Tag: cynical
Political Hookers Resurrect Keystone Pipeline
Apparently, no one in the mainstream news media saw the Keystone Pipeline being resurrected by our Korrupt Korporatist Kongress after the presidential election. Even...
Cynical Times editor trolls Clinton stronghold
Victor Epstein was cruising his Facebook timeline alone Thursday afternoon, buck naked in the privacy of his living room, when the break in the social...
Editorial: The Keystone XL Pipeline is a Good Idea
The problem with the complex national debate about the Keystone XL pipeline is that it's not really about energy, the environment or job creation - it's about political gamesmanship and misinformation.
The struggles this worthwhile project is experiencing are a perfect illustration of the downside of the energy industry's heavy-handed political ways, its penchant for half-truths and sins of omission, its unholy alliance with the Republican Party, and the need to rebuild its broken bond of trust with the 99%.
The American public deserves better.
On the one side, we have an array of environmental interests holding energy projects hostage to sometimes impossible environmental standards. They have a vested interest in waging this battle because of past environmental damage, because the American public doesn't trust its own energy industry, and because the attendant media attention boosts donations from a population that doesn't fully appreciate what fuels its laptops, cars, lights and hot water heaters.
On the other side, we have a profit-driven energy industry that sometimes seems incapable of telling the truth and regularly subverts representative democracy via legalized political bribery. The ridiculous job creation and energy security claims emanating from energy trade groups, like the American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, are meant to mislead the public about Keystone. Not to educate.
The struggles this worthwhile project is experiencing are a perfect illustration of the downside of the energy industry's heavy-handed political ways, its penchant for half-truths and sins of omission, its unholy alliance with the Republican Party, and the need to rebuild its broken bond of trust with the 99%.
The American public deserves better.
On the one side, we have an array of environmental interests holding energy projects hostage to sometimes impossible environmental standards. They have a vested interest in waging this battle because of past environmental damage, because the American public doesn't trust its own energy industry, and because the attendant media attention boosts donations from a population that doesn't fully appreciate what fuels its laptops, cars, lights and hot water heaters.
On the other side, we have a profit-driven energy industry that sometimes seems incapable of telling the truth and regularly subverts representative democracy via legalized political bribery. The ridiculous job creation and energy security claims emanating from energy trade groups, like the American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, are meant to mislead the public about Keystone. Not to educate.
