Eclipsed from the headlines by the ongoing carnage, there is an active
civil resistance in Iraq that opposes the occupation, the torture regime
it protects, and the jihadi and Ba'athist 'resistance' alike.
Submitted by Michael I. Niman (not verified) on Sat, 07/07/2007 - 12:08.
Enough of this silliness. Ridenour leaves the basic points of my column intact while attempting to refocus attention to minor tangential issues within the piece. Even so, he fails at his attempts to discredit any aspect of the original column. For example, he focuses mostly on my claim that auto and oil industry execs are among his 80,000 (his number) individual donors. We've already established that Exxon/Mobil, both with corporation and "charitable" trust dollars fund his organization. And it's clear that his organization is one of the main actors in the gas guzzler lobby, and that its propaganda mirrors that issued by the oil and auto (read: SUV) lobbies. We're supposed to believe that, despite this, and the buzz in Washington that oil and auto execs fund his organization, there are no auto or oil execs among his 80,000 donors. The proof, and this is where Ridenour's argument becomes comical, is that he won't release his list of large donors unless Greenpeace does the same – and his list of donors contributing less than 50k isn’t on the table at all. The fact is that Ridenour won't say there are no oil or auto execs among his financiers, and he won't say who his financiers are, yet he tries to distract from the main points of my article by denouncing it for not naming the specific execs who fund his organization and whose identities he is protecting.
Then there's Ridenour's argument that his organization never received money from Exxon/Mobil to work on (as in create propaganda opposing) CAFE standards. D'uh. Exxon/Mobil gives money to NCPPR who, coincidentally then produce Exxon/Mobil Friendly propaganda. This is how it works – you don’t leave paper trails just as whores don’t invoice their Johns.
As for Jack Abramoff, I answered Ridenour’s charge in my initial reply. Abramoff was a Director of Ridenour’s organization. The Board of Directors is above the President in the organizational hierarchy. The President serves at the behest of the Board, as the actions of NCPPR’s President have demonstrated.
And there's Ridenour’s silly assertions about the 2008 Jetta TDI's mileage. This time around he cites a seven month old article speculating what the 2008 TDI's mileage will be instead of citing more recent articles with more up to date information. And none of this takes away from my other points such as the fact that my 1987 Hyundai beats the 2020 CAFE standard. Ridenour also wrote, "Getting to an average standard of 52 mpg simply wouldn’t be possible unless either everyone is driving cars getting close to 52 fuel economy." I think that was my point.
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Reply to Ridenour
Enough of this silliness. Ridenour leaves the basic points of my column intact while attempting to refocus attention to minor tangential issues within the piece. Even so, he fails at his attempts to discredit any aspect of the original column. For example, he focuses mostly on my claim that auto and oil industry execs are among his 80,000 (his number) individual donors. We've already established that Exxon/Mobil, both with corporation and "charitable" trust dollars fund his organization. And it's clear that his organization is one of the main actors in the gas guzzler lobby, and that its propaganda mirrors that issued by the oil and auto (read: SUV) lobbies. We're supposed to believe that, despite this, and the buzz in Washington that oil and auto execs fund his organization, there are no auto or oil execs among his 80,000 donors. The proof, and this is where Ridenour's argument becomes comical, is that he won't release his list of large donors unless Greenpeace does the same – and his list of donors contributing less than 50k isn’t on the table at all. The fact is that Ridenour won't say there are no oil or auto execs among his financiers, and he won't say who his financiers are, yet he tries to distract from the main points of my article by denouncing it for not naming the specific execs who fund his organization and whose identities he is protecting.
Then there's Ridenour's argument that his organization never received money from Exxon/Mobil to work on (as in create propaganda opposing) CAFE standards. D'uh. Exxon/Mobil gives money to NCPPR who, coincidentally then produce Exxon/Mobil Friendly propaganda. This is how it works – you don’t leave paper trails just as whores don’t invoice their Johns.
As for Jack Abramoff, I answered Ridenour’s charge in my initial reply. Abramoff was a Director of Ridenour’s organization. The Board of Directors is above the President in the organizational hierarchy. The President serves at the behest of the Board, as the actions of NCPPR’s President have demonstrated.
And there's Ridenour’s silly assertions about the 2008 Jetta TDI's mileage. This time around he cites a seven month old article speculating what the 2008 TDI's mileage will be instead of citing more recent articles with more up to date information. And none of this takes away from my other points such as the fact that my 1987 Hyundai beats the 2020 CAFE standard. Ridenour also wrote, "Getting to an average standard of 52 mpg simply wouldn’t be possible unless either everyone is driving cars getting close to 52 fuel economy." I think that was my point.