Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling.
Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month -- three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the ban -- compared with $116,000 in March, $283,000 in April and $208,000 in May.
John McCain sure likes to hang around with people who rake in the bucks, doesn't he:
Exxon Mobil Corp. posted a 14% rise in second-quarter net income, boosted by high oil prices, but results were tarnished by falling production figures that worried investors.
Exxon Mobil's profit of $11.68 billion, or $2.22 a share, up from $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, a year earlier, wasn't enough to distract investors from a 7.8% drop in its production of oil and natural gas. The earnings also missed Wall Street expectations of $2.52 a share, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
So...profits are way up, but production is down. Gee. ya think there's a connection?
Side note: I had a little bit of fun today. After years of being tailgated and bullied by Hummer drivers, I had a bit of revenge today. I pulled up to my neighborhood station, right behind some over-made-up McMansionite in a red Hummer. Not an H2 or an H3, but the original Hummer. You know, the one that gets around 8-10 miles per gallon. In New Jersey we don't have self-serve gas, but since I know the station, they know me, and they know that when I was in my 20's I used to work at a gas station on weekends, they let me pump it myself. I pumped $22.50 worth of regular into my Honda Civic and pulled a twenty and a five from my wallet, along with two quarters. She was watching me in her side-view mirror; presumably feeling infinitely superior to me in her Big Red Hummer and her makeup and her Botox and her skinniness. I waved the twenty and the five at her and smiled, then gave the bills to the kid working the pumps, who looked like he was going to bust a gut trying not to laugh. I gave the money to the kid, who handed me three singles, which I promptly waved at Miss Botoxia of 2002, smiling again. I got into the car, backed up, and passed her on the other side of the pumps, waving again for good measure as the price ticked upwards towards the $100 mark.
All by itself, that made it a good day. These days, I take what amusement I can get.
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