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Deal Reached in Copenhagen ... And it Looks Like Crap
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on December 18, 2009 at 2:44 PM.

The first inkling of reports are coming out of Copenhagen that a deal has been reached, but it's looking like it won't be anything to celebrate. It is most definitely not a legally binding agreement either. Don't worry though, it's just the future of the planet on the line.

The Washington Post reports:

The deal provides a means to monitor and verify emissions cuts by developing countries but has less ambitious climate targets than the United States and European governments had initially sought, according to an Obama administration official and other sources familiar with the talks

The official, speaking earlier on condition of anonymity, said a "meaningful agreement was reached" following a multilateral meeting between Obama and the leaders of China, India and South Africa. "It's not sufficient to combat the threat of climate change, but it's an important first step," the official said.

The deal appeared to fall short of even modest expectations for the summit. As part of the agreement -- brokered after a last-minute meeting between Obama and his counterparts from China, India and South Africa -- industrialized and developing nations agreed to list their national actions and commitments in their fight against climate change, while vowing to take action to prevent the Earth's temperature from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius. In addition, they agreed to provide information on the implementation of their actions, which would be subject to international review and analysis.

Just to be clear, "falling short of even modest expectations," is really, really bad.

Matthew McDermott reporting from Copenhagen for Treehugger summed up the immediate reaction thus far:

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Climate Talks on Verge of Collapse in Final Hours
Posted by Nick Berning, Open Left on December 18, 2009 at 9:15 AM.

There's a somber mood in Copenhagen on the last day of climate negotiations, with prospects for a strong and fair agreement feeling further and further out of reach.

A leaked UN document shows current proposals would add up to an alarming 3 degree C temperature rise and the U.S. is still refusing to budge.

Indeed, it now seems increasingly possible that rich countries' leaders may not even be able to piece together the weak, fig leaf of a "political" rather than "binding" agreement that most observers had been anticipating.

There's been some important news here over the last 24 hours.

LEAKED UN DOCUMENT EXPOSES HOW CURRENT PROPOSALS ADD UP TO CATASTROPHIC WARMING

First, a secret UN analysis of countries' current emission reduction proposals was leaked to the media. That analysis concluded that, when put together, the proposals now on the table would likely result in a global temperature rise to 3ºC above pre-industrial levels -- a catastrophic rise that would put small island states under water and cause suffering and death for millions of people.

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Peaceful Protests Turn Violent in Copenhagen
Posted by Allison Hamm, The Media Consortium on December 16, 2009 at 1:26 PM.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop15) turned ugly today when police officers beat back hundreds of demonstrators, including a group of 50 to 100 delegates that were trying to meet with the protesters.

More than 250 people were arrested, including spokespeople for Climate Justice Action (CJA), a global network of NGOs that organized a walkout at the Bella Center today. CJA’s spokesperson Dan Glall told Mantoe Phakathi at Inter Press Service that “as a condition for going back to the negotiations, we demand industrialized nations uphold the Kyoto Protocol, commit adequate funds to adaptation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly.”

OneClimate has video (below) of today’s walkout.

“More than 1,000 people have been arrested, detained and released over the course of the past week,” Jennifer Prediger writes for Grist. “Some were made to sit on freezing sidewalks for six hours in a nasty version of time out. The people who threw rocks and set cars on fire were rightfully detained.  But the droves who were dragged in last night for dancing awkwardly in Christiana?  Seems like overkill to me.”

The chaos outside reflects the increasing pressure inside the Bella Center, as delegates turn to the United States and China for leadership in the final days of the summit. Together these countries account for 42 percent of the world’s carbon emissions.

In order to finalize a global climate agreement in Copenhagen, both countries need to take a big step forward, as David Doniger and Barbara Finamore report for Grist. For the U.S., this means aid for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people; for China, this means making steady progress to meet the country’s carbon reduction goals.

