And it doesn't help that big oil has a very public 'screw you' attitude toward consumers. When you were paying nearly $3 a gallon at the pump, Exxon Mobil was giving it's CEO Lee Raymond a record $400 million retirement package. And that was on top of record profits enjoyed by that company -- more profits, in fact, than any company in history. $36 billion.
The fact that Raymond bears a striking resemblence to Star Wars villain Jabba the Hut can't help any, either.Turns out, we're merely misinformed.
Reuters Alertnet:
The American Petroleum Institute has enlisted Edelman, the global public-relations agency, and polling experts at Harris Interactive Inc. to fix what it sees as major misperceptions in how everyday Americans view the industry.
"The U.S. public and frankly many policymakers have little or no understanding about the energy business," said Red Cavaney, the institute's president.
Cavaney declined to say exactly how much the industry will spend on the campaign, which takes the form of advertisements in major U.S. newspapers and television commercials.
A source told Reuters that the API will spend a mere $100 million to inform the public that they aren't throwing money around and screwing consumers. "I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard what they were spending," the source said.
Dem Senators Hurt Exxon's Feelings
In a separate, but related story, Raw Story reports that a UK noble is calling for the resignation of two US senators.
A member of the United Kingdom's nobility, who is also a vocal skeptic of global warming, has called on two senators to apologize to oil giant ExxonMobil or resign from the US Senate, RAW STORY has learned.
In a lengthy letter dated December 11th, Viscount Monckton of Brenchley criticized Senators Jay Rockefeller (D - WV) and Olympia Snowe (R -ME) for a letter they sent to ExxonMobil. In the letter, Rockefeller and Snowe compared the major oil company's funding of scientists skeptical of global climate change caused by human activities to the tobacco industry's support of discredited science questioning the link between cigarette smoking and negative health effects. They also told ExxonMobil that no credible scientific study in recent years doubted the connection between anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and changes to the planet's climate.
No word yet on whether Snow and Rockefeller's response was "blow me."
Tags: news | politics | oil | energy | propaganda | Exxon | Lee Raymond | Global Warming
