NIMBY or Nimby is an acronym for the phrase not in my back yard. The term (or the derivative Nimbyism) is used pejoratively to describe opposition by residents to a proposal for a new development close to them. Opposing residents themselves are sometimes called Nimbies. The term was coined in 1980 by Emilie Travel Livezey, and was popularized by British politician Nicholas Ridley, who was Conservative Secretary of State for the Environment.

Projects likely to be opposed include but are not limited to tall buildings, chemical plants, industrial parks, military bases, wind turbines, desalination plants, landfills, incinerators, power plants, prisons, mobile telephone network masts, schools, nuclear waste dumps, landfill dump sites, youth hostels, wind farms, golf courses, housing developments and especially transportation improvement schemes (e.g. new roads, passenger and freight railways, highways, airports, seaports).

NIMBY is also used more generally to describe people who advocate some proposal (for example, austerity measures including budget cuts, tax increases, downsizing), but oppose implementing it in a way that would require sacrifice on their part.

Variations

NIMBY and its derivative terms NIMBYism, NIMBYs, and NIMBYists, refer implicitly to debates of development generally or to a specific case. As such, their use is inherently contentious. The term is usually applied to opponents of a development, implying that they have narrow, selfish, or myopic views. Its use is often pejorative.

The term has been applied in debates over developments in various situations, including:

When parties advocate infrastructure development such as new roads, light rail and metro lines, airports, power plants, retail developments, sales of public assets, electrical transmission lines, wastewater treatment plants, landfills, sewage outfalls or prisons.

When parties build, operate, or advocate culturally unfamiliar functions, such as methadone clinics, needle exchange programs, or halfway houses.

When parties propose to build or operate facilities that are perceived as primarily benefitting disadvantaged people, such as subsidized housing for poor people, supportive housing for mentally ill people, and homeless shelters for people without a home. These facilities are often opposed by wealthier, healthier, and securely housed people on the grounds that the facilities serve, and therefore might attract or make more visible, people that they consider to be "undesirable".

When a government or private party advocates development of residential or commercial property.

Not in my neighbourhood

The term "not in my neighbourhood" is also frequently used.

NIABY

Opposition to certain developments as inappropriate anywhere in the world is characterised by the acronym NIABY (Not In Anyone's Backyard). The building of nuclear power plants, for example, is often subject to NIABY concerns.

NAMBI

NAMBI (Not Against My Business or Industry) is used as a label for any business concern that expresses umbrage with actions or policy that threaten that business, whereby they are believed to be complaining about the principle of the action or policy only for their interests alone and not for all similar business concerns who would equally suffer from the actions or policies. The term serves as a criticism of the kind of outrage that business expresses when disingenuously portraying its protest to be for the benefit of all other businesses. Such a labelling would occur, for example, when opposition expressed by a business involved in urban development is challenged by activists — causing the business to in turn protest and appealing for support from fellow businesses lest they also find themselves challenged where they seek urban development. This term also serves as a rhetorical counter to NIMBY. Seen as an equivalent to NIMBY by those opposing the business or industry in question.

BANANA

BANANA is an acronym for Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything (or Anyone). The term is most often used to criticize the ongoing opposition of certain advocacy groups to land development. The apparent opposition of some activists to every instance of proposed development suggests that they seek a complete absence of new growth. The term is commonly used within the context of planning in the United Kingdom. The Sunderland City Council lists the term on their online dictionary of jargon.

PIBBY

PIBBY is the acronym for Put In Blacks' Back Yard. This principle indicates that the people with social, racial, and economic privileges object to a development in their own back yards, and if the objectionable item must be built, then it should be built so that its perceived harms disproportionately affect poor, racially disadvantaged people. The environmental justice movement has critiqued Nimbyism as a form of environmental racism. Robert Doyle Bullard, Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University, has argued that official responses to NIMBY phenomena have led to the PIBBY (Put In Blacks' Back Yard) principle.

FRUIT

FRUIT is the acronym for Fear of Revitalization Urban-Infill and Towers. The word FRUIT or FRUITs is a play on words in support of the acronym BANANAs. First used in a development industry article in Vancouver to describe irrational local opponents (fruit cakes, fruit loops or just fruits) of well-planned developments.

Use of the terminology FRUITs in context with use of the acronym BANANAs.

Points of debate

In favor of development

Frequently argued debate points in favor of development include higher employment, tax revenue, marginal cost of remote development, safety, and environmental benefits. Proponents of development may accuse locals of elitism, parochialism, drawbridge mentality, racism and opposition to diversity, the inevitability of criticism, and misguided or unrealistic claims of prevention of urban sprawl.

In favor of local sovereignty

Those labeled as NIMBYs may have a variety of motivations and may be unified only because they oppose a particular project. For example, some may oppose any significant change or development, regardless of type, purpose, or origin. Others, if the project may is seen as being imposed by outsiders, may hold strong principles of self-governance, local sovereignty, local autonomy, and home rule. These people believe that local people should have the final choice and that any project affecting the local people should clearly benefit themselves, rather than corporations with distant investors or central governments. Still others may object to a particular project because of its nature, e.g., opposing a nuclear power plant over fear of radiation, but accepting a local waste management facility as a municipal necessity.

