James Swan Documentary Proposal: “Uneasy Neighbors”
by Tom RemingtonSeptember 3, 2010
*Editor’s Note* I can personally vouch for those involved in this production proposal. I have communicated with both Dr. Valerius Geist and Will Graves on a regular, ongoing basis and are quite familiar with their work. Regular readers are very much aware of the number of times I reference their work. My knowledge and experience with Mr. Swan is limited but I can assure you that Geist and Graves speak very highly of him and would not consider such an adventure if he was not of the utmost trustworthiness.
Several months ago I shared with you a proposal for a 90-minute documentary “Uneasy Neighbors: Wolves, Coyotes and Modern Man.” I am contacting you at this time with a new, revised proposal that is attached.
While I have been doing research, writing and teaching about conservation and ecology for over 40 years, I’ve been working on this project for well over a year. Conversations with new resource people, in part triggered by my May ESPNOutdoors.com column, “The Myth of the Harmless Wolf,” have resulted in a flood of new material coming in that I have integrated into this new document, which includes an Appendix describing a comprehensive way to maximize the impact of this documentary to influence the court of public opinion, which is fundamental to getting wildlife management policy and law into practice..
We plan to begin by producing a 12-15 minute trailer that should be done by Christmas. This trailer will begin with a brief history of wolves and coyotes in North America and then focus on Dr. Valerius Geist’s seven-stage habituation model, supported by the research on wolves in Eurasia by Will Graves. The trailer will be filmed on location in British Columbia, the Northern Rockies and the Midwest using state of the art hi-def equipment. A celebrity narrator is possible.
The trailer, like the entire documentary, will be compelling, visually entertaining and grounded in science, as well as offering considerable perspective into the wide range people and their attitudes on this extremely volatile issue. I can provide more details if you would like.
We are seeking $65,000 to produce the trailer. Production costs for half-hour outdoor TV shows, which are typically shot in 1-3 days on one location, start at $35,000 and go up to $100,000. Any group that donates $15,000 or more will get a version of the trailer that will especially be edited to meet their needs.
This trailer will be of immediate value to groups to educate audiences about the Geist model and its application to wildlife management, ranching and farming, and growing potential for attacks on people. It will also introduce concepts of wolf population dynamics and behavior; interbreeding among wolves, coyotes and dogs; and various zoonotic diseases that can be carried by wolves and coyotes. The trailer will also be crucial to present to networks and/or funding sources to acquire completion funding, as well as to begin the process of educating thousands of people about the realities of co-existing with wolves and coyotes in modern times.
The complete production budget for this 90-minute documentary is $650,000. Details are in the proposal. [Click here for pdf of Proposal] This is less than half of what most mainstream wildlife documentaries cost. For example, a similar-length documentary about the life of Aldo Leopold that is currently in production has a budget of $1.4 million. PBS/BBC wildlife documentaries like the NOVA series easily run over $1 million per hour. A recent hour-long documentary about Annie Oakley that ran on PBS cost $545,000. Reality TV shows that are shot in a week or so on one location cost from $200,000 to $500,000 and up per hour.
The pro-wolf folks understand the importance of winning in the court of public opinion. Last year as a judge in the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, I had the chance to view a number of romanticized tales with staged wolves and carefully selected on-camera people that paint an unbalanced, and often unscientific version of the realities. All of these, as well as many other documentaries that we have screened during our research have expensive productions with budgets 2-3 times what we are seeking.
The version of the proposal that is attached is for donors [Click here for pdf of Proposal] Several non-profit groups are available to serve as fiduciaries. We are also open to working with investors, offering them limited partnerships. As the SEC regulates how many copies of the investors proposal can be out, if you want to go this route I would be happy to send you one on request.
If you would like references about me, several people who are leaders in conservation, law and film-making have offered to vouch for us and our work. I can provide their names if necessary.
The recent court decision in Montana to re-list wolves in Idaho and Montana, and the petition to the US Fish and Wildlife Service calling for expanding and introducing wolf populations all across the US have widespread support because of previous productions that have sold this message to mainstream America. The widespread support for such actions is ample evidence of public opinion in general, and the need for this documentary to redirect people’s attitudes and understanding of wolves and coyotes.
Thank you for considering supporting this project.
Sincerely,
James Swan, Ph.D.
Co-Executive Producer, “Wild Justice,” Nat. Geo. Channel
& CEO, Snow Goose Productions
P.O. Box 2460
Mill Valley, CA 94942
415-383-5064 tel/fax
www.jamesswan.com
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Bandwidth Issues
by Tom RemingtonAugust 31, 2010
I apologize to readers who tried to come here and check for information and updates. Sometime very late last night, this site exceeded bandwidth and that is my fault for not checking. I believe we have resolved the issue and should be good to go now.
