Friday, June 28, 2013

AT&T Reach Out And Own Someone





In 1979 AT&T launched an ad campaign to increase long distance calling.  The campaign was called “Reach Out and Touch Someone”.  The also had a tag line “the more you hear, the better we sound.”

Here is a youtube of that ad   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO17B-ACRn0

Fast forward to 2013 and we have AT&T using their money to buy influence from politicians.  I call their campaign “Reach Out and Buy Someone” with the tagline “the more you dig, the better we mined.” 

I last blogged about Jared Huffman getting money from AT&T between May 2010 and May 2012 for his assemblyman of California campaign.  His connection to AT&T goes back a little further.  They were contributors of $17,800 in total to his 2008 and 2010 campaigns for his job in the California Assembly.


 OK we have that AT&T contributed to Mr. Huffman for favored legislation of the Bloom fuel cell they were installing in California.  Huffman’s Assembly Bill 864.  But we also have that AT&T has a policy that the CEO has to approve any contribution in excess of $1,000.


So now we have the CEO of AT&T approving the contributions to Mr. Huffman’s campaigns and AT&T cannot use the excuse that some low level operatives in their Cincinnati Bell office hatched the plan to buy favor for their Bloom Boxes to the tune of approximately $40 million for Grade A Pork in the once golden state. 

My guess is that some high level executive at AT&T also approves press releases about how “green” they are when they falsely claimed they lowered CO2 emissions by 50% compared with the grid by becoming Bloom’s largest customer.


The Boxes, perhaps coffins, were installed in Connecticut and California.  Both of these states have the least carbon emitting grids per the EPA.   The Bloom boxes emit 884 pounds of CO2 per megawatt hour per Bloom’s own data in the Delaware permit application and in fact AT&T will emit approximately 30% more CO2 than the grid in the locations where they have installed the Bloom Boxes.  They will also have approximately 2 tons a year of toxic solid waste that will need to be removed from all the Boxes.  Additionally they will emit approximately 8 pounds a day of VOCs from all the Boxes at these sites.

Shame on AT&T!  I intend to ask the authorities to investigate Ma Bell for blatant greenwashing.  I had always thought that the colors of the company were blue not green.  AT&T will soon be singing the blues for their involvement with Colin Powell, John Doerr, and Al Gore in the green Bloom scam.  I have no clue what style of music Mr. Huffman can sing, you see I have not heard his voice as he simply won’t talk to me. 

As for me I am singing “Chinese White” from the album The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion from the Incredible String Band.  Perhaps the “Magic Christmas Tree” in the song will sequester all of the CO2 AT&T emits.  


2 comments: