TEXAS: ExxonMobil Agrees To Comply With LGBT Employment Executive Order

After many years of refusing to include LGBT employees in their anti-discrimination policies, ExxonMobil, the world's largest energy corporation, has announced that it will comply with the executive order signed by President Obama just 48 hours ago. Via the Associated Press:

Exxon, which according to government records won more than $480 million in federal contracts in 2013 and more than $8 billion since 2006, has long resisted pressure from civil rights groups and shareholders to enumerate such protections in its formal policy. The world's biggest oil and gas company by market value will continue to "abide by the law," spokesman Alan Jeffers said Tuesday. He wouldn't say if that meant changing the language in the company's formal equal employment opportunity policy, but stressed that Exxon prohibits "discrimination on any basis." n May, Exxon shareholders voted down a proposal for the 15th consecutive year to add such language to its equal employment opportunity statement, maintaining that the business standards stated on a company web site ensure protections without having to specifically name them.

Even after all those years of dogged refusals by ExxonMobil's shareholders, there was surely little doubt that the company would comply with the executive order. But this particular announcement, coming from the largest employer in Texas, and coming so soon after the order's signing, is surely a loud signal to all the other federal contractors. I suspect some well-staged coordination. And that's a good thing.

GOP: Stop The War On Coal

Five Hours Of Gay

This is a real thing.

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Astroturf Email Of The Day

This just hit my inbox:

Dear Fellow Patriot, We need you to take action today to stop the EPA and President Obama from destroying our great nation. Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. are waging a war on affordable energy, and President Obama himself declared he would bankrupt the coal industry. The President has followed through on his promise; this is unacceptable. We must stand together and stop the flood of regulations that are sending gas prices through the roof and driving up your monthly electric bills. - American Energy Alliance.

From their about page: "The AEA is a not-for-profit organization that engages in grassroots public policy advocacy and debate concerning energy and environmental policies." Actually, no. The AEA is funded by the oil-soaked robber barons, the Koch brothers. And the CEO of AEA'a parent group is a former Enron executive. Bolding is motherfucking mine.

Romney Praised Hitler's Coal Policy

Back in 2007.

Remixed: TED 2012

(Via - Andrew Sullivan)

Coal Companies Will Say Anything

The Sierra Club responds to those asinine "clean coal" ads.

Swingrich Promises $2.50 Gas

Top Oil Industry Lobbyists

Last year the oil and gas industry spent over $145 million to lobby Congress for legislation that would help their businesses. In completely unrelated news, ConocoPhillips, the #1 oil lobbying corporation, just announced record-breaking 2011 profits of $12.4 billion. Almost 90% of that profit was used to buy back stock shares to enrich their top investors. Some might says those tax breaks and incentives were supposed to spur the development of new energy technologies, but that's just crazy talk.

New From Obama 2012

Unfeasible

(Via - Think Progress)

Real Christians Love Oil Wells

Last week a group of "leftist" Christian environmentalists, including gay activist Dan Choi, were arrested outside the White House in a protest over a proposed massive oil pipeline from Canada to Texas. But according to a spokesman for the Alliance For The Stewardship Of Creation, those protesters aren't real Christians.

"They profess to believe the Bible," he points out. "Well, the Bible tells them that they're supposed to obey the governing authorities unless those governing authorities either require them to do what God forbids or forbids them to do what God requires -- and that has not happened. So they are actually disobeying scripture by doing this." Beisner believes the protesters are seeking media attention. "They oppose the provision of affordable, abundant, and reliable energy, and they do that frankly because they don't want human beings to prosper," he explains. "They want our economy to shrink because they think that our good, productive economy is harmful to the environment -- and on that they're just flat-out wrong."

Germany To Shut All Nuclear Plants

Germany has announced plans to close all its nuclear power plants by 2022.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition endorsed a blueprint to shut its nuclear-power plants by 2022, repealing the law she pushed to extend the life of the reactors to become the biggest nation to exit atomic power. The decision in the early morning hours today by coalition leaders in Berlin underscored Merkel’s flip-flop from a 2009 re- election promise to extend the life of nuclear reactors. She did her about-face after the March meltdown in Japan as the anti- nuclear Green Party gained in polls. Her party lost control of Baden-Wuerttemberg state to the Greens in March and finished behind them in a state election for the first time on May 22.

Quote Of The Day - Sarah Palin

"It’s unbelievable (literally) the rhetoric coming from President Obama today. This is coming from he who is manipulating the U.S. energy supply. President Obama is once again giving lip service to a 'new energy proposal'; but let’s remember the last time he trotted out a 'new energy proposal' – nearly a year ago to the day. The main difference is today we have $4 a gallon gas in some places in the country. This is no accident. This administration is not a passive observer to the trends that have inflated oil prices to dangerous levels. His war on domestic oil and gas exploration and production has caused us pain at the pump, endangered our already sluggish economic recovery, and threatened our national security." - Sarah Palin, noting on her Facebook page that Obama has been in office for "nearly three years." If you count 26 months as three years, that is.

Sarah Palin's Latest Lie: Alaska Produces 20% Of Nation's Energy

Sarah Palin is making the rounds claiming to be an "energy expert" due to Alaska's contribution of 20% of the nation's energy needs. That's about a ten-fold exaggeration, Alaska only produces 2.9%. Don't expect the teabaggers to call her out.

(Image via - AmericaBlog)