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I'm not too sure what to say about all the new attitudes around here , so, I won't say nuttin.
Read the news, do your own homework, and make your own decisions. Get real time quotes and follow the stock for a couple of weeks. Due Diligence is key here. Know that there will be a time when the stock runs up; this will be followed by the bashers as well as by those that simply missed the boat. The bashers will trash the stock by saying such things as "it's a Pump and Dump," "the company is lying," or some other statement designed to deceive shareholders like you who did their homework. The basher’s goal is to scare off newbies and any more potential new investors by "shaking" you out of your shares. Take the time to confirm your Due Diligence, trust your own judgment and believe in yourself. Pick your point of return or loss and live with it. Don't listen to pumpers or bashers. Instead, set rules for yourself and then live by them. Trust yourself, not the bashers
Can only hope we wont be disappointed by Jerry again. Cant imagine Jerry would start a new company knowing shareholders were about to take him to court. Sure would like to know why his plan did not work for RGNO.
I have to agree with you, doubled my position yesterday, we should have at least 20m in assets imo. Good luck to all longs for next weeks info.
One thing I like, Terry Mixon has 20 years in the oil industry, he should know where to look for our assets and hopefully not let Jerry take what does not belong to him. Do our shares stay just as they are or are we going to have to spit???
Jr is being shown a lot of respect in the DR, they are treating him like .royalty. After viewing the pictures there has got to be more going on than most of us might think. I would be very surprised after production starts here, if we dont hear about contracts in the DR. IMO
Expert: Bob Von Rhee
Date: 12/1/2007
Subject: barnett shale
Question
I am in the heart of the Barnett Shale and have recently been approached by 2 companies. The other day, I received a lease document in the mail stating I owned .41 acres and they were offering $10,000.00 per net mineral acre. They enclosed a draft for $470.00, as they said representing the $10,000.00 per acre signing bonus. Am I missing something? Or is there a difference between acreage owned and "net mineral acres"? Thanks in advance for your help....P.S. We're still in the negotiating phase...
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Mike. In all liklihood there is nothing "funny" going on here. When a company leases within a townsite - within city limits the minerals are often owned in very broken fashion OR where there has been a lot of division of mineral ownership due to complex bequests over the years, they will typically do a thorough "ownership" review based on county courthouse records. This is especially true in such competitive plays as the Barnett Shale where lease bonuses are so astronomically high.
There is a difference between "acreage"and "net mineral acres". Works like this. If you own 1 acre and 100% of the mineral rights - you are said to own "1 net mineral acre (nma). If however, you and your sibling each own 50% of the mineral rights, then you would each be said to own 0.5 nma. 1ac X 50% minerals - 0.5 nma. Continuing, for example if your sibling willed his 50% of the mineral rights equally to his two children 50/50, then each of them would now own 25% of the mineral rights, and you would still own 50% of the mineral rights. See how this works? The concept of "net mineral acres" is a way to reflect the fractional mineral ownership beneath a parcel of land so that the lease bonus - paid on a dollars per net mineral acre - may be calculated properly. Odds are that you own a fractional mineral interest below a larger tract and the bonus you are being offered reflects that.
Expert: Bob Von Rhee
Date: 1/10/2008
Subject: Marketing mineral rights
Question
My grandfather sold the family's 75 acre farm in Hood County Texas in the early 1950's and retained half the mineral rights. I have a copy of the deed of trust which details the transaction. I know that the property is located in the Barnett Shale and potentially has substantial value. Upon my grandfather's death, all his assets passed to my grandmother and on her death to my mother, who is their only child. My mother is now 84 years old and neither she nor I have any expertise in how to pursue marketing these mineral rights. Can you advise me regarding whom to contact initially? Should I pay a Hood County title company to research and prepare a report regarding to whom the property currently belongs and whether there's a lease in place? Or should I consult a local attorney in Hood County who specializes in oil and gas, or should I directly contact one of the production companies (such as Chesapeake Energy) who are active in the area? Any direction you can offer on how to proceed will be appreciated.
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Answer
Joe. I am not an expert in how to market Barnett Shale minerals, however, I can suggest at least one starting point. That would be to speak to "EnergyNet.com" at that same web address. They are an internet oil and gas auction company - a very similar way of listing and selling to the "e-bay" concept. At there home page you should be able to find the contact info for the representative for your region. They will assess a fee for listing your minerals, but the company was founded by oil industry professionals for industry professionals and you can be sure to be treated fairly. Your idea of speaking to your local attorney is also good as you may learn much about the local market - if the attorney is involved in Oil and Gas. The shale play minerals are selling for large multiples above a normal net acre lease bonus. I am aware of one attorney in Ada, Oklahoma who has begun a local auction specializing in Woodford Shale minerals since that play has taken off in southern and southeastern Oklahoma. If you contact a company directly like Chesapeake you will probably get an offer, but it may not be the best offer since there will not be any apparent competition. Oil and Gas interests like mineral rights are bought and sold very much similar to real estate. You seem to have a very good handle on title to the minerals, but it might behoove you to have a title attorney examine your title documents before you attempt to sell. This should help put you on a much firmer footing when you try and sell.
Anyway, ask lots of questions, be slow to sign any paperwork, and good luck. I'm sorry I'm not more of an expert in this area, but you are correct to proceed slowly and cautiously. By the way, it was in the paper today that Chesapeake has just taken another large position in the Barnett play by acquiring another small company. I don't see the interest in the Barnett decreasing anytime soon. Good luck
Hope this helps a little.
