Posted on 12/07/2006 5:04:50 PM PST by aculeus
An offer to distribute Al Gore's movie about the threat of global warming has put the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) on the hot seat.
Producer and environmental activist Laurie David—wife of comedian Larry David—assumed that NSTA would be all too happy to send its members free copies of An Inconvenient Truth, the climate change tutorial by the former vice president that was a surprise hit at the box office. All NSTA had to do was write a cover letter. But NSTA declined the offer, citing a 2001 policy prohibiting endorsements of any product or message by an outside organization.
That's when things heated up. In a sharply worded op-ed in the 26 November Washington Post, David accused NSTA of rejecting her offer of 50,000 DVDs so as not to offend ExxonMobil, which has given NSTA $6 million over the past decade to help it promote science education. Although the money has paid for such motherhood-and-apple-pie reform efforts as creating a network of science contacts at schools around the country, David told Science that she finds it "shocking" that NSTA would have ties to a company "that has spent millions misinforming the public about global warming."
Not surprisingly, NSTA sees things differently. "We don't do mass distributions for anybody; we don't send our members material that they haven't asked for," says NSTA's executive director, Gerald Wheeler. As for the association's corporate ties, Wheeler freely acknowledges that 16% of NSTA's $23 million a year budget comes from businesses, including 3.7% from the oil and gas industry. "We're working hard to get corporate America engaged in reforming STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] education," he says. "And in no case has anybody asked us to say anything [on their behalf], which we would never agree to do, anyway."
Wheeler says NSTA has no desire to suppress information about global warming. Just last month, for example, NSTA's newsletter for middle school teachers ran a five-page article on the topic and mentioned Gore's movie in the first paragraph. He says NSTA has also offered to post a link to the movie on its Web site and to announce the availability of the DVD in a weekly e-mail letter and a monthly publication. In addition, David could put the DVD directly in teachers' hands by buying NSTA's mailing list, at $130 per 1000 names.
David says NSTA's imprimatur was essential and that buying a mailing list is a nonstarter. "You don't want to send out a cold letter, and it costs a lot of money," she says. "There are a thousand reasons why that wouldn't work."
How could a guy so funny marry such a humorless bitch?
"How could a guy so funny marry such a humorless bitch?"
Easy. He's a socialist too.
There here and they're in our faces and they won't be going away anytime soon....they run the country now...get used to this.
Did Laurie David want the NSTA to give her money for the Algore DVD??
He's ugly (both mind and body) and she's kinda good looking.
Fascinating street theater how the Vast Left Wing conspiracy manipulates and deceives. The evil b*tch was livid when the science teachers didn't want go along with the usual pipeline of dishonesty.
Also that must be one hellish marraige for ol' Larry David.
It came in 90th for the year with a gross of ~$23 million. Some hit.
Yeah. Ms. David, with the Washington Post as a podium, is telling NSTA: "Convert or die."
You got that right; this is just the beginning of our hell on earth.
FYI.
I believe Mrs. David is the woman that bragged to a group of Hollywood liberals about driving a hybrid car so she could save the environment. She then precedes to get on a private jet to fly accross the country that in one trip probably uses more gas than a 1000 SUV's would use in a year. The hypocrasy of these liberals is unblievable.
Shhh! You'll ruin everything.
Well, I'd have taken one. We've been wanting to compare & contrast "An Inconvenient Truth" with Michael Crichton's "State of Fear"...
It's not hypocrisy when it results from ignorance.
The other show being promoted by DISCOVERY/TIMES Network is GOOD vs. EVIL...the story of three political feuds which pitted good against evil...
1) Rudy Guiliani vs. The Mafia
2)Bush Vs. Hussein
3) CLINTON vs. STARR
It's only going to get worse as they try to rehabilitate their fallen leaders of the past.
The other show being promoted by DISCOVERY/TIMES Network is GOOD vs. EVIL...the story of three political feuds which pitted good against evil...
1) Rudy Guiliani vs. The Mafia
2)Bush Vs. Hussein
3) CLINTON vs. STARR
It's only going to get worse as they try to rehabilitate their fallen leaders of the past.
But the NSTA is correct. They make links & addresses available if people want to contact companies to order things, but they don't just send them out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.