Regardless of motivation, they may cite any perceived disadvantages that seem relevant. A typical list of objections includes:

''Increased traffic:'' More jobs, more housing or more stores means more people driving on local streets. Industrial facilities such as warehouses, factories, or landfills often increase the volume of truck traffic.

''Harm to locally owned small businesses:'' The addition of a big box store, such as Wal-Mart, might result in local people no longer choosing to patronize locally owned stores.

''Loss of residential property value:'' Homes near an undesirable development may be less desirable when the owner attempts to sell it. The lost revenue from property taxes may or may not be offset by increased revenue from the project.

''Environmental pollution of land, air, and water:'' Power plants, factories, chemical facilities, crematoriums, sewage treatment facilities, airports, and similar projects may contaminate the land, air, or water around them.

''Light pollution:'' Projects that operate at night, or that include security lighting (such as streetlights in a parking lot), may be accused of causing light pollution.

''Noise pollution:'' In addition to the noise of traffic, a project may inherently be noisy. This is a common objection to wind power, airports, and many industrial facilities.

''Visual blight and failure to "blend in" with the surrounding architecture:'' The proposed project might be ugly or particularly large.

''Loss of a community's small-town feel:'' This objection typically is given to proposals that might result in new people moving into the community, such as a plan to build many new houses.

''Strain of public resources and schools:'' This reason is given for any increase in the local area's population, as additional school facilities might be needed for the additional children, but particularly to projects that might result in certain kinds of people joining the community, such as a group home for people with disabilities.

''Disproportionate benefit to non-locals:'' The project appears to benefit distant people, such as investors (in the case of commercial projects like factories or big-box stores) or people from neighboring areas (in the case of regional government projects, such as airports, highways, sewage treatment, or landfills).

''Increases in crime:'' This is usually applied to commercial projects that are perceived as attracting low-skill workers, or any project that might employ racially disadvantaged people or recent immigrants, or that might benefit people with mental illness or poor people, such as low-income housing. Additionally, certain types of projects, such as place selling alcohol or medical marijuana, might directly increase the amount of crime in the area.

Origin

The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' identifies the acronym's earliest use as being in 1980 in the ''Christian Science Monitor''.

However, the concept behind the name originated before then, possibly in the 1950s.

Examples

Canada

Edmonton, Alberta

Opposition to a buried high voltage power transmission line that would require the rezoning of existing urban planning designs and the purchase (forced relocation of current residents) of houses along the planned corridor. Tax payer money would be spent to help finance the upgrade. NIMBY protests attract sympathy from citizens not directly affected by the project.

South-Western Ontario

Many residents of the various towns in Essex County (as well as other nearby counties) are opposed to companies building wind turbines in Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, as well as in farmers' fields and along Ontario Highway 401. Concerns include their effects on the migration of birds, the noise associated with wind-powered electricity generation, the unsightliness of the towers themselves)

Hong Kong

When Christian Zheng Sheng College, the only school in Hong Kong which is dedicated to life education for teenagers with drug addiction, tries to relocate the campus from Chi Ma Wan to Mui Wo due to overcrowding, the school faced opposition from Mui Wo residents even when the government supported the relocation. An editorial in ''The Standard'' said the opposition is "the common 'not in my backyard' mentality".

United Kingdom

Newton Mearns, Scotland

The sizable Muslim community of Newton Mearns, an affluent, leafy suburb of Glasgow, have long campaigned for a mosque to be built where they may worship. NIMBY protests defeated attempts to construct a mosque in the relatively small community.

East Kilbride, Scotland

The railway line from Glasgow Central to East Kilbride was considered for extension to East Kilbride shopping center and bus station in 1989. This process involved tunneling under people's back gardens and the area around the Civic Centre. NIMBY protests defeated such a movement and the line was not extended.

Ashtead, Surrey

In the affluent English village of Ashtead, Surrey, which lies on the outside of London, residents objected in 2007 to the conversion of a large, £1.7 million residential property into a family support centre for relatives of wounded British service personnel. The house was to be purchased by a registered charity, SSAFA Forces Help. Local residents objected to the proposal out of fear of increased traffic and noise, as well as the possibility of an increased threat of terrorism. They also contended that the SSAFA charity is actually a business, thereby setting an unwelcome precedent. Local newspapers ran articles titled "Nimby neighbours' war with wounded soldiers' families" and "No Heroes in my Backyard."

Ex-servicemen and several members of the British general public organised a petition in support of SSAFA, and even auctioned the "Self Respect of Ashtead" on eBay.

High Speed Rail 2

Particularly in the run up to the final decision on the route of High Speed 2, BBC News Online reported that many residents of Tory constituencies were launching objections to the HS2 route based on the effects it would have on them, whilst also showing concerns that HS2 is unlikely to have a societal benefit at a macro level under the current economic circumstances.

Heathrow Airport

In November 2007 a consultation process began for the building of a new third runway and a sixth terminal and it was controversially approved on 15 January 2009 by UK Government ministers. The project was then cancelled on 12 May 2010 by the Cameron Government.

Heathrow Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P527) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.

Coventry Airport

The airport is owned by CAFCO (Coventry) Limited, a joint venture between Howard Holdings plc and Convergence-AFCO Holdings Limited (CAFCOHL), and in June 2007 had its application to build permanent terminal and passenger facilities turned down by the UK government due to public pressure.

United States

Alexandria, Virginia

In Alexandria, Virginia, a high-density development in Potomac Yard was criticized by local residents. The developers in turn accused the residents of hypocrisy for campaigning for their own Washington Metro station while simultaneously opposing the scale of development that would allow the station's construction.

Deerfield, Illinois

In 1959, when Deerfield officials learned that a developer building a neighborhood of large new homes planned to make houses available to African Americans, they issued a stop-work order. An intense debate began about racial integration, property values, and the good faith of the community officials and builders. For a brief time, Deerfield was spotlighted in the national news as "the Little Rock of the North." Supporters of integration were denounced and ostracized by angry residents. Eventually, the village passed a referendum to build parks on the property, thus putting an end to the housing development. Two model homes already partially completed were sold to village officials. Otherwise, the land lay dormant for years before it was developed into what is now Mitchell Pool and Park and Jaycee Park. The first black family did not move into Deerfield until much later. This episode in Deerfield's history is described in ''But Not Next Door'' by Harry and David Rosen, both residents of Deerfield.

Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts

Some residents and businesses of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Island have opposed construction of Cape Wind, a proposed offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound. Proponents cite the environmental, economic, and energy security benefits of clean, renewable energy, while opponents are against any obstruction to the views from oceanfront vacation homes and tourist destinations based in the region.

St. Lucie County, Florida

Similar to the situation in Nantucket Sound, Mass., a minority of residents in St. Lucie County, Florida have vehemently opposed the construction of wind turbines in the county. The construction of the wind turbines is strongly supported by over 80% of county residents according to a 2008 Florida Power and Light (FPL) poll. Additionally, the power company proposed building the turbines in a location on a beach near a prior existing nuclear power plant owned by the company.

California

A small number of residents (mostly farmers) in Hanford, California and surrounding areas are opposed to the California High-Speed Rail Authority building high-speed rail near farmland, citing that it will bring environmental and economic problems.

See also

CAVE People

Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe

Drawbridge mentality

Eyesore

Locally unwanted land use (LULU)

Luddite

Pulp mill conflict between Argentina and Uruguay

Smart Growth

Somebody Else's Problem

Technophobia

YIMBY

Waste

References

External links

The First World Network of NIMBY Experts

Multifamily Housing Group Targets NIMBY

Saint Index strives to measure Nimbyism

Nimby Wars from Forbes Magazine

How to Overcome NIMBY Opposition to Your Project

Q & A with NIMBY Expert Debra Stein

Category:Environmental sayings Category:Urban studies and planning terminology Category:Acronyms Category:American political terms Category:Pejorative terms for people Category:Political slogans

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Coordinates	12°58′0″N77°34′0″N
name	John Stossel
birthname	John F. Stossel
birth date	March 06, 1947
birth place	Chicago Heights, Illinois
education	B.A. in Psychology, Princeton University (1969)
occupation	Journalist, author, columnist, reporter, TV presenter
status	Married
spouse	Ellen Abrams
religion	Agnostic
credits	''20/20'' ''Stossel''
url	http://www.johnstossel.com }}

John F. Stossel (born March 6, 1947) is an American consumer reporter, investigative journalist, author and libertarian columnist. In October 2009 Stossel left his long time home on ABC News to join the Fox Business Channel and Fox News Channel, both owned and operated by News Corp. He hosts a weekly news show entitled ''Stossel'', on Fox Business which debuted December 10, 2009, airing in prime time every Thursday repeating on both Saturdays and Sundays. Stossel also regularly provides signature analysis, appearing on various Fox News shows, including weekly appearances on ''The O'Reilly Factor'', in addition to writing the Fox News Blog, "John Stossel's Take".

Stossel practices advocacy journalism, often challenging conventional wisdom. His reporting style, which is a blend of commentary and reporting, reflects a libertarian political philosophy and his views on economics are largely supportive of the free market.

In his decades as a reporter, Stossel has received numerous honors and awards, including nineteen Emmy awards and has been honored five times for excellence in consumer reporting by the National Press Club. John Stossel is doctor ''honoris causa'' from Universidad Francisco Marroquín. Stossel has written two books recounting how his experiences in journalism shaped his socioeconomic views, ''Give Me a Break'' in 2004 and ''Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity'' in 2007.

