It is important that these corporations become giants beyond human imagination, because pretty soon we will be running out of gas in the world and there will be a war over it (not that its not on already).

It is called creation of an artificial reality.

Here is the solution, we as a Nation of citizens(talking in US) buy Exxon. Then we slice the the profit margins, making it a defacto non-profit.

Or the idea I am really working on. I go to Exxon with a commitment from 50 million citizens (easy to arrange now with the Internet and Technology) and arrange a purchase contract on behalf of them with Exxon or whoever gives us the best deal.

It could be just 100,000 that would work.

"He is a happy looking guy, eh?"

... and as fat as Exxon's profits!! ;-)

I think the best thing I did was buy Exxon's stock!!

if you cannot stop them... heck at least profit off of them!! :)

Cheers,
Desh
Drishtikone.com

Too many bankers, too many American-made WMDs, too much profit for the rich, and with 'economic historians' like Niall Feguson around, wanting more money for war while blaming 'our' deficit on Social Security and Medicaid recipients (the poor),

and being that one lawyer is one too many, and that more money is never enough;

I am just praying for the day a mighty angel throws a stone into the sea ending the evil reign of Babylon, that is, America.

It is the only hope I have anymore . . .

There is going to be no bottom up revolution of Searchers who will hold the IMF and the world bank accountable so Easterly might as well head east with his nonsense. The bottom has been co-opted by the U.S. military, and for those who do not fight for 'us,' they will be killed for being against us . . .

You know you got it good when one population of brown people are willing to kill other brown people for you for 'citizenship.'

Of final note, there are many people who seem to think the greatest danger to the United States comes not from the outside, but that the greatest dangers are lurking within . . .

and it is not too hard to see where that type of rhetoric will take 'us' . . .

O mighty angel how much longer before thy day of action, the day the poor and suffering of the world are redeemed . . .

O just rider of the white horse, O Word of God, deliver us from this world's evil . . .

Amen.

peace

Has Exxon broken any law to reap such huge profits?

If not, then no reason show any rage.

Who has created for them such an opportunity to make huge profits?

If the current administration has, and the people think it is unethical, then they should go to the administration to seek the remedy. And leave the poor Exxon alone.

What's wrong with making money if it's within the law?

If the people of the most capitalist of all the countries in the world are against making money through honest, profitable businesses, just imagine what would happen to the rest of the world!

Why should the successful people be not happy? Does happiness come only through embracing spiritulaity and false hypocrisy - thrashing of materialism by spiritual teachers who themselves live in luxury?

Should there be any limit to the profits a company can make? Do they not pay back taxes to the US treasury?

Hi Mallika: If you guys get a chance to see Bill Maher's HBO specials, he does one where he includes a blown-up picture of this guy you feature here, and calls he "Fat Bastard" after the Sumo wrestling character featured in the "Austin Powers" movies!

This CEO just bagged an Exxon "golden parachute" that amounted to something like $670,000,000+-; and like you said; while the average consumer is really feeling it at the pumps--the more than recent doubling of the costs for daily commuters who spend 2-3 hours a day in their SUVs are now paying $60-80 for a fill-up, vs. $30-40--and Exxon's "bagging the elephant" at $10 billion/quarter.

This CEO truly embodies the image of a super-gluttonous "greedy rat"--to say nothing of what "is not" going into research and product development for environmentally sound and renewable resource applications! Dave

Look at this news.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/print?id=2242565

There is a lot of money
There is a lot of power
There is corruption

There is a hand
There is warm
There is love

Thirsty I can hunt to death to buy me a little something
Watch out! Full of fire I am ready to love any women!

Yes sure, don't be surprised, I am crazy
Try it, it is free
Please get burned by my hand touching your back.

Sweety,
Now face me

Amazing, how everyone cries fowl when the pied pipers reap huge profits; yet, they still drive their cars and trucks and vans and hum-V's; when in probably 80% of the cases, they can in fact, walk to work, or bus, or train, or bike.

