Pranks on The Huffington Post

Confirmed: Yes Men Behind Prank Of Canada At COP15

2009-12-14T10:26:30Z

UPDATE (5:55 P.M. EST): Huffington Post Green Editor Katherine Goldstein, who is in Copenhagen at the COP15 Climate Change Summit, spoke to Andy Bichlbaum of The Yes Men earlier this evening about today's prank -- and Bichlbaum confirms that the Yes Men, were behind it. Asked about whether he thought he might be sued for today's stunt, Bichlbaum quipped, "Yes. I think Stephen Harper is so mad that he will personally sue us. And yes, so will the Wall Street Journal."

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So, did you hear the one about Canada making a huge splash at the COP15 Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen by completely reversing its climate change policy and setting aggressive new carbon reduction targets?

Well, then you've heard about a high-concept prank, which seems to have been perpetrated by someone willing and capable of going to dizzying lengths to show policymakers what they should be doing to combat climate change.

We're guessing this is probably the work of the Yes Men, obviously!

This time, the world was fooled by a well-timed press release and a well-constructed facsimile of a Wall Street Journal online article.

The fun began this morning when the Yes Men put out the following release, purporting to come from the Assistant Press Secretary, of the Canadian Office of the Minister of the Environment. Here it is in full:

CANADA ANNOUNCES NEW AGENDA FOR CLIMATE AND WORLD DEVELOPMENT
Plan includes stricter emissions reductions and immediate "climate debt" bailouts for most affected countries

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- In a major development coming three days before the final round of UN climate change negotiations in Copenhagen, and responding to the recent concerns expressed by the G77 bloc of countries, Canada's Attache for Environment and Planning announced today an ambitious plan for a new climate change framework that answers vital concerns voiced by developing nations.

Dubbed "Agenda 2020," the plan sets strict new emissions-reductions guidelines for Canada and fast-tracks financing for vulnerable countries beginning in 2010.

"Today the G77 has again made their voice very clear," said Jim Prentice, Canada's Minister for the Environment. "This policy is our answer. Long in discussion, and slated for release later this week, Agenda 2020 is Canada's commitment to a science-based approach to climate change, and our way to assert our partnership with the developing world."

Agenda 2020 sets binding emissions reductions targets of 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 80% by 2050, in line with the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and approaching the levels demanded by the African Group (link). The plan also introduces a new instrument, known as the "Climate Debt Mechanism" (CDM), committing Canada to much-needed funding to those developing countries facing the most dire consequences of climate change. CDM payments will begin with 1% and rise to the equivalent of 5% of Canada's GDP annually by 2030.

"We believe all people will benefit from an equitable climate deal that truly energizes the world economy," said Prentice.

The initial 2010 CDM outlay (representing 1% of Canada's GDP, or $13 billion) will be allocated to the African countries for emissions-reduction strategies and alternative-energy development programs. Payments will also finance resilience-building projects in specific communities already facing the results of climate change or threatened with its most dire consequences.

The CDM is the world's first financial mechanism that truly addresses the rising costs of climate change in developing countries. It follows a November announcement from Canada and its Commonwealth partners committing $10 billion to climate change adaptation for vulnerable countries (link). By providing quick access to adaptation finance, the CDM builds on this commitment and takes the global lead in supporting vulnerable countries. CDM payments will be completely separate from pre-existing development assistance and will be considered to be payments in a balance of trade.

"Canada is taking the long view on the world economy," said Prentice. "Nobody benefits from a world in peril. Contributing to the development of other nations and taking full responsibilities for our emissions is simple Canadian good sense. We want to show the world that Canada is a leader on climate change."

The full details of the CDM framework will be released when Prime Minister Stephen Harper attends the high-level session of the Copenhagen climate talks this Wednesday.

All of that: totally fake! But it was backed up online by a story by "Gustav Rainer" at the "Wall Street Journal," which reads in part:

Canadian delegates to the United Nation Climate Summit in Copenhagen announced a significant shift in the country's climate stance today.

The announcement, in part seemingly prompted by today's walkout of the G77 bloc of nations, represents a major change in tone and substance for the large energy-producing nation. The new plan, dubbed "Agenda 2020," details an aggressive new commitment to curtailing carbon emissions, and lays out the guidelines for a new climate adaptation fund for developing nations.

"This agreement tackles the core drivers of social and ecological vulnerability," said Matthew Delane, Canada's Attache for Environment and Planning in Copenhagen. "It's nothing less than a new vision of international responsibility."

Since then, Canadian officials have been forced to walk this all back. In a press release from Frederic Baril, the actual press secretary of the Office of the Minister of the Environment, he combats the "spoof press release":

UPDATE: And now, we've been punked! This press release, which appears to walk back the original fake press release is ALSO A FAKE. This is a tangled web being woven!

Canadian Government Deplores Spoof Releases, False Hopes

OTTAWA, Ont. -- December 14, 2009 -- One hour ago, a spoof press release targeted Canada in order to generate hurtful rumors and mislead the Conference of Parties on Canada's positions on climate change, and to damage Canada's standing with the international business community.

The release, from "press@enviro-canada.ca," alleges Canada's acceptance of unrealistic emissions-reduction targets, as well as a so-called "Climate Debt Mechanism," a bilateral agreement between Canada and Africa to furnish that continent with enormous sums in "reparation" for climate damage and to "offset" adaptation.

Unfortunately, the spoof release was reported in major international outlets.

UPDATE #2: Yet another spoof press release, this one apologizing for all the confusion:

Tragic Ugandan Reaction to False "Canada" Announcement. Passionate response highlights cruelty of thoughtless pranksters

OTTAWA, Ont. -- December 14, 2009 -- We at Environment Canada wish to thank the international press community for their measured and understanding response to the hoax that struck our agency earlier this afternoon, while expressing our condolences to the Ugandan delegation who were swept up in the excitement of this false future "vision."

This sophisticated operation was reported in the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, and a number of other outlets as the irresponsible spoof that it was.

Environment Canada wishes to stress that the Ugandan delegation's impassioned response to the announcement is a dramatic tragedy for those who stand to suffer the most.

"It is the height of cruelty, hypocrisy, and immorality to infuse with false hopes the spirit of people who are already, and will additionally, bear the brunt of climate change's terrible human effects," said Jim Prentice, Canada's Minister for the Environment.

Signs point to the Yes Men, whose primary way of pranking-the-world-in-order-to-save-it is to pass themselves off as representatives of an organization and make big splashy announcements about major policy changes. Recently, the Yes Men posed as representatives of the United States Chamber of Commerce, and staged a press conference at which they announced that the Chamber was adopting a more progressive stance on climate change policy. The Yes Men have also previously pulled off remarkably well-built newspaper facsimiles.

Last week, the Yes Men attempted to use projectors to turn the Hopenhagen Globe that sits in the middle of Copenhagen's City Hall Square, into a massive anti-Coca Cola billboard. Their attempt was quickly ferreted out by Danish police.

The Huffington Post's Green Editor, Katherine Goldstein, who is on the ground in Copenhagen, reports that sources close to The Yes Men were acting very coy, "smiling," while saying, "Who said it was the Yes Men?"

We hope to be able to say so soon!

UPDATE: For the moment, if the Yes Men had anything to do with this, they are remaining coy:

Yes, Uganda was also punked as well. The Ugandan official in this video is not a Ugandan official This video is also, apparently, part of the hoax.

