P.S. The Journal has done a few decent in depth stories recently that reminds me of their glory days as a real newspaper. How did that happen?
Monday, January 24, 2011
Money Speaks
Have you seen them? The TV commercials currently filling the airways saying how the oil and gas industry cares about New Mexico and how they make us strong financially. They even take credit for clean air and water in our state. They would have you believe they are being charged to much to do business in the Land of Enchantment. They prey on people's ignorance about taxes and royalties. Remember, royalties are a payment for the publicly owned resources taken out of the ground. Same with severance taxes. They are severing resources from the ground and they should pay for it. Right? Not in their handbook though.
And then they say the care about our environment while at the same time getting their new puppet governor, 'Oh Susana' to gut protective regulations on clean water, air and undisturbed landscapes. But, money speaks and they can pour it into the media and there is no one to respond. Well, the environmental community needs to get off their butt and start invading Santa Fe to fight this unmitigated propaganda. How about a few news conferences naming names, like how the republican party is controlled by the oil and gas industry through its former chairman Harvey Yates of Yates Petroleum? How much money has he put into this group airing the ads? Are there any journalists left alive at the Albuquerque Journal to ask these questions?
P.S. The Journal has done a few decent in depth stories recently that reminds me of their glory days as a real newspaper. How did that happen?
P.S. The Journal has done a few decent in depth stories recently that reminds me of their glory days as a real newspaper. How did that happen?
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2 comments:
I think what happened at the Journal was, between reading your biting critiques, and not seeing your 50 cents a day roll in, they were pretty rattled.
I agree with everything you say in your post, and I can see the solutions you've been proscribing the past few weeks working. But I think it's helpful to look at it through another lens, too, with the realization that Environmentalism and Capitalism aren't compatible. It has to do with how Capitalism functions, must function. It needs two things: natural resources and new markets. So you have millions of Brazilians driving Toyotas and the rain forest disappearing. Consider the major gains environmentalism has made, like the EPA and Clean Water Act. They are under constant assault and always will be.
Like you say, that oil and gas came out of our earth. That money that's speaking is our money. Our labor created it. Labor creates all wealth. Even in the oil and gas fields. In the ground, that stuff is potential wealth. It has speculative value, but it's not realized until we supply the labor. When I worked in the gas fields I put in 20 hour days. It's very labor intensive out there. Around the clock. The wealth I and bunch of other schmucks created went into Susana Martinez' campaign coffers, and paid for those ads you mention, and billions in profits on top of it. With those billions in their pockets, we can pass a new EPA every day, and they will find a Susana Martinez every day.
When you say "Harvey Yates of Yates Petroleum", what exactly is the connection you are referring to?
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