jackassery

Al Gore = Hitler?

Memo outlines history and success of 'clean coal' propaganda campaign

Ever wondered about the inner workings of the "clean coal" propaganda campaign? Wondered how the rancid sausage was made?

Lucky for you, the Hawthorn Group -- the PR firm hired by ACCCE to mount and run the campaign -- recently published a memo "to friends and family" merrily laying out the details.

Even in a communication-saturated environment we achieved, even exceeded, our wildest expectations (and we believe those of our client!). Not only did we raise the awareness of the issue, but we got the major candidates on both sides of the aisle talking about the issue in the debates, at campaign rallies and in interviews. We did this by finding creative ways to increase the visibility of the issue and by demonstrating strong voter support. We successfully integrated traditional communication and grassroots tactics with online strategies and tools.

The presidential campaign concluded with both candidates, their running mates and surrogates talking about and supporting clean coal technology. The issue was mentioned in all four general election debates. This was a 180-degree turn from earlier in the campaign when none of the candidates were focused on this issue.

The program also had an impact on the perception of coal among public opinion leaders. In September 2007, on the key measurement question -- Do you support/oppose the use of coal to generate electricity? -- we found 46 percent support and 50 percent oppose. In a 2008 year-end survey that result had shifted to 72 percent support and 22 percent oppose. Not only did we see significantly increased support, opposition was cut by more than half.

Wheee!

DeFazio says Summers should be canned for cutting mass transit funds

"Harvard had it right."

-- Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-Ore.), referring to the university's jettisoning of Larry Summers, who is now director of Obama's National Economic Council and who DeFazio has accused of axing mass transit funding from the stimulus bill

Rep. Mike Pence protests climate research funding in stimulus bill

"What is $400 million for climate change research going to do to put people back to work in Indiana?"

-- Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), speaking on the floor of the House against the stimulus package that he and every other Republican voted against

Skeptics hope D.C. snow will put the freeze on Gore's testimony

The nation's capital is currently in the grips of Snowpacalypse '09 (meaning, in D.C. parlance, we have about 2 inches of snow on the ground).

Climate skeptics are already giddy about the fact that a) clearly this demonstrates that global warming is a ginourmous lie; and b) it may mean Al Gore's scheduled testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee tomorrow gets put on hold.

Grist pulled no punches in covering all of George Bush's dirt

  A movie no one would make.   Imagine that back in 1999 you were a Hollywood studio executive and a movie producer brought you the following pitch: A bumbling, incurious child of privilege wastes his youth on Oedipal rebellion. After stumbling through a series of failed business ventures and an undistinguished stint as governor […]

Landrieu serves up monologue on oil during DOE confirmation hearing

Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) made two of the more aggressively pro-drilling arguments during Tuesday's confirmation hearing for Energy Secretary-nominee Steven Chu. Neither was totally related to Chu's testimony, but both were, er, colorful.

First, Landrieu disputed Chu's citation of the fact that the United States contains only three percent of the world's oil supply, arguing that she believes there is more oil available domestically:

I listened with interest to your comments to Senator Murkowski about the known inventory in the United States of oil and gas and just wanted to point out that the emphasis is on the word known because we believe, many of us, that there are great resources that have yet to be discovered based on the fact that there's never been a comprehensive technology-driven inventory taken of oil and gas resources.

So one of the things that our chairman has been leading the effort and to some degree of success with my support and others, has been to push the United States government on behalf of the taxpayers who might be interested to actually know how much oil and gas they have. And so with so much off limit in the past and with limited access to just look, I would just urge you to be careful about the comment about four percent. It is true. We have four percent of the known reserves, but there is great evidence to suggest that there are lots of reserves that are unknown.

Her second remark pertained to pirates:

Chevron's history of denial, delay, and defamation in the Ecuadorian Amazon

It has been 15 years since a group of Ecuadorian indigenous people filed a lawsuit against Texaco for oil contamination, resulting from 26 years of substandard oil extraction efforts. In those years, Texaco -- acquired by Chevron in 2001 -- consistently has denied responsibility, delayed justice, and defamed the Ecuadorian people who need help the most. In other words, the oil giant has acted like most people expect Big Oil companies to act -- like bullies -- instead of the good corporate citizens that Chevron's advertising campaigns like to portray.

Meanwhile, the Ecuadorians living in Texaco's former dumping ground suffer every day. Texaco released over 18 billion gallons of oil and toxic water into the rainforest from 1964 to 1990. Experts indicate that over 1,000 people have died from cancer. Spontaneous abortions are two to three times more likely to occur in the concession area than in other parts of Ecuador. It's almost impossible to find a family not touched by the illnesses.

Until you see the extent of the contamination, it is hard to believe. Almost 1,000 pits the size of large swimming pools scar an area the size of Rhode Island. Texaco built the pits to dump the remaining oil and toxic water after drilling. To reduce costs, Texaco violated standard industry practice and never lined the pits. As a result, the toxins have flowed directly into the streams and underground water supply. Texaco eventually covered the pits with dirt -- as if hiding the pollution would make it go away -- but never took any real steps to clean up the area. Some people even built their houses on top of the covered pits, thinking that the pits were safe.

Vote for the worst piece of writing on climate change

Every year the Poor Man Institute gives out awards for a range of wanktastic behavior from the lunatic right. Highlights include the Chickenhawk of the Year award (for rhetorical courage), the Fluffy award (for egregious ass-kissing), and the Purple Teardrop With Clutched Pearl Cluster award (for melodramatic offense-taking). Of particular interest to Gristians, however, is […]