February 15, 2006

• Yeah - notice how he didn't say "America is addicted to oil, which people have been trying to tell me for six years while I refused to admit it?"
• I also know people who take the position that I'm not allowed to be angry about any of that because I drive a car. I find that position untenable, but I have to admit it's a pretty good point to start with.
• Hand over car keys please.
• people who drive cars are more affected by artificially high fuel prices that those who don't. I would say they have *more* right to be angry.
• Everyone talks about the drivers, but we're getting screwed over EVERY WHICH WAY. Food prices are up--how much of that is due to high costs production and distribution related to oil and gasoline? Clothes are outragous--oil and gas play a part there, also. How's your power bill? Heating bill higher this winter? I hope you enjoy getting shafted, because you're not getting kissed when they're done screwing you. Oh yea, my husband's retirement is with civil service, and those funds have a metric butt-ton of investments in Exxon. Oddly enough, even with record profits this year, gummint employee retirement funds are actually losing money. How can this be, she asked, innocently? How about because Exxon is taking one of the largest investors for a little ride.
• Exactly right, Horsey, we all pay for it.
• Willie Nelson to the rescue!
• Color me surprised. Actually, no - color me chartreuse with a nice pattern of little white flowers because I sure ain't surprised. And yes, prices are going up and we're all paying through the nose for this little junket in the desert.
• BlueHorse - large pension funds have a pretty good record of slapping errant companies in which they own large blocks of stock into submission - because they are major owners of the corporation. And, one of the missions of any company is to make its owners happy. Perhaps your husband's fund managers could put pressure on Exxon to seriously up its dividends this year. (The managers already may be doing that The California state employees' pension fund administrators, for one, have been diligent in successfully taking companies to task.) I'd guess that some questions from a lot pensioners up the "chain of command" could keep them focused. It would be tragic to see the benificieries of an influencial fund not reap the benefits of the extreme profits sucked in by one of its major investments. And, for the rest of you USians who haven't retired, if you have a retirement investment program, like an IRA or 401K, or are looking forward to a pension, just remember that the companies in which you have an investment you may not even know about need to pay a little more attention.
• Actually, they need to get a lot of attention from your fund administrators.
• :|D;
• Food prices are up--how much of that is due to high costs production and distribution related to oil and gasoline? My cousin is a self-employed truck driver and he's quickly going out of business due to fuel costs. So much for small business being the salvation of the economy. Yet another reason to eat as much locally-grown food as we can.
• Cheney Shoots Man, Administration Screws Us
• Chy, I'm not sure what emoticon means (a guy with reading glasses, sticking his tongue out who needs to shave?)
• I thought it was a guy in a Norman Crusader helmet.
• I thought it was a ship, tilted over.
• A guy with a bone through his nose.
• Guy on a motorcycle, driving through a puddle?
• I don't have a link but I remember reading/hearing something about gas consumption being seen through the context of drivers, but the vast majority of gasoline is used by businesses and energy companies. This good-ole-boy handout is simply unconscionable in conjunction with their "fuck the poor" budget they want and the illegal, immoral war going on there in Turkraquistan. Seriously, does he have to eat a live baby on TV to get people to disagree with them?
• "If I have to eat this live baby to keep Amurrica safe, well, I'll do whatever it tkaes. That's the kind of difficult choice the Pruzzidet has to make, and I will not back down from the hard choices."
• "This baby *chomp* teafchef uff *slurp* that the important *chomp* leffonf of Seppembr ewwevenfh *chomp* wiww nop be fogoppen. *shlurp* *smack*"
• I prescribe methadone.
• :|D; It is clearly Steve Martin from his old SNL days with an arrow through his head and a big grin on his face. Dribbling milk down his chin.
• Exxon back in court over 1989 Valdez spill fine
• Imagine a world where ExxonMobil gives back
• Big Oil's Big Windfall
• "A public already groaning under huge deficits does not need more red ink. An oil industry already rolling in record profits does not need more tax breaks. But both are sure to happen unless some way can be found to claw back from a decade's worth of Congressional and administrative blunders, aggressive lobbying and industry greed. According to a detailed account in Monday's Times by Edmund L. Andrews, oil companies stand to gain a minimum of $7 billion and as much as $28 billion over the next five years under an obscure provision in last year's giant energy bill that allows companies to avoid paying royalties on oil and gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico." Republicans! Get out here!
• Okay that's a trick callout . . .
• Bush Suspends Environmental Rules on Gasoline, Halts Oil Reserve Deposits to Ease Fuel Prices
• Price gouging!?! Say it ain't so! When are they going to take down the oil companies with their last year's highest profits ever? Asked if Bush had any reason to suspect market manipulation, White House press secretary Scott McClellan responded, "Well, gas prices are high right now, and that's why you want to make sure there's not." Na, couldn't be. Bush=oil profits
• Ari's Confused
• a.k.a. I'm confused. Why isn't more attention being paid to the Vice President's 2001 secret energy task force? Gas prices are going though the roof, oil is heading for $100 a barrel, and oil companies are making a mint. Shouldn't people be making a stink to find out what happened behind closed doors when Big Oil got a seat at the White House policy table? It's time to turn up the heat on the Vice President to release all the details of -- and documents from -- his secret meetings. Forget that the Supreme Court said he didn't have to -- we're the ones that elected him, right? At least the second time... Isn't planning for the future an essential part of leadership? And aren't we in this energy mess because the administration failed to plan? Or was further enriching already-rich energy giants actually the plan all along? And why did Congress fail to aggressively challenge the energy task force's industry-friendly recommendations when they made their way into White House-backed energy bills? Isn't 3 bucks a gallon what happens when checks and balances are traded in for a rubber stamp? mmm hmm.
