It's time for Friday funnies, and the top hit today is Ethical Oil: the Puppet Rap [1], which first popped up over at The Tyee [2].
It's a foul-mouthed, satirical music video remix of Kathryn Marshall's ridiculous PR gymnastics to avoid answering a basic question from CBC's Evan Solomon [3] whether Enbridge funds the Ethical Oil Institute. The second half features "Easy-E" Ezra Levant, the founder of the Ethical Oil Institute and creator of the 'ethical oil' talking point.
Check it out:
The satirical music video was created by Caitlin Dodd, David Henderson-Hean, Kai Nagata, Spencer Powell and Emile Scott.
Head over to The Tyee for the annotated lyrics [2], complete with supporting links to more information about each topic covered in the satirical smackdown of Ethical Oil.
Download an mp3 of the Puppet Rap track at KaiNagata.com [4]. There's even a ringtone [5] available. "Enjoy the dulcet tones of a plush tar sands apologist with every incoming call!" Nagata says.
If none of this makes any sense to you, watch Kathryn Marshall's original interview with Evan Solomon on CBC:
And check out these articles from DeSmogBlog for more background:
Friends with Benefits: The Harper Government, EthicalOil.org and Sun Media Connection [6] by Emma Pullman
Unaccountable Oil: Enbridge Pipeline and "Ethical Oil" PR Pollution [7] by Jim Hoggan
Cozy Ties: Astroturf 'Ethical Oil' and Conservative Alliance to Promote Tar Sands Expansion [8] by Emma Pullman
Why Ethical Oil's Deceptive 'Women's Rights' Defense of Tar Sands is Insulting and Wrong [9] by Emma Pullman
Who gets a say in our democracy? [10] by Jim Hoggan, op-ed in the Vancouver Sun
Ethical Oil, the Sub-Prime Mortgage Scandal and The Next Great Generation [11] by Evan Leeson
Canadian Environmentalists: Tree Hugging Terrorists or Just Concerned Citizens? [12] by Ashley Arden
Lastly, since it's Friday and we're sharing YouTube videos, here's a reprise of Rick Mercer's fantastic takedown of the Ethical Oil crowd's 'radical environmentalists' misdirection campaign [13]: