Heartland Institute is Disgusting

(via Think Progress)
The Heartland Institute has launched one of the most offensive billboard campaigns in U.S. history. The Chicago-based anti-science think tank is comparing all those who accept climate science — and the journalists who report on it accurately — to Charles Manson, the Unabomber, and Osama Bin Laden.

What the hell?

What is that even supposed to mean? That Global warming is such an obvious truth that even a nut like the Unabomber can see it?
No, it's the Heartland Institute, your number one source for science-denial since, I don't know when, I'm not going to bother to look it up.

Here's their explanation for this gross campaign:

The billboard series features Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber; Charles Manson, a mass murderer; and Fidel Castro, a tyrant. . .

These rogues and villains were chosen because they made public statements about how man-made global warming is a crisis and how mankind must take immediate and drastic actions to stop it.

So you can discredit a scientific finding by pointing out that some bad people believe it? Is that effective?

 

Gravity. Hitler believed in it.

Why did Heartland choose to feature these people on its billboards?

Because what these murderers and madmen have said differs very little from what spokespersons for the United Nations, journalists for the “mainstream” media, and liberal politicians say about global warming.  

And everyone knows that murderers and tyrants are terrible at science! So, if they believe something, it necessarily follows that that belief is false. 

Augusto Pinochet: murderer, tyrant. Believed in Jesus.

(or does believe, is he dead yet?)

The point is that believing in global warming is not “mainstream,” smart, or sophisticated. In fact, it is just the opposite of those things.  

How is that the point? Believing in global warming is absolutely mainstream, so much so that even guys who live in prison, and so probably have very limited access to new scientific data, understand that it is true. And it doesn't matter whether or not science is accepted by the mainstream anyway. The mainstream is chock full of idiots, ignoramuses and nuts. 80% of Americans think that the government is hiding information about aliens.  Not the immigrant kind of aliens, SPACE ALIENS! Over 50% believe in ghosts. 

  

The most convincing evidence so far.

It doesn't matter if science is accepted by the "mainstream." It is accepted by the people who understand science.

Still believing in man-made global warming – after all the scientific discoveries and revelations that point against this theory – is more than a little nutty. In fact, some really crazy people use it to justify immoral and frightening behavior.

Name one! Name one person who has used his belief in global warming to justify some sort of immoral and frightening behavior!

 

Science made me do it!

 Of course, not all global warming alarmists are murderers or tyrants. But the Climategate scandal and the more recent Fakegate scandal revealed that the leaders of the global warming movement are willing to break the law and the rules of ethics to shut down scientific debate and implement their left-wing agendas

That Is A Lie.

Scientific, political, and public support for the theory of man-made global warming is collapsing. Most scientists and 60 percent of the general public (in the U.S.) do not believe man-made global warming is a problem.

That is also a lie. You may be right about 60% of the public, but not most scientist. At least, not the scientists whose field of study is at all relevant, like say climatologists.

The people who still believe in man-made global warming are mostly on the radical fringe of society. This is why the most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen.

What fucking world do you live in? None of these villains is a prominent advocate of, um, anything.

And as for the people who do "still believe" in man-made global warming, do these people sound like fringe radicals to you?

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

Ted Turner

Tony Blair

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Richard Branson

Every Legitimate Scientist not on the Payroll of Exxon-Mobil

Anyway, they actually seem to have put more time into this explanation of their campaign than the actual campaign itself, because it's already over:

UPDATE: Heartland ended their gruesome failure today at 5 pm, but in a release, refused to admit it was a mistake or apologize. Heartland Institute President Joseph Bast tried to call this an “experiment” even though a series of billboards were planned (see below) and stated, “We do not apologize for running the ad.” So, apparently, no lessons learned for the disinformers. What caused them to fold, then? The Washington Post‘s Greg Sargent reported:

    Congressman Sensenbrenner will not participate in the upcoming Climate Change Conference if the Heartland Institute decides to continue this ad campaign. We have contacted the Heartland Institute and voiced these same concerns to them.

You know you are off the deep end of anti-science extremism when you’ve offended the sensibility of Sensenbrenner,

Delusions of Grandeur

It's not ridiculous enough that "Joe" the "plumber" is running for Congress, he apparently thinks that the President of the United States (of America!) ought to b able to clear up some time on his schedule to meet with him, because he's so super-important, what with basically being the Snookie of electoral politics and all.

From his sad, stupid little website "Some Crappy Little Bald Guy for Congress or Something"

Dear Mister President:

I stopped by your house the other day because I wanted to talk with you about what's happened since we last met.

Are you serious? Oh, wait. no, you couldn't possibly be. Never mind.

I vividly remember the day you passed through my neighborhood during your 2008 campaign for President. I looked you in the eye and asked how your tax plan would affect a business I was going to buy.

Which I ended up deciding not to buy because it turns out you need money to buy things.

Ultimately, after describing a complicated tax scheme that seemed to require jumping through hoops to avoid being punished for success, you finished by saying that "when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody". Surely you remember that, don't you?

Um, yeah. . . just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it's complicated. For instance, the difference between an important person and a pseudo-plumber who got famous for being used as a convenient political prop by a desperate candidate isn't all that complicated. Just ask a smart person.

