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The Yes Men release another “Special Edition” paper

bile — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:35:08 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2009

“WE’RE SCREWED”: MEDIA HEIST BLANKETS CITY WITH “SPECIAL EDITION” NEW YORK POST
Tabloid Tells Truth About Climate Change and How It Will Affect City, World

Contact: The Yes Men , 347-254-7054, 646-220-4137
Fake New York Post: http://www.nypost-se.com/
Video News Release: http://www.nypost-se.com/video
City report on climate change: http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/pdf/2009/NPCC_CRI.pdf
Wake-up call: http://www.tcktcktck.org/wakeup

Early this morning, nearly a million New Yorkers were stunned by the appearance of a “special edition” New York Post blaring headlines that their city could face deadly heat waves, extreme flooding, and other lethal effects of global warming within the next few decades. The most alarming thing about it: the news came from an official City report.

Distributed by over 2000 volunteers throughout New York City, the paper has been created by The Yes Men and a coalition of activists as a wake-up call to action on climate change. It appears one day before a UN summit where Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will push 100 world leaders to make serious commitments to reduce carbon emissions in the lead-up to the Copenhagen climate conference in December. Ban has said that the world has “less than 10 years to halt (the) global rise in greenhouse gas emissions if we are to avoid catastrophic consequences for people and the planet,” adding that Copenhagen is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

Although the 32-page New York Post is a fake, everything in it is 100% true, with all facts carefully checked by a team of editors and climate change experts.

“This could be, and should be, a real New York Post,” said Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men. “Climate change is the biggest threat civilization has ever faced, and it should be in the headlines of every paper, every day until we solve the problem.”

The fake Post’s cover story (“We’re Screwed”) reports the frightening conclusions of a blue-ribbon panel of scientists commissioned by the mayor’s office to determine the potential effects of climate change on the City. That report was released in February of this year, but received very little press at the time.

Other lead articles describe the Pentagon’s alarmed response to global warming (“Clear & Present Disaster”), the U.S. government’s sadly minuscule response to the crisis (“Congress Cops Out on Climate”), China’s alternative energy program (“China’s Green Leap Forward Overtakes U.S.”), and how if the US doesn’t quickly pass a strong climate bill, the crucial Copenhagen climate talks this December could be a “Flopenhagen.”

The paper includes original investigative reporting as well. One article (“Carbon counter counts New Yorkers as fools”) reveals that Deutsche Bank – which erected a seven-story “carbon counter” in central Manhattan – not only invests heavily in coal-mining companies worldwide, but has recently entered the business of coal trading itself.

The paper has the world’s gloomiest weather page, covering the next 70 years rather than just 7 days. The “Around the World” section describes the disproportionate effects of climate change on poorer parts of the world, including extreme droughts, floods, famines, water shortages, mass migrations and conflicts. Developing countries will bear the brunt of climate change effects even though they have done very little to cause the problem.

But the paper isn’t all doom and gloom. An article called “New York Fights Back” notes that the carbon emissions of Big Apple residents are only one third the national average, and that the city is building 1800 miles of bike paths, planting one million trees, and replacing its fleet of police cars with hybrids. There’s also a page of black-humor cartoons (in one, Charlie Brown finds Snoopy drowned), a gossip section that takes no prisoners, and a number of truly cheerful ads – for sex (“Awesome. No carbon emissions.”), tote bags, bicycles, and tap water (“Literally comes right out of your faucet!”).

Another ad promotes civil disobedience, encouraging readers to visit http://BeyondTalk.net and pledge to risk arrest in a planned global action November 30, just before the conference in Copenhagen.

“We need strong action on climate change,” said David Solnit of Mobilization for Climate Justice West, one of the partners in BeyondTalk.net. “But history shows that leaders act only when people take to the streets to demand it. That’s what needs to happen now.”

This paper is one of 2500 initiatives taking place in more than 130 countries as a response to the “Global Wake-up Call” on climate change. For more information, visit www.tcktcktck.org/wakeup

Even if their concern is warranted, which I seriously question, the means they advocate will not make things better but surely make them worse for us all. Remove government regulations restricting the market from developing cleaner solutions, remove government subsidies and most importantly… start enforcing property rights.

Think Twice News: Piggy Patrol Bums Out Freedom Lovers

bile — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:50:39 +0000

Think Twice News Producer gets hassled by the local Fuzz, in Defiance, Ohio.

Think Twice News hopes you enjoy our programs. We appreciate your participation, and encourage all to subscribe to our channel :

( http://www.YouTube.com/ThinkTwiceNews )

And visit our website

( http://www.ThinkTwiceNews.com ).

Interested advertisers will find relevant contact information on our website, or PM us through YouTube.