It is YOU the consumers, whom line his pockets, with your high extravagant life-styles!!

Learn to walk again. Learn to be healthy again. Learn to get OUT of the consumer-market "game."

Then, the money will be in YOUR pockets, and not his/theirs.

comprende?

Can't this bloated blimp afford a tummy tuck?

Liposuction? Obviously, he won't live long enuf

to enjoy his FAT pension!

I give him 5 yrs. tops...

then bury him in the vault at Wells Fargo!

You guys want to try living in the UK, you can buy a house on what it costs here for Gas!

The "Deal" is that you live in a world that is losing its clarity and its soul.

WindyCavern,
Excellent point.It is we who should be blamed,not the administration or the corporations.
The demand for oil is created by us by our lifestlye.

Bigger cars,vans and HumVs are sold because we want bigger vehicles.How much amount of energy and power due we waste in our homes and offices.

Finally, we are the one who elect leaders and representatives.They are naturally going to be concerned about their pockets.

News like these make us feel ashamed of ourselves.

Richard,

Can you elaborate more on your plan?

Great #13 Prabhakar!!

So very true how we up the anty of war, due to the process of greed, coruption, and lavish life-styles. The world is not equipped for this, for much longer. Sadly, we will all face uncertain futures; even one day, those with millions and billions will not be spared the sparseness of water and fuel in our near future. That is, if we survive current global warming dangers and epidemic proportions of allergies each year.

So, if a family has 3 vehicles; learn to live with one, like your elders did! See, how clean the earth was then, and how abundant our resources were?

Now, we must war; and pillage other countries for our fat needs and desires.... for speed, for optimization of even the most menial of tasks...

As a superior race, we should all feel part of this current warring factor.

Mallika Asks:

"What's the deal here? Can anyone explain this to me?"

You would have had to be at the super-secret "energy conference" with the guy in the picture, Kenny Lay, Goerge Cheney, and rest of them early during King W's reign to know the answers.

As for why he looks happy?

Any fat tick gorged with blood off his host is thrilled to death. He's probably a walking time-bomb in terms of his heart. Will his millions save him from his heart disease?

Ravi: All that is technically legal is not ethical. I give it a 99% chance this guy has been involved in some really shady business, the only difference is his scandals haven't come out yet.

And I'd be willing to bet that this guy avoids more taxes in a single year than you'd pay in ten of your current lifetimes.

Mallika hit the nail on the head. She could have titled her post "Everything that's wrong with Corporate America" and just posted his picture. It's worth well over 1000 words.

Most people, if they had a viable choice, would run their vehicles on something besides gasoline.

This guy's main job in life is to ensure that most people don't ever have that opportunity. He is a success as long as "alternative energy" is relegated to a few geeky backyard tinkerer shoestring budget entrepeneur types that you read an occasional article about in the Sunday paper.

He can then point to those articles and say "look - diversity of opportunity - ain't America great!".

Craig - I have seen the enemy and it is us. Where that type of thinking would lead is to some sobering realizations and some real reform.
We need exactly that type of thinking, in large doses, badly. A lot less hype and a little more introspection in the White house would be a wonderful thing indeed. Vote for it whenever you can.

Now about that energy conference - when will we be able to read the transcripts? And how much of it went down "off the record"?

We'll have to wait at least fifty years to find out, because it's all been classified as essential to national security, unless the Supreme Court suddenly decides that it was unconstitutional to secretly determine the nations official energy policy. Which ain't very likely.

Poor Exxon---HAHAHAHAHA---that breaks me up!! You must be having a lot of fun posting up that stuff!

Oops, sorry, I meant "Dick Cheney" - bad proofreading

Mallika re: #16

We have the points. Now, as a society of those users/abusers of natural resources being depleted; which warrant warring agents via deprivation elsewhere; where we take it from.

As Exxon reaps the billions, in profit; Iraq weeps, and its soil seeps with blood.

