Skiphil writes in Tips and Notes:
Too funny, too funny….. this is a serious matter, but funny when leading Greens and Hollywood types get caught on film in a genuine conspiracy to hide Middle Eastern “oil” funding to make an anti-Fracking film for the “movement” ….
(Added: One of them caught out in this sting was Ed Begley Jr., clearly Michael Mann’s hero, as this Twitter posting shows:)
Anti-fracking fanatics get seriously PUNK*D
Hollywood Greens in real life anti-fracking conspiracy
[from the Youtube page for this video]
In the investigation, an undercover journalist from Project Veritas posed as a member of a Middle Eastern oil dynasty and offered $9 million in funding to American filmmakers to fund an anti-fracking movie.
In video from a meeting with Ed Begley Jr., Mariel Hemingway and Josh Tickell, a Project Veritas investigator disguised as “Muhammed” offered $9 million for an anti-fracking film. “Muhammad” clearly states: “If Washington DC continues fracking, America will be energy efficient, and then they won’t need my oil anymore.”
In the same conversation, Begley and Hemingway accept the funding and agree to hide the source of funds for the anti-fracking movie. Hemingway agreeing that those who will know the source of the funding are “only at this table.”
Ed Begley Jr. is an outspoken environmental activist and current Governor on the board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science (the organization that brings us the OSCARS every year.)
Mariel Hemingway is a Golden Globe- and Oscar-nominated actress.
Josh Tickell is a Sundance Film Festival Winner and the director of environmental message movies “Fuel”, “The Big Fix” and “PUMP”.
Team Begley even submitted a video of Oscar-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo offering his unwavering support for the fictitious anti-fracking film project.
The meeting came about after a series of discussions with Josh and Rebecca Tickell. A Project Veritas journalist posed as an ad executive seeking to broker a deal for his client (“Muhammed”) to fund an American-made anti-fracking film.
In a phone call to Tickell, the ad executive states: “My client’s interest is to end American energy independence; your interest is to end fracking. And you guys understand that?”
Tickell’s response: “Correct. Yes, super clear.”
Tickell makes it clear on the tape that revealing the source of funding for an activist film can undermine its credibility. Tickell notes that the movie “Promised Land” undermined its own message because it was labeled as being funded by Image Nation Abu Dhabi. His advice: “So rather than putting that [the source of funding] up front, don’t mention that.”
In a follow-up call with Josh and Rebecca Tickell, Rebecca Tickell assures our investigator: “We would never tell about where the funding is coming from. That would be really awkward for us.”
Josh Tickell: “We’re confident that we can keep this zip locked, you know tight, air-tight forever. If we don’t protect who is kind of funding this thing, if we have to disclose that or that becomes a necessary part of it, the whole enterprise will not work.”
Project Veritas founder and president James O’Keefe stated Wednesday:
“This latest investigation shows the dark side of Hollywood’s environmental movement. Hollywood is willing to take and conceal money from Middle Eastern oil interests in order to advance their cause of destroying American energy independence.”
I think it isn’t so much funny as obscene.
“You could cut the irony with a scimitar.”
Americans Hustled
Well, they aren’t really corrupt, in the sense of insincerely shilling for money, or selling out. Their opinions are sincerely held. They aren’t doing anything worse than accepting a Tides foundation grant, except they’ve cut out the middleman. (Probably future direct funding offers like this will be rerouted thru Tides.)
Whoever has the stomach for it, could you report back how the warmists are justifying this away?
Is there no place for morals?
Well assuming that it’s for real, don’t you guys have any legislation for treason?
I guess that they will justify it by saying that they were not getting paid to lie, but to tell the truth – as they see it. However, these people are so lost in the conspiracy that they would be unlikely to recognise truth if it jumped up and bit them in backside.
Consider this, they were prepared to lie in order to get their truth out there even if it damaged one part of America’s interest. In their web of deceit do they imagine that everything that have been told about fracking is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
If they had a single brain cell between them they would surely understand that the truth that they perceive is inevitably a farrago of half truths, mistruths and convenient omissions. That, in fact, nothing that they have been told is entirely true.
This needs as much exposure as possible. It gives a perfect example of the term Hypocrisy and exposes the greens as activists that have no interest in America nor the American people.
Geoff Sherrington says:
May 21, 2014 at 11:23 pm
Is there no place for morals?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
in Hollywood??? 😝😝😝😝😝😝😝😝😝😝😝😝😝😝
Now, could this have been repeated earlier in Australia? i wonder…..
It exposes things, but this is kind of a slimy way to do it. Pretending to be someone you’re not only leads to a slippery moral slope and makes you as bad as the amoral people on the other side of the issue.
Difficult to separate fact from fiction; bit like AGW really!!
Tom Steyer says, “I’ll see your $9 million, …and raise you another $91 million.”
And just last week, Ed Begley Jr. and Michael Mann engaged in some mutual hero worship on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MichaelEMann/status/467324724817588224
Green is a color. Anything else is just pure leftist political BS with an agenda. These Hollywonk idiots should be deported for anti-American agenda propaganda.
If increasing energy prices, distorting the truth about fracking, increasing CO2 by preventing the use of more natural gas, and funding terrorism through the purchase of Middle East oil doesn’t bother them, then what does? What ends do they hope to achieve that justifies such deceptive and destructive means? Does getting involved in activism give meaning to their miserable lives even when their actions are likely to do more harm than good to the environment?
