Kochs and the Tar Sands

Here's a list of sponsors for 2009 Heartland Institute Conference:

http://www.desmogblog.com/heartland-institutes-2009-climate-conference-new-york-funding-history-sponsors

So I guess one question would be, does Heartland get money from the sponsors that originated with the Koch's?

This is also amusing:

http://motherjones.com/transition/inter25.php?dest=http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/05/will-kochs-benefit-proposed-tar-sands-pipeline

"When Democratic staff for the Energy and Commerce Committee recently inquired about Koch Industries' connections to the proposed pipeline, however, the company's representatives told them the firm has "no financial interest" in the project."

That statement followed this paragraph:

"Publicly available information indicates that the company is involved in several aspects of Canadian tar sands development. Koch’s Pine Bend Refinery in Minnesota currently processes roughly 25% of the tar sands fuel imports to the United States. Koch owns Flint Hills Resources, LLP, in Calgary, Canada, which is “among Canada’s largest crude oil purchasers, shippers and exporters.” Flint Hills Resources also operates a crude oil terminal in Hardisty, Alberta, where the Keystone XL pipeline will begin. According to the Government of Alberta, Koch Industrieshas both proposed and producing tar sands projects in the province. The Oil Sands Developers Group also indicates that Koch is a tar sands project developer. Koch’s Corpus Christi refinery is positioned near the end of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and would be a potential buyer for the tar sands crude shipped through the pipeline."

I wound up looking for this information following an exchange of comments at Professor Mandia's blog post regarding the line-up of speakers scheduled for the Heartland Institute's anti-climate science conference in Washington June 31 - July 1, which inspired me to register as a blogger.  Here are the comments so far:

Climate zombies are planning to crash the party. Anyone who wants to join in the fun please get in touch!

Gail Zawacki

May 20, 2011 at 9:02 am

1. Reply
   • Are you one of those “Climate zombies,” Gail, eager to “crash the party”? You do realize that announcing plans to disrupt our conference on an open thread is probably not a good idea if subterfuge is your aim.

     But since you’ve been kind enough to say so publicly, how about sharing the names of the fellow “zombies” and “party crashers” you wish to put on our guest list? No use hiding now, eh?

     Jim Lakely
     Director of Communications
     The Heartland Institute

     
     

     Jim Lakely

     May 23, 2011 at 8:06 pm

     Reply
     • uh, I’ve never exactly been hiding, Jim. Subterfuge is not my aim, education is.

       Did i say I was going to disrupt anything?

       Here are some of my previous climate zombie incarnations:

       http://witsendnj.blogspot.com/2011/01/koch-rancho-mirage.html

       http://witsendnj.blogspot.com/2011/03/koch-victims-vindicated-in-weekly.html

       I’ve already registered as a blogger on your website.

       Sadly, no one else has indicated to me yet that they want to participate…but I hope I have a chance to meet you in person in Washington!

       Regards,

       Gail

       Mandia: Gail, I never thought your comment meant anything other than attending the event.

       
       

       Gail Zawacki

       May 23, 2011 at 8:32 pm
2. ______________________________________________________________

   Gail,

   You must be using the term “party crashers” in a manner inconsistent with its historic use. Most people who “crash” an event are not there to simply enjoy it in peace. But, suit yourself.

   I’m aware you have registered as a blogger, and maybe we will meet. For what it might be worth to you, education is our aim, as well. If you attend and listen to the presentations, you might learn something.

   As for the blog posts you shared … you seem to be working under the fallacious assumption (as many on the left do) that Heartland is funded by the Koch Brothers. Alas, they have not contributed in years (though we’d be happy to enjoy their support). So the “zombies” and “crashers” might want to save some valuable paint, ink and cardboard signs by picking more relevant targets.

   Best,
   Jim

   
   

   Jim Lakely

   May 23, 2011 at 8:49 pm

   Reply
   • The point of the links was not that I think Koch and Heartland are in any way connected financially.