So many fakes within hoaxes within pranks. The best we can offer is this report from The Globe And Mail:

It's not clear who is behind all this but the suspicion is that it is the work of an American group called the Yes Men. They have pulled these sorts of stunts before, attacking the corporate world and globalization through their spoofs, which include making websites look authentic. The Yes Men, according to their spokespeople in the United States, are in Copenhagen and they are tweeting about the spoof.

"Yes, we have heard a bit about this hoax, we are investigating," Joseph Huff-Hannon, who works with the group, told The Globe in an email. "Word has it that more will be revealed tomorrow at 13:00 pm Copenhagen time. I hear that those responsible can't speak about it tonight though."

Any minute now, I expect a call from Copenhagen, or Ottawa, or Uganda, telling us that this report is a hoax, also.

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

Halle Tecco: Prison Programs Take Innovative Approach To Reducing Recidivism

2009-10-19T13:06:15Z

Here's a question to the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world: how do we turn tax-consuming inmates into tax paying, law-abiding citizens? Traditional prison rehabilitation programs don't seem to work; in fact, our recidivism rate is grim with 67% prisoners rearrested within 3 years of being released.

Even after ex-convicts have served their time, they are fighting the system to find employment. Without a stable job, it becomes easier to turn back to a life of crime. But in this $60 billion/year prison industry, there are a few creative programs that are trying to solve a deeper problem. Here are five unique prison programs, aiming at changing the lives of some of the 7.2 million prisoners:

Puppies. In Kansas, homeless dogs are matched with violent offenders to help them "rediscover their humanity". Puppies Behind Bars trains inmates to raise puppies to become service dogs for the disabled and explosive detection canines for enforcement.

Entrepreneurship. This non-profit teaches "MBA-level" classes to prisoners, especially drug-dealers and gang leaders who have shown some entrepreneurial tendencies in their past. They aim at leveraging this proven skill-set to inspire a deeper change and give prisoners a sense of purpose and leadership.

Theater. Studies have shown that the use of dramatic techniques leads to significant improvements in the cognitive behavior of the program's participants inside prison and a reduction in recidivism once paroled.

Arts. Being able to express their emotions through art or writing gives inmates hope for the future, as well as some release from frustration, lack of self worth and hopelessness.

Yoga. The rehabilitative benefits of yoga and other mindfulness practices can help prisoners deal with stress, anxiety, and depression. Maintaining a long-term practice can actually change ones' outlook on life and behavior.

Our prison system seems to perpetuate its population, instead of diminish it. While short-term costs of these unusual programs may be high; if they prove to be successful in reducing recidivism rates, they would be cost-effective in the long run.

Catherine Rohr, who gave up a six figure job on Wall Street to run the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) says it best:

The real success comes from turning a tax consumer into a tax payer, a deadbeat dad into a supportive father, a societal terrorist into a community contributor, an influence of evil into a positive role model, a waste of talent into a man of realized potential. You can't argue with those results.

The Yes Men: Interview With Andy Bichlbaum (VIDEO)

2009-09-24T16:16:03Z

Andy Bichlbaum is having himself a busy week. With the help of a cadre of dedicated volunteers, he and his partner in crime, Mike Bonnano -- who form the culture jamming, "identity correcting" satirists known as The Yes Men -- produced and distributed a spoofed copy of the New York Post, filled with critical news and information on climate change and environmental issues. Ten months prior, they pulled off a similar stunt, distributing a facsimile of the New York Times. Later in the week, Bichlbaum and Bonnano followed up their Post prank by unveiling the Survivaball -- the essential global survival device for the modern plutocrat -- down by the East River. During the unveiling, Bichlbaum was arrested by the NYPD on an outstanding warrant. He ended up spending a day in the stir. Despite a busy and arduous week, one thing is clear: Andy Bichlbaum is having fun.

But beneath his good cheer and easy laughs lies a deep concern, which emerged readily over the course of an interview with The Huffington Post. It revealed itself through his vocabulary: One word that Bichlbaum uses again and again is "catastrophe," and various forms thereof. He applies this term to all manner of ills: environmental degradation, the decline of the media. And this is actually reassuring: The Yes Men are not laughing in the face of catastrophe. The laughter they generate is an energy, intended to avert catastrophe. We spoke to Bichlbaum by phone.

THE HUFFINGTON POST: What inspired you to go green with this recent action?

ANDY BICHLBAUM: Well, half of our movie [The Yes Men Fix The World] is about global warming. The movie documents a number of actions we did from 2004 to, basically, the present. We start by posing as Dow reps on the BBC and take responsibility for the Bhopal catastrophe, as they should. We found that the stock market actually punishes the Dow for doing that.

And then the question that comes out of that is: well, if companies can't do the right thing because there's a stock market making them do the wrong thing, how far can that go? How bad can that get? And the answer is: Climate change and the destruction of the planet.

THE HUFFINGTON POST: So, pretty bad, as it turns out.

BICHLBAUM: It's a net negative. So, that's how we got into it. And Bhopal is also a green issue. Companies toxify the environment. The WTO. It's all the same issue. But it's an issue that affects everybody and that everyone is aware of.

THE HUFFINGTON POST: Was this an easier undertaking, having pulled off the NYT parody?

BICHLBAUM: Yes. Much. Once we knew how to do it, it was much easier. It's still hard. But it wasn't anywhere near as hard and there weren't as many questions. We had some really amazing collaborators that made it work. We did it all in a month, instead of six months, and even that one month wasn't as hard.

THE HUFFINGTON POST: I saw that some of your volunteers were detained outside the News Corp. building, and that you were arrested during the subsequent demonstration of the Survivaball. Is everyone safe and out of custody right now? Do you expect any further action by authorities or from the NYPD?

BICHLBAUM: Yeah. I got out yesterday around noon, after 26 hours in the clink. All charges were dismissed for me. It was an outstanding bicycle ticket, that's the problem there. It was really excellent, excellent timing! I couldn't have engineered it if I wanted to, I just happened to have this warrant, and so instead of giving me a ticket to be dismissed -- and all the charges will be dismissed -- in my case, they couldn't do that because they had this warrant for my arrest because I was bicycling through Washington Square Park, which is under this rather intense gentrification process, so they don't want anyone doing anything bad in the park.

THE HUFFINGTON POST: We live in such an attention-grabbing culture, and creative agit-prop is no different. The Post parody played out alongside the release of Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story, in which Moore does things like wrap Wall Street in police tape and attempt to make citizens' arrests. But, going back to the stuff you did in the first "Yes Men" movie, and through these two newspaper parodies, it strikes me that you all make a clear choice to hide your work in plain sight. I was wondering if you could talk about what led you to make that aesthetic choice.

BICHLBAUM: That's a really difficult and good question that I've never answered before. You know, I don't think it was a choice. I don't think we made a choice to do this the way we do it. It all just fell together, and happened to us. For a while, we were kind of sneaky. We had a website set up that pretended to be a subversive clearinghouse for what we called "sabotage." Like, people working at corporations might screw with a product they were producing, to make a political point that way, and kind of give them a safety net. It was all fictional, but at a certain point, we set up another fake website about the WTO, and when we got an invitation to a conference, we went. And then it became something else. But we didn't set out to do that, it just kind of happened.

THE HUFFINGTON POST: Do you see any different quality in the results you garner for operating in this manner? Does this methodology give you an advantage? Does it allow for a deeper connection?