The other half of the mutual admiration exchange:
https://twitter.com/edbegleyjr/status/467324896842756096
[snip – language -mod]
Ed doesn’t: “walk the walk”. He probably flies his own personal jet. Mikey Mann does a lot of flying in jets too.
sinewave says:
May 21, 2014 at 11:35 pm
It exposes things, but this is kind of a slimy way to do it.
————————————
I disagree, do you think if they are asked outright they would tell the truth? No of course not, they basically state that in the video. This type of journalism is used throughout the world to expose hypocrisy and corruption and this is another excellent job. Well done to the team that produced this.
We’ve seen members of our Royal Family, politicians and leading sportsmen ensnared by the ubiquitous “dodgy Arab”. In fact, it’s happened so often, the originators are struggling to find people stupid enough to fall for the scam. Then they struck gold. Hollywood alumni on an environmentalist crusade. Now, what could be stupider than that?
sinewave says:
Pretending to be someone you’re not only leads to a slippery moral slope and makes you as bad as the amoral people on the other side of the issue.
—
So you would be against any kind of under-cover investigation then? Do you really think that cops posing as 13-year-old girls in chat rooms are just as “amoral” as the pedophiles they take off the street? I don’t.
sinewave – A truly interesting point. How can the ethical ever expose the unethical? Do we have to accept that the unethical, short of making a very big mistake, are always going to be able to act with impunity? At what point if any does this kind of subterfuge become ethical, for example police in the US use sting operations and AFAIK that is not generally regarded as unethical? Is it OK to use this kind of subterfuge against people who are sceptical of something as well-established as the IPCC’s climate science (25yrs old?), but not against Hollywood personalities who are sceptical of a recent tecnical development such as fracking (60yrs old?)?
The far left and hard liberals are just as repugnant as the neo-cons and religious right. Extreme political positions may be minorities but they are dangerously certain about their rightness and are unapologetically cynical and manipulative.
Ugh, in the good ole days this kind of cooperation used to be called high treason. Just imagine a representative of the Japanese Imperial Navy approaching guys from the American ship building industry in 1941.
“My client’s interest is to end American naval superiority in the Pacific; your interest is to get government contracts to build destroyers. And you guys understand that?”
“Correct. Yes, super clear.”
“Therefore we’d appreciate your cooperation in sending information back to Tokyo about ships stationed at Pearl Harbor on the condition casualties are our responsibility.”
“Sure. No problem. Whatever.”
Nice job with the sting, but the Youtube video they put together is horrible. It’s over 20 minutes, but much of it just repeats over and over and over again. Considering how much effort went into the sting, why didn’t they do a better job with the editing of this video?
ZombieSymmetry says:
May 22, 2014 at 12:34 am
Nice job with the sting, but the Youtube video they put together is horrible. It’s over 20 minutes, but much of it just repeats over and over and over again. Considering how much effort went into the sting, why didn’t they do a better job with the editing of this video?
==========================================
Perhaps they should have asked someone from Hollywood for advice. Oh, hang on…
Stunning. I can’t believe their stupidity
These people are typical of Mannian Groupies – stupid, dishonest and hypocritical
I think I would be somewhat concern about such people trying to undermine US energy independence. Hardly patriotic!.
A US citizen must register as a agent of a foreign govt if hired by them. Have these persons done that? If not this may be a federal offense.
The word “traitors” comes to mind.
cnxtim says:
May 21, 2014 at 11:34 pm
“Now, could this have been repeated earlier in Australia? i wonder…..”
Do you mean The Loan Affair of the Whitlam Government?
“It was Monday, December 16, 1974. Two days earlier, prime minister Gough Whitlam and three of his senior ministers had agreed to borrow $4 billion from unidentified Arab oil sheiks through a shady businessman.”
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/How-the-loans-scandal-became-an-affair-to-remember/2004/12/31/1104344982914.html
Wow. Just Wow! This is going to surpass ClimateGate – many, many thanks to the Veritas peeps.
Jesus, I’m just gobsmacked by the audacity of the Hollywood grovel network. Thank you so much for shining a really bright light on these roaches!
OMG. This should be a sticky. This is treason. This is evidence.
Wow – opposition to fracking = betraying America, and they were happy to go along with it. Big news.
Is anyone surprised by this?
Is anyone surprised by these dishonest, grasping socialist whores?
They willingly sell themselves to any moneyed buyer in the market place, to serve their religion. Now they are attempting to ‘crowd source’ fund the ‘movie’ to cover their shameless deceits.
Pathetic.
In Europe, Russia’s Gazprom targets leading ecoloons for their support against fracking.
God forbid Europe might become energy self-sufficient, as that would mean Gazprom would have to rely heavily on the Chinese to buy its exported gas. Also, Russia’s political clout in Europe would be much reduced.
Unfortunately, the ecoloons control so much of Europe’s environmental and energy policies, plus they represent a large percentage of the unemployable and anarchists who routinely demonstrate against any attempt at fracking.
Fracking has proven to be the salvation for the US economy and around 60-70,000 new holes are now being drilled annually. In Europe, the number of holes being drilled is in single figures and some of the goofier political establishments, like that ruining France today, have banned fracking outright. Economic salvation is an irrelevant concept for much of Europe today.
Bottom line: Gazprom (maybe, some Arab sheikhs as well) are doing a magnificent job in duping far too many in Europe.
Whatever level of exposure this gets, one thing is certain: The Tickell’s will be summarily excommunicated from every business, A, B, C, and D List, and social networks and groups. Truly poetic justice.
Haiku contest. Go.
ironargonaut says:
May 22, 2014 at 12:45 am
A US citizen must register as a agent of a foreign govt if hired by them. Have these persons done that? If not this may be a federal offense.
