Smug Glenn Beck Not Smart Enough to Come Up with Van Jones Attacks

Glenn Beck, idiot wannabe provocateur of Fox News, is undoubtedly more than happy to take the credit for Van Jones’ resignation as green jobs adviser to the Obama administration – but the fact is, he just isn’t doesn’t have the brainpower to be the mastermind behind the attacks.

Beck launched a vicious smear campaign against Jones, accusing him of being a communist and 9/11 truther among other things, on national television. But the campaign was actually orchestrated by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative think-tank that’s also responsible for a vast global warming denial campaign.

From DeSmogBlog:

On Fox News forum AFP’s director of policy, Phil Kerpen brags about how his organization brought down Van Jones:

“I spent the next two weeks researching everything I could find about Jones and the Apollo Alliance (much of which is still to be published, including a forthcoming paper from the Capital Research Center next month), the national umbrella organization for coordinating between the environmentalists, the labor unions, and the social justice street organizers that Jones has served as a board member and a primary national spokesman for.”

This was all then fed to Glenn Beck who gleefully took it to town and hammered away on Van Jones. No kidding, Beck is bent on bringing this administration to its knees and rallying the right-wing fringe players to follow suit. And it won’t stop here, the likes of Kerpen and AFP have found their rallying cry: “Don’t argue clean energy, but instead paint Obama’s policies as a socialist/communist plot to control America.”

There’s no doubt that Jones made a mistake when he signed that 9/11 petition – but he’s not a Truther, nor do any of the other epithets thrown at him recent weeks apply. David Roberts of Grist wrote two excellent articles about the whole debacle that refute the accusations made against Jones (Cleaning Some of the Fox Off Van Jones and Thoughts on Van Jones’ Resignation).

Is it any surprise that Americans for Prosperity has received vast amounts of cash from Exxon in the past? This is an anti-green organization that will do anything to preserve the status quo, and they’re happy to take down anyone in their way. Beck is just their puppet.

Link [DeSmogBlog]

Big Oil Refuses to Let American Flags into Astroturf Rally

You’d think that Big Oil would be more than happy to wave a bunch of American flags around while holding their fake grassroots rallies – especially in Texas, of all places. Yet activists bearing the old Stars & Stripes were turned away at the American Petroleum Institute rally in Houston, where oil company employees gathered to hear oil billionaire Drayton McClane Jr. whine about Obama’s clean energy plans.

Check out the video:

Partial transcript from Wonk Room:

ACTIVIST: They said, “We won’t let you have an American flag either.” They said they won’t let you have this, and then the guy touched this, the American flag.

ANOTHER ACTIVIST: I got an email from Freedomworks saying, “Come, it’s free, free food,” doodah doodah. And then I get here and they say, “Well, it’s against fire code to let people in the door.” And then, they let all these people in. Granted, one of the people was Drayton McLane. He’s got more money than God, so, I guess…

Umm, it’s pretty obvious that the uninvited people trying to get into this rally are on the side of Big Oil, so WTF are they worried about? As if the old dude bearing a book called ‘Liberal Facism’ is a spy for the ‘other side’.

Could it be any more clear that this was anything but a grassroots rally? It was one big oil industry whack-a-thon. You would think that these pro-oil citizens (the real ones, not the energy employees) would have caught on by now that the oil industry doesn’t give a shit about them.

Link [Wonk Room]

Oil Industry Planning Town Hall Protests Against Climate Bill

As angry, misinformed mobs take over town halls to scream in people’s faces about health care issues they don’t understand, the oil industry is quietly taking notes – and planning to use similar tactics against the climate bill.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the American Petroleum Institute and other energy groups are funding rallies in 20 states where they will hand out a flier that says things like “Climate change legislation being considered in Washington will cause huge economic pain and produce little environmental gain.”

The flier says the bill passed by the House in June and expected to come to the floor for a vote later in the year, “will cost 2 million American jobs, raise gasoline and diesel prices up to $4,” and threaten both U.S. competition and energy security.

“Let our U.S. senators know they need to ‘get it right’ and not make the same mistakes as the House,” the flier reads. Local organizers fill in the location, date and time slots.

The rallies will be organized in about 20 states, include those whose Democratic Senators aren’t strong supporters of a stringent bill, such as Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Mark Begich of Alaska.

“We’ve all seen those angry folks raising heck about health care,” said Frank O’Donnell, head of the environmental advocacy group, Clean Air Watch. “So I guess it was inevitable a special interest would try the same thing on the climate legislation,” he said in an email.

The ultra-dirty tactics – like outright forgeries – didn’t work, so Big Oil figures that it will merely take advantage of the public’s fear about the economy and their jobs to manufacture an anti-climate movement.

What’s really scary is how easily people are manipulated. If millions of people are willing to swallow outrageous lies about health care reform (i.e. Sarah Palin’s “death panel” comment), there’s no telling what else they’ll believe.

