Wednesday, October 21, 2009

ARKANSAS PUBLISHER REFUSES TO PUBLISH RUPPERT BOOK CITING MORAL/ RELIGIOUS OBJECTIONS OVER AUTHOR’S ADVOCACY OF HEMP LEGALIZATION DAYS AFTER ANNOUNCIN

ARKANSAS PUBLISHER REFUSES TO PUBLISH RUPPERT BOOK CITING MORAL/ RELIGIOUS OBJECTIONS OVER AUTHOR’S ADVOCACY OF HEMP LEGALIZATION DAYS AFTER ANNOUNCING IT WOULD BE IN BOOKSTORES IN NOVEMBER

Please Distribute Widely

“A Presidential Energy Policy will be released November 24, 2009 from Variance Publishing.” -- Ascot Media Press Release (for Variance Publishing), Oct. 13th, 2009.

October 21, 2009 – On October 19, just six days after issuing a press release announcing that “A Presidential Energy Policy: Twenty-five Points Addressing the Siamese Twins of Energy and Money” would be in bookstores on November 24th, Variance Publishing owner Tim Schulte notified me by telephone that his company was refusing to publish the book because Point Twenty-four called for legalization of the hemp plant as a partial solution to the energy and economic crises. Schulte cited moral and religious grounds for his decision. “I run a moral and ethical company. I don’t allow drug use to be advocated. I don’t allow rampant sexuality or profanity in my books”, Schulte said.

Schulte’s reversal came as headline stories around the country were reporting that President Obama had just ordered federal law enforcement agencies to stop raiding medical marijuana facilities in states where its use has been legalized. No prior objections to the point have been raised by the book’s reviewers who have all offered extensive praise for the work. Personal letters to me from many credible sources have expressed thanks for the book and welcoming it, including one from former President Jimmy Carter.

Schulte’s decision made it impossible for book buyers to go to bookstores and find the book after seeing the critically-acclaimed buzz-film CoLLapse which is scheduled for theatrical and video-on-demand release in November. (Hemp is not mentioned in the film but the film is based upon the book and says so both in the film and on its poster.)

Schulte admitted that he had read the entire book after receiving it in June, felt the hemp objection at the time, but did not object to me because “he thought that would be taken care of in editing.” He offered no explanation as to how I was expected to rewrite Point Twenty-Four and another small section of the book in the few days left before he was committed to send it to the printer. Schulte added that he was aware that I had an agreement with the book’s digital publisher New World Digital to have the same book on both ends and that for me to substantively change the book would violate my agreement with New World.

As a matter of principle I refused to remove Point Twenty-four and also said that I would not break the agreement with New World. Schulte then announced that he was voiding the contract “because he could”. Schulte was unable to offer any other explanation as to why he had waited until the last minute to raise his objection.

In the book I clearly outlined a multitude of uses for the hemp plant as a means to stimulate local food production, for soil restoration and for the plant’s wide variety of energy-saving uses from nutritional supplements, to lamp oils, to paper, to clothing. None of this makes any sense. Variance had the book for months and had gone to the expense of cover design, layout and issuing the press release before raising the issue.

Variance’s decision came three weeks after Oregon State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian issued a misleading and inaccurate press release (for which he later apologized) stating that I had personally been fined in an Oregon sexual harassment case which he had not read and which was filled with legal and ethical errors. I continue to maintain my complete innocence in that case which is now under appeal. I was never a named defendant in that case.

The only conclusion I can reach is that there is a concerted effort to keep the American people and readers around the world from reading this book. There is only one way to fight back.

OPTIONS – I have been involved in legal battles for five years now. In 2005-06 I fought and won a civil case in California showing that a former employee, Chris Fusco, had deliberately attempted to sabotage “From The Wilderness (FTW). From 2006 until now I have spent an estimated $45,000 proving that I did not ransack FTW offices and smash all seven computers while publishing the Pat Tillman exposé and to fight the harassment charges. I have also fought a malicious and libelous campaign by a local Oregon newspaper to smear my reputation, even after the editor was convicted of having sex with a minor and remains under ongoing investigation for racketeering and fraud. A legal action will do nothing to get the book into stores in time to benefit from CoLLapse’s success. I am broke as a result of these non-stop attacks and cannot afford a retainer for yet another lawyer. I am also personally out of energy to engage in another legal battle that cannot solve the immediate problem.

