Venezuela has been well and truly Fracked by the USA

Editor’s Note: We’re not sure about the accuracy of some of the statements by Peter Binose. We encourage our readers to research what Mr. Binose says and to state their opinions in the comments section.

Let ‘er rip!

By Peter Binose

Oil prices are down worldwide due to the Americans discovery and application of a process called fracking, and an oil pipeline from Canada.

“It’s such a shame that Chavez is no longer with us to experience Venezuela getting a good fracking.” 

Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside. Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well.

The Venezuelans held the USA hostage with oil supplies for years, even offering cheap oil to certain cities and communities as a snub to the US Government. The Venezuelans own gas stations all over the US, thus squeezing those extra dimes from the Americans.

Citgo is a U.S. refining and marketing firm that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. Money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela. There are 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the US. By buying gasoline at Citgo, American are contributing to the billions of dollars that Venezuela’s democratic government is wasting on military arms.

Venezuela Dictator Hugo Chavez Vowed To Bring Down U.S. Government. Chavez, president of Venezuela, told a TV audience: “Enough of imperialist aggression; we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century.”

It’s such a shame that Chavez is no longer with us to experience Venezuela getting a good fracking. 

Missing in Action: A Dynamic Revival Plan for the Barbados Economy

“Borrowing to pay the interest on debt is a financial disaster waiting to happen which any teenager with a credit card could have told the minister.”

Barbados 2011 Budget Statement: A failed opportunity by the DLP Government

By Hal Austin in London

A Global Overview:

The global economy is in the throes of a major historic swing, with economic power moving gradually, but irreversibly, from the old developed economies to the newly Emerging Markets, led by China, India and Brazil, but including nearly all of the Asian, ex Japan, Latin American economies.

This is evidenced by the interesting fact that while the old economies – the US, UK, euroland and Japan – are in terrible trouble, about to fall back in to a double-dip recession, the Emerging Markets are continuing to grow at astronomical rates.

“Barbados is caught in this bind, an over-dependence on the old markets for tourist traffic, while not making any real effort to deal with the growing new economic powerhouses.”

To find a solution to this crisis, first the government must know what the problem is. And there is no evidence that the government or central bank has been treating the global economic crisis with the seriousness with which it deserves.

The global financial crisis of 2007/8 was not caused by the traditional inflationary or balance of payments shocks, (but? *) by the build up of historically high imbalances in the property sectors in Europe and the United States, the packaging of that debt and the subsequent contagion across markets. (* Editor’s note: The manuscript we received from Mr. Austin is unclear whether the word “but” might have been omitted from this location. Would Mr. Austin kindly email us to advise. Thanks!)

The following recession and attempts at a subsequent recovery have all been atypical with uneven economic growth, fiscal crises in the southern part of euroland and a battle between the Republican-controlled Congress and the Democratic-controlled Senate over macroeconomic policy, which has undermined confidence and looks set to plunge the world back in to a double-dip recession.

This broadly is the global landscape in which the Barbados government is functioning and which the Budget on August 16 was meant to provide the necessary fiscal and monetary cover for local businesses, consumers and workers.

The Budget: An Overview

Sadly everything in the Budget was predictable and uninspiring – the old clichés, the rhetoric, the criticism of adversaries, the over-dependence on civil servants and party hacks for ideas.

“The threat to issue bonds to reduce Bds$1bn in debt, with a target of $755.3m during this financial year, is a not so clever way of passing on government debt to bondholders, many of whom will be households.”

Mr Sinckler told the House: “In the next five years, maturities of the medium term securities will increase from $256m in 2012 to $413.6m in 2016. Consequently, if the deficit continues to be at the 2011/2 level, annual issuances of local debt will increase to approximately $1bn in order to satisfy maturing issues and to finance the deficit.”

This says it All. The government will be issuing IOUs to cover debt owed to other IOU owners and to finance its continuing current account deficit.

This is not only unfair, but to my mind borders on the fraudulent, since government is highly likely to default on these long-dated promises, certainly not priortise them for the honouring of coupons since they will have little or no impact on the much-treasured credit rating agency approvals.

This is a government that has failed to meet pensions and salary obligations for workers.

What makes this policy particularly ill-thought out, is that clearly the government has lost the confidence of the global lenders, it has lost the confidence of regional lenders and it has not turned to households, who no doubt will be mainly pensioners and people looking to diversify their savings, to fund this massive black hole which the government has done nothing in two Budgets to reduce.