Link [The Wall Street Journal] via [Treehugger]
Photo credit: The Huffington Post

More Climate Bill Forgery: Big Oil Lobbyists Fake Public Opposition

You can smell the desperation of the dirty energy industry from a mile away. It’s the smell of a slow death, a filthy, oozing, gangrenous smell that emits from Big Oil and Big Coal as they attempt to lie, cheat and steal their way to maintaining the status quo.

Last month, lobbyists working for a coal industry front group were caught red-handed forging anti-climate-bill letters to a member of Congress. Now, it’s been revealed that the American Energy Alliance (the unholy spawn of the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute) is faking broad public opposition to the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

From the NRDC:

According to the AEA’s round-up release:  “In Newspapers Coast-to-Coast, Energy Rationing Bill Continues to Get Exposed for What it is: A Job Killer.” And how do our oily friends reach that conclusion?  In a move that is unlikely to represent a threat to the future of scientific polling, AEA bases its claims on eight letters to the editor and one op-ed.

What do the selected editorial page items tell us?  First, AEA is apparently endorsing flat-out, wild-eyed howling-at-the-moon denial of global warming science.   Take this “op-ed” found in the Springfield (MO) News Leader:

“I told you in my column on July 10 that global warming was a hoax. Just when I thought the cap and trade lunatics could not be any more ignorant, along comes the Democrat-controlled Congress with the Waxman-Markey bill on climate change. Cap and tax or con and tax are all better names for this abhorrent bill.”

Message: AEA appears to be 100 percent comfortable in embracing this full-throated, know-nothing approach to trashing the consensus view on global warming science.

The NRDC asks, “Couldn’t we just do the same thing by collating positive letters to the editor from across the nation?” and then proceeds to quote from seven such supportive letters – which actually appear in major publications, not BFE pennysavers.

Scruples: lobbyists do not haz dem.

Link [NRDC]
Photo credit: I Can Has Cheezburger?

10 B.S. Statements in the Climate Change Debate

When people who don’t know what they’re talking about spew utter hogwash about an important issue to people who don’t really grasp the issue in the first place, can anything important ever get done? Unlikely – and that’s the reality we’re living today as both parties of government debate climate change in front of an American public that can’t tell they’re being bullshitted.

WorldChanging is paying attention, and sorting out the truth from the half-truths, misrepresentations, lies and propaganda. They’ve put together the Top 10 Bogus Statements (BS) in the US Climate Debate, with a reality check following each one.

Check out the first two:

No. 10 BS: The United States can’t make a firm commitment to reduce greenhouse gases until China and India do.

Reality check: With this statement, international climate negotiations assume the stature of an Alphonse and Gaston routine. The modern version – “I’m not going to do the right thing until you do the right thing” – would be comical if it weren’t so childish and potentially tragic.

Why shouldn’t the United States make a hard commitment to cut carbon before China, India and other developing nations do? We’re responsible for most of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today. We have been emitting them with abandon for generations.

On the other hand, many developing nations such as China and India are attempting to pull millions of their people from poverty. I don’t believe they deny their obligation to help solve the climate problem. In fact, many of China’s clean energy goals are more aggressive than ours. But they want the leeway to help their people approach the standard of living people enjoy in the U.S.

What the hell: Let’s be big about this and agree to go first. If the US is worried about a trade disadvantage with countries that don’t have carbon regulation, then let’s institute a “border adjustment” – the price those countries should pay for not agreeing to hard targets.

No. 9 BS: Coal will be with us for a long time to come.

In a recent interview with Grist, the chief White House environmental advisor, Nancy Sutley of the Council on Environmental Quality, said: “[C]learly coal is a part of our energy mix now and it’s likely to be so in the future… [E]ven if we were to stop using coal tomorrow, it’s used around the world and we have to deal with its environmental impacts.”

Reality check: Of course we must deal with coal’s environmental problems, but the best way to do that is to stop using it. Accepting that coal is part of our future is not the policy that motivates us to find substitutes. And whether we can deal with its environmental impacts is open to question. We don’t yet have and may never find a cost-effective and safe way to permanently sequester huge amounts of carbon dioxide from coal. If the technology ever is perfected, it will significantly increase the price of electric power from coal, while the price of power from renewable resources is coming down.

Then there’s mountain top removal and all the other environmental damages and carbon emissions associated with extraction and production (See No. 7 below). Let’s shoot for an international climate agreement that sets specific near-term targets for phasing out coal power, along with an aggressive program to replace it worldwide first with natural gas, then with renewable low-carbon fuels.

Head on over to WorldChanging for the rest, which includes statements about domestic oil production, mountaintop coal removal, putting a price on carbon and more.

Link [WorldChanging]
Photo credit: Flickr user dullhunk

“30,000 Global Warming Petition” Debunked

We can always count on DeSmogBlog to call out the lies of global warming deniers – and explain why they’re wrong in a way that’s easy to understand, and backed up by facts. They’ve done it again with the “30,000 Global Warming Petition” that’s being touted by skeptics as evidence that the scientific community shares their doubts about anthropogenic global warming.

