The Gas-Roots Lie in Tobacco

Great article at the Guardian entitled The Denial Industry. It uses corporate documents to show how it was actually Phillip Morris who spearheaded the astroturf organizations that are so prevalent today, though it is ExxonMobil who perhaps benefits the most now. (All of the above are providing funding, of course.)

There's too many details to talk about here, but what's really impressive is the level of calculated, patient, insidious planning that has gone into creating the media environment today. What many people call "right-wing" should really just be called "corporate." Not that those two ideas are in any way contradictory, but it is important to draw a distinction between people who are desperate and attach to backward ideas and those that are shilling for company profits.