Exceeding bandwidth is not a good thing because it essentially puts you out of business. The upside is that the site is very busy. I just need to pay closer attention. Thank you readers from keeping me busy!
Tom Remington
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They Have Made Void Thy Law Part I
by Al RemingtonAugust 31, 2010
“Under fascism, property owners may keep their property titles and deeds, but the use of their property is, as Leo XIII wrote, “common”. Fascism is a form of socialism that retains the forms and trappings of capitalism, but not it’s substance. Under fascism, property titles and deeds are intact, but the institution of private property has disappeared. Government regulations and mandates have replaced it. For this distinction between legal ownership and actual use, the fascists owe a debt to the Roman Church-State.”
God’s laws are not to be tampered with, but one by one the Ten Commandments are being attacked and made void. Every precept of God has been marginalized and reduced. They are being wiped out of our constitutions and international laws. In this DVD, you will learn alarming news about the new fascist human rights laws, (property “rights” laws) and Roman Catholic natural law touted by the UN and the Papacy as the answer to the world’s problems.”
Heritage of Israel
by Al RemingtonAugust 30, 2010
photo by Al Remington
“Tradition holds that those who are born of the sons of Abraham can receive salvation by this merit alone. There are many people who claim to be from the tribes of Israel. This DVD examines this belief in light of Scripture. What was the purpose of Israel? Does salvation come through the Jewish nation? Is salvation even possible through birthright? The meaning of the Jewish feasts is also examined, along with the question of the name of Jesus.”
Carter’s Giveaway of Panama Canal now Manned by Red Chinese
by Al RemingtonAugust 28, 2010
Panama Canal
Yes, the Jesuit Order was the true power behind the giveaway of the Panama Canal during the Carter Administration. Carter’s National Security Adviser was Papal Knight, CFR-member, Trilateral Commission-member and Bilderberger, Jesuit Temporal Coadjutor Zbigniew Brzezinski—a creator of Barry Davis Obama. Irish American Roman Catholic, Knight of Malta, Skull and Bonesman, CFR-member and Trilateral Commission member, Jesuit Temporal Coadjutor William F. Buckley, Jr., was also behind the giving of the Panama Canal to Panama which preeminent waterway would in turn be placed into the hands of the Red Chinese. But the foremost movers and shakers during the negotiations between Panama and the United States was the Jesuit priest Xavier Gorostiaga, an overt backer of the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.
And why the giveaway of the Panama Canal, an asset that could have made billions of dollars for America? The canal, now being enlarged with a new canal to be completed in 2014-15, is to be the invasion route for the Chinese/Japanese navies when they attack the “heretic and liberal” Southern Bible Belt of the then militarily defeated 14th Amendment American Empire.
For more information, see this link.
Brother-in-Christ Maximilano Aquaisol from Argentina has forwarded to your editor the following:
It was the Jesuit priest XABIER GOROSTIAGA who takes away the Panama Canal from the Americans,
and who created the first economical program of the Sandinist Nicaragua.
The Jesuit Xabier Gorostiaga died in Spain on 14 September this year (2003).
A truly dear creature, was Rector of the Universidad Centroamericana UCA, and as we shall see, was always closely linked to Nicaragua.
Influenced by his teacher in Panama, decided to do his thesis on Panama as a center for global services, including the Canal, the Colon Free Zone and the newly created Financial Center. Arrive in Panama in 1972 to do research for his thesis. Write a book on the Financial Centre, based in Panama, a branch of the CIAS, the Centre for Social Studies and Action for Panama (CEASPA), and inserted utterly, without finishing his PhD, in what will be the mission and passion of his apostolic life, apostolate from the international commitment to Central America.
During the Nationalist government, but dictatorship of General Torrijos, the Panamanian Foreign Minister, Juan Antonio Tack, a former professor at Xavier, asked to be part of the body of advisers to the negotiations between the governments of Panama and the United States in view the renegotiation of the Treaty on the Canal to get that international route. The provincial Miguel Francisco Estrada gave to him the mission.
History will tell what was the contribution to the way Xabier come through, and in 1979 signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which in 2000 gave way to a channel owned and operated by Panama at the end of the School of the Americas in Panama, and exit from the Southern Command of the United States from the territory of Panama.
On the same date starting his 18 years in Nicaragua. Emilio Baltodano, a former fellow Jesuit and planning deputy, gets to be called as adviser to the Ministry of Planning, but in a few days it is Global Director of Planning.