Bob VR
<<Prev Rule Texas Administrative Code
Next Rule>>
TITLE 16 ECONOMIC REGULATION
PART 1 RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS
CHAPTER 3 OIL AND GAS DIVISION
RULE §3.76 Commission Approval of Plats for Mineral Development
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) The following words and terms, when used in this section, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Minerals--Oil and/or gas.
(2) Operations site--A surface area of two or more acres that an owner of a possessory mineral interest may use to explore for and produce minerals, which is located in whole or in part within a qualified subdivision, and designated on the subdivision plat.
(3) Possessory mineral interest--A mineral interest that includes the right to use the land surface for exploration and production of minerals.
(4) Qualified subdivision--A tract of land not more than 640 acres:
(A) that is located in a county having a population in excess of 400,000, or in a county having a population in excess of 140,000 that borders a county having a population in excess of 400,000 or located on a barrier island;
(B) that has been subdivided in a manner authorized by law by the surface owners for residential, commercial, or industrial use; and
(C) that contains an operations site for each separate 80 acres within the 640-acre tract and provisions for road and pipeline easements to allow use of the operations sites.
(5) Barrier island--An island bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and entirely surrounded by water.
(b) As provided in subsections (e) and (f) of this section, the surface owners of a parcel of land may restrict use of the surface by the possessory mineral owners if the tract is a qualified subdivision and if a plat of the subdivision has been approved by the Railroad Commission after notice and hearing and filed with the clerk of the county in which the qualified subdivision is to be located.
(c) An application for a hearing under this section must be made in writing and mailed or delivered to the director of the Oil and Gas Division. The application must include:
(1) a jurisdictional statement setting out the facts stated in subsection (a)(4)(A) and (B) of this section;
(2) a statement that the applicant has authority to represent and represents all surface owners of land contained in the proposed qualified subdivision;
(3) the names and addresses of all owners of possessory mineral interests and all mineral lessors of land contained in the proposed qualified subdivision;
(4) a plat of the proposed subdivision showing each proposed 80-acre tract with its operations site, road easements, and pipeline easements and a legible copy thereof no larger than 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches;
(5) a concise description of mineral development in the area, including the number of oil and/or gas wells within 2.5 miles of the boundary of the proposed qualified subdivision and the depths at which each well is completed;
(6) a list of all the Railroad Commission designated oil and/or gas fields, if any, which underlie the proposed qualified subdivision; including the spacing and density requirements. If no Railroad Commission designated fields underlie the qualified subdivision, the application should so state.
(d) The Railroad Commission shall, on proper notice to the applicant and owners of possessory mineral interests and mineral lessors of land contained in the proposed qualified subdivision, hold a hearing on the application to determine the adequacy of the number and location of operations sites and road and pipeline easements. At the hearing on the application, evidence may be presented by the applicant and the owners of possessory mineral interests and mineral lessors. The applicant must carry the burden of proof. After considering the evidence, the commission may approve, reject, or amend the application to ensure that the mineral resources of the subdivision may be fully and effectively developed.
(e) An owner of a possessory mineral interest within a Railroad Commission approved qualified subdivision may use only the surface contained in designated operations sites for exploration, development, and production of minerals and only the designated easements as necessary to adequately use the operations sites.
(f) The owner of the possessory mineral interest may drill wells or extend well bores from an operations site or from a site outside of the qualified subdivision to bottomhole locations vertically beneath the surface of parts of the qualified subdivision other than the operation sites. Such drilling is subject to other applicable commission rules and regulations, and is permissible only to the extent that the operations do not unreasonably interfere with the use of the surface of the qualified subdivision outside the operations site.
(g) Subsections (e) and (f) of this section cease to apply to a subdivision if, by the third anniversary of the date on which the order of the commission becomes final:
(1) the surface owner has not commenced actual construction of roads or utilities within the qualified subdivision; and
(2) a lot within the qualified subdivision has not been sold to a third party.
(h) All or any portion of a qualified subdivision may be amended, replatted, or abandoned by the surface owner. An amendment or replat, however, may not alter, diminish, or impair the usefulness of an operations site or appurtenant road or pipeline easement unless the amendment or replat is approved by the commission. Railroad Commission approval of a replat or amendment may be administratively granted by the director of the Oil and Gas Division, or his delegate, upon submission of items required in subsection (c) of this section and after notice and opportunity for hearing has been afforded to all possessory mineral interest owners and mineral lessors of land contained within the original and/or replatted or amended qualified subdivision.
By: parson_mac
26 Jan 2008, 11:07 PM EST
Msg. 17035 of 17038
(This msg. is a reply to 17033 by robnjr.)
Jump to msg. #
Oh GREAT! I gete out and travel for one day
and the whole dang board goes "twilight zone" on me. I frankly don't know which is scarier, that an old man somewhere in Florida is giving French lessons to his pony and donkey, or that Fairway Iron has agreed with Bio on something AFTER apologizing to him...
I swear I don't know which is more unnatural... downright apocalyptic on a biblical scale! And to top it all off, Robn has reduced today's series of posts to a bunch of arguements of 'romantics' (whatever the heck that means!).