BICHLBAUM: I think the main power that we try to exploit is the humor. Doing things that make people laugh. It's the sugarcoating that gets people in the door to see the movie. It's a hilarious movie and people want to see it. And then they learn a lot of scary, awful things and hopefully they want to change them. That is part of the aesthetic choice we make. We show ourselves stumbling along as we do it, show what happens, and it sort of sends the message: anyone can do it. We never got any training, and yet, here we are.

THE HUFFINGTON POST: Have you gotten any feedback from people about the awareness you raised with the Post parody?

BICHLBAUM: Yeah! And some of the stories in it, some of the stories that we exposed in it have been picked up by the mainstream media. Things that were hidden in plain sight, like you said, like the cover story: The Mayor's Office commissioned a Blue Ribbon panel of scientists to determine what would happen to New York if the climate scientists' predictions come true. And it's pretty catastrophic. We outline the terrible things that will happen. And a couple of media outlets actually took that up and reported it, many months after the study was completed. In February, when the study was released, nobody covered it. And it's actually pretty big news. So we broke that story.

And another story that's gotten a little bit of traction in the press is the Deutsche Bank one, about their giant carbon counter. And we discovered that they've begun recently trading in coal. That was the whole purpose. To report real news for once.

THE HUFFINGTON POST: You've gone directly at the press now on two occasions. And one of the things I think the New York Post parody demonstrates is just how it doesn't take a titanic effort to provide the public with information on what's happening in the environment. That information can be reported on, distributed, consumed, enjoyed... What do you think of the job the traditional press is doing, covering important events, informing the public on critical issues, and requiring you to afford them the opportunity to take a second bite at the apple on stories like this Bloomberg blue ribbon study?

BICHLBAUM: Well, they're doing a terrible job. And it's not necessarily the journalists' fault, though by and large they could be doing a better job, it's the structure they're a part of. It's increasingly getting streamlined and made a part of the market economy, where profit is the only value that matters. So papers are closing, and journalists are being laid off, bloggers are replacing journalists because they're willing to do it for free. It's really catastrophic. When you have comedy shows providing news for people, it's a really bad situation.

THE HUFFINGTON POST: You guys are going to be honored with the Creative Time Prize for Art and Social Change. What does that sort of recognition mean to you?

BICHLBAUM: Great! You know, it's nice, obviously. It's flattering. It also means we have the chance to tell young artists who are wondering what they should do with their talents that this is a good thing to do with them, and get them involved. It's a way to recruit creative people to use their art for change, instead of a gallery art career of dubious value.

THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD will open at Film Forum in New York City on October 7 and will open nationally on October 23. Also on the 23rd, The Yes Men will receive the Creative Time Prize for Art and Social Change at the Creative Time Summit. During that time, The Yes Men will treat attendees to a special presentation. Bichlbaum says that the plans are still coming together, but that it's likely to be a mix of previewing what's to come and offering instruction and advice to other artists on how they can put their creative energy to work for social change. Perhaps they could teach the assembled on how to put out a newspaper that actually reports news! Tickets are only $35, which makes it a pretty cost-effective alternative to journalism school.

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

7 Pranks That Ended Badly For The Perpetrator (VIDEO)

2009-09-23T15:55:36Z

Human Tetris Video: Skateboarders In SF Play Life-Sized Game

2009-09-23T13:26:47Z

In an amazing feat of prankery, a group of skateboarding Tetris fans took over the streets of San Francisco to play a life-sized game complete with spatially accurate, multi-colored game pieces attached to their helmets.

WATCH:

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Kevin Grandia: Yes Men Run "We're Screwed" Edition of New York Post

2009-09-21T13:49:25Z

Close to a million New Yorkers woke up to a very "special" edition of the New York Post today with a headline screaming "We're Screwed" and a lead story outlining how "climate change caused by human-created greenhouse gases is threatening the health, livelihood, and security of New Yorkers -- especially those who take the subway to work."

Not something most would expect from the Post, which has never been too supportive of anything climate change related. Turns out it was an elaborate prank edition organized by the culture-jamming duo known as the Yes Men. If you don't know the Yes Men, they are a two-man team (with an amazing supporting cast) that gets its message out on important social issues through various creative culture jamming campaigns.

To give you an idea of what they've done in the past. look no further than the Calgary Oil and Gas symposium where they were invited to speak under the guise of being ExxonMobil big wigs.

Today's Yes Men campaign was orchestrated to coincide with the opening of New York Climate Week and they sure did raise some eyebrows around town with fake Post stories like "Bono's Big Belch" and "Pentagon top brass warn: Act now, or pay later with 'lives.'" In their news release, the Yes Men made it very clear that while the newspaper stories were somewhat tongue-in-cheek, they were all based on real stories, reports and research -- something that most Post readers are also not normally used to.

Here's a video they released this morning:

"SPECIAL EDITION" NEW YORK POST from The Yes Men on Vimeo.

Check out the New York Climate Week site for all the other cool events happening around town to help raise awareness and send a message to world leaders that we want them to take action on this important issue.

Rory O'Connor: Just Say Yes Men!

2009-09-21T12:33:45Z

I've long been a fan for years of the zany duo of performance artists/political activists known as the Yes Men, ever since their turn-of-the-century stunt of creating their own "corrected" World Trade Organization website at GATT.org, or the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Soon their fake site began to receive real email queries from confused visitors, including invitations to address various elite groups on behalf of the WTO. Naturally, and hysterically, the Men responded as if they actually represented the WTO -- all of which is documented in their very funny and very pointed 2004 film "The Yes Men."

Now the Men have a new, almost as amusing documentary about to hit movie screens across America -- "The Yes Men Fix the World," which they accurately describe as "a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations, lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world's most outrageous pranks."

But it is in their actual stunts -- and not just in their documentation of them -- that the Yes Men truly excel. Of late they have taken to targeting the media directly, such as last fall's fake New York Times... which declared the Iraq War over, universities to be free, bike paths expanded -- and even announced the much-anticipated resignation of Times Op-Ed apologist -- oops, I mean, columnist -- Thomas Friedman.

Now comes their latest effort -- this week's stunning "SPECIAL EDITION" New York Post, trumpeting the headline "WE'RE SCREWED" in large point type.

"SPECIAL EDITION" NEW YORK POST from The Yes Men on Vimeo.

The Yes Men's latest elaborate media hoax/heist blanketed Manhattan early Monday morning with a fake "truth-telling tabloid" about climate change and how it will soon affect New York City -- and the rest of the world...

New Yorkers were met with the appearance of a "special edition" of the Post highlighting warnings that the 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 the spoofy newspaper was that the news within it came from a spooky -- but official -- City report.

Distributed by thousands of volunteers throughout New York City, the paper was created "as a wake-up call to action on climate change" by a coalition of activists. It appeared just a day before a United Nations summit in which Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will attempt to persuade world leaders to reduce carbon emissions in the lead-up to December's upcoming climate conference in Copenhagen. (Ban has called the Copenhagen gathering a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" to halt the global rise in greenhouse gas emissions "if we are to avoid catastrophic consequences for people and the planet.")

Although the 32-page Post is a fake, everything in it is true. "This could be, and should be, a real New York Post," said Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum. "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 reports the real conclusions of a scientific panel commissioned by the mayor's office to determine the potential effects of climate change on New York City. (The report, released in February, received little attention in the real media.) Other articles described the Pentagon's warnings about global warming; the government's inadequate 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 turn out instead to be a "Flopenhagen."