As a result of Variance’s decision, all rights to the book have reverted to me (except for digital and print-on-demand) rights which belong to New World Digital -- now the only source for this vitally important book which is available from Amazon. Retail book vendors will not buy print-on-demand books because unsold copies cannot be returned for credit. I do not have an agent but will happily talk to any literary agents or publishers who step forward. My original agent was fired for a series of egregious miscommunications. Any attempt to try and secure a new publisher for this critically-acclaimed book might take months and no publisher could have the book in stores in less than six months. I have decided to focus on the movie as the only way to get around this newest unfounded attack on my life’s work – the only motive for which is to save lives. Widespread reading of “A Presidential Energy Policy“ remains the ultimate objective of all the work I put into CoLLapse. For that I will need help.

NORML – After the developments I immediately contacted the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Yesterday, I taped a radio interview with NORML’s Russ Belville on Variance’s actions. Please contact NORML as to how you can hear it. If you have contacts in any local NORML chapters please bring this to their attention immediately. This ridiculous attack cannot go unanswered.

FLOOD THE SCREENINGS! – The only way to save the book now is to promote the film. CoLLapse has been mentioned by one critic as an Oscar candidate for the 2011 Oscars. That means it will have a long shelf life. CoLLapse is scheduled for theatrical screenings in the following cities. Full details here.

NOVEMBER 6th - NEW YORK - ANGELIKA FILM CENTER
NOVEMBER 13th - LOS ANGELES - LAEMMLE SUNSET 5
DECEMBER 4th - SAN FRANCISCO - LUMIERE THEATRE
DECEMBER 4th - BERKELEY - SHATTUCK CINEMA
DECEMBER 4th - SAN DIEGO - KEN CINEMA
* MORE DATES COMING SOON!
It is all a matter of numbers. The way to see that CoLLapse gets screened in more theaters, in more cities, and stays there is to flood these screenings. In this country every vote may not be counted but every dollar always is. Long lines at screenings (which will result in some being turned away) will guarantee that additional screenings and theaters will be added. The film, once seen, will inflame public demand to see it. That is the only thing that will provide time to find another way to get the book into stores.

I will likely not see any personal income from the film until December at the earliest. Meantime I am still struggling to raise my November rent. I am incredibly gratified by the response to our pleas for donations to keep a roof over my head and to fight the Oregon appeal. Please send your donations to: either Mike Ruppert (for personal use), or the FTW Legal Defense Fund at 10736 Jefferson Blvd., PMB 618, Culver City California, 90232. For instructions on PayPal and wire transfer please see elsewhere on this blog or the FTW archival site.

RUBBING SALT INTO THE WOUND – Immediately after talking to Schulte I called Jenna Orkin who runs the blog bearing my name. In less than thirty minutes she sent me back this book excerpt from Variance’s web site:

“Fuck,” he muttered to himself, turning off the car’s ignition for the third time.

Cal wasn’t used to being nervous, and he didn’t like how it felt.

“Goddamnit!” he said, slamming his hands on the wheels. “God-damn you Dan, you asshole!”

I am unable to provide a contact phone number because the only phone I have is my home phone. For media and interview requests please send an email to mcrfinaid@gmail.com. We check this on a daily basis. Questions about additional screenings of CoLLapse should be directed to collapse@bluemarkfilms.com.

Michael C. Ruppert

22 comments:

sunrnr said...

Thoughts and comments about this atrocity can be left on Variance's blog at

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8173041860307982966&postID=89521728952501056

Unbelievable ..... the pursuit of ignorance knows no bounds.

Keep on keepin' on MCR. The world needs to hear your words whether they want to or not.

namaste

gamedog said...

Timed to cause the most damage possible. I really feel for you Mike.

Nil illigitimi carborundum!

They have enabled moderation on their blog & deleted previous comments.

Moral grounds? As if the man has any morals! Clearly Tim Schulte is a wanker of the highest order.

I wonder how many authors would pull their work from Variance on moral grounds when this is pointed out. Do they have shareholders? Despicable, disgusting company.

I call for a boycott, it's the least they deserve.

OregonSurvivor said...

Statement from Tim Shulte:

"The reason that we made the decision not to publish the Presidential Energy Policy is very simple. We couldn’t do it justice. We publish fiction. Only fiction and genre fiction at that. After a lot of agonizing, I came to the realization that this is not a good fit for Mike or for me. Mike deserves better.

No one “paid me off”, I am on Mike’s side. I would rather see the book succeed in the market that it is written, with a publisher of this type of book. You can believe what you want, but this is the reason."

So this leaves me wondering. How would you get so far down this road with a publisher of fiction? The "can't do it justice" comment is laughable. How do you respond to his comments, particularly "I am on Mike's side..."

Unknown said...

Sheesh, Mike, your adventures with TPTB are so instructive. The lesson this bullshit is trying to teach us is that resistance is futile. May it have the opposite effect!