Director: John Shaw
Producers: Jason Osborne and Edwin Mudge
Production Design and Interviews: Russ Van Ness

Think Twice News: Defiance Tea Party – July 4th, 2009

bile — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:40:06 +0000

We check in with the Tea Party in Defiance, Ohio, on July 4th, 2009, to see if there’s any freedom to be found.

Answer- Yeah.

Think Twice News hopes you enjoy our programs. We appreciate your participation, and encourage all to subscribe to our channel :

( http://www.YouTube.com/ThinkTwiceNews )

And visit our website

( http://www.ThinkTwiceNews.com ).

Interested advertisers will find relevant contact information on our website, or PM us through YouTube.

Director: John Shaw
Producers: Jason Osborne and Edwin Mudge
Production Design and Interviews: Russ Van Ness

James Andrew Carroll, Free State Project participant, expected to turn himself into jail today

bile — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:49:15 +0000

James Andrew Carroll, who was convicted of illegally posessing marijuana on Monday May 18th, 2009, is expected to turn himself into the Cheshire County Jail this afternoon. This all stems from a January 10th, 2009 protest of the war on drugs in which he stood in Railroad Square in Keene, New Hampshire and openly held a bud of marijuana.

Watch this blog, http://twitter.com/blogofbile and http://jailedactivist.info/ for the latest news regarding Andrew. All information is/will be documented on Andrew’s JailedActivist profile.

Rust in Peace Bureaucrash

bile — Sun, 31 May 2009 13:54:44 +0000

I missed the fact that the video I posted last night was done by the new Bureaucrash Crasher in Chief.

Dear BureauCrash:

I would like to briefly introduce myself. My name is Lee Doren, and I will be the new CIC of BureauCrash starting on May 29, 2009. My goal is to take this grassroots movement to the next level with your help. However, in order to make this a success, I would like to hear your input on how BureauCrash can be improved, both in substance and in terms of the website design, etc.

Please leave your feedback at the bottom so that I may consider your input.

My bio is as follows:

1) I grew up in Buffalo, NY;

2) Graduated from the University of Michigan;

3) I then finished my Law Degree at Chicago-Kent College of Law;

4) During Law School, I was on Chicago-Kent’s Moot Court Honor Society team (currently ranked #1 in the Country);

5) Between classes in Law School I started the blog, “Copious Dissent – Your Daily Dose of Liberty,” as a hobby, writing under the alias “Devil’s Advocate.” Copious Dissent soon was linked to most of the major Conservative/ Libertarian blogs, including Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, Instapundit, Gateway Pundit, Pajamas Media, Right Wing News, Ace of Spades, NewsBusters and Rush Limbaugh’s top headlines, etc. As a result, I was invited to numerous conference calls with Senators, Representatives and the American Petroleum Institute;

6) After I passed the Illinois Bar and began looking for work, I started the YouTube Channel, HowTheWorldWorks, in mid-December 2008, which currently has over 8,000 subscribers;

7) As a result of my YouTube videos, I was asked to blog exclusively for Right Wing News with John Hawkins;

8) In Mid-May of this year, I made a video critique of “The Story of Stuff” that was picked up by Fox News and emailed around to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which is how BureauCrash found me;

9) Eventually, I was asked to interview for the CIC position, and was offered the job this week.

Here is my 4-Part critique on “The Story of Stuff.”

Here is a video I made regarding the merging of the Left-Wing Blogs and mainstream Media:

Here is a typical video that I make on HowTheWorldWorks:

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Best,

Lee

There are a few videos he posts that seem to confirm he’s little more then a stereotypical Republican.

@JDTally, @blogofbile and @danrick77 had this back and forth last night:

(05/30/2009 10:44:24 PM) JDTalley: This thread on Bureaucrash will be fun to watch: http://ow.ly/a9dF #andsad #firewall

(05/30/2009 11:58:25 PM) blogofbile: @JDTalley Umm… how exactly does this guy fit in to Bureaucrash’s culture? Am I missing something?

(05/31/2009 12:33:51 AM) JDTalley: @blogofbile CEI is trying to change the culture of Bureaucrash. That’s fine but they should change the name.

(05/31/2009 05:51:12 AM) danrick77: @jdtalley I thought I’d give this guy a chance. Turns out he’s a grade A toolbag. Crasher since 2000 and I’m likely leaving over this.

Rather unfortunate that the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) would do this. Seems libertarianism has become a threat to the average big government Republican due to their slaughtering in recent elections along with the growing popularity of Ron Paul Revolution and libertarian ideas.

If you can’t beat’em, corrupt’em?

Who knows… perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself and the Bureaucrash culture will change Doren and CEI rather then the opposite. Here’s to hope and change.

Congress takes aim at oil speculators

beetlbumjl — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:12:01 +0000

Record prices have prompted a slew of bills to curtail the role of investors, but traders say they could backfire:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Fed up with soaring oil prices and a chorus of people blaming Wall Street speculators, Congress is considering a host of rules aimed at limiting the inflow of investor money into oil contracts.