The U.S. has already committed to pay its share of a $30 billion fund to last through 2012. “But to lead in Copenhagen, the U.S. needs to back even larger investments to meet these core needs for the longer-term—2015 or 2020,” Doniger and Finamore write. “China has the opportunity to enhance its standing as a responsible world leader by building global confidence in the implementation of its carbon reduction goals.”

But as David Corn reports for Mother Jones, China and the U.S. are apparently “stuck in a standoff.”

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Naomi Klein: US Lowering the Bar in Copenhagen, Doing More Harm Than Good
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on December 16, 2009 at 9:45 AM.

Negotiations at COP15 are entering into the final few days and things are clearly getting more heated as heads of state are arriving. But most activists feel not enough has been accomplished and the agreement taking shape will not match up to what scientists say we need to accomplish -- and not by a long shot.

And worse, the U.S. is gumming up the process. So many of us concerned with the future of the planet breathed a sigh of relief when Obama was elected and we were relieved by his desire for strong action on climate change, but so far the words he's been way more talk than action.

Katherine Goldstein for Huffington Post interviewed Naomi Klein and Klein's assessment of the U.S. involvement is grim:

The US negotiators have squandered a tremendous amount of goodwill. Tremendous ... the Democrats have squandered so many opportunities. We've seen these huge outpourings of support of the US -- we saw it after 9/11 and we saw it when Obama was elected. So many were so happy about the US re-engaging in the climate process. But I think it has done way more harm than good. It's given countries the opportunities to weaken the targets they are putting on the table, like Japan. The US has lowered the bar and set goals so low, it's been destructive. I think it would be better if the US had continued to stay out of it. I don't see any point in US politicians coming here.

When chief negotiator Jonathan Pershing offers for the US to pay $1.5 billion to help with climate change and says, "the US only has so much largesse," Americans have no idea [how insulting this is to the rest of the world.] US emits so much and has caused this problem. This is NOT about charity. This is about moral responsibility.

Obama arrives on Friday. And while I don't agree with Klein's assessment that the U.S. should just stay home, I think we need to demand that he live up to his promises and the U.S. live up to its international responsibilities.

Flip Flop Alert: Sarah Palin Just Recently Decided to Join the Idiot Ranks of Climate Deniers
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on December 15, 2009 at 1:19 PM.

So take a guess who wrote these words:

Alaska's climate is warming. While there have been warming and cooling trends before, climatologists tell us that the current rate of warming is unprecedented within the time of human civilization. Many experts predict that Alaska, along with our northern latitude neighbors, will warm at a faster pace than any other areas, and the warming will continue for decades.

Believe it or not that was Palin in 2008. Thanks to Eugene Robinson for bringing this up in the Washington Post today. And no better place to do so, considering the op-ed the paper ran by Palin last week where she said we did not have "trustworthy science" on climate change and perpetuated the myth of a climate science scandal.

Let's recap some other tidbits. Here's the old Palin:

"Climate change is not just an environmental issue. It is also a social, cultural, and economic issue important to all Alaskans."

And here's the new Palin:

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Residents of Upstate New York Fight Gas Drilling...With Zombies (Video)
Posted by Byard Duncan, AlterNet on December 15, 2009 at 8:36 AM.

Citizens of Upstate New York have found a unique way to voice their concerns about natural gas drilling in the area: they’ve made a zombie movie.

"Frac Attack: Dawn of the Watershed" is a 17-minute film that employs many of the genre’s signature characteristics -- cannibalism, festering wounds, protagonists who can’t seem to run seven steps without falling down -- to raise awareness about hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking for short), a controversial drilling technique. In the film, residents of Ithaca, NY find that their well water has been contaminated with foul smelling, "proprietary" fracking chemicals. After drinking it, they turn into moaning, brain-hungry monsters.

Essentially a zombie PSA, "Frac Attack" was made with the help of 70 community volunteers and with a budget of about $300. Shira Golding, the film’s director, said the horror genre was a perfect vessel to raise public awareness.

