" Think Outside the Bottle "

Yes Men Strike Again, Launch New Coke Brand Bottled Water Called 'Deception' Tara Lohan, AlterNet November 18, 2009 http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/144049/yes_men_strike_again%2C_launch_new_coke_brand_bottled_water_called_%27deception%27_%5Bwith_video%5D/

The notorious and hilarious pranksters, The Yes Men have done it again. This time their target was Coca-Cola. The company bottles Dasani water, which is basically just tap water that you pay a whole lot more for. The only difference really is that then you have a plastic bottle, which 80 percent of people toss in the garbage instead of a recycling bin.

While Pepsi, which uses tap water for its Aquafina bottled water, has now caved to pressure and labeled their water as "public water source" -- Coke still refuses. So, the Yes Men teamed up with pressure group Corporate Accountability International and launched a faux Coke campaign for a new bottled water called Deception. My favorite part of the video is when they actually run into a real employee from Coke.

How the Yes Men inspired a climate activist to impersonate an oil speculator—and derail a multimillion-dollar federal land giveaway. —By Bryan Farrell

During the final days of the Bush administration, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) scheduled a controversial auction of oil and gas leases on federal lands, including areas bordering national parks and monuments in Utah. While environmental organizations launched a round of protests and lawsuits, Tim DeChristopher, a 27-year-old econ major at the University of Utah, decided he had to try to stop the sale by himself. Not knowing exactly how he'd do it, DeChristopher walked into the auction in Salt Lake City on December 19, 2008, and had a sneaky idea handed to him in the form of a bidder's paddle.

Simply by raising it again and again and pretending to bid on the leases, he proceeded to drive up their prices and outbid the real speculators on 13 parcels covering more than 22,000 acres and worth $1.7 million dollars.

It is with great pleasure that Breakdown Press announces the publication of How To Make Trouble and Influence People! You may still have a copy from the original series of infamous zines in your toilet library, but this expanded version will set your troublemaking heart on fire.

Featuring over 300 colour photographs, interviews with some of our most loved troublemakers and of course tales of Indigenous resistance, convict revolts and escapes, picket line hi-jinks, student occupations, creative direct action, media pranks, urban interventions, squatting, blockades, banner drops, street theatre and billboard liberation, the collection reveals the vital history of creative resistance in Australia.

Written and researched by Iain McIntyre the new edition features interviews with The Chaser, Buga-Up, Kevin Buzzacott, John Safran, Pauline Pantsdown, Dave Burgess, Meredith Burgmann, Deborah Kelly, Order of Perpetual Indulgence, Stuart Highway, John Howard Ladies’ Auxiliary Fan Club, No To Pope Coalition and The Graffiti Games Organising Committee.

When three to five percent of the total population controls the government, the economy, the news media, the educational systems, the entertainment industry and some of the churches… well that is not a true democracy!

Calling it “The People’s Oscar,” Michael Moore enthusiastically accepted the Tony Mazzocchi Labor Arts Award at last night’s D.C. preview of his new film Capitalism: A Love Story. “I knew Tony and he was a remarkable man,” an obviously touched Moore said after being presented with the award by DC Labor FilmFest Co-Chairs Jos Williams and Mark Dudzic, “this really means a lot to me.” Moore exhorted the audience to: "Get up and get involved to make this the world we want." He also encouraged activists to make their own films that entertain and mobilize and pledged to work with the D.C. Labor FilmFest to continue working to help organize local labor film festivals around the world.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/09/29/michael-moore-gets-peoples-oscar/#

Note: Mazzocchi, president of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, was a driving force in establishing the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1970.