Article is from:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/kstrassel/?id=95001590>http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/kstrassel/?id=95001590
This is a very good read, there are some companies giving to greens that you might not even know about - Ben & Jerry's ice cream is one of them....

www.ActivistCash.com is the site the article is about, it keeps track of the green money, and also has info on their junk sciences and tactics....

>
>Activist Inc.
>Professional agitators can't claim to be a "grassroots" movement anymore.
>
>BY KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL
>Thursday, December 13, 2001 12:01 a.m. EST
>
>It seems every time you read a story about a domestic
>conflict--whether it's drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
>Refuge, free trade clashes, or tobacco litigation--two adjectives
>always describe the opponents. On one side are the "grassroots"
>organizations--disorganized, under-funded, struggling folk willing
>to live hand-to-mouth in the name of their noble goal. On the other
>are "powerful" corporate and political interests--fat-cats with
>loads of money, contacts and discipline, willing to use any tactic
>to get their way.
>
>David-and-Goliath descriptions add the touch of drama, which is no
>doubt why journalists continue with the "grassroots-powerful"
>routine. Yet even as they do, the rest of America is cottoning on to
>the fact that such descriptions are not only outdated--they're
>completely backward. These days, most "grassroots" groups are far
>better moneyed, networked and operated than many corporations and
>political lobbies. And they've become far more ruthless in
>accomplishing their goals.
>
>Up to now, it's been pretty difficult to clearly illustrate their
>strength. Companies--especially "powerful" public ones--are required
>to keep their operations transparent and regularly make public their
>financial records. Activist groups, even though most receive
>non-profit status and must file with the IRS, have been reluctant to
>let anyone see their records. But now, thanks to a new Web site
>called ActivistCash.com, the average U.S. citizen can finally get
>the lowdown on the financial and organizational operations of many
>major activist groups in the country.
>
>ActivistCash.com, unveiled yesterday, is run by the Guest Choice
>Network, an organization of 30,000 restaurant and tavern operators.
>The Guest Choice Network has become a front line defense against
>today's nanny culture. Or, as its first Web
>site--nannyculture.com--puts it: "Unofficially we include anybody
>who stands up against the growing fraternity of food cops, health
>care enforcers, vegetarian activists and meddling bureaucrats who
>'know what's best for you.' " The site offers, among other things,
>information on junk science and food scares.
>
>Now, however, the group has gone further. Over the past year it has
>used freedom of information laws to get the IRS documents of the
>country's leading activist groups--more than 100,000 pages of
>information the activist hope Americans won't see. "What we
>uncovered is an intricate, organized, well-funded web of what you
>might call the "'new left,' " says John Doyle, the group's
>communications director. "It allows a person to finally link the
>environmental activists with the animal rights activists with the
>anti-corporate activists, and see that they all operate together in
>the anti-choice arena."
>
>
>All of the information listed is an eye-opener, but a couple of
>things stick out. The first is the degree to which the top
>management of most of these organizations are engaged in a lovefest.
>ActivistCash.com not only provides financial records, but the names
>of trustees, directors and management. Click on these names, and you
>are transported to the many other organizations the activist in
>question is involved with.
>
>A sample? According to ActivistCash.com, Frances Beinecke is the
>executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, sits on
>the board of the World Resources Institute and is co-founder of the
>New York League of Conservation Voters; she also held positions at
>the Wilderness Foundation and the Adirondack Council. SeaWeb,
>originally a "project" of the NRDC, was spun off, but still has ties
>to Ms. Beinecke's group. And Ms. Beinecke's NRDC shares a public
>relations company, Fenton Communications, with both Greenpeace and
>the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
>
>Perhaps the other major revelation of ActivistCash.com is the link
>between established charitable foundations and controversial
