This week, as we celebrated Earth Day, the
once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle has chosen to cede valuable space on its op/ ed page to the likes of
Sam Kazman and
Kent Lassman (Kaz and Lass, man!), of the Competitive Enterprise Institute
who are claiming Oppression! at the hands of environmentalist gummint. It appears Attorneys General in 16 States have subpoenaed the Institute's funding records to show the extent to which they were/ are paid shills of the fossil fuel industry and associated right- wing plutocrats; more specifically, the Institute's role in disseminating cooked disinformation about global climate change over the past decade or more in order to delay action. (What is the
Competitive Enterprise Institute? It's a libertarian rats nest that's been funded by the Koch brothers, other right- wing crank wankers like the
Scaifes and, of course, completely uninterested parties like Exxon/Mobil and Texaco.) OK, so we know where those grifters are coming from.
Well, in what appears to be a coordinated attack, Fox "News'" and
once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle columnist- for- sale
George "Effing" Will just happens to have
pooped out a column that joins the shills in decrying the gummint's attempt to
smoke out the weasels "shut down debate" on climate change. Never one to miss an opportunity to take a shot at his
bete noire, the sneering Will (who seems to have been in full backpedal mode on climate change recently, along with the rest of his reactionary party, btw) blames it all on "authoritarian" progressives:
Authoritarianism, always latent in progressivism, is becoming explicit.
Progressivism’s determination to regulate thought by regulating speech
is apparent in the campaign by 16 states’ attorneys general and those of
the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, none Republican, to
criminalize skepticism about the supposedly “settled” conclusions of
climate science.
Supposedly settled. Hmmm. Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know, yeah, it's settled --
but go ahead and ask rocket scientists. Remember, Will's not a climate scientist! He's a skeptic because
Progressivism! Also,
Al Gore! Also, delay, delay, delay!
Finally ("
Is it irresponsible to speculate? It would be irresponsible not to!"--
P. Noonan), we wonder if opening the books of the Institute would cause some discomfort among certain shall we say bow- tie- wearing columnists who may have received remuneration for disseminating the Institute's non- fact- based "skepticism" on climate change over the years?
(h/t P.E.C.)
This week, as we celebrated Earth Day, the 
