Different people celebrated Earth Day in different ways. President Obama talked about the future of the wind industry, Rush Limbaugh promoted plastic bags, and Glenn Beck celebrated with the clear cutting of an acre of forestland.
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Earth Day: Glenn Beck celebrates by cutting down trees
By Jimmy Orr | 04.22.09
Nothing is more romantic than cutting down trees on Earth Day.
That is, if you’re Glenn Beck.
Cable TV’s hottest property celebrated Earth Day in a Rush Limbaugh-like manner earlier today. He even outdid King Ditto. Limbaugh only honored the coal industry, the gasoline powered automobile, the plastic bag, and the electric light today on his program. (Click here to read that).
Clear-cut
But Beck chopped down a forest. Kinda.
The popular radio and TV host claimed to have a “forest manager” on his radio program who was calling in from the Cleveland area. The caller was tasked with clear-cutting a full acre of woodland for a deer-hunting property owner.
Explained Tim the woodsman, deer are very curious creatures. So if you cut down a bunch of trees, eventually they’ll come over to investigate and the property owner can blast them.
Romance
The idea of clear cutting woodland and shooting deer was almost too much for Beck to handle, especially on Earth Day.
“This is not only going to hack off all the environmentalists but all the PETA people, too,” he said.
“I need Barry White music,” he excitedly announced. “This is almost full-fledged light some candles, this is eroticism.”
After the roar of the chainsaw fired up, Beck was told that Tim the forest manager felled two trees specifically for him and his producer.
“I laid down an Aspen tree with Glenn’s name on it and an Aspen tree with Stu’s name on it,” Tim the woodsman announced. “So you are both involved.”
Bigger
But Beck’s glee was short-lived. The Aspen trees were too puny he said.
“Don’t you have like a big huge oak or something?” Beck asked.
“No, no, we don’t cut oak. We cut Aspen and stuff like that and we leave behind the good stuff,” the woodsman replied.
When Tim announced he would cut down an American elm, however, Beck’s spirits were lifted.
“You go to Central Park, American Elms, those are a big deal because they are almost wiped out and everything else. So I mean, give me another Elm, just give me another American Elm,” Beck pleaded.
Wish received. Another elm was cut down.
Benefits
Tim the woodsman then tried to explain the environmental benefits of culling trees. But did so in a manner that Beck might appreciate.
“When you cut down trees for paper, it’s a positive thing because you wind up planting more trees and, you know, over time it’s clearly been shown that all these environmental benefits that go to these companies that are supposedly cutting down trees, blah, blah blah, blah blah, they were going to plant them anyway because it’s part of their business plan,” he explained.
How did Beck describe the experience?
“This is like nirvana here,” Beck said.
Publicity stunt or spoof? Yes. Did it enrage some on the left? Yes.
Beck accomplished his goals.
Twitter response
How did the Twitterverse react to Beck today? Mixed.
jazzgirl4 writes: “I think Glenn Beck should host Earth Day next year. Right at the White House. He’s done a great job celebrating today!”
Blake_D says: “Made the mistake of watching Glenn beck today to try to broaden my horizons. Sweet lord that man is nuts.”
AbiClaus wonders: “What the hell did trees ever do to Glenn Beck?? He’s a little too excited about forest management.”
Taleof6kids asks: “My son is revving up the chainsaw and cutting a tree down for Earth Day. Should I thank Glenn Beck for this?”
—–
Hey, we’ll never chop down your trees. Especially if you follow us on Twitter!
<< Earth Day: Obama promotes wind, Limbaugh promotes plastic | MainComments
2. Christine -Oregon | 04.22.09
If anybody knows anything about deer it is this:
They thrive in a mixed habitat, that is forested and areas of clearing. Sometimes it is referred to as border habitat. The dear can move from place to place using brushy areas for cover and concealment. They likewise need clear areas in which to browse on grass and ground cover.
