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Original Content at https://www.opednews.com/articles/The-TV-Ad-That-NBC-Refused-by-Meryl-Ann-Butler-080830-344.html (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). |
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August 30, 2008
The TV Ad That NBC Refused to Run for the Enigmatic T. Boone Pickens
By Meryl Ann Butler
In the TV 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 ..."
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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.") Resources:
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.
Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.
Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE
A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8
She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.
Her artwork is in collections across the globe.
Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.
OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html
Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html
On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html
"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html
Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul
Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html
Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.