Stein, Ben
lost original?
NO MERRI
4 SPKR BUREAU
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https://www.alternet.org/ben-stein-racist-rant-twitter/
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WIKI FIGHT
Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, comedian, and commentator on political and economic issues. He began his career as a speechwriter for U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before entering the entertainment field as an actor, comedian, and game show host. His screen roles include the economics teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, being the host of Win Ben Stein's Money, and as Dr. Arthur Neuman in The Mask and Son of the Mask. Stein also co-wrote and starred in the controversial 2008 filmExpelled which was widely criticized for promoting pseudoscientific intelligent design creationist claims.[1][2] Stein is the son of economist and writer Herbert Stein, who worked at the White House under President Nixon. As an actor, he is known for his droning, monotonous delivery. In comedy, Stein is known for his deadpan delivery.[3]
Early life and education
Benjamin Jeremy Stein was born on November 25, 1944, in Washington, D.C., the son of Jewish parents Mildred (née Fishman), a homemaker, and Herbert Stein, a writer, economist, and presidential adviser. He grew up in the Woodside Forest neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland. Stein graduated in 1962 from Montgomery Blair High School, which journalist Carl Bernstein (class of 1960) and actress Goldie Hawn (class of 1963) also attended.[4] He graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts in economics in 1966.[5] As undergraduate, he studied under economist C. Lowell Harriss.[6] He then earned his Juris Doctor in 1970 from Yale Law School, where he was elected valedictorian of his class.[7] While at Yale, he studied finance under economists Jan Deutsch and Henry Wallich.[6]
Career
Legal and academic career
Stein speaking at Miami University in 2003
He was first a poverty lawyer in New Haven, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., before becoming a trial lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission.
Stein's first teaching stint was as an adjunct professor, teaching about the political and social content of mass culture at American University in Washington, D.C. He subsequently taught classes at the University of California, Santa Cruz on political and civil rights under the United States Constitution. At Pepperdine University Stein taught libel law and United States securities law and its ethical aspects. He was a professor of law and economics at Pepperdine University Law School from about 1990 to 1997.[8]
Writing career
Stein writes a regular column in the conservative media outlets The American Spectator and Newsmax. He has also written for numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Penthouse, Los Angeles Magazine, and Barron's Magazine.[citation ^needed] He wrote a regular biweekly column for Yahoo! Finance online, with his last article dated August 7, 2009.[9] His bestselling books (with investment advisor Phil DeMuth) include Yes, You Can Retire Comfortably; Can America Survive?; and Yes, You Can Time the Market. In 2009, he published a collection of essays, The Real Stars.
Stein was fired from his position as a Sunday Business columnist at The New York Times in August 2009 owing to a policy prohibiting writers from making product endorsements or advertising. Stein had recently become an advertising spokesman for credit information company Freescore.com and, according to a Times statement, had assumed there would be no conflict provided that he did not discuss credit scoring in general or FreeScore.com itself in his column. However, the publication felt that it would be inappropriate for him to write for them while he was involved in advertising and terminated his contract.[10] Writing in The Spectator, Stein states his belief that the real reasons for his firing were budget cuts at the Times, his criticism of Obama, and pressure from those critical of Expelled, who "bamboozled some of the high pooh-bahs at the Times into thinking there was a conflict of interest".[11]
Political career
Stein with United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England in 2008
Stein began his political career as a speechwriter and lawyer for President Richard Nixon, and later for President Gerald Ford. On May 3, 1976, Time magazine speculated on the possibility of Stein having actually been Deep Throat. Stein responded over the years not only by denying he was Deep Throat but by going further and accusing journalist Bob Woodward of falsifying the famous secret source. In the May 14–21, 1998, edition of the Philadelphia City Paper, Stein is quoted as saying, "Oh, I don't think there was a Deep Throat. That was a fake. I think there were several different sources and some they just made up."[12] After Mark Felt's identity as Deep Throat was revealed, Stein stated that Nixon would have prevented the rise to power of the Khmer Rouge if he had not been forced to resign. For his actions leading to that resignation, Stein said:
If there is such a thing as karma, if there is such a thing as justice in this life or the next, Mark Felt has bought himself the worst future of any man on this earth. And Bob Woodward is right behind him, with Ben Bradlee bringing up the rear. Out of their smug arrogance and contempt, they hatched the worst nightmare imaginable: genocide.[13]
In 2005, Stein said in the American Spectator:
Can anyone even remember now what Nixon did that was so terrible? He ended the war in Vietnam, brought home the POWs, ended the war in the Mideast, opened relations with China, started the first nuclear weapons reduction treaty, saved Eretz Israel's life, started the Environmental Protection Agency. Does anyone remember what he did that was bad?
Oh, now I remember. He lied. He was a politician who lied. How remarkable. He lied to protect his subordinates who were covering up a ridiculous burglary that no one to this date has any clue about its purpose. He lied so he could stay in office and keep his agenda of peace going. That was his crime. He was a peacemaker and he wanted to make a world where there was a generation of peace. And he succeeded.
That is his legacy. He was a peacemaker. He was a lying, conniving, covering up peacemaker. He was not a lying, conniving drug addict like JFK, a lying, conniving war starter like LBJ, a lying, conniving seducer like Clinton—a lying, conniving peacemaker.[13]
Career in the media
Stein speaks at a gala in honor of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors in 2008
Stein acted as the monotonous economics teacher in the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In one scene, he lectures on the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930 and the then-current debate over supply-side economics.
Stein played similarly bland and unemotional characters. He had a recurring role in the TV series The Wonder Years as science teacher Mr. Cantwell, who would narrate 16 mm films in monotone. Stein also played himself in Dave.
He appeared in several television advertisements, such as for Clear Eyes eye drops throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Godfather's Pizza in 1987, a bland science teacher in 1990 for Sprinkled Chips Ahoy! cookies, and in 2013 for small business accounting service firm 1-800Accountant.
From 1997 to 2003, Stein hosted the Comedy Central game show Win Ben Stein's Money along with co-host Jimmy Kimmel (replaced by Nancy Pimental and later by Sal Iacono). True to its name, the money that contestants won on the show was subtracted from the $5,000 pay that Stein earned per episode (in addition to his salary). The show won five Daytime Emmy Awards before ending its run in 2003.
In 1999, Stein also hosted the Comedy Central talk show Turn Ben Stein On. One of the mainstays of the show was Stein's dog, Puppy Wuppy, who had free run of the set. In 2001, Stein appeared on a celebrity episode of The Weakest Link entitled "TV Hosts Edition" alongside other television hosts and was voted off in round 6 despite being that round's Strongest Link. Anne Robinson's quip was that while he "might win Ben's money; you're NOT taking ours!".
Other movies and television shows in which Stein has appeared include Charles in Charge; Seinfeld; Full House; Casper; Casper: A Spirited Beginning; Casper Meets Wendy; The Mask and its sequel, Son of the Mask as well as the television show, The Mask: Animated Series; Earthworm Jim; Star Search; MacGyver; Tales from the Crypt; Richie Rich; Game Show Moments Gone Bananas; Cavuto on Business; The O'Reilly Factor; CBS News Sunday Morning; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Family Guy; the 1998–2004 version of Hollywood Squares; the Michael Berger-hosted version of Match Game; The Fairly OddParents; Duckman; Married... with Children; The Emperor's New School; My Girl 2; Ghostbusters II; and the intelligent design documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.[14]
[
](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carl_Lender,_Rachel_Lender,_Ben_Stein.jpg)Stein (right) with Carl and Rachel Lender of Lender's Bagels in 2019
In addition, Stein's voice roles include The Pixies, magical creatures on the animated series The Fairly OddParents; Mr. Purutu on the animated series The Emperor's New School; Professor Wisenstein in Bruno the Kid; the birthday party clown, Mr. Giggles, on The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius; a bingo caller on Rugrats; Francis "Pip" Pumphandle in Animaniacs; and H.A. Futterman in Freakazoid!. Stein also voiced a psychiatrist, again named after himself, in the USA TV series Duckman; he once appeared in the sitcom Married... with Children as a receptionist in the animal afterlife. He also made a cameo appearance in the comic book Young Justice, as Ali Ben Styn. Another cameo appearance was as Rabbi Goldberg in the Family Guy episodes "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" and "Family Goy". Stein also voiced the character Sam Schmaltz in the 1996 computer adventure game Toonstruck.
Stein has written for the television industry, including outlines for the TV movie Murder in Mississippi and for the lengthy ABC miniseries Amerika. He has also contributed to the creation of the talk show parody series Fernwood 2 Night.
Stein hosted a show on VH1 called America's Most Smartest Model. The show aimed to find the smartest among 14 models through a series of challenges.[15]
On May 14, 2006, during an appearance on the Fox News program Your World with Neil Cavuto, Stein called for a tax increase of 3.5% for wealthy Americans, to be earmarked for soldiers and military initiatives. Stein wrote an editorial for The New York Times critical of those who would rather make money in the world of finance than fight terrorism.[16]
On December 28, 2009, Stein appeared on CNN's Larry King Live with Ron Paul to discuss the attempted bombing of an American plane on Christmas Day 2009. Stein said that Paul's stance that the United States were "occupiers" in Iraq and Afghanistan was antisemitic. The comment started a shouting match between the two men.[17] Two days later, Stein clarified that "if Rep. Paul says he is... not an anti-Semite, I believe him".[18]
Stein's political and economics commentary has appeared on CNBC's The Kudlow Report and CNN.[19]
Commentary in the lead-up to and during the Great Recession
In the months before the late-2000s recession, Stein made frequent and vehement claims about the economy's good health and the relative unimportance of the mortgage-derivative market; these would shortly be proven dead wrong.
Examples include:
- On March 18, 2007, as the subprime mortgage crisis began, Stein wrote a column for the online version of CBS News Sunday Morning. He proclaimed that the foreclosure problem would "blow over and the people who buy now, in due time, will be glad they did," that the economy was "still very strong," and that the "smart money" was "now trying to buy—not sell—as much distressed merchandise" in mortgages as possible.[20]
- In an August 12, 2007, column in The New York Times, titled "Chicken Little's Brethren, on the Trading Floor", Stein—while acknowledged that "I don't know where the bottom is on subprime. I don't know how bad the problems are at Bear [Bear Stearns]"—claimed that "subprime losses are wildly out of all proportion to the likely damage to the economy from the subprime problems," and "[t]his economy is extremely strong. Profits are superb. The world economy is exploding with growth. To be sure, terrible problems lurk in the future: a slow-motion dollar crisis, huge Medicare deficits and energy shortages. But for now, the sell-off seems extreme, not to say nutty. Some smart, brave people will make a fortune buying in these days, and then we'll all wonder what the scare was about."[21]
- On August 18, 2007, on Fox News Channel's Cavuto on Business, Stein and other financial experts dismissed worries about a coming credit crunch.[22] Thirteen months later, at the peak of the 2008 financial crisis, global stock markets crashed, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the US government, AIG was bailed out by the Federal Reserve, Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America Corporation, and Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs confirmed that they would become traditional bank holding companies.
In January 2008, business commentator Henry Blodget wrote a piece for Business Insider entitled, "Ben Stein is an Idiot", which stated that Stein's criticism of those with bearish views and positions on the market was either "delusional" or a deliberate and "shrewd" attempt to create false controversy and increase web traffic.[23]
In a Yahoo! Finance article published on October 17, 2008, Stein said his wildly incorrect claims were due to his expectations that the real-estate market would roughly resemble the collapse of junk bonds in the early 1990s. He said he failed to understand that debt obligations based on real estate loans were less than the "staggeringly large" amount of obligations that were created through trading in derivatives of those: "Where I missed the boat was not realizing how large were the CDS [credit default swaps] based on the junk mortgage bonds."[24]
Personal life
Stein is married to entertainment lawyer Alexandra Denman.[25][26] They were married in 1968 and divorced in 1974. They reconciled and in 1977 they were married again.[citation ^needed] Stein lives[when?] with Denman in Beverly Hills and Malibu, California.[27][28] He also has a summer home in Sandpoint, Idaho,[29] and an apartment in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., which he inherited from his parents.[30]
In 2014, performance artist Tanya Ma claimed that a financial arrangement between her and Stein had turned inappropriate. Stein said of the incident that he only expected "hugging and kissing" and that he often gets "mad crushes" on women that "last about ten minutes."[31]
Views and advocacy
Abortion
Stein is opposed to legalized abortion and was given an award in 2003 by the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund.[32]
Larry Craig scandal
See also: Larry Craig scandal
In 2007, Stein chastised the police and the GOP leadership for their response to the Larry Craig scandal. Stein said that Craig's sexuality should not be an issue: "A party that believes in individual rights should be rallying to his defense, not making him walk the plank."[33]
Tax code
Stein has criticized the United States Internal Revenue Code for being too lenient on the wealthy. He has repeated the observation made by Warren Buffett, one of the richest individuals in the world (who pays mostly capital gains tax), that Buffett pays a lower overall tax rate than his secretaries (who pay income taxes and payroll taxes). Stein has advocated increasing taxation on the wealthy.[34] Stein objected to Obama's proposal in 2010 not to extend tax cuts for the highest earning taxpayers in the midst of the recession, saying that:
There is no known economic theory under which raising my taxes in the midst of a severe recession will help the economy recover. It isn't part of any well known monetarist or Keynesian theory. So if it does no good to raise our taxes, I assume we are being punished. But for what? I don't own slaves. I employ a lot of people full- and part-time and they are all happy with their pay. When charity calls, I almost always write out a check...Maybe when the economy recovers, raising my taxes makes sense, but for now, it's just punishment.[35]
In 2012, Stein stated that due to the tremendous amount of national debt, he agreed with Obama's proposal to increase taxes on the wealthy and that ultimately everyone's taxes should be raised to avoid defaulting on the debt.[36]
Dominique Strauss-Kahn
When the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested for sexual assault and attempted rape in 2011, Stein published an editorial[37] in The American Spectator in which he closely scrutinized Strauss-Kahn's accuser and cited Strauss-Kahn's education, wealth, and position as reasons to believe he was unlikely to have committed the crime:
In life, events tend to follow patterns. People who commit crimes tend to be criminals, for example. Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes?[38]
Stein's editorial was criticized by a number of media outlets.[39][40][41][42] Jon Stewart dedicated an entire segment on The Daily Show to his response.[43] All charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn were formally dismissed by a judge on August 23, 2011.[44]
Ferguson shooting
In response to the death of Michael Brown, Stein made the following comment:
The idea of calling this poor young man unarmed when he was 6'4", 300 pounds, full of muscles, apparently, according to what I read in The New York Times, on marijuana. To call him unarmed is like calling Sonny Liston unarmed or Cassius Clay unarmed. He wasn't unarmed. He was armed with his incredibly strong, scary self.[45]
Evolution
See also: Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Stein has denounced the scientific theory of evolution, which he and other intelligent design advocates call "Darwinism", declaring it to be "a painful, bloody chapter in the history of ideologies", "the most compelling argument yet for Imperialism", and the inspiration for the Holocaust.[46][47] Stein does not say belief in evolution alone leads to genocide, but that scientific materialism is a necessary component.[48] He co-wrote and stars in Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a film that aims to persuade viewers that evolution was instrumental to the rise of the eugenics movement, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust, and portrays advocates of intelligent design as victims of intellectual discrimination by the scientific community, which has rejected intelligent design as creationist pseudoscience.[1][49][2] In the trailer for the film, Stein said that his aim was to expose "people out there who want to keep science in a little box where it can't possibly touch God."[50]
Many critics point out that Stein selectively used and edited quotes by Charles Darwin to make his case in Expelled, also noting that scenes shot at Pepperdine University, in which Stein gives a speech to an auditorium full of students, in fact used a large number of extras, hired to respond favorably to Stein's speech, to fill the room.[51] The media response to the film has been largely unfavorable. It received an 11% meta-score from Rotten Tomatoes. Multiple reviews, including those of USA Today and Scientific American, have described the film as propaganda.[1][49][2]
In a Trinity Broadcasting Network interview with Paul Crouch Jr. regarding the movie, Stein claimed that "[religion] leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people".[52]
The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement condemning the film's misuse of the Holocaust and its imagery, "Using the Holocaust in order to tarnish those who promote the theory of evolution is outrageous and trivializes the complex factors that led to the mass extermination of European Jewry".[53]
At the University of Vermont, Stein was invited to receive an honorary degree and be the commencement speaker for the graduating class of 2009. University President Dan Fogel received complaints about Stein's planned appearance, due to Stein's views on evolution. Stein declined his commencement invitation.[54]
At the private, Christian Liberty University 2009 graduation, Stein was awarded an honorary degree and, according to the university, "spoke extensively about his work on Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed".[55]
Foreign policy
Stein is a staunch supporter of Israel. On Larry King Live in 2009, in a heated exchange with then-Congressman Ron Paul, he referred to Paul as antisemitic for referring to the U.S. as "occupiers" in the Arabian peninsula.[56]
Political endorsements
