Gulf Coast Shrimper Dumps Oil on Herself in Congressional Hearing

Long-time environmental activist Diane Wilson poured Karo syrup over the top of her head during a Congressional hearing on the Gulf oil crisis just as Senator Lisa Murkowski started speaking. Senator Murkowski happens to be a top ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Wilson was immediately hauled out of the hearing room and arrested ---of course.

Reports say that Diane was protesting Senator Murkowski's intention to block legislation which would lift the cap on liability payments for oil spills in the Gulf. A spokesperson for the senator reportedly said she is 'for raising the cap on oil spill liability' yet believes 'it's inappropriate to raise the cap to $10 Billion without proper review.'

BP as in Big Problem: Another report says the Senator has received more than $225,000 in campaign contributions from oil and gas industries during the past 4 years.

Knowing Diane, she wanted to make a point about what it's like to have oil dumped on you in addition to the political garbage going on behind the scenes. As a fourth-generation Texas shrimper, she began fighting the local chemical plants that destroyed the Gulf coast town of Seadrift, Texas more than 15 years ago. I've written about Diane in previous columns and hold alot of admiration for her. In some ways, I envy the fact that she's got the spirit and courage to be out there in front saying all this for the rest of us.

Diane Wilson on the Gulf Oil Gusher

Watch a Fox online news video report of the event and interview with Diane after she was released from custody:



Photo Image: Getty Images

Kudos to IKEA France, Earth Sustainability Car Ad

Kudos to IKEA France with the launch of an eco-friendly car ad last week. It's either a great inspiration or hilarious April Fool's Day joke.

Expectation setting is in order for consumers who might consider buying an IKEA car.

It's not yet clear how many different aisles you'll need to find or the number of boxes you'll need to pick off the self-serve shelf before heading to check-out.

Detroit Automakers beware!

Live Earth Generates Global Citizen Energy

Talk about global citizen energy and culture change. Reportedly at one point during yesterday's Live Earth Day more than 10 million people were streaming the concert off MSN.com. Two billion people may have watched Live Earth across the globe.

While a staggering 21st Century way to increase awareness about our abilities to protect and give back to Mother Earth, Live Earth seems less about the global climate crisis and a whole lot more about honoring and restoring the natural order on many levels.

Don't get me wrong. Cultural, historical, industrial, political, and socioecomic choices and influences have guided us into a global inconvenient mess. We've helped destroy habitats and their inhabitants over land and resources for thousands of years.

But Live Earth sparked a more palatable convenient truth during the last 24 hours. The truth rests in the power of global citizen energy to give back, restore what we've taken, and in raising our voices to effect change.

"This could be good, Hey You!"

On An Inconvenient Truth

Thanks to producer Laurie David and company for helping Al Gore bring this message to all of us, quite simply our planet will not continue to sustain the number of people living here:

On Unreasonable Woman Diane Wilson

In October 2005, I had the pleasure of picking up great dreamer and "UnReasonable Woman" Diane Wilson from the San Francisco airport---she was traveling "on the lam" having just been ordered by a Texas judge to return to Texas and serve a stint in jail on an old Dow Chemical plant trespassing charge. We found ourselves continually on the look out for Texas Rangers or other Federales while waiting for her baggage--- it dawned on me at this point that I was "harboring a fugitive from justice". Like many others, I've come to support Diane for her passion and non-violent action to change things that are not OK in this world. You might not always agree with Diane on how she approaches something---but you can readily agree with her on what needs changing. On the drive to her hotel in Marin, we talked about being a writer and her love of the great American writer William Faulkner. If you haven't read Diane do so now, she's a gifted natural-born writer.

Diane managed to stay "on the lam" until early December when she slipped back into Texas and was arrested after unfurling a banner while chanting "Corporate Greed Kills and Iraq Kills Too!" at a Houston fundraiser for the less than admirable, Tom Delay--since she was very close to the podium when VP Dick Cheney approached to speak---obviously, she would be stopped and removed from the event. We've come to know now that anyone who wears a 'support' this or that t-shirt in the public viewing seats at the U.S. Capital will be taken away. The macabre scene that followed Diane's removal from the Delay fundraiser got even more frightening when neither her attorney, family, or closest friends and allies could find her for several days in the Houston jail system, reportedly due to a confusing mix up surrounding the name she was booked under. You can imagine how concerned everyone was for her safety. Sparked by the conditions and treatment of detainees within the jail system, once Diane was transferred from Houston to the Victoria jail, she placed a call-to-action for Texas prison reform. Of course she would, this is Diane Wilson.

The world-reknown environmental activist, author, and co-founder of Code Pink is not your everyday 'criminal'or activist. She got real angry about what was happening in her own backyard in the mid-1980's and chose to stop it. She chooses to go out daily to put her own life on the line for the future of her family, grandchildren and for the rest of us around the globe. Her work has cost her dearly in the process and she knows it. Diane Wilson follows her passion: unwavering dreams for peace and a healthy green environment. An UnReasonable Woman, a great dreamer, Diane Wilson's the real thing.


Producer and Director Carolyn M. Scott's TEXAS GOLD is the award-winning documentary about Diane Wilson's 'fight against chemical industry giants in the most polluted place in America.'

Photo Credits: Vicente Franco, Director of Photography, TEXAS GOLD