This week’s Time Magazine cover story is dedicated to an in-depth profile of Glenn Beck. One could reasonably expect Time to do an accurate piece on Beck, documenting his endless lies and distortions, or perhaps even his history of anti-science rhetoric and blatant racism. Indeed, Time’s Managing Editor Rick Stengel hints at such an angle in the editor’s note in the print edition of the magazine:

“One of our jobs as journalists is to be the referee, the honest broker who sorts through the accusations and says, This is fact, and this is fantasy.”

Greg Mitchell has already taken on the piece as a whole, taking particular issue with the he-said she-said style of journalism Stengel implies the piece would avoid.

I’d like to focus specifically on the short paragraph dedicated to Beck’s recent — and ultimately successful — smear campaign against former White House green jobs adviser Van Jones.

He is having an impact. Along with St. Louis, Mo., blogger Jim Hoft, whose site is called Gateway Pundit, Beck pushed one of Obama’s so-called czars, Van Jones, to resign during Labor Day weekend. Jones, whose task was to oversee a green-jobs initiative, turned out to be as enchanted by conspiracies as Beck — he once theorized that “white polluters and the white environmentalists” are “steering poison into the people-of-color’s communities” and signed a petition demanding an investigation into whether the Bush Administration had a hand in the 9/11 attacks.

Distortion 1: Van Jones “turned out to be as enchanted by conspiracies as Beck”.

This is absurd. Glenn Beck is a well-known conspiracy theorist. Here are a few examples of the crazy shit this guy believes:

• Cash for Clunkers was a secret plot to let the government take control of your computer.
• President Barack Obama is racist.
• The Obama Administration appointed the Dean of Yale Law School to be a State Department Lawyer as part of a secret plot to let international law supersede U.S. law.
• The goal of legislation to reduce the impacts of climate change is actually to allow the United Nations to “run the world.”

Media Matters has much more on Glenn Beck’s history of promoting delusional conspiracy theories.

Van Jones, on the other hand, is a well-respected activist and best-selling author. Time Magazine itself saw fit to name Van Jones an Environmental Hero of 2008 and one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2009.

Distortion 2: Time’s justification for claiming Jones was “as enchanted by conspiracy theories as Beck” was a statement Jones made prior to joining the Obama administration: “The white polluters and the white environmentalists are essentially steering poison into the people of color communities because they don’t have a racial justice frame.”

This statement is largely true. United States history is filled with examples of corporations, state/local governments, and the Environmental Protection Agency — all run by white people — intentionally steering toxic and hazardous materials into impoverished communities of color. The Institute for Southern Studies recently documented some of this history. Here are just a few examples:
Sumter County, Alabama (1974)

In 1974, EPA nominated Sumter County, Alabama as a possible hazardous waste landfill site. The county, located in the heart of Alabama’s Black Belt, is 71.8 percent is black. Over 35.9 percent of the county’s population is below poverty. In 1977, Resource Industries Inc. purchased a 300-acre tract of land just outside of Emelle, Ala. where over 90 percent of the residents are black. The permit for the facility was approved by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) and EPA Region 4 over opposition of local residents who thought they were getting a brick factory. In 1978, Chemical Waste Management, a subsidiary of Waste Management Inc. bought the permit from Resource Industries Inc. and opened the nation’s largest hazardous was landfill, often tagged the Cadillac of Dumps.

Warren County, North Carolina (1979)

Between June 1978 and August 1978, over 30,000 gallons of waste transformer oil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were illegally discharged on roadsides in fourteen North Carolina counties. The PCBs resulted in the U.S. EPA designating the roadsides as a superfund site to protect public health. North Carolina needed a place to dispose of the PCB-contaminated soil that was scraped up from 210 miles of roadside shoulders. In 1979, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) along with EPA Region 4 selected rural, poor, and mostly black Warren County as the site for the PCB landfill.

In 1982, the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed suit in district court to block the landfill. The residents lost their case in court despite the fact that the Warren County PCB Landfill site was not scientifically the most suitable because the water table at the landfill is very shallow, only 5-10 feet below the surface and where the residents of the community get all of their drinking water from local wells. William Sanjour, head of the EPA’s hazardous waste implementation branch, questioned the Warren County landfill siting decision. The first truckload of contaminated soil that arrived at the landfill in September 1982 was met protesters. More than 500 demonstrators were jailed protesting landfill, sparking the national Environmental Justice Movement.

