A big shout out to a group in Missoula who made waves in their community last week by widely announcing a shockingly generous "thank you" concert and giveaway on behalf of Macy's and Smurfit-Stone, two longtime Missoula businesses that had closed just before Christmas, laying off hundreds of workers and leaving the town with millions in unpaid property taxes and debt. (Macy's CEO Terry J. Lundgren noted that "we improved our profitability" in 2009 by reducing expenses, "enabling us to generate significant cash flow" of $1.6 billion; Smurfit-Stone, whose operations in Mexico and Asia leave them "well positioned for long term growth," paid out millions in executive bonuses while CEO Sir Michael Smurfit bought a $68 million yacht.) In part thanks to the "thank you Missoula" action, a bunch more folks in Missoula are wondering why the two companies haven't thanked the town for sacrificing prospects and jobs for their profits and yachts.
You can read more about the phony concert hoax here and here.
Meanwhile, April 1 is Fossil Fool’s Day. Rumor has it there will be actions in Johnson City, TN and Murfreesboro. Stay tuned.
The blogosphere is an especially fertile ground for April Fool’s Day hoaxes, and Google is famous for perpetrating a few. And no doubt a few celebrities will find themselves victims of premature Death-By-Twitter. My money’s on Jennifer Anniston; she seems to be the butt of a lot of jokes these days.
So, be careful out there on Wednesday. To our glorious Mainstream Media, remember things are never what they appear to be. To Sarah Palin: be careful of phone calls from foreign leaders.
[UPDATE]:
The pranksters gold medal award goes to Code Pink which issued an arrest warrant to Karl Rove:
