I would say that of that list, the BP oil spill is probably the one where a hearing was most appropriate, because it’s the one most clearly involved with executive branch wrongdoing, because of the actions, or failure to act, by MMS. But a lot of the wrongdoing in MMS was under the Clinton and Bush administrations, and Obama’s administration, after the BP spill, did a lot to reform the agency.
I <3 this!
No, I’m sorry, we only want investigations that directly harm Obama’s presidency, cast aspersions on his moral character, and hamper the current administration’s ability to fix the economy. After all, Job #1 for the new Congress is making sure Obama is not re-elected in 2012. We’ve heard that directly from the new soon-to-be house leader.
But the President’s mother is white. So we’d have to reduce it to the lesser charge of Driving While Under the Influence of Race.
PWB: Presiding While Blackish.
The fact that the government basically gave BP autocratic control over the capping and clean-up operations deserves to be investigated. Plus, there’s a lot of evidence that the government tried to hide the full extent of the damage. Given that the only group that would benefit by this is BP (and Haliburton, and the third company that owned the rig), it is quite appropriate to ask why the government appears to have been complicit in deceiving the public.
If these investigations happen to find anythiong exculpatory or anything that makes the president look good, what are the odds that they’ll show that information to the public?
Ya! Why didn’t Obama get the federal government oil capping division onto it right away? I mean, thousands of government oil rig specialists and were just sitting around idle. The entire Division of Deep Sea Oil Disaster Recovery were at a conference in Idaho for God’s sake!
And another thing… Why didn’t Obama use the special presidential one-man submersible with oil-rig repairing attachments that is sitting in the basement of the Whitehouse?
ETA: I thought governments were supposed to be inefficient at fixing stuff, and private companies were the way to go. Make up your fucking minds, mkay?
If he wasn’t guilty, we wouldn’t have to investigate, would we?
Okay - let’s calm down now.
I won’t say the administration needs to be investigated for everything that comes down the pike. But the actions of the Holder Justice Department seem to warrant a little further check. And the overall government response to the oil spill wasn’t perfect by any means - and the administration was downplaying the extent of the problem in its communications with the public.
So in areas where an investigation is needed, investigate away.
What does Holder need to be investigated for?
Sure, if they have some sort of rational basis for investigating. But thhey don’t they are going on some vague notion that the admiinistration is some sort of criminal agency, working in contravention to the will and of the people and the tenets of our founding fathers.
For that matter, Moto, what was wrong with the government response to the oil spill? What about it suggests corruption or illegality?
My understanding is that Mr. Holder is also black. That scoundrel!
Many RWs insist some of the things he have done are unconstitutional and for that he should be impeached.
If so, of course, he can simply be impeached based on matters already on the public record. No investigations would be necessary.
Is corruption or illegality the only reason to conduct an investigation? Not at all - the investigatory powers of Congress are most often used to craft legislative solutions to problems.
As for AG Holder, in addition to the facts of the Panther case there is the question of the investigation that the U.S. Commission for Civil Rights has been conducting into the case. Justice hasn’t been very forthcoming with witnesses or documents - this is turning into a case unto itself.
Much of the correspondence and other case documentation from the USCCR is linked here. Look at the first few letters to Justice - it seems the Commission’s patience is wearing awfully thin.
Without waiting for the Supreme Court to tell us whether they are unconstitutional?
Well, yeah. If the right wing says so it must be true. The electorate has spoken.
Yes, but just to humor you, what else needs to be investigated about it? What do you think Obama is hiding?
Oh, Christ THIS bullshit. You’re kidding, right? This is on a level with the birth certificate.
Ockam’s Razor says this is most likely to be the true motivation.