>activist groups. Many of the country's larger and more prestigious
>foundations--from the Pew Charitable Trusts, to the Packard
>Foundation--have images of high-minded organizations that promote
>"worthy" projects in culture and education. As ActivistCash.com
>shows, though, many are giving millions to the more extreme activist
>organizations, not to mention promoting such views themselves.
>
>"The people who are in charge of the giving at Pew and Ford know
>exactly what they are trying to accomplish," says Mr. Doyle. "But
>we're not sure a lot of companies and suppliers realize how out of
>tune these groups' world view is with their own."
>
>Beyond these wide trends, though, the site offers a gold mine of
>other nuggets. To offer just a few:
>
>* How's this for a link? On one hand we have People for the Ethical
>Treatment of Animals. PETA's president is Ingrid Newkirk, a woman
>known for comments such as: "Six million Jews died in concentration
>camps, but six billion broiler chickens will die this year in
>slaughterhouses." PETA has come under criticism for its ad
>campaigns, which, in one instance, went so far as to gloat over Rudy
>Giuliani's prostate cancer (not that this has stopped nearly a dozen
>"established" foundations from giving PETA large grants). The
>group's extreme views--which include no animal experiments, no
>milking of cows and no meat-eating--are widely known and largely
>reviled.
>
>One the other hand we have the Physicians Committee for Responsible
>Medicine, run by Neal Barnard. Its Web site describes itself as a
>"nonprofit" supported by "5,000 physicians" and it puts out a
>quarterly magazine called "Good Medicine." Its site is full of
>dietary recommendations as well as the latest "health" news. For
>example: "Studies show high intakes of dairy products increase
>prostate cancer," "School lunches fail to make the grade, say
>doctors: too much fat, meat, chicken, cheese." Any average person
>landing on the PCRM site might well think it a responsible health
>industry group.
>
>Now take a closer look at both groups. According to
>ActivistCash.com, PCRM's Mr. Barnard and PETA's Ms. Newkirk have
>something in common: They are the co-directors of a third group, the
>multimillion-dollar Foundation to Support Animal Protection. In
>1999, Ms. Newkirk's PETA gave this third group nearly $1 million;
>FSAP in turn gave Mr. Barnard's PCRM as much as $432,000. Take a
>look at PCRM's "health" prescriptions again and it's clear they are
>doctored up PETA rhetoric: Every one suggests that eating animal or
>dairy products is bad for you.
>
>* According to the site, the Ben & Jerry's Foundation of ice cream
>fame, has given $10,000 to Mothers for Natural Law--a group
>radically opposed to anything but organic food, and linked to the
>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (leader of the Transcendental Meditation
>movement). B&J also gave $100,000 to the Ruckus Society, a group
>that trains anticorporate radicals to rappel down buildings and hang
>themselves from billboards, who were among the primary movers and
>shakers at the Seattle World Trade Organization riots.
>
>* The Action on Smoking and Health (ASH, for short) is one of the
>nation's largest anti-smoking organizations. On the first page of
>its Web site, it says: "ASH is entirely supported by tax-deductible
>contributions from people like you . . ." But according to
>ActivistCash.com, the F.M. Kirby Foundation has contributed $440,000
>to ASH in recent years.
>
>
>Luckily, people other than industry groups are also beginning to
>catch on to these "grassroots" organizations. Earlier this year,
>two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Knudsen, a reporter for the
>Sacramento Bee, wrote a series of articles about the new big
>business face of the environmental movement.
>
>Mr. Knudsen describes the reaction of a visitor the first time he
>stepped into the headquarters of the Wilderness Society: "It was
>like a giant corporation. Floor after floor after floor, just like
>Exxon or AT&T." He details the million-dollar fundraisers, the
>six-figure salaries, and the accounting shenanigans. But he also
>describes where all the money goes: most of it to lobbying, lawsuits
>and . . . more fund-raising.
>
>And so the next time Americans get a flyer or a phone-call asking
>for a donation, they'd do well to spend a few minutes on
>ActivistCash.com.
>
>Ms. Strassel is an assistant features editor of The Wall Street
>Journal's editorial page. Her column appears on alternate Thursdays.
>
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:usa:

cool, thanks