Stein endorsed John McCain for president in 2008, calling him "an impressive guy".[57] That year, he also stated that he would vote for Ralph Nader.[58] In January 2012, Stein appeared in political advertisements sponsored by Associated Industries of Florida supporting legislation that would create three resort casinos in South Florida.[59] He claimed in late 2014 that President Barack Obama was the most racist president in American history, saying Obama "made everything about race".[60]
In 2016, Stein reprised the famous attendance scene from Ferris Bueller in a campaign ad[61] for Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. In it, Stein intoned the last name of Grassley's opponent (Patty Judge) to silence, while facts about her missed votes and absences from state board meetings were listed. Stein then calls out "Grassley," which gets a response; Stein mutters, "He's always here."[62]
Stein initially supported Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but retracted his support in October 2016, writing, "But it's time for Donald Trump to go back to Trump Tower. Time for Mike Pence to move to the top of the ticket."[63] However, Stein went on to vote for Trump.[64]
Aunt Jemima
In February 2023, Stein released a video on Donald Trump's Truth Social stating he missed the Aunt Jemima logo with a "large African American woman chef." He added, "But, I prefer when it was a black person, showing their incredible skill at making pancakes." The video was also shared on Twitter[65] and the story ran on media outlets across the country.[66][67]
The original Aunt Jemima logo and brand name was retired in 2021 by PepsiCo and its subsidiary, Quaker Oats. This was due to the connection with the "Mammy" stereotype and racial connotations associated with the character.[68][69]
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GGL 6 26
AI Overview
Ben Stein is an American lawyer, actor, and economist who frequently intersects with the political and educational networks established by Charles Koch and the late David Koch. While Stein maintains his own distinct public profile, his ideological work frequently aligns with Koch-funded institutions. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The key connections between Ben Stein, Pepperdine University, and the Koch network include:
- Pepperdine University Ties: Ben Stein spent many years as an adjunct professor of law and economics at Pepperdine University (including both the law school and undergraduate programs). [1, 2]
- Charles Koch Foundation: The Charles Koch Foundation is a prominent financier of higher education and various research fellowships. Though Stein is not a Koch employee, he frequently acts as a paid keynote speaker at conservative and economic forums sponsored by Koch-adjacent and right-leaning groups. [1, 2, 3]
- Documentary and Intelligent Design: Stein is well-known as the host of the controversial 2008 documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. The film promoted intelligent design and criticized mainstream scientific theory. Various right-leaning foundations and prominent conservative donors have historically supported the think tanks (like the Discovery Institute) that advocate for these ideas. [1, 2]
- Economic Stance: Like the Koch network, Ben Stein is broadly recognized for his libertarian-leaning views on economics, his criticism of over-regulation in finance, and his advocacy for free-market principles. [1, 2, 3, 4]
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see also CSI / roundtable
HIRED BEN STEIN?! 2020 fellow
Kristin Strohm is a leading voice for free enterprise and economic opportunity in Colorado, with a career spanning small business, public policy, and philanthropy.
She was one of the original founders of CSI, and for almost a decade, she served as a strategic adviser to the research institute until taking a full-time leadership role as President & CEO in early 2019.
Previously, as a small business owner, Kristin was President and Co-Founder of the Starboard Group, one of the nation’s most influential political fundraising consulting firms.
She is actively involved in the philanthropic community. Kristin has been honored to serve as a board member for a number of charities, including the Women’s Bean Project, the Denver Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, National Vote at Home Institute, and the Barton Institute for Philanthropy and Social Enterprise. She is currently Board President of the Strohm-Link Family Foundation and serves on the Board of Trustees of her alma mater, Coe College, where she founded the college’s Tri Delta Leadership Scholarship.
Kristin studied history and Spanish at Coe College and later earned an M.B.A. from the University of Denver.
Kristin has been honored by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce as one of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Colorado and elected as one of ColoradoBiz Magazine’s Top 50 Most Influential Young Professionals. In 2016, she received the Ally Award from thepro-LGTBQ organization One Colorado in recognition of her work in support of gay rights. She was also in the founding class of the American Enterprise Institute’s Leadership Network and is a proud member.
Kristin and her husband Josh Penry currently make their home in the Denver area with their four children.
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Email Kristin Strohm: Kristin@csinstituteco.org
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vet org sems ok but wiki propaganda?
https://www.taps.org/about/leadership/honorary-board/
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https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/ben-stein-claims-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-is-promising-the-same-kinds-of-things-as-hitler-in-bizarre-rant/
Republicans have been throwing all kinds of ridiculous character attacks at freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
But actor and right-wing political commentator Ben Stein took it to a new ridiculous extreme during a Fox Business exchange on Tuesday:according to him, Ocasio-Cortez’s ideas are basically the same as Hitler’s and could lead to genocide!
“We have a society in which there are an awful lot of people who have no idea that Stalin, Hitler, Mao Tse-Tung all came to power promising the same kinds of things that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is promising,” said Stein. “And it led to mass murder, it led to dictatorship, it led to genocide. These promises are old promises and they invariably lead to bad things. The promise of just saying to the people do what you can within the law to make your life better and your family’s life better — that system works extremely well. Capitalism is a system that allows people to make something of themselves instead of oppressing other people. It’s an incredibly good system.”
Watch below
Stein’s argument makes no sense. First of all, lumping Hitler together with Stalin and Mao is odd, because Hitler wasn’t a socialist, he was a fascist. These are polar opposite ideologies — Stalin and Mao set out to create classless, collectivized societies, while Hitler wanted a racially pure society that still allowed for private property and profit.
But even more important, Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t advocated any of these dictators’ ideas. Many of her ideas, like a 70 percent top marginal tax rate on the rich and a Green New Deal, have already been successfully enacted in the United States before, without leading to dictatorship and mass slaughter.
Stein is known for invoking Nazi Germany at odd moments. He has also tried to claim that Darwin’s theory of evolution led to the Holocaust.