But oil traders urge caution. While more disclosure is a good thing, they say making it harder for speculators to invest in oil futures could have the opposite effect intended, and send prices higher.

In light of oil’s phenomenal climb from under $50 a barrel to nearly $140 in less than 18 months – and the public belief that Wall Street traders were behind the rise – Congress is awash in bills that attempt to limit the role of speculators. Several have bipartisan support and could soon become law.

“In two days, the price of oil rose $16,” said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., at a joint hearing of two Senate panels on oil speculation Tuesday. “Did I miss something, was there some war in the Middle East?”

“No, something is going on besides supply and demand, and it could be excessive speculation,” he added.

Proposals have included requiring foreign exchanges to provide more information about crude oil trades, limiting the number of contracts speculators are allowed to hold, increasing the amount of money speculators need to put up to buy an oil contract, and removing speculators from the market entirely and limiting trade to just producers and consumers.

Government regulators said they are monitoring the markets for evidence of manipulation – someone withholding production in an attempt to bid up prices – and are gathering more information on the role speculators play.

“If the CFTC sounds busy, it is,” said Walter Lukken, acting chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “This small agency is working hard to protect the public from manipulation and abuse.”

Lukken said the CFTC has just reached an agreement with the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) in London for that exchange to comply with U.S. disclosure rules – basically letting regulators know who is buying oil contracts.

Oil traders say requiring more information from foreign exchanges is a good idea, as markets function better the more transparent they are.

But they urge lawmakers not to hamper speculative trading. They say big oil users such as refiners or airlines – unable to find a counter party to offset their bets – could send prices higher by hoarding product or through panic buying.

“They have to be very, very careful with what they’re doing here,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago. “I always worry when politicians think they know better than the market what the price of oil should be.”

Another trader agreed, especially when it comes to doing something such as raising margin requirements, the amount of money traders are required to put up to buy contracts.

“You’re raising the cost of doing business for the people who need the futures market,” Stephen Schork, publisher of the industry newsletter The Schork Report, told CNNMoney.com. “In the long run, it’s bullish.”

CFTC’s Lukken also said raising the margin requirement may have a negative effect.

“Margin (requirement) is a very blunt tool, and it could potentially drive markets overseas” where there is even less regulation, said Lukken.

A spokesman for Sen. Durbin said proposals to raise the margin requirements have been removed from legislation after lawmakers listened to concerns from the industry.

The airline industry, a big user of oil, urged Congress to take action.

“Crude oil prices today are unnecessarily high and distorted due, in large part, to market manipulation and excessive speculation,” Jim May, president of the Air Transport Association, said at the hearing. “The impact of these unprecedented jet fuel prices on the airlines is devastating and airlines may see 2008 losses nearing $10 billion, on par with the worst financial year in aviation history.”

May called on Congress to enact more oversight of foreign exchanges, and to “curtail extremely risky investments by pension funds that jeopardize savings for employees across the country.”

Voice of reason in bold. In response to Jim May, president of the Air Transport Association, you have to wonder what kind of margins the airlines have been running on if it’s been cheaper to fly many places than taking a car, bus, or train. This business model just doesn’t hold up to > $150 barrel oil. Also, who would have thought that by lending investment banks money to ease their liquidity crisis, that the same banks would turn around and invest it in something that the gov’t can’t debase, commodities? (So much for fighting inflation.) The housing bubble is over, so let’s cue up the next one. Finally, Senator Durbin, I’m sure the midas touch of Congress will fix everything through another layer of regulation. And why yes, there is a war in the middle east, we’re involved and we’re trying to start another one.

Reporter Hassled By Union Station Security While Reporting a Story on Photographers Being Hassled at Union Station

bile — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:48:20 +0000

http://dcist.com/…

This is pretty good: Fox 5’s Tom Fitzgerald decided to do a report on the ongoing harassment of photographers inside D.C.’s busy Union Station, a topic we’ve written about and heard about from our own Flickr contributors many times before. While he was there interviewing Amtrak’s spokesperson on the subject, who in fact told the reporter that photography is absolutely allowed inside the Amtrak portion of the station, a security guard came up to the Fox 5 crew and told them turn their cameras off. You can watch the report here. Interestingly enough, the company that owns the mall area of Union Station never got back to Fox 5 to clarify their policy.

If we can get the photography protesters to be consistent and persistent we could reverse this. It’s more likely to get this than the bikers.

Court rules that the state had no right to take FLDS children

bile — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:10:17 +0000

http://www.cnn.com/…

The state of Texas should not have removed more than 400 children it took from a polygamist sect’s ranch, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

Earlier this year, authorities raided the Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, Texas, after they received reports of child abuse.

About 460 children were taken from the ranch, which is run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a polygamist sect linked to the jailed “prophet” Warren Steed Jeffs.