How do we mend such a big gaping wound like this?

You could be the one... HEY you, yes you, come here, quickly come here!

Are you strong?
Are you smart?
Are you hard worker?
Do you like competition?
Can you perform on stress?
Do you have kids?
Are you ready to sacrify your family?
Are you ready to give your life to have a good image?
Are you well educated?
Do your mom and dad talking all the time in your head, giving you the right directions?
Can you obey all the orders without arguing?
Are you ready to become a man?

I can bring you out of your sufferances
Let's make business
Let's kick some a??

But first kiss mine
and I will make you unique, special
All will be at your feet
Women crazy to become your wife
A castle to love them.

Just ask, I will give it to you!

Sorry, I am already completely human!
I am getting colder
By your presence Love disappears

Can you please just be silent for a while?

Talking is the energy of no actions. Now we are living in the extreme sport of talking. Let's take some drugs, we do not talk enough.

We can talk forever... we are out of action.

Pffff! But at less, when we talk, others make statistics and society profils. The idea of control and profits really do not have end.

Simply, let's drop the useless. Let's burn the fat picture. Let's get out of Hollywood cities... Let's remove the superheroe clothes. Let's meet at the sea.

I am not an exploitable product.
I do not have anymore times too loose.

I am out!

Exxon.....of course they are making huge profits-who isn't. the US is in dire need for energy, they are holding their presence in an area of the world that has the highest natural gas supply, and oh, look, who is one fo their puppets:-

Hamid Karzai, the interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan, was a top adviser to the...UNOCAL Corporation which was negotiating with the Taliban to construct a Central Asia Gas (CentGas) pipeline from Turkmenistan through western Afghanistan to Pakistan." Madsen also claims Karzai "maintained close relations with CIA Director William Casey, Vice President George Bush, and their Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) interlocutors" during the Mujahedeen war. "Later, Karzai and a number of his brothers moved to the United States under the auspices of the CIA. Karzai continued to serve the agency's interests, as well as those of the Bush Family and their oil friends in negotiating the CentGas deal, according to Middle East and South Asian sources."

Deals behind close doors......

Sorry for my atrocious spelling (typing fast), meant of and closed :-)

On another note..Companies inflate their profits and we all know that paper value is not reflective of reality...remember ENRON/WORLDCOM??

I hear you Jean.

I am so guilty meself for staying stupid for so long in my life.

And then when I did wake up, after having broken so many of somebody's rules; I am screwed.

I am so screwed I do not want to even see my son, b/c I have nothing to offer him.

Yeah, I get it . . .

I said something once b/4 about how 'the Jews killed Jesus.'

But that is wrong. You know, ACTUALLY, the Roman soldiers killed Jesus . . .,

I wonder how many Jesuses are being killed by the 'nova Roma' today, I mean 'America,' that is . . .

peace

Well, i see lots of people putting up points which ultimately talks about conserving the energy by walking or using common means of transports.

but if we look at the point with more practice and realistic approach we can see that - the very system in United States is based on the comfortability of human life, in US most of the people tend to do things which makes life easy, body/mind is used to that now. just a small example - even if we have roads/mountains/parks we prefer to walk on the trade-mill and for what? supposedly for fashion and one can watch the TV while running or walking in the gym.(well i don't really know why people walk on trade mill).

so the point is - people lean more towards the comfort factor.

so for a moment i think the resolution can be - unless its become to uncomfortable to drive a vehicle on the road people will keep driving it. and we are humans, we will get to some or the other solution on this energy thing. its just the matter of time.

that all i would like to say.

Neither EXXON nor any of their competitors have gotten one single Lincoln penny from me since April 1, the day that I realized that I was the brunt of their awesome joke. (Truly, it's funny...where losing a war creates investment winners).

I now live on a 64 cent gallon planet (homemade biodiesel) and striving like heck to move to a fuel-is-free planet by converting our Mercedes 300D to waste vegetable oil.

When Rudolph Diesel introduced his invention at the 1901 worlds fair, he envisioned a world where transportation was made possible by renewable crops, ending once and for all the deleterious effects of mining for mineral oil (sound familiar?).

His design ran on peanut oil.

(Now we run our peanut farmer Presidents out of town on a rail and continually defame them lest another one would arise...say...talknig about inconvenience truths or something)

By November, the Mercedes will be running on vegetable oil and I'd be willing to bet anyone on this blog $500 that I'll be driving it for more miles that you will on the brand-new-laser-guided-smart-SUV-with-4-DVD-players-in-your-headrests that you're driving to your meditation retreat so you can feel better. Its odometer broke at 188,000 before I'd even begun burning friendly fuel in it.

Here's the ultimate gold (that's green) and I share with you its path on my hardrive:

\\People\HeavyLunch\Sewage\algae\oil\biodiesel\WayToGetToLunchAgain.doc

P.S. Never, ever use McDonalds oil to fuel your car. You'll make it sick and kill it forthwith.

P.S. This is a time to stop blaming EXXON (whose purpose, all along, was to provide petroleum products and make a profit for its investors) and get to work by changing things in your neck of the woods.

One more possibility:

You know how you've always heard that petroleum is derived from animal and plant matter (like big animals and big plants)?

There's a really possibility that 98% of it is derived from...algae that grew millions of years ago!

The only difference is that by growing the stuff now, you're not borrowing from the vast underground store of it, releasing tons of NO2 and CO2 that had been sequestered, and, instead, creating a cycle where everything emitted by automobiles is offset by earlier growth of algae.

Here's another little tidbit of info: hydrogen fuel cells are an antidepressant for those who don't have time to go to "therapy".

They solve nothing.

Energy transfer is lost converting to hydrogen and back to electricity at a staggering rate. Common battery technology available today does a better job of storing energy and converting it back to kinetic energy. And we haven't even BEGUN to exploit battery technology the way we could.

The hydrogen myth is propagated by those who have intense interest in making sure NOTHING is done to deal with our present situation.

They are committed to exploiting the magic of debt spending to filch our children's pockets.

Like I've always said: we don't have an energy problem. We have an energy STORAGE problem.

OK. Maybe I'm getting pedantic and smug (which is an unwanted side effect of doing a better job of things than you were before). But I have one question to ask you:

What are you driving to work today?

RANT COMPLETE.

Hey Dana!

Good question! I took the day off work, well sort of...I've been doing some office work here.

Anyway, in just a little while, I'm going to go out and fire up my big Ford 4 wheel drive! It's my old beater truck, but runs like the glory of god!! Headers, dual exhausts.. sounds like Nascar! It runs a little rich, so it smokes just a little....it's kinda funny...I can rack the exhaust and it blows smoke rings....kinda like you can do with a cigar!! The other morning I fired it up, and I could swear it blew smoke rings that spelled out something like "Kyoto sucks"....now I'm not sure about that, but it's what it looked like!

I was gonna feed it some vegetable oil the other day, but it snorted at me, and sometimes it's language is a little ambiguous, but it sounded sorta like "I'm not a goddamned vegetarian, I need meat!!" so.....I drove down to the local Exxon......you know....dinosaur juice...Pterodactyl cocktail...more potent than Wild Turkey and Diet coke!!!

Hope y'all have a nice day!! I'll probably also fire up my big International Diesel tractor this afternoon.....I can't share on a family blog what it's smoke rings spell!

norm

...Exxon profits big time

but was their TARGET met?

the world of wallstreet

As long as you're truly happy, Norm.

Norm!!!!!!!! HA HA!

Dana -

Good points all. In economics there consumers and producers, we don't have control over what others do...we never will; so we don't have direct control over corporations or someone elses business (nor should we). However, we are all choicemakers (consumers). So if I don't like Exxon profits, don't like our reliance on foreign oil...then I need to DO SOMETHING. I simply need to choose something else. Sure, I can use the excuse that "Big Oil" is blocking me from using peanut oil...but that is B as in "B", S as in "S" (as Dana has proven). I have chosen not to do anything at this time. And that's fine, but then I need to be adult enough to accept the consequences.