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Week in Dumb
Ben Stein (who has made some really racist remarks in the past) went on Fox News and said that the Russia investigation is like "some movie about an old Southern town where the law enforcement people are members of the Ku Klux Klan".
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https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Expelled:_No_Intelligence_Allowed
bad doc, not MPI, ben stein
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==
7. Ben Stein Attacks Global Climate Agreement: “Sav[ing] The Earth … Is A Ridiculous Goal”
On the Dec. 14 edition of Fox News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto, Cavuto introduced guest Ben Stein by saying “there’s a lot” to the Paris Climate Agreement “that Ben Stein hates.” Stein responded by asking: “What if man-made climate change is a fraud?” He later called the idea of saving the Earth a “ridiculous goal” and a “specious idea.”
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Ben Stein wants to win some money...in litigation.
Stein, the prolific actor, author, spokesperson, pundit and one-time star of Comedy Central's game show Win Ben Stein's Money, has sued a Japanese company and its New York ad agency for $300,000 for allegedly backing out of a deal to hire him to act in commercials when they found out about his beliefs on global warming.
PHOTOS: Crazy Cases! 18 of Hollywood's Outrageous Entertainment Lawsuits
Stein filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday against Kyocera Mita America, Inc., Seiter & Miller Advertising and their principals.
Stein, a well-known conservative commentator who became famous as the economics professor in Ferris Beuller's Day Off, has appeared in popular commercials for Clear Eyes eye drops and Comcast. He claims that in 2011, Kyocera and Seiter & Miller approached his agent at Innovative Artists about him appearing in commercials for a line of computer printers. A deal was allegedly worked out to pay him $300,000 for the commercials and to appear at a company event. "The only points still under discussion--but not in dispute--were what kind of tea and other snacks Ben Stein would have on the set," the complaint states. "There were no outstanding deal points."
But Stein alleges that in Feb. 2011 his agent was called by Seiter employee Grace Jaoand told that "questions had been raised by defendant Kyocera about whether Ben Stein's views on global warming and on the environment were sufficiently conventional and politically correct for Kyocera," according to the complaint.
VIDEO: 'Fox & Friends' Slam SpongeBob SquarePants' 'Global Warming Agenda'
Stein alleges he informed the ad agency and Kyocera that he was deeply concerned about the environment but he was not certain that global warming is a man-made phenomenon. "He also told [his agent] to inform defendants that as a matter of religious belief, he believed that God, and not man, controlled the weather," the complaint states.
Days later, Kyocera allegedly withdrew its offer and hired an economics professor at the University of Maryland to appear in the commercials and, "in an astonishingly brazen misappropriation of Ben Stein's persona, dressed him up as Stein often appeared in commercials (bow tie, glasses, sports jacket)."
So Stein is suing, claiming breach of contract, and wrongful discharge in violation of public policy, among other causes of action.
We've reached out to Seiter & Miller for comment.
*Email: Matthew.Belloni@thr.com
==
wikifluff
Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, and commentator on political and economic issues. He attained early success as a speechwriter for American presidents Richard Nixon andGerald Ford. Later, he entered the entertainment field and became an actor, comedian, and Emmy Award-winning game show host.
Stein has frequently written commentaries on economic, political, and social issues, along with financial advice to individual investors. He is the son of economist and writer Herbert Stein,[1] who worked at the White House under President Nixon. His sister, Rachel, is also a writer. While as a character actor he is well known for his droning, monotonous delivery, in real life he is a public speaker on a wide range of economic and social issues.
- 1Life and career
- 2Political views and advocacy
- 3Bibliography
- 4Filmography
- 5References
- 6External links
Life and career
Early years
Stein was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Mildred (née Fishman), a homemaker, and Herbert Stein, a writer, economist, and presidential adviser.[2] He is Jewish and grew up in the Woodside Forest neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland. Stein graduated from Montgomery Blair High School in 1962 along with classmate journalist Carl Bernstein; actress Goldie Hawn (class of 1963) was one year behind. Actor Sylvester Stallone was a schoolmate at Montgomery Hills Junior High School.[3] He went on to major in economics at Columbia University's Columbia College, where he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi and the Philolexian Society. After graduating with honors from Columbia in 1966, Stein went to Yale Law School, graduating in June 1970. He says that he did not have the highest grades in his class at Yale "by a long shot", but claims to have been voted valedictorian by the students because he was the "most popular".[4]
Legal and academic career
:{:{}:
Stein's first teaching stint was as an adjunct professor, teaching about the political and social content of mass culture atAmerican University in Washington, D.C. He subsequently taught classes at University of California, Santa Cruz on political andcivil rights under the United States Constitution. AtPepperdine:(style="background-color:#ffff66ff"):}:**:{University in Malibu, CA, Stein taught libel law and United States securities law and its ethical aspects. He was a professor of law at Pepperdine University Law School, from about 1990 to 1997.[6]He was first a poverty lawyer in New Haven, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. before becoming a trial lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission.[5]}:
Stein was the commencement speaker for the Liberty University 2009 graduation on Saturday, May 9, at Williams Stadium.[7] At this ceremony, the University awarded him an honorary degree. According to the school, Stein "delivered a message about creationism, patriotism, and value for humanity to graduates and their families."[8]
Writing career
Stein writes frequently on a variety of topics, including politics, investing, and economics. He writes a regular column in the conservative magazines The American Spectator and Newsmax. He has also written for numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Penthouse, Los Angeles Magazine, and Barron's Magazine, where his discussion of the Michael Milken Drexel Burnham Lambert junk bond situation, as well as the ethical dimensions of management buyouts, attracted heavy US national attention in the 1980s and 1990s.[citation ^needed] He wrote a regular biweekly column for Yahoo! Finance online, with his last article dated August 7, 2009.[9] His bestselling books (with investment advisor Phil DeMuth) include Yes, You Can Retire Comfortably, Can America Survive?, and Yes, You Can Time the Market. In 2009, he published a collection of essays, The Real Stars.