"The situation itself is so ridiculous on so many levels that the film itself is kind of echoing that shock and ridiculousness,” Golding said. “How could we even consider this?"

The film was shot over the course of two weekends in October, according to McKenzie Jones-Rounds, its leading lady. Approaching the issue of gas drilling with an eye toward creativity, she said, was a way to make the advocacy side of it more accessible.

"It’s an outlet for people who may not have one," she said. "It’s such a good metaphor for the unfortunate apathy much of the public has about these issues."

New York is currently embroiled in a debate over drilling in the Marcellus Shale, an enormous rock formation that’s believed to hold the largest cache of natural gas in the continental United States. Were Marcellus drilling to begin, the state’s southern tier would be ground zero for exploration. Many in the area have already leased their land to gas companies.

"We can see very clearly that there are really strong forces at work to try to get this drilling happening," Golding said. "The Department of Environmental Conservation is really not calculating for the cumulative effects of this drilling."

"The spirit of this film is very much supposed to be by and for the community, to spark involvement in the community," she added.

"Frac Attack" debuted last Thursday at a local theater in Ithaca. Both its R-rated and PG-13-rated versions can be watched here. Teaser after the jump.
 

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African Nations Lead a "Walkout" at Copenhagen; Talks Continue
Posted by Alex Pasternack, TreeHugger on December 14, 2009 at 11:00 AM.

African countries raised the "nuclear option" this morning in Copenhagen, suspending climate talks in protest of wealthy nations' resistance to discuss binding emissions reductions. Though African nations have walked out for the day, they are not leaving the talks permanently.

"Africa has pulled the emergency cord to avoid a train crash at the end of the week," said Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam International. "Poor countries want to see an outcome which guarantees sharp emissions reductions yet rich countries are trying to delay discussions on the only mechanism we have to deliver this - the Kyoto Protocol."

At this point, early in the final week during which world leaders arrive in Copenhagen, officials were playing down the suspension as a strategic measure to get talks back on track for tomorrow. A similar tactic was used during recent climate talks in Barcelona.

"This not about blocking the talks - it is about whether rich countries are ready to guarantee action on climate change and the survival or people in Africa and across the world," said Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam International.

Friends of the Earth International's Nnimmo Bassey said: "We support African countries' demands for Kyoto targets and mandatory emissions reductions for rich countries. We denounce the dirty negotiating tactics of rich countries which are trying to change the rules and tilt them in their own favor. Developed countries are stalling these negotiations as Africa attempts to move them forward."

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God Promises 30 Percent Increase In Global Warming By 2012 While at Copenhagen
Posted by Lee Camp, AlterNet on December 14, 2009 at 6:40 AM.

As the Copenhagen Climate Conference enters its second week, how many of us are paying attention?

Social Action in Copenhagen Rivals Seattle Protest
Posted by Bill McKibben, Mother Jones on December 13, 2009 at 9:57 AM.

It felt, at the start, a little like Seattle at the start. The same kind of joyful spontaneity that marked the first hours of the WTO protests, before the cops and the bandana-clad anarchists started trading blows. People gathered in front of the Danish Parliament building in the first sunshine seen for days (and it doesn’t last long at this latitude in December) to march to the conference headquarters about four miles away. The crowd—as many as 100,000 strong—was incredibly diverse: young people from around the world have swarmed into Copenhagen for the week, and they were dressed as penguins and polar bears and dinosaurs, singing, dancing to stay warm against the cold breeze. There was one other odd thing—many carried photos of other protests from the year past, ones they’d helped organize in their home countries. We saw shot after shot from our Oct. 24 350 rallies; it was as if people were delegates to some kind of global convention, carrying the hopes of their friends back home.