How could the Barbados National Oil Company lose $65 million?

Barbados Free Press reader “St. George’s Dragon” asks…

“The results of the Barbados National Oil Company are out (a year late) and scandalously show that they have lost $48 million in the year, and will presumably have lost another similar amount in the time since March 2009 year end.

I am not an accountant, but there must be some relevance in the fact that the profit from the up-stream side (is that oil production?) is $14.5 million, while the marketing side has lost $65 million.

How can you lose $65 million when the fuel prices are not subsidised by the Government any more?”

PWC Auditors say Barbados National Oil Company “not viable” – No kidding!

According to The Nation, the auditing firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers says that the Barbados National Oil Company is on a downward spiral and will crash and burn without more of your tax dollars.

Will Barbados Environment Minister Denis Lowe attend World Environment Day Parish Walk – Saturday, June 5, 2010?

Why does our Environment Minister shun citizen-organised Environmental events?

Minister Denis Lowe

With his friendly demeanor and large frame Barbados Environment Minister Denis Lowe is easy to spot when he appears in public, but other than his press interviews and carefully-staged talks at schools, political functions and Ministry show-projects, Mr. Lowe remains The Invisible Man to ordinary citizens.

Saturday, June 5, 2010 is World Environment Day (UN WED website here).

Commemorated on 5 June since 1972, World Environment Day is one of the principal vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action.

This year, the National Conservation Commission and the Future Centre Trust are jointly holding a World Environment Day Parish Walk from the Eric Holder Centre in St Joseph to Bathsheba.  This event also marks the 40th Anniversary of the NCC.

We wonder if Environment Minister Lowe will attend this citizen-organised walk or if he will limit his participation to taking out one of his famous full page adverts in The Barbados Advocate. In lieu of the full page advert, perhaps he might be planning to do one of his “I am concerned” media interviews while standing in front of government crews cleaning drains. (The Barbados Advocate covers Dr. Lowe’s stand up interviews faithfully but that has nothing to do with the regular full page government advertisements… honest!)

Pardon our cynicism folks, but Dr. Lowe and his Ministry have been no-shows at so many environmental events that we have to wonder. Most recently the Barbados Government, Environment Minister Denis Lowe and the Environment Ministry were invited to participate in the planning and execution of No Plastic Bag Day.

Denis Lowe canceled a scheduled meeting with the Future Centre Trust at the last moment saying he had more important commitments. Lowe sent no stand-in. No Ministry of the Environment personnel responded to invitations either – and no politicians from any party showed up during the planning or on the day of the event. The Barbados DLP Government of Prime Minister David Thompson did do one thing though: the DLP denied a duty waiver on the green shopping bags imported as part of No Plastic Bag Day.

The good Doctor Lowe hasn’t been seen at any beach or gully clean-ups either. He’s also been conspicuously absent from the site of the Shell Oil pipeline spill since he was elected.

“There is no question that Shell Oil bought and paid for two successive Barbados governments. How else can we explain the actions of both the BLP and DLP governments in allowing this negligent and abusive company to walk away free from a major pipeline leak that polluted the water table over hundreds of acres, ruined agricultural land and still threatens our beaches?”

from the BFP article How Much Did It Cost Shell Oil To Buy Two Barbados Governments? Without Election Financing Laws, We’ll Never Know

Prior to the DLP victory in January 2008, Denis Lowe was happy to work with environmentalists and concerned citizens to look for justice for the victims of the Shell Oil pipeline spill. Lowe attended with Adrian Loveridge and others to pull buckets of Shell jet fuel from household water wells and demand that Shell take responsibility and clean up their mess.

That was prior to the DLP forming the government, of course.

Now? We have Shell Oil’s “fixer company” saying they will “ensure government buy-in” to Shell’s position.

Hey… Dr. Lowe, please tell us how much in “campaign donations” that you and the Democratic Labour Party have received from Shell, SOL or associated companies since you lost interest in the Shell Oil pipeline spill?

Does it matter whether or not Environment Minister Lowe shows up for World Environment Day?

At this point? Nope. It doesn’t matter at all. Not a bit.

Barbados Free Press will be there though. See you on Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 5am for a 6am start at the Eric Holder Centre in St Joseph.

(5am? I know, I know! But Clive promises he’ll either get up early or stay up all night. Do we believe him? Sure! 🙂 )

Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association asks BLP & DLP “Where is the Environmental Act you’ve both been promising for 20 years?”

