Encouraged as we were by World O’Crap true VH-1 story Behind the Ineptitude — How Meghan defied the odds and managed to find herself a husband, we decided to take a look at Mr. Meghan Cox Gurdon, i.e. Hugo “Quackenbush” Gurdon. Gurdon [The poor man’s John Stossel as best we can tell] isn’t just his children’s absent dad, he was also last year’s Warren Brookes Journalism Fellow at the competitive enterprise institute (CEI.)

Bonus points: Michelle Malkin was once a Warren Brookes Fellow.

The people at CEI (which it turns out is the poor man’s TechCentralStation) are concerned about those no-good environmental activists. Also, did you know they are extremely powerful? Hugo says:

In a recent National Post article, Hugo Gurdon of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, noted that “The 12 biggest environmental pressure groups in the United States enjoy combined annual revenues of $1.95 billion, according to the latest Internal Revenue Service figures. Only 725 of the United States? 20 million companies can boast such magnificent cash flow.”

Did you get that? Only 725 companies in the US have a cash flow as great as that of the 12 biggest environmental pressure groups combined. Scary stuff! What about the really big organizations though?

“Among the green dozen are some?Nature Conservancy ($731 million) and theWildlife Conservation Council ($311 million)?that are merely left-of-center. But there are genuinely extreme organizations?the World Wildlife fund ($118 million) and the Sierra Club ($73 million)?that militate aggressively against the free market and attack property rights to the detriment of the economy and the majority of ordinary people,” said Gurdon.

So there you have it — the “genuinely extreme organizations” have a (combined) cash flow under $200 million, but still we should all be really scared. Because if there’s something the ordinary people don’t want, it’s clean water or the protection of national forests. Besides, we all know what the logo of the World Wildlife Fund is, don’t we? Yes, a Panda of Mass Destruction. You have been warned.