Energy Issue

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The Alliance for Climate Protection says ABC barred ad calling out Big Oil
Posted by Kate Sheppard at 10:10 AM on 10 Oct 2008

An environmental action group founded by former vice president Al Gore is accusing ABC of censoring an advocacy ad the group paid to air on the network.

The Alliance for Climate Protection late Wednesday sent an e-mail blast to supporters with the ominous subject line, "ABC won't air our ad."

"Did you notice the ads after last night's presidential debate? ABC had Chevron. CBS had Exxon. CNN had the coal lobby," wrote Alliance CEO Cathy Zoi. "But you know what happened last week? ABC refused to run our Repower America ad -- the ad that takes on this same oil and coal lobby." The message sent readers to to a web page where they could send a form letter to the network.

The ad in question, which was aired by several other networks, is a 30-second spot that starts off with a call to "Repower America," with images of a little girl, windmills and solar panels. Then music in the ad gets more intense, as the narrator's voice asks, "So why are we still stuck on dirty and expensive energy?"
Big Oil claim: the offending part of the ad
The offending image in the ad.

"Because Big Oil spends hundreds of millions of dollars to block clean energy," it says. "Lobbyists, ads, even scandals, all to increase their profits, while America suffers."

The Alliance had arranged to run the ad during the Sept. 26 airing of the news magazine 20/20, the same night of the first presidential debate. The group said it submitted the ad seven days before it was scheduled to run. According to representatives from the campaign, on Sept. 25 ABC sent an e-mail notifying them that the ad had been rejected. The network's stated reason? The one frame of the ad showing the Capitol building violated the network's guidelines.

"Per our Guidelines, national buildings may be used in advertising provided the depictions are incidental to the advertiser's promotion of the product or service," said the e-mail, which was provided to Grist by the Alliance. "Given the messages and themes of this commercial, the image of the Capital building is not incidental to this advertising. Please replace the image with one that is not of another national building or monument. Thank you."

Alliance communications director Giselle Barry told Grist it should be clear that the image of the Capitol building is pertinent to an advertisement about the lobbying power the fossil fuels industry has in Washington, D.C.

Grist's repeated requests for comment from ABC and Disney were not returned. Meanwhile, the Alliance said its letter-writing campaign had yielded more than 128,000 e-mails to the network within the first 24 hours of sending out their e-mail blast. The group is hoping that public pressure will convince the network to air the ad during tonight's episode of 20/20.

"It's the height of irony. [It's] outrageous actually," said Barry. "The reason why we put the email out yesterday is because the presidential debate coverage, not just on ABC but all of the networks, it was like ad after ad from oil and gas companies, Exxon, Chevron. It just makes no sense, it's outrageous that they would air ... ads about the benefits of fossil fuels, but not air our ad, which is the simple point of oil and coal companies spend millions of dollars on advertising."

Barry said changing the ad would be expensive and time consuming, and they didn't agree with the reasoning behind the request. "There's just no reason," said Barry.

Zoi sent a letter to Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney on behalf of the Alliance, protesting the decision.

"This advertisement simply points out that the massive spending by oil companies on advertising and lobbying is a primary reason our nation hasn't switched to clean and renewable sources for our energy. The assertions that our ad makes are factual, common sense and are needed in the national debate about our energy future. Your viewers should not be denied the right to hear this point of view," wrote Zoi.

"Your rejection is even more indefensible given the overwhelming number of misleading ads that the oil and coal industry have run on your network," she continued. "This year alone, oil and coal companies and interests have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to convince the American people that they are focused on solving our energy and climate crises. On its face, these assertions by oil and coal defy all reason."

Barry said the group did not receive a response from ABC. The "Repower America" ad ran on CBS, CNN, CNN Headline News, Fox News, and MSNBC. ABC was the only one to reject the ad, according to the Alliance. The time spot purchased on ABC cost the group nearly $100,000, according to the Alliance. Instead of airing "Repower America," ABC ran the group's "Free Us" ad, which was already running on the network.

Here's the ad that ABC rejected:

UPDATE: ABC spokeswoman Julie Hoover talked to the Guardian about the ad: "All of our advertising is reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and the context of this particular ad was determined not to be acceptable per our policy on controversial issue advertising."

America: Freedom to Fascism

Every now and then, I choose to take a day off. Watch some sports, read a book, and not think about anything that is deep or requires my full attention. Today was such a day, at least it began as one.
I was having a large cup of dark hazelnut roast coffee, playing a game, and not doing anything that involved too much thinking. My email notifier popped up a few times, but I easily ignored it. I didn't feel required to exert any effort to think about much at all..

But something happened. Call it a message from the Universe or whatever you want, I don't care what you call, I got the message. So I began to watch. For me it was something that I have been aware of and which I speak about often to my friends and family.

Here is a very long documentary that was created by a big name Hollywood producer. It's called America: Freedom to Fascism. I didn't even finish it but I am putting it up on the blog for others to see. I am not selling anything. You already bought a bill of goods, and you are going to reach your own conclusions.

All I am doing is offering an opportunity to see things from a different perspective than the one we are used to seeing. In this way I trust that you will question what you think you know, and feel motivated to learning more and doing whatever it takes to remain a patriotic, free American citizen.

Limiting Possibilities

It seems a foregone conclusion based on the media spin, and we haven't cast a ballot yet. Why so called experts have indicated that Obama will be President. Is that because they are sure limited backing for McCain? Who are these people?

This is the same media that sold us on weapons of mass destruction, bird flu epidemic (or was that pandemic?) and many other stories that haven't panned out. But somehow, this time I think they may have it right. Not because they have any clairvoyant views into the results, but because they are responsible for steering America toward Obama.

There are still other choices, but it won't matter. Everyone is convinced that it's either one or the other. They refuse to see any other choices, even if they are printed on the ballot. It doesn't matter because they have been brainwashed, conditioned to see only one choice from either/or.

I have watched the debates (when they didn't interfere with Phillies baseball) ans heard the answers each has given. I noticed both backed the bailout, and sold us all down the river as senators. What makes anyone think it will be different if we make them President? I am voting for Bob Barr, the Libertarian Candidate. He is not perfect, but he stands to make the types of decisions that would be in our best interests as individuals and and a nation.

You can all argue the merits of McCain and Obama until you are hoarse and tired, but I have heard it all, and I am choosing a person for president based on my patriotism and my love of the Constitution. I know it represents more than "a piece of paper" as our current president thinks about it. And I do not accept the methods expressed by Obama to "spread the wealth" by giving the earnings of the very rich to the very poor, simply because they need it.

None has really addressed the fundamental issue of the economy.They just pretend that it's a problem that can be "tweaked" back into good working order. It is in good working order. It is doing exactly what the inventors of it intended for it to do. It makes the very, very rich and powerful, more so, by robbing the general population of its assets and its freedoms. It is a credit/debit based financial system that is owned and controlled by the banking system itself.

It is destined to collapse because credit is extended freely when there are no deposits to back it, and after all, it's based on a promissory note system of currency, whose value is controlled by buying power in world markets, where the large globalist elite own the playing field.