UPDATED: September 2, 2011

Here we are on September 2, 2011 – some 26 years and 8 months since our BLP & DLP governments first promised to pass a comprehensive Environmental Protection Act.

It has been well over a year since Sue Springer, Executive VP of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) asked the DLP and the BLP where their promised Environmental Act went to – and still we have no action.

Nothing has changed. Liz Thompson just rolled into town to talk about the environment and gave us more of the same fine words we’ve heard for almost three decades. At the same meeting, Keith Franklin, Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office said “Environmental issues are taking a toll on the development of the world’s societies and economies and must be discussed and tackled at several levels.”

No kidding? Really? Gosh, we’d never had known!

Nothing but words. Words is all we get from these people. No action. No Environmental Protection Act.

To all our Environment Ministers, past and present, we give a hearty “Thanks for nothing.”

Original article first published May 13, 2010…

“My understanding is that it is coming up now to nearly 15 to 20 years that we are waiting on a new Environmental Act for Barbados. What message does that send?”

… Sue Springer, Executive VP of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) in the Barbados Advocate Protect environment to protect tourism sector.

Citizens getting tired of the same old BS promises from successive Barbados Governments

According to our research and community memory, Bajans were first promised an Environmental Protection Act in 1985 under Tom Adams when Aaron Truss was the BLP Government’s Minister of the Environment. Nothing more was heard about the legislation, and Tom Adams died a few months after the promise. (Some remember that Aaron Truss was once arrested for smuggling slot machines into Barbados as “used cash registers” – chuckle -)

In 1991 the new DLP Environment Minister, Warwick Franklin, promised a “Clean Environment Law”. Nothing happened and no draft was ever seen.

In 1995 newly elected BLP Prime Minister Owen S. Arthur promised to make the environment a priority. Late in 1996 as the true extent of the disastrous Shell Oil pipeline leak started to become known, Arthur went on the record and promised “Environmental legislation, controls and standards”.

Mega-Disaster oil spill hits Southern USA – Lessons for Caribbean small island nations

The end of the world for many southern USA coastal communities

Unless you’ve been on the planet Mars or in Dodds Prison for the last few days, you know that a BP oil rig off the coast of Louisiana, USA exploded, caught fire and is spewing 5000 barrels of oil a day into the already-not-pristine waters of the Caribbean.

An oil slick the size of the state of West Virginia is starting to come ashore and threatens all along the southern USA coast from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama to Florida. The Mississippi River is covered with oil a mile up from the coast and that’s just the start.

This is the end of the world for many coastal communities because as we saw with the Exxon Valdez in Alaska and the Shell Oil spill in Barbados these disasters kill everything for decades.

President Obama has declared a national emergency and sent in the military to do what they can do, but the magnitude of the spill means that only God could now prevent the total destruction of fisheries and tourism on thousands of miles of coastline.

“BP suggested in a 2009 exploration plan and environmental impact analysis for the well that an accident leading to a giant crude oil spill — and serious damage to beaches, fish and mammals — was unlikely, or virtually impossible.

The Coast Guard estimates now that at least 1.6 million gallons of oil have spilled since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers. The environmental catastrophe could eclipse the Exxon Valdez disaster, when an oil tanker spilled 11 million gallons off Alaska’s shores in 1989.”

… from the AP news story BP plan deemed major spill from Gulf well unlikely

Blame Game doesn’t matter right now

Some news stories indicate that the oil rig in question had major problems and safety violations for some time prior to the disaster. Some stories say that the oil rig was an older technology and that the operators were reckless. Some say that the rig met standards (whatever they are) but that nothing at sea is guaranteed 100% safe and secure.

Only the last statement about nothing at sea being 100% safe and secure is obviously true, but none of that matters to the poor folks along the coast who are seeing their lives destroyed. We know from past experience that any lawsuits will take two decades or more to settle. We know from past experience that committee after committee will perform study after study while tens of thousands lose their homes, jobs and businesses. Families will disperse. Lifetimes, even generations, of toil and sacrifice will be destroyed.

But BP British Petroleum will do alright because no doubt the rig was owned and operated by sub-companies with limited assets and even thinner insurance coverage and liability. BP will do alright because the politicians of the United States of America put the long term interests of the ordinary people and the nation secondary to the great god of MONEY and PROFIT.

All of which leads us to former Barbados Minister of Energy and the Environment Elizabeth Thompson.