And meanwhile, back home: there were some 3,000 vigils around the world, organized by 350.org, Avaaz, and other members of the TckTck coalition. Most were candlelight affairs, solemn gatherings from people filled with hope and faith that something may yet be accomplished in these fractured talks. That’s what was different from Seattle: this gathering was just the tip of the iceberg, and a very large berg it was. By the time the long line had reached the Bella Center (mostly avoiding the few clashes with police taking place in other parts of town) the sun had, of course, gone down, and the candles had come out here as well. The pictures are quite beautiful, and they merge with the images from all over the world. A global movement is a beautiful thing.

Glenn Beck's Climate Czar Called for Quarantining AIDS Patients "For Life"
Posted by Jeremy Schulman, Media Matters for America on December 11, 2009 at 5:00 PM.

Study Says Eco Shoppers More Likely to Cheat, Steal
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on December 11, 2009 at 12:10 PM.

Slate recently reported on a study by Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong of the University of Toronto who found that "virtuous shopping can actually lead to immoral behavior. In their study (described in a paper now in press at Psychological Science), subjects who made simulated eco-friendly purchases ended up less likely to exhibit altruism in a laboratory game and more likely to cheat and steal."

OK, so keep in mind this is all a "laboratory game," they did not follow around a bunch of greenies waiting for them to skimp on the tip somewhere. But, their results do make a eco-geek like myself pause a bit. Here's how the study worked:

In an experiment, participants were randomly assigned to select items they wanted to buy in one of two online stores. One store sold predominantly green products, the other mostly conventional items. Then, in a supposedly unrelated game, all of the participants were allocated $6, to share as they saw fit with an anonymous (and unbeknownst to them, imaginary) recipient. Subjects who had chosen items from the green store coughed up less money, on average, than their counterparts. In a second experiment, participants were again assigned to shop in either a green or conventional store. Then they performed a computer task that involved earning small sums of cash. The setup offered the opportunity to cheat and steal with impunity. The eco-shoppers were more likely to do both.

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Report from Copenhagen: Negotiations Heat Up, Tuvalu Fights for Survival
Posted by Karen Orenstein, Open Left on December 11, 2009 at 9:39 AM.

This post is part of Friends of the Earth sponsoring Open Left. Please check out the Friends of the Earth website here.

****

Over the last day in Copenhagen, heated debates and surely thousands of conversations here in the conference center have focused on what the legal outcome of the climate negotiations should be -- and how to get there.

You may have seen some news stories over the past two days talk about actions by delegates from the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu -- whose existence as an island above sea level is literally at stake in climate talks. Here's how Rachel Morris at Mother Jones described Tuvalu's move:

On Wednesday Tuvalu's longtime climate adviser, an Australian named Ian Fry, grabbed the spotlight at Copenhagen by halting talks until negotiators considered a new, legally binding climate protocol that Tuvalu wants adopted instead of merely a political agreement. Tuvalu's alternative treaty outlines more drastic emissions reductions aimed at preventing temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Some stories describing Tuvalu's move (including the one above) have suggested that it's caused a rift to open between developing countries. A lot of this coverage is missing a key point: the differences of opinion between developing countries are about tactics, not substance; they're about how to get the best legally binding deal out of Copenhagen. Jargon aside (and there is a heck of a lot of jargon here – I think of UN climate negotiations as “acronym city”) -- developing countries remain firmly united in demanding (1) that rich countries commit to binding emission reductions targets in line with science and justice, and (2) that rich countries provide adequate funding for developing countries to address climate change.

Read on for more about the tactical implications of Tuvalu's move and some footage of the powerful action by African activists and parliamentarians from Tuesday.

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Oil Lobby Photoshopped Minorities Into Stock Photos to Add Diversity to Anti-Clean Energy Pamphlet
Posted by Lee Fang, Think Progress on December 11, 2009 at 8:26 AM.

In August, The Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson noted that the coal industry had contracted a PR firm to promote its “FACES of Coal” campaign. To attack clean energy reform, the campaign featured pictures of seemingly normal individuals opposed to cap and trade legislation. However, the Appalachian Voices’ Front Porch blog revealed that the “FACES” of the coal campaign were actually stock images purchased from iStockPhotos.com.