The paper includes original investigative reporting, such as an article revealing that Deutsche Bank -- which erected a seven-story "carbon counter" in central Manhattan -- not only invests heavily in coal-mining companies worldwide, but recently entered the business of coal trading itself. It also displays the world's gloomiest weather page, covering the next 70 years -- rather than just the next 7 days - and an "Around the World" section that describes the disproportionate effects of climate change -- such as droughts, floods, famines, water shortages, mass migrations and conflicts -- on the poor. Although they have done little to cause the problem, developing countries will bear the brunt of its effects.

But all the news in the faux Post isn't bad -- one article ("New York Fights Back") reports that the Big Apple's carbon emissions are only one third the national average. There's also a lot of Yes Men-style humor, including a page of cartoons and a number of pointed but funny ads -- for sex ("Awesome. No carbon emissions."), tote bags, and even tap water ("Literally comes right out of your faucet!"). A more serious ad promotes civil disobedience and encourages readers to risk arrest in a planned global action November 30, just before the conference in Copenhagen.

Scared of the future effects of climate change? Angry at the media's failures to highlight the problem? Anxious to do something about it?

Just Say Yes Men!

(Note: The fake New York Post paper is one of 2,500 initiatives taking place in more than 130 countries, part of the "Global Wake-up Call" on climate change. For more information, visit www.tcktcktck.org/wakeup or contact The Yes Men at tabloid@theyesmen.org. To see the New York City report on climate change click here. Link to video news release: http://nypost-se.com/video/)

Fake New York Post : The Yes Men's Latest Takes On The Environment

2009-09-21T09:38:36Z

Just about ten months after the successful distribution of a lovingly crafted, satirical facsimile of the New York Times, the activist-pranksters known as The Yes Men have distributed a fake edition of the New York Post throughout New York City. This spoof bears the headline, "We're Screwed," so, naturally, the fakeness of the paper will probably escape detection, even among discerning employees of the New York Post.

The fake Post focuses on environmental issues. And while the paper is fake, the reporting is entirely on the level. The "We're Screwed" lead story documents the findings of the New York City Panel on Climate Change. "New York Fights Back" details how citizens are taking initiative to be environmentally conscious. The fake version of Page Six even "gossips" about the environmental activism of stars like Brad Pitt and Seth Rogen. In fact, many people will probably penetrate this fake by turning to Page Six, and wondering where all the venality is.

Of course, the Yes Men -- whose typical stock in trade is to pose as corporate or government spokespeople, gain access to high-profile events, "make shocking and denigrating comments about workers and consumers and then point out what appears to be a lack of shock or anger in the response to their prank" -- have taken care to cleverly plug two forthcoming documentaries: Franny Armstrong's The Age Of Stupid and their own The Yes Men Fix The World.

WATCH:

As before, anyone missing out on the print edition of the Fake New York Post can enjoy an online version here.

PREVIOUSLY, on the HUFFINGTON POST:
Fake New York Times Says All Problems Will Be Solved By July 2009
New York Times Prankers On How They Pulled Off Hoax
SurvivaBall: New Yes Men Prank Focuses On Global Warming (VIDEO)

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/16/survivaball-new-yes-men-p_n_288550.html

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

SurvivaBall: New Yes Men Prank Focuses On Global Warming (VIDEO)

2009-09-16T11:28:39Z

The Yes Men are back and this time they're going green. Nine months ago the group of socially-minded pranksters pulled off an elaborate hoax, distributing thousands of free copies of a fake edition of the "New York Times" dated July 4, 2009. It declared that the Iraq War was over, that Bush had been indicted for treason, and that all public universities were now free.

While the Yes Men, aka Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos, generally practice "identity correction" by pretending to be spokesmen for prominent organizations such as the WTO, McDonalds, or Dow, in the case of their newest prank the men created their own company: SurvivaBall.

"SurvivaBall is nothing less than a self-contained living system--truly, a gated community for one. If you have a SurvivaBall, even if everyone else is dying, at least you can weather all storms."

Of course, while SurvivaBall is its own brand, it was created by America's largest companies (the Website boasts the logos of Shell, Ford, Exxon, GM, etc.) to avoid dealing with their impact on the environment in a non-profitable manner:

"While others look to Senate bills or UN accords for a climate solution, we look to our best engineers. And our expert team has come up with a solution in perfect accord with our values. Technological. Profitable. And, dare we say, beautiful."

The Yes Men first introduced the SurvivaBall back in 2006 as the brainchild of Haillburton. "We were targeting Halliburton because they're the most iconic example of companies profiting from global warming, climate changes and even natural disasters like in New Orleans," they said.

The ball itself, which will allow you to live without the pesky reliance on nature, features a Food Reprocessor, Hyperfine Elasticity Units, and Communications and Infrastructure Monitoring Assemblage, and can suck energy from a variety of sources.

A tipster told Gawker that the Website and following video "are just laying the groundwork for next week's stunt" which will include floating a bunch of folks in "SurvivaBalls" down the East River.

WATCH:

The Adventues of Rocky and Gatewinkel (or When Gatemouth Met Hackshaw)

2009-09-13T11:00:53Z

It did not start out well between me and with Rock.

Rock had introduced himself to the New York blogocracy in fall 05 with an incredibly pompous post on a thread on the Politicker, the New York Observer's Ben Smith edited political blog, which, at the time was like Rick's in Casablanca, the place where everybody goes.

Rock's non-germane post on a long forgotten thread since lost to the ages listed all his credential and invited folks to email him. It also invited and received much derision and laughter, including my own.

Most of the catcalls came from folks who thought "Rock Hackshaw" was the silliest nom de blogue they'd ever heard. I assured them it was real, and told the tale about how several pieces of specifications of objections to the petitions for a slate of candidates, including Rock and another perennial loser named Wellington Sharpe, had once disappeared from the Brooklyn Board of Elections during a ballot access challenge, and how later, part of the petition itself later nearly disappeared from the Board while being carried in the backpack of one of the slate's hired hands.

For some reason, Rock went ballistic.

We were off to a great start.

Although Rock didn't know it then, we'd actually started a bit earlier, when I was one of the folks working on the petition challenge against. Rock's slate. We met each other one more time, two years later, when Rock outlined his theory of why the court would permit his candidates, who'd file for a party position which did not exist, remain on the ballot as candidates for the Democratic State Committee.

As per usual, he was wrong.

Things had gotten more peaceable as time went on, but one Sunday, during a thread on the endorsement of Carl Andrews for Congress by Dov Hikind, someone(s) had been riding Rock's ass all afternoon. The thread had turned into a "Rock Festival" and I (joined by at least one other poster I suspect held elected office) had gently ribbed Rock about it:

"I thought when WNEW-FM went off the air that AOR was dead in this City; but I was wrong; the Politicker is the one place in New York where you get all Rock all the time. The Politicker: "The Place Where Rock Lives".

Later, I actually wrote to partially agree with one thing Rock said (my recall is that he had opined that white racism had created the context for the Charles Barrons of the world to exist), and the person riding Rock started riding me, saying that Rock was answerable for supporting racists (meaning, I presume, Barron). I said this was true, but that Rock, and his anonymous opponent, were also answerable for turning an interesting thread into an exercise in self abuse, with all hands on dick. My actual language was somewhat harsh (I think the term "Rocks in his head" came up), but since Ben subsequently deleted it, and all of what followed, it is also lost to history. Several other folks then joined in, and Rock did a meltdown, saying he was quitting the blog and never coming back.

