THE OIL INDUSTRY BLACK AND BLUES

 

The climate has been changing; the Earth is getting hot.

So we’ve been hiring spokesmen to say that it is not.

We use prevaricators that we have paid to shill

And right wing commentators like Limbaugh, Beck, and Will.

 

Bring data and statistics and show that you’re well-schooled,

While we bribe politicians. Folks beg us to be fooled.

We find if we take science and make it politics

Then we’ll confuse reliance on facts with verbal tricks.

 

Chorus:

We’re high class though we pass gas in public every day.

We don’t care; we use the air to throw our waste away.

Although we know the data show the Earth is getting hot,

We’re staying cool ‘cause we can fool enough to think it’s not.

 

The old Tobacco Council survived years of attacks

And they gave us this counsel: just obfuscate the facts.

As you burn what we sell you and we amass great wealth,

We shouldn’t have to tell you—We’re not in this for your health.

 

Stephen Baird, July, 2010