Is It in My Head?

(via Paul Ryan: Yes, I Am a Nut -- NYMag)

Did you know that David Koch, who along with his brother Charles has spent millions on climate change denial, currently sits on the Board of Trustees at Boston’s PBS affiliate, WGBH?

It’s hard to believe, but the nation’s biggest financial backer of right-wing causes helps oversee the station that brings us educational classics like Frontline and NOVA. Until earlier this year, Koch was also on the board of New York’s PBS affiliate, WNET, but he resigned after a New Yorker exposé uncovered the embarrassing revelation that WNET staff refused to air a documentary critical of the Koch brothers, fearing that doing so would jeopardize a major planned contribution from David Koch.

The WNET episode was a disturbing example of how even the presence of someone like Koch can lead to dangerous self-censorship in our public television stations. We have no idea if the same kind of self-censorship is happening at WGBH. The station insists that there are strong firewalls to prevent that sort of thing from happening. Until recently, so did WNET.

But behind the very real possibility that Koch’s presence affects WGBH’s content is an even larger question for WGBH and its members: Why should it be acceptable for a radical climate-denier like David Koch to be on the board of a well-respected institution like WGBH, which is dedicated to educating the public?

The answer is simple: it shouldn’t be acceptable.

The world is already feeling the painful impacts of climate disasters like Superstorm Sandy and this summer’s wildfires. It’s time for important societal institutions like WGBH to draw a line and say that lying to the American public about the reality of climate change is unacceptable, and we will not be associated with it.

The New Yorker piece and Koch’s resignation from the WNET board have created a major opening to reconsider the relationship between public institutions and climate deniers like Koch. That’s why Forecast the Facts members are seizing this opening and mobilizing to get Koch off WGBH's board. The first step is to gather as many petition signatures as possible to deliver to the full Board of Trustees at their October 9th meeting.

Google's motto is "Don't Be Evil," but on July 11, Google hosted a $250-$2500 per plate fundraiser for one of the worst climate deniers in the world: Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK). Google has been a corporate leader in fighting climate pollution. Its support for liars like Inhofe is a glaring mistake. 

Sen. Inhofe has claimed: "CO2 does not cause catastrophic disasters ... actually, it would be beneficial to our environment and the economy."

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has said: "You can lie about the effects of climate change, but eventually you'll be seen as a liar." 

UPDATE: Google went ahead with their fundraiser and refused our petitions in D.C. We're planning a delivery at Google headquarters soon. Please sign and help us get to 15k signatures before we take our concerns directly to Mountain View.

Ref: Google Washington to host NRSC fundraiser for Sen. Jim Inhofe on July 11, Political Party Time.

The War This Time by Dan Savage - Seattle Features - The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper

Look at it: it's one big retirement community. Barely more than 8% Latino.

No wonder Inhofe gets elected over-and-over. When you're old and white, you can afford to be solipsistic.

An ad campaign by the corporate front-group the Heartland Institute features the face of Ted Kaczynski alongside the phrase “I still believe in Global Warming. Do you?” Heartland is funded by Microsoft, Pfizer, and other major corporate sponsors, and I just signed a petition for them to pull their support of Heartland over these despicable, anti-science ads. Will you join me?

http://sumofus.org/campaigns/heartland/?sub=taf

The Heartland Institute has a long history of playing dirty. Last year, Heartland was caught trying to sneak industry-written pro-coal propaganda into elementary schools, and previously they have acted as hired guns for the cigarette industry, distributing a paper titled “Joe Camel is Innocent!”.

These corporations have no business supporting Heartland. Join me in calling for them to stop funding these climate change denial smears

Audi Chief Calls Chevy Volt "A Car For Idiots"

New Marketing Campaign for German Imports: appeal to the narcissism of contrarian climate change deniers to sell cars. Cars sold by pricks for pricks.

point of intellectual honesty: The article has 5 Misrepresentations from Climate Change Advocates that follow....

Al Gore Calls ‘Bullshit’ On Climate Science Deniers Who Push “The Same Crap Over And Over And Over Again”

Following up on choosing to send climate change deniers to Congress, the chicken has come home to roost. That would be fine, but I don't deserve a chicken sitting on me, too, like people in Bangladesh don't deserve to be flooded out of their homes.