An Open Letter to Lucy Lawless

Dear Lucy— 

I felt the need to compose a letter thanking you for being the remarkable human being that you are. It was [as it always is] both an honor and a pleasure talking with you during your Green Peace protest against Shell Oil. I've interviewed, gotten to know and became friends with a sleuth of actors and actresses in my lifetime. An entire lifetime... and I can say with the utmost sincerity that I have never felt compelled to call any one of them a hero. But thanks to your selfless actions aboard that ship, I can finally bestow the title of hero upon YOU... with great pride and admiration. As much as I love Fiona Hutchison [as we are sisters], I CANNOT see her boarding that ship and climbing to incredible heights to send a message to Shell Oil, just one of the many corporate giants who prey upon this planet like parasites. You are a hero Lucy, not just to me or millions upon millions of fans all over the world... but for those generations yet to come. 

I know for a fact that you do not have an egotistical cell in your entire body and that you would totally disagree with everything I am writing. You would tell me in that infamous Kiwi accent, "Bridget, you've gone completely mad because I'm not special. I'm just a Mom who cares about her children and the planet." But what you do not see... is that you ARE so much more than special. You, my humble friend, are far more heroic than the character you played for six seasons. Xena Warrior Princess, sword in hand, couldn't come close to who you REALLY are on her best day.

You see Lucy, by nature; the United States of America is a very pessimistic society. We seem to have great difficulty believing in the good nature of most people. Everyone has skeletons buried in their closets. We seem to have the need to dig them out. How many times have we heard the words uttered "It seems too good to be true they must be hiding something". So we take whatever heroes we may have and tear them down. We are more concerned with tragedy than we are with hope. You defy this logic  and in doing so, you have set an example, a true precedence for the rest of us. We need to consider the process of learning to add courage to our faith.

Many people have faith, or at least they say that they do, but it does not seem to reveal itself in the outworking of their lives. The problem is the absence of courage and "courage is the muscle that faith uses to hold its ground." So many people today do not seem to have the ability to courageously live out their faith in humanity and what is best for our future. Now I am not talking about those instantaneous heroes who make the headlines because they happened to be at the right place at the right time. I'm talking about TRUE heroes like you Lucy... who make daily conscious decisions to respond courageously to life's dilemmas. The Webster's Dictionary defines courage as: "mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty." Courage is putting our faith into action, adding sweat to our convictions, doing what is hard to do because we know it needs to be done. This is precisely what you did, without hesitation. 

Perhaps the simple acts of kindness that we all perform need to be taken just a little further. Maybe all it takes is the belief in ourselves, and the courage to face reality fearlessly. We all want to make a difference, to be someone Lucy... but you have given all of us an example to follow, to believe. This is my challenge to everyone who reads this, become a hero to others. Have the courage to stand up for your convictions and stop living in fear. 

And Lucy? Please accept my compliments and this letter as a testament to what it means to be a hero and a heartfelt thank you for your wisdom and courage.

Much Love,

Bridget Petrella

Lucy Lawless, Arrested... Battles On

Lucy Lawless took on Shell Oil and created an "awareness" that hopefully won't go away anytime soon. She obviously created a massive "hole" in the oil company's plans to continue drilling in the Arctic off the coast of Alaska as Shell Oil managed to "dig up" an old ad that the actress did for them OVER 20+ years ago! This is precisely the reason that this story MUST be told in the United States of America! The story has NOT been broadcast here in the US on any major network— cable or otherwise! The questions we should now be asking are: WHY IS THIS ENTIRE STORY BEING SUBDUED IN THE US? and... WHY AREN'T THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF OFFSHORE DRILLING? How is it that Shell Oil was allowed to slip their "agenda" under the radar? We have a few theories here at UPBEAT... First of all, Shell Oil is a publically traded company. This means that ALL information about the company, including any/all plans are PUBLIC DOMAIN according to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As citizens of the USA, we are each entitled to ALL information having to do with Shell Oil. But, NOTHING has been reported by our so-called "free press" in terms of broadcast television. Why is it that we have been left in the dark? Here are some names that all of you need to become familiar with: David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch— the two brothers still with Koch Industries— are also affiliated with the Koch family foundations. 

Source: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/21/private-companies-11 land.html 

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is all about … lining the pockets of their funders like the oil industry magnates the Koch Brothers and Big Oil companies like Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP... all while ignoring what is actually important to American families.  