I worked for the US Forest Service when I was a High School student and part of the habitat projects we worked on included small clear cut areas to enhance the overall habitat diversity.
It was useful for small birds, small mammals and some species like turkey that need ‘bugging’ areas for their young to survive in early spring.
It’s not just about trees and fence posts. Sometimes you need to have a broader perspective of the actions total impact to keep from looking like morons who shouldn’t be alone in the woods.
Sorry, but are you the same folks who sue somebody when you go around a gate on a forest road and then need to be rescued from your ignorance?
3. Ward Kelly | 04.22.09
“BeckHater”, are you Perez Hilton? Can we expect a post on youtube from you? Just make sure you get a really bad haircut and some weird outfit when filming your production. (Personally, I would rather watch Miss California walk around on stage 100,000 times than to see that nut).
On the Glenn Beck note, I would hate to be him now because his burden/afterhour workload just went up….he will be consulting with his financial advisors regarding all the dough he is making with his astronomical ratings. I’m sure his renegotiations with FoxNews will be a doozy. He and his agents are laughing all the way to the bank.
But that is what happens when you are a hit. He should have cut down a tree himself today (I only wish it included someone that tied themselves up to a tree…like some Berkeley radical environmentalist).
BeckHater needs a job at the US Forest Service this summer. General Motors sure won’t be hiring. Maybe those windmill jobs will save the entire U.S. Manufacturing sector by June? After all, the Unions started the exodus of manufacturing jobs…now with the radicals in charge, Cap & Trade will finish what big labor started. Look to China and India to make even more stuff that Americans will buy over the next decade.
4. gregy | 04.23.09
The seriously has some issues. For someone like Beck to be successfull says a lot about America. We tolerate ignorant andgive them aq mic and our ears. That is just sad.
5. vince | 04.23.09
this is vince from walla walla wa. and as i was driving down the street on earthday my self and my wife were listening to your program and all the sudden somehow you did this thing for vice president al gore and we were both laughing so hard it took all i had to stay on the road good thing i pulled into my driveway ! we were still laughing that was hillarious to say the very least there was alot of truth in what was said but it was the way it said we could actully invision this in our minds very funny stuff would you either play that again sometime or send us a tape me and the wife would like to hear that again ! thankyou vince in walla walla wa.
6. glenn | 04.23.09
So, let me get this straight. I have a guy cut down some trees; I don’t do it myself, kinda like a non-hunter hiring a hunter to kill for him, and people are upset? I am a TV personality, sort of like Paris Hilton but not as pretty, don’t you know I can do anything I want? You liberals better not **** me off or I’m libel to hire someone else to do something for me and talk about it on my show!!!
7. Johnny O | 04.23.09
Wow - there is a difference between disagreeing with someone, and by that I mean not believe that climate change is a problem, etc., and then this kind of behavior - where someone makes a point of thumbing their nose at half of America. This is the equivalent of giving someone the finger, just so everyone is clear on that - it was intended as a snub, it was interpreted as a snub and yet some of you will still claim this man is some kind of leader.
Yup - just what we want - some idiot leading a movement in our Nation who can’t get over grade six playground antics.
1st Principle - America is Good - Well, Mr. Beck, what exactly was “good” about what you did?
12 Values? Let’s look at some of the ones Mr. Beck broke with this action - those of you who support him will be too intellectually dishonest to admit that he “did anything wrong” but I urge you to apply his 9/12 litmus test to his own behavior and see if this is a man you really want to believe in. Hypocrisy has its value, I guess, if its easier than thinking for yourself.
Reverence - apparently nature isn’t one of those things you revere - funny, since you believe that God created nature and then show it no respect?
Thrift - Yup, senselessly cutting down trees and making a joke of cutting down one that is dwindiling in numbers? Uh huh, okay, real thrifty.
Humility - This is one of the proudest, most arrogant hotheads I have ever seen.