The problem of course is that a decision to give up the bigger car or multiple cars; the decision to take the bus or some other sort of mass transit requires that I sacrifice...Frankly I don't sacrifice (at least in that area)...I don't really want to yet. So I am not in a place to complain about Exxon. When I (like Dana) convert my van to burning peanut oil then I will complain. Right now, I would just be a hypocrite.

It's important to me that I take responsibility for things that are going on in the world rather than choose to think of myself as a victim of "big" whatever.

Peace,
Scott.

Hey, Norm: you must come utterly unglued thinking about all those millions and millions of smokey kerosine lamps that were usurped by the advent of electric light bulbs.

They're so gay.

The cool thing about taking responsibility, Scott?

You discover things like the fact that you can trade UP your hybrid Prius and get a GM DURAMAX DIESEL TANDEM DUELLY (which gets, I'm told, up to 28 MPG if tuned with a superchip for efficiency and perfectly embarrassing to my wife who calls me a redacted redneck for desiring a "rig"), and do LESS harm to the environment than the Prius.

http://www.biodiesel.org/buyingbiodiesel/retailfuelingsites/ lists all the B100 stations you can fill up at.

And then you can invest in a portfolio of biodiesel stocks cover the car payments.

Or at the very least, you can to to www.terrapass.com to offset your carbon output through contributions to the environment.

Okay. I cannot stop myself: unlike petroleum, biodiesel is a nonvolatile fuel. That means that you can pump about 500 gallons of it at the one station that offers it.

Take it home. Store it in 55 gallon plastic drums (the kind show horses jump over) and use it on a rainy days and save yourself the repeated trips to the gas station.

They even make biodiesel home heaters: see biodieselwarehouse.com.

You so funny norm,

I just got this poem from the ex in Seattle, as I have been asking her if she would like to see me one more time before I truly go over the edge, and do whatever crazy stuff I am going to do: "When the love fades....memories become unkind dreams. Promises turn to lies, and the only true justice is that which we do ourselves."

I efficiently hardened her heart, at least towards me; but I suppose as has been noted quite often before, one reaps what one sows . . .

So how is that Israelite war going!?! When did that start in '48 or something? William Easterly rhetorically asks, "Why did Sir Mark Sykes and the Brits promise the same piece of land within two years to three different parties, the Arabs, the French, and the Jews?" (p 295).

Well, I suppose we will never know, but Easterly does make one sound judgment, "The British Palestinian triple-cross still causes the blood to flow today" (ibid).

Indeed . . .

peace

Dana, I keep a kero lamp in every room....just for nostalgia's sake!!

Actually, I admire your ingenuity, just wanted to have a little fun at your expense!

I do not however share the philosophy that the loser espouses in his film, "a thousand points of doom", or as one critic put it, 'revenge of the nerd!!' I don't think mankind will cause the destruction of the planet, by being prosperous and by using her resources.

I'd love to see us come up with alternative fuels, though not just for the reasons the earth first crowd crows about. I'd love to see all those turban wearing, trigger happy, antisemitic, anti free world idiots over there, sitting on top of their sand dunes, with a zillion barrels of oil below...and nothing to do with it!!!! " Uh, Osama, can we drink this stuff?" "No Sahib, we've gotta find a market for all this sand. Let's see....hourglasses...ummmm....concrete....ummmm.. ummm.....Uh oh.....we're screwed....Death to the infidels!!!"

Then, Deepak would write a blog about the evil American corporation that came up with alternative energy, that is causing the Arab world to eat their camels and raise hogs for a living!!!

Bring on the biodiesel!!!

Damn my old tractor sounded good today!

norm

ps...just couldn't resist the stereotypes...go ahead call me a racist!! that would be wrong, nationalist might not be far off today though!!

