Evil Empire still at it: Report: Exxon Still Orchestrating Campaign to "Undermine Public Acceptance of Global Warming" - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/repor...
I have a challenge for you: try to come up with a company that better exemplifies the archetype of the nefarious, greed-driven, monolithic corporation than Exxon. Besides Haliburton. Exxon is behind one of the most infamous environmental catastrophes of our time, it makes more gross income than most nations' entire GDPs, and it does business with nations with unstable governments that are often hostile to the US.
Worst of all, it has done everything in its power to push a misinformation campaign designed to discredit both climate science and international efforts to keep the earth's temperatures from rising to dangerous levels. And according to recent reports, its still up to its old tricks.
Millions of dollars have been spent on such misinformation campaign, and not just from Exxon. Which is why I can't help but find it amusing that climate skeptics often tout with pride the idea that they're thinking independently, apart from the masses, who have somehow been brainwashed by a massive swindle.
In truth, it's closer to the exact opposite--the so-called skeptics are simply buying into a line manufactured by corporations that are attempting to protect their interests (with their access to near-unlimited resources). The so-called 'brainwashed masses' have an appreciation and understanding of science--and are able to respect the scientific process.
Which is why when the vast consensus of climate scientists say the globe is warming due to man's irresponsible practices, I listen. And when oil giants like Exxon say it isn't, and that we should wait around and do nothing while they pump more oil--I don't.

New US Federal Climate Change Service Launching - Will Unify NOAA Research Under One Office - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/new-f...

Wegman's Report Highly Politicized - and Fatally Flawed: "Independent" Hockey Stick analysis revealed as Republican set-up - http://www.desmogblog.com/wegmans-report-high...
Wegman, who had presented himself as an impartial "referee" between two "teams" debating the quality of the so-called Hockey Stick graph was, in fact, coached throughout his review by Republican staffer Peter Spencer.
Wegman and his colleagues also worked closely with one of the teams (and especially with retired mining stock promoter Stephen McIntyre) to try to replicate criticism of the Hockey Stick graph, while at the same time foregoing contact with the actual authors of the seminal climate reconstruction.
It also became a target for Steve McIntyre and the Guelph University economist Ross McKitrick, who since 2002, at least, has been a paid spokesperson for ExxonMobil-backed think tanks such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and the Fraser Institute.

Political Irony: Global Warming – Weather to Worry - http://politicalirony.com/2010/02/08/weather-...
Some much needed perspective in the 'Age of Stupid' (see the film)...

I guess there weren't any 'rich' people before Reagan: How Much was the Top Tier of Earnings Taxed in 1960? 91% - http://toomuchonline.org/

Amazon River Water Being Stolen and Bottled Abroad - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/amazo...
I'll make this simple...if you're buying bottled water, you're assisting in the commodification of one of life's resources...water wars....think, think, think. Its life...not a for profit substance...

Cast Your Vote: Who Should Receive FDL Action PAC Election Support - http://action.firedoglake.com/page/content/fd...
Choose 3 Representatives from any district in the US. Of course, I chose Kucinich for one of the three. "It’s going to be a tough election year in 2010, so helping good incumbents keep their seats is going to be as important as supporting challengers was in 2006 and 2008. It's a rare breed of representative who stands up for progressive values and doesn't back down. That's why we want to choose members of Congress who aren't afraid to fight.
We're calling them FDL Fire Dogs. Two thousand people who hailed from their districts nominated 180 members of Congress for support from FDL Action PAC. Now you get to decide — who should we help?"

The World's Greatest Insurance Heist: Timothy Geithner and AIG-Gate: By Ellen Brown - http://www.counterpunch.org/brown02082010.html
Each day brings more revelations of efforts of the NY Fed and Goldman Sachs to hide the details of the criminal conspiracy of the AIG bailout. . . . This is a real crisis on the scale of Watergate. Corruption at its finest. --- But unlike the perpetrators of the Watergate scandal, who wound up looking at jail time, Geithner evidently has a golden parachute waiting at Goldman Sachs, not coincidentally the largest recipient of the AIG bailout.
At least that is the rumor sparked by an article by Caroline Baum on Bloomberg News, titled “Goldman Parachute Awaits Geithner to Ease Fall.” Hank Paulson, Geithner’s predecessor, was CEO of Goldman Sachs before coming to the Treasury. Geithner, who has come up through the ranks of government, could be walking through the revolving door in the other direction.
Geithner has been under the House microscope for the decision of the New York Fed, made while he headed it, to buy out about $30 billion in credit default swaps (over-the-counter derivative insurance contracts) that AIG sold on toxic debt securities. The chief recipients of this payout were Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank. Goldman got $13 billion, roughly equivalent to its bonus pool for the first 9 months of 2009.
Critics are calling the New York Fed’s decision a back-door bailout for the banks, which received 100 cents on the dollar for contracts that would have been worth far less had AIG been put through bankruptcy proceedings in the ordinary way

