MAF pointing to sign at Central (I-75) and Royal Ln
RADICALS DESTROY TEXAS BUSINESS
DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS OIL”
Posted on 05/30/2002 2:21:35 PM PDT by Ms. AntiFeminazi
Climate Justice Summit Crater
Wow! Where do I begin? This has been a memorable couple of days.
First and foremost, I must thank everyone who participated in this counter-protest. Thank you for asking Freepers to participate. The most remarkable thing about this entire counter-protest has been the way several different conservative organizations worked together as a single unified front to fight off this attack on our city and state. The left has already trashed Austin and Houston, and we will not let them take Dallas too.
Thank you to the following people with whom I had the honor of serving both yesterday and today:
Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) - Carol Jones and Peggy Venable
American Land Rights Association (ALRA) - Mike Hardiman and Chuck Cushman
Congress Of Racial Equality (CORE) - Niger Innis and Cyril Boynes
Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) - David Rothbard and Steve Watson
Paragon Foundation - Jay Zane Walley
Free Republic Network (FRN)- Patricia Meagher
Committee for the Defense of Free Enterprise (CDFE)
The Leadership Institute
and to each and every person who spent even 5 minutes on this project. It was worth it.
Now to the report:
Tuesday a.m. I got up early and picked up some last minute items for the meetings - copies, signs, etc. I made it to the Bradford by 9 a.m. and spent the next couple of hours meeting with the leaders of each of the above listed organizations plus a few others. From 11-1:30, sauropod and I loaded up in the "bus" (my car), and headed all over the high-volume commuter traffic lanes to confirm the three billboards we had purchased for Wednesday morning's ExxonMobil shareholder meeting.
MAF pointing to sign at Central (I-75) and Royal Ln |
“OIL FUELS TEXAS PROGRESS RADICALS DESTROY TEXAS BUSINESS DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS OIL”
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We also had billboards at I-35 and Beltline in Carrollton, and at the last south exit on the Tollway just before entering downtown. I never made it to the tollway to check, so if anyone saw that billboard, please let me know.
At 2 p.m., we gathered at the Bradford for a 2-hour training session on the evening’s events. We had a room with 40 chairs reserved and were pleasantly surprised when there weren’t enough seats. I counted 48 at the meeting at one point. Some brief introductions were made and Carol Jones (CSE), Mike Hardiman (ALRA), Peggy Venable (CSE), and Chuck Cushman (ALRA) gave guidance on the Mock Trial counter-protest. We handed out maps, talking points, flyers, press releases, cameras, and costumes! – LOTS of costumes! (more on that later with pictures!)
Once we closed the meeting, we loaded up in 5 supersized vans and went to Tina’s for dinner. Tina opened her house to us fixed the meal herself in addition to handling many other details of the project, such as reserving billboards, printing 100+ yard signs, helping Carol with the hotel arrangements, reserving parking for us at the Meyerson, renting the vans etc. THANK YOU TINA!
 Tina our host holding one of the 100 yard signs she had made |
 Carol Jones (the woman who got it all done!) and Bill Peacock |
As you can see from the pictures below, dinner was no little task for Tina.
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Once again we loaded up the 5 vans and headed to the Mock Trial at the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson. When we got there, Niger Innis and Cyril Boynes of CORE and Jay Zane Walley (Paragon Foundation and our very own c-b 1) and friends met us. We had 48 in our group. We can’t get a definite headcount on their side, but Niger and Lloyd Christmas both counted 6 to 8 in the courtroom.
Niger Innis of CORE had sent a request to the trial organizers a few weeks earlier asking to be allowed to testify at the Mock Trial. He was rejected.
It was a pleasure talking with you yesterday. I had been in contact with your colleague, Scott Crow, and he told me I should call you. I've attached an official request, for my organization to give testimony at your upcoming trial on May 28th, to this e-mail.
Niger Innis
National Spokesman
CORE
Their reply was as follows:
dear niger, i am so sorry to take so long to reply to your request. i'm in dallas and things are very crazy, exxonmobil has hired to folks to counter protest our events, we have representatives arriving from different countries, and i lost one of our key staff people early last week. unfortunately the mock trial has already been scripted out and we've had to turn away some folks who are very connected to ExxonMobil, so unfortunately we're not able to accommodate your request.
hope that you will come to dallas any way and meet with some of the impacted community reps and that we can build solidarity with your organization.
again apologies for my tardiness.
regards,
chris doran
202 413 2897.
