Today's Losers: ExxonMobil, James Inhofe, and Wei-Hock Soon

By now, you may have heard that leading climate change denier Wei-Hock Soon was paid more than $1.2 million by oil and gas companies like ExxonMobil, the New York Times reports.

And no, Wei-Hock Soon never revealed these ties.

According to the Times, Soon “has often appeared on conservative news programs, testified before Congress and in state capitals, and starred at conferences of people who deny the risks of global warming.”

As for climate-change denying Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) (chair of the Senate's Environment and Public Works committee), he’s continually cited Soon's work over the years. In reference to him, Inhofe said, "These are scientists that cannot be challenged."

Really, now?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/us/ties-to-corporate-cash-for-climate-change-researcher-Wei-Hock-Soon.html

Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are the Small Minds of the Day

What can one say about two senators who happily pose next to the carcass of one of the world's most famous endangered animals?

Here's what Cruz had to say in a now-deleted tweet:

Senator Ted Cruz (R) @SenTedCruz

Did a little shopping for the office with @SenMikeLee in Houston today.

What Must Chinese Bigwigs Dine on Endangered Species?

Via.

The giant salamander is listed as a "critically endangered" species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Its population has declined dramatically in recent decades, largely due to human consumption.

So when over two-dozen Chinese officials got together in a Shenzhen restaurant last week, what did they eat? Giant salamander.

As for the journalists who spotted this outrage, they were kicked, slapped, robbed, choked, and beaten. So pretty much just another day in China.

Chinese Ignoramuses Are the Small Minds of the Day

Scientists suspect that the last time our planet had a massive “die-off” was when the dinosaur era ended after an asteroid collision.

Today, a quarter of all mammals and 40 percent of all amphibians are considered endangered. Without question, humans are causing mass extinctions.

We’re the asteroid.

What's especially galling is how rhinos were poached at a record level in South Africa last year. Why? There's an Asian market (hello, Vietnam and China) because superstitious ignoramuses think rhino horns cure cancer and make the manroot hard.

House Republicans yell "Cut!" for Obama's SOTU

From ThinkProgress:

The official website for House Republicans has posted on YouTube a doctored version of President Obama’s State of the Union address which cuts out comments where the President was critical of Republican rhetoric on climate change... 

In the website’s “enhanced webcast” of the State of the Union speech, President Obama’s comments criticizing Republicans for saying they are “not scientists” when it comes to climate change are erased. 

At the 43:25 minute mark, President Obama is supposed to say “I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act. Well, I’m not a scientist, either. But you know what — I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe.” 

Instead, the entire section is skipped. Obama’s comments resume with “The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it.”

The Koch Brothers Are Mundicidious

 The meaning of "mundicidious" is "likely to destroy the world." Why do billionaires Charles and David Koch qualify?

As every Republican presidential candidate goes to Palm Springs to kiss the Kochs' rings, now's a good time to be reminded of their core issues:

• Fighting the Affordable Care Act 
• Rolling back various energy and environmental regulations 
• Overhauling government spending and the tax code

At a time when the planet's warming up very quickly, is now the right time to roll back environmental regulations, you mundicidious twits?

I hear you, bunny.

Via.

the earth isn't dying it's being killed and those who are killing it have names and addresses

What a jerk.

“They’re ostrich. Probably some endangered species; I have a reputation to maintain.”

—Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), on what his boots are made of.