The TV Ad That NBC Refused to Run for the Enigmatic T. Boone Pickens

T. Boone Pickens, 117th-richest person in America (Forbes), states on his website (www.pickensplan.com):

We have four new ads which are either on the air, or ready to go on the air.  The ads have been "cleared" by every network... except for NBC which has refused to clear a 15 second ad about Iran.

The website continues: 

In the ad Boone talks about how the Iranians are moving quickly to vehicles powered by natural gas so they can free up their $120 a barrel oil to sell to us.  Boone says:

"Get this one.  Iran is changing its cars to run on natural gas and we're not doing a thing here....  The problem?  NBC wants us to PROVE that 'we're not doing a thing here.' Sometimes you just have to wonder."

T. Boone Pickens is a surprising combination of extremes.  A rags-to-riches Texas oilman who made $1.1 billion in 2006, (give or take), he supported Bush in both elections, and supplied most of the money behind Swift-Boating Kerry.  In 2004, Pickens contributed to 527 Republican groups.

But Pickens has now denounced his Republican affiliations in his quest for alternative energy sources.  The Washington Post says that "perhaps the strangest role (Pickens) has fashioned for himself is his current one: the billionaire speculator as energy wise man, an oil-and-gas magnate as champion of wind power, and a lifetime Republican who has become a fellow traveler among environmentally minded Democrats."

Pickens attended the DNC, and shook Kerry's hand.  Apparently nothing was mentioned about Swift Boats.  Pickens plans to attend the RNC, as well.

He has also lobbied for the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (HR 503).

Born in 1928, he is now married to his fourth wife, Madeleine, a stunning blonde some 20 years younger.  Well maybe that part isn't so surprising. But she was born in Iraq.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy lists Pickens as having given away $220 million in 2005, making him the fifth-largest charitable contributor in that year.  He has given his alma mater Oklahoma State University nearly $300 million over the years,  (apparently hoping to go to a homecoming game where his team didn't get their "ass beat.")

According to the Wall Street Journal, Pickens' other 2005 charitable recipients included the "Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in his hometown of Dallas ($8 million), the UT Southwestern Medical Center ($2 million) and the American Red Cross, where his $7 million gift to aid Katrina victims was the largest individual donation in the group's history."

Pickens just may be the one to get those windmills turning, but 'tis a strange, wind, indeed.

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