Parents have denied the claims of abuse and have been fighting to get their children back.

This is a great turn of events. Just in the past days I’ve heard that another court in Texas hearing some part of this case told the mothers that if they wanted their children back they’d have to repudiate their religion. As I understand it that’s an unforgivable sin, blasphemy. If true that’s absolutely disgusting. Effectively asking them to choose between eternal damnation or their child. In any case this ruling is the first positive thing to come out of this travesty. Hopefully it continues on this new path. Unfortunately even if nothing is ever found likely no one from the State will be held responsible for this. No charges will be brought or if they are nothing will come from it. No restitution. The Nuremberg defense will be used and at worst maybe a reprimand or a bureaucrat or two will loose their job. Nothing however to change the likely pre-existing belief the FLDS had that the modern world was controlled by Satan. They have no doubt now.

It bugs me that as much as the MSM talks about this case they still don’t really mention that the original call was a fake. That the whole operation was completely unfounded. That several if not dozens of the women are over the age of 18 yet kept in custody as children. Likely they prefer to stay with the younger ones but it’s still disgusting.

Update:

Here is the AP version:

A state appellate court has ruled that child welfare officials had no right to seize more than 400 children living at a polygamist sect’s ranch.The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the grounds for removing the children were “legally and factually insufficient” under Texas law. They did not immediately order the return of the children.

Child welfare officials removed the children on the grounds that the sect pushed underage girls into marriage and sex and trained boys to become future perpetrators.

The appellate court ruled the chaotic hearing held last month did not demonstrate the children were in any immediate danger, the only measure of taking children from their homes without court proceedings.

Philly Police Beating Caught on TV Video

bile — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:58:54 +0000

http://abcnews.go.com/…

A half-dozen police officers kicked and beat three men pulled from a car during a traffic stop as a TV helicopter taped the confrontation.The video, shot by WTXF-TV, shows three police cars stopping a car Monday, two days after a city officer was shot to death responding to a bank robbery.

The tape shows about a dozen officers gathering around the vehicle. About a half-dozen officers hold two of the men on the ground. Both are kicked repeatedly, while one is seen being punched; one also appears to be struck with a baton.

The third man is also kicked and ends up on the ground.

“On the surface it certainly does not look good in terms of the amount of force that was used,” Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said. “But we don’t want to rush to judgment.”

No need to rush to judgment… seems to me all the evidence necessary is right here. Five of these officers are off the street now… just not in a jail where they belong.

Ron Paul gets most military contributions, again

bile — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:26:57 +0000

http://www.airforcetimes.com/…

Republicans receive the largest slice of presidential campaign contributions made by military members and their spouses, but leading anti-war candidates are getting a substantial cut, too, according to an independent analysis of political contributions.

From January 2007 through March of this year, service members or civilian employees of the military donated at least $766,000 to presidential candidates, according to data made available April 20 and provided by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group in Washington.

The analysis included donations of at least $200 made by individuals who listed their employer as one of the four branches of the military – Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps – or the Coast Guard, National Guard, Army Air Force Exchange Service, armed forces or military.

These donors gave the largest amounts to Rep. Ron Paul, the long-shot Republican candidate from Texas who has acknowledged defeat in the nomination process but continues to campaign, and Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrat from Illinois.

During the reporting period, Paul – a former Air Force surgeon who broke with his party to vote against the Iraq war – received the most military contributions, with $201,271.

That’s significantly more than the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain from Arizona, who received $132,133 from military donors, according to CRP.

“I think that our fighting men and women want to protect America, defend our Constitution and defend our borders,” said Jesse Benton, a spokesman for Rep. Paul’s campaign. “I think they’re sick and tired of being sent overseas on these police actions and getting caught in the middle of these civil wars, and want someone like Ron Paul speaking sense.

“They signed up to defend our country, not police the world,” Benton said, “and I think they’re hungry for leaders who do that.”

Obama, meanwhile, whose opposition to invading Iraq has been a centerpiece of his campaign, has received $178,456 in military contributions, compared to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s $85,000, the analysis shows.

“To see two anti-war candidates getting more money from the people fighting the war or providing support for the war effort was surprising to us,” said Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics.

However, the donations cannot be considered representative of military employees’ political preferences as a whole because the analysis does not include donations of less than $200, the point at which campaign finance law requires campaigns to disclose the name of a donor and contribution amount. Thus, individuals who give less than $200 aren’t counted.

“The picture could be completely different if you were able to look at smaller donors,” Ritsch said. “You’re looking at a tiny slice of the military who have enough disposable income to donate to a candidate.”

Overall, military donors still favor Republicans to Democrats, 62 percent to 38 percent, according to CRP. But Ritsch said at the beginning of the war, three-quarters of military donors favored GOP candidates.

And you can bet this won’t get much MSM coverage.