Posted on 04/02/2006 12:52:37 PM PDT by WestTexasWend
IRVING,TX (AP) - About 50 war protesters rallied outside Exxon Mobil Corp.'s headquarters Saturday, saying that $7 billion of its record 2005 profits were earned from the war with Iraq and should be paid to injured veterans and those with health problems living near refineries.
After chanting "Boycott Exxon! Stop the war!" the group marched down the street in the rain, with a police escort for safety reasons.
Some held banners that read, "Spare the innocents" and "No war for oil."
The rally kicked off the "March to Redeem the Soul of America" that is to end up about 120 miles away in Crawford near President Bush's ranch on Easter weekend, for a third war protest in less than a year.
"This two-week march is to bring attention to the sins of corporate America," said state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, who also is the director of the Dallas Peace Center.
Mark Boudreaux, an Exxon Mobil spokesman, said the company was offended by the way such groups claim to represent the public's interest by making "inflammatory statements" that he said were "blatantly untrue."
"They're living in a fantasy world," Boudreaux said, adding that the company has donated $3.5 billion to charities the past several years.
He also said employees and retirees gave $60 million to charitable organizations and volunteered 800,000 hours last year.
Irving-based Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, earned $36.13 billion last year, the highest ever for a U.S. company.
Economic studies show that about 20 percent of that can be attributed to the war that has sent oil prices soaring, said Nick Mottern, director of ConsumersforPeace.org.
He is compiling a list of people - including injured Iraq war veterans and Beaumont and Baytown residents with health problems living near Exxon refineries - who peace activists believe should receive some of Exxon's $7 billion.
Protesters plan to drive south to several cities, marching along part of the way each day, and will arrive the week of Easter in Crawford.
There they will be joined by Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who camped in ditches near Bush's ranch last summer, demanding to ask him for what noble cause her soldier son died in Iraq in 2004.
Two of his top aides met with Sheehan, but Bush never did.
Her August vigil galvanized the peace movement while drawing thousands of anti-war demonstrators to the tiny Texas town, but it also attracted scores of Bush supporters who said Sheehan was hurting troop morale.
Sheehan and a few hundred protesters returned to Crawford for a second protest the week of Thanksgiving while Bush again was at his ranch.
Why do I doubt that...
Some people are just plain dumb.
Wish I could take two weeks off. Who's paying these people?
"Gee, how they'd get there?"
A crude device of some sort...hehehe
I thought Katrina sent oil prices soaring?
Well, maybe if the bloody Greenies hadn't had conniptions about building some new refineries, we night have less of a supply problem. Sheesh.
What a bunch of barking moon bats
What a lie!
Bush did meet with the barking moon bat lefty nut case.
Just not on her terms.
Must be nice. Wonder what they would do with no heat in the winter, no cooking gas, no fuel, no plastics, etc? People need to think and stop using their emotions to slide through in life.
I'd check for connections of the protesters to Hugo Chavez.
You can also bet there's not ONE of those idiots that wants any new drilling for oil in the US particularly ANWAR.
and don't forget the nuclear power plants.
Interesting.
marching along part of the way each day
Yeah, I'll bet it'll be a real sacrifice.
Not only do these companies contribute huge sums to charity but they also reinvest huge sums into R&D. I think the last stat I read had them investing about $2 million per day! Keep up the good work!
AND pay more in US taxes than make in US earnings...how crazy is that?!
AND have poured more money into infrastructure investment in the last 15 years than their CUMULATIVE earnings!
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