AS THINGS GO.
by Al RemingtonAugust 27, 2010
photo by Al Remington
Things That Shouldn’t Get Backlogged:
California requires that if a sex offender’s GPS tagging device signals that he’s in a prohibited area, parole agents must immediately respond, but that law was easier to pass than to implement. As of June, according to a San Diego Union-Tribune investigation, the state had fallen about 31,000 responses behind. [San Diego Union-Tribune, 6-16-10]
It is common knowledge that American corporations avoid taxes by running U.S. profits through offshore “tax havens” like the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, but a May Bloomberg Business Week investigation traced the specific steps that the pharmaceutical company Forest Labs takes to short the U.S. Treasury. Although Forest’s anti-depressant Lexapro is sold only in the U.S., the company’s patent is held by an Irish subsidiary (and since 2005, shared with a Bermuda subsidiary in a tax-code hocus-pocus that insiders call the “Double Irish”), which allows the vast majority of the $2 billion Forest earns a year on Lexapro to be taxed at Ireland’s low rate (and at Bermuda’s rate of zero). Bloomberg estimates that the U.S. Treasury loses at least $60 billion annually by corporations’ “transfer pricing” — enough to pay for the entire Department of Homeland Security for a year. [Bloomberg Business Week, 5-13-10]
and,
In July, Manuel “Lefty” Hernandez, 28, was charged in Springfield, Mass., with snatching a man’s wallet (which he probably did with his left hand, which is his only hand). (If he had had a weapon, police could have charged him with a felony, but it was only a misdemeanor because Hernandez was unarmed.) [The Republican (Springfield), 7-14-10]
Lack of skilled workers threatens recovery: Manpower
by Al RemingtonAugust 26, 2010
Folks are so clever, are they not?
Rueters:
“By Nick Zieminski
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Workers with specialized skills like electricians, carpenters and welders are in critically short supply in many large economies, a shortfall that marks another obstacle to the global economic recovery, a research paper by Manpower Inc (NYSE:MAN – News) concludes.
“It becomes a real choke-point in future economic growth,” Manpower Chief Executive Jeff Joerres said. “We believe strongly this is really an issue in the labor market.”
Hatebook?
by Al RemingtonAugust 26, 2010
Consider Mike Adams’ thoughts from Natural News.
I Remember When Voting Was A Simple Task
by Tom RemingtonAugust 24, 2010
Because of corruption, both on the voter level and the candidate level, voting these days is a complicated matter. At least when I went to the polls this morning.
When I first began voting back in 19–, I actually walked into the polling station in my hometown and all the poll workers knew who I was, had me checked off the list and handed me all necessary ballots while directing me to the nearest open polling booth. When I left, I shoved all the ballots into a large wooden box and then discussed the weather with the friendly clerk.
This morning, I was greeted at the door on the outside. He actually opened the door for me and inside, once again, I was greeted by a gentleman who directed me to a table where three workers sat, each one with a voting roster and sorted by alphabetical order.
I presented my Florida drivers license and voter registration card and was immediately told they was not interested in the voter registration card, which prompted me to ask why we should go to the trouble and expense to get one? I was told it made the voting process much easy and faster if I had a voter registration card. Not so, I guess. I also wanted to ask if the phone calls would stop as soon as I voted but I held my tongue. (I did glance around the room looking for Sarah Palin
Flipping through pages, the volunteer finally found my name and began questioning me about my address. She then showed me how my name and information was displayed on the roster and asked me if it was correct. It was and then I was directed where to sign my name. My signature was compared to the signature on my drivers license.
At this point, the volunteer peeled a label off the voter roster that contained a number that also appeared on the roster where I signed my name. This label was stuck onto a yellow piece of paper approximately four inches square. The clerk wrote the same number that was on the roster onto the yellow paper. She then instructed me to the next table.
Arriving at the second table, the woman volunteer took my yellow paper. On this yellow paper, smack dab in the middle, is a football-shaped oval perhaps one-inch long. I was instructed to take a black pen (provided) and color in the oval. I looked at the woman puzzled. She explained that this was in order to ensure that voters understood this is what the objects on the ballot looked like that we would be coloring in when we cast a vote. They wanted to make sure each voter was skilled enough at being able to stay within the lines I guess and smart enough to know how to mark the ballot.
Once my work of art was approved by the panel of judges, I was asked to sign my name on the yellow paper directly under the now little black football. I was given a paper ballot, inside a large red folder and directed to any vacant polling booth.
I took the test and filled in what I believed to be the correct answers. Once finished, I was directed to a machine that swallows your ballot. It is at this point in time where doubts swirl about in your mind. The paper trail is supposed to convince me that there are methods in place to make sure that my vote is counted and that someone not registered couldn’t vote and nobody gets to vote more than once.
After all that, you shove your paper into a MACHINE and you never see it again nor do you know if you got any of the answers right or that the machine gives a rat’s hind end who you are or whether it should or did count your vote.
You leave your red folder and cheap black ink pen in a box and leave.
FYI, in previous years I got an “I Voted” sticker but I guess with a failing economy and a president who only knows how to suck at golf, stickers are out of the budget these days.
I can’t wait until November and I’ll get to do it all over again………or maybe not. That usually falls during my annual Maine deer hunting trip and then I vote absentee. Now, that’s a scary thought these days.
Tom Remington
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