dear verizon customer: suck it

via C&L.

My phone company, the one I pay way too much money to every month, is stepping up and using its corporate voice to draw attention to the environmental debate.

Only problem is, they're sponsoring this 'Friends of America' rally this weekend, an anti-environment, pro-coal event featuring such heavyweight environmental intellects as Sean Hannity, Ted Nugent and John Rich. At the event, which is being held on a reclaimed mine in West Virginia (see! everything's just okey-dokey!) you will be given the opportunity to sign a petition put out by the National Mining Association opposing the Waxman-Markey bill, a clean energy bill that would address climate change, finally, in a real and hopefully useful way.

Goddamn commies, wanting to keep their stupid polar ice caps...

At any rate, when Becky Bond, the political director for a group called Credo Action contacted Verizon and asked why they were on the sponsor rolls along with dozens of mining companies and anti-environment front groups, they got this in response:

"This is how our response is going over with the activists. Becky once lived in a tree for a while. At least now I know where the emails are coming from."
— James Gerace, VP of Corporate Communications at Verizon Wireless

Nice to know that they care so much about what their customers think. Just send us the money, folks. We'll do the big-picture 'thinking' for ya.

So if you don't think Verizon should sponsor global warming deniers and mountain-top removal mining, go here to sign a petition. To send Verizon a direct email telling them what you think, go here.

Have a happy and fun Labor Day!