"I thought of this cartoon at last nights council meeting when the Deputy Mayor said she never had an Encinitas resident tell her they support "these sustainable living concepts". I guess she hasn't been listening!"
EYNU Editor:
Councilwoman Barth takes the high road and doesn't do more than a mild rebuke to Gaspar and her peers who treated this Beacon Award with such disdain.
Convesely, we would add something stronger. Deputy Mayor Gaspar did a real disservice by not correcting the false information and in fact adding her own misinformation.
This is the stuff of crazy uncles emails filled with capital letters and exclamation points. Or is it? In fact it isn't from citizen's groups at all. It is highly coordinated astroturf to frighten white suburbanites and create paranoia.
"Bike lanes, transit and higher density are evil because they give people alternatives to cars, and that can never happen in America."
Fundamentally, that is what is happening here. Big Oil is paying for CFACT and either directly or indirectly the fight against Agenda 21; The Kochs are promoting it like mad, right across the country. Same big companies, same reason: to keep America in its happy motoring ways, to make any alternative just about impossible. And that is how we have to paint them: not concerned citizens worried about the United Nations, but representatives of big oil out to preserve their turf.In practical terms some will never be able to hear the facts of who is paying for this and their financial stakes. Passion and groupthink can swamp judgement (and that is counted on by these groups). But it is completely unacceptable for a public servant like Kristin Gaspar to claim support of environmental goals on the one hand and promote lies regarding sustainability on the other.