While an individual reporter for Time Magazine can be excused for complete unfamiliarity with the environmental justice movement, the magazine’s editorial staff can not. Portraying an accurate expression of environmental justice concerns as a conspiracy on par with Glenn Beck’s consistently hysterical lunacy is just not credible.

Distortion 3: Van Jones “signed a petition demanding an investigation into whether the Bush Administration had a hand in the 9/11 attacks.”

Reporting on this claim without so much as noting the questions surrounding the claim’s veracity is the height of irresponsible journalism. Consider these facts:

• Jones’ statement on the petition:
  

  As for the petition that was circulated today, I do not agree with this statement and it certainly does not reflect my views now or ever.

• Several of the other supposed signatories of the petition have disputed the method in which signatures were collected. Rabbi Michael Lerner: “I did not authorize my name to be used for all the other stuff that I now see was included surrounding the letter.” Howard Zinn: “I did not sign a statement suggesting that ‘Bush had prior knowledge.’ I signed a statement calling for an investigation.”

I will never cease to be amazed by the corporate media’s ability to cram three blatant distortions into one short paragraph. I’d accuse Time of printing such distortions intentionally but they would probably respond by calling me a conspiracy theorist and comparing me to Glenn Beck — a fate I’d rather avoid if at all possible.

Looking for further evidence that the Time profile of Beck was way off the mark? Glenn Beck himself has deemed it fair. This alone should make it clear to the casual observer that it is in fact anything but.

Via email.

Dear Friends:

My family and I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and support that we have received over the past week or so. I resigned from the White House on September 6, and I have remained silent since then – in keeping with my promise not to be a distraction during a key moment in the Obama Presidency.

Over the past several days, however, many people have been asking how they can help and what they can do.

The main thing is this: please do everything you can to support both President Obama and the green jobs movement. Winning real change is ultimately the best response to these kinds of smear campaigns.

I ask everyone to:

1. Support President Obama’s efforts to fix our nation’s health care, energy and education systems. His victory last fall did not represent the “finish line” in the fight to renew America; his election was just the “starting line.” This autumn, it is time to make history again – with victories on health care and clean energy.

2. Sign up to support groups that are working for green jobs. As others seek to vilify or marginalize the movement for a clean energy economy, the leading groups deserve increased support. This is the year to ensure that the clean energy transformation creates good job opportunities for everyone in America.

3. Spread the green jobs gospel. The ideas and ideals of the green jobs movement are grounded in fundamental American values – innovation, entrepreneurship and equal opportunity. My true thoughts can be found in my book: The Green Collar
Economy. Check it out from the library – or order a copy and share it with a friend. See for yourself why clean energy and green jobs are good for our country.

4. Stay connected and speak up for me via your favorite blogs (e.g., Huffington Post, Grist, Jack & Jill, etc.), on message boards and all of your favorite social networking platforms (Twitter, Facebook, etc.). Supporters have set up a couple of them, to help you stay engaged, including: I Stand With Van Jones and I Love Van Jones.

In due course, I will be offering my perspective on what has happened – including correcting the record about false charges. In the meantime, I must get my family affairs in order and sort through numerous offers and options.

I want to be clear that I have nothing but love and admiration for President Obama and the entire Administration. White House staffers are there to serve and support the President, not the other way around. At this critical moment in history, I could not in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. The White House needs all its hands on deck, fighting for the future.

Of course, some supporters actually think I will be more effective on the “outside.” Maybe so. But those ideas always remind me of that old canard about Winston Churchill. After he lost a hard-fought election, a friend told him: “Winston, this really is just a blessing in disguise.” Churchill quipped: “Damned good disguise.” I can certainly relate to that sentiment right now. :)

Nonetheless, we must keep moving forward. Let’s continue our work to make an America as good as its promise. These are historic times. And we have a lot more history to make.

Sincerely,

Van Jones

Ella Baker Center:

The Ella Baker Center family is deeply saddened by the news that Van Jones has resigned as Special Adviser on Green Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation to President Obama. It’s a dark day when attacks based in half-truths, full lies, and old news deny the nation its most talented advocate in the fight against climate change and for rebuilding our economy.

“Smear campaigns designed to sabotage our movement for an equitable, green economy are attempts to distract people from what really matters: building a future that is green and just for everyone,” said Jakada Imani, Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. “It’s our dream, shared by Van Jones and so many others, that this country can rise above the politics of hate to once again become a beacon of hope and innovation for the world. When fear-mongering and sensationalism drown out important discussions about the real issues of the day, we all lose.”