In the time since we first met, a lot of folks have lost their job while you got the one for which you were applying. Funny how that worked out: millions of folks out here are living the nightmare of broken dreams, lost livelihoods, and crushing unemployment under your watch while you enjoy the perks of your new job being President of the greatest country on earth.

And those two things are related how? If the Prez stopped enjoying the "perks" would that help create more jobs? Also, a lot of people lost their jobs since you first met, but an awful lot of them lost jobs between the time you met and the time President Obama took office. I shouldn't have to explain to you that those job losses really can't be laid at his doorstep.

It must be nice to get lavish vacations in exotic places for you and your family, playing unending rounds of golf at the world’s best country clubs while most of us Americans are just happy to be able to pay our bills.

If only he would play at the municipal golf course, all our problems would be solved! Oh, wait. A municipal golf course? SOCIALISM!!!

 Your burdensome and punishing regulations made sure that job-creating small businesses suffer like never before.

Okay, I'm calling "name one!" on this bull. Name one regulation enacted by the Obama Administration that is causing businesses to suffer. Go ahead, name one. *crickets*

And yet, through it all, your friends, bundlers, and campaign contributors seem to be doing just fine. Thanks to your "spread the wealth" message, we’ve got people "occupying" legitimate businesses and industries, terrorizing the children of business leaders in their own homes, and calling for government control of everything and everybody. 

You know, it's hard to tell if you're really this stunningly ignorant, or just completely dishonest. You do know that the Occupiers have been very clear about their dislike for Obama's economic policies, right? And it's a little tough to sell the idea that they are calling for government control of everything when the conventional wisdom on the OWS is "no one knows what they want," and "they have no clear message," and "what the heck are their demands?"
Also, you're surprised that the super-wealthy campaign donor class isn't suffering? Really?

Mister President, I think it's time you and I continued our conversation.
I tried early and late, but you weren't home and I couldn't find anyone to take a message. 

Yeah, maybe a little busy being the leader of the free world?

Perhaps you had a good score at the golf course today? Any luck getting more campaign donations? I'm sure that's taking up a lot of your energy.

Ooh, good point! Barack Obama is the only politician who has to spend time soliciting for campaign donations! Zing! Why can't he just get his little daughters to make campaign signs with color crayons and poster board like he was running for student council?

By the way... you may have heard I am running for Congress in the OH-9 district.
 I'm going to win. 

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

I'm going to win. Maybe you can stop by my office when you and your family visit DC and I’ll show you around my new digs. We can finish that chat then.

 

O Hell Yeah!

 
 

I am gonna eat the FUCK out of this shit!

Scumbag of the Day

It's North Carolina's Pastor Sean Harris.

 

(artist's rendition)

Runners up: a tie between every one of the assholes laughing and cheering for this bag of scum.

TRANSCRIPT: "So your little son starts to act a little girlish when he is four years old and instead of squashing that like a cockroach and saying, “Man up, son, get that dress off you and get outside and dig a ditch, because that is what boys do,” you get out the camera and you start taking pictures of Johnny acting like a female and then you upload it to YouTube and everybody laughs about it and the next thing you know, this dude, this kid is acting out childhood fantasies that should have been squashed.
Can I make it any clearer? Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch. Ok? You are not going to act like that. You were made by God to be a male and you are going to be a male. And when your daughter starts acting to Butch you reign her in. And you say, “Oh, no, sweetheart. You can play sports. Play them to the glory of God. But sometimes you are going to act like a girl and walk like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl and that means you are going to be beautiful. You are going to be attractive. You are going to dress yourself up.”
You say, “Can I take charge like that as a parent?”
Yeah, you can. You are authorized. I just gave you a special dispensation this morning to do that." 

Anyone reading this in North Carolina, I am giving you a special dispensation to get a running start and kick Sean Harris in the crotch.

A Mental Disorder?

Today, on some old dude's pickup, I saw a bumper sticker that read:


Liberalism is a Mental Disorder

He also had a POW/MIA sticker, which seemed to me to be a greater indicator of mental disorder, to think that there would still be American soldiers being held prisoner in Vietnam some 40 years after the end of the war. . .  but that's not the point. The point is Liberalism? A mental disorder? Really? In what way?

Is it a mental disorder to think that the US government, a singularly powerful entity, might be able to be a force for some good in people's lives? Is that crazy?

Or maybe it's a sign of mental disorder to believe that people should not have different rights depending on whether or not they acknowledge the awesomeness of boobies. Is it sane to think that I should have more rights than my friends who don't think that boobies are any big deal?

Or maybe you have to be mentally ill to care about the air we breathe and the water we drink?

Do you have to be a bit nutty to think that providing all of our young folks with a decent education is a good idea?

Do you have to be a little disturbed to think that the type of healthcare system that works just fine in Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Sweden, The Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, Norway and England might work well here?

I wouldn't think so. Those all seem like fairly reasonable positions, ones on which some folks might disagree, but we ought to be able to discuss reasonably. But we will never be able to have a reasonable discussion as long as a large segment of society believes that holding the opposing viewpoint is a "Mental Disorder." And there is an entire industry dedicated to convincing these folks of just that.

We're screwed.