66% of American's don't believe in the free marketeer fairytale/Supreme Court Gang of Five con-servative's malfeasance: Poll: Two-Thirds Of Americans Unhappy About Citizens United Ruling - http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/po...
The poll was conducted by a bipartisan pairing of Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg and Republican strategist Mark McKinnon. The sponsors were several groups opposed to the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, which they say will open the door to unheard of corporate influence in American politics.
The results of the survey show that the general public overwhelmingly agrees. Sixty-four percent of respondents were opposed to ruling, while just 27% said they favored it. (The same insane Bushevik supporters...as Colbert refers to them...the backwash)
More than 80% of independents said new limits should be placed on campaign spending. Seventy-four percent of independents agreed with the statement that "special interests have too much influence in Washington."

Toyota (the 'person' according to insane right wingnuttery) sued in California over Prius brakes as International Recall Appears Likely - http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_toyota_lawsuit;...
Still plenty of other hybrids out there worth driving...Civic, Escape, Fusion, etc....

Does Audi's 'Green Police' Superbowl Ad Reveal a Shifting Paradigm? (Video) - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/audi-...
The ad's not making fun of people who are too concerned with environmentalism because it thinks that behavior is wrong--far from it. It's making fun of the zealousness, because it assumes the actions depicted are those that common knowledge holds we all know we should be doing.
Which leads me to wonder if, in Audi's Green Police ad, we may be witnessing a shifting paradigm--to the true, if even begrudging, mainstreaming of green.

American Airlines to charge $8 for blankets. What's next? Pay Toilets? - http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-0...

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) Dead at 77, After 36 Years in Congress - http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010...

NPR Report: 'Miss Me Yet?' Billboard With Photo Of Bush Is Real; Not An Internet Trick - http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/02/b...
If we could tap the stupidity of the morons behind this...the energy crisis would be over...

Great Krugman: "It should be a simple message (and it should have been the central message in Massachusetts): a vote for a Republican, no matter what you think of him as a person, is a vote for paralysis. But by now, we know how the Obama administration deals with those who would destroy it: it goes straight for the capillaries. Sure enough, Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, accused Mr. Shelby of “silliness.” Yep, that will really resonate with voters. After the dissolution of Poland, a Polish officer serving under Napoleon penned a song that eventually — after the country’s post-World War I resurrection — became the country’s national anthem. It begins, “Poland is not yet lost.” Well, America is not yet lost. But the Senate is working on it."
- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/opinion/08k...

The Latest News on Confederate Senator Richard Shelby Vs. the Interests and Welfare of the People of the United States of America - http://www.thepoliticalcarnival.net/2010/02/t...

A morbid polarization -- P.M. Carpenter, Exclusively for BuzzFlash.com on February 9 That Washington is broken is clear enough. What frightens, however, is that increasingly it seems beyond repair. Dysfunction has become institutionalized, a morbid polarization has replaced mere opposition, and pure self-interest has subordinated and smothered the nation's overarching interests.
- http://blog.buzzflash.com/carpenter/599
As are similar signs of senatorial bottlenecking and do-nothingness. The effective unemployment rate towers at about 17 percent, you say? Well, how about in response an infinitesimal jobs bill? Or the financial sector is out of control, dizzy with its own power and utterly insensitive to working Americans? Well, how about a little more, and then a little more, watering down of any legislative antidotes?
Over in the House, it's the same story on jobs, and meanwhile on the matter of restructured health care the speaker is down to giddiness about achieving not much more than overturning antitrust exemptions -- a comparatively minor yet perfectly reasonable measure which, naturally, will die in the Senate.
But that, too, is OK, for in Michael Jackson's physician we have another celebrity trial to keep us amused. If only it could be held in the Roman coliseum.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, the outfit that represents more than 2,000 real estate finance companies, can't afford its own mortgage and has to dump its property at a loss.

Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is the national association representing all facets of the real estate finance industry. Headquartered in Washington, DC, MBA represents over 3,000 member companies nationwide in an industry that employs approximately 350,000 people[1]. MBA’s membership base includes all sectors of the real estate finance industry including originators, servicers, underwriters, compliance personnel and information technology professionals representing mortgage companies in the residential, commercial and multi-family arenas.

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