ENVIRONMENT
False Alarmism Of Climate Change Deniers

Yesterday, the right-wing think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) unveiled an advertising campaign intended to provoke fear about solutions to global warming. The ads also make specious claims about former Vice President Al Gore's own energy use. In CEI's words, "The ads contrast Gore's energy-consuming lifestyle with the life-and-death need for energy in developing countries." The $30,000 campaign, set to run for two weeks on CNN, CNBC, and Fox News, includes a 60-second television spot and a longer web video. Despite decrying the "alarmism" of those who advocate fighting global warming, CEI is happy to use false alarmism in its own attacks. At the press conference, CEI's General Counsel Sam Kazman said that climate change legislation of the kind Gore supports would herald "death on a massive scale" and "absolute disaster, suffering, and starvation on a massive scale" in the developing world. Today's Progress Report sets the record straight.

CLUELESS ALARMISM: CEI claims that combating climate change means "restricting access to affordable energy," a "sure recipe for increasing poverty, disease and human misery around the world." CEI's alarmist claims not only ignore the very real threat posed by climate change to the developing world, which would face food shortages and devastating drought. Moreover, the Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997 and now ratified by 174 nations -- including the European Union, China, and India -- recognizes the different economics of developing and industrialized nations. Industrialized states, which have achieved prosperity over 150 years of development without having to account for global warming pollution, are expected to meet stricter emissions standards, while developing nations are expected to engage in a more gradual transition to low-carbon economies. These guidelines have been embraced by the leaders of practically every nation on earth. Even major Fortune 500 companies have endorsed significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. At the Bali conference this past December, leaders of developing nations shamed the American, Canadian, and Japanese delegations into action.

ATTACKING THE MESSENGER: CEI's TV ad begins: "Here's the electricity we use at home. Al Gore uses twenty times as much." This claim is based on a 2006 figure constructed by then 24-year-old Jason "Drew" Johnson, who started the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR) in 2005. Gore's private residence, which includes his home office, is indeed considerably larger and more energy-intensive than the average Tennessee home. However, since Gore purchased the home in 2002, he has transformed it into a model of best practices through extensive renovations that include a geothermal pump, rainwater-collection system, solar panels, and LED bulbs (despite the incandescent bulbs used by the ad to portray his purported energy use). He now has one of the first 14 homes in the United States to receive the LEED gold certification for efficiency and green practices. The still-ongoing renovations have "cut the home's summer electrical consumption by 11 percent compared with a year ago." The television spot also refers to Gore as the "chief spokesman for global warming alarmism." While Gore has certainly become the public face of climate change activism in the United States, he is by no means alone. His 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared equally with members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." The IPCC reports, which specifically recommend "energy infrastructure investments in developing countries...to achieve GHG emission reductions," are consensus documents authored by thousands of scientists and approved by government representatives from around the world, including the Bush administration.

THE COST OF 'FREE MARKET': Since its founding in 1984 by Fred Smith, Jr., CEI has championed its own unique vision of the "free market" -- the right of various industries to endanger the environment and the health and safety of the American people. Funded by Philip Morris, CEI opposed tobacco regulations "as being harmful to individual choice, freedom of speech, and most ironically of all, public health itself" [CEI, 1/19/99]. Funded by Ford and General Motors, CEI filed suit against fuel economy (CAFE) standards. Funded by Pfizer, CEI used AIDS to argue that "the FDA's role in reviewing new drugs should be solely advisory" [San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/6/89]. Funded by the Chlorine Chemical Council, CEI "expert" Michelle Malkin conflated dioxin with chlorinated water.

THE HEADS-IN-THE-SAND COALITION: CEI, TCPR, the National Center for Public Policy Research, the climate-denier-conference Heartland Institute, and the two other names on Drew Johnson's resume -- the National Taxpayers Union and the American Enterprise Institute -- are all members of the State Policy Network, a "voluntary and by invitation-only" coalition of free-market think tanks. CEI presently sits atop the "Cooler Heads Coalition," a global warming skeptic propaganda machine which also includes NCPPR, Heartland, NTUF, and AEI. Those five organizations alone have directly received over $5 million from ExxonMobil since 1998. Outside of the confines of CEI and its network, as the Wall Street Journal recognizes, "the national debate, however, is trending more towards Gore's view of the impact of global warming."

Under the Radar

ETHICS -- POLITICAL APPOINTEES AT HUD EXCHANGED E-MAILS DISCUSSING RETALIATION: Earlier this year, Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) director Carl Greene alleged in a court affidavit that Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Alphonso Jackson "called Philadelphia's mayor in 2006 to demand the transfer" of a $2 million public property to developer and friend, Kenny Gamble. Greene contends that "Jackson's aides followed up with 'menacing' threats about the property and other housing programs in at least a dozen letters and phone calls over an 11-month period." The Washington Post reports today that "two top political appointees at the department exchanged e-mails discussing the pain they could cause" to Greene. "Would you like me to make his life less happy? If so, how?" Orlando J. Cabrera, then-assistant secretary at the HUD, wrote to Kim Kendrick, an assistant secretary who oversaw accessible housing. "Take away all of his Federal dollars?" responded Kendrick, adding symbols for a smiley-face, ":-D." "Let me look into that possibility," replied Cabrera a few minutes later. In September 2007, HUD decided to strip PHA "of as much as $50 million in federal funds" and then declared in December that it was "in violation of rules that underpin its ability to decide precisely how it will spend federal housing funds." "Kendrick was the official who formally notified the authority that she had found it in violation." 