The oil industry, under the umbrella lobbying group American Petroleum Institute (API), is copying that strategy. In a newly-released pamphlet, API fear-mongers that “hard working Americans,” like ordinary “valets,” “painters,” “day care providers,” and “rocket scientists,” will lose their job and be “hurt” by clean energy reform. To show the great diversity of those affected by the legislation, API decided to buy a stock image also from iStockPhoto.com. Apparently, the stock image was insufficient for API’s purposes. Upon close examination, it’s clear API photoshopped two of the people to turn them into minorities. One of the minorities, the individual on the left, is poorly photoshopped though — his face is brown, yet his hands are still white:

The original iStockPhoto:

The edited, API version (click here to view the pamphlet):

The PR firm representing the oil lobby, Edelman, clearly did a shoddy job in creating this marketing effort. But this pamphlet reveals a fundamental truth that the oil industry is paying lobbyists to literally manufacture support. (HT: Astrotruth)

Right-Wing Junior Sleuth Discovers Climate Science Skulduggery!
Posted by Tintin, Sadly, No! on December 10, 2009 at 7:39 AM.

The announcement at Copenhagen by the World Meteorological Organization that the current decade will be the warmest on record and that 2009 will be the fifth hottest year since 1850 has been met by, well, deafening silence in Wingnutlandia. Jonah the Whale and some of the other Cornerdomites are busy speculating on the geopolitical significance of a black golfer schtupping white, blonde women. Mark Steyn is, naturally, still complaining about the excessive number of brown people in Europe. Poor Mona Charen, bless her heart, having apparently decided to completely ignore the dispatches from Copenhagen, is still declaring that global warming is over.

So it truly takes a brave wingnut to stride directly into the coliseum and take on the lions with his bare Funyun-encrusted hands. Sadlynauts, meet Terry Trippany, who, when he’s not out on a Geek Squad call, keeps himself busy as a super-duper NewsBuster.

The media that couldn’t bring themselves to report on the growing scandal surrounding falsified data is all on board with reporting this latest news. Yet it is clear that the Huffington Post, CBS News, the New York Times and others didn’t even bother to check the data that was released from the the UK MET (UK Government Department of Climate and Weather Change).

Uh oh. It looks like little Terry has whipped out his Captain Bozell’s Funtime Sleuthing Set, complete with kerning scale, decoder ring, magnifying glass, snub-nosed junior detective scissors, invisible ink revealer, mini-flashlight and rear-view glasses.

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Chuck Norris: Climate Scientists Totally Suck Ass at Climate Science!
Posted by Thers, Whiskey Fire on December 9, 2009 at 6:16 PM.

Hmmm. The Schafly-dropping who inflicted Conservipedia upon the world was on Colbert tonight. This person claimed as one of the Fantastic Milestones of Conservipedia that it has gotten 140 MILLION PAGE VIEWS. Which is impressive. Of course, this absurd blog you are right now reading, or, more likely, are right now blinking at stupidly with malfocused bacon-veined, baseball sized yellowish spheres of malarial gristle (try to deny it, redsnouts), currently has about three million page views. Which clearly means that Jesus likes us better.

In other exciting news that signifies something important, Chuck Norris has an opinion on the opinions of professional climate scientists, and in Chuck Norris's expert opinion as a guy who knows karate, can't act, and writes barely literate Townhall columns, climate scientists totally suck ass at climate science. 

Copenhagen is on fire this week, and there's far more heating up than just the climate.

Heads of state and others are gathering this week at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, but bonfires already have been blazing for weeks on that European front.

Let me see whether I can summarize the chestnuts roasting on that Copenhagen fire.