• Oh! Well . . . lookie there - How'd that happen? tee hee!
• Lee Raymond, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has bowed out from the oil giant with a $400m pay and retirement deal that has caused outrage among environmentalists. In his 12 years at the top of the company, Exxon has pumped an estimated six billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere and has led the opposition to action on climate change.
• White House Holds One-Year ‘Celebration’ of Energy Bill With Industry Reps
• WHO: Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman U.S. Senator Pete Domenici (NM) U.S. Congressman Joe Barton (TX-6th) Representatives of industries who are benefiting from tax incentives available through the Energy Policy Act of 2005. These guys give shoving one's tongue in another's asshole a bad name.
• Every day I think I've reached my saturation point, and that my poor monkey brain just cannot process one more chunk of information at how openly corrupt, incompetent, wrongheaded, evil, and traitorous our current administration is, and how little there is I can do about it.
• Wow. Executive Excess 2006 Defense and Oil Executives Cash in on Conflict Big.
• Ugghhh. Well, one way to keep the curve in an upward trend... Damn, even Krispy Kreme: Scott Livengood, Krispy Kreme. Bonus money: $1.6 million. Restatement: $22.2 million in phantom earnings.
• Doughnuts. Is there anything they can't do?
• Big Oil revs up its PR machine.
• Former Bush Interior Secretary Takes Job As Attorney For Shell
• Exxon appealing order to pay $2.5B for 1989 oil spill
• When I first looked at that link, I thought it said $2.58. I love those WTF Moments™. It reminded me of the time my eye doctor's office sent me a nasty letter asking for the $5.00 I owed them.
• Senior Bush Official Misled Congress About Oil Industry Payoff
• House Rolls Back Oil Company Subsidies: Approves Additional Fees, Taxes on Oil Companies; Plans to Use Money for Renewable Fuels
• Did I mention that I'm really glad the Democrats won last November?
• Christmas For Exxon: How a Federal Appeals Court Reduced the Punitive Damage Award in the Exxon Valdez Case by $2 Billion
• Exxon Mobil nets largest annual profit in U.S. history
• Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study
• Ah, the good old American Enterprise Institute, landlords to the Project for a New American Century. This particular "think tank" has close links to Dick and Lynne Cheney, Newt Gingrich, Michael Ledeen, Richard Perle, and Kenneth Lay. FFS.
• 18 years on, Exxon Valdez oil still pours into Alaskan waters
• The study, an advance of which was released on Wednesday, found more than 26,600 gallons of oil remaining at Prince William Sound. Researchers say it is declining at a rate of only 4% a year and even slower in the Gulf of Alaska. The disclosure came as Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a US company, $39.5bn (£20bn) yesterday. Dear Unka Exxon, Pweese stop tha um, . . bein evol. Love, Li'l petebest
• News Alert: If You Love Renewable Energy, It's Time to Freak Out Sneak Attack By Democratic Energy Benedict Arnolds
• *slaps hands to face, gasps Why, you shouldn't be posting those nasty things about Exxon! I just saw a film in a high school biology class that showed what a good job Exxon had done cleaning up the Valdez spill. Pristine beaches. Happy animals. Very few birdies and seals had died anyway. The kids were happy that everything turned out so well. Exxon funded it. It must be true.
• Greg Palast Reports on the Battle Between Indigenous Ecuadorians and the U.S. Oil Giant Chevron
• California Supreme Court's Financial Conflicts Doom Appeal Wow. Talk about a broken system.
• Can't they be obliged to divest themselves as part of the terms of the job? I mean, it's a "Supreme Court", FFS. Either you keep your financial interests two or three levels away from your direct control or you don't accept the job.
• Exxon set to hit record profits
• I'm sure people that have lost their jobs and can't afford their house payments will sleep better tonight knowing that Exxon has done so well. I'll think about it tomorrow when I fill up the tank prior to going grocery shopping.
• Oil industry barely hangs on, thanks to brave Republican defense of subsidies
• Chavez Threatens US Oil Cutoff
• I want my subsidies, dammit!
• Aboard the Condoleezza Rice
• John McCain and Exxon Valdez
• The Daily Show: The Price of Oil
• The Permanent Energy Crisis Hits Home
• Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back
• No Blood for... er... um...
• In other news: Uranium Frenzy in the American West
• All the Oil News That's Fit to Print (Attn: The New York Times)
• A $16 Billion Problem: Chevron hires lobbyists to squeeze Ecuador in toxic-dumping case. What an Obama win could mean.
• Money quote: "We can't let little countries screw around with big companies like this"
• Gasland The Costs of Natural Gas, Including Flaming Water Gasland: Will New York Be the Next Casualty of the Halliburton Loophole?
• Exxon - Energy Everywhere