Heartland Institute Crash and Burn
I’m really impressed with the Heartland Institute’s aggressive crash and burn policy. Six months ago, virtually no one had heard of this libertarian business front group. Then Peter Gleick got ahold of their internal documents and released them (a hero’s work), demonstrating the cynical way the group sought to discredit climate change. Instead of fading back into the background after this embarrassment, Heartland went public in a huge way, releasing the incredibly stupid and offensive billboards comparing people who believe in climate change to the Unabomber. The harsh reaction to this has caused many of Heartland’s funders to flee, particularly the insurance industry which was working with both Heartland and environmental groups to limit government subsidies to rebuild in floodplains and other high-risk areas (which actually makes some sense).
As we have seen with ALEC, increased progressive organizing against business front groups with extremist agendas is making a difference. I’m a bit skeptical about this as a long-term strategy, as these front groups with their shady funders will just keep reappearing under different names. But it’s hard to see anyone taking anything the Heartland Institute says seriously again.
Oh cheer up.
I mean, the guys who run these outfits can change their names as many times as they want, maybe even relocate to the Caymans and wear Groucho glasses. The important thing is learning the names of the folks who write the checks, and it’s not as if State Farm Insurance is going to change its name anytime soon.
As Lester Freamon says, you follow the bullshit, you get bullshitters. But you start to follow the money, you don’t know where the fuck it’s gonna take you.
+1 – Wire Reference AND Lester
Sadly, the only way to combat the modern R/C/TP mindset is by *shame*.
That said, anyone blindsided by what type of Billboard the HI put up deserves to be side-swiped.
When you align yourselves with the forces of evil and darkness, your karma takes a hit.
Coincidentally enough, today’s junk mail brought me an invitation to this.
My favorite presenter:
Man, that’s putting the “junk” in junk mail.
At some point I’d like to hear something good about SMU. They don’t often impinge on my consciousness, but when it happens it always seems to be something disgusting.
Telling the NCAA to fuck off with its ridiculous rules about treating collegiate athletes as slaves was a good thing. Of course SMU backed away from that.
SMU was definitely ahead of the curve when it came to “stipends” for its football players.
Somewhat related, and really astonishing: Did Craig James kill five prostitutes? (item somewhat inconclusive, but raises troubling questions)
Driving around the Dallas Metroplex, it’s easy to get the impression that America’s fourth largest metropolitan area is nothing but an an endless series of highways named after the Bushes punctuated by a series of nearly identical, vast, and hideous high-end malls.
The neighborhood around SMU is, however, very attractive and pleasant.
There. I said something nice about SMU.
I dunno. This is the same outfit that spent the 1980s cashing Phillip Morris checks and arguing that cigarettes don’t cause cancer, and yet people still took their climate change propaganda at face value.
Sure they’ll keep sprouting up, but if you want a healthy garden, you’ve got to keep clearing the weeds. Chasing these hacks and fanatics back into the shadows while shaming their funders into open support for the progressive social stances their consumers prefer will limit the ways in which these perverse ideas disseminate and are transformed into policy.
Logical next step would be a co-branding initiative with Susan G. Komen for the
RichCure.Tax cuts fight cancer!
CO2 Cures Cancer is currently awaiting IRS approval on their 501(c)(3) status.
Susan G Komen Foundation For Being Cured By Boiled In Oil is actually tax deductible in Uzbekibekibekistan.
But what about Ghana?
Some problems are build-a-bridge type problems, and some are mow-the-lawn type problems.
What joe said.
It’s a never-ending battle, Erik, just like politics in general is. They WILL keep reappearing under different names. Knocking them down is something you do your entire life, and then pass on to your children. With skill and luck, they will be knocked back a little further every time they go down, and take a little bit longer to get back up.
The comforting thing is that it works the other way around, too. People have been knocking liberalism/progressivism down for the past thirty years, and every time we got knocked back a little further and took a little bit longer to get back up.
Guess what? Still here, not going away anytime soon, and the worm is, indeed, showing signs of turning.
I always look at this like getting rid of cockroaches. You know that they will always be back, but you spray them anyway so they do not get worse and you have some temporary relief.
Ugh, it’s getting warmer here. Don’t remind me.
If the insurers think they have problems, imagine how difficult it is for poor Heartland. I doubt any of their donors want to hear “By the way, we’ll advocate your position, but if another group gives us money to take the opposite stance we’ll do that too.”
I’m also not sure where the libertarianism comes in beyond the just-noted “say anything to make money.” On behalf of the insurers, Heartland is working for more intrusive government, in the form of laws that restrict how landowners on coastlines and floodplains can develop their property.
Also, in their work on behalf of whoever was paying for the billboards, I thought libertarians were supposed to like facts, reason, and science, not dump them for ad hominem fallacies and denialism the second someone writes a check.
Libertarians do like facts, reason and science. They just like money more.
Heartland and a whole lot of these shops are family businesses that are used as tax free pass throughs to folks like Lehrer who then use the money to lobby and such.
What I don’t understand is this: if global warming is a myth, why are they concerned to stop people from building on coastal plains?
Because shutup!!, that’s why.