The Center for American Progress affiliated attack group “Forecast the Facts” is turning on the CBS News magazine “60 Minutes” for reporting truthfully on the issues surrounding green technology last Sunday.
See the press release below and the full video from CBS News follows.
For Immediate Release January 9, 2013
Contact: Anna Zuccaro, anna@fitzgibbonmedia.com, (914) 523-9145
Benghazi Redux? 60 Minutes “Cleantech Crash” Segment Severely Misleads Viewers
Climate Group Forms Online Petition in Demand of Public Editor
Washington, DC — On January 5th, 60 Minutes aired a segment entitled “Cleantech Crash” and made false accusations regarding the nation’s clean energy economy. The broadcast failed to mention that the clean energy industry has actually been booming, and that the increasing and severe threats of climate change makes the transition from fossil fuel pollution an economic necessity.
Not only did the “Cleantech Crash” segment mislead viewers, it threatened our ability to confront the global warming crisis.
Fortunately, 60 Minutes can still set the record straight: by appointing a Public Editor, the program can see to it that this particular broadcast is investigated, ensure that all future reporting serves the public interest and deliver more accurate information about climate change to their audience.
“Those who watched 60 Minutes this past Sunday might be under the impression that cleantech is dead, our hope for a much-needed green energy economy down the tubes,” said Forecast the Facts campaign director Brant Olson. “Fortunately for the world and unfortunately for good investigative journalism, 60 Minutes got the future of clean energy technology wrong—very wrong. 60 Minutes should appoint a Public Editor to restore its damaged reputation.”
Take a stand with us and sign the petition to demand the appointment of a 60 Minutes Public Editor, which will be delivered to Jeff Fager, Chairman of CBS News and Executive Producer of 60 Minutes: http://act.forecastthefacts.org/sign/sixty_minutes_public_editor.
###
THE VIDEO:
From the YouTube video description:
Published on Jan 5, 2014
Despite billions invested by the U.S. government in so-called “Cleantech” energy, Washington and Silicon Valley have little to show for it. Lesley Stahl reports.
“Political Officer”, a/k/a Pol. Commissar …
Say it like it is (don’t mince words): “an enforcer of the party line. ”
.
Not at the national scale; the poor do not pay taxes. (This has been noted to be a repeated meme without basis.)
“43% pay no federal income taxes”
http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/29/pf/taxes/who-doesnt-pay-federal-income-taxes/
“Is it true that only 53 percent of Americans pay income tax?”
http://money.howstuffworks.com/only-53-percent-pay-income-tax.htm
_Jim says:
January 10, 2014 at 7:39 am.
The poor pay higher electric bills, food bills, gasoline prices etc. Gail is correct. Her statement did not limit the “money” to taxes.
re: SAMURAI says January 9, 2014 at 10:45 pm “invoking Article V of the Constitution ”
I second your proposal.
The warmists want to control everything – via a Public Editor at first. Of course the Public Editor should be a member of a progressive party, ideally a socialist party, and preferably a national one as well. Germany in 1930s comes to mind.
_Jim:
re your post at January 10, 2014 at 7:25 am which quotes me out of context and adds emphasis which I did not provide.
I don’t discuss politics in a foreign land.
Please read my post which you comment. This jumps to it
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/09/climate-campaigners-start-to-eat-their-own-over-cleantech-crash/#comment-1531380
And the single “obvious” point is – as I said and the video reports – being used by Chinese businesses.
If I am wrong on anything then I would like to know the correct information. A suggestion that I must be wrong because only an American can be right is not helpful.
Richard
re: mkelly says January 10, 2014 at 7:43 am
Note: “Not at the national scale”. Local taxes did not pay the subsidies on these boondoggle greentech projects paid for by the DOE.
Did those finer points escape your attention?
Gail continues to show raw ‘socialist’ leanings that only FDR-sized ‘seize the wealth’ programs would satiate …
.
I am willing to oblige.
.
_Jim:
Concerning my post at January 10, 2014 at 6:16 am
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/09/climate-campaigners-start-to-eat-their-own-over-cleantech-crash/#comment-1531478
at January 10, 2014 at 7:11 am you ask me
I do not know what you read, but clearly your answer is not to my post. I have provided a link to my post so you can try to read it again.
Richard
re: richardscourtney says January 10, 2014 at 7:56 am
(1)
(2) Re-read the post at:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/09/climate-campaigners-start-to-eat-their-own-over-cleantech-crash/#comment-1531519
(3) QED; above proposition (1) regarding “Business … from government” is invalidated.