There was no foreign government involved. This was a ruse to make the Hollywood idiots think they would deal with a foreign government.
Their eagerness to undermine the USA and to help keep funds flowing to the Middle East is sickening
Sickening, but not unexpected, the signs have been there for some time that it is the quasi environmental movement sucking up funds from dubious sources while claiming the honest and unfunded sceptics were in the pay of “Big oil”, classic propaganda.
It should have been American Government Agencies exposing these watermelons, for that is what they are, a cabal of white anting greens eating away at the heart of America’s economic system, and worse still they don’t care except when caught in the Act!
And typical response from those with a professional interest in the meme they created, praise and award these economic traitors and they will in turn praise and award in turn. Back slapping back stabbers of the worst kind.
Oh, and Anthony, you still don’t grasp how insidious Noble Cause Corruption can be. This is all easily explained by NCC.
Inside the head of Josh Tickell:
You have two factors at play here I think. You have the people who only care about the money, and could care less where it came from. And you have people like Ed Begley who very likely believes that Fraking is truly toxic and that the source of the money matters little against being able to warn the American Public. I don’t agree with much of what he believes, but I think he is honest in his belief.
The Fake Sheik strikes again. What a total disgrace for these people assuming all this is true. they are actively conspiring with the intent of undermining their own country. It does not matter if the method is rather pathetic, They are motivated by wanting to undermine the economy – the jobs and livelihoods – of their own country.
They are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Their hypocrisy has just been exposed:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fbi-urged-investigate-james-okeefes-706353
Considering a film-maker was used as a scapegoat for the Benghazi attacks, I’m sure Josh Tickell won’t mind becoming a scapegoat for our nation’s insane energy policies. Or perhaps not so much a scapegoat, as an example.
Getting funding is difficult. there’s no point in complaining about people seeking funding wherever they can. That’s the job of producers.
This isn’t financial corruption.
It is merely hypocrisy. After all, they aren’t protesting about CO2 emissions (Arabian fossil fuels burn just like American fossil fuels).
They are protesting about a new industry in America.
These are anti-capitalists posing as environmentalists.
peter said:
And you have people like Ed Begley who very likely believes that Fraking is truly toxic and that the source of the money matters little against being able to warn the American Public. I don’t agree with much of what he believes, but I think he is honest in his belief.
I’m sure you are right, but how much of a defence is sincerity? During the Second World War some leading collaborators such as Quisling in Norway and Petain in France did think that the best thing for their countries was to collaborate with the Germans – but they were wrong!
So these are really anti-Americans? They don’t want energy independence for the US and are willing to help BIG OIL?!?!?
Oh to be so self righteous.
Forget Noble Cause, there is the other rule that policy change requires Bootleggers as well as Baptists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootleggers_and_Baptists
Here’s a shorter version on Fox News
http://video.foxnews.com/v/3581053686001/exclusive-james-okeefe-exposes-hollywood-environmentalists/#sp=show-clips
@ Karl Blair
May 22, 2014 at 12:13 am – Is this what you mean, bearing in mind the Greens appear to be “fighting a war” against Western civilization?
We’ve seen … … ensnared by the ubiquitous “dodgy Arab”. … … it’s happened so often, the originators are struggling to find people stupid enough to fall for the scam. Then they struck gold. Hollywood alumni on an environmentalist jihad
sinewave on May 21, 2014 at 11:35 pm
It exposes things, but this is kind of a slimy way to do it. Pretending to be someone you’re not only leads to a slippery moral slope and makes you as bad as the amoral people on the other side of the issue.
————————
In a legal sense, these things verge on the concept of entrapment. But there’s no legal prosecution here, just public exposure. I see no moral issue with acting a part to see what the other person does. Hollywood actors do it by profession! Hidden camera venues are used to produce comic programs all the time.
The only thing slimy and immoral are the people caught exposing their true selves.
J. Philip Peterson says:
May 22, 2014 at 1:49 am
They are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Their hypocrisy has just been exposed:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fbi-urged-investigate-james-okeefes-706353
You would think that Hollywood would know of ‘The Streisand Effect’. Perhaps their madness has clouded their judgment (what thhere was of it anyway).
thank you 🙂
Its given me GREAT pleasure to share this link very widely:-)
Whatever happened to the house “Un-American Activities committee”?
Here we have a group of people who clearly and self-avowedly have no compunction on taking money to make a film the primary object of which is to prevent the US being energy self sufficient, to act against the interests of their fellow americans. .
OMG, I really didn’t know about this. Josh made a video explaining went on in his head. It’s exactly what I described above.
Building a green house with Arab oil money, just like Al Gore. The Begley couple are deeply invested in the environmental alarm promotion business:
http://www.bitesizetv.com/#!/our-green-house/&episodeId=4327
http://www.evoxtelevision.com/video/?id=248
In the name of ‘the cause’ all things are justified, expect personal sacrifice when you’re a ‘green prophet’
Pretence, narcissism, want me, love me, need me. I’ll do any thing for attention.
But what I love most of all is lots of lovely money.
I enjoy others being envious of my fame.
I will pledge startling amounts of money to victims of disasters and make sure the world knows about it.
Especially if my fame level is down.
The media will never report it if eventually the pledge is never honoured.
I will live in a mansion but demand that the non-famous live in poverty in order to save the planet.
I am a hypocrite.
In a different age, what they’re discussing there would be called treason. It is too.