Kevin Grandia delves into the petition’s sordid beginnings, the inability to verify any of the identities of the so-called ‘experts’ that signed the petition and the fact that out of all the signers, only .001% actually have a background in climatology – 39 out of 30,000.

When I think I’m having chest pains I don’t go to Dermatologist, I go to a Cardiologist because it would be absurd to go to skin doctor for a heart problem. It would be equally absurd to look to a scientist with a background in Medicine (of which there are 3,046 on the petition) for an expert opinion on the science of climate change. With science broken down into very narrow specialties a scientific expert in one specialty does not make that person an automatic authority in all things science.

In this way the logic of the 30,000 petition is completely flawed, which isn’t surprising given its questionable beginnings.

The petition and the documents included were all made to look like official papers from the prestigious National Academy of Science. They weren’t, and this attempt to mislead has been well-documented.

Along with the petition there was a cover letter from Dr. Fred Seitz (who has since deceased) a notorious climate change denier (and big tobacco scientist), who over 30 years ago was the president of the National Academy of Science.

Read more about why this petition reeks of bullshit over at DeSmogBlog.

Link [DeSmogBlog]

Right-Wing Pundit Freak Out Over ‘Madoff-Waxman-Markey’ Bill

The climate bill that many environmentalists have decried as weak and ineffectual is being touted by right-wing pundits as a vast conspiracy to take their money (shocking, eh?). The usual suspects – Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin – are frothing at the mouth and waving pitchforks over the prospect of the bill being passed in the Senate.

From the NRDC Switchboard:

Among the most unhinged of the commentators has been the venerable Rush Limbaugh.  According to this host, the Waxman-Markey legislation should be called “Madoff-Waxman-Markey” because “this bill is a con game.”  You can see the Dittohead in Chief bloviate here courtesy of our friends at Media Matters.

In case you think Rush was alone in being off his rocker in comparing some of America’s most visionary lawmakers with the nation’s most notorious financial crook, check out Mr. Sensitivity, Glenn Beck’s rantings.

Beck suggests that lawmakers and the mainstream media have somehow colluded to use the death of Michael Jackson (!) to keep the public’s attention off climate change.   I promise you that we are not making this up:

“… it pays for everyone to be extra-vigilant.  Who stands to benefit from cap and trade? Why do we need to do it now? What does a ‘green banking center’ have to do with cooling the Earth?  And, most importantly, is there still a chance to stop this insanity in the Senate or will our politicians there simply wait for the next celebrity death before once again convening in the middle of the night to sell America out to highest bidder?”

Even worse is Michelle Malkin’s witch hunt, complete with wanted poster, of the eight GOP senators who have dared to support a cap-and-trade solution to climate change.

The NRDC goes on to question the legality/morality of shady campaigns by the Fox News-fueled “Tea Party Patriots” – be sure to give it a read.

But, when it comes down to it, the motivations of each side are telling. For what purpose, ultimately, would people like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin raise hell over a climate bill that doesn’t even measure up to the standards of environmentalists? Simple – getting attention, so they can make more money.

On the other hand, we dastardly environmentalists act out of the greedy desire to prevent humans from making the world uninhabitable for our own kind (as well as millions of other species). We’re so evil, aren’t we?

Link [NRDC Switchboard]

Climate Bill Will Cost Consumers Way Less than Republicans Claim

Republicans have spent the last couple months circulating false claims about how much the House climate change bill would cost consumers, with estimates skyrocketing into the ridiculous. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann recently claimed that the cost of climate action would be between $3,128 and $4,000 per household, and called for “armed and dangerous” opposition against climate action.

The Congressional Budget Office has put an end to all of the partisan speculation, confirming that climate change legislation would cost the average household a mere $175 a year by 2020, with the poorest 20% of households actually netting $40 annually.

From The Washington Post:

The costs would result from higher prices for carbon-based fuels, offset by a complex series of tax breaks and free allowances, new technologies and behavioral changes, and impacts on corporations and their profits.

The CBO, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, said it did not take into account any indirect benefits of slowing climate change, which are substantial but difficult to quantify.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman  Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) said the CBO report shows that his bill is “effective and affordable.”  Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the bill’s lead co-sponsor, said it showed that the cost would be about the same as a postage stamp a day for the average household.

But Michael Steel, a spokesman for House  Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), said that the CBO analysts “got an unrealistically low number for cost per family because they didn’t factor in the millions of American jobs that will move overseas if the United States imposes this tax and our foreign competitors, like China and India, do not. I don’t know what color the sky is in a world where that won’t happen, but I’m sure you can ask the unicorns.”