(4) More to the point: it is because of the thieves in government one must ‘lawyer up’ and hire lobbyists against the pilfering vultures in congress and various high-level federal executive branch agencies and departments.
.
From what _Jim says at January 10, 2014 at 7:48 am we learn that Gail Combs is a Socialist.
Or rather has “raw ‘socialist’ leanings”.
That may come as a surprise to her.
What the heck is a ‘Public Editor’? Would that be a Politiburo representative to keep the comrads in line?
re: M Courtney says January 10, 2014 at 8:14 am
” From what _Jim says at January 10, 2014 at 7:48 am we learn that Gail Combs is a Socialist.”
How would S. McIntyre put it? “A bridge too far.” Leanings or tendencies are one thing, being fully avowed is another although functionally there may be little difference.
.
How about Citizens United? You know, that ‘united group of citizens’ who incorporated for purposes of organization?
.http://www.citizensunited.org/
This was all pioneered by President Jimmy Carter and the Synthetic Fuels Corporation, decades ago. The government can never ever go into business and make it work, because the government does not have any entrepreneurs. The energy business moves very fast with sweeping changes, and the Saudi’s remain tremendously powerful, able to alter the price of oil any time they want to. The word “cost” apparently means nothing to Obummer, whereas it is everything to anyone who ever had to stay within a budget to produce a profitable venture.
Will this ever change? Can anyone name one single commercial technology developed by any government anywhere, ever? The nuclear industry is not such an example, the Manhattan Project produce a weapon, not a product, not a technology.
_Jim says:
January 10, 2014 at 7:48 am
Gail Combs says January 10, 2014 at 12:49 am
…
Money has been sucked out of the pockets of the poor
Jim there is the quote you used of Gail’s. There is no mention of taxes or national scale. From the quote you used your limiting it to taxes was off mark. And I never mentioned local taxes. You set up straw men to strike not what is said.
If you think the poor don’t pay higher electric, food or gasoline prices because of the bad policies set forth by government then say so.
M Courtney says:
January 10, 2014 at 8:14 am
From what _Jim says at January 10, 2014 at 7:48 am we learn that Gail Combs is a Socialist.
Or rather has “raw ‘socialist’ leanings”.
That may come as a surprise to her.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You bet since I am a die hard capitalist. But my definition and _jim’s are vastly different:
I mentioned Anti-trust laws only because the acquiring of a monopoly also means the acquiring of large amounts of political and economic power. That power allows steamrolling over the rights of the individual. With a monopoly/monopsony there is no free market and there is no fair bargaining as the below illustration shows.
If the government gets the heck out of the way then the market can effectively deal with the problem via niche markets however USDA/FDA red tape and government subsidies has killed that option in the example below.
As far as anti trust laws I was referring to this from the Congressional Record from almost fourteen years ago:
Cleantech Group, LLC, San Francisco, CA
Board includes:
Nicholas Parker, Co-founder
Maurice F. Strong, was also on the Board of the Chicago Climate Exchange
Vinod Khosla
Walter Schindler
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/board.asp?privcapId=31212048
Linkedin
Nicholas Parker
Chair. at Corporate Kinghts Media
Serves on the advisory board of the Clinton Global Initiative/CGI
http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/nicholas-parker/10/a0a/104
_Jim:
I write to thank you for your post at January 10, 2014 at 8:06 am
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/09/climate-campaigners-start-to-eat-their-own-over-cleantech-crash/#comment-1531570
which quotes a statement I made and provides confirmatory evidence that my statement is true.
It also says you don’t like that truth, but so what?
Richard
“Not only did the “Cleantech Crash” segment mislead viewers, it threatened our ability to confront the global warming crisis.”
“ensure that all future reporting serves the public interest and deliver more accurate information about climate change to their audience”
OK, I get it. This is what they want:
1. Interpret record cold waves from Arctic origin air and the “Polar Vortex” in a way that makes people think air masses and weather systems are supposed to stay put and the weather systems everywhere are supposed to remain close to the geographical area bounded by their origin, causing weather to stay the same all the time. When that doesn’t happen, its man made climate change/extreme weather.
2. When a minimal cat. 1 hurricane hits a highly populated area, interpret it as a Super Storm that’s unprecedented because of climate change(even though 3 cat. 3 hurricanes hit the same general region in 3 months of 1954)
3. Wait 24 years, during which the US Cornbelt experiences a record length of time without a widespread severe drought. Then, when the inevitable severe drought does hit in 2012, blame man made climate change.