Stein was fired from his position as a Sunday Business columnist at The New York Times in August 2009, due to a policy prohibiting writers from performing product endorsements or advertising. Stein had recently become an advertising spokesperson for credit information company FreeScore.com, and according to a Timesstatement, had assumed there would be no conflict provided that he did not discuss credit scoring in general or FreeScore.com itself in his column. However, the publication felt that it would be inappropriate for him to write for them while he was involved in advertising, and terminated his contract.[10] Writing in The Spectator, Stein states his belief that the real reasons for his firing were budget cuts at the Times, his criticism of President Obama, and pressure from those critical of Expelled, who "bamboozled some of the high pooh-bahs at the Times into thinking there was a conflict of interest".[11]
Stein is currently an in-house journalist at Newsmax Magazine, a magazine by the conservative media group Newsmax Media.
Political career
Stein began his political career as a speechwriter and lawyer for President Richard Nixon, and later for President Gerald Ford. On May 3, 1976, Time magazine speculated on the possibility of Stein having actually been Deep Throat. Stein responded over the years by not only denying he was Deep Throat, but by going further and accusing journalist Bob Woodward of falsifying the famous secret source. In the May 14–21, 1998 edition of the Philadelphia City Paper, Stein is quoted saying, "Oh, I don't think there was a Deep Throat. That was a fake. I think there were several different sources and some they just made up."[12] After Mark Felt's identity as Deep Throat was revealed, Stein stated that Richard Nixon would have prevented the rise to power of the Khmer Rouge if he had not been forced to resign. For his actions leading to that resignation, Stein said:
If there is such a thing as karma, if there is such a thing as justice in this life or the next, Mark Felt has bought himself the worst future of any man on this earth. And Bob Woodward is right behind him, with Ben Bradlee bringing up the rear. Out of their smug arrogance and contempt, they hatched the worst nightmare imaginable: genocide.[13]
In 2005, Stein said in the American Spectator:
Can anyone even remember now what Nixon did that was so terrible? He ended the war in Vietnam, brought home the POWs, ended the war in the Mideast, opened relations with China, started the first nuclear weapons reduction treaty, saved Eretz Israel's life, started the Environmental Protection Administration. Does anyone remember what he did that was bad?
Oh, now I remember. He lied. He was a politician who lied. How remarkable. He lied to protect his subordinates who were covering up a ridiculous burglary that no one to this date has any clue about its purpose. He lied so he could stay in office andkeep his agenda of peace going.That was his crime. He was a peacemaker and he wanted to make a world where there was a generation of peace. And he succeeded.
That is his legacy. He was a peacemaker. He was a lying, conniving, covering up peacemaker. He was not a lying, conniving drug addict like JFK, a lying, conniving war starter like LBJ, a lying, conniving seducer like Clinton—a lying, conniving peacemaker.[14]
On June 24, 2008, Stein received the Freedom of Expression Award at the Entertainment Merchants Association's Home Entertainment Awards for "his outspoken economic and political beliefs."[15]
Career in the media
Stein became a Hollywood consultant before he moved into acting. His film career was launched by his performance as the monotonous economics teacher in the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In one scene, he gives an unscripted economics lecture, relying on his own experience in economics. The topics covered in his lecture are the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930 and the then-current debate over supply-side economics. The film's director, John Hughes, told him to speak about something he knew well.[16] The only scripted lines are those in which he calls attendance, repeating "Bueller?...Bueller?" in a monotone voice.
Stein played similarly bland and unemotional characters. He had a recurring role in the TV series The Wonder Years and played himself in Dave.
He also appeared in several television advertisements, most notably for the product "Clear Eyes" throughout the 1990s and 2000s (decade) ("The difference is clear ... Clear Eyes." "Clear Eyes, wow!"). Many advertisements spoof movies of the day, such as one where Stein is a painter (a play on The Da Vinci Code). Before this, he appeared for Godfather's Pizza in 1987 and as a bland science teacher in 1990 for Sprinkled Chips Ahoy! cookies. In 2013, Stein began appearing in advertisements for small business accounting service firm 1800Accountant.
In 1997, Stein was given his own game show by Comedy Central, titled Win Ben Stein's Money, along with co-host Jimmy Kimmel (replaced by Nancy Pimental and later by Sal Iacono). True to its name, the money that contestants won on the show was subtracted from the $5,000 pay that Stein earned per episode (in addition to his salary). The show won five Daytime Emmy Awards before ending its run in 2003.
In 1999, during the height of Win Ben Stein's Money's popularity, Comedy Central gave Stein another show, a talk show with celebrity guests entitled Turn Ben Stein On. One of the mainstays of the show was Stein's dog, Puppy Wuppy, who had free run of the set.
Other movies and television shows in which Stein has appeared include Charles in Charge; Seinfeld; Full House; Casper; Casper: A Spirited Beginning; Casper Meets Wendy; The Mask and its sequel, Son of the Mask as well as the television show, The Mask: Animated Series; Earthworm Jim; Star Search; MacGyver; Richie Rich;Game Show Moments Gone Bananas; Cavuto on Business; The O'Reilly Factor; CBS News Sunday Morning; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Family Guy; the Michael Berger-hosted version of Match Game; The Fairly OddParents; Duckman; Married... with Children; The Emperor's New School; My Girl 2; Ghostbusters II; and the intelligent design documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.[17]
In addition, Stein's voice roles include The Pixies, magical creatures on the animated series The Fairly OddParents; Mr. Purutu on the animated series The Emperor's New School; Professor Wisenstein in Bruno the Kid; the birthday party clown, Mr. Giggles, on The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius; a bingo caller on Rugrats; and Pip on Animaniacs. Futterman in Freakazoid. Stein also voiced a psychiatrist, again named after himself, in the USA TV series Duckman; he once appeared in the sitcom Married... with Children as a receptionist in the animal afterlife. He also made a cameo appearance in the comic book Young Justice, as Ali Ben Styn. Anothercameo appearance was as Rabbi Goldberg in the Family Guy episodes "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" and "Family Goy". Stein also voiced the character Sam Schmaltz in the 1996 computer adventure game Toonstruck.
