Coffee Party Troll

A few days ago, I joined the nascent Coffee Party USA, which was founded by Annabel Park and in less than a week has attracted over 60,000 members. The purpose of the party is to foster a return to civil discussion of issues in politics - as opposed to the screaming, hatred and vitriol which is the hallmark of the Teabaggers. It is a grassroots effort to get corporate influence out of Washington, which distorts the debate about everything from health care to climate change by allowing deep coffers to buy our politicians like whores. The goal is to return democracy to the citizenry.

Last night I got an email from a concern troll, which for those of you who don't know, is an anonymous commenter who pretends to have genuine skepticism on a particular topic but whose real purpose is to waste your time and sow misgivings about empirical facts by spouting lies and disinformation, or cast doubt upon credibility through character attacks. You see it all the time on blogs about climate change. There is a suspicion that at least some of these concern trolls are being paid to follow serious discussions on the internet and to then attempt to hijack the conversation, because they often read as though they are following identical scripts originating from rightwing thinktanks, spokesman, and shills.

Another very disturbing trend is the campaign to encourage direct assaults on individual scientists by sending them hate mail via the internet as documented in this article, "The Rise of Anti-Science Cyber Bullying."

The messages I received have the same hallmarks of a deliberate, orchestrated campaign, in this case, to derail the Coffee Party by attacking Annabel Park. Looks like the notion of returning power to the electorate has some major interests a bit worried, and this juvenile attempt to smear Annabel smells of pure desperation. I very much doubt the poseur who sent me this bile put together all those links alone, and the entire tone is of a labored, manufactured "campaigns galore!" cheery friendliness, replete with misspelled folksy "recieved" (sic). The sentence in (what I hope is) the last message, which states, "That is my only concern" is a blatant, big fat lie!

Here's the exchange:

From:

This sender is DomainKeys verified

"Coffee Party"

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To:

undisclosed-recipients

I am addressing this email after deciding at the poor structure of the Coffee Party to do my own research. I was told by Annabel directly that she had no experience in grassroots, or campaigns. This was all so "new" to her. She didn't know what to do, where to go, and needed help.She had NO experience in this. I found out today, that is all a lie. She has a huge history in the media. This was not the first time she had been in Washington Post. She used to work for the New York Times. She has been on Anderson Cooper and Fox. She has been a coordinator for other grassroots movements and non grassroots. She is a known activist. She has inside connections with large mainstream media entities, and worked for Obama for America. She has done campaigns galore! She has way more experience than she claims to. She speaks and teach people how to create grassroots movements. And by the way I recieved all of your information off of their public google doc that is available to everyone. You can make your own decision! They title her as a concerned citizen.

I was lied to, I don't know about you.... I was told this was non-partisan group but you can see how non-partisan she has been.

http://www.bluevirginia.us/2009/08/annabel-park-on-george-allen-i-dont.html

http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/27455673/a-town-s-immigration-battle-hits-big-screen.htm (she appears on the show)

http://www.realvirginiansforwebb.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1v2aG-QMls

http://throughourlens.asianweek.com/?p=70 (Look at the top logo)

http://www.bluevirginia.us/2010/02/annabel-parks-coffee-party-profiled-in.html

http://bloodthirstyliberal.com/ (Java Jive)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0XOmWp-j9c

http://www.leftcoastrebel.com/2010/03/bitter-cup-of-coffee-party-digging-up.html

http://www.apa5.org/schedule.html (9:45-11:15)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/09/AR2008020902187.html

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2007/04/korean-americans-backlash-fears-lessen.html

http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Kalpen_Modi (Friend on Facebook)

http://www.apa5.org/Inspire07_Sponsorship.pdf

http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2010/03/coffee-party-parasite.htm

http://www.leftcoastrebel.com/2010/02/coffee-party-is-grassroots-how-about.html

http://labanforthelolas.blogspot.com/2007/06/message-from-121-coalition-leader.html

http://web.archive.org/web/20080403004955/http://support121.org/

http://iamkoream.com/a-lens-on-liberty/

Yeah, No experience Annabel...... And this isn't all....

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Re: Update

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 8:48 PM

From:

"Wit's End" View contact details

To:

"Coffee Party"

I'm delighted that Annabel has experience! She seems to me to be very smart, very well spoken. I wish her all the success in the world! Thank you for making me aware of how very well qualified she is to lead a movement that will revolutionize the way politics is conducted in this country. We need to get the corporate influence out of our government! From: This sender is DomainKeys verified "Coffee Party" Add sender to Contacts To: "Wit's End" Yes, I'm glad she does too. But why did she lie to us? I've asked her point blank what her experience is she didn't failed to mention any of that. She told me she had no experience. I'm just worried about why she lied to us. She was a strategy analyst for the New York Times studying how people form grassroots organizations. If that had been known I wouldn't feel lied to, but that wasn't stated upfront. That is my only concern.

Heh. Heh.

This is a hungry possum I found on my porch, that demanded food.

I brought him in for the night. He ate everything I could find.

