[Guy_Fawkes]

Quote:

Corporate whore Ben Stein, who claims to be an economist but is really a commercial actor with an undergraduate degree in economics, has sued Japanese electronics firm Kyocera for violating his "freedom of religion" by not hiring him as a pitchman because he denies the reality of global warming. This man lives his Republican values to the hilt.

According to the complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Kyocera approached Stein in December 2010 to inquire as to his availability to appear in TV advertisements for Kyocera printers. Stein agreed and they began negotiating a contract. Three months later, before the contract was executed, Kyocera learned that Ben Stein is an idiot who denies the reality of global climate change. So they changed their mind and withdrew the offer, because they didn't want to be represented by an idiot. That's how capitalism works, right? Companies make decisions based on their interests, and contracts are the law of the land.

No! Capitalism works by suing people when you don't get your way. To hear Stein tell it, even though they didn't sign a contract, they still had a contract since Stein really, really, wanted the $300,000 Kyocera had offered contingent on signing the contract, which never happened.

Also, according to Stein, he has a right to the $300,000 under the Constitution, which guarantees him freedom of religion. See, Stein believes that global warming isn't real because "God, and not man, control[s] the weather." When Kyocera declined to pay Stein $300,000 to represent the corporation in part because it doesn't want to be associated with that belief, it violated Stein's constitutional right to $300,000. He also accuses Kyocera of violating his "freedom of speech" and "political freedom." Stein has no political freedom, because Kyocera robbed him of the freedom when it refused to pay him $300,000.

Anyway, that's how Ben Stein became an effective spokesman for the Republican values of hard work, free enterprise, and individual accountability: By speaking out against environmental fascism and by suing people for not giving him money.

Neither Kyocera not Stein's attorney returned phone calls.

http://gawker.com/5875615/fake-economis ... ng-deniers

Stein is the biggest turd in the toilet bowl.

[Unsound]

Atleast his gameshow was funny.

[andyt]

No he's not. Just another media whore. Not as pretty as Paris Hilton, but a lot funnier at times.

[Brenda]

I sure hope the judge convicts him of paying Kyocera's legal costs, and ALL the costs made in regards of this bullshit, including the assistant of the secretary of the house para-legal

[andyt]

I think in the states they don't award legal costs to the winner. It's one reason they are so sue crazy.

[BartSimpson]

Ben Stein is quite the real economist. He's probably in the top ten for published economic analysts over the past twenty years and he's been particularly focused on trade and tariff policies. That makes him an economist and it looks to me that if he loses the lawsuit against Kyocera (which he should never have filed in the first place) that he's got a slam-dunk libel case against Gawker for calling him a fake economist.

Oh, and this makes me glad that I've never wanted to buy a damned Kyocera printer. It's HP or Xerox for me.

[Brenda]

BartSimpson wrote:

Oh, and this makes me glad that I've never wanted to buy a damned Kyocera printer.

Why? Other than the fact the brand is not for you (I never even heard of it, but whatever), why are you glad you never wanted to buy a Kyocera printer?

I'm thinking that they made the right decision, pulling out, considering his response. Wanting $300k for no work done with no signed contract? Really??

[BartSimpson]

andyt wrote:

I think in the states they don't award legal costs to the winner. It's one reason they are so sue crazy.

Depending on the judge legal costs for the defendant could be paid for by the plaintiff if the judge determines the case was frivolous. Where the court agreed to hear the case in the first place I'm thinking there's at least something happening there to give a semblance of credence to the claim.

It seems to me that the global warming thing is a red herring. To think that Kyocera did not estimate that a conservative economist who has worked in varying capacities for several Republican administrations and universities is not a global warming advocate should not be any huge surprise. I'm guessing they backed out for some other reason and then went to press with this flaccid excuse instead.

Which still doesn't make Stein right in this. He should man up and walk away is all.

[Brenda]

BartSimpson wrote:

andyt wrote:

I think in the states they don't award legal costs to the winner. It's one reason they are so sue crazy.

Depending on the judge legal costs for the defendant could be paid for by the plaintiff if the judge determines the case was frivolous. Where the court agreed to hear the case in the first place I'm thinking there's at least something happening there to give a semblance of credence to the claim.

It seems to me that the global warming thing is a red herring. To think that Kyocera did not estimate that a conservative economist who has worked in varying capacities for several Republican administrations and universities is not a global warming advocate should not be any huge surprise. I'm guessing they backed out for some other reason and then went to press with this flaccid excuse instead.

Which still doesn't make Stein right in this. He should man up and walk away is all.

Bart, help me out here. WHERE does it say Kyocera went to the press, or even told Stein what the reason of withdrawal was?? Knowing Gawker, THEY came up with that reason, just because the writer of this piece's opinion is that Stein is a moron. It says nowhere what Kyocera's reasoning was.

[BartSimpson]

Brenda wrote:

Why? Other than the fact the brand is not for you (I never even heard of it, but whatever), why are you glad you never wanted to buy a Kyocera printer?