Stossel began his journalism career as a researcher for KGW-TV and later became a consumer reporter at WCBS-TV in New York City, before joining ABC News as a consumer editor and reporter on ''Good Morning America''. Stossel went on to be an ABC News correspondent, joining the weekly news magazine program ''20/20'', going on to become co-anchor for the ABC News show ''20/20''.

ABC is reported to believe "his reporting goes against the grain of the established media and offers the network something fresh and different...[but] makes him a target of the groups he offends."

Early life

John Stossel was born in Chicago Heights, Illinois, the younger of two sons, to a prominent Jewish family, and graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka. He overcame a stuttering problem so he could become a reporter, and is now a supporter and advocate for The Stuttering Foundation. Stossel graduated from Princeton University with a BA in Psychology in 1969 and was a member of Princeton Tower Club while there. He began his journalism career as a researcher for KGW-TV in Portland, Oregon. Stossel later became a consumer reporter at WCBS-TV in New York City before joining ABC News in 1981 as consumer editor and reporter on ''Good Morning America''.

Career

''20/20''

Stossel was named co-anchor of ABC News' ''20/20'' in May 2003. He joined the weekly news magazine program in 1981, initially as a correspondent. His "Give Me a Break" segments featured a skeptical look at subjects from government regulations and pop culture to censorship and unfounded fear. The series was spun off into a series of one-hour specials (which, Stossel stated in an interview with ReasonTV, cost ABC half a million dollars per Special), beginning in 1994, with titles including:

"Give Me a Break" – regular segment

''You Can't Even Talk About It'' – 2009

''Bailouts and Bull'' (in association with ReasonTV) – 2009

''John Stossel's Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics'' – 2008

''Sex in America'' – 2008

''Sick in America, Whose Body Is It Anyway?'' – 2007

''Cheap In America'' – 2007

''Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity'' – 2007

''Cheap in America'' – 2006

''Stupid in America: How We Cheat Our Kids'' – 2006

''Privilege in America: Who's Shutting You Out?'' – 2006

''War on Drugs: A War on Ourselves'' – 2002

''Freeloaders'' – 2001

''John Stossel Goes to Washington'' – Spring 2001

''Is America #1?'' – 1999

''Greed'' – 1999

''Common Sense'' – 1995

''Are We Scaring Ourselves to Death?''

''Junk Science: What You Know That May Not Be So''

''Boys and Girls Are Different''

''You Can't Say That!''

''The Power of Belief''

Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network

In September 2009, it was announced that Stossel was leaving ABC News and joining Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network. In addition to appearing on ''The O'Reilly Factor'' every Tuesday night, he now hosts a one-hour weekly program for Fox Business Network and a series of one-hour specials for Fox News Channel, as well as making regular guest appearances on Fox News programs.

The program, entitled ''Stossel'', debuted December 10, 2009, at 8 pm EST on Fox Business Network. The program looks at consumer-focused topics, such as civil liberties, the business of health care, and free trade. His blog, "Stossel’s Take", is published on both FoxBusiness.com and FoxNews.com.

Publications

Stossel has written two books. ''Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media'' is an autobiography documenting his career and philosophical transition from liberalism to libertarianism. It describes his opposition to government regulation, his belief in free market and private enterprise, support for tort reform, and advocacy for shifting social services from the government to private charities. It was a New York Times bestseller for 11 weeks. ''Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel – Why Everything You Know Is Wrong'' questions the validity of various conventional wisdoms, and argues that the belief he is conservative is untrue.

With financial support from the libertarian Palmer R. Chitester Fund, Stossel and ABC News launched a series of educational materials for public schools in 1999 entitled "Stossel in the Classroom". It was taken over in 2006 by the Center for Independent Thought and releases a new DVD of teaching materials annually. In 2006, Stossel and ABC released ''Teaching Tools for Economics'', a video series based on the National Council of Economics Education standards.

Charity and other work

Stossel often makes public appearances and speeches, advocating his brand of libertarian thought. Stossel explained at the end of the December 30, 2010 episode of ''Stossel'' that he gives away his earnings from these engagements to charity; they contribute 25% of his income. The three main groups he supports with his donations are the The Doe Fund, the Central Park Conservancy (on whose board he sits), and Student Sponsor Partners (SSP), which partners low-income high school students with donors who mentor the students and pay tuition for the students to attend private school (usually Catholic schools), which Stossel says have higher graduation rates than public schools.

Stossel and his former ABC News colleague Chris Cuomo are silent investors in Columbus Tavern, a restaurant on Columbus Avenue at 72nd Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Political and personal beliefs

Contrarianism

Stossel's news reports and writings attempt to debunk popular beliefs. His ''Myths and Lies'' series of ''20/20'' specials challenges a range of widely held beliefs. He also hosted ''The Power of Belief'' (October 6, 1998), an ABC News Special that focused on assertions of the paranormal and people's desire to believe. Another report outlined the belief that opposition to DDT is misplaced and that the ban on DDT has resulted in the deaths of millions of children, mostly in poor nations.

Libertarianism

As a libertarian, Stossel says that he believes in both personal freedom and the free market. He frequently uses television airtime to advance these views and challenge viewers' distrust of free market capitalism and economic competition. He received an Honoris Causa Doctorate from Francisco Marroquin University, a libertarian university in Guatemala, in 2008. He told ''The Oregonian'', on October 26, 1994:

Stossel argues that personal greed creates an incentive to work and to innovate. He has promoted school choice as a way to improve American schools, because he believes that when people are given a choice, they will choose the better schools for their children. Referring to educational tests that rank American students lower than others he says:

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Stossel has criticized government programs as inefficient, wasteful, and harmful. He has also criticized the American legal system, opining that it provides lawyers and vexatious litigators the incentive to file frivolous lawsuits indiscriminately, which Stossel contends often generate more wealth for lawyers than deserving clients, stifle innovation and personal freedoms, and cause harm to private citizens, taxpayers, consumers and businesses. Although Stossel concedes that some lawsuits are necessary in order to provide justice to people genuinely injured by others with greater economic power, he advocates the adoption in the U.S. of the English rule as one method to reduce the more abusive or frivolous lawsuits.

Stossel opposes corporate welfare, bailouts and the war in Iraq. He also opposes legal prohibitions against pornography, marijuana, gambling, ticket scalping, prostitution, homosexual activity, and assisted suicide, and believes most abortions should be legal. He favors replacing the income tax with the FairTax.

When President Barack Obama altered federal guidelines in April 2010 governing the employment of unpaid interns under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Stossel criticized the guidelines, appearing in a police uniform during an appearance on the Fox News program ''America Live'', commenting, "I’ve built my career on unpaid interns, and the interns told me it was great—I learned more from you than I did in college." Asked why he did not pay them if they were so valuable, he said he could not afford to.

Regarding religion, Stossel identified himself as an agnostic in the December 16, 2010 episode of ''Stossel'', explaining that he had no belief in God, but was open to the possibility.

Praise and criticism

Awards

Stossel has won 19 Emmy Awards. He was honored five times for excellence in consumer reporting by the National Press Club, and has received the George Polk Award for Outstanding Local Reporting and the Peabody Award. In one year, according to Stossel in his book ''Give Me A Break'', "I got so many Emmys, another winner thanked me in his acceptance speech 'for not having an entry in this category'". According to Stossel, when he was in favor of government intervention and skeptical of business he was deluged with awards, but in 2006 he stated, "They like me less... Once I started applying the same skepticism to government, I stopped winning awards."

Praise

The libertarian Nobel Prize–winning economist Milton Friedman lauded Stossel, stating: ''"Stossel is that rare creature, a TV commentator who understands economics, in all its subtlety."'' P. J. O'Rourke, best-selling author of ''Eat the Rich'' and ''Parliament of Whores'' praised Stossel, stating: ''"... about John Stossel's fact-finding. He seeks the truths that destroy truisms, wields reason against all that's unreasonable, and ... puncture(s) sanctimonious idealism.... He makes the maddening mad. And Stossel’s tales of the outrageous are outrageously amusing."'' Steve Forbes, the editor of ''Forbes Magazine'', described Stossel as riveting and "one of America’s ablest and most courageous journalists."

An article published by the libertarian group Advocates for Self Government notes praise for Stossel. Independent Institute Research Analyst Anthony Gregory, writing on the libertarian blog, LewRockwell.com, described Stossel as a "heroic rogue... a media maverick and proponent of freedom in an otherwise statist, conformist mass media." Libertarian investment analyst Mark Skousen said Stossel is "a true libertarian hero".

Criticism and controversy

Watchdog groups

Progressive watch dog organizations such as Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) and Media Matters for America (MMfA), have criticized Stossel's work, for what was perceived by those groups as a lack of balance of coverage and distortion of facts. For example, Stossel was criticized for a segment on his October 11, 1999, show during which he argued that AIDS research has received too much funding, "25 times more than on Parkinson's, which kills more people." FAIR responded that, "In fact, AIDS killed more than 16,000 people in the United States in 1999," whereas Parkinson's averaged "a death toll in the United States of less than 4,000 per year."

Accusation of conflict of interest

In a February 2000 Salon.com feature on Stossel entitled "Prime-time propagandist", David Mastio wrote that Stossel has a conflict of interest in donating profits from his public speaking engagements to, among others, a non-profit called "Stossel in the Classroom" which includes material for use in schools, some of which uses material made by Stossel.

