Minister of Science and Chief Protector of the Faith

Friday, October 23, 2009

T. Boone Pickens: Another Ugly American

 
T. Boone Pickens
Remember T. Boone Pickens? he's the corporate raider that spent millions on television ads [ 1, 2 ] proclaiming that he was pro-natural gas after being an oil man all his life. He later tried to sucker California voters into a referendum regarding his natural gas fueling station company that would have benefited Pickens' company to the exclusion of almost all other clean-vehicle fuels and technologies.

Mr. Pickens is the man that gave millions of dollars to George Bush and the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth. He also offered a million dollars to anyone able to dispute any claims made by the Swift Boat Vets. John Kerry sent Pickens a letter accepting the challenge. In response to Kerry's acceptance of the challenge, Pickens issued a letter narrowing the original challenge and changing the rules of his original offer.

Now the "reformed" oil man is complaining that the Iraqi government has awarded contracts to foreign companies, particularly Chinese firms, to develop Iraq's vast reserves while Pickens and other American oil companies have mostly been shut out.

"They're opening them (oil fields) up to other companies all over the world... We're entitled to it," Pickens said of Iraq’s oil. "Heck, we even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars."

It's appalling that thousands of American soldiers' lives have been lost, just as it is appaling that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis lost their lives in the Iraq war. It's loathsome, offensive and disgusting that an unsavory character like T. Boone Pickens is now trying to cash in on the lives of America's fallen soldiers. thinkprogress.org
 

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14 Comments:

At Fri Oct 23, 10:24:00 AM, Blogger Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

For a long time I thought I was the only one that pegged Pickens for the slimeball he is.

You would most likely find me hideous Dr. Zaius but I could kiss you for this one.

 
At Fri Oct 23, 12:30:00 PM, Blogger Randal Graves said...

An oily oil man? What's next, delicious ice cream? This madness is madness!

 
At Fri Oct 23, 01:41:00 PM, Blogger Darius Whiteplume said...

metaphysical flerg...

 
At Fri Oct 23, 02:37:00 PM, Blogger Darwin's Dagger said...

Dude wants his milkshake, that's all.

 
At Fri Oct 23, 03:21:00 PM, Blogger Ubermilf said...

Wait, I thought we went to Iraq to liberate them from that dastard, Sadam? Or, wait, we went there because they had lots of nu-cu-lar bombs pointed at us, and we had to do it for own self-defense! Or, wait -- 9-1-1! They committed 9-1-1 on us!

You want me to believe it was for oil this whole time? Next you'll try to convince me it was to get all those juicy no-bid defense contracts for Halliburton.

 
At Fri Oct 23, 05:56:00 PM, Blogger Claire said...

What Ubermilf said. Only I'll add "wait. You mean that TBP is not selflessly dedicating his sunset years to finding new sources of secure and sustainable energy, with no thought of profit for himself?"

Seriously, I heard a conservative blowhard complaining on the radio about this very thing (Iraqi oil contracts) and all I could think was "it's about time that some of them admit that this war was about nothing more than oil".

 
At Fri Oct 23, 06:52:00 PM, Blogger susan said...

‘To me, I confess, countries are pieces on a chessboard
upon which is being played out a game for dominion of the world.’

Lord Curzon, viceroy of India,
speaking about Afghanistan, 1898

It's still the Great Game that's being played in the Middle East and I think the powers that be won't ever be satisfied.

 
At Sun Oct 25, 12:51:00 PM, Blogger susan said...

ps - Watched Three Kings again last night. Wonder why they've never made a super-duper blu-ray special edition with bells and whistles.

 
At Sun Oct 25, 02:29:00 PM, Blogger Distributorcap said...

i thought all the oil in the world was ours?

wait till invade norway!

 
At Sun Oct 25, 10:15:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

We knew all along that this was about oil. I am not surprised. Just disgusted.

 
At Mon Oct 26, 10:58:00 AM, Blogger Dr. Zaius said...

TRUTH 101: Ha! Pickens is the kind of guy that makes slimeballs look good by comparison! ;o)

Randal Graves: Ice cream? Did you say ice cream? I'll have chocolate, please! ;o)

Darius Whiteplume: Hmm... Do you mean like philosophical cold water? ;o)

Darwin's Dagger: He may want his milkshake, but he is spouting Kool Aid! ;o)

Übermilf: I know. I had finally become convinced that it was the juicy no-bid defense contracts for Haliburton. Either that, or because Bush Jr was just trying to show up his dad! ;o)

CDP: The irony is that Bush is an oil man. How could the media have been in denial about this for so long? What did they think we were after, Persian rugs? ;o)

Susan: What a great quote! Although all of the piece are getting sticky from all of the opium tar. ;o)

Susan: I've never seen that movie! Wikipedia says that there was some kind of dispute about the original authorship. Perhaps that's the reason. ;o)

Distributorcap: Invade Norway? Yay! We can steal all of the Ikea furniture! ;o)

Seeing Eye Chick: It's like they stuck their finger in out ribs and said, "gotcha!" ;o)

 
At Mon Oct 26, 11:11:00 AM, Blogger Darius Whiteplume said...

@Zaius - Most definitely ;-)

 
At Mon Oct 26, 03:08:00 PM, Blogger Targa said...

So, Mission Accomplished, right?

 
At Mon Oct 26, 09:55:00 PM, Blogger susan said...

You'd like the movie even without the bells and whistles.

 

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