Well, I'm not as brilliant as some boxes of hair I've met, but I am a romantic, so I've got to weigh in here on the whole EPA, tier testing, new fuel requirements.... technical... science... thing.
And since I have no idea what the heck I'm talking about, I just MIGHT be on to something...
Some scientists (I read somewhere one time so it must be true) have re-thought the whole fossil fuel thing. Some believe it's not just old recycled dinosaurs, but petroleum is recycled ORGANICS of all kinds, flora AND fauna (not to be confused with the Misses Flora and Fauna Butterwitz of Sapsuckle, Arkansas), in other words, carbon-based sludge recycled deep near the earth's furnace...
Now if JR's enzyme/catalyst/pyrolysis combination 'reduces' a variety of biomass (cellulosically, that is) to a 'carbon-based' sludge with properties so similar to petroleum that it can be refined into substances with nearly identical hydrocarbon chains... then we're not really comparing 'rock' oil to 'vegetable' oil are we... ARE WE?!? I thought not...
We are comparing a raw carbon material to another raw carbon material, one slowcooking naturally over eons of time in the depths of Mother Earth, the other microwaved in JR's souped up reactor.
Lessee... what WAS my metaphor a coupla' months ago about industrial man-made diamonds vs. the 'natural kind'? One form of carbon under ONE kind of heat and pressure for eons vs a kingsford briquette (is that French for brickette? Ask that donkey next to your field Fairway and get back to me) a briquete in a man-made furnace under immense pressure.
Now (stay with me class!) the natural and man-made diamond both have the SAME hardness and physical properties according to Moe's Scale (whoever Moe was)....
Sooooo... technically speaking... I can see where ASTM standards met by a barrel of petroleum OR a barrel of vertroleum both run through a fractional distillation tower and yielding remarkably similar substances, say, GASOLINE... DIESEL... are essentially the same fuel.
Now then, to the uninformed and uneducated such as myself, a hydro-carbon chain is a hydro-carbon chain...
It it looks like a hydro-carbon chain, refines like a hydro-carbon chain, and burns like a hydro-carbon chain, it must be a hydro-carbon chain!!!
And THAT, my friends, is why refined vertroleum that meets current ASTM criteria's standard's fuels rules may, in fact, NOT need new tier testing.
I really hope your not going to tell us that is a picture of wifey.LOL Couldnt resist.
Big Mur.... I know it may appear that we are all at the same intelligence level when it comes to doing DD . I am sorry to say that is not the case here. For someone like myself that just learned to turn this computer on a year ago, looking around the internet can be a big task. Your work does not go unappreciated, you must realize that if it was not for people like yourself putting out good information there would be very few people here. Again I .want to say thank you for all the good DD that you find. Long and strong Hemi because of yourself and many more here.
I really dont know much about how the "market makers" work their evil ways but Im sure they will do whatever they can to make their " fast buck' at my expense.
Jerry knows we hold a lot of shares on this board. I feel like he is looking over my(our) shoulder to see what we are going to do, ( reading all the posts) Kind of a uneasy feeling that he knows everything that we are thinking ( and doing) I wouldnt went to give any ideas to help out any plans he might have . Just a thought.
Strongus...... Is the shell worth .001 and then whatever assets are left in RGNO would be what we are worth??? If this is the case then maybe we are at the bottom now. Not sure what the shell is worth.
I know all the history, and the failures of JR to produce. Everything is different now, whether you choose to believe it or not.
New location,new product, more and better management, are setting up to produce biocrude shortly and by the way, why are you here if you have no vested interest in this company, dont answer I already know.
Ragmuff;;; All is not lost yet, give it time.I do agree, very upsetting.
Recs: 0 Posted on sstp board by 2guard
Baytown visit
Dear All,
Had the privilege of visiting the Baytown facility on Monday and taking a tour led by JR. I also had the opportunity to talk with Vice-Admiral Dr. Salcedo, for which I thank him. I witnessed biofuel produced from algae at a very high ratio of biofuel weight to algae. The large reactor is very large indeed, and very impressive. The entire site is huge - I believe over 150 acres. The potential use of the site is incredible. A rail spur runs within 20 feet of the main building. Pipelines run through the property. Major powerlines are extremely close. And let us not forget the concrete production on site. Further, JR ran the old diesel engine for me and I felt the manifold (cool) and the exhaust (barely warm). Awesome!
After seeing everything, in my opinion the site has the potential for major production of biofuel and electricity generation.
It is impossible for me to estimate when a major deal will be signed, sealed and delivered. However, I am convinced it is a matter of "when" and not "if."
I wish to take this opportunity to publicly thank Mr. Rivera for permitting me to visit the site, and for taking time from his obviously busy schedule to show me around.
Sincerely yours,
Jerry
New storage tanks have been seen showing at Baytown. Can only mean one thing , production of biocrude. It will happen, Go USSE/SSTP
I would .. add to your list that even though things were not going well over the summer our CEO did not lie to his shareholders about anything. Having an honest CEO means a lot to me.
Mckinley, back in Nov you mentioned to me that things were going to get better after the first of the year. Was this entertainment business what you had in mind. Shame on you for not telling me you could dance.LOL
IF that is the case maybe 1.00 tomarrow. LOL Canadians down 582. ouch
I was reading another board that said the Canadian market was down 600 pts today. If true tomorrow might not go to well for anybody.