The Koch brothers held their annual meeting in Coachella a few weeks PRIOR to the Shell incident. According to reports from our source, the theme was removing Obama from office: Republican supporters led by secretive oil billionaires the Koch brothers have pledged to oust Barack Obama from power— by stumping up a $100million (£63million) war-chest. David and Charles Koch, worth a combined $50+ billion [quite possibly much more], have been joined by 300 of America’s wealthiest businessmen in promising the cash to stop Obama from being re-elected. They met at the conservative brothers’ annual three-day Californian retreat, where they gain pledges for non-profit groups that share their world views.

Who else you ask? Broadcasters like Rupert Murdoch benefit greatly from federal giveaways. Holding frequency licenses worth fortunes, they're now receiving free slices of a digital spectrum valued at up to $70 billion. Likewise, cable TV conglomerates— with Malone's TCI in the lead— continue to expand under the protection of federal regulations that place severe limits on the power of municipalities to charge franchise fees fo the use of public rights-of-way. While lauding the "free market," Murdoch and Malone rely on the federal government's aid in their quest for media monopolization... giving them the ability to LITERALLY control the US broadcast media highway... 

In walks Lucy Lawless, a television pop-culture icon, with a dream and a deeply rooted compassion for saving our future as well as the future of our children. Unaware of the back story that we have been uncovering layer by layer, Lucy Lawless' genuine concern for our environment and the children who will inevitably be responsible for cleaning up a mess comprised of corporate greed and selfishness, was taking a stand to educate Americans as well as the rest of the world about the very REAL dangers posed by off-shore drillng. She wasn't committing any crimes; she was simply following her heart. 

The occupation of an Arctic-bound Shell drill ship by six Greenpeace activists including actress Lucy Lawless ended after police climbed the ship’s drilling tower and arrested the group. The protest was into its fourth day and the activists had spent 77 hours on top of the 170 ft. drilling tower. "This chapter has ended, but the story of the battle to save the Arctic has just begun," said Lucy Lawless, before being arrested. "Seven of us climbed up that drillship to stop Arctic drilling, but 133,000 of us came down." She continued, "We will continue to stand in solidarity with the communities and species that depend on the Arctic for their lives until Shell cancels its plans to drill in this magical world, and makes the switch to clean, sustainable energy." 

Despite the fact that the charge of "unlawfully being on a ship" was available, prosecutors have chosen to charge the protestors with the more serious crime of burglary. Are they SERIOUS? What on Earth would Lucy Lawless have stolen from a ship so old that they might just as well be using the Titanic to drill? Greenpeace insists that no property was taken or damaged during the occupation. The activists entered the Port of Taranaki at 6:30 a.m. on February 24th, scaled the drilling tower of the Shell drillship the Noble Discoverer and then set up camp. The ship was preparing to leave port for the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska where it is scheduled to drill three exploratory oil wells this summer.

Over the course of the four-day occupation, more than 135,000 people sent an email to Shell executives telling them to cancel their plans to drill in the Arctic. Thousands of people tweeted messages of support to Lucy and the activists using the hashtag #savethearctic, which also featured on banners hung from the drillship. Celebrities like Jared Leto and the official Beatles twitter page posted several messages to their followers as well. 

UPBEAT Entertainment News Syndicate was the first to break this story and began pushing it along to every blog and US news outlet available as well as their own subscribers. UPBEAT Entertainment News Syndicate currently reaches over 23 million exclusive subscribers/clients in both daily and weekly syndicated news feeds. 

"We did what we came to do," said Lawless. "Together we sent a clear message to Shell that has echoed across the globe— it's time to draw a line in the ice and say: enough."

Shell is the first major international oil company to make exploitation of the Arctic a major focus. If the Noble Discoverer strikes oil this summer, other global oil giants will quickly follow and spark an Arctic oil rush. The company has a very tight window in which to drill for oil. Freezing temperatures, extreme weather conditions and a highly remote location pose unprecedented challenges, and make an Arctic oil spill virtually impossible to contain and clean up. Even former Shell Oil CEO and founder of the non-profit Citizens for Affordable Energy John Hofmeister, warned that this year, Americans are likely to pay the highest average price for gasoline in history, but cautioned that the U.S. could not rely on tapping the strategic oil reserve to solve the problem. So the question remains? Why is Shell so determined to drill off-shore?