Boehner’s office is hardly known for responsible and accurate number crunching. It was Boehner who initially claimed the $3,128 – $4,000 figure, citing some math done using a study by an MIT professor on a two-year-old cap and trade bill. But John Reilly, who conducted the study, says Boehner inflated the cost 10-fold by ignoring the offsetting benefits.

Eh, you know how it is. You can smell the desperation of Republican lawmakers from a mile away. They’ll do anything to con Americans into siding with them.

Link [The Washington Post]
Photo credit: [Jezebel] + [Esquire]

Burger King: Pushing a Baloney Sandwich, or Just Stupid?

Tennessee residents have begun noticing signs outside various Burger King locations that proclaim ‘Global warming is baloney’.

Memphis Flyer writer Chris Davis tried to get to the bottom of it, calling the manager at a Memphis Burger King to ask whether it was a prank or put up by the restaurant. Here’s part of the exchange:

BK: The sign was put up yesterday.
Me: And it’s not a mistake?
BK: No.
Me: It reflects the opinion of BK international?
BK: Yes.

Maybe the employee got it wrong and it’s merely the opinion of a Southern right-wing franchise owner. Maybe it’s part of a new trend to show off inappropriate political statements outside fast food restaurants. Or, perhaps BK is gearing up to debut a new flame-grilled ‘baloney’ sandwich.

We’ll soon find out, but in the meantime, Burger King looks pretty stupid.

Update: Burger King Corp says global warming is only ‘baloney’ in Memphis, and they don’t condone the message.

This statement [“Global Warming is baloney”] does not reflect a Burger King Corp. (BKC) opinion or view. The two restaurants where these signs appeared are independently owned and operated and were not authorized to display this statement. The signs have since been removed.

BKC believes in operating as a socially responsible company and is committed to making a positive impact in the communities where it lives and works.

Link [Memphis Flyer] via [The Huffington Post]

9 Incredibly Stupid GOP Statements on Climate Change & the Environment

They’re known for being largely anti-science, and many of their numbers still insist that global warming either isn’t real or isn’t caused by man. Paul Krugman declared the GOP to be “the party of stupid” last August, and they haven’t done much to dissuade the public from agreeing with him since then. From declaring the planet already saved – by Jesus – to comparing kids in the climate movement to the Hitler Youth, Republicans really do say the darndest things.

Image via: Pundit Kitchen

“[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she’s just trying to save the planet. We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet — we didn’t need Nancy Pelosi to do that.” – Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, August 12th 2008

Good news, folks! We can all sit back and relax, because the planet has already been saved. What’s that? The bible says absolutely nothing about Jesus saving the planet? Right. Well, kudos anyway to Bachmann for finding such a ridiculous and unique way to take a shot at Nancy Pelosi, the GOP’s favorite punching bag.

Image via: EarthFirst composite

“It’s odorless, colorless, tasteless, doesn’t cause cancer, doesn’t cause asthma… there’s nobody that’s ever been admitted to a hospital because of CO2 poisoning.” – Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, May 19th 2009

Brilliant reasoning there, Barton. Because, obviously, if a substance doesn’t taste or smell like anything and isn’t a carcinogen, that means it’s totally harmless! The fact that CO2 is in soda, and that we breathe it out, doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant to global warming. It’s doubtful, however, that Barton even cares whether the words coming out of his mouth make any damn sense at all.

Images via: Flickr user The Searcher & Wikimedia Commons

“The earth will end only when God declares its time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth, this earth will not be destroyed by a flood.” – Rep. John Shimkus, R-Illinois, on why he believes that climate change is not a threat

Well, you’re right there, Shimkus – man will not destroy this earth. However, we are well on our way to making it uninhabitable for humans and millions of other species. That’s probably good news to you, however, since according to the Bible that would seem to indicate the Second Coming. “In case of the rapture, this congressional seat will be unmanned!” And we will all be the better for it.

Interesting to see that Rep. Shimkus, who believes that the bible is the infallible word of god, also mentioned the ‘Age of Dinosaurs’ during this hearing. Last time I checked, the bible doesn’t mention anything about dinosaurs… but that can easily be explained away. They’re Jesus Horses!

Image via cbv.ns.ca & Wikipedia

“We don’t know what those other cycles were caused by in the past. Could be dinosaur flatulence, you know, or who knows?’ – Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-California, questioning the authors of a landmark IPCC report about a period of dramatic climate change that occurred 55 million years ago

Dinosaurs, flatulence and Republicans… the jokes write themselves.

“Kathy Dahlkemper has some wacky ideas. Take energy. She said we should make personal sacrifices such as ‘walking places’ and ‘riding bikes’.” – National Republican Congressional Committee ad for Rep. Phil English, R-Pennsylvania on his Democratic challenger Kathy Dahlkemper

Oh, those wacky Democrats. What will they think of next?