Cyril Boynes, Special Advisor for International Affairs, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), had already prepared his testimony on behalf of the Peoples and governments of the People’s Republics of Chad and Cameroon. He gave me his copy and I will post it on another thread later today. Cyril will be seen and heard here. The left will not keep us quiet. The truth will prevail.
Once we arrived on campus, we tried to enter the Mock Trial.
Our signs were a very big hit to passerbys. Thank you Registered!
We were met by campus security and told to leave the campus. We couldn’t understand why we were being asked to leave when the trial had been advertised on the internet and was “open to the public”. We were then escorted out of the building and proceeded to the front of the building where our kangaroos and signs would be seen. We had 15 disposable cameras and the one I had with some very good pictures of the kangaroos doing their thing ended up with someone else. I should be getting many more and some better pictures later this week.
 Our happy Kangaroos and ReJoyce! |
 Chuck Cushman (ALRA) teaching Barney Fife about free speech |
Another member of our group, Wanda, sat inside during the trial and took notes. She said that the courtroom displayed a very large United Nations flag and NO United States flag. She said when court was called to order, the presiding judge stated that the “International Criminal Court” proceeding was under way. She had many more details that I’m having trouble remembering at the moment, but I will be posting her report once she has finished it.
After the Mock Trial, we headed back to the hotel for a sign-making party with cake and ice cream. We made hundreds of signs. I’m sorry I don’t have more pictures of them, but I’m sure more will turn up later in the week. All signs were 2-sided and we filled up 2 vans with them. They were all very creative!
We all were up and out by 6 a.m. the next morning to head to the Meyerson Center where the shareholder’s meeting was held. When we arrived, there were already a few leftist protestors and a few police. More police arrived within the next hour. By 7:30 a.m., we had 98 counter-protestors with more than 2 signs each ready to go. The eco-radicals had about a handful of people.
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Then the infamous van showed up with u-haul in tow…
Earlier in the morning, we had been asked not to plant the yard signs in previously friendly territory. I can’t help but think the local news had something to do with that. For 5 days prior to this event, local news had been showing clips of Seattle when reporting about the upcoming Wednesday meeting. They should know Texans don’t scare so easily. However, once the ExxonMobil shareholders saw us, they sent down a spokesperson to grant us permission to put our signs anywhere we wanted along the front of the building and blockades. We had literally hundreds of handmade and preprinted signs. Another thing to note is that we had free access to the trees, benches and water fountains outside the Meyerson Center. The leftists were in a bare parking lot with no trees or water. By mid-morning, they were looking so dehydrated and tired, we offered some of our sandwiches and water to them. They refused because the sandwiches had meat on them (ham and turkey).
Dare I mention restrooms after the embarrassing porta-potty threads? We were not allowed to use the restrooms inside the Meyerson Center. This is understandable considering the increased security since 9-1-1. However, the proprietors of two nearby buildings sent people down to tell us that we were welcome to use their facilities as much as we needed them. They were appreciative that we were out their defending capitalism. Thank you.
Now a couple of pictures of “them”:
 Hypocrisy at its finest. I wonder if she realizes that the profits the eco-terrorist realized from bottled water are produced in part by the use of petroleum resin for the plastic bottles? |
 Huh? Notice ole money bags with a gas mask on. It must be sad to be afraid to breathe. |
I’m sorry I didn’t get more close-ups of the opposition. I had 3 cameras and had started one early Wednesday morning, but I gave my cameras to those who had access to better pictures than I could get and I don’t have the pictures back yet. I will post them as I get them, but I’m sure it will be a few days.
More pictures of us:
 The Grinch That Stole Capitalism |
 Why Greenpeace? Why? |
 “Visualize Whirled Peas” |
 “OIL – Black Gold, Texas Tea” |
 “I love the smell of CRUDE in the morning” |
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DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS!
Way to go MAF! We need to get you one of these, a Ferrari 550 Maranello, to drive the next time you freep the eco-facists: FUEL ECONOMY 8MPG CITY, 13MPG HIGHWAY!!!!
Great work Texas!
I tried to get the anarchists to tell me where the teleporter was, but they just gave me blank stares.
And a very very special THANK YOU to CSE - Carol and Peggy! What an outstanding and professional protest we had - with able planning and execution by pros!! A "rag-tag" group we weren't!
You guys rest. You earned it and you deserve it.
Here's another, backatcha!
