Funny video of BP executives handling a spill.
- Tom Price writes “shake down” language
While representative Joe Barton (R-TX) took a lot of heat for his awkward apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward, here’s the guy who actually wrote up the “shake down” GOP talking point: Tom Price (R-GA), the guy who represents my district in the US Congress.
This notion of “shake down” is absurd on two fronts: first, it is not the same as extortion like Barton described it in his apology and, second, what would make BP exempt from this sort of tactic when the rest of us are not… and why should it be exempt?
When I first heard about this I thought I misunderstood it. Then I thought someone was taking his words out of context. After about the fifth time I watched the video I concluded he really said it.
Congressman Joe Barton (R) Texas really did apologize to BP CEO Tony Hayward for being asked to put $20 billion in escrow for damages related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Worse, he accused the Obama Administration of extortion. The White House finally accomplishes something tangible in favor of oil spill victims and American tax payers and Barton tries to spin this against them. He could have left it alone, but that would have been too easy.
Of course, he’s apologized for the apology by now but everyone is still backing away from him like a turd in a swimming pool. Basically, it was the typical half-hearted, awkwardly-worded apology we hear far too often these days. Something to the effect of “I’m sorry if you misunderstood the words I said to mean what they would normally mean when put in the order in which I put them.”
The douches have a king
There’s a huge difference between a CEO choosing not to be as accessible as Apple’s Steve Jobs and AT&T’s threat to sue a customer who emails their CEO, Randal Stephenson, directly.
While AT&T’s apology to their former customer is not wrong, it still misses the point in a huge way: when customers complain, don’t just talk back at them.
I’ve worked for decades in some form of either customer service or communications or both. Whether it was with a small non-profit, fast food, locally owned dry cleaner, or a Forbes 500 multi-billion dollar corporation, they all had customers who wanted to be heard.
I get a lot of flak for having put in time as a customer service rep and debt collector with SallieMae. If you’ve ever taken out a student loan, you’ve done business with them or you will. For some reason, when people owe you money they come to hate you. Before SallieMae I was a telemarketer and can honestly say folks were way nicer when I interrupted their dinner trying to sell something than when they asked me how much they owed on their education loans. (more…)
Gotta admit: I hate BP a little less already
I don’t buy gas at Exxon because of the Exxon Valdez spill and I don’t buy it from Citgo because I heard Hugo Chavez owns all of them. I never bought from BP much before and have made a point to avoid them ever since the April 20th spill.
BP is the latest in a long list of Corporations Americans have come to loathe for pursuing profits at their expense. Yesterday, BP countered this sentiment with a reported $50 Million ad campaign.
BP Oil Spill Command Center in Mobile Alabama
When the BP oil spill crisis erupted, some called this disaster Obama’s Katrina. Initially, these people were conservative pundits and journalists. They were dismissed for trying to portray Obama’s presidency as at least as bad, if not worse, than Bush’s (because no one maintains Bush’s presidency wasn’t bad anymore).
The early comparisons were pretty easy to make: Both are in the Gulf of Mexico, both damaged the Louisiana coast, there’s a lot of public outrage, both are will be or are really expensive, and so on. They were just as easy to dismiss because they didn’t define Katrina’s legacy. Unfortunately for the White House, and the rest of us, is that the BP Oil spill is quickly becoming a bad mark on Obama’s administration just as Hurricane Katrina blemmished Bush’s. The unprecendented scope of impact, the all-to familiar blame game, and the apparent lack of leadership in time of crisis framed Katrina and are manifesting in this latest crisis. (more…)
If Israel were one of your friends, she’d be that really paranoid friend who takes everything way too seriously. There have been a few times she’s been dead right, but every once and a while she screws up big time. When she does screw up, it can be really hard staying her friend – all your other friends call her out on it as well as all the people you don’t like or even know that well.
Israel’s ex won’t (and can’t) move out of her basement. He gets loud and rough if she doesn’t keep him in his place and cut off from anyone who might help him get at her. Neighbors nearby really don’t like the situation and think she should get out of town altogether, but she doesn’t have anywhere else to go either. It makes a lot of folks tense. (more…)
"We order by the tractor-trailer"
Local business commercials are so awesome and this one is a shining example in Atlanta Metro. What got my attention and made it memorable for me, besides being so raw, is its call to action and the reasoning behind it: Police respond slowly and home alarms are not effective, so come here and buy yourself some guns.
The production value here is about as solid as many YouTube videos you might see. Also, the actors are probably family, friends or possibly even regular store employees. There’s even a seen with someone’s dog walking through their warehouse. The only thing this is missing is the owner’s grandkids waving at the camera or holding up guns. Maybe they can add that to their future ads.
Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson do not represent Georgians
Some how, back in October when this passed through the Senate 68-30 it didn’t make as much news as it does today with getting signed into law. Now it is hitting a lot of our radars. Maybe it wasn’t so much news then because it passed, but the news today is that 30 male republican senators voted against it.
I read through Sen. Franken’s amendment (SA.2588) to the FY2010 Defense Appropriations Bill. It says it will stop funding defense contractors who deny sexual assault victims access to courts through arbitration clauses in their employment contracts. Please go read it for yourself, but my understanding is that the amendment says in cases of rape, assault, harrasment and so on, alledged victims would have access to real courts instead of corporately run and funded arbitrations.
Snowball-Cop rangles a hippy with just one hand!
An un-named off-duty detective and Hummer owner (AKA: Snowball-Cop) comes under attack on DC’s mean streets just as his Hummer gets stuck in the snow.
Instead of calling for back-up like some kind of wussy, Snowball-Cop steps down from his ride and takes out his pistol, unafraid of snowballs still flying in from the mob. Sedans, minivans, and other SUVs somehow manage to avoid whatever trap these terrorists set out for him and crawl past the scene — their drivers feeling lucky they escaped a similar fate. (more…)