Galbraith and Stossel

University of Texas economist James K. Galbraith has alleged that Stossel, in his September 1999 special ''Is America #1?'', used an out of context clip of Galbraith to convey the notion that Galbraith advocated the adoption by Europe of the free market economics practiced by the United States, when in fact, Galbraith actually advocated that Europe adopt some of the United States' social benefit transfer mechanisms such as Social Security, which is the economically opposite view. Stossel denied any misrepresentation of Galbraith's views, and stated that it was not his intention to convey that Galbraith agreed with all of the special's ideas, but re-edited that portion of the program for its September 2000 repeat, in which Stossel paraphrased, "Even economists who like Europe's policies, like James Galbraith, now acknowledge America's success."

Organic vegetables

A February 2000 story about organic vegetables on ''20/20'' included statements by Stossel that tests had shown that neither organic nor conventional produce samples contained any pesticide residue, and that organic food was more likely to be contaminated by ''E. coli'' bacteria. The Environmental Working Group objected to his report, mainly questioning his statements about bacteria, but also managed to determine that the produce had never been tested for pesticides. They communicated this to Stossel, but after the story's producer backed Stossel's recollection that the test results had been as described, the story was rebroadcast months later, uncorrected, and with a postscript in which Stossel reiterated his claim. Later, after a report in ''The New York Times'' confirmed the Environmental Working Group's claims, ABC News suspended the producer of the segment for a month and reprimanded Stossel. Stossel apologized, saying that he had thought the tests had been conducted as reported. However, he asserted that the gist of his report had been accurate.

Frederick K. Price

In a March 2007 segment about finances and lifestyles of televangelists, ''20/20'' aired a clip of Rev. Frederick K. Price, a TV minister, that was originally broadcast by the Lifetime Network in 1997. Price alleged that the clip portrayed him describing his wealth in extravagant terms, when he was actually telling a parable about a rich man. ABC News twice aired a retraction and apologized for the error. In August 2010, a lower court's dismissal of the minister's defamation suit against ABC, ''Price v. Stossel'', was overturned by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"Sick Sob Stories"

In an opinion piece published in ''The Wall Street Journal'' in September 2007 called "Sick Sob Stories", Stossel described the case of Tracy and Julie Pierce that was explored in Michael Moore's film, ''Sicko''. Julie Pierce criticized Stossel, saying her husband would have been saved by the Canadian health care system, and she thought Stossel should have interviewed her and her doctor before writing about them. Stossel expressed sympathy, but said she had been misled to believe the treatment was routinely available in Canada. He said that the treatment is also considered "experimental" in Canada, and is provided there even more rarely than in the U.S.

Global warming

He challenges the notion that man-made global warming would have net negative consequences, pointing to assertedly warmer periods in human history. Central to his argument is the idea that groups and individuals get much more public attention, donations, and government funding when they proclaim "this will be terrible" than groups that say "this is nothing to worry about." He points to groups like the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and to activists such as Rachel Carson and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore as examples of environmental scaremongers.

In 2001, the progressive media watchdog organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting criticized Stossel's reportage of global warming in his documentary, ''Tampering with Nature,'' for using "highly selective...information" that gave "center stage to three dissenters from among the 2,000 members of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which recently released a report stating that global temperatures are rising almost twice as fast as previously thought."

In a 2006 discussion hosted by the Fraser Institute, Stossel stated that he accepts that global warming has occurred in the past century, that it has been about one degree Celsius, and that man-made emissions "may be part of the cause." Nevertheless he groups environmental groups with astrologers and psychics in his second book, ''Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity''. He stated that the "myths" come in with the debate about proposed solutions to reduce global warming, which he argues will not solve the problem at all and will restrict people's freedom.

David Schultz incident

On December 28, 1984, during an interview for ''20/20'' on professional wrestling, wrestler David Schultz struck Stossel after Stossel stated that he thought professional wrestling was "fake". Stossel stated that he suffered from pain and buzzing in his ears eight weeks after the assault. Stossel sued and obtained a settlement of $425,000 from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In his book, ''Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity'', he writes that he has come to regret doing so, having adopted the belief that lawsuits harm hundreds of innocent people. Schultz maintains that he attacked Stossel on orders from Vince McMahon, the head of the then-WWF.

Personal life

Stossel lives in New York City with his wife, Ellen Abrams. He has two grown children.

Stossel's older brother, Thomas P. Stossel, is a hematologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a professor at Harvard Medical School. He has served on the advisory boards of Merck, Biogen Idec and Dyax, as a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, and as a trustee of the American Council on Science and Health.

Stossel's nephew is the journalist and magazine editor Scott Stossel.

See also

List of newspaper columnists

References

Further reading

External links

"John Stossel's Take", John Stossel's blog at Fox Business

Harper Collins (Publisher) – Biography at Publisher's website

Biographies and articles about Stossel

ABC News Biography

Johnson, Peter. "Stossel's evolution from activist to contrarian angers some of his fans", ''USA Today'', April 30, 2006

"John Stossel: Myth-Buster", FrontPageMag.com

Sigall, Ed. "John Stossel: Not Afraid to Tell the Truth", NewsMax.com, June 3, 2006

"John Stossel – Libertarian", TheAdvocates.org

Sullum, Jacob. "Risky Journalism: ABC's John Stossel bucks a fearful establishment" ''Reason'', April 1997.