Moderation - how did he show any moderation - oh yeah, he only senselessly cleared a singleacre of land…
Hard Work - as he stood by watching other people do the work so he could make his “point.”
Courage - courage? when has this man ever shown “courage?”
8. Janice Palmer McLellan | 04.23.09
I must say, it’s amazing just how far some people will go in order to keep their job. Some call it “selling your soul.” Glenn has lost his way and we need to pray for him.
10. Tip O’Hat | 04.23.09
I was puzzling over the comments of Ward Kelly (#4) and vince (#6) and wondering why the words — or rather, the person, the sensibility — behind the words seemed so familiar. Then it hit me. Of course! — these are the guys who were the bullies in high school!
Thinking cutting down trees and killing deer is funny — remember the guy who laughed whenever things fell down or somebody got hurt? Making fun of how people look and tossing off pseudo-macho comments about beauty pageant contestants — remember the guy who made fun of the ugly kids and thought the girls considered him a hot item?
It’s true what they say: life is just high school — continued.
11. Lee Vash | 04.23.09
The idea of cutting down Aspen trees near Cleveland does not make sense. Aspens grow at high elevations I doubt there are any Aspens in the Cleveland area.
12. ZC | 04.23.09
Beck’s actions aren’t nearly as despicable as those of the listeners who went right out and cut down a tree because Glenn did it, and because they thought it would be a great way to “stick it to the hippies”.
Trees are non-partisan, and they make the air breathable. I can’t understand someone killing a tree out of spite for some other human being. That’s just crazy-town.
13. Jason H | 04.23.09
I have no love for Peta types and radical environmentalists. I don’t have a problem with cutting down trees for timber and forest management.
However Glenn Beck is a tool. He and guys like Hannity remind me of school yard bullies who go out of their way to push things. The type that when you finally punch in the nose, they never bug you again.
Fox should have had a deer kicking him in the groin. It would have made for better entertainment and would have perfectly fit in with most of the standards of Fox shows.
14. Tony | 04.23.09
Diana hit it on the nose: he’s a clown. He’s not a genius, we don’t need to pray for his soul, and he’s not dividing America. He’s being an entertainer. That’s it. Anyone who appreciates sarcasm for what it is or dislikes overly rabid environmentalists will get a good laugh out of this. If you want to hate on someone, hate on Fox News or CNN for throwing half truths and biased reports into most American’s source of information. This guy is just an entertainer; an angry John Stewart for conservatives - let it go.
15. outsider | 04.23.09
This seems like pure publicity. However it’s cheaply done.
Both he and Limbaugh seem to enjoy disrespecting others’ call for celebration of an issue. However I would how he would take having the tables turned on him.
Consider how he’d react if someone fornicated in front of his house on Christmas. This seems on par with the childish, mean-spirited mentality of so-called “Conservatives” like these.
16. Judge Smails | 04.23.09
BRILLIANT.
No really.
I spent the day yesterday eating bacon and making cows ****.
I love the hypocrites that recycled a can and brought a bag to Wal-Mart yesterday and think they are living a “green” life and think they are saving the economy.
And I love the people ******** about Beck, yet have wood studs in their homes, which were cut down in the forest, just like this one. (Oh, but that’s different!)
17. DaSwankOne | 04.23.09
Ward you are an ignorant tool. Manufacturing did not leave because of unions, they left for cheap labor and buy cheap labor I mean $10 a week. Maybe you think Americans should be competing for $10 a week jobs.
18. Adam Flowers | 04.23.09
It’s more sad than anything really. I’m not sure what the historic roots are for Earth Day, but it seems to be perceived positively by most sane, rational people. While I know Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and others of their ilk have to get people revved up and all that to stay employed, it’s a real downer to see them make such a mockery of a positive thing. And it demands to be noted that it’s extremely bizarre to get aroused by the destruction of forests.
19. JS | 04.23.09
Perhaps the trees in Beck’s yard should be cut down by people who agree with him. Heck, just denude his entire neighborhood. He’d appreciate it. If he didn’t we could just claim it is a stunt to raise our own ratings.
I’m sure he’d like it if we deforested Utah. (Yes, Utah has large expanses of forests.)
20. Susan Taylor | 04.23.09
Glen, you could have come to my home and cut down a limb from my neighbor’s yard which hung over my property. You could have been useful, and taken on a job that needed to be done.
I would have saved money I paid to professionals, and fulfilled my dream of fifteen minutes of fame all in with one hack.
Glen, you make a lot of money laughing at your viewers, next time make yourself useful with silly stunts.
21. ELBSeattle | 04.23.09
The other day on the radio I heard a business owner complaining about the suggestions that they cut back on consumption of electricity. “This is bad for business” he said. This is the kind of short-sightedness that has gotten us into the dire situation we are in. Cutting back on electricity is bad for business? How about a completely unsustainable lifestyle that focuses only on greed and waste? How about a carbon footprint that is, quite literally, killing us?
You know what is really bad for business? A dead planet. That would really cut into earnings.
Glenn Beck is an arrogant *******. He is playing up to his audience simply to incite some and enrage others. What he does is not journalism, or even good entertainment. It is nothing but ego-centered, money-driven self-aggrandizement.
22. ALW | 04.23.09
The man is loony, and I hope those who watch his show are enjoying an Anna Nicole-style train-wreck, not thinking his antics are legitimate political debate.
Even if you think some environmentalists are more emotion than logic, are idiots to be so hostile to the economy that has given them the prosperity, the luxury to worry about the environment, gloating over the destruction of life is hardly an admirable way to express opposition. Beck’s glee at the deer hunting is as disturbing as watching a neighbor sadistically beating their dog (and yes I’m a vegan because it would be hypocritical of me to criticize animal abuse and then support it as a consumer).
23. Rangda Bangda | 04.23.09
I can understand that Glenn Beck is an entertainer, but maybe his audience ought to consider what they are cheering him for. Apparently a fair number of people in this country think it’s funny to glorify the cutting down of a species of tree that’s dwindling in numbers purely for the sake of angering “hippies”. Perhaps these people should consider just how warped that is, even as a form of entertainment. Does that do anything positive for anybody? No. Does it have any kind of satiric point? Not really. “Humanity is invincible and has the right to rape the earth at will”? Hooray. What a great message for red-white-and-blue blooded True Americans to pass on to their children, all because they don’t like hippies. The worst part is that it wasn’t even funny; like alot of conservative humor I’ve seen, the “joke” was in simply being as mean-spirited as possible to the leftist viewpoint in question. If you seriously find this kind of stuff to be entertaining, you need to grow up.
Also, clearing land so you can shoot deer exposed by your cleared land is not hunting. It’s just killing.
24. Ward Kelly | 04.23.09
DaSwankOne,
It’s all about what the market & profitablity. Do you understand what a profit margin is?
Why pay more when you don’t have to? Just compare the liabilities between Toyota and GM. GM isn’t just in trouble because of Wagoner and some pretty bad lines of automobiles. It’s the UAW. If you think otherwise, than who really is the fool?
I own design/outerwear company. You can only guess where the garments are manufactured. Tiawan! And if that makes you so upset with your $10/week comparison, why don’t you look around your residence and see how many items, furniture pieces, T.V.s, your cell phones, your freaking coffee maker…and 90% of your clothes (including T-Shirts and Suits), you might be very surprised that you are benefiting from lower cost of labor (& non-unions).
I wouldn’t be surprised if you hate WalMart but shop there.
26. Greensleeves | 04.23.09
Glenn Beck: Grow Up or shut up! It’s unfortunate that you’re not a tree, especially one located on “your” land…the axeman would have done us all the favor & cut you down.
27. aLiberal | 04.23.09
I don’t get it. Why would he think Liberals would get worked up over a guy cutting trees down on his own property. Who Cares? Glens getting a bit too excited over nothing.
