And starring Glenn Beck as Mr. MxyzptlkI never intentionally watch Glenn Beck’s CNN show because I am truly convinced that discussing Waiting for Godot with a coked-up Charles Manson would be more enjoyable, not to mention more informative and enlightening.
Nonetheless, Beck was on as background noise. His partner in rightwing performance art for this particular segment was Joe Bast of The Heartland Institute, the "'genuinely independent source of research and commentary' [that] has been a frequent ally of, and funded by, the tobacco industry."
The two were working hard at insinuating that Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection were up to no good in mounting a three-year, $300 million ad campaign against global warming, rolling their eyes and declaring the money tainted.
BECK: Any idea where this money is coming from?Bast may think he and The Heartland Institute "have a pretty good idea." But are they correct?
BAST: Well, I think we have a pretty good idea. I think there`s a lot of companies that stand to profit big-time if we start rationed access to energy. So you have all the alternative energy companies, all the ethanol manufacturers, all the financial companies.
It’s really not that difficult to find out. Beck could have asked someone from the Alliance for Climate Protection to appear on the show. And it’s hard to believe that neither The Heartland Institute nor CNN has the resources to request a copy from the IRS of the Alliance for Climate Protection’s Form 990-T. By law, this form must be readily available to the public.
A copy of Form 990-T would certainly explain to Beck and Bast in detail “where all this money is coming from.”
Fuck, I’ll even give Beavis and Butthead a giant head start: (1) Ask the IRS for form 4506-A, Request for Public Inspection or Copy of Exempt or Political Organization IRS Form ; (2) the Federal Taxpayer ID for the Alliance for Climate Protection is 87-0745629; (3) complete the form and mail or fax it to the IRS; (4) check the mailbox daily for your secret decoder ring.
CNN -- what the hell happened to you?
1 comment:
You ever find out who the donors were?
None of the organizations in question appear to want to make their donor lists all that easy to access. (I mean, isn't it best practices to put your tax files up on the web if you're a 501(c)3?)
Big Ag (ethanol) is an option, so is big oil (it's called associated gas) & gas.
Sure have spent plenty time trying to figure out through the regular open sources ...
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