Handy Chart from ClimateProgress.org

These Groups Say The Danger Of Manmade Global Warming Is A . . .
FACT	FRAUD
U.S. Agency for International Development United States Department of Agriculture National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration National Institute of Standards and Technology United States Department of Defense United States Department of Energy National Institutes of Health United States Department of State United States Department of Transportation U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Environmental Protection Agency University Corporation for Atmospheric Research National Center for Atmospheric Research National Aeronautics & Space Administration National Science Foundation Smithsonian Institution International Arctic Science Committee Arctic Council African Academy of Sciences Australian Academy of Sciences Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and the Arts Academia Brasileira de Ciéncias Cameroon Academy of Sciences Royal Society of Canada Caribbean Academy of Sciences Chinese Academy of Sciences Académie des Sciences, France Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina of Germany Indonesian Academy of Sciences Royal Irish Academy Accademia nazionale delle scienze of Italy Indian National Science Academy Science Council of Japan Kenya National Academy of Sciences Madagascar’s National Academy of Arts, Letters and Sciences Academy of Sciences Malaysia Academia Mexicana de Ciencias Nigerian Academy of Sciences Royal Society of New Zealand Polish Academy of Sciences Russian Academy of Sciences l’Académie des Sciences et Techniques du Sénégal Academy of Science of South Africa Sudan Academy of Sciences Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Tanzania Academy of Sciences Turkish Academy of Sciences Uganda National Academy of Sciences The Royal Society of the United Kingdom National Academy of Sciences, United States Zambia Academy of Sciences Zimbabwe Academy of Science American Academy of Pediatrics American Association for the Advancement of Science American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians American Astronomical Society American Chemical Society American College of Preventive Medicine American Geophysical Union American Institute of Physics American Medical Association American Meteorological Society American Physical Society American Public Health Association American Quaternary Association American Institute of Biological Sciences American Society of Agronomy American Society for Microbiology American Society of Plant Biologists American Statistical Association Association of Ecosystem Research Centers Botanical Society of America Crop Science Society of America Ecological Society of America Federation of American Scientists Geological Society of America National Association of Geoscience Teachers Natural Science Collections Alliance Organization of Biological Field Stations Society of American Foresters Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society of Systematic Biologists Soil Science Society of America Australian Coral Reef Society Australian Medical Association Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Engineers Australia Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies Geological Society of Australia British Antarctic Survey Institute of Biology, UK Royal Meteorological Society, UK Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society European Federation of Geologists European Geosciences Union European Physical Society European Science Foundation International Association for Great Lakes Research International Union for Quaternary Research International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change World Federation of Public Health Associations World Health Organization World Meteorological Organization	American Petroleum Institute US Chamber of Commerce National Association of Manufacturers Competitive Enterprise Institute Industrial Minerals Association National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Great Northern Project Development Rosebud Mining Massey Energy Alpha Natural Resources Southeastern Legal Foundation Georgia Agribusiness Council Georgia Motor Trucking Association Corn Refiners Association National Association of Home Builders National Oilseed Processors Association National Petrochemical and Refiners Association Western States Petroleum Association
“FACT” organizations from Is There a Scientific Consensus on Global Warming?, SkepticalScience.com. “FRAUD” organizations are petitioners v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act.

New Republic Notices CO2 + H2O = Carbonic Acid

How Worrisome is Ocean Acidification?

Greenman Hits it Out of the Park!

Comments at the Coffee Party, and Pictures of Xynthia (aka Doomer Porn)

Over at The Coffee Party website, on a climate change discussion, someone posted a comment that this topic just "isn't that important" which inspired me to make the following series of replies:

1. Personally, I consider a habitable climate to be of primary importance! Global warming is an existential threat to humanity and every other form of life on the planet. There is no debate among climate scientists about whether catastrophe will be the result of adding millions of tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, every day. They only debate how fast the ice will melt, how quickly the oceans will rise, how much land will be lost to desertification, and how much to extreme weather events producing floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes.

There is plenty of uncertainty about the exact progression of catastrophe. How quickly will the ocean acidify, dissolving all forms of life at the bottom of the food chain - how soon before the sea is anoxic?

Anybody who doesn't understand how crucial it is for society - and the coffee party - to come to grips with the urgency of climaticide just isn't paying attention.

Try reading climateprogress.org for starters - there are many links to research about actual empirical current effects - you don't even need to pay attention to the models of future effects. Read desdemonadespair.blogspot.com, to get an idea of the impacts on the rest of the world - the US is on the same titanic as everyone else, and there aren't any lifeboats!

2. An Excellent Analogy:

Let's suppose a neurosurgeon tells you, sorry, the CAT scan shows you have a tumor in your brain. It could kill you tomorrow, or next week, or maybe in a year - we just can't predict that exactly. But we're sure it is going to kill you.

But you don't like that diagnosis because you have an important project at work this week, and a special dinner out next Saturday night.

Can you find some crank who will tell you not to worry, he's got a homeopathic remedy? Of course you can! And besides, that CAT scan...can you trust it? After all, you have no idea how it works, right? Besides, that neurosurgeon is making the whole thing up to get money from you, and government grants for a study.

Well, the climate scientists are telling you there is a tumor in your brain - and only a few quacks disagree.

What would you do if you were diagnosed with a terminal illness? Probably what practically everyone does - get on the internet and find all the information from reputable sources about the disease. Like the National Academy of Science, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, every major scientific organization in the world. They all agree we are in a climate emergency from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

3. Another great analogy:

This is fun!

Let's suppose you are building a house and some geeky scientists tell the government you are in a fault zone and eventually - maybe tomorrow, maybe in a hundred years, but quite likely within 25 years, there will be a major earthquake. So the government tells you that you must reinforce it to withstand the predicted earthquake.

Well! You protest: Those scientists can't even agree when the earthquake will come, and a few say it won't ever come, and I don't understand plate tectonics or seismographs, and this will cost me money, and I don't like government regulations!

So, you sneakily don't build as required - maybe you pay off the building inspector. And you live happily in your house the rest of your life and die peacefully in your bed, smug in the knowledge that those scientists were wrong.

Your son loves the pretty house you built and so he and his wife are raising your grandchildren there when whoops, the earthquake hits! The whole family is trapped in the rubble and they all die within the next few days, in agony, from crushed limbs and organs.

Thanks, Grandpop!

(Those conifers at the top look like they have an awful lot of bare branches - and the interior of this tree is rotted...just sayin'!)