In 1962 Humble Oil ran this ad in Life Magazine:
The ad reads:
"EACH DAY HUMBLE SUPPLIES ENOUGH ENERGY TO MELT 7 MILLION TONS OF GLACIER!"
"This giant glacier has remained unmelted for centuries. Yet, the petroleum energy Humble supplies -- if converted into heat -- could melt it at the rate of 80 tons each second! To meet the nation's growing needs for energy, Humble has supplied science to nature's resources to become America's Leading Energy Company. Working wonders with oil through research, Humble provides energy in many forms -- to help heat our homes, power our transportation, and to furnish industry with a great variety of versatile chemicals. Stop at a Humble station for new Enco Extra gasoline, and see why the "Happy Motoring" Sign is the World's First Choice!"
In the early 1970's Humble Oil, was rebranded as Exxon Mobil. This is just one of the many additions to the updated slideshow I am delivering at a training today in Beijing, China.
This post originally appeared at Al's Journal.
BP: Summary for BP p.l.c. Common Stock- Yahoo! Finance
BP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Exclusive: Louisiana Senator Says Gulf Needs BP, Other Drilling
In a Fortune interview, noted climatologist John Christy contends the green crusade to fight climate change is "all cost and no benefit."
A veteran climatologist who refuses to accept any research funding from the oil or auto industries, Christy was a lead author of the 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report as well as one of the three authors of the American Geophysical Union's landmark 2003 statement on climate change.
Yet despite those green-sounding credentials, Christy is not calling for draconian cuts in carbon emissions. Quite the contrary. Christy is actually the environmental lobby's worst nightmare - an accomplished climate scientist with no ties to Big Oil who has produced reams and reams of data that undermine arguments that the earth's atmosphere is warming at an unusual rate and question whether the remedies being talked about in Congress will actually do any good.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/14/magazines/fortune/globalwarming.fortune/?postversion=2009051412
I am writing you, in desperation, to pass the Continuing Extension Act of 2010 (H.R. 4213) so I may receive additional weeks of unemployment assistance. I was laid-off on 11-30-09, and was receiving Texas state Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits, which expired on April 29th 2010, and have sent hundreds of resumes to employers and have received only four unsuccessful responses to date.
On March 15, 2010, President Obama and the U.S. Congress extended the deadline to qualify for Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) and state Extended Benefits (EB) to April 23rd of this year. This change allowed more long-term unemployed recipients to qualify for the federal extension of unemployment benefits.
Many Americans, including myself, still do not qualify for any EUC benefits due to the failure of meeting that deadline to qualify by just a few days or weeks (In my case, a mere 7 days).
Personally, this is especially disheartening due to the fact that a former co-worker, who was laid-off just 3 weeks before me, has qualified for EUC benefits and I will end up homeless, not to mention a burden on my city, county, state and the federal government.
Thus I strongly urge President Obama and the 111th U.S. Congress to extend the deadline to qualify for Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) to at least Sunday, July 4th, 2010 (Fittingly that day means something to ALL Americans).
GOD Bless America,
J. R. Regas
Registered Voter
It is indeed a tragedy for America - and the world - that you did not take the oath of office of president in January 2001. As we now know for certain, Bush, Cheney, and their neo-con "advisors" had already determined to set America on course to attack, invade... and permanently occupy Iraq - from before the stolen election of November of 2000.
The failure of the American "mainstream media" to investigate and tease out the true intentions of the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfo, et al crew was a glaring case of "major media" negligence bordering on malfeasance, especially since the Cheney/Wolfo/Rummy crew had signed, in 1997 & 1998, their determination to exert US military force against Iraq at the earliest moment possible -
http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm
http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm
http://consortiumnews.com/2010/030210.html
(We now know why as well: Both the NY Times & Washington Post are radical Right-Wing "neo-con" media outlets POSING as "liberal" media -
http://consortiumnews.com/2010/030210.html
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/022810.html
between them, the Times & Post, in their horrendous 'reporting,' provided the Bush-Cheney campaign millions of dollars worth of postive 'spin' "reporting,' while simultaneously denigrating your campaign with millions of dollars worth of baised and blatantly partisan stories.)
in standing on your Vice Presidential 'dignity,' and REFUSING to CONFRONT the TEXAS BUDGET DEFICITS that then Texas Gov. Bush had made of the buget surpluses left by his predecessor (Democratic Gov. Ann Richards), you failed to stand up for (as the bible puts it), "the least among us"...