Pointman
Steyers has reneged on his $100m deal. Now he is saying only $50m. Every time one of his commercials is played, this one should be played.
Geoff Sherrington–
Hollywood left its morals at the curb many years ago.
And to whoever suggested that a sting operation (pretending to be someone your are not for investigation or law enforcement purposes) is immoral as well–being enticed to take money is not the same as greedily grabbing for it, knowing the slimy circumstances and questionable persons from whom it comes. Just ask Sen Harrison Williams (NJ). But he might still be in jail, if he is not dead.
Wonderful. Finally, finally, we have evidence of someone actually agreeing to accept secret funding from Big Oil – and it’s the warmists.
Treason, conspiracy and fraud. Yet, they still walk the streets!!!!!!!!!!
FBI use this method all the time i thought?
Funny, I thought prostitution was illegal in California.
People paid by a foreign government to undermine their own country.
There’s a word for that. Traitors.
” You can take all the sincerity in Hollywood and place it in the navel of a fruit fly, and still have room for three caraway seeds and a Producer’s heart.”- Fred Allen.
charles the moderator says:
May 22, 2014 at 1:17 am
Care to place a wager? I bet instead they will appear on liberal TV talk shows and get oodles of sympathy for being “bullied” by Project Veritas deniers. Nancy Pelosi or equivalent will demand Eric (“I know nossink, nossink!”) Holder investigate whether federal wiretap laws were broken. An IRS audit of Project Veritas is a distinct possibility — maybe they got some Koch brothers funding.
Just how many lists did Peter Gleick get banned from?
Terms: loser buys a $50 gift certificate from Mark Steyn. If neither scenario comes to pass we each buy a $25 gift certificate.
I’ll never forget seeing a clip of Ed Begley shouting someone down during an interview. The person had dared express a skeptical position. Begley took the moral high ground…now he’s up to his nostrils in $hit…I hope he drowns in it.
Beng said it best :
“People paid by a foreign government to undermine their own country.
There’s a word for that. Traitors.” In this case we can add : “Anti proletarian traitors.”
I can think of a lot of countries where actions like this get you stoned by those you are economically attacking.
Wow, the columns must also write themselves for Mark Steyn, Dr Mann’s hero allegedly caught willing to take evil oil money.
Need to expand collection of green hypocrisy hashtags
#greensHappyToTakeOilMoney
#greensGoByAir
Who’s Ed Begley? Or , rather what’s an Ed Begley?
@ Charles Nelson
Yeah, I remember Begley shouting down an interviewer because Begley claimed that physicists knew nothing about climate change! So we are meant to listen to an actor, but not a physicist about a complex, chaotic physical system, involving physics based topics as thermodynamics, radiation etc.
As one with a physics degree, I found him offensive in that interview.
Somebody better do a film on torpedoing wells using nitroglycerine to do fracking. It was invented in 1865 by a Civil War officer for enhancing water wells. It later became the standard way to develop most oil and gas wells up into at least the 1960s. Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) was invented as a more effective, safer (and benign) way to accomplish the same thing. Fracking has been done for over 150yrs on conventional oil, gas and water wells before it was discovered by the greens when they were upset that the US (and eventually the rest of the world) were going to have abundant cheap energy. To their chagrin, it also lowers CO2 emissions and will, with self sufficiency more broadly in the world, reduce conflict and economic interference (cartels, embargos…).
Oh and BTW, it is not Washington that is pushing fracking. They have resisted its use on federal lands. It is only on state and private lands. The US government is also resisting self sufficiency by favoring “alternative energy”. Another thing, they have no qualms about carbon dioxide sequestration underground, eventhough it does almost the same thing and is exceedingly more dangerous if it makes its way back to the surface (heavy gas that collects in low ground – cattle and wild animals were killed in Saskatchewan a few years ago in a quarry and well water was carbonated – maybe a benefit if you are in the sparkling water business.
It is no surprise that left wing progressives in Hollywood want to destroy the United States’ energy independence. They have become rich because we have over the years given our money to purchase their entertainment products, and so they can afford to pay higher prices for energy and don’t care what effect their extremist “green” causes have on ordinary folks.
We can all do something about this. Stop buying their entertainment products and let everyone know about their shameful behavior. The worst thing that can happen to someone in Hollywood is that they become very unpopular…
Just out of curiosity, why is it that Pat Sajak’s wiki page was edited to report his anti-alarmist tweet within hours of it happening, and Begley Jr.’s is still clean as a whistle?
Why don’t Americans consider this treason?
“@USGBC: Actor @edbegleyjr is also a staunch enviro activist. Check out the impressive green home he’s building: http://ow.ly/wSslm ”Thx!
If one opens up that link they’ll discover that Ed’s ‘green home’ has a rainwater catch system that has an amazing 10,000 gallon capacity. And it only takes two days of heavy rain to fill it. One must wonder just how much biological waste matter Ed and his wife produce, and therefore how much toilet flushing capacity they need.
Bordering on high treason.
I’d say Sajak is in an excellent position to say “I told you so.”
Is Rebecca pregnant? Hey now, no more kids allowed, due to resource depletion, global warming, climate change, etc.
Goldie says:
May 21, 2014 at 11:27 pm
Well assuming that it’s for real, don’t you guys have any legislation for treason?
—————–
This has nothing to do with treason. And besides, this is a free country. Freedom means not just allowing people to do what you want them to do, but allowing people to do what you don’t want them to do. I don’t have a problem with these people selling their souls for a buck. I also don’t have a problem with these reporters exposing them for what they are. The thing that bothers me is that there are people who are surprised by this reporting. Isn’t it obvious that ‘eviromentalism’ is a joke at this point?