During her tenure as Environment Minister, Elizabeth Thompson took the lead in auctioning off oil exploration areas around Barbados to multi-national oil companies. The Bajan news media proclaimed exaggerated benefits and mentioned no downside to this sell-a-thon of Bajan sovereignty.

Unnoticed and unmentioned by Liz Thompson and the Bajan news media though, was the fact that Barbados has no environmental legislation, regulations or enforcement organisation to police the oil companies. This disaster that will do so much damage along the US coast could easily have happened to our  beaches.

Imagine the slaughter of our economy if this happened to Barbados!

The days of “let the oil companies do what they want” should be long gone, but as we’ve seen with the Shell Oil pipeline spill along our south coast, our politicians for some reason seem to favour the polluting oil companies over our country’s future.

I wonder why that is? (He said knowingly…)

The oil spill disaster along the southern US coast should be a wake-up call to Bajan citizens. Hear the message well, my friends: our politicians are putting their own interests first over Barbados, and they can do so much damage if we allow them to act without the oversight of average citizens who are concerned for our children’s futures.

Shell Pays Up In Nigerian Human Rights & Ken Saro-Wiwa Execution Case

In the lawsuit, the families of the Ogoni nine alleged Shell conspired with the military government to capture and hang the men. Shell was also accused of a series of other alleged human rights violations, including working with the army to bring about killings and torture of Ogoni ­protesters.

The company was alleged to have provided the Nigerian army with vehicles, patrol boats and ammunition, and to have helped plan raids and terror campaigns against villages.

Supporters of the legal action said the fact that Shell had walked away from the trial suggested the company had been anxious about the evidence that would have been presented had it gone ahead. Stephen Kretzmann, director of Oil Change International, said Shell “knew the case was overwhelming against them, so they bought their way out of a trial”…

… from the Guardian story Shell pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa killing

Shell To Pay US$15.5 Million Over Nigerian Government Execution Of Nine Activists

Ken Saro-Wiwa - "Shell has blood on its hands"

Considering that Shell makes about US$3 million dollars profit per hour – every hour of every day – we’d say they got off pretty lightly for their environmental rape of Nigeria and (denied) complicity in the hangings of nine innocent Nigerians who wanted clean air, water and soil for their children.

Why did Shell settle at the last moment before the trial was due to begin in New York City?

Because going to trial would have exposed the truth about Shell in Nigeria to the whole world. US$15.5 million is pocket change to make risk go away.

What is the Lesson for Barbados Farmers Coping With Shell Oil’s Barbados Pipeline Spills?

Since his election, Barbados Environment Minister Denis Lowe (left) is suddenly silent on Shell Oil spill.

Perhaps the lesson in Barbados should be to sue the hell out of Shell. After 15 years of Shell ducking and dodging their responsibility, the Shell Barbados pipeline spill case needs to go to court.

We’d advise the Barbados Government to charge Shell with environmental offenses of failing to keep records, spilling petroleum and failing to clean up the spill – except that Barbados has no environmental legislation. That’s right folks – we don’t even have a law that requires Shell Oil to check their pipes and tanks every day for leaks.

Welcome to Barbados: where we have no hazardous materials standards and companies can pollute at will without worrying about the consequences.

How much did Shell Oil “donate” to the “political campaigns” of the DLP and BLP?

Oh, sorry… no legal requirement for anyone to reveal that, either!

Further Reading

Wall Street Journal: Shell Settles Nigeria Case

Times Online: Shell agrees $15.5m settlement over death of Saro-Wiwa and eight others

BFP: Shell Oil Announces Pipeline Spill A Non-Issue – Barbados News Media & Government Ask Zero Questions Of Company Hired To “Ensure Buy-In” To Shell Strategies

BFP: Shell Oil Pollutes And Runs In Barbados. After 15 Years Government Has The Answer: Committee Of Politicians

Shell Oil Pollutes And Runs In Barbados. After 15 Years Government Has The Answer: Committee Of Politicians

So-Called "Clean-Up" By Shell Oil In Barbados

UPDATE: March 26, 2010

Friends, here we are over two years since they were elected and the DLP Government of Barbados still hasn’t passed their promised Environmental Legislation.

I know it sounds absurd, but in the decades since our independence successive governments never passed even a simple law compelling pipeline owners to make daily measurements and to report any leakage to the government!

How much money in “election donations” has Shell and associated companies provided to the BLP and DLP over the years? How much did Shell or SOL contribute to Environment Minister Lowe’s last election campaign? How much to Thompson’s campaign?

