EcoMole
Rush Limbaugh Attacks Environmental Wackos and Embarrasses Himself in the Process. Religious Zealot Threatens to Unleash WMDs on US. State Department Memo Reveals Plans to Privatize Iraq's Assets The Eco-Mole on the Media Blackout on ... and more
October 3, 2003
Rushing to Condemn
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| ©Gar Smith/The-Edge |
As Hurricane Isabel bore down on the East Coast, the Worldwatch Institute issued a press release restating the scientific argument that rising global temperatures were likely to trigger hurricanes and other forms of extreme weather.
The press release sent conservative radio ranter Rush Limbaugh into a lather. Limbaugh was incensed by the suggestion that the hurricane might be linked to the Bush administration's pro-oil energy policies and Clean Air Act rollbacks.
In his September 19 broadcast, Limbaugh noted with scorn that "environmentalist wackos -- displaced communists and socialists using our universal love for Earth to promote their extremist agenda -- blame Hurricane Isabel on global warming."
Limbaugh derided, "the theory that carbon dioxide causes warming" as "absurd" and mocked Worldwatch's concerns over Isabel, which he characterized as a "weak and common" storm. (This "weak" disturbance subsequently cut power to 10 million people from Virginia to Canada, caused billions of dollars in property damage and claimed at least 23 lives.)
Limbaugh's pontifications appeared to be largely based on a September 18 Cybercast News Service report by Marc Morano. The CNS story quoted University of Virginia environmental science professor Patrick J. Michaels (author of Satanic Gases: Clearing the Air About Global Warming) who contends that there have been "no increases in the frequency or severity of hurricanes" in the Atlantic or anywhere else.
Limbaugh likes to mock his detractors with the pompous jest that he's broadcasting "with half my brain tied behind my back just to make it even." But on this occasion, Rush seemed to be working the mike with both cranial hemispheres firmly strapped to his clavicals.
Environmentalist wackos, Rush continued, "prey on the ignorance and gullibility of people." How could "six billion tiny humansc effect the temperature of Earth" when it's much more likely that "sun spots are a major factor in global warming." Besides, Rush argued, "There have been hurricanes before there were automobiles, SUVs or hairspray,"
Hairspray? Perhaps Limbaugh was mistaking CFC-based aerosol sprays for greenhouse gases. A common mistake. But the chemicals in aerosol sprays were linked to the destruction of the ozone layer, not to the acceleration of the Greenhouse Effect. Besides, the use of CFCs as a propellant in hairspray cans has been banned for years.
Moments later, Rush made a similar gaffe when he complained that environmentalists "blame cars for spewing CFCs and other pollutants." CFCs are not among the combustion by-products that spill from the tailpipes of oil-powered automobiles. Nor are CFCs used in the air conditioning systems of modern automobiles. (This wildly off-the-mark comment appears to have been surgically removed from the transcript posted on Limbaugh's website.)
Religious Terrorist Reaps the Hurricane
There is a fundamentalist cleric based in the US who has expressed his desire to use weapons of mass destruction to punish the citizens of any US cities that oppose his religious and political beliefs. His name is Pat Robertson.
In 1998, religious broadcaster Robertson ordered a hurricane to strike Orlando, Florida to punish its citizens for the city's decision to permit a gay pride celebration.
On September 17, Robertson went live on his Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) to order divine powers to turn Hurricane Isabel away from his Virginia Beach headquarters. Robertson instructed God to install a "wall of protection" around Virginia Beach and the entire East Coast.
Robertson didn't just passively beseech the Lord God: He verbally expropriated the Creator's awesome powers. Addressing the audience of "The 700 Club," Robertson proclaimed: "In the name of Jesus, we reach out our hand in faith and we command that storm to cease its forward motion to the north and to turn and to go out into the sea." [Emphasis added.]
The Associated Press notes that Robertson has "given God credit for turning past hurricanes away in response to prayer." The AP was unable to provide Robertson's Beaufort-scale batting average, however.
Robertson has made a habit of invoking God and extreme weather to promote his political wish lists. On June 26, Robertson's CBN website featured a story headlined "Acts of God: America's Warning Not to Divide Israel." The CBN feature claimed that "the worst month of tornadoes in American history" was an act of holy retribution triggered by Washington's statement of support for Palestinian statehood.
Ordering hurricanes around seems like something that went out of fashion with the Biblical prophet Joshua and British King Canute. King Canute, after all, ultimately realized the futility of ordering the oceanfs incoming tides to reverse course. And when Joshua asked God to make the sun "stand still over Gibeon,h the Bible makes it clear that: gThere has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a man." (Joshua 10:14)
Perhaps Mr. Robertson was unduly influenced as a child by unsupervised exposure to Walt Disneyfs Fantasia. Perhaps his adult self harbors a deep, unsatisfied yearning to control the forces of the universe to the crashing symphonic chords of the gSorcererfs Apprentice.h But in today's litigious world, you would think that Robertson might stop to consider the class action suits that would result if Orlando had been ransacked by Robinson-willed 120-mile winds.
On the other hand, there is evidence that God does listen to Robertson's prayers -- and disapproves. When Robertson attempted to call that hurricane down on Orlando, Hurricane Bonnie rose out of the Atlantic and slammed into Robertson's neighborhood instead. And, sure enough, Hurricane Isabel didn't follow Robertson's instructions to head north and out to sea. It roared right over the CBN headquarters.
God to Pat: "Have I got your attention, yet?"
State Department Memo Reveals US Plans to Privatize Iraqfs Assets
BBC investigative reporter Greg Palast, the author of the recent bestseller The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, has obtained a Bush administration document titled gMoving the Iraqi Economy from Recovery to Sustainable Growth.h The confidential 101-page US State Department report -- written well before the invasion of Iraq -- outlines the plan for a gpost-conflict economyh that involves the mass privatization of virtually every Iraqi government asset.
Palast decided to grant an interview to the independent Baghdad Bulletin because gyou speak to some people in Iraq, and they ought to know what is planned for them.h
Was Oil Really the Reason for War?
By Line Thomsen / Baghdad Bulletin
BAGHDAD (August 31, 2003) -- The leaked document, which only Palast and a reporter from The Wall Street Journal have managed to obtain, contains plans for gprivate sector involvement in strategic sectors, including privatization, assets, sales, concessions, leases and management contracts -- especially in the oil and supporting industries.h
gSaid more plainly; it is a plan to sell off the oil fields, the pipelines and the oil infrastructure of Iraq to private business and to turn what is left of Iraq into a free-market paradise,h Palast said. gThe plan is obviously made to make it easier for the giant operators that could possibly afford to take over Iraqfs oil wealth.h
For the complete article, go to:
www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=816
Weapons of Mass Deception Suffers Massive Media Blackout
The EcoMole recently caught up with author John Stauber during his US book tour. Stauberfs appearance at Cody's Books in Berkeley brought out one of the largest crowds the bookstore has seen as more than 200 fans jostled for space in the upstairs lounge. A pretty good turn-out for a book that can't seem to get any media coverage.
Even without mainstream publicity, Weapons of Mass Deception (co-authored with Sheldon Rampton) had been on the New York Times extended bestsellers list for the previous five weeks. Published six week ago, it was already in its seventh printing. Weapons of Mass Deception seems to be turning into a sleeper hit on the scale of Michael Moore's Stupid White Men.
Stauber noted how it's been nearly impossible to get the media to review a book that documents how badly the media performed during the PR-push that led to the Iraq Invasion.
"This book is on a blacklist," Stauber lamented. "We can't even get our butts kicked around the soundstage at the [Bill] O'Reilly Show or the [Sean] Hanritty Show. Only one major newspaper in the entire US has reviewed this book -- the San Francisco Chronicle." (At this mention, a burst of proud applause broke forth from the hometown crowd.)
One audience member asked for Stauber's response to Bush's recent admissions his State of the Union Address contained misinformation and his recent concession that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.
Stauber (who, as head of the media watchdog group PR Watch, knows something about the business of "perception management") replied that a successful propaganda effort succeeds by using half-truths to prompt people to come to a false conclusion on their own. "If you actually have to lie," Stauuber said, "it shows that your propaganda campaign is in trouble."
Resume: George W. Bush
The following amusing/disturbing highlights from GWB's career are draw from Dubyafs actual accomplishments. For the full text visit: www.ashabot.com/bush_resume.htm
Past Work Experience:
- Ran for congress and lost.
- Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.
- Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. Company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
- Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using tax-payer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox.
- With fatherfs help (and name) was elected Governor of Texas.
Accomplishments as Governor of Texas:
- Changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union.
- Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
- Set record for most executions by any Governor in US history.
- Became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes (with the help of my fatherfs appointments to the Supreme Court).
Accomplishments as President of the USA:
- Attacked and took over two countries.
- Spent US surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
- Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
- Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
- Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
- First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
- First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
- First year in office, set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history.
- Dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
- My presidency is the most secretive and un-accountable of any in US history.
- The richest cabinet members of any administration in US history. (The 'poorest' multi-millionaire, Condoleeza Rice, had a Chevron oil tanker named after her).
- Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
- In a little over two years, created the most divided country since the Civil War.
- Entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years sent every single economic category heading straight down.
- Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
GW Bush's Public Records and Personal References:
- At least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased).
- AWOL from Air National Guard during a time of war.
- Refuse to take drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
- All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my fatherfs library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
- All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
- Records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.
For personal references please speak to my daddy or uncle James Baker at their offices in the Carlyle Group: www.thecarlylegroup.com.
For more information contact:
