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Just saw this-several weeks old already but important.
bluecheddar1 @bluecheddar1 2m2 minutes ago
Scientists request a federal investigation of climate science denial under the RICO statute #climate
http://brucesterling.tumblr.com/post/130046509798/rico-for-climate-deniers
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sterling
RICO for climate deniers
*At the rate things are going, these wicked old men might be glad to be in a nice safe white-collar prison instead of a climate-crisis refugee camp.
The following is the text of a letter written by a number of scientists asking for a federal investigation of climate science denial under the RICO statute.
Letter to President Obama, Attorney General Lynch, and OSTP Director Holdren
September 1, 2015
Dear President Obama, Attorney General Lynch, and OSTP Director Holdren,
As you know, an overwhelming majority of climate scientists are convinced about the potentially serious adverse effects of human-induced climate change on human health, agriculture, and biodiversity. We applaud your efforts to regulate emissions and the other steps you are taking. Nonetheless, as climate scientists we are exceedingly concerned that Americas response to climate change indeed, the worlds response to climate change is insufficient. The risks posed by climate change, including increasing extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and increasing ocean acidity and potential strategies for addressing them are detailed in the Third National Climate Assessment (2014), Climate Change Impacts in the United States. The stability of the Earths climate over the past ten thousand years contributed to the growth of agriculture and therefore, a thriving human civilization. We are now at high risk of seriously destabilizing the Earths climate and irreparably harming people around the world, especially the worlds poorest people.
We appreciate that you are making aggressive and imaginative use of the limited tools available to you in the face of a recalcitrant Congress. One additional tool recently proposed by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is a RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) investigation of corporations and other organizations that have knowingly deceived the American people about the risks of climate change, as a means to forestall Americas response to climate change............................
The methods of these organizations are quite similar to those used earlier by the tobacco industry. A RICO investigation (1999 to 2006) played an important role in stopping the tobacco industry from continuing to deceive the American people about the dangers of smoking. If corporations in the fossil fuel industry and their supporters are guilty of the misdeeds that have been documented in books and journal articles, it is imperative that these misdeeds be stopped as soon as possible so that America and the world can get on with the critically important business of finding effective ways to restabilize the Earths climate, before even more lasting damage is done.
Sincerely,.........
packman
(16,296 posts)who doubts that big industry - primarily coal - is a major powerhouse in influencing the Congress and the media.
Omaha Steve
(99,581 posts)jalan48
(13,859 posts)This academic study was published by the American Cancer Society.
philosslayer
(3,076 posts)Are fine by me. The science is settled.
byronius
(7,393 posts)Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)Those corporate CEOs aren't stupid people and certainly not all of them believe the steer manure they want really stupid people to believe.
How long ago did Exxon's researchers determine that climate change is an actual and serious problem? How long has one Exxon corporate executive after another denied climate science?
Duppers
(28,118 posts)This administration I mean.
K&R
ohheckyeah
(9,314 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)Big Oil is full of kind hearted, civic-minded people. Plants and dinosaurs, too. They all come out even in the asphalt.
raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)octoberlib
(14,971 posts)spanone
(135,823 posts)July
(4,750 posts)I would guess there is at least some coordination between Operation Rescue, some churches, the Republican Party, James O'Keefe's group, Lila Rose, the Center For Medical Progress (I think that's the name of the fake fetal-parts procurement company), perhaps ALEC (not sure if they are creating templates for anti-abortion laws), and others. There was the suggestion here a while ago that some Republicans in Congress had knowledge pror to its public release of the doctored video we're all talking about.
Why couldn't a RICO case be brought over a coordinated effort to deny American women access to a legal medical procedure?