“None of your business” says Prime Minister Thompson and his gang…

Have a read of this BFP article first published in April of 2009. It’s all still true…

1/ Fifteen Years Ago, Shell Spilled At Least A Half A Million Gallons Of Jet Fuel Into The Barbados Water Table. Shell Has Not Cleaned Up The Spill Or Compensated The Immediate Victims

2/Barbados South Coast Water Table Is Contaminated By Jet Fuel. Our Beaches Are At Risk.

3/ After 15 Years, It Is Now A Proven Fact That Citizens Cannot Rely Upon A BLP or DLP Government To Hold Shell Oil Accountable or Force The Company To Clean Up Their Spill

Barbados Awards Oil Rights To Company Responsible For Worst Environmental Mining Disaster!

“Every (year) over the past twenty years, the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has dumped 80,000 tons of waste into the Ok Tedi and Fly Rivers. The result has been an environmental disaster that has destroyed thousands of square kilometers of rainforest and caused terrible hardship for local people…

Australian mining giant BHP Billiton was the major shareholder in Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML) and the mine operator until early 2002. At this time, the company handed over its majority stake in OTML to the newly formed and ironically named Sustainable Development Project Company.

This quiet revolution demonstrates the power of transnational corporations in PNG. With the transfer, BHP gained legal indemnity from PNG government action with respect to all the pollution and destruction it has already caused and will cause in the future. The government surrendered its sovereignty, failing to protect its citizens by setting environmental standards and monitoring corporate activities.” … Friends of the Earth International

BHP Billiton Destroyed A Country, Took The Profits And Then Transferred The Mess To Another Company To Limit Ongoing Liability – JUST LIKE SHELL DID IN BARBADOS

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this my friends.

Prime Minister David Thompson and the Democratic Labour Party have just awarded the first Barbados offshore oil exploration rights to a company that does hit and run environmental disasters.

No Rules: Thompson awarded oil contract to a company known to bribe government officials

You know the type of company that goes into a small country and rapes vast areas without a care about destroying the environment? That is BHP Billiton. A company that brings long-term sickness that injures thousands. A company that leaves malformed babies and miscarriages in its wake. Then after they make hundreds of millions, they “sell” the entire operation and leftover mess to some little nothing of a shell company so BHP Billiton can walk away without liability for the disaster.

Then they go to another little country like Barbados, pay lots of bribes and start all over again.

Oh… and here is the BEST PART….

BHP Billiton themselves started as a little company that SHELL OIL used to walk away from an environmental disaster! You know, the same SHELL OIL that walked away from the environmental damage they caused in Barbados with jet fuel. (see To HELL with SHELL – Barbados Boycotts Shell)

That is BHP Billiton.

Full story and many links at Keltruth Blog’s Barbados Awards Offshore Oil-Exploration Rights To Company Responsible For Worst Environmental Disaster

Prime Minister Thompson: I am ashamed that I once supported you and your government.

How Much Did It Cost Shell Oil To Buy Two Barbados Governments? Without Election Financing Laws, We’ll Never Know

So-Called "Clean-Up" By Shell Oil In Barbados

Fifteen Years Of Shell Pollution + Fifteen Years Of Shell Campaign Donations = Environmental Rape

There is no question that Shell Oil bought and paid for two successive Barbados governments. How else can we explain the actions of both the BLP and DLP governments in allowing this negligent and abusive company to walk away free from a major pipeline leak that polluted the water table over hundreds of acres, ruined agricultural land and still threatens our beaches?

For the last fifteen years, since 1994,  Shell Oil has been avoiding responsibility for a pipeline leak that spilled at least a half a million gallons of jet fuel into the water table. This jet fuel has not gone away and even last year water wells within a few hundred feet of a beach were still filled with almost pure kerosene jet fuel. Shell Oil’s response has been to offer Barbados farmers less than one hour of Shell’s profits. Barbados farmers were offered US$2 million in total to be spread among the victims. Shell makes approximately US$3 million per hour.

Both the BLP Government of Owen Arthur and Mia Motley and the current DLP government of David Thompson have failed to hold Shell Oil accountable. Besides the farmers who lost the use and value of their lands, there has been vast amounts of damage to Barbados as a country and our beaches are still at risk from the pipeline spill. But neither the DLP nor the BLP governments implemented any laws that would penalise polluters and make them pay to clean up their mess.

