Posted on 12/08/2006 3:50:10 PM PST by bruinbirdman
On October 27 Sens. Rockefeller (D., W.Va.) and Snowe (R., Maine) sent a letter to ExxonMobil's CEO requesting that ExxonMobil end its financial assistance and support of groups and individuals who reject global warming claims, and urging it to "publicly acknowledge both the reality of climate change and the role of humans in causing or exacerbating it."
"This letter constitutes an outrageous violation of ExxonMobil's right to free speech," said Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. "Whether or not one believes there is a threat of catastrophic global warming, the government has no right to tell ExxonMobil what ideas it should advocate or fund.
"Free speech means the freedom to promote any idea one wishes without the danger of suppression or punitive action by the government. When two United States senators declare that a company has 'manufactured controversy, sown doubt, and impeded progress with strategies all-too reminiscent of those used by the tobacco industry for so many years,' that is clearly a thinly veiled threat, and any sensible organization must regard it as such.
"Observe that the senators do not offer a single fact intended to convince ExxonMobil of the truth of their position. Their message is not 'agree with us because,' but 'agree with us or else.' That is a message appropriate to a dictator, not to the representatives of a free nation.
"Defenders of free speech must stand up against this vicious attempt to intimidate ExxonMobil into embracing the global warming cause, and declare that the government has no business telling Americans what they should think or say."
When we said "free speech" - we didn't mean for those who disagree.
-the American Left
Become dhimmis to the anti-truth, anti-freedom "Convenient Opinion" Collective.
The original John D. Rockefeller must be puking in his grave that his stupid arrogant great grandson is attacking the very corporation that he founded and that provided all the wealth that Jay Rockefeller inherited!
Leftist intelligencia have depended on the "guilt feelings" of the rich since the Frankfort School days. They need to change capitalist culture to defeat it: - you are rich, that came from those who are now poor, you should feel guilty for having so much, giving back money will not make up for your great grandfather's sins, you must help change society.
"The Frankfort School" is a class taught at the U.S. Naval Academy.
yitbos
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.