I was pretty sorry it happened. I don't really think political blogging should be about the posters (although I regret to say that this assertion is abnegated by the kind of exercises in self indulgence your are currently reading). When Rock confined himself to the business at hand (rather than boasting about his curriculum vitae- sorry to break this to you Rockwell, but the Columbia School of Broadcasting is not part of the Ivy League), he gave the largely whiteboy blogging community an insight into a different strain of thought we probably benefited from hearing.

It's not that Rock is so great; despite what the cult which has grown up around him believes, he ain't Woodstein (But who is? Not even Ben Smith), he's just the only political blogger or reporter in the City who talks to any Caribbeans. It's not he's so good; it's that the mainstream press, and the white blogosphere, are so deficient in reporting on minority communities (a point I'm sure Rock would has no problem with). In fact, if they seem at a loss in East Flatbush, one should only see them stumbling around Flushing. And Rock's almost silly obsession with the horse race aspect of politics trivializes him at the cost of making folks take him less seriously. Although, to be fair, the mainstream press shares his enthusiasm for the horse race stuff.

While, like a stopped clock, Rock was right only twice a day, he, now and again, gave me a well deserved wake-up call. I was sad when he took that hiatus from posting (that time, and all the others as well), although, I assume that, like me, he never really stopped. I'd like to think that Rock thought my abuse stemmed from a misanthropic personality, rather than from racial bias; and I was relieved to learn that he did not put the blame for what had occurred entirely on my shoulders (which I think he indicated with his parting words to me at the time ("et tu Brute").

Shortly, thereafter, Ben talked Rock back into posting under his own name, and joining me, EnWhySeaWonk and a few others into becoming one of the original crew of bloggers on his new venture, "Room 8," which launched in late March 2006.

Before the launch, Ben Smith asked that, in regards to Rock, I ask myself "what would Jesus do?" and "turn the other cheek". I informed him that Jesus was really not part of my narrative (was he even Jewish? He did carpentry, had been inside a stable and had a Last Supper rather than the Early Bird Special) and told him that the thought of turning the other cheek brought to mind Daphne Merkin or Rachel Kramer Bussel. Nonetheless, I kept the truce more or less, despite provocation. For instance, it took a little over a week of the blog's existence before Rock published a piece called "Hey Gatemouth: Your "Buddy " Chuck Barron Called This Morning."

However, despite Rock's incessant and annoying demands that I debate the topic of same-sex marriage with him (probably because he thought I was gay--not his fault, since I was pretending to be such to hide my identity), or make election predictions (with Rock offering the latest dirt like a racetrack tout) we kept on a relatively even keel.

Truth is, we were pretty much the heart and soul of Room 8; and eventually Rock paid me the ultimate comments: "You are one only morsel of esoteric info away from taking my title: 'the black prince of the blogs'; and I will willingly concede."

Things heated up after the 2006, primary. Rock had been involved in a feud with a blogger known as EnWhySeaWonk, a master of whimsy and sarcasm, and coincidentally, a gay male. Their latest bitch fight, over an accurate and nonetheless gratuitous reference to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn as a lesbian, had gotten ugly and at one point, I'd intervened, telling them that while a little towel snapping in the Room 8 Locker Room was to be expected (and if one couldn't take it, they could always join the Chorus instead), if this sort of street brawling continued, I'd have to see to it that Coach benched the both of em.

About a month later, Wonk and I were the subject of a long rant by Mr. Hackshaw. The subject matter for Rock's screed was is based upon a paragraph I wrote which contains less than 100 words:

"On September 26, 2006, I became the first prominent partisan NY Democratic blogger to declare he could not vote for Alan Hevesi's re-election. This was two days before Rock Hackshaw, who given his September 18 endorsement of Jeanine Pirro, is obviously somewhat less driven than I am by rigid standards of ideology (and given that he still supports Pirro, is also seemingly somewhat less driven by rigid standards of morality, at least on subjects other than same-sex marriage)[OK Wonk, you owe me dinner]"

The words in contention seemed to me a good way to open a column with a couple of jokes I thought would be appreciated by "Room 8" regulars. The very fact that I mentioned "morality" should have been clue enough for anyone that the comment was made with tongue firmly planted in cheek (perhaps not the best choice of words in this context) . Of course, the jokes were largely gratuitous, and meta-referential, something I've often objected to, but they were intended for quick laughs, and I did not dwell upon them. They were intended merely as some more harmless towel-snapping. The last thing I wanted was to start another Wonk v. Rock type pissing match.

Concerning the feud, I'd been far harder on Wonk than on Rock, because I thought Wonk has been far more petty. But I understood where Wonk was coming from, and said "Quinn's sexuality was not relevant to the post. You brought it up, without (I believe) bad intent, but why, pray tell, bring it up at all? Sometimes it's relevant to mention that you are black, or Caribbean, sometimes it's just gratuitous. I know you meant no wrong, and perhaps Wonk overreacted, but he was not without his point. But, from there it's escalated into the realm of the ridiculous, and neither of you is without blame. BOTH OF YOU, STOP IT NOW! "

Rock had a somewhat different view of the proceedings. Amongst other things he said:

"The big mouthed Gate himself, was willing to stand there looking at a gaping wound (bleeding profusely in fact), willing to only apply a band-aid to it...What a joke! But then Gatemouth is usually an apologist for those in power anyway. We have seen this over and over and again right here on Room Eight....
.... For a while I honestly thought that it was a race thing, and that I was (to them) too opinionated and audacious for a black man. I have wondered why he and some of his sycophants keep taking these pot shots at me; and now I know....
...That is so childish. But so is Gate; childish and petty when he should be more mature and circumspect.
I have really tried to be civil, gracious and friendly towards Gatemouth. Truly. I respect his writing abilities- even though at times he is somewhat confusing, long-winded ( but then so am I at times / I am sure), inane, redundant and pompous. I admire his knowledge of NYC's political history-even though he sometimes gets his facts wrong (like we all do at times/ I am sure); and I definitely agree with some of his positions on some issues. But that's neither here nor there; the fact remains that his cheap shots are just that: cheap. And Gatemouth is a cheap shot artist."
When Gatemouth and Wonk attack my endorsement of Jeanine Pirro, it's not because they disagree that Cuomo is less qualified than Pirro for the job. In fact, they don't even dispute that Pirro is overwhelmingly more qualified (and experienced) for the job...They are just angry at Pirro's stance on gay-marriage (she is against it). And therein lies the crux of the matter. On these blogs in NYC, if you don't support gay-marriage you are deemed politically incorrect; and as such you run into problems. It's not about discourse; it's about intimidation and constant harassment...
...For Gatemouth (and probably to a lesser extent "EnWhySeeWonk"), blogging is simply an intellectual exercise. To them it's mental masturbation aiming to achieve some kind of cerebral orgasm ...
...Then he writes this article and after taking his cheap shots at me, he tells Wonk that he (Wonk) owes him a dinner. So friggin childish. I tried to steer Gate (and anyone interested) to the threads which would have exposed Wonk's lies and intellectual dishonesty, but to no avail. There's a gay-clique on these blogs that doesn't brook any kind of disagreement on issues they consider "gay". They are totalitarian in their projections."

I thought I had made my peace with Rock, and certainly didn't desire to continue feuding. Half of me wanted to apologize, though I wasn't sure what for, and half wanted to say "fuck you if you can't take a joke". Given my institutional stake in maintaining the quality of discourse at "Room 8", contrition won out, and I wrote "I'm sorry big fellow, I really don't want to silence you, though I wish you (and Wonk) would stop writing columns like this one and get back to doing what you do best."