4. When a huge typhoon clobbers alot of people in the Pacific. Tell the people in the US its the worst one ever and another example of extreme weather increasing from man made climate change………even while they’ve gone thru the longest period in history by far without being hit by a major hurricane and at the same time, experience the lowest number of annual tornadoes since accurate records counting tornadoes began.
Yes, I get their point.
Alan Robertson says:
January 9, 2014 at 6:39 pm
troe says:
January 9, 2014 at 6:23 pm
I’m with those who are shocked that 60 minutes is doing investigative reporting again. Suppose it is only right to give credit when its due.
_________________________
Can’t say exactly when it started, but in recent months, several instances have been brought to my attention when CBS actually did the right thing and performed as real journalists instead of propaganda flacks.
If I were to again start regularly watching a network news program (not likely to happen soon), I’d pick CBS. I first noticed their modest swing back to the center when they permitted reporter Sharyl Attkisson to file investigative reports on the Fast & Furious gunwalking scandal. Since then, isolated incidents like this one have been cropping up.
I wonder if CBS has finally figured out that everyone else’s news producers are ignoring well over half the population, and has decided to market to that segment, instead of continuing to compete with the loony leftists running ABC/NBC/CNN?
If so, the leftists who’ve been watching CBS for years are probably experiencing some significant bouts of cognitive dissonance lately.
“george e. smith says:
January 9, 2014 at 8:36 pm
“””””…..Col Mosby says:
January 9, 2014 at 7:00 pm
Forecast the facts is one meaningless , dopey name……””””””
They ain’t “facts” until they have happened; ergo, they can’t be forecast !!”
Actually, I’m ” forecasting the facts” every time I bet on a horse race or put in a bet at a poker table. When I “forecast the facts” I win money, when my forecast is unfactual I lose money.
Leslie said the gasoline from wood chips doesn’t cut into the food supply which “was” a major objection to using ethanol for fuel.
“Was?” Have we discontinued the EPA ethanol fuel mandate? Praise de Lawd!
Michael Moon:
I agree with the general tenor of your post at January 10, 2014 at 8:36 am, but I write to answer a question you ask because I think it has general interest and may provide some amusement. Also, the answer has direct relevance to matters in the above article.
You ask
Yes, I can.
The drilling industry in China 2,500 years ago.
This industry was the brine wells of Sichuan Province. They were commissioned by Ling Bing (420-221 BC) who was a civil servant in the Warring States period.
By 300 BC wells for both brine and gas (mostly methane) were being operated to a depth of 650 feet. The industry was fully nationalised by being taken over by the Emperor in 199 BC. And this is the earliest nationalisation of a fossil fuel extraction industry of which I am aware. But it was from its beginning owned and operated b y government either local or national.
The industry developed through the centuries and wells operated at depths of 850 feet under the Tang Dynasty(618-906 AD).
The true purpose of the industry was to obtain salt. Pockets of brine and natural gas existed in the region. A hole was dug in the ground using spades until rock was reached and drilling was then undertaken until a pocket was discovered. If gas came out a hole then it was ignited and a metal pan was suspended over the flame. If brine was discovered then bamboo tubes were lowered into the hole and lifted to obtain the brine which was boiled in the pans. When the water was boiled from the pans the residue was the desired salt.
A hole was drilled by repeatedly dropping a metal ball suspended from a rope. This smashed the rock. Initially the ball was dropped through the center of a pile of stone rings so it always hit where the bore hole was desired. Crushed rock was scooped out. The rope went over a pulley and was attached to one end of a wooden board. A person walked up the slope of the board and his weight pushed the board down so lifting the ball up. The ball dropped when he jumped off the board.
Drilling rate was surprisingly high with rates being between 1 and 2 feet per day for each hole.
China has been totalitarian for thousands of years under several different governments. So, China had many ancient industries which were devised and developed by government. Paper making and printing are notable examples.
Thus, Chinese people have no cultural resistance to taking over industries which have been supported by government(s). And the above article indicates this is happening with some industries in the US.
Richard
Ooops!
I wrote
They were commissioned by Ling Bing (420-221 BC) who was a civil servant in the Warring States period.
I intended to write
They were commissioned by Ling Bing who was a civil servant in the Warring States period (420-221 BC).
Ling Bing was not Lazarus! Sorry.
Richard