxon be expected to pay to clean up its mess, pay penalties for breaking laws, compensate victims for losses, and pay punitive damages? This is what responsible corporations do -- and it's certainly what Americans expect.

The spilled oil -- somewhere between 11 to 38 million gallons (the figure is elusive because as we learned the hard way, the truth was one of the first casualties of the spill) -- created a big mess and broke a lot of federal laws. It shouldn't surprise anyone that Exxon paid $2.5 billion for its cleanup and another $1 billion for penalties. But, it might surprise people who live outside Alaska to learn that taxpayers, not Exxon, paid a majority of that bill. Exxon recouped most of its remaining expense from its insurance companies and from money it paid to settle damages for natural resources -- publicly-owned wildlife and lands.

Further, Exxon rewarded its primary cleanup contractor, formerly VECO, with a cost-plus contract that acted like steroids, bulking up this small-time oilfield service contractor into one of the biggest -- spending, pro-oil lobbyists in the state -- until its fall from grace this year under charges of federal bribery, conspiracy, and more. You may have heard of the ongoing FBI investigation that is sweeping Alaska's politicians -- from state legislators to congressional delegates -- into its widening net.

That is why 250 billion is being put in escrow so people can get their money without litigating to get it.

They can still litigate too if they want though.

They already have put up a huge firewall of bureaucracy. Also they could have capped and redrilled! It would have spared our coastline. That would have been the environmentally responsible act. $250 billion let alone $250 Trilloin Gazillion dollars will bring life back to the area once the real die off begins and it has stated.

No bioscape just "Dies". In this case lower tier animals we don't even think of die off and the die off goes up hill. Pelgeatic life is the first thing to die off from the pollution. Now many ocean fish spawn in marshland like Barracuda. Guess where the oil is accumulating? The manatees are going to get it REAL soon if they are not migrating to areas their food is not contaminated becasue they are vegetarians and grazers. Shrimp are already dying off in huge numbers. Once this disaster finally settles in on the scope no amount of money is going to fix BPs **** up! NO AMOUNT OF MONEY!

Are you aware that 20 years after the Exxon Valdez the damage after the fact is still very evident and will take several more years for it to go away! It was over 40 years ago when the Santa Barbara Oil Spill happened and you can still get tar foot walking along Manhattan beach?

BP Fuqued up MORE than big time here! This is the same thing as Chernobyl on a grander scale and doing Chemical damage, not radiation!

They deserve to get their mellow HARSHED real bad but again Obama does not have the balls to act! two months and hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil are just belching out of a hole in the ground in the bottom of the ocean?

Do you have any clue how expensive and HARD environmental remediation is and costs? It is a hobby of mine. The restoration of the Ballona Wet lands cost almost $100 Million and did not involve anything like an oil spill! $300 million would not even scratch the surface of the damage being done! They cannot even get enough manpower if they hired ALL of Mexico to do the remediation!

This is more than serious. This threatens us with gratuitous economic damage! I am talking on a scale that will make the Depression of the 1930s seem trite! A hand full of men just killed 1/4 of our coastline to protect the interests of their shareholders and their profits. They deserve to be BROKEN miserably!

And the man facing Congress has the BALLS to say "I didn't know anything, my subordinates are responsible." I want to fly to congress and drag that fat Fuquer to Louisianan and roll him in his oil spill and feather him!



NOW THAT IS A CLASSIC!

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone used the race card.........Multiple times at that!

I love how you can't disagree or criticize Obama or your labeled a racist.

Actually what he has done is called a "Shake Down" which is unethical and borderline illegal.

was this number FORCED by Obama personally, or did BP submit it? Just curious if anyone actually SAW or HEARD the preceedings in which the 20 billion amount was first announced,,,????

Yes, just wondering if anyone saw the big apology tonight and how all agreed it isn't our President who is at fault.
With all the un american behavior here, am surprised that the political forum is still allowed.
No where in the past were people allowed to outright vocalize things about our country and our President.
In the past, people realized their choice of vote was not voted in and then they supported their Presidebnt because he represented the USA of A.
It's like a bunch of old people who never expanded their minds to figure out why things were happening in their family. They decided someone was at fault and stuck with that with out ever giving them a chance to redeem themselevs or finding out what really happend or why. They just know better than anyone and nothing can be said to change their minds. But thats talking about much older people who people have given up on because they are so irrational.
It's scary that this converstaion is goi9ng on by so called intelligent people.
There are threads going on now about young people being so undisciplined in their thinking, but here, in this forum, I find it so much so insulting.

its the rock and the hard place, if he takes time to dot his i's and cross his t's,, he is unproductive or weak,, and if he speaks up or asserts himself,,,he is arrogant or shaking someone down,,,,

pretty amazing how inconsistent the complaints are,,,

Funny thing when Hayward was asked about if he was SHOOKDOWN he said NO!! Voluntary!!! 20 Billion is no going to put a dent in this mess down here!!!! \

Quit politicizing
this mess!!!!!!

COWBOY UP AND HELP OUT!!!!!

Yes, that was the attitude when the women prohibition protested the presidency during times of war. It was acknowledged that they had a legitimate gripe. I am not against the President as an individual, but as a person looking at what he stated and what he went against with deliberate lies and intent. technically, ever president before each president in office carries burdens from each Presidency previous to their regime or office. Consider this when blaming the prior regimes and offices. The poll going down has nothing to do with racism. Everyone wants to play the race card, instead of looking at what he has done to his self-image her portrayed during his campaign and his actions thereafter. If there is any pride or any "Americanism" left after the last 20 years of the US please let me know where because truthfully, I cannot find it. Change is never instituted if American citizens lay in the background and do not send their wishes to their local congressmen and senators. Maybe, people do not write anymore as they are ignored. Freedom should be more not less, in a free country.

I don't have to wonder about that ... my family and friends who still live there say that he's despised by at least 90 per cent of the state - including New Orleans ... Give him time - he'll find a way to blame Bush for his own incompetence ...

No - the reason 'The UN' got $20BN out of BP is so that he can REDISTRIBUTE IT to his buddies. Or maybe you can dream up some other reason why the person he put in charge of its distribution is a TRIAL LAWYER who formerly headed the fund for 9/11 victim restitution, Holocaust victims fund, and others ... ? This is a THUG SHAKEDOWN ...

BUSH does carry some of the blame as do ALL FORMER PRESIDENTS for bowing to big oil..But you don't politicize the WORST DISASTER IN AMERICAN HISTORY!!! BP has over 200 rigs operating in the gulf making a profit of over 300 million a day. They have the deep pockets to take care of this. Do you think they want to pull all those rigs out!!!!!!

AGAIN COWBOY UP and help out or are you just a political hack who just wants to run his mouth!!!!

Florida will be hit as will the east coast of the United States. It doesnt take a degree to see that....LOOK AT THE CURRENTS>>>This goes far beyond Louisiana

Florida needs JEB back as CHRIST IS A LAME DUCK RUNNING A CAMPAINE!!

(A) Learn to spell. (B) Learn to think. ...