Image via: Current.com

“I’m trying to think where else this has been done – Soviet Russia, Nazi, Germany, Mussolini’s Italy,” Beck said. “In fact, the Nazis took an extra step. Not only did they indoctrinate the kids and tell them you’re probably right, you know but your parents don’t; in fact, here’s the next step: Why don’t you tell us what your parents are telling you. Are we having the new Hitler youth? Is that what this is? The new Hitler youth? I’m sorry, that’s so politically incorrect – the new green guard. Man your station, 12-year-olds, your parents just don’t know.”– Conservative radio and Fox News host Glenn Beck on Al Gore’s ‘indoctrination’ of children

What did Al Gore say to provoke that attack? He had the gall to tell a bunch of school kids, “There are some things about our world that you know that older people don’t know.” Gasp! It’s the beginning of a new Hitler Youth! Soon those kids will be recycling and turning the lights off, and if that isn’t a major threat to the poor downtrodden Republican base, I don’t know what is.

This isn’t even the first time Beck, whose Fox News show is designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator, has likened the global climate movement to the horrific mass murder of millions of innocent people. He apparently really likes the Holocaust/Nazi analogy, because in 2007 he asserted that Al Gore is using the “same tactic” to fight global warming that Hitler used to vilify Jews in Nazi Germany. Yeah.

Image via: Third Base Politics

“The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical. Every time we exhale, we exhale carbon dioxide. Every cow in the world, you know when they do what they do you’ve got more carbon dioxide.” – Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio

You’re totally right, Boehner. The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen is comical.

“So, do you want to put your country first? Then let’s reduce our dependency on foreign sources of oil and promote oil and gas production at home. In other words: Drill, baby, drill! And drill now!” – Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele at the Republican National Convention in 2008

Yes, that’s right, the infamous(ly insipid) “drill, baby, drill” rallying cry that Sarah Palin made famous actually originated with the GOP’s totally fresh hip-hop Michael Steele. Is anyone surprised?

Image via: Current

“There are some monuments where the land is so widespread, they just encompass as much as possible. And the integral part of the–the precious part, so to speak–I guess all land is precious, but the part that the people uniformly would not want to spoil, will not be despoiled. But there are parts of the monument lands where we can explore without affecting the overall environment.”—Former President George W. Bush, media round table, Washington, D.C. March 13, 2001

Bushisms: pretty much the only enjoyable aspect of George W. Bush’s presidency. Even Bush himself didn’t understand what he just said. Irregardless, we will never misunderestimate our former President’s ability to turn what should have been a one-sentence statement into incoherent, misguided rambling.

‘Clean Coal’ Group Making False Claims in Online Ads

An online advertisement by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy (ACCCE), a front group for the coal and electricity industries, claims that 72% of opinion leaders support coal electricity. The ‘America’s Power’ ad, which has appeared on The Washington Post, The Hill and other news websites, redirects to a page that contains blatant falsehoods in an attempt to hoodwink the public into supporting coal.

SolveClimate took a closer look at the report. The first problem is with the ACCCE’s definition of ‘opinion leaders’, which basically translates to a tiny percentage of the American population – far too small of a number of individuals in the U.S. to be able to generalize the results of the poll. The ACCCE survey also claimed that the 72% represented “a significant increase over the past year and the highest level of support since the group began polling almost 10 years ago” – which sounds impressive until you find out that the ACCCE wasn’t even founded until 2008.

From SolveClimate:

The next claim is that “the poll shows that Americans are very optimistic about the future for coal. When asked the question ‘do you believe coal is a fuel for America’s future?’ — 69% of Americans agreed (compared to only 26% who disagreed).”

This claim is an outright lie.

According to the survey’s own methodology, 600 people who qualified as “opinion elites” were polled. It is not possible to generalize the results of a survey from a tiny selected minority out to the entire population at large. It would be like polling just my immediate family about our car buying habits and then trying to apply that to my entire community.

Without a statistical method to correlate your data with the wider population, you cannot draw any conclusions for the wider population. The press release doesn’t even attempt to provide a margin of sampling error. Riehle also said a margin of error wouldn’t be appropriate for the poll – “It’s not statistically the same kind of animal” as a Gallup poll or other random survey of the population, he explained.

So, what it comes down to is manipulation of poll results to convince Americans that “opinion leaders”, i.e. smart people who should know, believe that coal is the fuel that we need now and heading into the future.

Surprising? Not at all. The dirty energy industries are desperate to hang on. The backlash against so-called ‘clean coal’ scares them. Stunts like this are the last pathetic gasps of a dying industry, and they know it.

Link [SolveClimate]

More Polluter-Funded Front Groups Fighting Climate Action

Let’s face it: the general public doesn’t dig too deep into the background of organizations giving them supposed ‘facts’ about climate change. So, it’s all too easy for them to hear a name like ‘American Energy Alliance’ or ‘Institute for Energy Research’ and assume that these are reputable, non-biased groups that can provide them with information they can trust. But, these groups and many others like them are actually front groups for polluting businesses and for the energy industry.

