"We're not Gerrys... we're Tommys!"

I did see highlights of the "flogging" he took, and he conducted himself admirably.

All I have to say is that the $20 billion figure the Fed is now demanding up-front for an escrow set up so no one that has claims coming has to wait like they did in the '89 Exxon Valdez wreck is making me crazy. Does no one recall that, in 1992, the Feds forced ALL oil companies that were doing ANY drilling (shallow, deep or otherwise) in American coastal waters to contribute a percentage of annual profits to EXACTLY THAT... a slush fund for the recovery and containment of future oil spills in American waters?

For the last 18 years, the Fed has been (or should have been) collecting this money, which even if the amount was .01% of ALL annual revenue from off-shore recovery and production wells, should be by now well in excess of $65 billion dollars. Where is THAT money? Has it been used? BP contributed to that fund... can't some of it be used to offset lost revenue or clean up costs incurred by private business? Can Obama and Company (a familiar term, I know) show me why they need an additional $20 billion NOW, when that fund hasn't been touched (to the best of my knowledge)?

If we're missing $65 billion dollars in funds between the Clinton/Bush Jr. years, someone is going to have a WHOLE lot of explaining to do. If the money is there, and simply hasn't been utilized, then Obama is going to have a whole lot of explaining to do.

Either way, I'm looking for an explanation.