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Another day, another reason not to trust BP to handle anything properly in the response to this disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

GRIFFIN: For 26 years, Jean Pascal was a lawyer for the Environmental Protection Agency, investigating and helping to prosecute some of the worst environmental polluters in the northwest, including oil companies in Alaska. The worst of the worst, she says, is British Petroleum.

You describe BP as a serial environmental criminal.

JEAN PASCAL, FORMER EPA LAWYER: I have.

GRIFFIN: You believe that?

PASCAL: I do.

GRIFFIN: BP has pled guilty to illegally discharging oil in Alaska and also faces a criminal complaint, alleging it violated clean air and water laws. Pascal retired earlier this year, so she is now free to speak out about a company she says repeatedly violates environmental laws.

PASCAL: From my perspective, BP has, for a long time, been a company that is interested in profits first and foremost. Safety and health and environment are subjugated to profit making. And I do not think that has changed.

GRIFFIN: In congressional hearings after the fatal explosion at BP's Texas refinery in 2005, lawmakers asked BP's then CEO, did workers warn about safety issues at the plant? He said they had not.

Then there were questions about whether they feared retaliation for speaking up.

Bottom line, after pressure from lawmakers, BP opened an independent ombudsman's office to manage and to hear the safety concerns of its workers. It's run by a former federal judge, just not here in Alaska.

It's a very small office, tucked away inside this office building here in Washington, D.C. But British Petroleum has been running this employee complaints program for several years.

The independent former judge who runs the unit refused to comment to CNN.

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Wow. Every time I think this woman can't one up the stupid from the last time I saw her, she manages to out do herself again. Apparently the Tea Party Express was making its way through Michigan to protest Bart Stupak and Victoria Jackson was part of the "entertainment". Lots of mindless birther, Communism and Marxism rantings and some big applause from the crowd when she mentions Glenn Beck. Imagine that? Victoria Jackson... poster child for the stoopid. I would feel so much better if this were actually an act.

h/t Amerigo Vespucci at DU

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From The Hill -- 'Baby killer' shout aimed at Stupak:

A House Republican shouted "baby killer" at Rep. Bart Stupak on the House floor during the brief debate of the Republican motion against the reconciliation bill.

The member could not immediately be identified. A number of Democrats shouted back "Who was that?" but to no avail.

Stupak, a leader of the anti-abortion Democrats, was speaking in opposition of the Republican motion to recommit the reconciliation bill. The Republican motion was Stupak's abortion restriction language.

When Stupak began speaking against the motion, a number of Republicans shouted "It's your bill!" Those remarks drew laughs from the GOP side of the aisle.

But a loud groan erupted when the phrase "baby killer" slipped off the lips of a Republican member with what sounded to a number of reporters like a southern accent. Read on...

UPDATE: (Nicole): It appears the guilty party is Rep. Randy Neugeberger, who blames the heat and emotion of the moment and claims to have apologized to Rep. Stupak for this breach of decorum. Neugeberer is one of the 11 "birther" Republicans who co-sponsored a bill saying presidents must "prove" the location of their birth. Curiously, when asked to furnish his own birth certificate to the staff at ThinkProgress in a show of consistency, Neugeberger tersely declined.

Politico calls it a "stunning confession", but basically this wingnut had nowhere left to hide. You can read his goofy confession, sent via e-mail, below (never in person, never on camera with these clowns).

“Last night was the climax of weeks and months of debate on a health care bill that my constituents fear and do not support. In the heat and emotion of the debate, I exclaimed the phrase ‘it’s a baby killer’ in reference to the agreement reached by the Democratic leadership. While I remain heartbroken over the passage of this bill and the tragic consequences it will have for the unborn, I deeply regret that my actions were mistakenly interpreted as a direct reference to Congressman Stupak himself.

“I have apologized to Mr. Stupak and also apologize to my colleagues for the manner in which I expressed my disappointment about the bill. The House Chamber is a place of decorum and respect. The timing and tone of my comment last night was inappropriate.”

A Birther, Neugebauer represents and embarrasses Texas' 19th district in congress.

On June 12, 2009, Neugebauer signed on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 1503, the bill introduced as a reaction to conspiracy theories which claimed that U.S. President Barack Obama is not a natural born U.S. citizen.

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As Rachel reports Bart Stupak was not the only member of the C-Street Family that was having a bad day. Mark Sanford plead no contest to the 37 ethics charges filed against him. As Rachel noted, he's not quitting of course. And it appears investigators are starting to close in around John Ensign.

Report: Firms Linked To Possible Ensign Quid Pro Quo Subpoenaed:

The Las Vegas news station adds more details about who has been contacted by investigators looking into the John Ensign sex-and-lobbying scandal.

Perhaps most significantly, it reports that "[e]xecutives at card companies eCommLink, Selling Source and Pay Card USA have been served by the grand jury."

That matters because those are some of the companies which, the station reported earlier, asked for Ensign's help in avoiding new regulations, in exchange for a $28,000 donation to the NRSC, which was chaired at the time by Ensign. So the news that the card companies have been subpoenaed adds to the evidence that the Feds are actively exploring that possible quid pro quo -- which could have even more serious implications for the senator than allegations about his help for Doug Hampton. Read on...

Gotta' love these "family values" Republicans. Of course we aren't getting any cries from the media about when John Ensign is going to step down.

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Mr. I Don't Listen to Nuns Bart Stupak visited the set of Hardball to continue lying about the abortion language in the health care bill. Matthews who shares Stupak's views on abortion was happy to play along.

As Digby noted, Stupak seems to have a little problem with women. They're Just Women:

The conservative Democrat dismissed the action by the White House saying, “When I’m drafting right to life language, I don’t call up the nuns.” He says he instead confers with other groups including “leading bishops, Focus on the Family, and The National Right to Life Committee.”