     They both however indulge in climate zombie promulgation – in other words, they repeat old denier canards that have been effectively killed repeatedly by expert scientists in the field, and yet they resurrect them from the dead.

     http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/party_crasher

     Someone who attempts and often gains entry to a party or club to which they were not invited, often using social engineering techniques. The party crasher usually tries to blend into the party so as not to be kicked out

     
     

     Gail Zawacki

     May 23, 2011 at 9:03 pm

     Reply
   • Hey Jim,

     Alas, they [the Kochs] have not contributed in years (though we’d be happy to enjoy their support).
     

     Or do you mean the Kochs have not directly funded Heartland in years, as far as you know?  

     (And while you’re here, are you still advocating that laptop manufacturers should control what users can or can’t do on their laptops?)

     * * *

     Gail Zawacki:

     Instead of (or in addition to) dressing up as climate zombies, you might also want to consider asking the ‘conference’ folks some pointed questions, especially in the presence of media churnalists such as Andrew Revkin — and I have a few ideas. I hope folks like Jim Lakely above will actually be eager to “educate” us when that happens. 

     – frank

     
     

     frank -- Decoding SwiftHack

     May 24, 2011 at 7:20 am

     Reply
   • Heartland’s funding can be researched here:

     Sourcewatch – http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heartland_Institute

     Exxonsecrets – http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=41

     DeSmog Blog – http://www.desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/1634

     Media Matters –http://mediamattersaction.org/transparency/organization/Heartland_Institute/overview

     When the Kochs, ExxonMobil, and others distribute money and then that money is spread around to other groups, it is difficult to know how much an organization such as Heartland is receiving from fossil fuel-related stakeholders.

     The money trail does not indict Heartland as much as their own publications about climate change “science”. Stick to what is printed and what their people state publicly because those words make it clear that the Heartland Emperor has no clothes.

     
     

     Scott Mandia

     May 24, 2011 at 8:10 am

     Reply
     • Thank you Scott. I did also find this 2009 list of Heartland conference sponsors, many of whom receive direct contributions from Kochs, Exxon and Scaife, so it sort of begs the question of how much Heartland funding originates from fossil fuel sources.

       http://www.desmogblog.com/heartland-institutes-2009-climate-conference-new-york-funding-history-sponsors

       However, I am not interested primarily in that issue and in fact it was Mr. Jim Lakely who introduced the connection or lack thereof.

       My motivation in going to the conference has much more to do with the original topic of the post – which is the caliber and credentials of the invited speaker list.

       I’m not a scientist but I know enough to realize that us lay people should rely on the scientists for the facts. If 98% of all neurosurgeons and every medical school and research institution in the world told me I had a brain tumor that needed an emergency operation, I would not seek a chiropractor or homeopathic remedies instead. I would submit to whatever radical, painful, expensive and drastic treatment the trained oncologists recommend (unless I had a death wish).

       I’d like to know why members of the Heartland Institute think their response to the climate change equivalent of that scenario is appropriate.

       
       

       Gail Zawacki

       May 24, 2011 at 8:31 am
3. Frank, any suggestions are welcome. This effort to venture into the Heartland territory is still shaping up as a work in progress, which I hope will ultimately be both enlightening and entertaining – in my own humble emulation of the best gonzo journalistic tradition exemplified by the original, late, great, Hunter S. Thompson:

   http://witsendnj.blogspot.com/2011/05/kentucky-derby-is-decadent-and-depraved.html

   I will try to avoid classified substances, however.

   
   

   Gail Zawacki

   May 24, 2011 at 7:34 am

   Reply

Joplin Tornado

Here's my theory.

The Rapture really DID happen last Saturday.

But nobody noticed, because nobody deserved to be saved.

So for the next 5 months (give or take) we are going to endure floods, fires, and howling storms, because of THIS.

And sooner or later the whole world will look like these pictures.

