With funding for public broadcasting an issue just now, and one big glaring facet of the controversy being political bias, you would think that PBS stations would shy away from such politically charged “documentaries” as what I am currently watching on KLCS: Oil on Ice. I mean, this is about as much of a documentary as Fahrenheit 9/11. This is pure propaganda. The actual facts presented are slim, generally twisted, and come only in short snippets. Between those are these long stretches of pap, designed strictly to appeal to the emotions – complete with a heart-wrenching soundtrack. There are all these Rousseauvian images of native peoples living quite primitively, hunting/fishing for subsistence, and (of course) “using every part of the animal.” There is a very brief mention of all the benefits these people have gotten as a result of Prudhoe Bay oil, all countered by the requisite “buts”. Nowhere is it mentioned that the strongest support for drilling in ANWR among any group of Americans, except perhaps oil company execs., is with those same native Americans.

Oh, I can’t even believe this, now they are talking about the evils of automobiles, coral reefs, rain forests, and (of course) global warming.

I think I have to go hug the toilet.

Update: Just came back from the bathroom to hear them proclaim the “declining fuel efficiency” of automobiles. Fact: the real “fuel efficiency” of automobiles running on Otto-cycle gasoline engines; that is, the amount of energy delivered, versus the theoretical total chemical energy of the fuel consumed, has been increasing steadily, and now exceeds 98% under optimum conditions. Another proclamation: “If everyone in America were driving vehicles as ‘fuel efficient’ as the ‘best’ hybrids, we wouldn’t need to drill in ANWR.” Fact: The Honda Impulse only meets the transportation needs of a tiny fraction of American consumers. And if you aren’t satisfying your needs, you are not being “efficient”; you are just depriving yourself.