Submitted by Bob Burton on
Alaska's Future, is a front group which, according to its former president, was created by BP, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. The group may be required to disclose its funders and other financial information, following a three-hour hearing by the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Even though commission staff recommended dismissing a complaint brought against the group, the Commissioners decided they wanted to consider the matter further. The group was originally formed to promote a proposal for a pipeline that would serve the three companies. More recently, the group has run television advertisements opposing a ballot initiative that would tax the leaseholders of gas reserves $1 billion a year until a gas pipeline is built. In September, BP spokesman Daren Beaudo told the Anchorage Daily News that the company only intended to disclose what it spent on the campaign after the election.
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jupiter replied on Permalink
liability is a football to be tossed to another
Okay this is not the best analogy (see subject line), because the game of football does not operate like a game of "hot potato."
Anyway my observation of this society is that there is a sort of "sporting" attitude that permeates way too many aspects of all life. Sports are one thing --- and whether one appreciates any them at all, or not.
In Roman times, one of the more obvious pieces of leftover evidence before their eventual fall, was their collesium (sp?). Apparently this is leftover evidence of their bloodthirsty cravings for brutal and murderous sports.
In the rise and fall of civilizations, I wonder just where sports start getting way out of hand. Even primitive societies probably have some sporting events --- just for fun instead of life and death, and this probably occurs when they start having just enough leftover time, after the mere survival chores have been done.
But is it a pattern that societies start getting too much free time perhaps, where they don't have to prioritize their to-do lists, and then they fall into delusions and distractions of various sorts, according to their own proclivities, one of which might be making all aspects of life into competitive sports?
And then they even start seeing "justice" itself as something to turn "sporty" --- such as doing a rotten dirty and sociopathic deed (or just anything socially irresponsible, such as violating the commandment to "not bear false witness against thy neighbor," or whatever according to one's own religion, etc.). Anyway as I was saying, they do some rotten dirty thing like dangle peoples' lives over dangerous pollution pits or whatever (there are many examples of these sorts of socially irresponsible things).
And then they want to (after the fact, mind you) toss the liability around to some other party, like via the legal system or the media, etc. Huh --- that's why they are so adamant to get rid of the trial lawyers. That would be to get rid of whatever vestige of the legal system is left that protects the public.