....the low-income and minority children in Texas KICKED OFF of Pre-School, After-School, and health insurance programs by the SIGNATURE BUDGET SLASHINGS Gov. Bush imposed on Texas school budgets - while, of course, simultaneously giving those TAX CUTS for WEALTHY.
In the 1992 campaign (as capture in the movie "The War Room") you vocally and spiritedly championed those classically "liberal" programs that took 100 years of blood, toil, sweat, tears, and intense dedication for working Americans to create the American social safety net.
By 2000, you GAVE Bush, Cheney, the Neo-Cons, and the radical Right-Wing a FREE PASS to abuse the "least among us," as they rewarded the greed of Texas' wealthy ruling class.
Those pre-school & after-school programs had been PROVEN to SAVE the state money - by better preparing children for high-wage jobs, and by keeping them OUT of the juvenile CRIMINAL 'JUSTICE' SYSTEM.
The Health-insurance program detected illnesses at an early stage, reducing long term care.
Since 2000, the ENTIRE "Democratic" Party has been WEAK at defending the Social Safety net.
Like the smoking thing, people will face up to it when they see a different reality. Someone needs to tell a story--a fictional what-if--to show what our future could be. And to show how FILTHY oil has made it. Most of us do not see the reality of what oil is doing. Or how complex the delivery system is. People think a new grid and windmills are too complex? Nothing compared to what they did to bring us oil and coal. You authors out there, you moviemakers--give us a story to show us both realities, the horrors we are facing now, and the possibilities of overcoming it. We need a Titanic movie here. Intellectual arguments never change people's minds. Emotions do.
As soon as the GOVERNMENT makes it profitable to be part of the solution.
Money is the only thing that moves capitalism.
"To meet the nation's growing needs for energy,"
E.g. on the one hand both economists and ordinary people bemoan such as "the decline of the middle class" in the US, loss of manufacturing capacity, unemployment, etc. whilst, on the other hand, sometimes it's the same people who call for "alternatives" which would necessarily lead to more unemployment, etc.. It really is Catch 22. Even our ability to debate the issue here is contingent on a hidden mountain of dependence on things staying just as they are, e.g. so that we have plastic keyboards to type on and the electronics to transmit our comments.
And, realistically, it's all squandered because it won't make a blind bit of difference ... but neither I nor anyone else is going to stop, because else we'd get bored and have to find something else just as essentially pointless (and resource consuming) to do.
That's why I and all of us cannot help but be hypocrites and part of the problem really. But I've learned to live with it and so has everyone else, one way or another.
Any real change will be forced on us and none of us will like it ... I know. A couple of times I've HAD to cut back very hard and it is VERY stressful.
Our current level of unemployment represents millions of man hours of productivity lost to lack of application. Having those people working on green tech would raise standards of living nationwide (and worldwide).
The West Side Highway Is Not Underwater.. And Nobody Knows Why!
This from Rob Riess:
''While doing research 12 or 13 years ago, I met Jim Hansen, the scientist who in 1988 predicted the greenhouse effect before Congress. I went over to the window with him and looked out on Broadway in New York City and said, "If what you're saying about the greenhouse effect is true, is anything going to look different down there in 20 years?" He looked for a while and was quiet and didn't say anything for a couple seconds. Then he said, "Well, there will be more traffic." I, of course, didn't think he heard the question right. Then he explained, "The West Side Highway [which runs along the Hudson River] will be under water. And there will be tape across the windows across the street because of high winds. And the same birds won't be there. The trees in the median strip will change." Then he said, "There will be more police cars." Why? "Well, you know what happens to crime when the heat goes up."
http://dir.salon.com/books/int/2001/10/23/weather/index.html