Progressive Blogs Sell Out To Big Oil

If you’re not familiar with dirty Canadian tar sands, let me give you a quick rundown of the process & where things stand right now:

1. Canadian tar sands company TransCanada bulldozes the pristine forest to dig up tar sands, oil mixed with dirt. Leftover sludge is dumped into “tailings ponds” where it kills thousands of birds.
2. The mining & refining process releases three times the global warming pollution compared to conventional oil
3. TransCanada is currently pressuring the Obama administration to let it build a new Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to deliver its dirty fuel to the Gulf Coast, where it would be refined & shipped with no guarantee the oil would be sold to American consumers. What would be guaranteed? Massive profits for Koch Industries.
4. Homeowners along the proposed pipeline route have already gotten a menacing letter from TransCanada warning eminent domain could be used to seize their homes if they don’t sell out now (where’s the Tea Party eminent domain anger on this?)
5. Here’s the kicker: The tar sands pipeline would actually increase gas prices in the Midwest

So how are national progressive blogs reacting to the story? By cashing in.

DailyKos sold its top-of-page banner and its wallpaper to TransCanada today:

Talking Points Memo sold a banner, the wallpaper AND an inset ad above its top story:

FireDogLake sold TransCanada its banner to go along with not one but three BP inset ads on its front page:

Even the Center for American Progress – a progressive nonprofit – has a BP inset ad on ThinkProgress.org:

Worth mentioning that Huffington Post right now doesn’t have any ads from TransCanada or BP. If you see any other TransCanada ads on progressive blogs I’ve missed, email me.

As a friend told me today, “When you’re spending $11 billion on a house, loose change can buy a lot of wallpaper.” What I don’t understand is why progressive blogs think it’s OK to cash checks from people who make their money by destroying our air, water & wildlife.

Before your blood stops boiling, be sure to ask the Obama administration to say no to tar sands.

Cross-posted from TheGreenMiles.com