St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 29: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was royally punked earlier this month, falling victim to an elaborate ruse by a group of political activists. The business group is peeved, calling the prank “commercial identity theft masquerading as social activism.” Now it has filed suit.

A group called the “Yes Men” is the object of the Chamber’s ire. The Yes Men is a self-described ensemble of actors “best known for posing as corporate executives in order to reveal how corporate greed negatively influences public policy.”

In l’affaire de Chamber, it developed a dummy Web page that mirrored the Chamber’s online presence. It announced the startling news that the Chamber had made a dramatic “about face on climate policy” and now favored “a stiff carbon tax and correspondingly strong incentives for industries.”

The climax of the hoax was a staged news conference at the National Press Club.

The Chamber announced Monday that it had filed suit against the gonzo Yes Men gang. It tries to cast the suit as a garden-variety action to protect the organization’s intellectual property – specifically, two registered trademarks.

Far from a narrowly cast trademark protection lawsuit, this is a blunderbuss, seven-count complaint filed by a major Washington firm in U.S. District Court.

The Chamber protests that it is “a strong proponent of free speech and encourages public debate on issues of the day.” But the Chamber is trying to stifle free speech and punish political parody with its superior resources and army of high-priced lawyers.

Members of the public, meanwhile, can view the evidence online and render their own judgment. There’s already ample proof to support this conclusion: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s complaints about our litigious society shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Oct. 28: Maybe we should be glad they weren’t texting while flying.

But how comforting is it to learn that two Northwest Airlines pilots flew right by their destination because they were on their laptops messing with their schedules?

Earth to the crew of Flight 188: Aren’t the pilots supposed to be flying the plane?

Somehow, it seems this is not what flight attendants mean when they warn that electronic devices will interfere with communications.