Oil Industry Update! It's the Chicago way!

Update:

Rep. Barton (R. - TX) calls the $20B BP commitment a "shakedown." In New Orleans, that's the kind of money that comes after someone tells you "where you gots your shoes." Evidently, it's the Chicago way too.

Later Update:
I hope Rep. Barton stands his ground. Apparently, over the weekend the media machine worked to convinced the sheep out there that he was kissing up to BP. I even heard it on conservative talk radio this morning (Joe Pags) -- he doesn't understand either. I thought it was pretty clear that Barton was apologizing for the shameful behavior of the elected representatives of the peepul in Washington, DC.

The problem with what Mr. Barton said is purely the SPIN about what Mr. Barton said. BP is entitled to due process, just like any other corporation or group or person. The SPIN has convinced people that he said something wrong, and the SPIN will get this used against Republicans for evermore. But that doesn't mean that what he actually said was wrong, it means that the media machine went into high gear to convince the sheeple out there that he was apologizing to BP for calling them before Congress or something.

I'm still with him on this -- the $20B promise is a shakedown, plain & simple. Call it whatever you want to, it amounts to a control play by the administration in something that it has no role in. There is a system for dealing with this, and it doesn't involve a slushfund of $5B per year to get things rolling.

Update:
There's been a lot of back and forth from both sides about whether Rep. Barton should apologize, with an effort from some Republicans to distance themselves from this statement.

Ladies & gentlemen, he's calling 'em as he see's 'em. I'm not sure what part of the shakedown people have trouble with -- the fact that it happened, or the relevant application of nomenclature. If our president is going to run an arm-twisting racket in the name of the peepul, let's at least have the decency to call it by the proper name.