Articles by David Roberts
David Roberts was a staff writer for Grist. You can follow him on Twitter, if you're into that sort of thing.
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Massey Energy CEO is a really bad dude
The venerable print magazine Old Trout was recently relaunched with a splashy issue on "The Thirteen Scariest Americans." I was asked to write up the scariest American from an environmental point of view.
The choice was not difficult. The scariest polluter in the U.S. is Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy. The guy is evil, and I don't use that word lightly.The issue is out now. (Look for it on a newsstand near you!) The folks at Old Trout have given me permission to publish an expanded version of the piece after a suitable period of exclusivity. So watch for that at the beginning of December.
In the meantime, check out three things.
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Won’t give interviews
Rep. Richard "Dick" Pombo has decided that the way to win his race is to clam up, avoid the media, and allow his name recognition and the native conservatism of his district to carry the day. He figures that's enough.
Others disagree.
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It never ends
Last Wednesday, conservative Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby cited me by name in a column about how liberals want to destroy free speech.
This represents the latest (last?) stage in what has been a textbook conservative media swarm. It starts when a movement ideologue (in this case Marc Morano, hired attack dog of Sen. James Inhofe) plucks a quote out of context from an obscure source (in this case, Gristmill) and uses it to caricature the entire left side of the political spectrum. Then the context-free, already-spun quote spreads like wildfire around the conservative echo chamber, which is always ravenous for tidbits that reinforce its worldview. After buzzing around for a while, it drifts upward, being cited on talk radio and eventually in mainstream outlets like Fox News and now the Boston Globe.
It's a well-oiled machine. I have no illusions that I can stop it or alter its course. The right's sense of aggrievement, its victim complex, is adamantine, and nothing I can do will dent it.
Nonetheless, I sent a letter to the editor to the Globe. They printed an edited version of it today. Below is the original:
