Fortune and fantasy on Africa's oil frontier
"Oil Tear," by George Osodi
Gas Is Really Costing Us About $15 a Gallon | | AlterNet.
Read this and think.
This excellent article details many of the “externalized” costs of oil production — costs that we pay through the myriad subsidies we provide to the oil companies. And one thing worth noting with this accounting: the costs of damage caused by drilling and spills in many developing countries can only be guesstimated. Standard operating procedure for oil companies working in locales far from prying journalists or vigilant authorities is to simply ignore environmental and economic damage.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Christiane Badgley has been producing and editing documentary films for the past twenty years, with much of her work focused on the U.S. criminal justice system and post-colonial African politics and history.
The topic of this report disgusts me. Primarily because, none of this is sinking into the conciseness of the American People. You could point to a general failure of main stream media, to embrace topics such as this one. However there are plenty of obvious signs that our society is deeply troubled by oil. First there is significant evidence to suggest that government officials actively work on behalf of these industries. For example, the United States Congress concluded in 2006 that the Bush Administration actively misled the American People about the certainty and potential severity of Climate Change. Including such acts as, censoring federal scientists and editing of federally funded research. An action along the lines of this, should have prompted combination from the public. It was, an impeachable offense and a grave misuse of public office. To think that scientific findings, that the citizens of this nation are paying for and desperately need to be made aware of. Are being manipulated in order to protect the livelihoods of these criminals. While, the overall health and prosperity of an entire planet is brutally ignored is deeply disturbing to me. People everywhere need to ask there leaders if people are still more important than capital? I am convinced by the actions of these “public servants”, that they are firmly on the side of capital. Actions that place private profits over public security are all around us. Yet, the vast majority of my country ignores the horrible consequences of trusting critical responsibilities to profit driven enterprises. Our urge to lessen regulation may have merit in rational businesses. However, certain industries are too vital to be left as private property. This practice allows a dangerous imbalance of power to exist. At this moment our entire collective existence is in the hands of executives charged with making money, not necessarily bettering society. The lights in our homes, the food we consume, the water that we drink, the medical appliances that save our lives, and all the comforts we are afforded are cards in their hands. We need to ask ourselves as a capitalist society what is hands off? The difference of someone owning a network of shoe factories and someone owning a network of power plants should be easily differentiated. The time to take action is now. We need to demand energy reform, before our society creates the biggest human and environmentally catastrophe ever!