Sure, people could invest in verification companies, much the way many invested in accounting firms such as Andersen to verify that their investments were not being made in a sham company like Enron. Except without state regulations, what Andersen did would not be wrong or illegal. Instead, people would then need to invest in verification services of the verifier. The cost of verification becaomes significant enough, and an obvious place to cut corners for those who wish to take risks, that verification becomes non-existant.
And that is without even getting into how the government would be able to enforce contracts under such a system. How would they verify compliance with anything?
Hope to see you next week at the Convention..
Wooo Hoooo!!!! Texas Freeper ping!!!
First of all, I am no anarchist. You will note however, that the market is killing Andersen, if you didn't notice. It eventually took a dim view of Enron too. That's accountability. Compare that to government where there is virtually none. Indeed, when problems get bigger, budgets go up.
There are regulations that I still think proper (particularly in the anti-trust area), but it is worth a look to determine how to make them unnecessary. That is what an intelligent Congress would do.
Instead, people would then need to invest in verification services of the verifier. The cost of verification becaomes significant enough, and an obvious place to cut corners for those who wish to take risks, that verification becomes non-existant.
You neglect to note that the verification companies in my system are subject for civil penalties and are insured to cover errors or the unforseen. Between that and competitive forces to deliver verification services at minimal cost, the system motivates investment in new technology to reduce those costs and improve reliability similar to any other business.
And that is without even getting into how the government would be able to enforce contracts under such a system. How would they verify compliance with anything?
They don't. The only time the government would step in is if there is failure to satisfy a civil judgment upon failure to satisfy a contract, similar to any other contract in this country. Under Article I, Section 8, the Feds don't own property legally, do they?
As I said, I am not an anarchist. Try reading the first chapter to understand why there is no demarcation between regulation and ownership and what the consequences are.
First of all, I am no anarchist.Didn't say you were. What I did say was that the thesis proposes something very similar to what anarchist solutions sound like.
You will note however, that the market is killing Andersen, if you didn't notice. It eventually took a dim view of Enron too. That's accountability.That is accountability to a degree. It is not complete accountability, and will probably never will be. Some people made themselves very wealthy in the whole ordeal. The companies died or may die, but they made off like bandits. And plenty of people lost and lost big. That is probably inevitable that any system will have moments like that, but let's apply it to environmental solutions. Imagine that Andersen's environmental verification branch, and it suffered from the same corruption that Andersen is paying for now. The market responds and Andersen dies.
Who does the cleanup?
If people die due to the mess, who goes to jail?
Compare that to government where there is virtually none. Indeed, when problems get bigger, budgets go up.There is accountability to the people. Do the people make bad decisions with alarming regularity? Yes. Can the construction of government that we have chosen be improved to make it even more accountable and less prone to abuse? Yes. Would we be better off without it? No.
There are regulations that I still think proper (particularly in the anti-trust area), but it is worth a look to determine how to make them unnecessary. That is what an intelligent Congress would do.An interesting side discussion could easily arise from that comment- how to ensure an intelligent Congress.
You neglect to note that the verification companies in my system are subject for civil penalties and are insured to cover errors or the unforseen.And how would the penalities be measured? By the assistance of other verification companies to provide the correct information? And once the companies are dead, then what?
So the insurance companies would pay to ensure they are getting good information so that their coverage is not a bad risk. But who verifies the insurance companies? And what happens when one of them cuts corners and doesn't pay for good verification, or pays for it and gets gyped? What prevents sham insurance companies from being set up? What happens if the insurance companies can't cover cleanup, or punitive damages, or just plan regular damages?
Eventually, the same problems end up as in our current system. Only with less deterrence because there doesn't appear to be hooks into the criminal system.
They don't. The only time the government would step in is if there is failure to satisfy a civil judgment upon failure to satisfy a contract, similar to any other contract in this country.So I take company X to court because they dumped crap on my property. They show up with all the lawyers in the world and documents from a verification service that they have paid off to say that there is no way the chemicals came from company X. I can't get a civil judgement, and I am stuck with the cleanup costs and/or the exposure risk.
As I said, I am not an anarchist.As I said, I didn't say you are. I said you have crafted a thesis that has marked similarities to anarchist proposals, and suffers from many if not all of the same weaknesses, not the least of is that it wouldn't work (IMO).
I believe that federal environmental regualtions should be limited to air pollutants that traverse state borders and interstate waterway pollution.
I believe all other forms of environmental regulations should be up to the individual states. That way, each state could craft a system best suited to that state's economy and that state's peoples' tastes. Heck, some states might even choose your model. We would see competition of ideas, and the best solutions evolving from trial and error.
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