Neither the DLP nor the BLP government even passed a simple law compelling pipeline owners to make daily measurements and to report any leakage to the government!

Think about that, friends. In the 15 years since half a million gallons of jet fuel polluted wells and agricultural land on the south coast because the criminals at Shell Oil didn’t even realise the leakage was happening, your useless do-nothing governments haven’t even been able to pass a law requiring Shell Oil to monitor for leaks daily and to report leaks to the government.

How Much Money Did Shell Oil Contribute To Barbados Political Parties In The Last 15 Years?

One of the features of our so-called “democracy” is that Barbados has no laws regulating how much money corporations and individuals can contribute to “election campaigns”. We have no laws requiring public disclosure of large amounts of cash. And even when our former Prime Minister Owen Arthur was caught red-handed depositing so-called “election donations” into his personal bank account, David Thompson did not have the courage and integrity to prosecute him. This is because Thompson and his DLP party regularly engage in similar unethical activities with election funds and they don’t want to start that kind of a war with the BLP. Much too dangerous.

Prime Minister Thompson, we citizens want to know how much money the DLP received from Shell Oil or any of its associated companies or persons in the last 15 years. Opposition Leader Mia Motley, we citizens want to know how much money the BLP received from Shell Oil or any of its associated companies or persons in the last 15 years.

For 15 years our governments have allowed Shell oil to get away with environmental rape of our land, our water and our beaches. Is it any wonder that the majority of citizens have so little faith in our elected and appointed government officials?

Further Reading

BFP – Jan 5, 2008 – Shell Oil and the Barbados BLP Government – Together, THIS Is What They Achieved…

BFP – Feb 6, 2007 – Shell 2006 Profits: US$2.9 Million Dollars PER HOUR! – Offers Barbados Farmers Less Than One Hour’s Profits For A Decade Of Pollution And A Deadly Future

BFP – Aug 23, 2006 – Shell Barbados Pipeline Leaks Still Not Cleaned Up

Which “Oil Consultants” Received A Share Of The $2 Million Paid Out By Barbados?

“We spent about $2 million doing the marketing and promotion, producing literature and so on to send out to the companies, to attract them as well as in consultancy fees. We have made about BDS$8 million so far.” …former Minister Liz Thompson talking about the Oil Bidding Process in November 2007.

Where Did The “Consulting Fees” Go?

One of the methods used by crooked Barbados politicians to transfer public funds to their own bank accounts is to engage a series of “consultants” and “consulting companies” for government projects. Sometimes the “consultant” will later give a “gift” to the government official or politician who did the hiring. Sometimes the “consulting company” just happens to be owned by the spouse, son or uncle of the government official.

And here’s the best part, folks… there is no law against this unethical behaviour in Barbados!!!

That’s right… it is not illegal or against any government code for a Minister of Government or other government official to receive a “gift” from the same company they awarded a fat government contract to! We have no ITAL (Integrity, Transparency, Accountability Legislation).

Prime Minister David Thompson and the DLP promised to adopt a Ministerial Code right away, but they failed to do so mere weeks after making the ITAL promise that won them the election.

So where did YOUR $2 Million dollars get spent in the oil bidding process? Do any of the consulting firms have any association with any Barbados government official? Have any of the oil companies provided any “gifts” to any Barbados government official?

Don’t ask, folks. Under the DLP David Thompson Government, you have no right to know the details of how your tax dollars are being spent!

The Nation News Says Venezuela Oil Claim Story Wasn’t Important Enough To Print!

Do you need a chuckle this morning, friends?

Albert Brandford published a Nation News story “Oil Block“ where he claims that the newspaper had the details of the new Venezuela claim to two blocks of Barbados offshore oil last Monday… and that he interviewed Minister Sinckler last Monday.

Seeing as how The Nation News didn’t publish the story until today, Thursday, I guess they just didn’t think it was important enough to do so!

Minister Sinckler claims he knew about the Venezuela story on Sunday – which was the day before Petroleumworld published it. Could have happened that way I guess, but the Nation News story sure seems to be going to a lot of trouble to get the point across that neither the government nor the media were asleep.

Mr. Brandford, methinks thou protesteth too vigorously!

Barbados Free Press first published our story Venezuela Claims Two Blocks Of Barbados Offshore Oil! on Monday June 16, 2008 at 5:13am (Bridgetown) and updated it with a photo at 8:10am (Bridgetown).

Gee… do you think that Albert Brandford read Barbados Free Press on Monday morning?