Hansen: Try CEOs of Big Oil for Fraud
NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen called for the CEOs of the oil majors to be put on trial for obstructing efforts to stop global warming and for misinforming the public about the issue.
Video of his testimony:
Could we also try the Board and Staff of the American Enterprise Institute, which is the "think tank" weasel that Exxon Mobil used to muddy the waters on the science of climate change.
Note too a very suspicious set of coincidences. Lee Raymond, CEO of Exxon Mobil until 2006, is the vice chairman of the AEI board.
The AEI was the major cheerleader for the war in Iraq.
So it looks like the Oil Majors are multitasking. Their "think tank" is giving out money to bribe scientists to deny global warming. And it gave out a lot of advice about how to go to war in Iraq.
My own suggestion would not be so much trial as exile. I think the American Enterprise Institute should be removed to Fallujah, where their expertise is so needed. And where they can get a taste in the summer of what real heat is.
John McCain, too, is speaking out of both sides of his mouth, saying he wants to go green but actually urging drilling off the US coast so as to put more carbon dioxide into the air.
And then McCain wants to offer a $300,000 mn. prize for breakthroughs in battery technology. He seems to live in an ancient era when lone geniuses could invent things in their guest rooms. The kind of thing he is looking for could only be accomplished by big government or big business, and he is offering chump change in corporate terms.
The problem needs hundreds of billions of dollars, not millions.
Oh, that's right, I forgot. We don't have them. Because the Republican Party spent them in Iraq.
So as to get more oil out of the ground.
Which will cause more global warming.
War, oil, it is all the same.
Only if we get big breakthroughs in solar can we avoid our asses being cooked.
No, I mean really. Cooked.
posted by Juan Cole @ 6/25/2008 12:03:00 AM
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While low cost and clean solar energy is what's needed to save human civilization (from itself), it's also the bigest threat to the coal industry and in addition to being in the thrall of big oil, guess who else McCain has sold his soul to. Yep, big coal (a.k.a., clean coal)
As for the $300 Million Battery sweepstakes - would Howie Mandell host this one also - what a pathetic Karl Rove'ish PR stunt. Why not show some real leadership instead and propose a bold plan to free the US of it's dependency on foreign oil (from our 'friends')? Isn't that what Presidents are supposed to do - be bold and make the difficult decisions that are best for US?
By difficult political decisions, I'm of course implying that the US Government needs to dramatically raise auto fuel efficiency standards starting now. 50mpg in a few years is a good start - followed by 80mpg not that many years later. Also starting now, the US Government needs to start 'creating' the engineers and scientists needed to make the technical breakthroughs by funding research at the University level. By funding, I'm also referring to the US Gov't picking up the cost of tuition and providing stipends in addition to providing funding to build and equip the best battery research labs in the world. Silly PR stunts might get press - but creating a highly skilled workforce of the best battery R&D engineers and scientists in the world along with a bold committment to raise fuel economy standards is what will get results.
Facing America's Future By Creating Our Own Pretend America Of The Past
http://images.salon.com/comics/boll/2008/06/19/boll/story.gif
thought that you may enjoy this in light of the global warming catastrophe that awaits us.
Bush and Cheney weren't the only ones to have close relationships with the oil majors. Blair too; it slipped out incidentally at the occasion of a sex scandal. Here is how The Mirror presents things :
BP boss Lord Browne was forced to quit yesterday after lying about a gay affair with a lover less than half his age.Lord Browne, 59 - who worked for the oil giant for 41 years and was due to retire in just two months - misses out on a £15million pay-off.He resigned after he lied to a court about how he met his lover of four years, Jeff Chevalier, 27. Lord Browne was trying to stop details of his affair being made public. Chevalier told how the tycoon discussed meetings with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown during pillow talk.
(...) Chevalier is believed to have revealed how during "pillow talk" Lord Browne told him details of sensitive private chats with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
The Washington Post
also also has a report on the story, but is much more careful than the tabloïd.
Personnally, I prefer the legalist way proposed by Hansen : Bush and all the members of his government should be appropriately tried and condemned. Bush and Cheney should be impeached for their ignominy. Then, the US country as a whole should be condemned to pay due compensations to the Iraqi for all the destruction and death waged on them. Further, given where the oil prices jumped following the insecurities created by the invasion of Iraq, the US should also pay subsidies to the other (unguilty) countries (especially those of the third world), in order to compensate for the part of the increase of the oil price due to the Iraq war and other aggressive US policies.
Yes, it would be quite nice to haul ALL those responsible for our dilemma into court for their just deserts. Meanwhile, we have big problems to mitigate--a term I use since there is no real way to solve Climate Change and Peak Oil. The latest paper displaying UK's plight can also act as a proxy for the US.
I've said before and I'll echo it here: We can find the funds to pay for the mitigation of Peak Oil and Climate Change only if we rollback the US Empire and reappropriate the one Trillion dollars spent on it yearly. And by mitigation, I do not mean the ability to continue Business as Usual. Oil for oil-based transportation and heating will eventually become too expensive, and Natgas and coal for use in electricity generation will also become too scarce and expensive to use. So mitigation means paradigm change, which also means wholesale lifestyle change.
Priceless time and resources have been wasted by both parties pushing the PNAC world domination plan--a massive crime and colossal failure. McSame wants to continue pursuing that plan; Obama seems to want to slow it down, but not abandon it. Neither is a valid choice for those wanting/demanding the change needed to meet current and future challenges.
I'm afraid the corporate boys are doing the funding at the university level. The Carlyle Group's tentacles reach into my alma mater, the University of Virginia.
http://peureport.blogspot.com/2008/06/mcintire-goes-carlyle.html
As for Lord Browne, he ended up in the employment of Riverstone Holdings, a Carlyle Group joint venture.
Watch out Professor Cole, they might have their eyes on the University of Michigan.
The nice thing about a prize is that it doesn't cost anything unless it's collected. There are examples of prizes apparently driving innovation in other areas (the X prize being one example), so this isn't an obviously nutty idea. Though honestly, I have no idea what kind of innovation is needed to get decent battery technology.
I'm sure prosecuting people for funding political speech, even misleading and smarmy political speech, is a terrible idea. At the same time, I'd love to see a better public understanding of the techniques used by PR folks to spin issues like this--the 21st century version of propoganda. Are there any good references for this?
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