Right. The last people any good Catholic should consult are nuns. What the hell do they know? Much better to listen to Bishops who cover up for pedophiles and people who believe men should take their sons into the shower to show them their big penises so they won't be gay.

Those are just the people who should by making the decisions for American women.

Stupak repeated his statement about listening to the bishops and tried to claim that the nuns never lobby Congress. Matthews did at least bother to point out that he was wrong on that point. I guess Stupak won't be coming on Rachel's show any time soon to answer questions about who was paying his rent at the C-Street House. Too bad Tweety couldn't be bothered to ask him for her.

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Dana Perino on Greta's show claims that if the Democrats had just caved into Bart Stupak's phony arguments about abortion funding that doesn't exist in the health care bill, they could have had it signed into law by now. So nice to see Dana carrying water for this C-Street extremist.

Perino: Bart Stupak as a Congressman is not unreasonable. He's a very principled person who has stood his ground and you'd think that... for President Obama, I would think he would, hopefully he would respect Bart Stupak for being a member of the loyal opposition. Ah... it's not bad for a president to have loyal opposition... in fact to have a Maverick in your party to push back against you as President Bush well knew with somebody like a Senator McCain.

But we'll have to see what happens on Sunday Greta... they're going to ruin another one of our weekends.

I can think of a lot of things I'd like to call Bart Stupak right now, but reasonable, principled and maverick are not exactly the first ones that come to mind. And I'm so sorry Dana might have her weekend ruined by the Democrats working over the weekend. I tell you what Dana, why don't you just take the weekend off and spare us any of your analysis about what happened? You have nothing meaningful to contribute since you're continuing to push Stupak and the media's lies about abortion funding in the bill.

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Well if you're Bart Stupak and the Democrats are now ignoring you since you keep lying about the language on abortion in the health care bill where do you run next? You've got it... ClusterFox. Greta Van Susteren allows Stupak to claim that the Democrats are using the health care bill to change the law on federal funding of abortions.

Want to show Bart Stupak the door? Help Connie Saltonstall Defeat Bart Stupak.

h/t Media Matters

As Rachel Maddow notes it looks like the Democrats have finally stopped trying to negotiate with Bart Stupak. Why it took them this long is beyond me. Stupak is now claiming that anyone who is against the language he wanted inserted into the health care bill is against babies and the cost they would add to the health care system. He's also not too happy with Rachel Maddow's reporting. Thankfully she doesn't care and continues to ask who was paying his rent at the C Street House. C.R.E.W.'s Melanie Sloan joined Rachel to discuss whether Stupak has violated the House rules by allowing his rent to be subsidized.

Transcript via Lexis Nexis.

MADDOW: As of yesterday, Congressman Bart Stupak`s attempt to hijack health reform in order to expand restrictions on abortion is over. Mr. Stupak`s bluff has been called. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told me in an interview yesterday that his claim about the Senate`s health reform bill includes federal funding for abortion is simply wrong. Several House members who voted with Mr. Stupak before on his anti-abortion language now are also admitting that Mr. Stupak`s claims about the Senate bill funding abortion don`t seem to be borne out by the facts.

The Senate bill, in fact, does not allow public funding for abortions.

If there was any doubt about the collapse of Mr. Stupak`s threat to use his discredited claims about abortion to kill health reform, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer put those doubts to rest this afternoon.

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The Rachel Maddow Show did some digging and it appears that Bart Stupak may not actually have all the votes he's claiming he has to stop the health care bill from being passed in the House. As Rachel also notes, since Stupak's requests for changes to the bill are either impossible to get passed under reconciliation or just based on lies about what's even in the bill, it's pretty obvious that he's just doing his best to get himself on the television for some face time so he can demagogue the abortion issue and it has nothing to do with the health care debate.

Bart Stupak might come to regret that if Rachel doesn't let up on the reporting she has done on the C-Street House and The Family. And as Susie noted, he's now got himself a primary challenger.

Maddow: Congratulations sir. I hope you’re enjoying your fifteen minutes. Now, who’s been paying your rent? Bart Stupak, you want to be famous? You’re getting famous right now. In terms of America getting to know you there is still one big piece of the puzzle you continue to dodge our questions about. Who sir has been paying your rent? Who paid your rent for years? You even got asked about it by your good friends at Fox today.

(Cut to Fox clip)

Maddow: Always paid fair market value. Um… here’s why we’re a little worried about that claim. As we’ve talked about before Bart Stupak lived at C-Street House in Washington for at least seven years. The C-Street House is a $1.8 million, twelve bedroom, maid service townhouse right near the Capital. We have documented it is owned by the secret religious group The Family even though The Family has recently denied that fact. The Family has in the past acknowledged subsidizing the rent for members of The Family who live in the house, reportedly charging about $600 a month. Even though Mr. Stupak denies being a member of The Family it seems clear from news reports at least that he was paying below market rent to live there. And if he wasn’t all he has to do is answer the questions that we have put to him repeatedly.

Who did you pay your rent to Congressman Stupak? How much did you pay? And do you know who was subsidizing the rest? Did you report that subsidy as an in kind donation? Did you report it as income to the IRS? These questions don’t go away because you moved out when the heat got to you. Mr. Stupak you have succeeded in using this abortion stunt to get on TV a lot. If you really want Americans to know who you are tell us who has been paying your rent. We just learned that Bart Stupak now has a Democratic primary challenger back in Michigan. Her name is Connie Saltonstall. She said she decided to challenge him because of this anti-abortion grandstanding on the health care issue. Turns out this is going to be a very exciting year for Bart Stupak after all and it’s not because he’s going to kill health reform.

You can Send The Democrats A Message They Can Understand and make a donation at Blue America to help Bart Stupak's challenger Connie Saltonstall among others.