Skip to main content

The ultimate hypocrisy. "Not in my backyard!"

Lack of scruples, decency and hypocrisy on full show!

"In what has been dubbed an act of "exquisite hypocrisy," Rex Tillerson, the $40.3-million-a-year head of ExxonMobil - former oil giant and current biggest natural gas producer in the U.S. with 2011 reported sales of $486 billion, half of which, thanks to Tillerson's efforts and acquisitions, is now in natural gas - has joined a lawsuit against a 160-foot water tower "monstrosity" being built near his $5 million Bartonville horse ranch for a fracking site that, the suit argues, will produce noise, truck traffic, aesthetic damage and other "unreasonable discomfort and annoyance to persons of ordinary sensibilities," and never mind the water contamination, cancer and infertility risks and other unknown health hazards, where he's clearly, wisely not even going. Tillerson has long touted natural gas as "the next big resource opportunity for us," triumphantly citing the world's "voracious appetite for energy" and noting "thank God we can do this." He has likewise angrily dismissed the "dysfunctional regulation (that) is holding back the American economic recovery, growth and global competitiveness," dissing critics and arguing the risks of fracking are "very manageable," at least when it's not in his ritzy neighborhood, where it "would create a constant and unbearable nuisance to those that live next to it” and where, he told a town meeting, he and his wife have invested many millions of hard-fracked dollars in order to enjoy a peaceful rural life safe from the kind of carnage that his company has inflicted on Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Wyoming and God knows where else. Still, even if he loses, Tillerson has the consolation of being invited to join SCREWED, the "Society of Citizens Really Enraged When Encircled by Drilling," a self-described "select group of everyday citizens (that) has been fighting for years to protect their property values, the health of their local communities, and the environment." So, new best friends."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Reading the Chilcot Inquiry Report more closely

Most commentary on the Chilcot Inquiry Report of and associated with the Iraq War, has been "lifted" from the Executive Summary.   The Intercept has actually gone and dug into the Report, with these revelations : "THE CHILCOT REPORT, the U.K.’s official inquiry into its participation in the Iraq War, has finally been released after seven years of investigation. Its executive summary certainly makes former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the British push for war, look terrible. According to the report, Blair made statements about Iraq’s nonexistent chemical, biological, and nuclear programs based on “what Mr. Blair believed” rather than the intelligence he had been given. The U.K. went to war despite the fact that “diplomatic options had not been exhausted.” Blair was warned by British intelligence that terrorism would “increase in the event of war, reflecting intensified anti-US/anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world, including among Muslim communities in the

An unpalatable truth!

Quinoa has for the last years been the "new" food on the block for foodies. Known for its health properties, foodies the world over have taken to it. Many restaurants have added it to their menu. But, as this piece " Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? " from The Guardian so clearly details, the cost to Bolivians and Peruvians - from where quinoa hails - has been substantial. "Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it's keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to "base your meals on starchy foods". Adventurous eaters liked its slightly bitter taste and the little white curls that formed around the grains. Vegans embraced quinoa as

Climate change: Well-organised hoax?

There are still some - all too sadly people with a voice who are listened to - who assert that climate change is a hoax. Try telling that to the people of Colorado who recently experienced horrendous bushfires, or the people of Croatia suffering with endless days of temps of 40 degrees (and not much less than 30 at night time) some 8-10 degrees above the norm. Bill McKibben, take up the issue of whether climate change is a hoax, on The Daily Beast : Please don’t sweat the 2,132 new high temperature marks in June—remember, climate change is a hoax. The first to figure this out was Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who in fact called it “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” apparently topping even the staged moon landing. But others have been catching on. Speaker of the House John Boehner pointed out that the idea that carbon dioxide is “harmful to the environment is almost comical.” The always cautious Mitt Romney scoffed at any damage too: “Scientists will fig