Morning No: Different Priorities

by: Natasha Chart

Wed Mar 31, 2010 at 07:09

- Obama finally makes some recess appointments. Craig Becker is in, labor should be happy. Dawn Johnsen isn't, more evidence the president thinks women's health care is icky. Islam Siddiqui, a notorious pesticide pusher from an industry association that freaked out about the White House organic garden, is in.

- In case you missed it, health insurance reform added back $250 million to abstinence-only education, a program known to have no lasting effect on teen sexual behavior besides to reduce condom and birth control use.

- If you follow environmental issues, you probably know that ExxonMobil has been a huge funder of climate science denial. Though as it turns out, Koch industries is the biggest supporter of climate misinformation, outspending Exxon Mobil by close to 3:1. If you don't follow environmental politics though, Koch's funding of Heritage, Cato and the Manhattan Institute probably puts a wrench in your day now and again, anyhow.

- KBR will finally have to face Jamie Leigh Jones in court after she was raped by several fellow KBR employees, locked in a shipping container and then told by the company that her contract barred her from suing them over it.

- Russia reels from a second set of twin suicide bomb attacks in Dagestan, a North Caucasus republic. A local police official is among the 12 dead.

- The systemic implications of peak oil are all very well and good, but peak copper?

- Pedophiles and their accomplices seem to have no end of enablers. Eeeew.

- The wingnuts, they're coming for your Social Security. And they might have plenty of friends at the president's deficit commission. Via Avedon.

- Here's the lowdown on government housing support programs, along with the bad news that not only might the market not be coming back, it might be headed for another dive.

- A small amount of chocolate every day may be good for your heart. I know what I'm getting at the store today.

Weekly Mulch: Market-Driven Sustainability

by: The Media Consortium

Fri Jul 24, 2009 at 12:01

Last week, Wal-Mart, ExxonMobil and the American Automobile Association (AAA) announced new programs that promote sustainability and a cleaner planet. The three corporations may have turned over a new leaf, but their efforts may actually be a case of corporate greenwashing. In today's economic climate, many companies are taking advantage of consumers that don't have the funds to be choosy about the environmental-friendliness of their purchases.

Rockefeller Family Joins the Uprising

by: David Sirota

Thu May 01, 2008 at 16:47

In my upcoming book, The Uprising, I report a whole chapter on the increasingly brilliant use of shareholder resolutions as an instrument of powerful political populism. Specifically, I sneak into an ExxonMobil shareholder meeting with a group of activists who deliver a blow to the company on the issue of greenhouse gas emissions. Now, it looks like those efforts are getting a huge boost from none other than the Rockefellers.

Here's Forbes:

Even though Exxon Mobil is posting record profits, some shareholders aren't happy. A group of them said Wednesday the company is overlooking its effect on the environment and the future of alternative energy. But these aren't just any shareholders. They're Rockefellers, the first family of American oil.

They proposed four shareholder resolutions Wednesday to be voted on at Exxon Mobil's annual meeting May 28. The family is calling for the company to reduce greenhouse gases from operations and products, to establish a task force to study the effects of global warming and to adopt of a renewable energy policy.

The concept of the Rockefellers - the cultural image of the Establishment and a family whose companies have often degraded the environment - joining the uprising against the Establishment is difficult to fathom. But it is real - and goes to an important uprising axiom that I discuss in the book: The ability to form seemingly impossible coalitions. Getting the Rockefellers into the forgotten corner of the uprising that uses shareholder resolutions is huge news.

Senator Durbin: Help Us Save Our Websites

by: Mike Stark

Tue Jul 24, 2007 at 15:21

Sadly, this idea is pure romance.  Here's proof:

The Yes Men created a parody site, Vivoleum.com, to satirize the global warming and unfettered free market rhetoric espoused by big oil.
Specifically, the site announced the launch of a new product, Vivoleum, made by ExxonMobil.  The site sat quietly until June 15th - the day after the Yes Men gave a parody speech at an oil conference in Canada.

The speech was billed as ExxonMobil's response to the anticipated catastrophic death totals that are believed to be one of the consequences of global warming.  Part of the presentation involved passing out candles made from "Vivoleum" - ExxonMobil's newly announced fuel invention.  As participants lit the candles, the smell of burning human hair began to fill the room.  Simultaneously, attendees watched a film in which "Reggie," an ExxonMobil janitor with a terminal illness, was introduced.  As Reggie announced his satisfaction at being rendered into candles, the audience and hosts recognized the hoax.  The Yes Men were escorted from the building.

It is important to note that the satire was clear; trademark law protects parody.  In other words, if reasonable people recognize satire in the use of the trademark, use of the trademark is not infringing.

That matters little, however, when a mega-corporation with a mega-legal team leans on your website's host.

On June 15th, the plug was pulled on the Yes Men's website.  They were not told who their accusers were - only that they were required to remove all references to ExxonMobil from their website before service would be restored.  The sanctions the Yes Men's provider imposed did not stop at the Vivoleum site.  The Yes Men's entire site - including their email service - was disabled.

The Yes Men's website and email service was not restored until all mentions of Exxon were scrubbed from the site.  To this day, the Yes Men's host refuses to serve Vivoleum.com.

Imagine if this was George Bush - or Hillary Clinton - that forced the shutdown of a critical website.  The truth we all recognize - and appreciate - is that Americans would not tolerate such abuse of power.

How telling then that a corporation can get away with this and nary a word is spoken.  The logical conclusion is that corporate America has become more powerful and less accountable than those elected to lead.

The Yes Men know Exxon has abused the system to exert their will, but they are powerless in the face of a mighty corporate legal machine.  Litigation would be expensive, and by the time it finished, the result would almost certainly be irrelevant.

In the end, the score is Corporations 1, Little Guys 0.  Maybe someday we can change that.

Mike Stark is an internet activist and a netroots promoter for the Yes Men