I am treating hemi as a long term hold, I dont see any real news coming until after the first quarter .I would be grateful for any info that you might come across. I see much good fortune for those that stay strong in this company. best of luck
Thanks for all your help Strongus, a lot of people like myself dont have a clue whats ahead for us.I held strong hoping for the best, in this case maybe we will be alright. Hoping for the best for the ones that stayed long.
Jim Ford is on this committee, dont you think he knows what is needed for permits??
Consumer Products Subcommittee | Laboratory Subcommittee | Legal Subcommittee
The Petroleum Subcommittee both initiates and responds to industry issues regarding petroleum and petrochemical inspection services as described in Chapter 4 of the international IFIA Guidelines. The IFIA AC Petroleum Subcommittee also works closely with the Petroleum Committee of the parent IFIA organization in London.
The Petroleum Subcommittee pioneered the development of the IFIA AC Inspector Certification Program for independent inspectors of petroleum and chemicals. To become certified, a candidate must present evidence of training in petroleum industry inspection standards, safety standards, and regulatory requirements. To verify these qualifications, inspectors must complete an approved Training Record Book and pass a comprehensive written examination supervised by the Petroleum Extension Service of the University of Texas.
The Petroleum Subcommittee is active in international standards writing organizations, including ASTM, API, IP, and ISO, addressing industry concerns during the standards development process. Other issues that the subcommittee addresses include training, regulatory requirements, new member applications, the IFIA AC Regulatory Compliance Program, the internationalization of the Inspector Certification Program, and other matters affecting member companies. It also publishes Technical Bulletins and position papers on issues of interest and concern to our industry.
I asked them for a pr and today I got one. Lets move back up where we belong.
I still think one good merger pr could take us back up , just my opinion.
I also appreciate all you are doing. I engoy reading all your posts.
If we get a pr from the company that sounds about right.
Why would some nut come on the board to say that the pps is going to .002??? Perhaps it will, maybe it won t but why even say it. Shameful and only here to be hurtful to others. A basher only trying to bring the pps down further. When you think alls lost take a look at USSE/SSTP. Im up 80% in three days, that could happen here also and Im expecting it to happen at any time now. All we need is one pr from Jerry.
.Some of you guys amaze me sometimes. It would take me a month to write something like you just wrote.Very will said, and I hope Badge can agree.
I agree with you,and think it is time to put an end to these attacks. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. STOP IT NOW. There is nothing to be gained by these endless accusations.
Mill You will get no arguement out of 98% of the people here. We are all disappointed, not much we can do until we hear from Jerry. Wish I could say more but thats the way it is. I dont think it is a scam, however there must have been problems we know nothing about. Until we hear more we can only wait and hope for the best.The only other thing that can be done at this time is to take a trip down there and check it out. If we have all been lied to than we will pay the price for believing in Jerry and what has been pr ed in the past. Your anger in this situation shows in all your posts, there is nothing anyone can say at this point.
to: None Date:12/24/2007 12:56:26 PM
Post #of 28036
Posted by: youhavenoidea
In reply to: TechKim who wrote msg# 150140 Date:12/21/2007 9:14:57 AM
Post #of 150239
SHORT SELLING COMBINED WITH FRAUDULENT STOCK MANIPULATION
Submitted by Gregory J. Halpern – CEO, Circle Group Holdings, Inc. (CXN: AMEX)
Mr. Halpern is the Director of the Midwest Regional Chapter for the CEO Council
Small Business Hurdles
The millions of small business professionals that own and operate small companies in this country produce a majority of America's private gross domestic product, most of the taxable revenue to the treasury, and most of the new jobs every year. Between 1990 and 1995 they created 76 percent of America's new jobs. In 1998 alone, this sector created 31 million new jobs in nearly 900,000 new companies. And this trend is expected to continue. A crucial component of our domestic economic engine is the ability to create funding through access to the capital markets. Everyone who owns or runs a publicly traded small business knows the hurdles that they must overcome in order to make their business successful, including obtaining funding, completing all of the regulatory filings, competing for market share, and compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley with the outrageous cost burden it imposes, to name a few. Small public companies, and many others with the goal to get to the capital markets accept all of this, plus long hours, late nights, and weekends as what it takes to grow their business, improve the world with their products and services, and create wealth for themselves, their employees, their shareholders and the economy.
But small public companies and their shareholders are facing a severe problem, and they are looking to the Securities & Exchange Commission, the Justice Department, and the F.B.I. to help them get urgently needed relief. The problem is that short selling is being intentionally combined with fraudulent stock manipulation to destroy the value that small American businesses in the capital markets work so hard to achieve. The points contained in this position paper have tremendous merit for all small public companies but it must be pointed out that it was written with a bias because our company, Circle Group Holdings, has been under constant attack from a well-organized group of criminals for over a year and a half. Our management team and employees, who are all owners of the company’s stock, are tenacious, tough minded, fighters of injustice, with multi-faceted business experience and backgrounds in martial arts. Thanks to our intestinal fortitude learned from these backgrounds, we have survived the attacks, and fully expect to survive any additional attacks. From early 2004, until the present, Circle Group has successfully battled its attackers by getting several public web sites and chat boards to remove malicious phony content, getting a protective court order and winning motions on cutting edge Internet jurisdiction issues. We found out through this experience that one of our attackers is now a defendant in other securities matters and is currently being prosecuted by the SEC for another unrelated stock fraud. Tragically, many other small public companies have gone out of business. Still more will not survive the attacks or mount any serious defense against the perpetrators who work in hiding, often live and/or operate off shore, have completely phony identities and are cloaked by the anonymity of the Internet.
For additional perspective our company, Circle Group Holdings has a legitimate natural food technology solution for obesity called Z-Trim that was developed at the U.S. Department of Agriculture over many years with significant amount of taxpayer dollars. Many anonymous attacks have been made against the company and its personnel in particular saying that Z-Trim is a scam. Except for bashers, no one on the planet has even suggested that Z-Trim invented by one of the world’s most influential agricultural scientists, is a bad invention. Yet the bashers who attack the company, post numerous outrageous lies about Z-Trim. It is amazing that the number one health problem in the world today is obesity, and this outstanding technology could reverse the course of this devastating disease, yet here is this group of criminals posting lie after lie with their only goal to destroy the value of the company’s equity and shareholder value. Many innovations and inventions that could have benefited humankind will never get to market because of the companies that were destroyed by these criminals.
When just looking at approximately 5000 small and micro-cap companies that have an average issued and outstanding share total of 40 million shares, and multiplying that by an average $5 loss on share value, we estimate the losses to investors to be at least a trillion dollars annually. The number is probably a lot higher when you factor all the other companies attacked and then lost jobs, potential new economies of scale that never develop, lost capital markets formation, increased cost burdens on government and families to support those individuals wiped out, lost individual and corporate taxable revenue to the treasury, lost improvements to our lives from innovation that does not occur, and lost investor confidence in the emerging markets as well as erosion of the American Dream.
Therefore, the primary objective of this Position Paper is to provide valuable information and suggestions that if heeded, and if existing laws are enforced, will help countless companies and their shareholders avoid suffering this fate in the future. Without help, many companies will not survive, and many more will have their shareholders’ value severely damaged. The criminals who perpetrate the attacks being discussed here are bold, well organized economic terrorists who commit securities fraud daily, without punishment, and who benefit immensely from the technological advances of the Internet and the economics of regulatory authorities who are challenged to justify the cost of pursuing these crimes. After a miserable half decade in the capital markets, if the economy is to ever improve in a noticeable way, this problem must be fixed. While serving large corporations to better prevent rampant fraud exposed in recent times, Sarbanes has not served small business in any way to restore investor confidence in the market as evidenced by the lack of capital market investment and investors continued knee jerk reactions to nearly every piece of daily news. The good news is that the legal system in place, if utilized as suggested herein, already provides the ability to remove most of the current network of criminals from the capital markets and restore investor confidence, thereby stimulating many other areas of our economy.
The Growing Problem
Unscrupulous speculators have found ways to short stocks and then manipulate companies stock prices lower by continuously attacking the companies on Internet financial chat boards, websites, and through other highly illegal and unethical means. Agents for competitors or shareholders of competing companies’ stocks may also make these attacks for obvious reasons. The bloggers and bashers spend their days, nights, and weekends, viciously attacking the companies they short with continuous false disparaging chat board posts about the companies, their management, employees, products and investors. Some of these shorting syndicates and other bashing groups are well organized, but all have one goal in mind, posting defamatory negative false or distorted information in an effort to severely damage a company’s reputation and stock price. Some bashers also utilize so-called “watchdog” websites to attack companies, but only after alerting their subscribers that they are going to issue a negative report about a targeted company. This gives their subscribers the opportunity to get a solid short position before the attack begins, thus creating additional short or negative pressure on a stock. These activities constitute securities fraud.
One listed company sells a homeopathic medication to reduce the duration of the common cold. The company was attacked by a group that called for a class action suit for users of the product who suffered a loss of smell from using the product. A website posted this information encouraging people to contact them to discuss potential legal actions against the company. A Dow Jones newswire article reported on these so-called consumer complaints about the product and their loss of smell. The company has given assurances that it adheres to FDA guidelines and restrictions and was unaware of an FDA inquiry into the safety of their product. As a result of the group that attacked them and the news articles that followed, the company’s stock price began to drop, and kept dropping until their market cap was cut to less than half. The number of people who signed up to be a part of the class action suit against the company turned out to be only two, a husband and wife. They both claimed to have some loss of smell from using the product, but only after the website and news article came out. The stock recovered some of its huge drop once people realized that the claims made against the company weren’t what they first appeared to be. Unfortunately, the stock price has only gone up to a portion of what it lost, and the shareholders who lost in excess of several hundred million dollars are the ones who suffered as a result of this.
How They Operate
The criminals are short-selling bashers, and illegal stock manipulators, who repeatedly post outrageous known lies or distorted half-truths with a dogged determination and single-minded purpose – use any means possible to drive the stock price down.
