What About the 20 Billion?

So Holder is suing BP and several other oil companies in civil court for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for "unspecified damages", although the Times speculated on specification--tens of billions.

Hmm.

Why would BP agree to a 20 billion fund to help victims if they thought they would later be sued for billions?

And wasn't the MMS (gov't) accused of engaging in corruption with the oil companies they were regulating? Weren't they in charge of making sure such blowouts didn't occur? Can the government sue itself?

Well OK, these oil guys are rich (evil), which means they never commit accidents or suffer from human error--it's always an intentional screwing of the little guy even if it means losing billions to do it. Which makes it very strange that Halliburton wasn't named in the suit, especially when they've already admitted some fault. Or maybe they saving Halliburton for the criminal prosecution. There's always room for a Cheney card!

Meanwhile the Times decided not to mention this tidbit:

Wednesday's move by the Justice Department follows the Obama administration's decision not to open new areas of the eastern Gulf and Atlantic seaboard to drilling. That marked a reversal from an earlier decision to hunt for oil and gas, an announcement the president himself made last spring three weeks before the spill.

Remember all that stuff about energy security? All nullified by that one blowout, evidently. Meanwhile--shockingly--crude and pump prices keep rising, jeopardizing any notion of a recovery by perhaps nullifying a payroll tax cut. Apparently Obama's "magic wand" is actually a subpoena. Of course there's no outrage in the media or from Pelosi about this, but one can always retain hope the story will get legs around January 5th when John Boehner is sworn in.

MORE 12/16/10

Speaking of Halliburton, lefties are giddy over this Guardian story revealing a settlement between Cheney's former company and the country of Nigeria over charges of bribery. Recall Nigeria had threatened to sick Interpol on Darth (and if that didn't work, thousands of emails). Quoting one of the Fire Dogs..

“So, Cheney Halliburton is bribing Nigeria to drop bribery charges?”

That, or a notoriously corrupt African government was shaking down Halliburton for a bribe in return for stopping a bribery charge and using Dick Cheney as a high-profile lever. If they really cared about justice why would they settle? Which was sheer disappointment around the globe:

Campaigners in the Niger delta expressed disappointment at the plea bargain. Celestine AkpoBari, programme officer at Social Action Nigeria, said: "I would have loved to see Dick Cheney in chains in our court and facing justice in our prisons. That would have been a very big point that would have lifted Nigeria out of its woes."

Maybe they can go after Karl Rove next. Or maybe even some alleged criminals in their own country. And there's always politics to consider:

There could be political calculations at play in the new charges. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan faces a coming primary election in the nation's ruling party against former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

Critics have tried to connect Abubakar to this bribery case in the past and the charges come as the election looms. Abubakar has denied any involvement.

That would be the same Abubakar loosely connected to William Cold Cash Jefferson, who maintained a mansion in DC with one of his four wives. How about that.

Hey, not to say ole CEO Darth didn't know about this bribery scheme the Nigerians were running as a pay to play for gas and oil companies, but doesn't everyone pay to play these days?