Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Who is Paying for the Tea Parties? (Oh yes, paying)

FreedomWorks

Founded in 1984, FreedomWorks is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has hundreds of thousands of grassroots volunteers nationwide. The organization is chaired by former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey and the President is Matt Kibbe.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute

(CEI) is a non-profit libertarian[1] think tank[2] founded in 1984 by Fred L. Smith, Jr and based in Washington, D.C., USA. CEI's stated belief is that consumers are best helped not by government regulation of commercial interests...ExxonMobil Corporation was a major donor to CEI, with over $2 million in contributions between 1998 and 2005. [9] In 2002 the company gave $405,000;[10] in 2004 it gave CEI $180,000 that was earmarked for "global climate change and global climate change outreach." Myron Ebell is the Director of Global Warming and International Environmental Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a non-profit public policy organization founded in 1984 by Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Director, Myron Ebell directs and oversees all aspects of energy policy education and advocacy for CEI. He is also the Chairman of the Cooler Heads Coalition, an informal and ad-hoc policy group that works on the economics, science, and risk analysis associated with global warming.
His main job is to provide material to the media in the form of quotes to newspaper reporters and participation in live interviews on the subject of climate change. His positions at various times are: (a) climate change isn't happening, (b) it is happening, but it's not because of human released CO2, (c) it is happening, and may be human induced, but it will be much cheaper to adapt to the change than to ration the use of fossil fuels, (d) it is happening and the consequences will be good for the environment.[1]
He also digs out countervailing facts from the scientific literature that can be used by other pundits and writes on matters of property rights for several right wing conservative publications.
He has been described as a presidential advisor to George W. Bush in several media outlets, but there is no evidence for this on his resume. He was associated with an advisor Philip Cooney in an email about plans to take forward litigation against the EPA. Now working on the 9/12 rally in Washington D.C. next month.

Monday, August 17, 2009

MoveOn.org Political Action: 10 things to know about McCain

MoveOn.org Political Action: 10 things to know about McCain: http://pol.moveon.org/mccain10/

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):


John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.

1
According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."
2
His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.
3
McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."
4
The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.
5
He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.
6
Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."
7
McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.
8
McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."
9
He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.
10
John McCain is not who the Washington press corps make him out to be.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

'The end of the world' has already begun, UW scientists say

'The end of the world' has already begun, UW scientists say: "'The end of the world' has already begun, UW scientists say"

We are really in for a treat this century. As I look around the Internet, it seems as though we are statistically running out of time on a few really big issues. If you think the economic meltdown was a buzz-kill, then brace yourself. There is a 1 in 10 chance that a life altering asteroid is going to hit Earth this century!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Windows Live

Well, its done. I finally got the spare time to connect a bunch of stuff to my Windows Live profile. Phew