Wonk responded in his own way, photo-shopping a picture of he and Hackshaw as "Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots" engaged in a boxing match.

Sometime later, I was at the beginning of a nine month hiatus from the web, with a long Christmas vacation and an overwhelming desire to write something funny, when I came up with the pseudonym, "Stoned Crackwhore" and wrote a parody of Rock's periodic "Grapevines" columns called the "Coca Vine." Here is a sample of the sophisticated with which lay within:

Let us reflect, during this season of our Lord, upon the awesome and mighty power of Assemblyman Dov Hikind, whose strenuous efforts contributed mightily to Hillary Clinton's landslide victory. Especially notable was Hillary's stunning victory over John Spencer in Hikind's own 48th AD, where Clinton got 5878 votes out of the 11,755 cast, for a daunting 50.00% of the total vote and an insurmountable margin over John Spencer of 167 votes. LOL!
Another Orthodox Jewish political powerhouse is Harry Schiffman, a former Mark Green aide most famous for joining Manhattan's Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats to support Green for Mayor at the behest of Allen Roskoff, political operative and diva extraordinaire. Harry's always willing to bend over backwards for a friend. LOL! Maybe Harry thought Allen said "Lebanese"---No, that would have been even worse...Harry now works for Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, a hospital most notable for having zero Jewish patients. But does anyone have the patience for Harry? LOL!
Harry is currently waving his lulav in the direction of Yvette Clarke's recently vacated seat on the City Council, hoping to pull a David Yassky. Memo to Harry: Yassky lost. LOL!"

The prank spurred an enormous amount of contention as to who was responsible, and though at one point Rock attacked a member of the New York City Council as a possible suspect, it seemed clear that he knew it was me.

However, shortly afterwards we met each other at a "victory" party for Wellington Sharpe, Rock's former slate-mate who I'd helped to knock off the ballot seven years earlier. Wellington was now a City Council candidate we had both supported. Rock had never been around when I'd come down to volunteer, lest he be asked to do some actual work. Eager to reacquaint myself, I decided to yell out "where's Hackshaw?"

Rock responded, and I introduced myself by my day-job name, and said, "remember me?" He apathetically responded that he wasn't sure, so I told him I'd was one of the guys (along with the infamous Fat Ugly Smelly Toothless Bastard) who had knocked Wellington off the ballot in 2000, but had failed to get Rock as well; Rock shook my hand coldly, and I said, "I bet Azi Paybarah wishes he were here to snap this picture". He asked "why?", and I said, "because I'm Gatemouth," and he gave me a big huggie.

By late 2007, Rock was involved in canonizing Barack Obama and demonizing Senator Clinton and her husband who he referred to as "Billary", in the manner of a member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

According to Rock, "the only thing stopping Barack Hussein (Barry) Obama from being the next president of the USA, is an assassination; either a political or physical one."

Good taste is timeless.

It soon became apparent that Rock saw the Obama campaign as the Second Coming, and himself as John the Baptist, and despite an occasional prescient insight and a good sense of the mechanics of the process, as the months went on, it appeared as if Rock had truly gone off the deep end.

Rock undertook a series of columns which were based on the following theories. 1) I am the greatest pundit in the world, and don't get the recognition I deserve because I am black, 2) anyone who disagrees with me is a racist, (3) billary is the devil incarnate and (4) she must get out of the race now. In all of this, Rock's fiercest critic was Wonk, and their feud re-arose with new fury.

At the time, I was on self-imposed hiatus, brought about by the fury of a member of the State Legislature who had let me know through intermediaries he was going to try and get me fired from my job. I didn't know whether he was capable of getting it done, but I knew he

was capable of the attempt, so I decided to lay low.

I was, however, still posting comments, but only pseudonymously or anonymously. As such, virtually all my comments about the Presidential race made before the selection of Rock and I as New York's designated bloggers, were on Rock's threads and those related to them.

Unfortunately, given on whose blog these comments were posted, they shed light not merely upon my political views, but also upon my troubled relationship with my convention partner, who probably was not unaware of the authorship of those comments, which soon bordered upon a pretty methodical campaign of harassment.

In my defense, I'll say only one thing.

It was fun.

As the campaign went on, Rock's Hillary baiting began to attract the praise of the likes of psychotic right wing blogger VJ Machiavelli. A critic said Hackshaw "...should change his name to Rock Limbaugh. What's next, Rock, charges about who really killed Vincent Foster?" Rock seemed to conform this by noting he would not vote for Hillary in a general election, prompting this response:
"That's right; the endless war will continue and expand; the Supreme Court will continue to fill up with more right wing loonies (how old is Stevens anyway? 106?). Who cares about issues when Rock's sacred principle of tit for tat is at stake.
Remember, there is always an "I" in egomaniac!"

At this point, something happened I would have previously thought impossible. Rock's writing had influenced my vote in an election, and I decided I'd be voting for Clinton.

And Stoned Crackwhore decided to make a return appearance:

Billary Will Burn in Hell With The Sodomites
posted by Stoned Crackwhore
01/22/2008