Ravi : "poor Exxon"!!!

One of the finest oxymorons I have heard :)

prabhakar, more details will be forthcoming, but over all it is technology infrastructure to end the impotency of the individual. It will transfer power from the few to the many.

There won't be any more excuses for just complaining, there will be an action plan.

In the example above the 1, 10, 50 million people can dictate to the corporation.

You see we the people actually control the revenue flow to all the companies the "liquid" capital. If we withhold payment, or switch to a single enitity that serves us the best then business and industry must comply with our collective intent.

We are simply not organized enough yet to be efffective but this fall all that will change.

If all the cingular customers withhold their payments for 30 days, it will get the attention of executive management. Just an example of the passive power waiting to be unleashed.

I think i need to balance things out a bit here.

EXXON are quite unique in the oil industry in they are ruthlessly efficient in the way that they extract the maximum profits from their asset and operations...

What this means, is that as oild prices rise, their profits are better. In short, they are a well run company.

The reasons for high oil prices are not dictated by the oil companies, but by Oil cartels, Global production capacity, Global supply and Geo-Political events.

Its not anymore complicated than that.

The only thing that Oil companies can influence is Global Production (e.g. how much oil can we find, and how much oil can we refine to produce products like lubricants, aviation fuel, petrolueum, plastics, etc...).

What people forget is that during the 80's/90' oil prices were in the $10/$15 range.

There was no incentive for oil companies to invest in new refinery capacity or search for new oil fields -- why?

Because, they are capital intensive activities, the truth is whilst everyone knew that India and China were going to be a powerhouse, no company in their right mind is going to plan for that demand until after it occurs.. so in the short term oil prices rise due to increases demand, until capital investment in new refinery capacity can increase supply. Such huge capital investments in new refineries can easily be justified at these new oil prices.

MAll of the profits that Oil companies like EXXON and others are making, are ploughed all back into Upstream activities to find new oil, and even extracting for locations which in the past were not economically viable.

Well norm, if it were not for gluttons like you, we would not have to be killing off all of those 'evil turban wearing' people now would we . . .

Richard, your #40---yup, that's what people should do!! Withhold payments.... can you imagine the impact, the message this would send corporate America? yeeeeeeehawwww! Also, walking/busing to work, bring down the oil/gas demands.. and watch them big billionaires cry!!

These guys don't give one little shit; if you and your family are going down the drain.... why should we fear... sending "them" down the drain?

I"m telling ya; if I had the power,,, I would be "causing" shit over there in the USA, with work-walkouts first,,,then NO payments to the gas/oil companies(keep your $$ in your bank.)

EVERYBODY IN THE USA TAKE A WEEK HOLIDAY!! SHUT DOWN YOUR COUNTRY, AND LET BUSH KNOW WHO RUNS IT!! NOT HIM,,, YOU!!

I wonder, if corporate america would wake up and smell the coffee...... then? lol

North

"Six shot, one killed at Seattle Jewish center."

Now you dimwits (to coin a Ravi) brought your war to my State, oh well, join the crowd, we have serial killers a plenty around here . . .

My grandpappy always told me "after you leave the Army son, become a serial killer . . ."

I don't get it.

Exxon has 10 billion profit for around 110 billion sales. Thats around 9% profit. Whats the big deal here ? your local grocer makes more profit percentage ! Your neighbors made 10 times that percentage in the recent housing boom.

Are we hating them because they are too huge ??
Cos trust me there is no way to compete with foriegn state run oil companies if you don't have that kind of size. It feels like that half of you want them to go out of buisness. Do you want the saudis to even sell us the gas not just crude ??

As a shareholder i am hating them for such a small profit percentage in times of record oil prices !!Imagine what kind of percent will they deliver when we have an oil glut 5 years from now (oh yeah , im short oil futures for 2010 delivery).

Mallika, mind telling us whats the profit percentage at choprafoundation ?