Articles by Stossel

John Stossel's 20/20 Web Page

John Stossel's Newspaper Columns

John Stossel's contributions to Reason Magazine

"Confessions of a Welfare Queen: How rich bastards like me rip off taxpayers for millions of dollars" is an excerpt from his first book.

John Stossel's Column on Creators.com

Category:ABC News personalities Category:American columnists Category:American libertarians Category:American people of Jewish descent Category:American political pundits Category:American skeptics Category:American agnostics Category:American television news anchors Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Fox News Channel Category:George Polk Award recipients Category:Jewish American writers Category:Minarchists Category:New Trier High School alumni Category:Peabody Award winners Category:Portland, Oregon television anchors Category:Princeton University alumni Category:1947 births Category:Living people

de:John Stossel fr:John Stossel ms:John Stossel simple:John Stossel

Coordinates	12°58′0″N77°34′0″N
name	Chalk Circle
background	group_or_band
origin	Newcastle, Ontario, Canada
genre	College rockPost-punkPop rock
years active	1982–1990, 2006
label	Duke Street, Universal
website	http://www.chalkcircle.ca
current members	Chris TaitBrad HopkinsTad WinklarzDerrick Murphy
notable instruments	}}

Chalk Circle was a Canadian college rock band in the 1980s. The band consisted of lead singer and guitarist Chris Tait, bassist Brad Hopkins, keyboardist Tad Winklarz and drummer Derrick Murphy.

History

Originally formed in Newcastle, Ontario, Hopkins and Tait were paired with Terry Miller and Stani Veselinovic in 1982 as "The Casualties". The band briefly changed its name to "The Reactors" and then to "New Edition" in 1984, and finally settled on the name Chalk Circle (taken from Bertolt Brecht's play ''The Caucasian Chalk Circle'').

The band recorded a demo single "The World" (b/w "Black Pit") on cassette and played the Toronto area, subsequently winning the CASBY Award for Most Promising Non-Recording Group in 1985. After signing to Duke Street Records in Toronto, their 1986 debut release was a six-song EP called ''The Great Lake''. Produced by Chris Wardman, it was recorded at Manta Sound in Toronto and Quest Recording Studio in Oshawa. The lead single "April Fool" became a Top 10 single in Canada, along with another single "Me, Myself and I". The band produced videos for both tracks which were regularly featured on MuchMusic, and the EP went on to become Duke Street's biggest seller at that time.

Their second release was a full length album entitled ''Mending Wall'' released in 1987, with the inspiration for the title coming from Robert Frost's famous poem. Recorded entirely on digital equipment, the crisp sounding album featured another Top 10 Canadian single "This Mourning", a blistering commentary about nuclear politics in the 'ray gun' (Reagan) era of the late 1980s. The album would later be reissued with a cover version of T-Rex's "20th Century Boy", which also became a Top 10 Canadian single.

The band's final album was 1989's ''As the Crow Flies'', which featured two singles, "Sons and Daughters" and "Together". Citing 'creative differences', the band broke up in 1990, and Tait went on to form the indie band Big Faith.

In 2006, Universal Music Group released a Chalk Circle greatest hits compilation as part of its 20th Century Masters series. The release prompted the band to reconvene after 15 years and in February of that year, they began rehearsals at the Cherry Beach rehearsal studios in Toronto in anticipation of possible reunion shows.

On June 17, 2006, Chalk Circle played a reunion gig at Lee's Palace in Toronto.

Discography

''The Great Lake'' (EP) - 1986

''Mending Wall'' - 1987

''As the Crow Flies'' - 1989

''The Best of Chalk Circle'' - 2006

Singles

"The World" (1985)

"April Fool" (1986) #21 CAN

"Me, Myself and I" (1986) #92 CAN

"This Mourning" (1987) #28 CAN

"20th Century Boy" (1987) #44 CAN

"N.I.M.B.Y." (1987)

"Sons and Daughters" (1989)

"Together" (1989)

References

Jackson, Rick. ''Encyclopedia of Canadian rock, pop and folk'' (1994). pg. 62. Quarry Press

Jam! Canadian Pop Encyclopedia

Category:Canadian alternative rock groups Category:Musical groups from Durham Region

de:Chalk Circle

Coordinates	12°58′0″N77°34′0″N
name	Toiling Midgets
background	group_or_band
origin	San Francisco, California, United States
genre	Post-punk, post-rock, instrumental rock
years active	1979–1983, 1989–1997, 2007–present
label	MatadorRough TradeFistpuppetThermidorToiling Midgets Media
website	Official Website and Official Website
current members	Craig Gray, Paul Hood, Tom Mallon, Mark Sullivan, Erich Werner, Mark Eitzel
notable instruments	}}

Toiling Midgets is an influential rock band from San Francisco, California with "roots in seminal San Francisco punk acts the Sleepers and Negative Trend¹." They were "one of the first West Coast punk bands to experiment with dub and post-punk elements¹", and have been active on-and-off since 1979. They reunited in 2007 after a ten-year hiatus for Dirkfest, a June 7–June 8, 2007 festival taking place at Slim's and the Great American Music Hall, respectively, honoring the late Dirk Dirksen and to play the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair (June 10, 2007). They have continued to play shows to the present, including a tour of the Northwest in November, 2009. The current lineup does not feature a vocalist, and the Midgets' instrumental rock is almost always defined as "undefinable."