NRDC explains:

Yesterday the American Energy Alliance announced it is running radio ads in the districts of some of the members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which is currently looking at a bill that would establish polluter penalties on global warming pollution. The ads repeat Newt Gingrich’s false- and thoroughly debunked – claim that a climate bill will cost every American $1,300 per year.

So who is the American Energy Alliance? Another offshoot of the ExxonMobil and Koch Industries families of polluter-funded advocacy, it turns out. Described by NPR as “a new advocacy organization with strong ties to the oil industry,” AEA was formed in 2008 and is led by long-time polluter-pal Thomas Pyle, who serves as President.

Pyle is also President of the AEA’s counterpart the Institute for Energy Research (IER). What’s that? Well, the tobacco industry had the Tobacco Institute to peddle its smoke screens, deceptions and other propaganda. The energy industry has the Institute for Energy Research, which Sourcewatch describes this way:  ” … founded in 1989 from a predecessor non-profit organization, [IER] advocates positions on environmental issues which happen to suit the energy industry: climate change denial, claims that conventional energy sources are virtually limitless, and the deregulation of utilities.”

As we reported yesterday, the energy industry has been perpetuating the myth that “clean energy is a dirty lie”. Not that this is any surprise. The energy industry will do practically anything to stay afloat during these times of changing public sentiment, including ignoring their own scientists’ data on climate change because it wasn’t convenient to the story they had concocted.

Link [NRDC]

MNN Blogger Spars with Fox Host over Global Warming

An MNN.com green blogger experienced what, for many of us, would be a living nightmare when he spent five long minutes in a Fox News studio on Earth Day. Jim Motavalli, who is also a New York Times contributor and author of “Feeling the Heat”, was invited to discuss global warming with Fox host Neil Cavuto and was treated the way virtually all liberal guests are treated on Fox – interrupted, condescended to and talked over.

From MNN.com:

Fox had gotten hold of a report—accurate enough—that sea ice has been thickening in Antarctica.

Indeed it is, and there are many possible explanations, but the Antarctica information in isolation is not all that helpful. The Arctic and Greenland ice sheets have seen unprecedented melting. According to Joseph Romm, the former Energy Department leader who blogs at ClimateProgress.org, the rate of glacial loss is a century ahead of where we thought we’d be at this point.

All the inland glaciers on the planet are melting, and Glacier National Park in Montana is now predicted to be ice-free by 2020. This is the warmest decade on record, and 2005 was the warmest year on record (2007 and 1998 are tied for second). Sea level could rise five feet by the end of the century, according to the prestigious journal Nature.

Despite Cavuto repeatedly asking Motavalli a question and then proceeding to answer it himself  (stupidly) in the midst of Motavalli’s answer, the MNN blogger amazingly kept his cool. Cavuto displayed his ignorance about what global warming actually means and how it works, and Motavalli calmly laid out the facts.

Kudos to Jim Motavalli. I don’t think I could even walk on to a Fox News set without my head exploding.

Link [MNN]

Jerkass Congressman Thinks He Stumped Energy Secretary Chu

Oh, the joys of Twitter – especially now that Republicans have seized onto it to prove that they’re ‘hip’ and ‘with it’.  We all know how Republicans say the darndest things and Twitter provides a platform like no other for them to make asses of themselves.

Representative Joe Barton (R-TX), the ranking member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, thinks he managed to “baffle” Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, and told all of his Twitter followers so with the following message:

“I seemed [sic] to have baffled the Energy Sec with basic question – Where does oil come from?”

Gee, could it be that Barton was just doing what he could to make Chu look bad given that such a question takes much longer to answer than the few seconds he had left would allow? Heavens no! Republicans would never pull suck trickery.

This guy is almost giving Michele Bachmann a run for her money.

Link [TPM]

Global Warming Deniers are on Thin Ice

How is it that conservatives are still able to convince themselves that global warming isn’t really happening, despite being hit with solid facts supporting the opposite point of view on almost a daily basis? The collapse of the Wilkins Ice Shelf along with a study that shows that only ten percent of Arctic ice is more than two years old as of February 2009 should be a cold slap in the face to global warming deniers, but they haven’t budged.

The Huffington Post’s Michael Coniff explores some of the reasons.

“Well,” said Steve Campbell from Greenpeace, “if the collapse of the Wilkins Ice Shelf in the last few days is not a huge wake-up call for our political leaders at a global level, I really don’t know what is. Time for the international community to bite the bullet and come to the table in international climate negotiations, and make sure that particularly developed countries agree to deep emissions reductions, so we can start to really help to solve the climate crisis at the global level.”

Conservatives, of course, tend to be all but immune to inconvenient data of climate change, citing marginal studies and anecdotal evidence scientifically proven by looking out your bedroom window. The difference now is not just the overwhelming data and the word of eminent scientists but the satellite video and computer renderings in your face of what’s going down. Like watching a baby in the womb, the enhanced views visible in time-lapse photography render the skeptic all but defenseless, left to rely on rigor-mortis rhetoric and blowhard bluster in the face of fact after fact from those who actually know jack.