Co-founded 13 years ago by Van Jones, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights promotes positive solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing our country. At this critical time in our nation’s history, the Ella Baker Center champions policies that lift people up and bring about renewed hope and optimism for all. We’re outraged by the attacks Van and his family have suffered at the hands of those who have made it their mission to derail a clean, green, and just future for our country.

Van Jones has been lauded as a modern day civil rights hero and champion of change who has worked to bridge the gap between communities and across lines of race and class. For years, Van has helped lead the social and environmental justice movements with solution-oriented, market-based ideas that provide some of our most marginalized communities with effective tools to create lasting change in their lives — and for the greater good of their communities.

Under Van’s leadership, and continuing under the direction of Jakada Imani, the Ella Baker Center has led the charge to build California’s movement for a green-collar economy that truly creates opportunity for all by fighting poverty and climate change at the same time. Through vibrant, cross-sector coalitions that bring together unions, green businesses, environmental organizations, social justice groups, and education and training institutions, we’ve helped craft cutting edge public policy solutions and pilot programs like the Oakland Green Jobs Corps that prove what’s possible. Our focus has always been — and will remain — providing solutions that lift people up rather than tearing them down. Solutions that unite, not divide. Our goal — and Van’s — is simple: save the planet and its people.

Late last night, Van Jones resigned from his position with the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Many of us are left with pain and anger after seeing a leader of integrity, vision, and commitment targeted by hateful personal attacks. Van stepped down in service to our movement. He felt that fighting the attacks would draw attention to him and detract from our mission.

Now, our challenge is to turn our disappointment and anger into action and renewed resolve for our common goals.

Like the great social justice movements of the 20th century, our movement for an inclusive green economy is based in the most fundamental American values: equality, justice, and opportunity for all.

That’s why our opponents reduced the debate to fear, hatred, and division. They cannot win a debate about values. They cannot win a debate about solutions.

Our allies and friends may be redirected by these attacks, and focus on the rants of those who fear our vision. For Green For All, our struggle must be defined by the issues our opponents refuse to debate: ending global warming; lifting people out of poverty; restoring the economy; and bringing health to our communities. These are the challenges that matter the most.

This moment reaffirms our commitment and makes us more steadfast in pushing for our goals, including a climate bill that delivers on the promise of a clean-energy economy. We will not be led astray. We will not let our anger cloud our vision.

Instead, it is the time to come together around the values our movement stands for: clean air; healthy communities; good jobs; and opportunity for all.

Please sign our Petition in support of the Green Jobs Movement.

Then pass it on to 10 friends. Let’s use this opportunity to grow in numbers and strength.

In the face of tactics intended to frighten and divide, we must stand strong around our core values and renew our commitment to our shared vision.

Thank you for taking a stand with us.

Via 350:

Van Jones resigned his White House post as green jobs adviser after a week of incessant attacks from the far right of American politics claiming that he was a communist or a black nationalist or wild-eyed. These are wrong–we’ve known Van for years, and there’s no more thorough-going capitalist in the environmental movement, completely committed to the principle that before we talked about polar bears we needed to talk about jobs.

Youth climate activists the world over have been wearing green hard hats the last few years largely because of Van’s example. And no one spent more time trying to bridge the gaps between races and classes than Van, addressing one of the environmental movement’s most glaring weaknesses.

The reason the right wanted to bring him down was that he was effective. And if there’s even a glimmer of good news here, it’s that he’ll be freed from the restrictions of high officialdom to bring all his eloquence and all his energy to bear on the challenges we face. We’re very proud to be among his many many colleagues.

Via Think Progress:

Van Jones is an exceptional and inspired leader who has fought to bring economic and environmental justice to communities across our country.

He has chosen to resign because he believed he was serving as a distraction to the president’s agenda. I respect that decision.

Van was working to build a common ground agenda for all Americans, and I am confident he will continue that work. Unfortunately, his critics on the right could find no common ground with him.

Clearly, Van was the subject of a right-wing smear campaign shrouded in hypocrisy. Van’s chief tormentor Glenn Beck, who spent weeks engaged in vicious name-calling, retains his perch at Fox News after calling the president a racist who has “a deep-seated hatred for white people.” Van has set a standard that Beck would never impose upon himself.

I look forward to working with Van to move our country towards a clean energy economy that empowers and lifts up all Americans.