History

The Midgets were formed in 1979 by drummer Tim Mooney (Sleepers) and guitarist Craig Gray of the local San Francisco band Negative Trend, guitarist Paul Hood from Seattle's Punk bands Meyce and The Enemy, and bassist Nosmo King (aka Johnathan Henrickson). Paul Hood had previously been a bassist in Seattle but picked up the guitar in the hopes of playing in a rock band (like his hero, Mick Ronson). The band added singer Ricky Williams to its lineup in 1981. The Midgets released their first album, ''Sea of Unrest'' about this time, before Williams insisted that Nosmo King leave the band, and leaving the band without a bass player. At the end of 1982 bassist Aaron Gregory (Maggots) joined the group, and Annie Ungar (Gun Club) joined as a third guitarist. The formation of the band released "Dead Beats" on Joe Carducci's Thermidor label, which represented a return to the all-instrumental approach with which the Toiling Midgets has initially been formed. Toward the end of 1983, the band broke up. Hood moved to Seattle, Washington and Gray moved to the United Kingdom.

In 1989, the band reunited just before the Loma-Prieta Earthquake. Returning to the instrumental format with which the band had begun, the band recruited singer Mark Eitzel of the American Music Club. The new group released a CD on Matador Records in June, 1992 (recorded in 1990) called ''Son'' and had embarked on a U.S. tour earlier in May. However, on the eve the tour Eitzel quit the band.

Without a singer, the band toured instrumentally. (Williams did not reunite with the band in 1989, instead he moved into a Midget side project that included violinist Mary Redfield Wade and recorded an unreleased album in 1991). Shortly after rejoining the band, on November 21, 1992, Williams died due to respiratory complications and a mixture of drug and alcohol abuse). Shortly after the tour, drummer Tim Mooney and bassist Joe Goldring left the band (Mooney went on to join the American Music Club, which Eitzel was still fronting), and were replaced by drummer and long-time producer Tom Mallon and bassist Erich Werner, who had previously been in the Seattle bands Telepaths and The Blackouts.

Mallon and Werner are still part of the lineup today, along with Gray and Hood. Along the way, they picked up keyboardist Mark Sullivan (Lucky, Motorcade). For a brief time during this period the band was joined by Paul Hood's sister, violist Joanna Hood (who had performed with the Loma Mar Quartet and Paul McCartney). The group went on an indefinite hiatus in 1997, but reformed in May, 2007.

Current line-up

Craig Gray - Guitar

Paul Hood - Guitar

Tom Mallon - Drums

Erich Werner - Bass

Mark Sullivan - Keyboard

Former members

Nosmo King - Bass

Tim Mooney - Drums

Ricky Williams (deceased) - Vocals

Aaron Gregory (deceased) - Bass

Annie Ungar - Guitar

Mark Eitzel - Vocals

Joe Goldring - Bass

Joanna Hood - Viola

David Ripley - Vocals

Carla Fabrizio³ - Cello on "Son"

Lisa Davis³ - Bass on "Son"

Discography

"Do the Incendiary," initial demo tape, recorded by Tom Mallon (available here) and released by Toiling Midgets Media

"4 TRK Mind," a four-track recording (available here) and released by Toiling Midgets Media

"God's Man," a demo from 1989-90 also recorded by Tom Mallon (available here) and released by Toiling Midgets Media

"Sea of Unrest," released in 1982 on Rough Trade Records and re-released in 1994 on Fistpuppet Records

"Dead Beats," released on Thermidor Records in 1983

"Golden Frog," a 7" released on Matador Records on October 17, 1991

"Son," the band's most recent studio album, released on Matador Records on July 14, 1992

References

1: ArtistDirect.com Biography

2: All information for history, line-up, and discog comes from current drummer Tom Mallon's website, the Midgets' MySpace, and TrouserPress.Com's website

3: ArtistDirect info for "Son" album

4: Tom Mallon Recording discography

External links

Official Website

Myspace

Midgets @ Tribe.net

Midgets @ Trouser Press

Midgets videos on YouTube

Photos from the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair Concert @ Flickr

Category:Instrumental musical groups Category:American post-rock groups Category:American post-hardcore musical groups Category:Shoegazing musical groups Category:Art rock musical groups Category:Musical groups from San Francisco, California Category:Musical groups established in 1979