From Washington Post (US):
“When a federal jury in Alaska in 1994 ordered Exxon to pay $5 billion to thousands of people who had their lives disrupted by the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill, an appeal of the nation’s largest punitive damages award was inevitable. But almost no one could have predicted the incredible round of legal ping-pong that only this month lands at the Supreme Court.”

The title of this Feb. 23, 08 article is “Exxon Oil Spill Case May Get Closure”

“Closure”? The concept of closure cuts agains the grain of the rest of this story. There WILL NOT BE closure for the 6,000 claimants’ for the original lawsuit who are DEAD.

Well, maybe they got closure FIRST as death is the ultimate closure…

And what about the wildlife, dead; current ecosystem, damaged, what can the Justices in the Supreme Court do about that? One Justice in fact, Samuel Alito OWNS stock in Exxon Mobil — he’s recused himself from the case.

Closure, my ass.

While Rome burns, oil companies fiddle w/ the largest profit margins imaginable. Remember this story from Feb. 2007: “HOUSTON (AP) - Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company—$39.5 billion—even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent.” Here’s that full story on Exxon profit.

Then there’s the Feb. 2008 story: NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Exxon Mobil made history on Friday by reporting the highest quarterly and annual profits ever for a U.S. company, boosted in large part by soaring crude prices. Exxon, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said fourth-quarter net income rose 14% to $11.66 billion, or $2.13 per share. The company earned $10.25 billion, or $1.76 per share, in the year-ago period.” Here’s the story on Exxon’s 2007 profit

Exxon Mobil — and other oil companies — Total, Chevron, Dutch Royal Shell, BP, etc. — all are making HUGE amounts of money while people like you and I are scratching our heads at the pump and when our bills come in the mail.

At least we’re not eating dirt like the Haitians, eh?

And we’re not the family members of a dead fisherman in Prince William Sound.

What politician will have the mettle to tax these oil giants’ profits? And who will hold these giants truly accountable for environmental damage done w/ oil spills and pipeline leaks. And when will we stop participating in this travesty by thoroughly revolutionizing how we interact with automobiles?

Jim

From The International News (Pakistan):
“Malaysian palm oil futures jumped more than 2 per cent to a new peak for the sixth straight session on Thursday on tight global vegetable oil supplies and crude oil’s record over $101…. Palm oil has climbed nearly 21 per cent this year, driven by increased Chinese and European demand, a flood of funds into commodity markets and Jakarta’s plans to hike export taxes for palm oil.“

What?? How can we allow palm oil to be profitable?

Palm oil is forecast to be the world’s most produced and internationally traded edible oil by 2012. Malaysia and Indonesia account for 83 percent of production and 89 percent of global exports. Oil palm is grown as an industrial plantation crop, often (especially in Indonesia) on newly cleared rainforest or peat-swamp forests rather than on already degraded land or disused agricultural land. Since the 1970s, the area planted with oil palm in Indonesia has grown over 30-fold to almost 12,000 square miles. In Malaysia, the area devoted to oil palm has increased 12-fold to 13,500 square miles.

That’s right, and it’s even really bad for us.

Palm oil is used around the world in such foods as margarine, shortening, baked goods, and candies. Biomedical research indicates that palm oil, which is high in saturated fat and low in polyunsaturated fat, promotes heart disease. Though less harmful than partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, it is far more conducive to heart disease than such heart-protective liquid oils as olive, soy, and canola. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, World Health Organization, and other health authorities have urged reduced consumption of oils like palm oil.
quotes from the Center for Science in the Public Interest

So it kills us, it kills the rain forest, it’s threatening the orangutan…. it’s bad! So why the $%@#$ are we accepting it being profitable? Why are we allowing this to happen?