Barack Obama, Ugly American

Interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal detailing civil and criminal penalties imposed by the US government against an Italian company for paying $180 million in bribes to Nigerian government officials for a contract to build a natural gas plant in that country. If like me you're wondering why this matter was adjudicated in America's courts instead of Italy or Nigeria - much less why the Italians must pay fines to America - I doubt that you're alone in your confusion.

The settlement calls for Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA and its former Dutch unit Snamprogetti Netherlands BV to pay $365 million in fines to America for their misdeeds.

First off, OffHisMeds must ask what is up with the Numerologists in federal government and their obsession with relevant numbers? For example, this fine works out to a tidy $1 million penalty for every calendar day in the year. Makes you want to be a fly on the wall when they decided what the fine would be. Why not a different number? Wouldn't it make sense to make the fine the same amount as the original bribe? And what of prosecution of the corrupt Nigerian government officials? Do they get a free pass from Obama's Justice Department?

Numerology is a driving force behind everything the Obama administration does. Take the $20 billion they extorted from BP for remediation of the financial impact of the Gulf Oil Spill for example. Whatever your opinion on BP's obligation, there was no reason for the US government to force the payoff, seeing as how that's what our courts are for. What is of interest is the even number: $20 billion. Strange that such an even number should be precisely the amount needed to compensate the thousands of fisherman, retailers, tourist venues, strippers and others who have been affected. How did they arrive at that number? And what do you suppose the likelihood is that - regardless of the economic impact on these businesses - that the actual payout will be: $20 billion?

Nor should we forget that Obama has named the execrable Kenneth Feinberg - Democrat operative extraordinaire - to administer the $20 billion. Feinberg is, of course, the tireless Apparatchik who oversaw the payout of $7 Billion of taxpayer dollars to the victims of 911, averaging around $2 mil per victim. Call me crazy, but it's more than a little creepy that such an individual should exist, much less have regular employment. I'm also more than a little concerned that he'll use the same back-of-the-napkin math he used for 911 to calculate compensation for Gulf Oil victims. It doesn't take a Math Major to conclude that there's going to be hundreds of thousands of "victims" with their hands out. Given a free hand, Feinberg will not only spend it all, but blow his budget out of the water, just as he did for 911.

And OffHisMeds will go on record and predict that - if he does bankrupt BP - that American taxpayers will be on the hook for the remainder.

This is all of a piece for Obama and his minions. Seeing as how he has milked all that he can from American corporations, he is now confiscating the assets of foreign corporations, foreign stock holders, and, well, foreigners. And they're starting to get pissed. His popularity in Great Britain has plummeted since he implemented his extra-legal Money Grab against BP. Watch for a similar reaction in Italy and the Netherlands.

Anybody with an ounce of sense can see where this capricious behavior will lead us. OffHisMeds predicts that foreign governments will retaliate, criminalizing American behavior and confiscating American assets in far larger amounts and with far less justification, and America will be helpless to do anything about it.

Yet another legacy left us by this colossal Dunderhead, who will enjoy a post-presidential life comparable to that of Al Gore, enriched by many tens of millions, albeit with the consolation for the rest of us that he will be politically neutered well prior to the end of his first and only term in office.

My one other consolation is that Foreigners will finally understand that the true face of Ugly Americanism is now, and always has been, the Democrat Party, and it's probably only fitting that America-Haters the world over should get a tiny taste of what average Americans have had to put up with for the past fifty years.