Lucy Lawless took on Shell Oil and created an "awareness" that hopefully won't go away anytime soon. She obviously created a massive "hole" in the oil company's plans to continue drilling in the Arctic off the coast of Alaska as Shell Oil managed to "dig up" an old ad that the actress did for them OVER 20+ years ago! This is precisely the reason that this story MUST be told in the United States of America! The story has NOT been broadcast here in the US on any major network— cable or otherwise! The questions we should now be asking are: WHY IS THIS STORY BEING SUBDUED IN THE US? and... WHY AREN'T THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF OFFSHORE DRILLING? How is it that Shell Oil was allowed to slip their "agenda" under the radar? We have a few theories here at UPBEAT... First of all, Shell Oil is a publically traded company. This means that ALL information about the company, including any/all plans are PUBLIC DOMAIN according to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As citizens of the US, we are entitled to ALL information having to do with Shell Oil. But, NOTHING has been reported by our so-called "free press" in terms of broadcast television. Why is it that we have been left in the dark? Here are some names that all of you need to become familiar with: David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch— the two brothers still with Koch Industries— are affiliated with the Koch family foundations. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/21/private-companies-11_land.html  Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is all about … lining the pockets of their funders like the oil industry magnates the Koch Brothers and Big Oil companies like Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP... all while ignoring what is actually important to American families and their children.  

The Koch brothers held their annual meeting in Coachella a few weeks PRIOR to the Shell incident. According to reports from our source, the theme was removing Obama from office: Republican supporters led by secretive oil billionaires the Koch brothers have pledged to oust Barack Obama from power— by stumping up a $100 million (£63million) war-chest. David and Charles Koch, worth a combined $50+ billion [quite possibly much more], have been joined by 300 of America’s wealthiest businessmen in promising the cash to stop Obama from being re-elected. They met at the conservative brothers’ annual three-day Californian retreat, where they gain pledges for non-profit groups that share their world views.

Who else you ask? Broadcasters like Rupert Murdoch benefit greatly from federal giveaways. Holding frequency licenses worth fortunes, they're now receiving free slices of a digital spectrum valued at up to $70 billion. Likewise, cable TV conglomerates— with Malone's TCI in the lead— continue to expand under the protection of federal regulations that place severe limits on the power of municipalities to charge franchise fees fo the use of public rights-of-way. While lauding the "free market," Murdoch and Malone rely on the federal government's aid in their quest for media monopolization... giving them the ability to LITERALLY control the US broadcast media highway... 

In walks Lucy Lawless, a television pop-culture icon, with a dream and a deeply rooted compassion for saving our future as well as the future of our children. Unaware of the back story that we have been uncovering layer by layer, Lucy Lawless' genuine concern for our environment and the children who will inevitably be responsible for cleaning up a mess comprised of corporate greed and selfishness, was taking a stand to educate Americans as well as the rest of the world about the very REAL dangers posed by off-shore drillng. She wasn't committing any crimes; she was simply following her heart. 

The occupation of an Arctic-bound Shell drill ship by six Greenpeace activists including actress Lucy Lawless finally ended after police climbed the ship’s drilling tower and arrested the group. The protest was into its fourth day and the activists had spent 77 hours on top of the 170 ft. drilling tower. "This chapter has ended, but the story of the battle to save the Arctic has just begun," said Lucy Lawless, before being arrested. "Seven of us climbed up that drillship to stop Arctic drilling, but 133,000 of us came down." She continued, "We will continue to stand in solidarity with the communities and species that depend on the Arctic for their lives until Shell cancels its plans to drill in this magical world, and makes the switch to clean, sustainable energy." 

Despite the fact that the charge of "unlawfully being on a ship" was available, prosecutors have chosen to charge the protestors with the more serious crime of burglary. Are they SERIOUS? What on Earth would Lucy Lawless have stolen from a ship so old that they might just as well be using the Titanic to drill? Greenpeace insists that no property was taken or damaged during the occupation. The activists entered the Port of Taranaki at 6:30 a.m. on February 24th, scaled the drilling tower of the Shell drillship the Noble Discoverer and set up camp. The ship was preparing to leave for the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska where it is scheduled to drill three exploratory oil wells this summer.

Over the course of the four-day occupation, more than 135,000 people sent an email to Shell executives telling them to cancel their plans to drill in the Arctic. Thousands of people tweeted messages of support to Lucy and the activists using the hashtag #savethearctic, which also featured on banners hung from the drillship. Celebrities like Jared Leto and the official Beatles twitter page posted messages to their followers as well. UPBEAT Entertainment News Syndicate was the first to break this story and began pushing it along to every blog and news outlet available as well as their own subscribers. 

"We did what we came to do," said Lawless. "Together we sent a clear message to Shell that has echoed across the globe— it's time to draw a line in the ice and say: enough."

Shell is the first major international oil company to make exploitation of the Arctic a major focus. If the Noble Discoverer strikes oil this summer, other global oil giants will quickly follow and spark an Arctic oil rush. The company has a very tight window in which to drill for oil. Freezing temperatures, extreme weather conditions and a highly remote location pose unprecedented challenges, and make an Arctic oil spill virtually impossible to contain and clean up. Even former Shell Oil CEO and founder of the non-profit Citizens for Affordable Energy John Hofmeister, warned that this year, Americans are likely to pay the highest average price for gasoline in history, but cautioned that the U.S. could not rely on tapping the strategic oil reserve to solve the problem.




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