Spotlighting Conservative Blogs

This photoshopped image was posted on the Florida conservative blog IMAO. The blogger Harvey titled the post "lolbama! Part 19." Apparently, photoshopping pictures of President Obama dressed as Mussolini is what passes for humor with Harvey. I found this blog from a Jim Johnson post spotlighting Florida conservative blogs. I would love to hear Johnson explain how IMOO is furthering conservative values.

Before conservatives lambast me for hypocrisy: I denounced Moveon.org for attacking General David Petraeus in their "General Betray Us" ad. It was thoughtless on the part of Moveon.org. People can agree or disagree with General Petraeus's leadership of the Iraq war. My view is Petraeus has proven himself to be a superior military tactician. The situation in Iraq would be worse if Tommy Franks was still in charge.

LindaSoG at Something... and Half of Something posted an article on Australian geologist Ian Plimer. Linda's interest is Plimer denies the possibility of global warming. Plimer is involved with the Natural Resources Stewardship Project. Their web site is currently not up. (Never a good sign.) They are a bogus nonprofit run by global warming denier Tom Harris. NRSP and Harris have been involved in atroturfing. The term means a fake grassroots movement started by corporate interests. Harris is executive director of the Friends and the Stewardship Project. The members have ties to the energy industry and little expertise on climate change.

Some who signed are unpaid advisers or "allied experts" of the Friends and the Stewardship Project, and are to speak at the Ottawa conference.

The non-profit, pro-action Vancouver-based website DeSmogBlog has been analyzing the list of signatories. The site, which is devoted to combatting what it calls "a well-funded and highly organized public relations campaign" that's "poisoning" the climate change debate, was established in December 2005 by Jim Hoggan, president of the public relations firm James Hoggan & Associates and a board member of the David Suzuki Foundation.

DeSmogBlog says the 18 people with signatures on the letter whom it has checked out so far have published relatively few peer-reviewed research articles – a common standard for scientific competence – related to global warming. Some on the list have been paid directly by the oil and coal industries to conduct scientific research, and many more are affiliated with fossil fuel industry-sponsored think-tanks, lobby groups and phony grassroots coalitions – dubbed Astroturf groups by critics. Another has withdrawn, saying he misunderstood what the letter was about.

Harris previously worked for the energy industry public relations firm Highland Park Advocacy Group. Clients included Canadian Electricity Association and the Canadian Gas Association. Highland Park will not publicly list their clients on their web site. The NRSP and High Park share the same address.

Another Harris anti-global warming nonprofit is Friends of Science. A University of Calgary found auditor report found the Friends of Science don't do scientific research.

* According to the Calgary Foundation, the Science Education Fund grant agreement with the University of Calgary was for "academic research in the science of global warming and the production of education modules." Yet FoS states that Barry Cooper's research fund is "directed towards debate of climate science" and to "encourage debate on basic climate science."

* The Calgary Foundation has repeatedly stated that the donee of Science Education Fund was the University of Calgary. Yet the University of Calgary refers to funding obtained by a "group of scientists", i.e. the Friends of Science, which implies that this organization is the true donee. But FoS is clearly not a "qualified donee" under the Canadian Income Tax Act. Moreover, as a political scientist, Barry Cooper has no relevant qualifications in the area of climate science research or education and is not a member of the funded entity in any case. In spite of the University's reference to Barry Cooper's "individual research", there is absolutely no evidence that he played any role in the funded activities; rather, to all appearances, his "climate change research" fund merely served as a conduit to support the activities of the true donee, the Friends of Science.

* The supported Friends of Science activities outlined in subsequent sections, such as the Climate Catastrophe Cancelled video and anti-Kyoto radio ads, do not accord with the stated Science Education Fund mandate of "academic research" or "education modules" in the common understanding of those terms. There is no evidence that FoS has produced any original, peer-reviewed academic research whatsoever. The FoS video, presumably claimed to be an "education module", to all appearances, has seen minimal use or endorsement as an educational tool in Canada. In contrast, An Inconvenient Truth is in widespread use in schools in Canada and internationally, and is slated for delivery to all schools in Great Britain. [78] The Vancouver School Board recently announced its approval of the distribution of The Inconvenient Truth to all Vancouver high schools [79], and the film was also recently approved by the teachers' cirriculum committee in Surrey, B.C.

The Florida conservative movements includes people that compare Obama to Mussolini and deny science. Jim, keep spotlighting Florida conservative blogs. The Right base scares people into the Democratic Party.