The End.

The Wedding Ceremony

Variation On The Word Sleep by Margaret Atwood

I would like to watch you sleeping,
which may not happen.
I would like to watch you,
sleeping. I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head

and walk with you through that lucent
wavering forest of bluegreen leaves
with its watery sun & three moons
towards the cave where you must descend,
towards your worst fear

I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center I would like to follow
you up the long stairway
again & become
the boat that would row you back
carefully, a flame
in two cupped hands
to where your body lies
beside me, and as you enter
it as easily as breathing in

I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.

Poems for the Wedding Day

Being as how this afternoon oldest daughter is to be married, rather than dwell on ecosystem collapse and mass extinction, I will instead share some poems.  I found them - with torn edges, printed on old yellowed newsprint ripped from the Times many years ago - when I was rummaging deep in a drawer for ribbon to wrap the wedding gift.  So how perfect?

Heteronyms II:  Nothing Inside of Nothing by Richardo Reis (Fernando Pessoa)

Who delights in the mind can delight in no destiny
Better than to know himself. To know he is nothing
      Is better than not knowing:
      Nothing inside of nothing.
If I don't have within me the power to master 
The three Fates and the shapes of the future,
      May the gods at least give me
      The power of knowing it.
And since in myself I cannot create beauty,
May I enjoy it as it's given on the outside,
      Repeated in my passive eyes,
      Ponds which death will dry.

                     22 October 1923

As long as I feel the full breeze in my hair
And see the sun shining bright on the leaves,
      I will not ask for more.
What better thing could destiny give me
Than the sensual passing of life in moments
      Of ignorance like this?
Wise the the one who does not seek.
The seeker will always find in all things
      The abyss, and doubt in himself.

                     16 June 1927

Ah, the Freshness in the Face of Leaving a Task Undone by Fernando Pessoa

Ah, the freshness in the face of leaving a task
  undone!
To be remiss is to be positively out in the
  country!
What a refuge it is to be completely unreliable!
I can breath easier now that the appointments
  are behind me.
I missed them all, through deliberate negligence,
Having waited for the urge to go, which I knew
  wouldn't come.
I'm free and against organized, clothed society.
I'm naked and plunge into the water of my imagination
It's too late to be at either of the two meetings
  where I should have been at the same time,
Deliberately at the same time...
No matter. I'll stay here dreaming verses and
  smiling in italics.
This spectator aspect of life is so amusing!
I can't even light the next cigarette...If it's an
  action,
It can wait for me, along with the others, in the
  nonmeeting called life.

                  17 June 1929

Never Again the Same by James Tate

Speaking of sunsets,
last night's was shocking.
I mean, sunsets aren't supposed to frighten you,
  are they?
Well, this one was terrifying.
People were screaming in the streets.
Sure, it was beautiful, but far too beautiful.
It wasn't natural.
One climax followed another and then another
until your knees went weak
and you couldn't breathe.
The colors were definitely not of this world,
peaches dripping opium
pandemonium of tangerines,
inferno of irises,
Plutonian emeralds,
all swirling and churning, swabbing,
like it was playing with us,
like we were nothing,
as if our whole lives were a preparation for this,
this for which nothing could have prepared us
and for which we could not have been less prepared.
The mockery of it all stung us bitterly.
And when it was finally over
we whimpered and cried and howled.
And then the streetlights came on as always
and we looked into one another's eyes -
ancient caves with still pools
and those little transparent fish
who have never seen even one ray of light.
And the calm that returned to us
was not even our own.

pictures from the UK Guardian

Judgment Day on the Brian Lehrer Show

Slide the arrow to 10:24 for the Wit's End call!

The Brian Lehrer Show: Judgment Day (May 20, 2011)

Lisa Miller, contributor to Newsweek and author of Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination With The Afterlife, and John Matson, reporter for Scientific American ask why do people believe in "judgment day" and what it says about us.