In addition, Stein has written for the television industry, including outlines for the TV movie Murder in Mississippi and for the lengthy ABC miniseries Amerika. He has also contributed to the creation of the well-liked TV comedy Fernwood 2 Night.
Stein hosted a show on VH1 called America's Most Smartest Model.[18] The show aimed to find the smartest among fourteen models through a series of challenges.[19]
On May 14, 2006, during an appearance on the Fox News program Your World with Neil Cavuto, Stein called for a tax increase of 3.5% for wealthy Americans, to be earmarked for soldiers and military initiatives. Stein wrote an editorial for The New York Times critical of those who would rather make money in the world of finance than fight terrorism.[20]
On December 28, 2009, Stein appeared on CNN's Larry King Live with Ron Paul to discuss the attempted bombing of an American plane on Christmas Day 2009. Stein said that Paul's stance that the United States were "occupiers" in Iraq and Afghanistan "is the same anti-Semitic argument we've heard over and over again."[21] The comment started a shouting match between the two men and prompted anger from Paul supporters and those who believe Stein went too far in calling Paul's argument anti-Semitic.[22] Stein issued an apology on December 30, 2009.[23]
He was an occasional political and economics commentator on CNBC's The Kudlow Report.
Financial and economic commentary
In the period preceding the late-2000s recession, Stein made frequent and vehement claims that the economy was not in recession, and that the issues in the housing market would not affect the broader economy. On March 18, 2007, in a column for CBS News' online version of CBS News Sunday Morning, Stein famously proclaimed in the beginning of the subprime mortgage crisis that the foreclosure problem would "blow over and the people who buy now, in due time, will be glad they did," the economy was "still very strong," and the "smart money" was "now trying to buy—not sell—as much distressed merchandise" in mortgages as possible.[24]
In an August 12, 2007 column in The New York Times, titled "Chicken Little's Brethren, on the Trading Floor", Stein, while acknowledging "I don't know where the bottom is on subprime. I don't know how bad the problems are at Bear (Bear Stearns)" claimed that "subprime losses are wildly out of all proportion to the likely damage to the economy from the subprime problems," and "(t)his economy is extremely strong. Profits are superb. The world economy is exploding with growth. To be sure, terrible problems lurk in the future: a slow-motion dollar crisis, huge Medicare deficits and energy shortages. But for now, the sell-off seems extreme, not to say nutty. Some smart, brave people will make a fortune buying in these days, and then we'll all wonder what the scare was about."[25]
On August 18, 2007, on Fox News Channel's Cavuto on Business, Stein appeared with other financial experts dismissing worries of a coming credit crunch.[26] Thirteen months later, in the Global Financial Crisis of September 2008, global stock markets crashed, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the US government, AIG was bailed out by the Federal Reserve, Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America Corporation, and Morgan Stanley andGoldman Sachs confirmed that they would become traditional bank holding companies.
In a Yahoo! Finance article written on October 17, 2008, Stein explained that his understanding of the debt obligations based on real estate loans was less than the "staggeringly large" amount of obligations that were created through trade in derivatives of those, and so why it wasn't as similar to collapse of junk bond empire in early 1990s as he'd thought it would be: "Where I missed the boat was not realizing how large were the CDS [credit default swaps] based on the junk mortgage bonds."[27]
Business commentator Henry Blodget wrote a piece for Business Insider in January 2008 entitled "Ben Stein is an Idiot," stating that Stein's criticism of those with bearish views and positions on the market was either "delusional," or a deliberate and "shrewd" attempt to create false controversy and drive up web traffic.[28]
Personal life
Stein is married to entertainment lawyer Alexandra Denman, who is from Arkansas.[29][30][31] The couple has a son, Tommy,[1] who was adopted as an infant, in 1987. They were married in 1968, but later divorced in 1974. Eventually, they got back together, and in 1977, they were married again. Stein lives with Denman in Beverly Hills and Malibu, California.[32][33] He also has a summer home in Sandpoint, Idaho.[34] Stein also owns an apartment in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., which he inherited from his parents.[35]
Political views and advocacy
Abortion
Stein is an opponent of the legalization of abortion and was given a Pro-Life Award in 2003 by the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund.[36]
Larry Craig scandal
In 2007, Stein chastised the police and the GOP leadership for their response to the Larry Craig scandal. Stein said that Craig's sexuality should not be an issue: "A party that believes in individual rights should be rallying to his defense, not making him walk the plank."[37]
Tax code
Stein has criticized the United States Internal Revenue Code for being too lenient on the wealthy. He has repeated the observation made by Warren Buffett, one of the richest individuals in the world (who pays mostly capital gains tax), that Buffett pays a lower overall tax rate than his secretaries (who pay income taxes and payroll taxes). Stein has advocated increasing taxation on the wealthy.[38] However, in 2010, after Obama proposed not extending tax cuts for the highest earning taxpayers, Stein stated he was being punished, saying: "But for what? I don't own slaves. I employ a lot of people full- and part-time and they are all happy with their pay. When charity calls, I almost always write out a check. I don't have a yacht or ponies or a plane. My wife doesn't wear a tiara. I don't gamble."[39] In 2012, Stein stated that due to the tremendous amount of national debt, he agreed with Obama's proposal to increase taxes on the wealthy and that ultimately everyone's taxes should be raised to avoid defaulting on the debt.[40]
Dominique Strauss-Kahn
When the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested for sexual assault and attempted rape in 2011, Stein published a controversial editorial[41] in The American Spectator in which he closely scrutinized Strauss-Kahn's accuser and cited Strauss-Kahn's education, wealth, and position as reasons to believe he was unlikely to have committed the crime.