The masses are oppressed remotely, generically. Only those who present some credible threat are treated to intimate, personal oppression. It's an honor: means you're hitting a nerve.

We can certainly expect no less, in effectively promoting needed change, than this kind of personal attack. In countries even less used to dissent, right wing death squads torture and kill labor leaders, radical pundits and the like. We're not there, yet, nor will we be as long as the vast mycelium of the sighted support one another.

Check's in the mail, Mike. What's more, I'm passing on to my friends, relatives and students the insights I've gained from this FTW family. Plus, while what Janis Joplin called "the vast bulk of straight people" may dismiss your message due to its very creative suppression by TPTB, others will respond to the "banned in Boston" effect and pay more attention.

Whether the film is an Oscar winner or an underground cult classic, Light will leak out from the cracks, illuminating "that man behind the curtain." Your work will not be lost, in any case.

Gamedog: Because I've respected you in the past, I will look more closely at the global warming issue. I still "believe", but you have convinced me to be just a tad "agnostic". Let's all keep an open mind.

Unrepentantcowboy said...

There's plenty of historical precedents for this kind of act.

Fred Hatfield wrote a book called Fortunate Son that was pulled at the last minute. The books had already been printed, but got recalled and burned. Even worse, the book publisher owned the publishing rights and kept the book tied up for a number of years, preventing Hatfield from finding an alternative publising company.

Then of course, there's the saga of Gary Webb and his Dark Alliance series chronicling CIA involvement in the crack cocaine business.

Both of these men lost friends and family, became unemployable, almost destitute and both eventually committed suicide.

toner deeski said...

Wow, Mike, I swear that I felt that the most controversial thing you said in your book was #24, and I personally don't find it controversial at all. I actually believe that legalization is inevitable, but that decriminalization/destigmatization is absolutely even more important.
Well, we all know the score, you more than most. Sucky.
Lemme know whether you'll be in SF or Berkeley and we'll twist up some of oaktown's finest.

agape wins said...

10,22,09. Started yesterday am..

MCR, as I said before, they have more to loose than YOU/we, therefore will fight with their, or your, last Dollar, they know how much you have/don't;
What they don't know is how much support you can generate!!!

OregonSurvivor said...

Great debate on AGW. The level of discourse and valid points on several aspects are interesting and informative. I am trying to sort out what to believe about this and myriad other aspects of our human condition. Ultimately, though, I arrive at the same conclusion that now seems to apply to "knowledge" on several topics: I don't know Dick.

In Psych training I studied George Kelly, who developed Personal Construct Psychology. The main postulate goes as follows: "a person's processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which he anticipates events".
How we anticipate events depends upon the constructs we have developed through our experiences and acquisition of knowledge. Yet our information sources are tainted by agenda driven mis- and dis- information, so how can one reliably interpret the data to arrive at a valid construct? In other words, "everything you know is wrong".

This debate appears to have valid, reasonable arguments on various aspects regarding AGW, and for that I am grateful.

11:50 AM.


F.Kamilov, Your 7:40am post is Right ON, no argument, except my Brain was getting Fuzzyer, because of the late hour,
Thanks for your agreement-- read on!


We have Shawshank Redemption,& SwingBlade; both good movies loosely based on fact, as are most
Real, as opposed to "madeup" Movies.
What is real/Factual as opposed to Made up/Believed?
I witnessed the shooting death, by the police,of a serial gas station robber, & a bank robber.
Both were within 50 ' (both times I was in my car, stopped in traffic)!
Making it short, I saw both go down, the station robber, with paper bag, just sat down next to a trash dumpster,
the bank robber (stained Purple),running, empty handed, appeared to stumble, while running down the sidewalk.
I had an unrestricted view, sunny day, was attracted by the runner, saw no weapon, could not say who did the shooting; several officers were involved both times, in uniform & out! So much for being an objective observer; I found out things are not always clean; cut and dried, we are all subject to bias, & how our Mind interrupts/twists what our eyes see, or the mind thinks they saw.

The Movie "Lust,Caution was pure, outright FICTION, it also turns out as prophecy; as is the book
"The Predictioneer's Game". I have the book.

Meet the professor who can seemingly predict political events using a laptop

Everything works that way; Faith, Belief, Knowledge, lies, or just untruth are all scrambled into an omelet in our Brain,
a movie, book, & even a speech is scripted to present an idea or thought. Take Al Gore's movie or better still the Health Care issue; RIGHT NOW, People are coming to blows on a common issue that involves ALL of us.

Everything comes back to Quantum WORLD view, if you look at it, it is here/there; right/wrong; UP/Down all at the same time!

ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT-- a way bigger scaremonger than AGW; read "The Lies My Teacher Told Me".
We live under a sham- our freedom does not exist, never has, the USA is a bigger Bully than Hitler was!

I wrote most of this before reading OregonSurvivor's 11:50am post, which says what I am trying to say also.

here is a little extra, should interest F.Kamilov, Sebastian, & businessman, at least.
I used to understand Libertarianism, my how things have changed, it was hard for me to stumble through Reason mag. "Free Minds and Free Markets", have I changed THAT much?

http://reason.com/archives/2009/10/21/the-cold-war-never-ended

http://reason.com/blog#article_136868

http://reason.com/archives/2009/10/12/the-unknown-war

RanD's remarks hit home also, ricefarmer & businessman seem to be holding back.
Amae.

Jeff said...

Your message will get out whether they like it or not Mike,you might like this one,the secret service may lose their ability to protect financial machinery.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts950
except the label of hate groups on the rise by 35%,wow didn't they just pass a hate crimes bill slipped in with the defence budget.
What a soap opera our leaders have playing out.It rightly should be named "As the turd swirles"

Unknown said...

Michael, if they retain POD rights, then they still have rights to sell the printed book into the trade market. That does not leave another publisher any room to publish into that same market. We would be able and willing to publish your book in all markets very quickly, but your publisher would have to stop printing the book POD and take it off Amazon. Given the situation, you should demand full rights to the book back. If you want to discuss, you can email me at mbaldwin [at] chelseagreen [dot] com. As you can see from our website, we publish post peak oil books as well as our recent Marijuana is Safer, So Why Are We Driving People to Drink, so would be a good publisher for you.

Margo Baldwin, President and Publisher, Chelsea Green Publishing

RanD said...

Dear Michael,

I feel not at all comfortable or pleased with what you are experiencing, specifically in terms of the obstacles that are consistently thrown up against you and the mission your life has given you to serve. Moreover - from my perspective - the mission my life has given me to serve I hypothetically perceive as being exactly the same as yours, and identify that mission of service as the common good, which, as you've perhaps noticed, I've chosen to further expand into The Universal Common Good. At the same time, I know we are both keenly aware that there is a pronounced distinction in the ways our separate lives have evolved us to understand & try serving any possible objective we might truly share.

My spirit moved me to state these things; perhaps some good will come of it.

Sincerely,

David

Donkerdoorn said...

Hi Mike,

When is a trailer of the film coming out? Use the bloggers....we'll get the word out......

cheers,
Max

Unrepentantcowboy said...

Another problem.

The debate over this bull-shit case distracts from the real issues at hand here.

There's precedent for that two.

A scorned woman had Joseph thrown in jail many centuries ago.

More recently, Bill Clinton's travails come to mind.

Stay on message. And the message has nothing to do with some pheronome spouting young bitch that got her panties in a wad when you wouldn't service her need.

Anonymous said...

About getting the book out there, MCR, you might want to look at going through lulu.com (where you can self-publish it and they can hook you up with marketing and distribution services and more) or a forward-thinking publisher like Baen Books, of which I've read many good things on online comment boards from people who've used them and read books published by them. Just a few ideas I thought I'd share that I hope might help.

businessman said...

MCR...You're building towards the ultimate crescendo of your mission right now. "Collapse" is about to be released, and it will give a great many people solid information and a new perspective on how to look at what will be coming our way in the world. So do what you can to stay on course, and stay connected with the overall purpose of your mission.

Your mission has already enlightened a great many people, including myself, and it will continue on doing so.

Stay focused on what you're now doing to help people, not on the wrenches that people keep throwing in your way. I admit these are some pretty big wrenches, but stay focused on the overall outcome you still want to achieve as you continue moving through these obstacles.

To quote one of your favorite songwriters, "Well we're scared, but we ain't shakin'...Kinda bent, but we ain't breakin'...In the Long Run."

sunrnr said...

As Oregon Survivor posted about Mr. Schulte's response on the is indeed interesting.

Appears they deleted gamedog's post, but chose to answer mine.

My response on the blog was "if indeed he would rather see "the book succeed in market it was written" then give all rights back to MCR and assist him in getting it published.

I also stated I found it troubling them having the book for sometime and having obviously read it, only pulling it at the last minute because they only publish fiction.

Sorry, not buying into Mr. Schulte's reasoning.

MCR, you're a very tall "nail" to TPTB's "hammer". Stand tall and don't bend.

namaste

Unknown said...

