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Competitive Enterprise Institute
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Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a libertarian think tank based in Washington DC.
It was founded by lobbyist Fred Smith, and has been funded by a laundry list of bogeymen, such as Koch Industries, the Scaife Foundations, Exxon, Philip Morris, etc. Like any of the Beltway think tanks that spews vulgar libertarianism, they take quite a consistent line against any government regulation of their financial backers.
CEI is a major proponent of global warming denial, second-hand smoke denial, and denial of any science establishing that industrial activity can cause environmental damage. One of their adjuncts is the noted denialist shyster, Steve Milloy.
Cooler Heads Coalition
The "Competitive Enterprise Institute" put together something called the "Cooler Heads Coalition," which is basically a committee that takes the output of the bullshit factory that comprises various denialist think tanks and funnels it into a single propaganda outlet (their website) and hypes denialist petitions. Cooler Heads try to obscure their connections to vested interests which stand to lose if fossil fuel use is regulated.[1] They're linked to CFACT, the Heartland Institute and the Marshal Institute. [2]
Their website appears superficially like a genuine consumer organization and it can be hard for online enquirers to sort out who is behind what they browse.[3]
Cooler Heads Coalition hosted lectures by "Climate Misinformer, Richard Lindzen" more than once. [4] Lindzen stands accused of ignoring vital parts of Scientific data that go against the Cooler Heads Coalition agenda. [5] Lindzen was also involved with the The Great Global Warming Swindle which tries unreasonably to deny Global warming.
Bureaucrash
They run an astroturf organization called Bureaucrash, which organizes libertarian "activists." Its communications director Lee Doren has a YouTube channel "HowTheWorldWorks," peddling laissez-faire talking points on the economy and environmental denialism.
Africa Fighting Malaria
CEI also has connections to the astroturf group Africa Fighting Malaria, which exists mainly to shill for DDT, spread anti-environmentalism, and pay out large sums of money to its "fellows."
See also
- Heartland Institute A similar body
- Roger Bate, founder of AFM
- S. Fred Singer, occasionally shills for them
- Cooler Heads members: Americans for Tax Reform, FreedomWorks, George C. Marshall Institute, Heritage Foundation
External links
- CEI site, Bureaucrash (Get some sweet Bureaucrash swag. Yay capitalism! What's your anti-gov?), Cooler Heads Coalition, Africa Fighting Malaria
- Sourcewatch entry, Bureaucrash entry, Cooler Heads Coalition entry, Africa Fighting Malaria entry
- Their tax returns (2007)
- Deep Climate's category
- Bug Girl: An Odd E-mail Campaign by Africa Fighting Malaria
- FactCheck: Scientist to CEI: "You used my research to confuse and mislead"
- Island of Doubt: CEI is still at it -- fighting reason
- Deltoid: Completely Evil Institute, CO2: We call it life, Al Gore: We call him fat, Rachel Carson smears, Rachel Carson telephone game, Africa Not Fighting Malaria, Africa Fighting Malaria's "Wedge Document"
References
- ↑ A Citizen's Guide to Politics in America
- ↑ Organised Climate Change Denial
- ↑ A Citizen's Guide to Politics in America This has slightly different information from the one above.
- ↑ [1] [2]
- ↑ Climate Misinformer: Richard Lindzen