In a true “what the frack” moment, the State Department, in association with the USC School of Cinematic Arts, has included the film Gasland in a list of 29 films to be showcased around the globe as part of an “international cultural diplomacy initiative”. The initiative, called “The American Film Showcase”, takes a panel of directors, film experts, and assorted talking heads to events the world over to screen the selected films and discuss them.
Gasland, you may recall, made quite a splash for the now famous scene featuring flammable tap water. The film (we hesitate to use the term “documentary” so loosely) is an opus to anti-natural gas drilling, and uses the fears of families about their drinking water to great dramatic effect. However, the infamous flammable tap water turns out not to have anything to do with “fracking”, despite what filmmaker Josh Fox would have audiences believe. That scene, that most pivotal scene, is not what it appears to be. As our own Steve Maley has pointed out, both the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, among others, have debunked Fox’s claim:
Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission: Gasland incorrectly attributes several cases of water well contamination in Colorado to oil and gas development when our investigations determined that the wells in question contained biogenic [naturally-occurring] methane that is not attributable to such development.
Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection: Gasland is “fundamentally dishonest” and “a deliberately false presentation for dramatic effect.”
…
Gasland talks about Dunkard Creek [a massive fish kill] – an environmental disaster – but everything we know about Dunkard Creek at this point indicates the primary source of the problem was a coal mine in West Virginia.
The problems with the film don’t end on screen. Josh Fox’s antics continue off-screen, including exerting great effort to suppress other filmmakers from daring speak ill of his work. Phelim McAleer, who along with Ann McElhinney made the documentary Not Evil, Just Wrong, challenged Fox with regard to the fire water.
After that video was posted to YouTube, Fox and his lawyers had it taken down. And when it was instead posted to Vimeo, he had it taken down again. It is now back on YouTube (as you can see above), because the law simply didn’t support his claim.
Now that same filmmaker, Josh Fox, is positively giddy as he contemplates what exotic locales the State Department may send him to in order to promote his movie.

Because carbon footprint be damned, one assumes.
Gasland is not the only “documentary” on the list that leans green. Also included are Who Killed The Electric Car and Revenge of the Electric Car, two films that ignore the lack of demand for electric cars, and ignore the abysmal sales of electric cars, respectively. In addition to the green films, they also list Food, Inc., an indictment of the American food industry, and Pilgrimage, an indictment of U.S. internment camps during World War II. Both of these may be fine subjects for documentaries, but one wonders what the Department of State hopes to gain by screening them worldwide at taxpayer expense. I mean, were Jane Fonda and Sean Penn simply unavailable?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that taking a bunch of movies and directors and critics around the world to talk about movies is a responsible and reasonable function of our government (insert wink), but is it entirely necessary that the bulk of what the movies have to say is “Yeah, America is kind of crappy”? And in the case of Gasland, why is the State Department actively promoting a movie that is so questionable, the main points of which have been so thoroughly debunked?
For more on Gasland, and fracking in general, please visit FrackNation.com. And in the meantime, ask yourself if you’re comfortable with the fact that this is how your government is choosing to represent you to other nations.
Steve Maley
Daniel Horowitz
US tax dollars spreading leftist propaganda
izoneguy (Diary) Friday, February 17th at 5:36PM EDT (link)How special….
Those who had once simpered: “I don’t want to destroy the rich, I only want to seize a little of their surplus to help the poor, just a little, they’ll never miss it!” – then, later, had snapped: “The tycoons can stand being squeezed; they’ve amassed enough to last them for three generations” – then, later, had yelled: “Why should the people suffer while businessmen have reserves to last a year?” – now were screaming: “Why should we starve while some people have reserves to last a week?” – Atlas Shrugged
A far cry from USIA
renl57 Friday, February 17th at 6:45PM EDT (link)During the Cold War, the U.S. Information Agency tried to present America’s side of the story to the Communist bloc and to the non-aligned bloc.
Now we’ve got the State Department presenting critical views of America to our critics.
Does even ONE of these films present anything positive about our country?
Oh this is rich....
onemovoter (Diary) Friday, February 17th at 7:45PM EDT (link)From the US Dept of State:
Comprised of 29 American films, the Showcase represents work of high artistic quality, illustrates diverse viewpoints, and reflects contemporary American society and culture.
……. ok……
Several of these movies noted above are missing “high artistic quality” unless you call outright falsehoods being artistic? Hhmm.. guess they could claim that it’s the reason why they picked those movies. Thing is… a monkey could have picked better movies to waste out money on than this.
My eyes are getting such a work out with all the “eye-rolling” I’ve been doing for the past 3 years.
“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain, and most fools do.”- Benjamin Franklin
“I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.”- Will Rogers
Global Warming
greyeagle Friday, February 17th at 10:19PM EDT (link)The state department is spending 12 million taxpayer dollars on Global Warming in developing countries. That is what this is all about.
The third world... where failed political ideologies never really die...
acat (Diary) Friday, February 17th at 10:29PM EDT (link)Global warming will fit right in with communism-by-thug…
Mew
——

Caveat Suffragator
you mean UC Berkley? Or UM Madison?
kyle8 (Diary) Friday, February 17th at 11:06PM EDT (link)nt
“Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty”
Kyle
Having been to both, kyle8 ...
acat (Diary) Saturday, February 18th at 10:03AM EDT (link)I can tell you that neither would survive long without foreign aid.
(specifically, checks from mommy and daddy and/or a trust-fund)
Mew
——