Peter Miller says:
May 22, 2014 at 1:11 am
Bottom line: Gazprom (maybe, some Arab sheikhs as well) are doing a magnificent job in duping far too many in Europe.
===========
trying to expose this is likely to find you killed in a single car traffic accident, or in a street hold-up gone bad, or you will be found to have committed suicide. if lucky your family members will only be threatened with death first, to guarantee your silence. there are hundreds of billions of dollars involved. no one is going to give this up without a fight.
the last thing Russia wants is an energy independent EU. by threatening all of the Ukraine, the takeover of Crimea is accepted. By asking for an arm and a leg, Russia got the arm to save the leg. For now. Next they will ask for the leg and other arm. Eventually they will ask for the throat and the heart.
Threaten A and B. Accept A in return for not taking B. Add C to the mix and repeat.
From the Hollywood Reporter site:
“O’Keefe said the purpose of his video is to expose the hypocrisy of Hollywood environmentalists, and that more such videos could be forthcoming. He worked on the sting operation for more than a year.”
Oh, this could get really juicy. Time to stock up on big-time buckets of popcorn!
BTW Has anyone asked Saint Mann for his view on this unfortunate little situation?
There’s been a couple comments made linking the Begleys to treason. Article III, Section 3. of the Constitution of the United States of America defines treason thusly: ‘Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.’
Saudi Arabia has been considered an ally since Franklin Roosevelt’s visit there in the latter 1930s. (Unfortunate in many regards, but true.) The Begleys may be guilty of being monumental jerks (ok, skip ‘may be’ and replace with ‘are’) but I don’t think they’re guilty of treason.
What else? Are we really surprised that these multi million dollars green “charities” are involved in this? Of course exposing them is always a fare and considering how toxic Obama’s second mandat is and how trustworthy the star next candidate is -Benghazi anyone-, and of course the other side wonderful relations with the Cheiks… O I forgot, the bad guy is Vlad…
rogerknights said :
“Well, they aren’t really corrupt, in the sense of insincerely shilling for money, or selling out. Their opinions are sincerely held. ”
Just as Hitler and Stalin’s opinions were sincerely held, we can assume? You would have a hard time finding anyone whose opinions were more sincerely held than those two. The road to Hell is littered with people who had good intentions. And Begley et al’s “sincerity” can hardly be assumed, since everything they do in this arena advances their professional interests. Nor do well meaning sincere folks act like complete asses, as is the case with the ever-obnoxious Mr. Ed.
Despite Ed’s Hollywood wealth, I’ll bet he’s extracting plenty of bucks from his fellow minimum wage earners in the form of govt subsidies to build his solar roof and drive his electric car (and pay zero road taxes while doing so). It’s part of walking the walk, which pays him quite nicely to do so. Everything Ed does and recommends that others do has the effect of making the poor poorer and himself richer, even if indirectly. Ed fully deserves a visit by a mob of minimum wage earners, who will personally explain, in a variety of ways, why they dispprove of his activities and sincerely held beliefs.
Now I understand why the left keeps insisting that climate crisis skeptics are being funded by big oil. It is what they do, so why wouldn’t everybody else?
Where does Tides and Sierra get their money?
ferdberple, the debunk of your thesis was the $400billion contract with China. As for who wants the throat and heart of Europe, I submit Nulland with three words made it pretty clear.
I’m happy to take their money to move our mutual message forward.
=============
so it is ok to take chinese money to produce a film saying america is bad and china is good. oh wait, washington already does this, so it ok for hollywood.
humans have an infinite capacity to rationalize. capone believed he was creating jobs to help the common person, while making himself rich in the process.
the debunk of your thesis was the $400billion contract with China
=========
removes the threat the EU and US are trying to make. increases Russian leverage over the EU. you need our gas, but we don’t need you.
In his “explanation”, Josh Tickell says:
“We have a film company named Green Planet Productions. We’re big proponents of breaking America’s addiction to fossil fuels and shifting our country’s focus towards homegrown clean renewable energy. I’ve written two books on the subject – we’ve made four documentaries about it –”
These hypocritical, lying, and immoral Greenie-weenies aren’t just anti-fracking, but anti-fossil fuels. The anti-fracking part is simply a convenient cover.
Oh Joy.
Ron House says:
May 22, 2014 at 6:39 am
Why don’t Americans consider this treason?
——————–
Why don’t we consider Jane Fonda clapping her hands together in glee on the seat of an NVA S-60 57mm AAA system treason?
Why don’t we consider Clinton & Gore trading US missile & satellite technology secrets to Red China in exchange for campaign cash treason?
Why don’t we consider Obama taking campaign contributions from unreported anonymous overseas donors treason?
If Ed really “walked the walk”, he would be living in a cave. Instead, he works in the entertainment industry, which uses large amounts of electricity to record and broadcast images, and to have the images received at a home. With movies the audience also has to use vehicles to go to the theatre.
How does this equate with being “green”? Somewhere a cave is missing its troglodyte.
Taphonomic says:
May 22, 2014 at 7:43 am
Not to mention the jets to fly cast & crew to location shoots.
No story here.
They are opposed to fracking. Someone offers big dollars to fund the film. No big deal.
“In a phone call to Tickell, the ad executive states: “My client’s interest is to end American energy independence; your interest is to end fracking. And you guys understand that?””
“Hollywood is willing to take and conceal money from Middle Eastern oil interests in order to advance their cause of destroying American energy independence.”
