Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Just wondering

Stoat discusses Exxon's corporate policy, Deltoid its funding of climate change denial, and Eli, Eli is fat and satisfied and curious. Look what the bunnies found in Exxon's Corporate giving reports:

The Exxon Foundation Corporate Giving Report for 2007 lists support of $55,000 directly from the Exxon Corporation to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory,

The 2006 Exxon Foundation Worldwide Giving Report lists project support of $105,000 and general support of $50,000 and the

The 2005 report lists $105,000 of support.

Looks like they might be cutting out the middleman.

11 comments:

Dano said...

Presumably they are giving money to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory to prove global warming on Mars is a natural phenomenon.

Best,

D

Anonymous said...

I thought Exxon was giving with the stipulation that HSAO will train its telescopes on Exxon's oil tankers -- to track the Red Bull shift (ie, to let them know when one of them is about to run aground)

Poor GCMI. Looks like they are now down to a skeleton crew. If things keep going the way they are, they might have to tap Davy Jones for workers.

Anonymous said...

I thought the observatory is the middleman, and the true final destinations of the money are the various think-tanks.

-- bi, International Journal of Inactivism

John Mashey said...

Frank:
a) Where is the Smithsonian Astrophysical lab?

b) Does anyone we've heard of work there?

Anonymous said...

John Mashey: Ah! I was thinking along the lines of some sort of slush fund that directs money from HSAO to, say, Tech Central Station.

-- bi, International Journal of Inactivism

Anonymous said...

I thought Eli was referring to Sunshine Sally.

Anonymous said...

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/support/donatecfa.html

Anonymous said...

As I sit here puffing on a fat Cuban cigar, I chuckle. I am the lone recipient of that cold, hard cash. After administrative costs and taxes, it almost covered one year of college tuition for my daughter. Like all rebellious children, she hopes to be an environmentalist lobbyist. I hate irony.

Anonymous said...

$55K...I wonder what Elliot Spitzer would do with $55K...

Anonymous said...

Probably the same thing Bill Clinton would do with your cigar...

Anonymous said...

John:
Before drawing that conclusion, I'd check for stipulations on the giving.

Sometimes money that is donated has to be applied toward a particular thing -- a researcher's salary for example.

So while you might think you are the recipient (ie, that giving is interchangeable), that may not be the case.

Things are not always as simple as they seem -- a lesson that many of those at CA seem to have a very difficult time with.