Geez

"Corruption keeps us safe and warm. . . .
Corruption is why we win,"

says Tim Blake Nelson as the senator who believes doing bad is good for business;

...it's but a matter of time, of course, before he takes the fall. Others are sacrificed, too --

in the name of what, exactly,
we're never sure, save the price of doing business.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/Issues/2005-12-08/film/film.html

Thanks, Norm.

Just a question for you to consider (please don't take it as prosletyzing): what if the connection between human activity and climate change is valid? What if it's possible?

And if it is, is it possible that there's a "point of no return"?

The message--inspite of your personal feelings about the messenger--may be critical.

People "preparing the way for Jesus' return" may be no more that koolaid drinking suicidals taking everyone with them!

On another note, I just happened to see Liberty University's Ergun Caner give a sermon on Sunday (on TV of course). I said to my mother in law, watch this: his message is going to be drawn from the book of Revalations, explaining to her that Baptist political diatribe is oftentimes derived from that particular book because nobody understands it (and those who do are ordinarily doing the Thorzene shuffle).

He's renown as a former moslem, but judging from his speach, he resembles little more than a "Christian Imam" and a hater of Islam.

I was positively ID'd during his speach as he decried decadent, liberal (dumb), latte-drinking, hybrid driving, vegetable oil engine burning softy, an abomination to God. It was a weird feeling, because I don't know of a single other person who partakes in all three sins. (Dr. Caner, I'm no expert on theology, and I fumbled through my concordance as best I could, but I could find neither OT nor NT reference to using biodiesel or sipping coffee.)

At best, it was hate-filled invective ("you aren't a real man unless you've been hit in the head with a ball during dodgeball"), at its worst, he is mobilizing humanity to perpetuate its very next holocaust which, I predict, will preview on video game productions and have nothing at all to do with Israel.

Actually, some people believe that there's a holocaust going on right now in Africa, but I've never seen it with my own eyes.

Dana....I understand...what if it is?? But, what if it's not....the data is not conclusive at all....To fall in line as Algore would have us to do, would destroy the economy's of the whole first world....then what??

Rakesh....right on!! When I read Mallika's entry I laughed....There is a problem here.. 3 possibilities...

1. She's stupid. ( I Know she's not, she's bright and beautiful!)
2. That Ivy League education was a waste of money. Did they not teach economics?
3. She has an agenda!! Aha....methinks this is the one. She has a palpable hatred for GWB, and Because libs always link Repubs and Big Oil... Voila!! Her little diatribe, and goofy rhetorical question..."Can anyone explain this to me??"

I think the picture she posted is funny, but in the spirit of holding the sweet libs feet to the fire....was that not a little bit mean spirited?? We fat ugly people just can't help it!!! :-)

Dana, I've been thinking about buying one of those Chevy Duramax diesels you were talking about. I've always driven fords, but that one seems to be the mileage champ right now!

y'all have a good day!!

norm

Norm, you're awesome. Thank you for your generosity and sincerity (and...even...humor).

P.S. I don't believe Caner has departed a whole lot from the emotional roots of his childhood training.

I do not know much about the Dynamics and Connections of the American Corporates, but the points from Norm and Rakesh made sense to me.

Especially the last one from Rakesh, the % at choprafoundation. What's the profit percentage there which preaches peace love and meditation? Foundation for spirituality, All are one! All are Equal at the soul level but it's a business and we got to make our profits. When someone like Ravi was going into that terrain, maybe it sparked fears. You can delete this, if you want to, but it cannot be suppressed for too long. How about Profiting from the Israel's war on Lebanon? Great opportunity! Write a book and have some percent profit thru' that book!

Just questions! If you don't like skip it or delete it, if the truth hurts! In this time of crisis, if the war gets deeper, there's bound to be a great stir in the Universal consciousness and it's bound to get reflected everywhere, especially the blogs all around on the net! Hope not though.

What if it's possible that the "do nothing" path is a lose-lose path, and the "do everything" one is a win-win path? (If you don't have a planet with coherent weather patterns, you're screwed.)

