$676,500 From Exxon And All I Got Was This Shoddy Denier Video

A Big Oil-funded think tank called the Heartland Institute is pushing out this Youtube video claiming that because it's been snowing recently, global warming can't possibly be real. They even show you some real cool photos of cacti covered by an inch or two of the white powdery stuff!

Aside from looking like it was thrown together by some guy named Chad in his freshman dorm, the video is riddled with wild and disproven claims about temperature data over the past decade. Worse, it sort of steers clear of what science snobs might call "peer-reviewed research" in favor of that old denier favorite: looking out the window in winter.

As we've mentioned here on R?S? before, saying global warming is a hoax because it's snowing outside is a bit like saying "Well, I haven't been mugged recently, so crime must not really be a problem!" Since the Heartland Institute is located in Washington, D.C., we have to wonder what these people will be saying when it tops 100 in the nation's capitol this coming summer. It gets HOT.

You'd think with the heavy funding they get from Exxon and other energy companies with a vested interest in blocking any and all clean energy reform, the Heartland Institute could have at least thrown together a slick animation or, I dunno, gotten Glenn Beck to cry on camera.

Oh wait, we can get that for free. Score!