Putting The Fox In Charge Of The Henhouse

You may recognize the person in the picture above.   It's Rep. "Smokey Joe" Barton (R-Texas).   Last Tuesday, Barton was returned to Congress by the clueless voters of Texas' 6th District.   Barton earned the nickname "Smokey Joe" because of his tireless defense of the giant oil companies and other polluters.

Barton made national headlines last summer with his defense of BP Oil during the oil spill crises in the Gulf of Mexico.   While most people, including many of his Republican colleagues, believed that BP should pay for the damages caused by the oil spill, Barton disagreed.   In fact, after the president negotiated a $20 billion payment with BP, Barton publically offered BP an APOLOGY!   How dare the government expect BP to pay for its mistakes!

Since the Republicans are now the majority party in the House of Representatives, the committees of the House will now be chaired by Republicans.   Guess who is in line to become chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee?   "Smokey Joe" Barton!

It's not bad enough that with the Republican takeover any hopes of a decent and environmentally-friendly energy bill is gone.   Now we have Barton very likely chairing the committee that oversees energy -- the man that's been owned by the energy producers and other polluters for many years.

The oil and coal industries, energy producers, and companies polluting our air and water have to be jumping for joy today.   Their political donations have bought them the most lax supervision possible -- at least for the next two years.  

The fox is truly about to be given the keys to the henhouse.