Via Think Progress:

I am resigning my post at the Council on Environmental Quality, effective today.

On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.

I have been inundated with calls – from across the political spectrum – urging me to “stay and fight.”

But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future.

It has been a great honor to serve my country and my President in this capacity. I thank everyone who has offered support and encouragement. I am proud to have been able to make a contribution to the clean energy future. I will continue to do so, in the months and years ahead.

Join us at StandWithVan.com to show your unwavering support for White House green jobs advisor Van Jones.

Like sharks in the water, a right-wing lynch mob led by notorious race-baiter Glenn Beck is now circling around White House green jobs advisor Van Jones.

On the surface, their complaint centers around Jones’ background and statements he previously made as an activist. Specifically, conservative blogs and media outlets have seized on a harshly-worded petition Jones signed in 2004 demanding further investigations into the 9/11 attacks. Jones has clarified since then, saying of the petition that “it certainly does not reflect my views, now or ever.”  But this is little more than the right-wing manufactured faux-outrage du jour. Beck began aggressively going after Jones in the wake of a campaign targeting Beck’s advertisers — organized by Color of Change — an advocacy organization Jones founded prior to taking a position in the administration.

Sadly, the Obama administration appears to be wavering in its support of Jones. This is not acceptable. A decision to throw one of their most charismatic communicators under the bus in a vein attempt to placate a racist witch-hunt would be both foolish and ineffective. Van Jones is exactly the type of principled and effective leader we need more of in government — not less. President Obama should make a strong public statement as soon as possible, reiterating his full support for green jobs advisor Van Jones.

Fight Back

1. Show your support for Van Jones by using the #supportvan hashtag on Twitter. Your tweet will be displayed in the grid below.

2. Sign the Color of Change petition asking Glenn Beck’s advertisers to stop supporting Beck’s hateful agenda. You can also donate to Color of Change here.

3. Become a Fan of Van Jones on Facebook.

Statements of Support

Brad Johnson at The Wonk Room writes:

White House green jobs advisor Van Jones is under attack from Fox News as an “avowed radical revolutionary communist” and from ABC News as a “truther” with a “history of incendiary and provocative remarks.” In an attempt to assassinate the character of Van Jones, the right-wing media are distorting his past political activism and cherry-picking Jones’s critiques of the pollution and injustice that still haunt this nation. However, Jones’s true record is one of turning away from anger and finding hope, abandoning division and seeking consensus.

David Roberts at Grist writes:

This is all about bitch-slap politics. If Jones drops out, think Beck or the right-wing slime industry will stop? Think they won’t keep going after Carol Browner, John Holdren, and the rest—twisting and attacking every word and gesture from the Obama administration? “Uncovering” people as wildly caricatured leftists? Faux-populist fear merchants are like sharks; they have to keep moving, keep eating. There’s no sating them. Letting Beck bag Jones would be like chum in the water.

Adam Siegel at Get Energy Smart Now writes:

Fox’s Beck has turned his attention from President Barack Obama to increasingly vitriolic and deceptive attacks on a White House staff member, Van Jones, who has responsibilities related to Green Jobs. Beck’s attacks are deceptive and despicable, on multiple levels, and demean not just Jones, but American democracy and the very concept of moving forward toward a more prosperous America, for both the nation and its citizens.

Martin Bosworth tweets:

read #VanJones’ “The Green Collar Economy” last year & was mesmerized. It’s a brilliant plan of action & I #supportVan fully. #green #p2 #fb

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom:

“Van Jones and Mayor Newsom are good friends and the mayor stands by him,” Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard said Friday

Sarah Robinson at Blog For Our Future writes:

But we know this for sure: If Beck succeeds in damaging Jones and Color of Change — a decision that’s largely in the hands President Obama — you can count on this being the start of a fast and furious conservative witch hunt aimed at picking off every other progressive leader. What they’ll learn is that this kind of minor smear is all it takes to turn liberals against each other — and we’ll effectively be in the position of letting the craziest people on the right wing decide for us who our leaders will be.

Joseph Romm of Climate Progress writes:

I am a big fan of green jobs czar clean energy jobs handyman Van Jones (see “Van Jones argues we can — and must — fight poverty and pollution at the same time” and “Must Read: Van Jones and the English Language“). The right wing hates the clean energy jobs message (see “Department of Energy eviscerates right-wing Spanish ‘green jobs’ study“) so it’s not surprising they are going after Van Jones.

The Real Van Jones