Blog Posts

Hitler Gets Trapped in Sea Ice

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Filed under: Parody, Satire

From Miso:


Hitler sails to Antarctica to prove that there is no ice there and finds himself stuck in ice.

Watch the video

posted by Tony Ice

The Secret, Corporate-Funded Plan To Teach Children That Climate Change Is A Hoax

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Filed under: Fraud and Deception, Propaganda and Disinformation

The Secret, Corporate-Funded Plan To Teach Children That Climate Change Is A Hoax
by Brad Johnson
thinkprogress.org
February 14, 2012

The first in a series of posts about the Heartland Institute”™s inner workings, from internal documents acquired by ThinkProgress Green.

Internal documents acquired by ThinkProgress Green reveal that the Heartland Institute, a right-wing think tank funded by the Koch brothers, Microsoft, and other top corporations, is planning to develop a “global warming curriculum“ for elementary schoolchildren that presents climate science as “a major scientific controversy.” This effort, at a cost of $100,000 a year, will be developed by Dr. David E. Wojick, a coal-industry consultant.

“Principals and teachers are heavily biased toward the alarmist perspective,” Heartland”™s confidential 2012 fundraising document bemoans. The group believes that Wojick”™s project has “potential for great success,” because he has “contacts at virtually all the national organizations involved in producing, certifying, and promoting scientific curricula.” The document explains that Wojick will produce “modules” that promote the conspiratorial claim that climate change is “controversial”:

(more…)

The Lomborg Deception – Debunking the Climate Change Debunker

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Filed under: Fraud and Deception, Propaganda and Disinformation, Spin

Submitted by Larry Croft:


Book Review: The Lomborg Deception
by Sharon Begley
Newsweek
February 22, 2010

Debunking the claims of the climate-change skeptic.

In naming roustabout, lumberjack, ironworker, and dairy farmer America’s “worst jobs,” CareerCast.com omitted one whose awfulness is counterbalanced only by its public-spiritedness: fact-checking Bjà¸rn Lomborg.

The Danish political scientist won fame and fans by arguing that many of the alarms sounded by environmental activists and scientists””that species are going extinct at a dangerous rate, that forests are disappearing, that climate change could be catastrophic””are bogus. A big reason Lomborg was taken seriously is that both of his books, The Skeptical Environmentalist
(in 2001) and Cool It (in 2007), have extensive references, giving a seemingly authoritative source for every one of his controversial assertions. So in a display of altruistic masochism that we should all be grateful for (just as we’re grateful that some people are willing to be dairy farmers), author Howard Friel has checked every single citation in Cool It. The result is Lomborg Deception, which is being published by Yale University Press next month. It reveals that Lomborg’s work is “a mirage,” writes biologist Thomas Lovejoy in the foreword. “[I]t is a house of cards”¦Friel has used real scholarship to reveal the flimsy nature” of Lomborg’s work. (more…)

Civil Disobedients Sought via Fake Newspaper

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Filed under: Creative Activism, Culture Jamming and Reality Hacking, Media Pranks

Press release submitted by The Yes Men, June 18, 2009:


World Leaders Sign Pact to Avert Climate Disaster

Newspaper Ignites Hope, Announces “Civil Disobedience Database”
[Watch video here]

IHT-specialedition_Pagina_1-200In a front-page ad in today’s International Herald Tribune, the leaders of the European Union thank the European public for having engaged in months of civil disobedience leading up to the Copenhagen climate conference that will be held this December. “It was only thanks to your massive pressure over the past six months that we could so dramatically shift our climate-change policies…. To those who were arrested, we
thank you.”

There was only one catch: the paper was fake.

Looking exactly like the real thing, but dated December 19th, 2009, a million copies of the fake paper were distributed worldwide by thousands of volunteers in order to show what could be achieved at the Copenhagen climate conference that is scheduled for Dec. 7-18, 2009. (At the moment, the conference is aiming for much more modest cuts, dismissed by leading climate scientists as too little, too late to stave off runaway processes that will lead to millions or even billions of casualties.)

The paper describes in detail a powerful (and entirely possible) new treaty to bring carbon levels down below 350 parts per million – the level climate scientists say we need to achieve to avoid climate catastrophe. One article describes how a website, http://BeyondTalk.net, mobilized thousands of people to put their bodies on the line to confront climate change policies – ever since way back in June, 2009.

Although the newspaper is a fake (its production and launch were coordinated by Greenpeace), the website is real. (more…)

London Braces for Massive Protests of G-20 Meeting

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Filed under: Creative Activism

Anti fat-cat sentiment is targeting the G20 Summit in London, April 2, 2009. At least 80 groups have registered to participate in protests leading up to it. This article comes via anthropologie du présent, where there are numerous other articles covering different angles of the planned protests:


London Braces For Massive Protests Of G-20 Meeting
From Free Internet Press, reprinted from Spiegel
by Carsten Volkery reporting from London, England
March 27, 2009

London is bracing itself for the G-20 meeting next week, as thousands of demonstrators prepare to descend upon the British capital. While most protesters will be peaceful, those working in the financial industry are being advised not to wear suits to work or even to stay at home to avoid potential violence.

g20-police-getty_156514t-200Mirina Pepper has just been panhandled by a homeless man near London”™s Liverpool Street Station. She reaches into her handbag and grabs a bundle of £20 notes. “Here, you can give them out,” she says. The homeless man looks perplexed at the notes, not knowing whether he should take this as a good or bad thing.

It”™s funny money with the words “G-20 Meltdown” printed on it. They”™re flyers for a “Party in the City.” Pepper gets the homeless man to agree to come the event next Wednesday and to bring along as many of his buddies as he can. Another homeless man just a few meters away experiences the same fate.

Pepper, 41, is responsible for organizing “G-20 Meltdown,” a coalition of groups that plan to protest against the London financial summit next week that has even earned the respect of Scotland Yard. “They have some very clever people and their intention on April 1 is to stop the City,” Commander Bob Broadhurst of the Metropolitan Police said last week. “They are innovative and we have to be innovative, too.” (more…)

2008 Falsies Awards from PRWatch.org

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Filed under: Propaganda and Disinformation, Spin

The 2008 Falsies Awards: In Memory of the First Casualty
by Diane Farsetta
Center for Media and Democracy / PRWatch.org
December 10, 2008

There’s nothing quite like a hotly contested election. The candidates have their devoted supporters and angry detractors. Then there are vigorous debates over the issues, while some people question the integrity of the entire process.

We speak, of course, of the Falsies Awards.

This year marks the Center for Media and Democracy’s (CMD’s) fifth annual Falsies Awards. The Falsies are our attempt to shine an unflattering light on those responsible for polluting the information environment over the past year. We’re happy to report that more people — nearly 1,450 — voted in this year’s Falsies survey than ever before! We’re also bestowing special recognition on one of this year’s “winners.”

Falsies recipients can collect their prizes — a pair of Groucho Marx glasses, our two cents and a chance to atone for their spinning ways by making a detailed public apology — by visiting CMD’s office in Madison, Wisconsin. This year’s Gold and Silver Falsies go to masters of war deception, while the Bronze Falsie recognizes a massive greenwash campaign. The first-ever Lifetime Achievement Falsie goes to a serial corporate front man, while a determined (if at times laughable) attempt at nation re-branding wins dishonorable mention. Then there are the Readers’ Choice Falsies and Win Against Spin Awards, nominated by our survey participants.

That’s a lot to cover, so without further ado, the winners of the 2008 Falsies Awards are…