Clearly team Begely’s goal is not to end US energy independence. This is just the type of truth-bending we love to criticize alarmists for. This is not good ammo for either side of the climate war.
Charles the Mod – and the funny thing is that if you chip in $25 to the film funding you get “AND digital downloads of exclusive, unreleased “unseen footage”, including behind-the-scenes footage! I wonder if this counts as behind the scenes?
@David Smith
The videos which will be coming out later will apparently expose more Hollywood “big names”.
To me it is irrelevant. Just stop buying their products and complain LOUDLY to their enablers in the entertainment industry and at the retail level. Look what the left wing, progressive extremists are doing to people who do not share their views on social issues…e.g. Mozzila, HGTV, Chic-fil-a.
@Saren
Please realize that the anti-frackers are also anti-oil, anti-nuclear, anti-coal, and anti-offshore energy. They are indeed anti-energy independence! By the way, we should check to see how many of Hollywood’s entertainment products are being produced by solar and wind power alone…
@ Saren; You misunderstand. It is the Middle Eastern oil interests who wish to destroy American energy indepence, not Begley’s. No, Begley’s goal is far simpler; like Mann and his ilk, he wishes to pump up his already-bloated image and self-importance, to make him both look and feel as though he is helping to “save the planet”, and to be part of the Cause pushing said endeavor.
Man Bearpig says:
May 21, 2014 at 11:30 pm
As if further proof of hypocrisy of biblical proportions were needed after Prince Albert sold his TV channel to Al Jazeera, having previously lived off his dad’s ill-gotten (from Lenin & Stalin’s bag man Hammer) Occidental Petroleum dividends. Or built a new multi-million dollar sea-level mansion on the CA coast.
Hence, the name Ecoterrorist was born.
This sordid incident should leave me feeling disgusted, but I’ve seen so many examples of similar activity from those within the climate fearoshopere (albeit to a usually lesser extent,) that I’m left just saying “no surprise, just standard operating procedure for those people”. The reaction from Hollywood and the green press will be to circle the wagons. Just SOP, the end justifies the means.
So . . . . it’s news Hollywood’s elite are a bunch of whores? Some were surprised to find out that Ed is a part of that? (sorry mod, but I don’t know another word that captures the content of these people’s character quite so accurately)
Put it in the news, use it in the political conversation, try to educate the un-enlightened and lo-information population with it. Great.
But this isn’t news or even terribly interesting to me.
I’d wonder, if you got Mann’s opinion on this, if he’d disparage O’Keefe or Begley.
THAT would be interesting.
Back when I became a major skeptical voice on pre-ban era Phys.org, a very high traffic site for science news, complete with the usual army of Gorebots, Michael Mann himself singled out a comment thread there as smelling of Koch:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/10/23/why-doesnt-lewandowsky-study-this-phenomenon/
It was a good time for an activist skeptic since the site brought out the most twisted psychopathic taunts from alarmist trolls, on public display, on a rather conventional everyday news site for working scientists. After a year or two of unmoderated anarchy, they ban hammered both myself and the worst lunatics and even moderated some of their own overemphasis on climate so it’s no longer a hotbed of any kind, but when it was, the strategy against skepticism amounted to pure juvenile bullying and smoke screening with obnoxious nonsense to destroy civility, them having no idea how terrible this came off as a PR disaster.
The grand pre-ban finale was when the SkepticalScience kids had their Frankenstein paper published that used satellite temperature data to up-adjust ground data in a way that the satellite data itself falsified, and over a full weekend I methodically posted tidbits of the entire overall SkS secret forum embarrassments and hockey stick team debunking. This caused utter chaos and insane insults from Gore’s enthusiasts, not a single reasoned reply amongst them. Most pathetic were the comment ratings wars corrupted by clearly identifiable sock puppet accounts that were easy to use against Gorebot activism by simply pointing it all out.
My regular countering of Big Oil money taunts with mention of Mega Arab Oil Money influence fell on deaf ears.
A.D. Everard says:
May 22, 2014 at 12:55 am
OMG. This should be a sticky. This is treason. This is evidence.
________________
That all depends on how you define treason.
If you mean that it’s a treasonous act against the shared ethos of the United States citizenry, then it is clearly treason. If you mean instead, that it is treasonous against the government of the US, then it is not treason. In light of this government’s actions and pronouncements, Ed Begley, et al are heroes of the state.
Some comments from a good friend and neighbor of Ed Begley.
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/james-okeefe-ed-begley-jr-fracking-and-hollywood-smoke-and-mirrors/
Here’s the Ed Begley shouting match showing his thinking…
Peter Miller says:
May 22, 2014 at 1:11 am
CACA also plays into Russian hands, since it keep Germany from gasifying its coal reserves.
James O’Keefe is a national treasure.
The big get is Ed Begley Jr. Next time that pretentious fraud opens his yap, bam. Got you on tape traitor.
This would be the trailer for a movie that combines Ayn Rand and Hunger games.
– Promised Land (poor Matt Damon), another anti fracking bucket of lies, was funded by rich oil magnets out of Dubai.
– Al Gore was heavily funded by the Rich oil groups in the Middle East and enhanced by the ‘sale’ of his tv channel (money laundering) for mega bucks. The station has 200 viewers, not worth what was paid for it.
It is long past time for Dims to realize they have been played and scammed, not just on the environment (which has been thrown to the side in exchange for propaganda) but on ALL issues.
97% of Hollywood people can agree on this(in their heart):
Our job is to entertain people for money. That entertainment, at times can mean playing roles such as environmental activists.