In the small and micro cap market, most increases in value to a stock occur when more people buy more shares. Any such occurrence will automatically result in relentless postings that the company is a pump and dump scheme. The bashers will post as many as a dozen posts at a time under multiple aliases in order to dominate a chat board. On some message boards that give you the option, they continuously post under multiple aliases with a strong sell sentiment, even if they may only post about the weather or some other nonsense post, so that a person visiting that chat board would see an overwhelming majority of the posts and posters with a strong sell sentiment. They disparage the company’s products, employees, management, business plans, and anything else about the company so they can create serious doubt about the company in the minds of investors and potential investors. They post their opinions but make them appear to be facts. They make very slanted interpretations of anything the company does as if they were giving an expert analysis, with their conclusions always being the most negative they can be. When the company issues a positive press release, they state that the press release is all hype, released only to increase the stock price. If an insider makes a sale or exercises an option, they post false claims that management is dumping the stock because it is getting ready to drop. They ask questions about the company and its products such as: “What studies have they done to prove that their products are safe?” and “What’s to say that their products don’t cause cancer?” and “Don’t you think that the SEC should look into the way this company does business?” All comments made are negative or are cleverly and carefully worded posts intended to damage the company, by either giving people the idea that the company’s products are unsafe or cause cancer, that the company’s management is incompetent or dishonest, or to make people think that the company is doing something illegal and needs to be investigated by the SEC.
Honest investors, who happen upon the board, will often get buyers remorse from seeing an overwhelming negative sentiment and immediately “panic sell” the stock, which creates additional downward pressure and serves the criminal campaign well. Occasionally, an investor will attempt to say something positive about the company, but the resulting attacks on them will be vicious, thereby hurting their confidence in their investment decision and causing them to promptly abandon the board and usually the stock altogether. They simply do not realize that the bashers are on the board 24 by 7 because that is their job. That is how they earn their living.
There is No Limit to Their Efforts
There is no limit to what the bashers will do to try and drive down a stock price. They constantly make statements about how bad a victim company is managed or how incompetent it’s CEO is and call for shareholders to ask that the CEO be replaced. Another common practice is to make harassing phone calls to a company’s customers and suppliers and flood them with negative questions and comments about the company, its products and its management in order to damage the business relationships that it has with these companies. This practice has and will continue to destroy many new, existing, and developing business relationships. Bashers make posts about forming shareholder class action lawsuits against management and directors and intimate that the SEC should be investigating the company for fraud and lots of other securities violations. They encourage investors to contact the SEC about all of the supposed improprieties of what they refer to as the “pump and dump scheme” company.
Bashers will also send messages to the SEC, and other government agencies that might affect a companies’ business, with accusations of wrong doing by the company, and its officers and other employees. As a result, a company might get an inquiry from a well-meaning employee of the Better Business Bureau, FDA, NASD, the exchange the company trades on, or various others. Even though the company is able to answer such an inquiry, for a small company this is time consuming, costly, and diverts valuable limited resources away from the company’s actual business all to the gleeful delight and self serving interest of the criminals while assisting greatly in the success of the illegal manipulation.
Bashers post predictions of a much lower stock price in the near future to convince existing stockholders to sell so they don’t lose all of their investment. They make statements on a regular basis about the company being de-listed or going bankrupt, and they attack any shareholders that try to post anything positive about the company in an effort to defend it against the bashers. One website targeted companies by posting press releases about their victims, and misrepresenting them to look like they were produced by the SEC. That same website posted information that made it look like every company it reported on had their trading suspended or was being investigated by the SEC. The owner of the website is being prosecuted for securities fraud on another matter. As a result of those postings, each company’s stock price dropped dramatically. Why do the bashers do this? They do it to scare as many potential investors as possible away from purchasing the stock, and as many existing shareholders as they can into selling the stock in order to drive the stock price down. Again, as you can start to see, it all has a premeditated and cumulative negative effect.
Companies Are Slow To React
Companies that are attacked in this manner will often times ignore it at first, as just some disgruntled former employees. Depending on how aggressive and coordinated the bashers are, a targeted stock can drop quickly. The companies must then take notice and deal with the problem. They will get calls on a daily basis from shareholders that want to know about all the negative things that have been posted about them, and why the stock price is dropping. They want to know if the SEC is really investigating the company, or if there are class action suits pending against them or if their products are safe or not. The companies will then have to be in the business of following the various chat boards to see what is being said about them so that they can respond to their shareholders and potential investors that call them. This is not only an added expense in time and money for the company, but it also distracts them from the task of building their company and running the day-to-day operations of their business.
Companies that try to defend themselves through legal means will face still higher costs and an even greater waste of resources that make this activity difficult and expensive. Regardless, nearly every activity the bashers undertake is illegal, not policed, and designed to be totally self-serving and cumulative – and it almost always works. But when it doesn’t work enough to destroy most if not all the value, more bashers will be employed to expand the fraud by making the population of unhappy investors look even larger.
As the stock depreciates, the funding that most bootstrapping entrepreneurs need to grow their emerging businesses dries up, even though the extreme costs of being a public enterprise do not decrease. This leads to the loss of jobs, GNP, additional erosion of investor faith and the decline of economies of scale.
The Deck Is Stacked Against Small Business
The bashers claim to be protected by freedom of speech under the First Amendment. The problem with their argument is that what they are doing is illegal and fraudulent stock manipulation at the criminal level, defamation and tortuous interference with business relationships at the civil level. Chat board providers claim immunity from prosecution in anything relating to what is posted on their chat boards. In the late 1990’s, in an effort to allow free flow of content in the Internet, the Communications Decency Act, was enacted to protect Yahoo, AOL and other web portals from liability whenever posters put up content that was illegal, immoral or otherwise objectionable. So for example, if our children chatted with a masquerading Internet predator or saw pornography on an AOL website, then AOL would not have any responsibility.