In life, events tend to follow patterns. People who commit crimes tend to be criminals, for example. Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes?[42]
Stein's editorial was widely criticized.[43][44][45][46] Jon Stewart dedicated an entire segment on The Daily Show to his response.[47]
Ferguson shooting
In response to the death of Michael Brown, Stein made the following comment:
The idea of calling this poor young man unarmed when he was 6'4", 300 pounds, full of muscles, apparently, according to what I read in The New York Times, on marijuana. To call him unarmed is like calling Sonny Liston unarmed or Cassius Clay unarmed. He wasn't unarmed. He was armed with his incredibly strong, scary self.[48]
Evolution
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https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Expelled:_No_Intelligence_Allowed
bad doc, not MPI, ben stein
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See also: Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Stein has denounced the scientific theory of evolution, which he and other intelligent design advocates call "Darwinism", declaring it to be "a painful, bloody chapter in the history of ideologies", "the most compelling argument yet for Imperialism", and the inspiration for the Holocaust.[49][50] Stein does not say belief in evolution alone leads to genocide, but that scientific materialism is a necessary component.[51] He co-wrote and stars in Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a film that aims to persuade viewers that evolution was instrumental to the rise of the eugenics movement, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust, and portrays advocates of intelligent design as victims of intellectual discrimination by the scientific community, which has rejected intelligent design as creationist pseudoscience.[52][53][54]
The media response to the film has been largely unfavorable. It received a 11% meta-score from Rotten Tomatoes. Multiple reviews, including those of USA Today and Scientific American, have described the film as propaganda.[52][53][54]
In a Trinity Broadcasting Network interview with Paul Crouch, Jr. regarding the movie, Stein made the following statement about science and religion:[55]
Stein: When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers, talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed ... that was horrifying beyond words, and that's where science—in my opinion, this is just an opinion—that's where science leads you.
Crouch: That's right.
Stein: ... Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.
The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement condemning the film's misuse of the Holocaust and its imagery, "Using the Holocaust in order to tarnish those who promote the theory of evolution is outrageous and trivializes the complex factors that led to the mass extermination of European Jewry".[56]
At the University of Vermont, Stein was invited to receive an honorary degree and be the commencement speaker for the graduating class of 2009. The university president Dan Fogel received complaints about Stein's planned appearance, due to Stein's views on evolution. Stein declined his commencement invitation.[57]
At the private, Christian Liberty University 2009 graduation Stein was awarded an honorary degree and, according to the university, "spoke extensively about his work on Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed".[8]
Other
Stein endorsed John McCain, calling him an "impressive guy".[58] That year, he also stated that he would vote for Ralph Nader for President.[59] In January 2012, Stein appeared in political advertisements sponsored by Associated Industries of Florida supporting legislation that would create three resort casinos in South Florida.[60] He claimed in late 2014 that President Barack Obama was the most racist president in American history, saying Obama "made everything about race".[61]
Bibliography
Stein's book titles to date (7 fiction, 21 nonfiction) include:
| Year | Title | Publisher | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 1978 | 1978 | 1978 |
| On the Brink: A Novel (coauthor: Herbert Stein) | Ballantine Books | 0-345-27650-7 | 0-345-27650-7 |
| 1978 | Dreemz (hardcover: California Dreemz) | Ballantine Books | 0-345-28156-X |
| 1979 | The View from Sunset Boulevard: America as brought to you by the people who make television | Basic Books | 0-465-09032-X |
| 1982 | 'Ludes | St. Martin's Press | 0-312-50012-2 |
| 1986 | Her Only Sin | St. Martin's Press | 0-312-90636-6 |
| 1988 | Hollywood Days, Hollywood Nights: the Diary of a Mad Screenwriter | Bantam Books | 0-553-34520-6 |
| 1992 | A License to Steal: the Untold Story of Michael Milken and the Conspiracy to Bilk the Nation | Simon & Schuster | 0-671-74272-8 |
| 2002 | How to Ruin Your Life | Hay House | 1-56170-974-3 |
| 2003 | How to Ruin Your Love Life | Hay House | 1-4019-0240-5 |
| 2004 | How to Ruin Your Financial Life | Hay House | 1-4019-0241-3 |
| Can America Survive? The Rage of the Left, the Truth, and What to Do About It | New Beginnings Press | 1-4019-0333-9 | 1-4019-0333-9 |
| 2005 | Yes, You Can Be a Successful Income Investor: Reaching for Yield in Today's Market | New Beginnings Press | 1-4019-0319-3 |
| Yes, You Can Still Retire Comfortably: The Baby-Boom Retirement Crisis and how to Beat It | New Beginnings Press | 1-4019-0318-5 | 1-4019-0318-5 |
| 2006 | How Successful People Win: Using "Bunkhouse Logic" to Get What You Want in Life | Hay House | 1-56170-975-1 |
| 2007 | The Real Stars: In Today's America, Who Are the True Heroes? | New Beginnings Press | 1-40191-144-7 |
| 2008 | How to Ruin the United States of America | New Beginnings Press | 1-40191-869-7 |
| 2012 | How To Really Ruin Your Financial Life and Portfolio | Wiley | 1-11833-873-1 |
Filmography...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Stein
Ben Stein has a habit of saying things that make Fox News panels uncomfortable and even angry. This week, Stein burst the bubble of a Fox panel on Ronald Reagan and taxes on the very wealthy: http://mm4a.org/WAjfeg
filmed bs at pepperdine