Wankers Of The Week - George Will And The Competitive Enterprise Institute

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.)