Caveat Suffragator
The State Department has been a nest of traitors
Adjoran (Diary) Saturday, February 18th at 2:24AM EDT (link)for many decades now. The career diplomats are not patriots by any stretch of imagination, and they are determined to affect policy no matter who is President and what powers he is supposed to have over foreign affairs. They have more loyalty to their colleagues in foreign governments’ diplomatic corps than to America.
To be fair, many – if not most – of those foreign colleagues are equally disloyal to their own nations’ interests. If polled on the proposition that the world would best be ruled by diplomats, at least 90% would agree.
Of course we need consulates to serve Americans abroad and process visa applications, but the foreign service and embassy system is a construct of the 19th Century. We have hot lines and tele-conferencing now. Ambassadors rarely even know what delicate negotiations may take place with the country they are assigned.
The wisest thing any President could do would be to downsize State by at least 75% immediately, freeze hiring, and offer early retirement to the rest of the frocked freaks.
But we also have Wikileaks
renl57 Sunday, February 19th at 9:45AM EDT (link)Any electronic communication can be intercepted.
And any computer data bank can be hacked.
That’s why al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups have come to rely on personal couriers rather than electronic communications.
And that’s why we still need human ambassadors. There’s no more secure way to communicate something than to tell someone to memorize it and leave no written records anywhere.
Josh Fox is Canadian...
bs61 Saturday, February 18th at 3:33AM EDT (link)But I really enjoy him on Fringe – too bad he got involved in this!
Is anyone surprised?
codenametimna Saturday, February 18th at 12:23PM EDT (link)Not only has Obama gone around the world demeaning the United States of America, he now uses taxpayer funds divvied out by the State Department to send a dubious filmmaker overseas to tout a film with no factual basis; in what appears to be a scheme to support the “green friendly” Obama administration’s preposterous position that fracking (by those evil energy companies) is somehow bad for the environment. Just like the Obama administration touts the sham called Global Warming when evidence points to the Earth slowly cooling over the last decade or longer and many scientists calculate that the Earth is headed for a mini ice-age within the next 50 years or so. Obama simply ignores the fact(s), and science, and does whatever he wants. Much to the chagrin of the American people (and the whole world) who are obviously suffering tremendously from the many failed policies that this administration has implemented… against all sound reason and logic. The result is a world in turmoil, a United States that is bankrupt, and a propaganda machine called the Obama administration that is doing everything in its power to institute European style socialism in America (against the will of the people) even though that same European style socialism is financially destroying Europe even as we speak.
The film has proven to be bogus, yet the Obama administration simply doesn’t care and sends the guy overseas anyway to propagandize the deception onto an unwitting world population. Typical Obama by the way.
The Obama administration might want to have a gander at a recent University of Texas at Austin study showing that “fracking” does NOT affect ground water in any way, shape or form. Here’s the link: http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2012/02/17/ut-austin-study-says-fracking-hasnt.html
Even though the evidence is mounting that fracking doesn’t affect ground water, Obama would rather bury his head in the sand and continue to believe something that’s proving false, yet has the gall to send out a ‘propaganda’ specialist overseas to spout those lies to anyone who will listen.
What possible good can come from deception and/or spouting lies? Nothing of course. But that hasn’t stopped Obama from doing it now has it? I honestly think Obama believes many things even when all rationale, facts, data, research and studies point in the opposite direction i.e. that they’re utterly false… yet Obama still plows full steam ahead, continuing the deception and thus paints Obama as not only illogical and idiotic but also as a staunch supporter of propaganda.
Similar in many ways to Vladimir Putin’s communist Russia where propaganda is used on practically a daily basis – to not only to deceive the Russian people – but also as a tool to keep Putin in power indefinitely. Ring a bell?
Which is one more reason to kick Obama’s sorry butt out of office come this November. Nuff’ said.
Huh? What? You said what?
spinoneone Sunday, February 19th at 1:36PM EDT (link)Hey, buddy, don’t confuse us with the facts. Are minds were made up five years ago and nothing has changed since. Right? So there you are.
PROPAGANDA
superamerican (Diary) Monday, February 20th at 1:33PM EDT (link)THE DEMOCRATS ARE WINNING THE MINDS OF AMERICA WITH INCESSENT PROPAGANDA. ABOVE IS ONLY ONE FACET, IT STARTS IN HEADSTART AND NEVER ENDS UNTIL DEATH.
Hilary Clinton and her minions are hard at work
ihateliberals Monday, February 20th at 11:38PM EDT (link)trying to take down America. They stive to keep America as Dumb as possible as that is their voting base. I talk to people all the time that have no idea how a business runs, how the economy works, who pays the most in taxes or anything else about the world. They are taught in schools that Capitalism and conservatism is bad and it makes people un-equal. well of course it does because it pays for success. people that lay around complaining about how unfair the world is will never be successful. What they don’t understand is that liberals, socialist and the likes want everyone but them to be equal and that means broke and in poverty. Look at how Russia suffered for 7 decades before they were able to break the bonds. The ruling class of Russia was getting richer all the time while the poor people couldn’t even buy toilet paper. They were all equal though!
Most of the problem Fracking and the ability of
ihateliberals Monday, February 20th at 11:52PM EDT (link)the anti-fracking groups success is the name itself. what a discussing name for a process. The name anone makes it easy for the State Department and others to demonize the process. What “Fracking needs is a new name. Something not so Frankensteinish. The name conjures up visions of the ground being destroyed and destruction occurring. Anything that wil bring energy independence to America is against what the Progressive Liberals agenda is for us. Make no mistake there are Progressive Liberals in both parties. They aren’t restricted to the Democrats. The congressmen we use to call RINO’s are in reality Progressive Liberals. They aren’t the same variety as Democratic ones but liberals just the same.