It is axiomatic that chestnuts cannot be summarized, no matter how much heat is applied to them for whatever number of weeks. (Honestly. Go find a chestnut. Pick it up. Roast it. Now, summarize it. We're waiting!) Chuck Norris is welcome to the attempt, but the outlook is grim for him making sense.

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Rep Rohrabacher Removes Tin-Foil from Hat, Exposes Globalist Cabal Behind Copenhagen Talks
Posted by Lee Fang, Think Progress on December 9, 2009 at 10:33 AM.

Last night, House members took to the floor to call attention to the threat of catastrophic climate change. However, a group of right-wing congressmen stormed the floor in response and delivered speeches denying the existence of global warming, attacking the science as phony, and heralding a set of hacked e-mails as their proof. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) — who believes that if global warming exists, it has been caused by “dinosauer flatulence” — provided the most comical attack. Rohrbacher called upon Americans to get “angry” and “fight the globalist clique” of “globalists” and “radical environmentalists” who are trying to “shackle generations of Americans”:

ROHRBACHER: Copenhagen may well lay the foundations for the future that the globalists who are pushing this agenda envision for us. [...] What the Copenhagen crowd would mandate and can be traced back to the same alliance between our own radical environmentalists and the global elite. [...] This is about centralizing power into the hands of global government, that’s what Kyoto and Copenhagen are all about, that’s what the globalist alliance is all about. [...]

We must fight the globalist clique that is trying to shackle generations of Americans. … Members of Congress need to hear from angry constituents, and I predict they will.

Watch a compilation:

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Sex Workers Offer Freebies for Climate Change Delegates in Copenhagen
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on December 7, 2009 at 5:30 PM.

Finally, a sexy story about climate change. As the big talks have finally kicked off, here's one of the lighter stories I've read about what's happening over there.

This is from AFP:

Prostitutes of a Danish sex workers association will offer their services for free to delegates of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, an association official told AFP Saturday.

Susanne Moeller said the move was meant to protest an anti-prostitution initiative undertaken by Copenhagen city hall.

The city, host of the December 7-18 UN climate summit, distributed postcards in Copenhagen's hotels that said "Be sustainable: Don't buy sex." It also sent letters to hotel managers inviting them to take measures to avoid prostitutes meeting clients in their establishments.

This is a bit odd considering that sex work in Denmark is legal. And surely, if you're involved in the difficult work of trying to save the planet from doom, you may want to engage in adult activities to relieve some stress, right?

Apparently, sex workers there agree and are fighting back against this discrimination. Here's more about their plan:

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Right-Wing Billionaire Funding Swift Boat Campaign Against Global Warming Science
Posted by Lee Fang, Think Progress on December 7, 2009 at 2:04 PM.

Right-wing billionaire David Koch, who along with his brother Charles owns the oil and gas empire Koch Industries, constantly presents himself as a champion of science. Next year, a wing of the Smithsonian will be named after him because of his generous donations. Indeed, in accepting Koch’s donations, the Smithsonian Human Origins Program director Rick Potts attempted to whitewash Koch’s philanthropist history:

POTTS: What we find in David Koch is a person who’s committed to doing things for the American public that has no relationship to politics

Koch apparently relishes this perception that his money buys. In an interview earlier this year, Koch pretended that he opposes organizations which politicize and distort science:

Q: What role do you think politics should play in educating the public about evolution?

KOCH: That’s an interesting question. I think politicians should really stay out of it and allow scientists to present the facts and discoveries. I hate to see it politicized.

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Now for the Moment We've All Been Waiting For ... Copenhagen Talks Officially Begin
Posted by Brian Merchant, TreeHugger on December 7, 2009 at 10:35 AM.

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for--after months of anticipation, speculation, and debating, the global climate talks have officially begun in Copenhagen. TreeHugger is on the ground there, and will be bringing you breaking updates as news unfolds there. But for now, here's a quick primer on what's to be expected at COP15.

As you likely know, the intention of COP15 (the 15th Conference of the Parties) is to construct a framework for a global agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The original goal was to create a legally binding successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, but difficulties in negotiations have rendered that option infeasible. Now, the representatives from 180 nations around the world will instead work on trying to find a viable way forward.

One of the biggest hurdles has been the chasm between rich and developing countries--developing nations want aid and strong carbon reduction targets, and rich countries want them to agree to their own reduction targets before they do so.

But some positive news from the biggest developing nations--China, India, and Brazil--have encouraged the proceedings. Each has pledged to reduce carbon emissions on some level, and Obama has put forward an emissions reduction target based on the climate bill that passed the House of Representatives last summer. At 17% below 2005 levels, it's hardly what the international community was looking for--but it's progress nonetheless. Most importantly, hope seems to be in the air--real progress can be made in the coming days.

To get a better grasp of what's going on at COP15, here's some highly recommended reading:

Getting Up to Speed on COP15
If you've only got a few minutes, read COP15 : What's at Stake in Under 5 Minutes.

To get a sense of the urgency behind the proceedings, see COP15 : What It Means If We Fail to Prevent Climate Change

Paul Krugman's column An Affordable Truth is a well-reasoned call to climate action.

This Guardian editorial ran in 56 newspapers in 20 languages around the world, prodding world leaders to act. It's well worth a read.

Climate Progress's Copenhagen 101 is a useful primer and refresher as well.

And here's how you can help: 7 Best Ways to Help the World Fight Climate Change at COP15

Finally, watch live video of the events at the COP15 website. Gear up, it's going to be an eventful couple weeks.

'Demonstrable Idiot Conservative Liar' Pushes Climate Science Pseudo-Scandal
Posted by Thers, Whiskey Fire on December 4, 2009 at 1:51 PM.

In a startling and indeed shocking development, Jonah Goldberg -- of all people! -- writes a pompous column full of stupid lies.

In a long string of embarrassing e-mail exchanges, CRU scientists discuss with friendly outside colleagues, including Penn State University's Michael Mann, how to manipulate the data they want to show the world, and how to hide the often flawed data they don't. In one exchange, they discuss the "trick" of how to "hide the decline" in global temperatures since the 1960s.

That's just a pack of dumb lies. First, global temperatures have not dropped since the 1960s, as highly advanced thermometer technology and sophisticated mathematics of the "this number is higher than that other number" class reveal. Second, the trick was not an attempt to deceive, but to do with an attempt to consider an anomaly in tree ring temperature data. Third, fuck you Jonah Goldberg, you ass.

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10 Companies to Avoid This Holiday Season
Posted by Tara Lohan on December 4, 2009 at 5:00 AM.

Air America put together a list of companies that you should think twice about before handing them your money. Their research is based on descriptions from The Blue Pages: A Directory of Companies Rated By Their Politics And Practices. This is a super handy little book that tells you about companies' environmental, human rights and labor practices and also which political parties they give money to and how much. There are probably hundreds of ‘10 worst' (or best) lists you could come up with from the book, but Air America at least got the ball rolling.

Here's a little info on what they found. You can read the whole thing on their website and you should, there's lots more there. Also check out the book. It's handy to take along shopping. Or maybe it will just be an iPhone app soon anyway (or maybe it is?).

1. Children's Place: "It gets its products from places with human rights and labor violations and had to pay $1.5 million in a settlement alleging that they violated the Securities Act.

2. Hanes: "...went the extra step to be cited for ‘egregious labor violations.'" Oh, and they have not even an attempt at an anti-discrimination policy for sexual orientation and gender identity.

3. JC Penny: "D- on Green America's scorecard and D+ from the NAACP."

4. Limited Brands (this includes Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works): "The now scarily common ‘sourced from countries with widespread, well-documented human and labor rights abuses' rears its head here..."

5. IBM: "It's been sued for improperly converting employee pension plans and for exposing them to toxic chemicals." Oh and also for "aiding and abetting South Africa's apartheid regime."

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