The Act is now a shield of immunity for internet service providers and message and chat board companies that shy away from the moral responsibility due solely to the costs and resources they claim are needed to remove illegal, fraudulent, defamatory or otherwise destructive content. They have abuse departments who can only be contacted by email, and that only very selectively take any action against posters for violating their terms of service policy. Basically what it has turned into is an environment where anyone can post anything they want about a company no matter how far from the truth that is, and the company has very little, if any recourse against the anonymous person. Yet such a post can cause severe damage to the company and its future.
Anonymous and Untraceable
Bashers can work alone or with other bashers to attack a company, and post their attacks using multiple aliases to hold a conversation that appears to be among more than one poster, in order to give visitors to the chat boards the impression that there are many people sending these doomsday messages, and giving the attacks the appearance of credibility. The bashers use multiple aliases, anonymous email accounts, roving IP addresses and public access points, as well as other methods to avoid being traceable. Here are some of the comments that were made on one of the basher websites.
“Don't even bother trying to ID the account. It was created at the New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue location, and is only accessed through proxy servers.”
“Who are we? Your worst nightmare! “
”Imagine an anonymous team of professional researchers and writers with a network of mainstream contacts and all the investigative tools the Internet has to offer digging into your scam. Imagine a flash mob featuring you popping up overnight at twenty anonymous sites and sent to major news services via a news feed.”
”Here we are. And with anonymous proxy servers and public hard-wired and wireless Internet access points, there isn't a damn thing you can do about it. By the time you intimidate one of our free host sites to kill a report; it has been copied and mirrored ten times.”
There are also websites set up that offer to drive a company’s stock price down for a fee - NEW FROM FAKE - THE "DEATH STAR" FAKE's Bulgarian programmers have finally perfected the ultimate weapon of stock mass destruction. Basing their model on former Blinder and Robinson Broker Wendy Gordan of South Florida, FAKE has produced the last word in piss poor pump bots. With an unprecedented record of thirty total price collapses and massive reverse splits, put this MOAB of pump bots to work for you today! Wondrwen can drive a price to zero bid in three months or less, guaranteed by FAKE.
FAKE's business philosophy is simple: We are in it for the money. Period. We don't care who gets hurt, what companies get destroyed, or what innovative or lifesaving products never see the light of day!! We are here to get ours, and yours. FAKE the rest of them!! That is the attitude customers appreciate from a professional paid basher organization.
Why Have Financial Message Boards?
Message boards such as Yahoo, Raging Bull, and Silicon Investor give investors the opportunity to share their views and comments as they may relate to specific stocks or general investing. But they also allow disgruntled former employees, competitors, stock manipulators and others to post their negative messages. In many cases these negative posters have "shorted" a stock and want to do all that they can to see the stock price move downward. Negative posters usually don’t work alone. They team up with other “bashers” and gang attack a company.
The ISPs, and message and chat board companies have the best of both worlds. They are essentially immune from prosecution for any content that is posted on the websites or servers that they control, but they reap the benefits from all of the ad and other revenue that is generated by the banner and pop-up ads and services that appear or are offered on their websites and message and chat boards. This lack of accountability is a conflict of interest and needs to be remedied. The conflict of interest is very apparent when abuse complaints that are made by individuals and will they actually do anything to remove the abuse, even though they have this as an option as spelled out in their companies for posts that violate a provider’s Terms of Service Policy pass with no action to remedy the abuse. They send auto-reply emails which tell you to use their profanity filters, or to put the posters on an ignore list, but very rarely Terms of Service policies.
A Call For Help
Some will say that people don’t pay attention to chat boards, but they do. Ask some shareholders if they ever go to financial chat boards. You will be surprised by the number of people that do. The plan of the basher is to create havoc and cause sincere investors to lose confidence in the targeted companies. One poster we identified has made over 70,000 posts attacking various companies and hurting shareholder value. These bashers know that nothing will happen to them for doing this, and they feel that they are protected by the anonymity of the Internet, Freedom of Speech, SLAPP legislation and Internet jurisdictional issues, so they continue their relentless illegal attempts at manipulating stock prices of small businesses across America. Posting negative information about a company on public message boards isn’t illegal. However, intentional misinformation is actionable by governmental authorities, whenever it affects the trading price of a security. When contacted about this problem, the FBI said that they understand and are well aware of this problem. They explained that they have successfully prosecuted such cases but at too high of a cost and without recouping of significant monies afterward to warrant future action. Actually, their main focus currently is identity theft, which admittedly is a huge problem.
These bloggers and bashers for the financial gain of criminals and the support of economic terrorists are intentionally damaging shareholder value. This activity is illegal and needs to be stopped immediately to restore the smaller capital markets. This will in turn lead to the eventual and positive restoration of the overall capital markets and then finally the overall economy.