The fact of the matter is, it’s probably easy to deny the facts about global warming when you’re getting all of your information from Fox Noise talking points. Fox barely even pretends to be a real news source anymore – since the election of President Obama they’ve shifted their purpose from full-time propaganda machine to further brainwashing the right with entirely opinion-based, anti-government rhetoric. They’ve even gone so far as to call for viewers to “celebrate with Fox News” by attending these ridiculous tea parties. Fair and balanced, Glenn Beck’s left nut.

Link [The Huffington Post]

Oil Companies Actually Getting Less Green

Most of the major oil companies have spent the last few years trying to convince us that they’re going green. BP, Exxon, Shell and others started running advertisements proclaiming that they were investing in renewable energy technology – hell, Exxon went so far as to leave a comment here on EarthFirst about the company’s supposed efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, claiming frustration at their bad reputation among environmentalists.

But, all of the greenwashed facades are coming crashing down. The world’s oil giants aren’t exactly lining up to follow President Obama’s green lead, and some of them are even breaking commitments they’ve already made.

From The New York Times:

Royal Dutch Shell said last month that it would freeze its research and investments in wind, solar and hydrogen power, and focus its alternative energy efforts on biofuels. The company had already sold much of its solar business and pulled out of a project last year to build the largest offshore wind farm, near London.

BP, a company that has spent nine years saying it was moving “beyond petroleum,” has been getting back to petroleum since 2007, paring back its renewable program. And American oil companies, which all along have been more skeptical of alternative energy than their European counterparts, are studiously ignoring the new messages coming from Washington.

“In my view, nothing has really changed,” Rex W. Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, said after the election of President Obama.

“We don’t oppose alternative energy sources and the development of those. But to hang the future of the country’s energy on those alternatives alone belies reality of their size and scale.”

The New York Times reports that Exxon is counting on oil, gas and coal to be just as prevalent in 2050 as they are today.  Perhaps that would be true if we were counting on oil giants alone to fund the renewable energy industry – but thankfully, we’re not. They’re dragging their feet for a reason. Hydrocarbons are a huge source of revenue for them and they’re not prepared to let go of them.

The fact is, the world is ready to start moving beyond fossil fuels. Oil companies need to shape up and get serious about renewable energy if they want to survive. It’s possible to adapt instead of keeping a death grip on the ways of the 20th century. Actually following through on their own green claims would be a start.

Link [The New York Times]
Photo credit: London Rising Tide

RNC Clown Michael Steele Weighs in on Global Warming

 

Michael Steele is the gift that keeps on giving. Voted chairman of the Republican National Committee in what smells suspiciously like a “Hey, look, we’re not all fat white guys” stunt, Steele hasn’t exactly provided the hip, diverse edge that the RNC was apparently going for. Now, after several embarrassing missteps – including dorky, awkward misuse of urban slang and a tail-between-his-legs apology to Rush Limbaugh – Steele is inserting his foot even deeper down his throat with statements about global warming.

Steele said the following on a radio broadcast originally picked up by The Huffington Post’s Sam Steele, via DeSmogBlog:

“We are cooling. We are not warming. The warming you see out there, the supposed warming, and I am using my finger quotation marks here, is part of the cooling process. Greenland, which is now covered in ice, it was once called Greenland for a reason, right? Iceland, which is now green. Oh I love this. Like we know what this planet is all about. How long have we been here? How long? No [sic] very long.”

At least this time, Steele’s statements don’t put him at odds with the party he represents. Dumb as they are, they do fit in with the general Republican view that global warming – if it’s happening at all – isn’t caused by man.

As usual, DeSmogBlog has a concise explanation for why Steele is wrong:

While Steele is correct in implying that a cooling period helped make Greenland what it is today, he doesn’t seem to realize that that period, dubbed “The Little Ice Age” by historians and climate scientists, ended a long time ago – over 150 years ago, to be exact. During this era, which lasted several centuries, Norse settlements on the island were wiped out due to a combination of malnourishment, armed conflict and declining temperatures.

Similar century to millennia-long periods of intense cooling and warming, triggered by abrupt climate shifts, have occurred throughout history. Therefore, while it is certainly not implausible that the planet may eventually lapse into another mini ice age, most projected trends point to several decades of warming, made worse by anthropogenic influences. Of course, if Steele understood this, then he’d already know why scientists are so concerned about the dramatic rate of melting of Greenland’s ice sheet – melting prompted by higher air and water temperatures, I might add.

Boy, Michael Steele is so “off da hook”. He’s fighting that Obama stimulus bling-bling and giving the GOP a “hip-hop makeover”. Even Michele Bachman says “Michael Steele, You be da man!”. Between Steele, Bachman, Rush Limbaugh and Bobby “Kenneth the Page” Jindal, the Republican Party is definitely gearing up to drop it like it’s hot on our liberal asses. Friggin’ awesome. Word.