JUSTICE -- ASHCROFT DEFENDS NO-BID CONTRACT FROM JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: Last fall, former Justice Department employee and current U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Christ Christie awarded his former boss, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, a multimillion-dollar no-bid contract to monitor a corporate law settlement. Yesterday, Ashcroft defended the $50 million contract before the House Judiciary subcommittee. "There is not a conflict; there is not an appearance of a conflict," Ashcroft insisted. Subcommittee Chairman Linda Sanchez (D-CA) "said the arrangement 'appeared to be a backroom, sweetheart deal,' because Christie chose the firm without competition." Ashcroft "repeatedly tried to talk over" chairwoman Linda Sanchez (D-CA), "who offered the severest questioning." On Monday, the Justice Department announced new internal guidelines relating to settlement monitoring "to prevent the sort of conflict-of-interest accusations that followed" the Ashcroft contract.

IRAQ WAR -- U.S. MONEY FOR IRAQI CONTRACTORS FUNNELED TO SUNNI AND SHIITE MILITIAS: Yesterday at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on "waste, fraud and abuse" in Iraq, GAO comptroller David Walker said that a "significant" amount of what the United States spends on Iraqi contracts is being diverted to Sunni and Shiite militias. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen agreed with Walker, adding that "it is a significant problem." Meanwhile, Walker also testified at the hearing that "the Iraqis have a budget surplus" which "is not being spent." He added that because the country's oil "revenues are going up," "one of the questions" regarding Iraq reconstruction is "who should be paying?" Bowen said Iraq's increased oil revenue "gives them resources to carry forward with an extensive reconstruction plan." Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) agreed, saying "they ought to be able to use some of their oil to pay for their own costs and not keep sending the bill to the United States."

Think Fast

On the heels of the deadliest day in months for U.S. troops, violence killed at least 42 people in Iraq yesterday. Despite security gains last fall, "bloodshed has increased recently" due to a series of lethal bombings. Civilian deaths hit an average low of 20 per day in January, but "so far in March, that number is up to 39 daily."

Democrat Andre Carson of Indiana won a special election to succeed his grandmother, the late Rep. Julia Carson, and serve out the final 10 months of her term. Carson will be the second-ever Muslim to serve in Congress.

Congress failed to override President Bush's veto of a ban on waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques. "The final tally was 225-188 (with five Republicans voting for the override and three Dems voting against) about sixty votes short of the two-thirds needed."

Yesterday, House Democrats unveiled compromise legislation without immunity for telecoms that cooperated with the Bush administration's warrantless spying program. The bill would, however, allow "defendants in civil lawsuits would have the right to present classified evidence to the judge in such cases, without the plaintiffs being present."

A military-commissioned review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents, audio, and video records collected by U.S. forces since the March 2003 invasion "has concluded that there is 'no smoking gun' supporting the Bush administration's prewar assertion of an 'operational relationship' between Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaeda terrorist network."

$3.246: Average price of gasoline per gallon today, an all-time high. This amount is nearly two cents higher "than the previous record of $3.227, which was first set last May and matched Tuesday." Last year at this time, regular gasoline was at $2.543 a gallon.

And finally: Yesterday, CNN brought on former U.S. attorney Kendall Coffey to comment on the prostitution scandal surrounding Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-NY). Coffey concluded that Spitzer's chances of politically surviving the fall-out are "basically slim and none." CNN, however, neglected to mention that Coffey quit his job as a federal prosecutor "after allegedly biting a stripper." CNN has now admitted that Coffey "was probably not the right one for this story."

Good News

Last night, the House approved significant ethics rules changes, "creating for the first time an independent panel empowered to initiate investigations of alleged misconduct by members." The six-member, bipartisan Office of Congressional Ethics will "refer their findings to the House ethics committee along with a public report." The Gavel has more.

State Watch

OHIO: Unions duel over organizing workers in area hospitals.

KANSAS: "The Kansas Supreme Court effectively killed a law banning picketing at funerals."

FLORIDA: "State economists said Florida will collect $1-billion less in taxes this year than expected."

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: The Bush debt: $7.7 trillion.

ON DEADLINE: President Bush appoints longtime adviser Karen Hughes to the board of visitors at West Point.

JEZEBEL: Dr. Laura blames New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's (D) wife for her husband's prostitution scandal.

DEMOCRACY ARSENAL: The Brookings Institution's Michael O'Hanlon has a disproportionate number of bylines on America's top op-ed pages.

Daily Grill

"This is a national security problem. I'm told by people who are involved in helping just monitor the border that roughly 40 percent of the people that are intercepted crossing our border are not Mexicans."
-- Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), 3/6/08

VERSUS

"Actually, the official stats for FY 2007 show slightly less than 7 percent are OTMs, or 'Other than Mexicans.'"
-- Washington Post, 3/12/08

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