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The AP Wire Reports that this piece was posted from the author's blackberry seconds before he was apprehended by the police outside of a gay nightclub in Chelsea, shouting at passer-bys, asking which one of them was EnWhySeaWonk. Police said that while searching him, attendant to an arrest for public drunkenness and disturbing the peace, they found three Saturday Night Specials, an Uzi submachine gun, a box of condoms, a tube of KY Jelly and handwritten list of names which included EnWhySeaWonk, Yoda, Gatemouth, JP, Cynical Negro, Politiko, Kevin Parker, Charlie Rangel, Jacob Walthour, Matthieu Eugene and Yvette and Una Clarke.]
As my daddy used to say, "Man plans and God laughs"; just when you think you are on top of the world you get bowled a googly. Nonetheless, there is a third point to the hat trick: "Man plans, God laughs, but Stoned Crackwhore prognosticates". When it comes to saying sooth and speaking truth, old Nostradamus is to ole Stone as a one hit wonder like Smiley Culture is to the Mighty Mighty Sparrow. But while Uncle Stoney is channeling Sparrow, all the other bloggers are eating crow. Maybe they should try it jerked (no pun intended Wonk). LOL!
I am not overrating myself; I am just giving you the FACTS. I am quite safe in who I am. It is always easy after the event to say and call it; but were you (anyone) brave enough to go out on a limb, over and over, while being unafraid of risking credibility. That's the point here; and the main point here. I have been in political trenches all my life and in the womb; plus I studied political science and graduated from an ivy league university. It is easy for most folks to put down; but somehow it is difficult to build up or give credit where it was due. Some people need to go back and look at their respective responses to my observations and / or predictions here. It could be quite edifying.
That last paragraph and the page after frightening page which followed, was, with the exception of the long and comprehensive list of sources proving the Clinton's murdered Vincent Foster, composed almost entirely of quotations by Rock from the comments threads on his pieces, all strung together like so:
I specifically stated from the jump I never called her (HRC)a racist or a murderer -but they said I did. Same for crook, dishonest and such. I laid my argument out and they distorted, embellished and exaggerated my words or points to try to smear me. They also said that it was libelous. Given the many lawyers at the Clinton's disposal do you think I wouldn't have been sued by now; given all the writings I have laid out here for years? They joined in the attack as blindly as bats fly. With each passing day media sources confirm the basic premise(s) of my columns; but they have never been honest enough to say: well, maybe we jumped to judgment and rushed to conclusions. Now we see that the re-count officials are admitting election irregularities. TOO MUCH FOR THEM TO CONCEDE THAT STONED WASN'T JUST SPEWING SOUR GRAPES AND THAT HIS SOURCES ARE GENERALLY ACCURATE. I said "HRC assassinated Obama", with her dirty campaign.
I could go on and on about our war that winter and spring. My unpublished (except for the columns it incorporates) chronicle of our adventures together as NYS's team of DNC designated bloggers for the 2008 convention, from which this piece is mostly derived, runs 95 pages of sturm and drang, including all of our convention coverage (which in Rock's case is still forthcoming).
But the truth is I love Rock.
As I told City news, "Here's a guy who says exactly what's on his mind, all the time...Unlike [Council Member] Charles Barron, whose opinion seems to stem from this body of ideology, Rock is utterly unpredictable in what he's going to say."
This extends even to running. Rock says that it was the Council's vote to overturn term limits which made him angry enough to run. And then he challenges a Council Member who actually voted against the law in question.
Rock then proceeded to keep on blogging in the same manner he had before he'd become a candidate, saying the damnedest things about Tracy Boyland's lips and Michael Jackson's love life and responding in a hot tempered manner to any criticism which fell outside the six permitted modes:
1) Rock you're a genius.
2) Rock, you were first
3) Rock, all your critics are jealous
4) It must be because Rock is black
5) when did Rock ever say that?
6) Billary is going to hell
I tried offering advice. After all, the blog could be very helpful, if deployed correctly. As I said:
"You're a freakin candidate Rockwell---the blog is now only a tool to advance you towards your goal, so stop behavin like a friggin blogger and keep your coool--it's gonna be a long hot summer.
After Rock made an unprovoked (except by her miserable record) attack on a member of the City Council, and made unreciprocated endorsements, or hints of them; I told him bluntly:
"What are you doing?
I suppose you can make a case (a weak one ) for the political wisdom (as opposed to the merits) of attacking Darlene Mealy (which at least plays along with your campaign themes), or even Tracy Boyland (ditto), but what's the point in making an endorsement in this race?
How does it benefit your campaign? It probably makes you no useful friends and some unnecessary enemies.
Further, I'd cool my jets on tossing bouquets or brickbats in the comptroller's race just yet... And anyway, a guy who's running as being angry as hell about the term limit law change doesn't look very credible tossing compliments to a guy who voted the other way.
Focus your attention like a laser on the main prize and go for it--before you say anything, think "will this help me?" If not, STFU!
You are not obligated to say things you don't believe, or support folks you don't like.
However, you are not required to do target practice in a rubber room with live ammo either.
Keep on telling the truth and nothing but the truth, man--just less of it, for the time being."
I did not advocate prevarication, just discretion.
I did not get it.
Rock would not take advice about his blog, and Rock would not take advice about the constant stream of mail he sent out a list of the most notorious political gossips in New York, updating them frequently on the chaotic mess which was his campaign.
After one such email, marked "CONFIDENTIAL" I wrote back: "Rocky--any email sent to 60 people is not confidential--the only reason Azi hasn't published it is it's not all that interesting, but if it had any news, it would surely already be public knowledge, and, for all I know, may already be. "
I kept writing him in frustration: "Please do not feel compelled to let everyone in the world know there is chaos in your belfry; your public stance should be Panglossian--everything is for the best in this the best of all possible worlds"

Reached by City Hall News, I tried to put the best face upon it. "The reason everyone thinks that Rock's campaign is in such disarray is that Rock has been sending out emails to half of the Western political world giving people periodic updates about how much disarray his campaign is in,"

They also asked why Rock seemed to change campaign managers more often than Gary Tilzer changed his clothes.

"Rock sometimes has a tendency, which he expresses in his column and his emails, to have a little bit of a short fuse...So perhaps he just hasn't found the right match yet for his uniquely endearing personality."

Normally, I'd say a Council District would be taking a great risk in electing someone so much more interested influencing people than winning friends, especially when he often seems capable of neither. A poor District, like the 40^th, could use all the help it can get, might be taking a great risk in electing someone who often seems so unwilling to compromise his principles or hold his tongue (which, admittedly, would require a wheelbarrow).
But the seat for 40^th Councilmanic is currently unoccupied by "Doctor" [LOL!] Mattheiu Eugene, so it's not like the residents could do any worse.
Moreover, electing Rock Hackshaw to the City Council would be like stuffing in with a suppository made up of ignited M-80's. I'm not sure how much this would do for "the legislative process," such that it is (in Albany at least there are three men in the room), but think of the fun!
So I'm urging a vote for Hackshaw.
A final note: I know some stickler is going to complain that I gave John Heyer such a hard time about same-sex marriage, so "how could I endorse Rock?"
Well, first of all, Rock's come a long way on the issue. He once was opposed to it; now he's just confused (although, arguably, the same could be said about Heyer). Next of all, a victory for Heyer will be taken by the political establishment as a stunning defeat for the cause of marital, while victory for Hackshaw would probably be taken as a warning of the possible resurgence of the crack epidemic.

Seriously, election of a non-supporter of same sex marriage in Park Slope would be a story, while election of the same in east Flatbush would be a snore. By contrast, I could never endorse a candidate who held such views were he running in the 35^th Councilmanic (which includes the buppie communities of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights)

Most importantly, John Heyer has exploited the issue for votes, a sin Rock has not committed.

And that is a very big difference.

Facebook Pranks Bloggers Via Fax

2009-09-13T04:16:11Z

After a series of critical articles, Facebookers took petty revenge on TechCrunch, a Bay Area tech news site.

Read more: Pranks, Home News

Pranksters Send Man To Hospital With Glue On Toilet Seat

2009-08-24T11:16:51Z

CAIRNS (AP) -- A man who used a public toilet in a shopping mall was taken to a hospital to have the toilet seat removed from his backside after someone smeared it with glue in what an official condemned Monday as a sick joke.

Police urged possible witnesses to come forward after the 58-year-old man was humiliated in the northeastern city of Cairns by the prank.

An ambulance was called to help the man after he was found stuck by fast-acting adhesive glue to a toilet seat on Saturday in the busy shopping mall.

Paramedics removed the seat from the toilet and took him to a hospital, where medical staff used industrial solvents to get it off.

Cairns local government official Di Forsyth said the man, who was not identified, was not injured but was "extremely embarrassed" by his experience.

"I'm disgusted that a gentlemen has had to go through that because someone thinks it's funny," Forsyth said. "It's a sick joke."

Aussie man glued to toilet in 'sick' prank

2009-08-24T04:15:39Z

Authorities in far north Queensland are outraged after a "sick joke" forced the humiliating rescue of a man who became stuck to the seat of a shopping centre toilet.

Read more: Pranks, Home News

Late Night Comics Tiptoe Around Gates Arrest...Until Beer Is Involved

2009-07-29T17:45:48Z

NEW YORK — Late-night comics found a few things to laugh about in the racially charged arrest of a Harvard professor – once beer was added to the equation.

President Barack Obama's invitation to the two men involved to hoist a few at the White House on Thursday opened the comedy floodgates. Before that, the late-night TV world dominated by white comics largely stayed away from the subject of Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s confrontation at his home with white police officer Joseph Crowley.

Liza Weisberg: The Yes Men Fix The World One Prank at a Time

2009-07-27T13:05:48Z

In their new HBO documentary The Yes Men Fix the World, the eponymous pranksters take aim at unapologetic free market profiteers. Yes Men Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum articulate their agenda concisely: "What we do is pass ourselves off as representatives of big corporations we don't like."