I show the following contact info from the variance website:

CONTACT

For general questions, e-mail: tpaulschulte@variancepublishing.com

To send fan art or comments, email: stremblay@variancepublishing.com

Submissions (see submissions page first): submissions@variancepublishing.com

For interviews and other media related queries: media@variancepublishing.com


Variance LLC
1610 South Pine St.
Cabot, Arkansas 72023

(P): (501) 843-BOOK
(F): (501) 843-2675

stu said...

Sounds to me that Variance got a quid pro quo. Maybe they are behind in their taxes, and by not publishing the book, the IRS has agreed to settle the matter. It could be any number of things, but I'm sure whoever is leaning on Schulte has compensated him in some form. I'm sorry Mike that this has happpened to you, but slowly but surely the infowar will be won and the American public will be enlightened. Keep up the fight... Too many lives depend on it.

Unrepentantcowboy said...

Sorry for repitive comments, but another thought came to mind when I revisted read the publisher's statement. Dude said something about editing taking care of the marijuana issue.

As a writer, that chaps my ass. Nothing like getting a manuscript back with big X's on the page.

There's a point where heavy-handed editing = censorship. A good editor doesn't rebuild the car; he or she tunes the engine. You don't need that kind of help.

While I don't write all that well, I know the difference between two and too. And the bitch was wafting pheremones in addtion to pherenomes.

Sheesh.

Trobadorem said...

Ok, enough is ENOUGH.

Just tell me if you are interested and willing to come the other side of the border (ideally in Québec). Interview here at the fifth estate

Would you like to be published here? A translation of both the book and the movie would ceertainly bring water to the weel. Lets talk.

Trobadorem said...

Sorry for the length of this post, I have not mastered english well enough to write in a concise manner.

In countries even less used to dissent, right wing death squads torture and kill labor leaders, radical pundits and the like. We're not there, yet, nor will we be as long as the vast mycelium of the sighted support one another. Eyeballs

...here we are again...history unfolds and we see crawling the ones that fear...that fear to the extent that they project their fear on others, they attack, they judge, they lie, or if you prefer, they omit to say the truth ..mmmm...a broken clock is right twice a day, they say....lets fix it, shall we?

As we will need to "support each other", (and I believe helping out Mike) I would start this support here, through the Internet so that, in a simple, yet effective manner, we counter punch the sleazy arguments that could be found in forums or clean out the false arguments that could be given not to support Mike...including the publishing of his last book.

I strongly advice that for all the people that know mike or agree with the "Map" he brought us...that they start flooding the net, participate to forumS, write articles, blog, etc.....so that truth can come out when people "google" Mike .

The objective here, is to get the message out. THE REAL ONE, the discoveries he made as an investigative reporter...and a LEAPD

..I invite you take to take a look at a "nasty" discussion held on a forum (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=141524) where Mike is attacked with lies, assumptions, association, and so on and so forth. Fortunately, as you can all take example from Jamey Hecht, where at 02:27AM May 6th 2009, the Editor of Crossing the Rubicon, starts cleaning the mess made in the Forum by "anguished" people. He succeeds easily and firmly in his attempt to reveal the truth.

____________
Mike, I have wrote to the TV news program called the "Fith estate" from the Canada Broadcasting Corporation, so that they explore the possibilities to cover your "story"...and mostly inform Canadian people about the "map"...here's the link to the TV program: http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/contact.html - its a bit like 60 minutes (but better :)!)

I also wrote to "Variance publishing", so that they can start thinking from both sides of the brain...so that they can start seeing the other side of reality...I invite the readers to do the same http://www.variancepublishing.com/contact.html

Over all it took me 2 hours of my time on a friday night (and english is not my mother tongue)

I suggest we all "chip in"...whatever it is...

Best regards.

Esteb

PS: Keep on mike, listen to the mp3 audio talk from Ram Dass called the Path of service. If you are interested I could give you access to my virtual hard drive and you could download inspiring stuff, great music, how to learn to play guitar, training manual for your dogs, encyclopedia of gardening, sustainble living, meditating in a prison, et. its mp3, books, movies I bought or got from Internet Just Flag me, I am at your availability (2 hours a week). Should be in US in the coming weeks for climbing at mount Shasta and for meetings at Berkley, if you are available, I would sure be honored to share a moment with you through a good Californian dish. I would also like to bring you some cash for the services rendered in the last 10 years (through FTW) ...now if you prefer I could give you a commission for finding me a truck I would like to buy in California (Land cruiser diesel, manual under 9k)

Esteb

Thanks again, your courage inspired me in moments of despair...time for me to giv back.

Trobadorem said...

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/localhero/multimedia.html

....to ignite courage to the ones that have all the physical features a human should have...but not the spirit needed to go through life ....

Unknown said...

Prayers with you Mike!