Joe Barton, Thomas Sowell and me...

are evidently the only ones who think the president was way out of line when he demanded a $20 billion slush fund from BP. But I'm in good company, at least when it comes to Thomas Sowell. I consider him one of the greatest minds of our generation. Here's what he had to say in Investors Business Daily:

Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny?

"In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.

"The president's poll numbers are going down because increasing numbers of people disagree with particular policies of his, but the damage being done to the fundamental structure of this nation goes far beyond particular counterproductive policies.

"Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.

"And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP's oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated.

"But our government is supposed to be "a government of laws and not of men."

"If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion — or $50 billion or $100 billion — then so be it.

But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without "due process of law."

Yeah, I know. BP is guilty as Hell. They are ugly and make an enticing target. But they never denied liability and it isn't as though the federal government's performance in the gulf is any better.

We are a nation of laws, and even ugly people get their day in court. If it's okay to threaten ugly people with prosecution if they don't cough up cash, what are you going to say then they threaten someone you think is cute and cuddly?

I hope BP takes it up the ass for their actions. But I want them to have the same due process I would expect if I ever fucked up really bad.