Air America vs. Vapor Trails

Update:Bob Baer, author of See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism, the memoir upon which the film Syriana is based, guested on AAR's Morning Sedition, listen here (interview starts about 3/5 of the way in).

---

Via Air America Radio:

New Document Shows Big Oil Dictates U.S. Energy Policy
A document from the White House may prove executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001. When the Oil Executives from Shell, BP America, Conoco and Exxon Mobil "testified" at a joint hearing last week in front of the Senate Energy and Commerce committees, they denied ever meeting with Cheney or officials from the Energy task force. This document gives specific names and lists specific times of meetings that took place in the White House between oil execs and task force staff members. The document shows most meetings took place with Andrew Lundquist, the task force's executive director.

I heard that the oil companies lied during the recent Senate hearings because Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Ak) allowed them to skip the oath. But, as a few authorities on the legislative and judicial branch note, they forgot about the implicit rule that lying to congress can get you 1 to life.

A few sensible senators have started serious discussions over oil saving measures. For a while this linked news story featured an ad for the Hollywood movie Syriana starring Clooney and Damon. The movie probably holds more truths than we can get from the administration and the oil companies.

---

On the wingnut front, quite a few peak oil debunkers have gotten quite active in swamping the fundie media with the equivalent of transitory vapor trails.

-- PEAK OIL - DEEP OIL
-- The Myth of Peak Oil
-- Fill'er up with Oil Sands! (with this unrelated thwacking by Tim Lambert of the sock puppet Fumento)

A WorldNutDaily article, 'Black Gold' strikes Big Oil 'nerve' -- Leading industry website drops book, column amid complaints, lashed out at fellow bloggers at PeakEnergy (MonkeyGrinder version) and The Oil Drum for disparaging "St. Jerome"¹. It looks like their desperation to sell a book written by itchy nuclear triggerman and swiftboater Jerome "FatMan" Corsi, has caused them to publish a spate of spew:

• Methane synthesized from inorganic chemicals
• How exactly do 'fossils' make 'fuel'?
• Mexico's Cantarell Field caused by meteor impact
• What if we don't run out of oil?
• ANWR: GOP passing the buck?
• Why ANWR drilling makes sense
• Thunder Horse in the Gulf

All this in the past week, too. Somebody get them Kaopectate, quick-like.

---

¹I feel relieved the WorldNutters didn't come after me; I fear I would have pooped my pants.