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http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2010/05/31/put_bp_in_receivership_open2010

The administration should do with the oil giant what it did with AIG and GM

By Robert Reich

It's time for the federal government to put BP under temporary receivership, which gives the government authority to take over BP's operations in the Gulf of Mexico until the gusher is stopped. This is the only way the public know what's going on, be confident enough resources are being put to stopping the gusher, ensure BP's strategy is correct, know the government has enough clout to force BP to use a different one if necessary, and be sure the president is ultimately in charge.

If the government can take over giant global insurer AIG and the auto giant General Motors and replace their CEOs, in order to keep them financially solvent, it should be able to put BP's North American operations into temporary receivership in order to stop one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.

The Obama administration keeps saying BP is in charge because BP has the equipment and expertise necessary to do what's necessary. But under temporary receivership, BP would continue to have the equipment and expertise. The only difference: the firm would unambiguously be working in the public's interest. As it is now, BP continues to be responsible primarily to its shareholders, not to the American public. As a result, the public continues to worry that a private for-profit corporation is responsible for stopping a public tragedy.

Five reasons for taking such action:

1. We are not getting the truth from BP.

2. We have no way to be sure BP is devoting enough resources to stopping the gusher. B

3. BP's new strategy for stopping the gusher is highly risky. It wants to

4. Right now, the U.S. government has no authority to force BP to adopt a different strategy. Saturday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and his team o

5. The President is not legally in charge. As long as BP is not under the

The President should temporarily take over BP's Gulf operations. We have a national emergency on our hands. No president would allow a nuclear reactor owned by a private for-profit company to melt down in the United States while remaining under the direct control of that company. The meltdown in the Gulf is the environmental equivalent.

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http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0614/gather-armies-gop-candidate-stoking-armed-revolt/
out of Alabama these days.

Rick Barber, a candidate in the Republican primary for the state's second district, has released a one-minute ad in which he implies he supports impeaching President Barack Obama, then goes on a protracted criticism of the IRS, concluding with an actor dressed as George Washington declaring, "Gather your armies."

The ad begins with the Tea Party-backed Barber implying support for Obama's impeachment. "And I would impeach him," Barber says in the ad's opening line as he sits at a table with actors dressed as Washington, Sam Adams and Ben Franklin.

You gentlemen revolted over a tea tax. A tea tax. Now look at us! Are you with me?

At the end of the ad, George Washington responds with the words, "Gather your armies."

It's "the first TV ad this reporter can remember that advocates taking up arms against the United States," writes Rick Barber at MSNBC's First Read blog.

"President Washington presided over, and approved, the first tax levied by the federal government -- the 1791 whiskey tax," Weigel writes. "When the tax met resistance, he approved the assembling of militias to enforce the law and mobilization of agents to collect the revenue. So the Barber daydream

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org