If coal plants' emissions are scrubbed with algae (many are) from which oil can be rendered and a cycle of fuel production/consumption is developed domestically (where a quarter of our GNP isn't highjacked by the Middle East and several extremists states bent on the destruction of the U.S), and everyone gets to drive an even bigger car than they are today? The US is the "OPEC" of coal, and thus could reasonably become the chief producer of algae.

Wouldn't that be the equivalent of the advent of the cotton gin? Or the horseless carriage? An outcome upon which 80% of the world population could agree, a boon, a legacy we're choosing to adopt because EVERYONE can get in on a piece of the pie (to quote Ergun Caner) and breathe easier?

I think we're sitting on a healthy, sustainable oppulence of unimagined proportions.

Dana,

All the kidding aside, and the hyperbole, I really do enjoy your posts.

Craig called me a glutton the other day, I understand, based on my posts!! I was kinda having a good time, giving my lefty friends a poke in the ribs!

I do wanna make something clear. I believe in conservation...to a point. I believe in alternatives to our current lifestyle of consumption. But....I don't believe in doing it in a panic stricken way. I don't believe in guilting America into doing something, quickly and paying the price for centuries to come.

I DO BELIEVE this big argument is 99% politics. The earth first crowd hates the American way of life. This is one way to attempt to bring her down. I believe the radical environmental movement is as dangerous to our way of life, as Communism...it honestly terrifies me.

Is the earth getting warmer? I think it might be! But study history, there have always been times of warming, cooling, drought, famine, floods, storms....way before we started driving Suburbans and Expeditions...and Duallys for us rednecks!!

I just don't buy into the panic. do the research, obviously, look to alternatives, find alternatives.....

I find something amusing. Libs have always thought we paid too little for gas, now they're crying big blue tears!!! I have a prediction.....when gas hits $5 a gallon, someone in this country will come up with an alternative. I don't know why the left isn't cheering....oh yeah, wait a minute....I know why they're not cheering!!! GWB is in the white house....and it's just one big political game!!

Hope ya'll have a great day!! I've spent way too much time on here today...better get off... Big Mama will put a knot on my head!!!

norm

What is wrong with a $10B quarterly profit? Relative to sales and relative to the amount of investment they make, $10B is not really much to crow about. Pick just about any technology company and you'll see that Exxon's profit margins and return on investment are not particularly high. Maybe we should tax any profit over and above 10% and not just the oil companies. Ask the MBAs in your family how that would fly.

I didn't see anyone lament poor Exxon during the late 80s and throughout the 1990s as the Saudis flooded the market with cheap hydrocarbons, driving down the price of oil. Their stock languished for a loooong time and I never heard a peep about helping them out then while they were hurting. In fact, the cheap oil of the 80s and 90s created the current mess, because Exxon had no reason to invest for the future while oil prices were artificially low. What you're seeing now is the real price of oil, and it will go a lot higher.

Welcome to Peak Oil. And Rakesh, I think you might regret shorting the 2010 futures. Mallika, you can always use less gas if it really pains you. Try it for a month.

D2G

Norm, here's the research:

http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA440265

So I don't really care if Al Gore's building an ark. We've got a small economic problem looming, and somebody's got to come up with a story good enough to change our direction.

Dana...thanks!

debt-to-gdp.....You may not want to short the 2010 oil futures....but I'll make a prediction! If the dems win in 06 and again in 08, you'll be able to get rich shorting the ExxonMobil stocks!! They will listen to their kook, left wing fringe base...and will attempt to punish "big oil"...whoever that is....and the stocks will fall thru the floor.... just my take on it!!

norm

Hey, wait a minute, Norm: I AM their kook, left-wing fringe base :)

Maybe I'll run for president.

Actually, here's one of my kookages: "These days, capitalism just means the very worst the best will tolerate."

Ahhh. Friggin' whale food is the answer:

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34239