Climate Denier/Hack Ken Cuccinelli Starts New Business: Oyster Farm On Disappearing VA Island

[hatrack]

You can't make this shit up!

What’s the next step for a science-denying former politician? Launch a new business venture that will be utterly destroyed by human-caused climate in the coming decades. And if you wanted to pick a business venture that would be the most vulnerable to climate change, you could hardly do better then Ken Cuccinelli’s new oyster farm on super-low-lying Tangier Island, Virginia.

You remember Ken Cuccinelli. As Virginia Attorney General, he infamously launched a (losing) witch hunt against leading climatologist Dr. Michael Mann. Then, in the tight Virginia gubernatorial race of 2013, his climate science denial became a focus, and he lost to pro-science candidate Terry McAuliffe.

What did he do next? On Sunday, the Washington Post wrote a huge piece discussing “Ken Cuccinelli’s post-politics endeavor: oyster farming.” Amazingly, the Post managed to write a 1,600-word puff piece on this subject without ever mentioning climate change, the threat ocean acidification poses to oysters, or sea level rise. “The outspoken conservative now seems focused on creating a new source of sustainable jobs for people on Tangier,” the Post’s story reads.

Ed.:

Sadly, there are no sustainable jobs on Tangier. The Post notes that the island is home to about 700 residents, since “only 83 acres of the island high enough for human habitation,” but the Post has nothing whatsoever to say about the island’s inescapable future — even though for every other major news outlet, near-term inundation is the defining feature of the island. In the Associated Press’s AP images, nearly half the photos that show up when you search for “Tangier Island” are titled simply, “Disappearing Island,” with captions noting how the island is “especially vulnerable to climate change.” Most other news articles on Tangier Island in recent years are about how rapidly it is losing land to the combination of subsidence and sea level rise. Case in point: the Virginian Pilot’s 2012 piece, titled “Residents of drowning Tangier Island look for lifeline.”

EDIT

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/06/3608217/ken-cuccinelli-irony-alert/

[PeoViejo]

1. He's determined to prove Global Warming is a Hoax.

Hey!. Go for it.

[A Little Weird]

3. Cool video

I love listening to different dialects - never heard that one before.

[PeoViejo]

5. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I thought it was interesting as well.

[mountain grammy]

6. Great video. "I sound just like Walter Cronkite."

[tanyev]

2. Good luck with that faith-based business venture, Ken.

[safeinOhio]

4. Go ahead and bet the farm on it.

You'll be rich and famous.

[gwheezie]

7. I've been to tangier island several times

It's disappearing. I live between 2 tidal rivers on the east coast of Virginia. The eastern shore and northern neck as well as the bay river region of the peninsula have rapidly rising sea levels. It's lovely here but only an idiot would think tangier island is going to prevail against the rising water.
Kookienellie is a crazed rightwing loon. He could have been our governor but he wanted to make blow jobs illegal again. We can only tolerate so much nonsense.

[Thespian2]

8. Brainy Move

Ken. You will prove once and for all that science sucks. Will you stand on the last bit of Tangier before it goes underwater and scream obscenities at your God for forsaking you?

[Nay]

9. That's OK! He can get free startup funds because he's employing people, and

when the island finally goes under, he can get help because his business went under! What's not to like about it? All he'll have to do is produce about 10 oysters and he's all set. My son couldn't get jack shit to start his business, but I'm sure Cooch is wired into every govt program that gives money out, and he'll be able to get whatever he wants.

I've been on Tangier Island a couple of times -- it's a beautiful place, very peaceful and nice.

[geardaddy]

10. I love the Tangier Island accent

It's a remnant of early English settlers in America, reminiscent of the West Country accent of Cornwall.

[gwheezie]

11. When I 1st moved from central va

To eastern va I had no idea what my neighbors were saying.

[Ikonoklast]

12. He's setting up a scam.

He's waiting for the inevitable storm that washes all his "assets" out to sea, then claim a $100,000,000.00 loss on flood insurance on "property" that was mostly vapor.

[Nihil]

13. Got it in one!

The sad thing is that it's almost guaranteed to work.

Stupidity in government: the only totally limitless resource.