With this Position Paper we respectfully request that the SEC, in conjunction with all other state and federal law enforcement agencies, utilize the laws that already exist and are available to make the pursuit of these criminals a top and immediate priority. Companies with chat boards and phony web sites need to be forced to remove false content and turn over all records related to those individuals. We ask that the SEC expose, prosecute and convict these cyber criminals; it is the correct legal and moral activity to undertake at this time. Publish their real names on lists similar to what is now done with convicted child molesters so that service providers can guard against such criminals in the future. Making examples of the current batch of stock fraud cyber criminals, and then keeping the boards clean in the future, will have a profound positive effect on the capital markets and ultimately the economy. Although there are many phony web sites, there are truly only three influential chat boards where the problems are proliferated as described above. Yahoo alone receives, and profits immensely from over one hundred million investor hits per day, so putting pressure on them will cause its management to be influenced into becoming responsible for the crimes committed without hiding behind the CDA. Investor confidence needs to be restored, and this is one problem that has to be addressed and remedied in order for that to happen. Small public companies need the SEC’s help in this matter immediately to put these criminals out of business. Contrary to administrative sentiment, it would take very few resources to fix this problem. The criminals engaged in this activity are certainly cowards, as they do everything they can to retain their anonymity. For the reasons mentioned herein, it will require only a small amount of low budget intervention and prosecution by Federal authorities to insure that criminals are not so brazen and eager to attack small public companies in this manner in the future. Only then can the goal of efficient small company capital formation be achieved.
http://advancedsmallbusiness.org/positionpaper.htm
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"He came so that
BASHERS HANDBOOK: know the enemy who wishes to steal your money! Do not underestimate a bashers influence on a stock. The Pro's are good at what they do and what they do is profit from your losses. Below is their "hand-book" so to speak. Learn from it or donate your money to those who make an organized plan to steal your money!
BASHERS DO THE FOLLOWING:
1. Be anonymous
2. Use 10% fact. 90% suggestion. The facts will lend credibility to your suggestions.
3. Let others help you learn about the stock. Build rapport and a support base before initiating your bashing routine.
4. Enter w/ humor and reply to all who reply to you.
5. Use multiple ISP's, handles and aliases.
6. Use two (2) or more aliases to simulate a discussion.
7. Do not start with an all out slam of the stock. Build to it.
8. Identify your foes (hypesters) and the boards "guru" Use them to your advantage. Lead them do not follow their lead.
9. Only bash until the tide/momentum turns. Let doubt carry it the rest of the way.
10. Give the appearance of being open minded.
11. Be bold in your statements. People follow strength.
12. Write headlines in caps with catchy statements.
13. Pour it on as your position gains momentum. Not your personality.
14. Don't worry about being labeled a "basher". Newbies won't know your history.
15. When identified put up a brief fight, then back off. Return in an hour unless your foe is a weak in reasoning powers.
16. Your goal is to limit the momentum of the run. Not to tank the company or create a plunge in the stock; be subtle and consistent.
17. Kill the dreams of profits, not the company or the stock.
18. Use questions to create critical thinking. Statements to reinforce facts.
19. DO NOT LIE, DO NOT NAME CALL and DO NOT USE PROFANITY.
20. Encourage people to call the company. 99% won't. They'll take your word for claims made. If they do call you can always find something that is inaccurate in how they report their findings.
21. Discourage people for taking the companies word for anything. Encourage them to call the company. They won't out of laziness.
22. If the companies history/PR's are negative constantly point to that. Compile a list of this data prior to beginning your efforts.
23. If the price rises blame it on the hype or the PR, temporary mass reaction, the market, etc. Anything but the stock itself.
24. If other posters share your concerns, play on that and share theirs too.
25. Always cite low volume, even when it's not.
26. Three or four aliases can dominate a board and wear down the longs.
27. Bait the hypesters into personal debates putting their focus/efforts on you and not the stock or facts. Divert their attention from facts. Show them the facts from a "different angle."
28. Promote other stocks that would-be investors can turn to instead of the one your bashing.
30. Do not fall for challenges on the "values" of what you are doing, it's a game and you are playing it with your own rules.
Cano Petroleum, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an independent oil and natural gas company in the United States. It has interests in the Davenport properties located in Lincoln County, Oklahoma; the Nowata properties consisting approximately 220 wells; the Desdemona properties covering 11,068 acres located in central Texas; the Corsicana properties that covers 341 acres; the Panhandle properties located in Carson, Gray, and Hutchinson counties, Texas; and the Pantwist properties comprising 167 wells and 2 workover rigs covering approximately 9,700 acres in the Panhandle field. The company also holds interest in oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin covering 20,000 acres and three fields in Chavez and Roosevelt Counties, New Mexico. As of June 30, 2007, Cano Petroleum had proved reserves of 66,720 million barrels of oil equivalent (MBOE), of which 8,454 MBOE were proved producing, 2,843 MBOE were proved non-producing, and 55,423 MBOE were proved undeveloped reserves. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in Fort Worth, Texas.
Key
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The viewer is strongly urged to review the Cautionary Statements.
View the Statement
Cano Petroleum, Inc. (Amex:CFW) focuses on secondary and enhanced oil recovery techniques to extract additional oil from mature onshore U.S. fields. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Cano employs a unique business model that enables the company to exploit our country’s proven reservoirs - assets with marginal production that still contain significant reserves that can be produced through enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Increased energy prices, coupled with advances in oil recovery technology, position Cano to capitalize on these opportunities in order to build shareholder value, while at the same time help reduce the United States’ dependence on foreign oil sources.
Cano’s forward-thinking strategy has put it in the enviable position of a "first-mover," able to take advantage of early opportunities before significant competition appears. The Company has assembled a highly-qualified and experienced team and has already acquired at attractive prices a portfolio of quality oil and gas assets it believes hold great potential for increased production through secondary waterflood or EOR. Cano benefits from decades of EOR research and development, sponsored and performed by various departments of the U.S. government, universities, and major oil and oil service companies.
It must be a terrible feeling to be so impatient. Jerry said he is not ready yet..LOL