Link [DeSmogBlog] + [The Huffington Post]

DeSmogBlog Smacks Down Global Warming-Denying National Post

The National Post, a conservative Canadian newspaper based in Toronto, has embarrassed itself once again. The paper routinely prints outrageously stupid things about global warming in a cheeky series of articles entitled ‘The Deniers’ and in regular columns by Lorne Gunter and Peter Foster.

DeSmogBlog regularly points out The National Post’s inaccuracies and outright lies about climate change, and now they’re taking issue with the paper’s so-called reporting from the climate deniers gathering in New York City.

From DeSmogBlog:

This latest dispatch by Foster “reporting” from the climate deniers gathering in New York further undermines the Post as a legitimate media outlet. So one-sided and erroneous is their editorial position on climate science that it is best described as journalistic malpractice.

While the Post felt it important to send Foster to cover the Heartland denier’s conference, they of course neglected to send any reporters to cover the UN climate conference last year in Poland, or the current gathering of 2,000 leading climate scientists in Denmark.

I suppose it is simpler to avoid mixing ideology with any actual information.

DeSmogBlog’s Mitchell Anderson goes on to point out all of the newsworthy information – and actual facts – being revealed at the real climate conference in Copenhagen, including the doubling of the projected rise in sea level by 2100, thanks to ballooning emissions, which the National Post failed to cover. Here’s a snippet:

There is also growing evidence that oceans are losing their ability to mop up our emissions mess. A study in 2007 revealed that marine absorption of carbon in the Atlantic had halved in only ten years. Similar results were reported recently in Sea of Japan.

“It is a tremendous surprise and very worrying because there were grounds for believing that in time the ocean might become ’saturated’ with our emissions – unable to soak up any more, ” reported the BBC. If true, that would “leave all our emissions to warm the atmosphere”.

But what the hay? I’m sure those folks at the National Post and Heartland Institute have it all figured out. After all, who are you going to believe – a bunch of egghead scientists, or courageous skeptics like Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley?

Of course, global warming deniers barely even try to support their viewpoint with facts anymore. All of their energy is spent twisting actual climate science around, hatching conspiracy theories,  ignoring the mounting evidence that proves them wrong and pointing fingers at Al Gore, the biggest target of their irrational ire. The fact that Vaclav Klaus is the Heartland Institute’s Leading International Figure for the second year in a row speaks louder than words.

Link [DeSmogBlog]

Top 10 Climate Change Deniers

They’ve made ignorant statements about climate change science, distorted facts, and totally made up sciencey equations and calculations that were dismissed by real scientists as utter bullshit. Among them are paid coal, oil and cigarette company shills, evolution deniers and winking Alaskan animal haters. The Guardian’s George Monbiot has named the top ten climate change deniers – in playing card form.

From The Guardian:

Steve Milloy
Fox News columnist

Steve Milloy writes a weekly “Junk Science” column for Fox News, which he uses, among other topics, to pour scorn on studies documenting the medical effects of secondhand tobacco smoke and showing that climate change is taking place. Fox describes his credentials thus: “Steven Milloy publishes JunkScience.com and manages the Free Enterprise Action Fund. He is a junk science expert, and an adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute”.

What it doesn’t say is that he has long acted as a paid advocate for the tobacco company Philip Morris, while the fake grassroots group he runs has also received funding from ExxonMobil.

His website has been the main entrepôt for almost every kind of climate change denial that has found its way into the mainstream press. Milloy claims to be campaigning against “faulty scientific data and analysis used to advance special and, often, hidden agendas”, which seems to be a pretty good summary of his own activities.

Sarah Palin
Governor of Alaska

An Alaskan denying climate change is like a Saudi Arabian denying sand. But can she do it? You betcha. The eagle-eyed governor can – or so the satirists claim- see Russia from her house, but apparently not the melting permafrost, shrinking glaciers and disappearing sea ice closer to home.

During her vice-presidential campaign, she embarrassed John McCain by maintaining: “I’m not one though who would attribute it [climate change] to being manmade.” She has refused to classify the polar bear as an endangered species on the grounds that the sea ice is here to stay, but is making plans for opening up the Arctic Sea to oil drilling, on the grounds that the ice is due to disappear. Could her ambivalence towards climate change have anything to do with the fact that Alaska is a major oil state? You betcha.

The rest of the list includes Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips, Sunday Telegraph columnist Christopher Booker, Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus, TV presenter David Bellamy, Cato Institute Professor Pat Michaels, Northern Ireland environmental minister Sammy Wilson and professional dumbass Lord Christopher Monckton.

What a bunch of jokers. If these are the best people the deniers can come up with to trumpet their lies and misinformation about global warming, it’s no surprise that the silly ‘Climate Change Isn’t Real’ conference going on in New York City right now attracted just 600 people.

Link [The Guardian]

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