29. dashiel | 04.23.09
you’ll never go poor pandering to the lowest common denominator. beck/limbaugh/hannity/olberman/et.al., don’t disappoint me so much as the fact they have such large followings. any unethical idiot with a smidgen of charisma can manipulate the gullible and the desperate, it’s just a sad state of affairs there are so many people out there who willfully drink the kool-aid.
31. Tip O’Hat | 04.23.09
Neat! Now I know what finally happens to high school bullies — they wind up with design/outerwear companies!
33. Ron | 04.23.09
Maybe Glen should have just cut a lawn, after all aren’t trees sort of like really tall, old grass. Does grass cutting , maybe if it is tall, merit scorn as well?
34. Sam | 04.23.09
I honestly wonder if Glenn Beck has deteriorating mental capabilities. Watching his show is very sad and downright embarrassing for him. Oddly enough he has no sense of this. If he has family that cares about him, they might want to pull him aside and try to get this guy some help.
35. trees live during the winter get ice and that’s not good | 04.23.09
Listen, I wish those trees were gone during the winter when they collected all that ice and caused so much damage to houses and electrical lines.
36. Anonymous | 04.23.09
Glenn Beck=populist psychopath, destroying resources with no purpose. People like Glenn Beck are the wasteful that weaken America from the ground up.
37. Diana | 04.24.09
Tony, A clown, buffoon, idiot and air head, in other words, Beck, Limbaugh, Bush and Palin, are the poster children of right wing politics. Even if the Republicans don’t get it, the majority of Americans do, this country cannot afford to be led by a sideshow circus.
Beck entertaining? He’s a re-tread of the Three Stooges, only this version is the Four Stooges.
38. Jen | 04.24.09
Glen Beck should just keep on talking. Doing a great service to the Democrats! Go Glen!!!
39. duggi | 04.24.09
its a dragon eating its tail here. his fan base cheers the destruction of those who mock them. you mock them. they mock you. he fans the flames, and you decry the profits this generates for him.
whats the solution? do we all hold grey, neutral opinions? probably not. maybe, we’ll become immune to this stuff? i dont get ppl sometimes. they complain about situations they themselves contribute to, unable to see it.
40. scott-s | 04.24.09
People who digs holes eventually fall in them. When you degrade others you only degrade yourself. I think we are witnessing a small portion of the population starting to really fall off a cliff..
41. winnow | 04.25.09
The title to this article is misleading. Beck made some comments while a private home owner had some trees removed from his property?
How about Obama wating 9,000 gallons of fuel while promoting Earth Day? It would have been better for the envornment if he had thrown something on the web and stayed home.
CSM: In navigating your site I see a shift in balance and tone. I do hope this is not a new trend. There are so few place to go for unbiased news. Not that this artice would qualify as “news”.
42. Suzette | 04.27.09
Okay, I stopped reading the comments after about 20. I did not see the TV show you are talking about. But let’s recap: someone cut down trees he was going to cut down anyway, and Beck broadcast that, and Beck is a villainous clown? Folks, you might want to take some time off from hugging trees to find out a little bit about them. They have life cycles. If no one ever cut one down, they would still die when their time is up. Before they die, they slow down. If you want a lot of air-cleaning, you need YOUNG trees. If you want really huge, dangerous, firefighter-killing fires, you need to leave the forest “natural” as has been done so much in the past decades.
And why is it worse to eat venison than to eat beef or pork?
Of course, best of all is to fly (at taxpayer expense, the Spendulator-in-Chief’s favorite thing) cross country to stand in front of your sponsor’s product while you wax wise and virtuous and continue the never-ending Obama Quest for Adoration.
44. Joe Smith | 05.15.09
I celebrated Earth Day by letting all three of our cars idle in the driveway for one hour.
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. Paul Wilkins | 04.22.09
Just plain baffling.