RogerKnights
I have a different take. Their actions are treasonous and they should be prosecuted and jailed. They won’t be because this administration has Hollywood and the media conned.
What Begley and Hemingway are offering to do is undermine the USA for the benefit of a foreign power at the behest of that power. That is treason.
If only we had a true 5th Estate in this country instead of a polarized mouthpiece for the Democratic Party and cause celeb’.
Bill
J. Philip Peterson says:
“Here’s the Ed Begley shouting match showing his thinking”
Interesting that Mr. Begley sites the catalytic convertor as an example. I strongly agree and think this was mans greatest pollution fighting invention in history. One car from the 1960’s created the pollution of something like 25 cars today.:
However, he is debating about global warming. Maybe he is unaware of what a catalytic convertor does:
A three-way catalytic converter has three simultaneous tasks:
1.Reduction of nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and oxygen: 2NOx → xO2 + N2
2. Oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide: 2CO + O2 → 2CO2
3. Oxidation of unburnt hydrocarbons (HC) to carbon dioxide and water: CxH2x+2 + [(3x+1)/2]O2 → xCO2 + (x+1)H2O.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_converter
This is my favorite part: 2 out of 3 of those processes CREATE CO2!
According to the definition(CO2=pollution)of the EPA and this administration, catalytic convertors create global warming pollution is steps 2 and 3.
There was almost 100% agreement in science, politics and elsewhere that CO2 created from catalytic convertors tremendously reduced harmful pollution a few decades ago.
Now, CO2 is pollution.
Please, no one forget Steyer, the epic Green hypocrite and liar supreme.
He is paying any dem cash to vote his way and will profit generously for it.
After making his trillions in coal to the benefit of China, he wants to ensure our supply is shut down, so his continued investments and mutual funds in China coal grow.
Also an avid anti-Koch and anti Keystone pipeline, his investments in green and a competitor to Keystone will benefit greatly.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/04/the-epic-hypocrisy-of-tom-steyer.php
escerpt:
“O’Keefe is a graduate of Rutgers University. A congressional resolution was introduced in 2009 with 31 cosponsors praising him for his work. He is the recipient of the Robert Novak Award for Journalistic Excellence (2011), has been named “Fox News Power Player of the Week” twice by Chris Wallace, and was placed on the Forbes 30 under 30 for media moguls.”
It doesn’t say if O’Keefe’s degree was in journalism but the tactics used remind me of Bait Car.
Is it legal to record a phone conversation without someone’s knowledge? Is it legal to pose as someone else and tape conversations?
I’m very surprised they didn’t bother to research the individual they were about to do business with.
Tactics aside, it very disturbing to find people willing to stoop so low to make a buck.
As expected, here’s Ed Begley Jr. and Mariel Hemingway responses:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/20/fake-mideast-oilman-traps-mariel-hemingway-ed-begley-in-video-sting/
“We can all do something about this. Stop buying their entertainment products and let everyone know about their shameful behavior.”
I already have. Haven’t been to a movie in years, watch very little TV (and then mostly eductional shows NOT on PBS), don’t buy or rent movies. In other words, I have an actual life.
More people should try it.
Two things. First being totally committed to a cause leads you to accept some allies you might otherwise shun. Churchill’s comment on joining with the Soviet Union to fight Germany in WWII applies here. Second the old adage “the perfect is the enemy of the good” is often on display among the totally committed (True Believers).
True Believers tend to act as if merely wanting the perfect solution will somehow make it happen, limited only by spending enough of other people’s money. This is an emotional, political, religious attachment, not one based in technical reality. They want “carbon-neutral, sustainable, renewable” energy and there is nothing on the horizon (with the possible exception of fission) which can meet that description on the scale we are currently using, let alone supply the expected demand increase. A person determined to make at least some progress towards the carbon-neutral goal would embrace substituting natural gas and more nuclear for coal, not liking it perhaps, but accepting it as a necessary and hopefully temporary measure until a better solution becomes viable. But True Believers hold on to their ideal goal as the only permissible one and if it falls short of an adequate replacement for fossil fuels, then it’s our fault for wanting “too much” energy.
It’s perfectly understandable why Tickell, Begley and Hemingway don’t even consider the possible downsides of taking Big Oil® money to support their cause; to them no price it too high for other people to pay . It’s kind of the reverse of another common progressive mantra; they are thinking locally but acting globally.
peter sez: “…I think he is honest in his belief.”
Honest belief or mental defect?
Aww that’s spoiled it … It will take a couple of weeks before they fall for something like this again.
Makes me wonder how much money oil sheiks are paying out to the National Geographic.
The other David L. says:
May 22, 2014 at 9:05 am
Thanks for that; Jerry Pournelle makes some very good points. I haven’t read his stuff in a long time; maybe I should revisit.
Check out Mark Steyn’s take on this at http://www.steynonline.com/6360/the-tree-rings-of-pyongyang. Hilarious!
Louis says:
May 21, 2014 at 11:50 pm
… What ends do they hope to achieve that justifies such deceptive and destructive means? …
Let’s just say that playing up global warming and doing everything you can do to cut down on the energy available to the poor to warm themselves in a cooling world will probably net a 60% or more reduction in population. That reduction in population when coupled with the 25% or so that are starved to death by lack of food as well will free up resources and land for those “privileged” to have the means to ride out the high costs, and the HolyWeird folks, like all the super rich, are well positioned for that. This “deal” would only add to their “means” to ride out the depopulation wave.
And in response to your comment about the cop pretending to be a 13 year old so as to trap a pedophile, yes, oddly enough, he IS just as amoral since he’s playing his part with the same amount of lust as the one he’s hoping to trap, just aimed in a different direction. Entrapment is entrapment.
This will go absolutely nowhere. The MSM will keep a tight lid on it, it will be yanked from YouTube, and it will be business as usual, move along, nothing to see here.
Not too long ago, a listserv where the DNC collaborated with the news outlets on what the next day’s talking points were going to be emerged. Administration and party officials actually telling them to call the Republican a racist, even though they knew it wasn’t true. Not hearsay, not anecdotal, real evidence. Any of you guys ever heard about that?
Didn’t think so.
Would love to see a hidden cam of this husband and wife (scumbags) planning to pocket most of the project funds.
Big Oil shills? Remember Gore’s sale of his part owned ‘Current TV’ to oil funded Al Jazeera?
The current US administration should tread very carefully when attempting to mobilize Hollywood on ‘global warming’. Many Hollywood activists’ aims are not the same as the US administration’s regarding energy independence.
The hockey team seems busy.
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I saw that at the time. Bagley kept shout “peer reviewed”. I thought it was unfortunate that the guest host didn’t seem to aware of the Climategate emails that showed how peer review was being corrupted.
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Perhaps Bagley wants them to be renamed “Catastrophic Converters”?
Truthseeker says:
May 22, 2014 at 12:01 am
[snip – language -mod]
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Fair enough … but I am still right.
Ouch!
Art imitates life. Ed’s bad behavior comes home to roost in art. Ed’s bad behavior comes home to roost in real life.
This isn’t golden; it’ pure Sterling.
But those who helped pioneer the technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, recall a different path. Over three decades, from the shale fields of Texas and Wyoming to the Marcellus Shale in the Northeast, the federal government contributed more than $100 million in research to develop fracking, and billions more in tax breaks
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/23/early-on-fracking-got-injection-of-federal-funding/#ixzz32XtvQ9uE
I’ve met Josh Tickell before and he is sincere in his beliefs and a hard worker.
I am a climate denier and a green person. Read David Archibald’s work the Four Horseman where he describes the need for alternative energy at least for our great grand kids.
The fact we don’t have better vehicles is a treason. Mechanical hybrids(hydraulic or spinning flywheel) and split cycle engines like Caterpillar new creation that can ignite LNG 56:1 compression should have been done long time ago. Not getting at least 100 mpg by now is retarded.
Plus energy market is global? Its not like the stuff we produce here stays here.
There has to be some middle ground. It should be a gradual dialing down but not a on/off switch.
I’d like to be able to grow algae on my roof in tubes and then have it trickle charge an onsite generator and fill up my car. Versus dirtying up the ground water and causing earthquakes. Or is tracking 115% awesome with no drawbacks.
Crabs in a bucket.
Global warming came from military industrial complex Von Neumann, Plass, Sagan plus Arrhenius Gore Nobel connection. It is about population control.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/weather-control-as-a-cold-war-weapon-1777409/
Just show liberals picture from above link that will get them off the global band wagon. Don’t attack green stuff because that is our future generations salvation.
Dirty should be avoided.
Thorium SMR would be good but I can do algae myself probably.
If we are getting 100 or 200 mpg we will only need to trickle charge tanks with on board algae bioreactors.
Carbon is best hydrogen carrier. Plants best solar panel and oil best battery. Closed cycle combustion using a particle accelerator to extract diamonds and fertilizer would be cool cause only other emission would be power.
BTW hope to see you all in Las Vegas this July, every time someone signs up a [Warmer loses] his/her wings.
http://www.dieselpowermag.com/news/1001dp_progressive_insurance_automotive_x_prize/
Here are some nice ideas especially lightning hybrids design Bosch has an Air hybrid that uses hydraulics too. I wasn’t sure about global warming at the time I wrote this but mistakenly thought ocean acidification was possible…
The funding for batteries and invading Afghanistan for lithium could have been avoided if we would have invested 1/8 of that money on advanced combustion engines and mechanical hybrids a very low hanging fruit. 2005 Dodge Ram has same damn transmission from 1950. If I have to keep grinding up and changing brake pads one more decade civilization has failed.
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I’m sure he is. How about his ethics? How do “green” beliefs line up with what he was willing to do?
Lots of people are hard workers. But to what end?
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The Smithsonian? What did those who ran it at the time want to say about the Enola Gay when it was going to go on display? (It had quite an “America is evil” slant.) Have those who run it now become more balanced? No. They still hate America, or rather, the ideals it was founded on. (Who gave those people their jobs?) But the link is right in that weather…er…climate is being used as the knife at our throat.
It’s all in line with the POTUS’ policy of making energy as expensive as possible. For Americans, his sworn enemies.
Tom O says:
May 22, 2014 at 11:46 am
Louis says:
May 21, 2014 at 11:50 pm
… What ends do they hope to achieve that justifies such deceptive and destructive means? …
…And in response to your comment about the cop pretending to be a 13 year old so as to trap a pedophile, yes, oddly enough, he IS just as amoral since he’s playing his part with the same amount of lust as the one he’s hoping to trap, just aimed in a different direction. Entrapment is entrapment.
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Seriously? Tell that to the parent who’s child was spared since the pedophile was put away.
How do you know the detective had “lust” in any form as a motivation. ( Your comment here makes no sense, it is strange.)
OK. So we, here,are all in agreement. But, is it making MainStream Media? So that these peoples can be well and truly ridiculed for their corrupt stance?