In recent news, an elaborate hoax was played on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A man using the fake name Andy Bicklbaum, who is in fact a member of the very accomplished political hoax squad ‘The Yes Men,’ masterminded a spectacularly successful hoax on October 19th, 2009.
He impersonated a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and read aloud a press release that contained many shocking reversals of the Chamber’s position on multiple climate change issues. Not only did the “Chamber” present the economic dangers of climate change as “worse than anything imaginable,” they decided to support climate change legislation that is now being debated in Congress. Additionally, they recommended that the legislation include a controversial carbon tax that many economists warn against and most politicians have written off long ago.
Journalists from a few news organizations attended the hoax and heard wild quotes like “Without a stable climate, there will be no more business,” and “The Kerry/Boxer bill is a good start to a strong climate bill, and the Chamber will work with Senators Kerry and Boxer to strengthen it.”
The press conference was still going when headlines begin to air on Fox News and other networks about the amazing reversal on the Chamber’s global warming position. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is normally a staunch ally of those who wish to oppose climate change legislation, so it’s a good bet that some in the business community were shaking their heads in disbelief before they realized the press conference was an elaborate hoax.
The fake press conference continued until the extremely confrontational appearance by Eric Wohlschlegel, a true representative from the Chamber. With somewhat narrowed eyes and a crispy tone, Mr. Wohlschlegel announced that the man at the podium was “a fraud.” The startled journalists watched for a little while as the confrontation escalated — at one point the two men passive-aggressively asked each other if “they had any business cards on them?” By the point it was clear that neither of them were going to produce any business cards, the reporters in the room finally regained their wits and asked the real Chamber of Commerce official whether the Chamber was going to oppose climate change legislation — at which point Mr. Wohlschlegel realized he was on camera and decided to beat a hasty retreat. On his way out, he looked over at the press core and said pedantically that they could inspect his business card in the building’s lobby.
As part of the official statement from the Chamber of Commerce, they mentioned they would be directing law enforcement officials to investigate the Yes Men. Facing possible legal problems from this latest hoax, it’s clear that the Yes Men are ready to risk everything so that more people learn the importance of preventing climate change. They truly believe that preventing climate change is the most important movement in history. What do you think?
If you want more details and want to watch a video that includes portions of the fake news conference, you can check out the full news story on www.democracynow.com, an independent news site that is pretty different from the rest. You can also check out more on the Yes Men official website. Thanks for joining us on the Sunfiltered Blog.
October 23rd, 2009 - 11:14 pm
L.A. Daily News of 20/1/’09 reports San Fancisco-PG&E quit the chamber as well as New Mexico’s PNM and Chicago’s Exelon. Then Tuesday, the Green Century Equity Fund, which invests in athletic shoemaker Nike, urged Nike to “Just do it” and terminate its membership in the chamber too. Nike won’t quit the chamber but it will resign from the chamber’s board.
It all started when PG&E Chairman, and CEO Peter Darbee sent a sharply worded two-page letter outlining why the utility, which provides gas and electricity to 15 million costomers from Eureka to Backersfield,is pulling out of the chamber, which represents 3 million large and small businesses across the country and has one fo the most powerful lobbyng operations in Washington.
Los Angeles Times of 10/11/’09 Headlines read “Carbon dioxide highest in 25 million years”
Los Angeles Daily News of 10/23/’09 says “The Obama administration said Thursday it is designatiog more then 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off it’s coast as “critical habitat” for polar bears, an action that could add restictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas.to help stave off the Polar Bears’ extinction, while recognixing that the greatest threat to the bear is the melting of Arctic sea ice caused by climate change.
Total area proposed for critical habitat designation would cover about 200,541 square miles. About 93 percent of the area proposed for the polor bear is sea ice with the remaining 7 precent made up of barrier islands or land-based dens of snow and ice.