It doesn't take the full measure of the duo's abundant wit to expose the unfettered greed of the corporate executives. At a conference on international finance, Bonanno poses as a spokesman for DOW Chemical (the company responsible for the largest industrial disaster in history, which left 5,000 dead and 100,000 sick in Bhopal, India following a pesticide plant explosion). To enthusiastic applause, Bonanno introduces the fictional "Acceptable Risk Project," a model to enable organizations to calculate whether the human toll of a business enterprise is worth the potential profit. Following the presentation, an audience member approaches Bonanno. "Whichever way you do this you're going to cost some lives," the man offers with a boyish giggle, "but if you're going to make money in the process it's acceptable."

As the stunts become increasingly absurd (on behalf of Exxon, the Yes Men pitch a new biofuel made from the flesh of victims of climate change) the formula begins to feel repetitive, and when the bad guys stop taking the bait, the film's message falls flat.

Even when their indictment of free market capitalism is unconvincing, their sardonic humor carries the show. At the Catastrophic Loss Conference, the Yes Men debut the "SurvivaBall," engineered by the consummate corporate villain, Halliburton. The business manager need only don this inflatable suit to protect himself from the effects of global warming, explain the Yes Men. When asked how the SurvivaBall might stand up to a terrorist attack, the pair dutifully demonstrate the "turtle position," ducking their heads into the orbs.

The film borrows from Michael Moore's brand of vigilante journalism but feels more honest and heartfelt than most of Moore's big-budget spectacles. The Yes Men Fix The World premieres on HBO on Monday, July 27 at 9:00 PM ET/PT.

'The Onion' Sold To 'The Chinese' (VIDEO)

2009-07-20T11:09:04Z

Sporting a snazzy redesign and new corporate logos, "The Onion" announced today that it has been sold to the Chinese--specifically Yu Wan Mei Amalgamated Salvage Fisheries and Polymer Injection Group. The Publisher Emeritus T. Herman Zweibel made the announcement in an Op-Ed piece, explaining how the purchase was made:

"One of their representatives oozed and crawled from his dank hut to visit me in person at my bedside last week, and make known his superiors' desire to expand their clammy clutch into the Western world. After subjecting me to a good 20 minutes of infernal bowing and other assorted chinky-dinkery, he offered to pay me what I've been assured is an appropriately absurd parcel of riches to take this tiresome publication off my feeble hands for good."

Of course this is all fake, yet another elaborate prank pulled by the folks responsible for our daily does of satire. Other than the lead item "China Strong," TheOnion.com boasts stories today called "Nothing At All Happens To 28 Tibetan Protesters, Their Families," and "Potato-Faced Youngster Lauded For Memorizing Primitive 26-Character Alphabet." The lead opinion story asks Americans if they know any good state secrets, and the photo section shows idyllic landscapes with the caption "Clear American Sky A Constant Reminder Of Industrial Inferiority." The highlight, though, is the video below entitled "China's Andy Rooney Has Some Funny Opinions About How Great The Chinese Government Is."

WATCH:

The elaborate hoax fooled Gawker into publishing two stories about rumors of the sale, and CNET took it from there. Of course, in this media climate it is understandable that people believed the story, as few media outlets seem safe in this economy.

Bruno has a gay ole time in the Holy Land

2009-07-17T02:49:19Z

Bruno's flamboyant sashay across the Middle East has succeeded in one thing – uniting Sacha Baron Cohen's unwitting Israeli and Palestinian victims in their joint disdain for his latest comedic creation.

Bruno is an over-the-top gay Austrian fashionista with a Nazi streak whose goal is to become the biggest Austrian celebrity since Hitler. To do so he travels to America, where he is told he must take on a charitable cause to achieve worldwide fame. So he decides to bring peace to a troubled place he calls "Middle Earth."

There, he nearly sparks a riot in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem when he struts down the street in a sexed-up Hassidic outfit that includes skintight shorts. On the Palestinian side, he tries to convince a West Bank militant to kidnap him, while giving the man condescending fashion tips. Bruno confuses the popular chickpea spread "hummus" with the Islamic militant group "Hamas" when he tries to bring together Israeli and Palestinian personalities to make peace.

Baron Cohen, an observant, Hebrew-speaking Jew with close ties to Israel, has ribbed the region before. In his 2006 movie Borat, his fake Kazakh language was actually Hebrew and his shtick was peppered with Israeli slang. In Bruno he goes a step further, taking aim at the Middle East's most sacred cows.

The movie opened worldwide a week ago and became the top grossing film in the U.S. over the weekend. It's making waves in Israel, too.

The locally shot scenes got big rounds of applause and hearty laughs at a recent Jerusalem screening. But the subjects of his pranks don't seem to be in on the joke.

"This man, I think he is not a man," said Ayman Abu Aita, a former member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group that has been largely disbanded. "He is not saying the truth about me. He lied."

In their scene together, Bruno identifies Abu Aita as a "terrorist" and asks to be abducted.

"I want to be famous, and I want the best guys in the business to kidnap me," Bruno says. "Al-Qaida are so 2001."

Before Abu Aita has a chance to reply, Bruno suggests that the mustachioed man lose his facial hair. "Because your King Osama looks like a kind of dirty wizard or a homeless Santa," he says before being kicked out.

In an interview with David Letterman, Baron Cohen, 37, said he set up the meeting in the West Bank with the help of a CIA agent.

Abu Aita's Israeli-Arab lawyer, Hatem Abu Ahmad, denied his client has been involved in any acts of violence. He said he is preparing a lawsuit against Baron Cohen and Universal Studios alleging that the terrorist reference could get Abu Aita in trouble with the Israelis and the homosexual association could get him killed by Palestinians. "This joke is very dangerous. We are not in the United States, we are not in Europe. We are in the Middle East and the world operates differently here," Abu Ahmad said.

The jokes apparently had their share of dangers for Baron Cohen as well. His production team said he narrowly escaped an angry mob during his prance in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Jonathan Rosenblum, an ultra-Orthodox columnist, said he hasn't viewed the scene but said the reaction was to be expected.

"It was offensive. It was meant to be offensive and it succeeded," he said. "I don't have any interest in going to the movie but I am sure it will have its fans."

Yossi Alpher, a former Israeli Mossad officer, and Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian Cabinet minister, are apparently not among them.

In a panel Bruno holds with them in the movie, he tries to find common ground.

"Why are you so anti-Hamas? I mean isn't pita bread the real enemy here?" Bruno asks with a straight face.

The dumbfounded interviewees look awkwardly at each other before taking the bait.

"You think there is a relation between Hamas and Hummus?" Khatib asks.

"Hummus has nothing to do with Hamas," Alpher insists. "It's a food. We eat it, they eat it."

To which Khatib responds: "It's vegetarian, it's healthy, it's beans."

Both men declined comment for this article. But following the prank, Alpher published his account of the meeting in the Jewish publication The Forward in which he said he became suspicious when he saw Baron Cohen dressed in leather and studs, his face heavily powdered, and his arms and chest shaven.

In the movie, Bruno encourages the Palestinians to return the pyramids and asks Jews why they can't get along with Hindus.

Among the nuggets not appearing in the movie but said nonetheless, according to Alpher, were: "Your conflict is not so bad. Jennifer-Angelina is worse" and "Vy don't you Jews and Arabs settle the conflict with a time share on the land?"

Read more: Pranks, Home News

Bruno has a gay ole time in the Holy Land

2009-07-17T02:39:32Z