Try finding their technical manuals online. Not the user manuals, but the technical manuals. Kyocera keeps it all a big secret so their repair shops can make extra money.

HP & Xerox publish their tech manuals online and both also host technical forums where technical issues can be addressed openly and at no cost to forum users.

Brenda wrote:

I'm thinking that they made the right decision, pulling out, considering his response. Wanting $300k for no work done with no signed contract? Really??

[trolling]So you're okay with women getting nothing in their divorce if the man got nothing out of the marriage? [/trolling]

[BartSimpson]

Brenda wrote:

Bart, help me out here. WHERE does it say Kyocera went to the press, or even told Stein what the reason of withdrawal was?? Knowing Gawker, THEY came up with that reason, just because the writer of this piece's opinion is that Stein is a moron. It says nowhere what Kyocera's reasoning was.

If Kyocera never said this then Gawker will get sued by Stein *and* Kyocera.

[Brenda]

BartSimpson wrote:

Brenda wrote:

Why? Other than the fact the brand is not for you (I never even heard of it, but whatever), why are you glad you never wanted to buy a Kyocera printer?

Try finding their technical manuals online. Not the user manuals, but the technical manuals. Kyocera keeps it all a big secret so their repair shops can make extra money.

HP & Xerox publish their tech manuals online and both also host technical forums where technical issues can be addressed openly and at no cost to forum users.

Fair enough. (Like I said, I never even heard of the brand )

Quote:

Brenda wrote:

I'm thinking that they made the right decision, pulling out, considering his response. Wanting $300k for no work done with no signed contract? Really??

[trolling]So you're okay with women getting nothing in their divorce if the man got nothing out of the marriage? [/trolling]

Ah, no. By marrying that bitch, he signed a contract. So, PAY UP FOOL!!!

[RUEZ]

And now an article about the story that's probably more accurate and without the attempt at being witty.

Quote:

Ben Stein claims he's a victim of political discrimination.

The conservative pundit and actor -- and former Nixon speechwriter -- alleges that his position on climate change had him kicked off a $300,000 acting gig, only to be replaced by a lookalike.

Stein filed a discrimination suit against Japanese company Kyocera Corporation and New York ad agency Seiter & Miller Advertising, in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday.

He is claiming breach of contract, wrongful discharge and emotional distress, among other charges.

Also read: 'WS2' Reviewed: It's More Like 'Ferris Bueller's Day on Wall Street'

In the suit, which was obtained by TheWrap, Stein says Kyocera reneged on the deal and replaced him after the company found out that he isn't sure humans are responsible for climate change.

The deal would have had Stein -- who has previously been featured in advertisements for Comcast, Clear Eyes and Hewlett-Packard -- acting in commercials for Kyocera and appearing at a company event.

(Read the whole filing here.)

Stein says that in December 2010 Kyocera and Seiter & Miller's Grace Jao approached his agent, Innovative Artists' Marcia Hurwitz, saying the company "wanted someone with an economics qualification in the public mind, and [Stein] came to mind at once," according to the complaint. "Hurwitz asked [Jao] if this was an offer. Jao said it was."

Over the course of five weeks, an agreement was worked out, with all the material deal points in place.

"The only points still under discussion -- but not in dispute -- were what kind of tea and other snacks [Stein] would have on the set," the suit claims. "There were no outstanding deal points."

In February, Jao called Hurwitz and said "questions had been raised by defendant Kyocera about whether [Stein's] views on global warming and on the environment were sufficiently conventional and politically correct for Kyocera," according to the suit.

Stein then told Kyocera and Seiter & Miller that he was extremely concerned about the environment but unsure whether humans are responsible for global warming.

"He also told Hurwitz to inform defendants that, as a matter of religious belief, he believed that God, and not man, controlled the weather," the suit claims.

That same month, Seiter & Miller President Livingston Miller emailed Hurwitz, telling her the agency had decided to withdraw its offer.

Miller said decision was made due to Stein's "official positions on various policy issues that appear on the web of which we have only lately become aware," according to the suit.

Kyocera then tapped a University of Maryland economics professor to appear in the commercials as a Stein look-alike.

"In an astonishingly brazen misappropriation of [Stein's] persona, [they] dressed him up as Stein often appeared in commercials (bow tie, glasses, sports jacket)."

The suit claims that Stein has been described as "the most famous economics teacher in the world" for his iconic role in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

Stein is seeing $300,000 for the work he agreed to do, along with attorney fees, court costs and punitive damages.

A representative for Seiter & Miller did not respond to TheWrap's request for comment.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/12/idUS265209529320120112

[Brenda]

BartSimpson wrote:

Brenda wrote:

Bart, help me out here. WHERE does it say Kyocera went to the press, or even told Stein what the reason of withdrawal was?? Knowing Gawker, THEY came up with that reason, just because the writer of this piece's opinion is that Stein is a moron. It says nowhere what Kyocera's reasoning was.

If Kyocera never said this then Gawker will get sued by Stein *and* Kyocera.

Freedom of speech...

[OnTheIce]

I hope he wins.