Slouching Towards Oblivion

Showing posts with label corporate power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corporate power. Show all posts

Sunday, October 10, 2021

About That AT&T Thing


Sorry not sorry, AT&T, but for this, you deserve nothing but a big fat
FUCK YOU.

WaPo: (pay wall)

Trump’s favorite channel, One America News, was never ‘news’ at all

The whitewashing and denialism of the Jan. 6 insurrection started at One America News on that very same day.

As President Donald Trump tried to overturn the legitimate results of the presidential election — inciting a deadly riot along the way — the cable channel’s brass were sending an all-too-clear message to their team about how to cover this horrifying event.

“Please DO NOT say ‘Trump Supporters Storm Capitol. . . .’ Simply call them demonstrators or protestors. . . . DO NOT CALL IT A RIOT!!!” came the impassioned email directive from a news director to the staff.


The next day, OAN’s top boss, founder Robert Herring Sr., ordered producers to get in line behind the president, as he floated the conspiracy theory that it wasn’t Trump supporters breaking those windows and storming those barricades — that it was the leftist movement antifa instead. exposé

“We want to report all the things Antifa did yesterday. I don’t think it was Trump people but let’s investigate,” the 80-year-old chief executive wrote in an email. There was simply nothing to support this far-fetched theory: The FBI has found no evidence of antifa involvement, and almost all of the hundreds of suspects charged have been well-documented Trump supporters; some are members of white-supremacy or other far-right extremist groups.

When Reuters, the global news agency, published its two-part investigation last week of OAN, the most startling finding was that AT&T indirectly provided 90 percent of the channel’s revenue, after letting it be known that it was eager to host a new conservative cable network.

Yes, the world’s largest communications company played a major role in creating and sustaining the far-right channel that spins wacky ideas, promotes fraudulent covid-19 cures and, in its fervor, makes the pro-Trump market leader, Fox News, look almost reasonable. (AT&T has challenged aspects of Reuters’ reporting and said that the company, through its offshoot, DirecTV, provides “viewpoints across the political spectrum.”)

But just as noteworthy as AT&T’s involvement was the way Reuters’s John Shiffman pulled back the curtain on how the San Diego-based network operates, relying in part on court documents.

What they showed is that OAN is dedicated not to the “news,” which is part of its name, but to propaganda, directed from the top.

“If there was any story involving Trump, we had to only focus on either the positive information or basically create positive information,” Marissa Gonzales, an former OAN producer who resigned last year, told Reuters. “It was never, never the full truth.”

That’s what was going on in the background. It adds valuable — if appalling — perspective to what we already knew about OAN.

We knew that Trump appreciates the blind loyalty, promoting the channel more than 100 times on his Twitter feed, often as he complained about Fox News’s failure to back him fully and at all times. We knew that Herring was far from shy about his partiality, tweeting in early January: “If anyone thinks we will throw the best President America has had, in my 79 years, under the bus, you are wrong.”

And we knew that OAN let two of its on-air personalities raise more than $600,000 to help fund a private “audit” of the presidential vote in Arizona. One of them even worked part-time for the Trump recount effort’s legal team.

It’s no wonder the voting machine company Dominion is suing OAN for defamation, for spreading and endorsing false reports that it helped steal the 2020 election from Trump. Dominion’s suit describes the problem succinctly: “OAN helped create and cultivate an alternative reality where up is down (and) pigs have wings.”

But OAN maintains that this all falls under protected free speech or opinion, including a series of pseudo-documentaries about unproven election fraud that MyPillow chief executive and Trump loyalist Mike Lindell paid to put on the air. A federal judge over the summer suggested the courts may not accept that defense, as he allowed a number of Dominion’s related defamation suits, including one against Lindell, to go forward.

Trump’s relentless misinformation campaign, aided by his loyal media allies, has clearly gotten through to millions of Americans. Although there is no basis in fact, no evidence to support it, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found in April that about half of Republicans believe the siege was either a nonviolent protest or caused by left-wing forces “trying to make Trump look bad.” A majority of Republicans believe Trump’s lie that widespread voter fraud robbed him of a second presidential term.

OAN’s television reach may not be vast: Most Americans won’t encounter it when they turn on their TV. But its website’s offerings very well may show up in their social media feeds. Typical of these was a three-paragraph article Friday, featuring Trump’s official statement slamming the “Unselect Committee of Partisan Democrats,” under this headline: “Report: President Trump Fights Democrat-Led ‘Probes’ Into Jan. 6 Protest.”

In terms of spreading misinformation and helping Trump deny the devastating realities of the Jan6 insurrection, OAN is punching way above its weight.

It's time - past time - for some good old-fashioned Teddy Roosevelt-style Trust-Bustin'

The AT&T Empire
  • HBO
  • HBO2
  • HBO Comedy
  • HBO Family
  • HBO Latino
  • HBO Signature
  • HBO Zone
  • HBO Go
  • HBO Now
  • HBO on Demand
  • HBO Home Entertainment
  • RED by HBO
  • HBO Films
  • HBO Miniseries
  • HBO Sports
  • HBO Entertainment
  • HBO Kids
  • HBO Original Productions
  • HBO Documentary Films
  • HBO International
  • HBO Asia
  • HBO Europe
  • HBO Hungary
  • HBO India
  • HBO Poland
  • HBO Romania
  • HBO Latin America Group
  • HBO Latin America
  • HBO Brazil
  • Cinemax
  • MoreMax
  • 5StarMax
  • ActionMax
  • Cinemáx
  • MovieMax
  • OuterMax
  • ThrillerMax
  • Cinemax on Demand
  • Cinemax Latin America
  • Warner Channel
  • E! Latin America
  • Turner Broadcasting System
  • Turner Broadcasting International
  • Millennium Media Group
  • Turner Broadcasting System Latin America
  • Chilevisión
  • Turner Entertainment Networks
  • truTV
  • TBS
  • TNT
  • Studio T
  • Turner Studios
  • TCM
  • TCM Productions
  • FilmStruck
  • Turner Sports
  • Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network
  • Bleacher Report
  • Universal Wrestling Corporation (UWC)
  • TBS, Inc. Animation, Young Adults & Kids Media (AYAKM) division
  • Cartoon Network
  • Cartoon Network Productions
  • Cartoon Network Studios
  • Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe
  • Adult Swim
  • Boomerang
  • Williams Street
  • Williams Street West
  • Williams Street Records
  • Hulu (10%) (in partnership with Comcast and The Walt Disney Company)
  • NonStop Television
  • Mezzo
  • Cartoon Network Nordic
  • TNT7
  • CNN News Group
  • CNN
  • HLN
  • Great Big Story
  • International
  • TCM & Cartoon Network / Asia Pacific
  • Cartoonito
  • TNT Latin America
  • Pogo
  • I.Sat
  • HTV
  • Tooncast
  • Turner Japan K.K. (formerly Japan Entertainment Network K.K. and Japan Image Communications Co.,Ltd.)
  • Cartoon Network
  • Boomerang
  • TABI Channel
  • Tabitele
  • MONDO TV
  • Mondo Mahjong TV
  • Joint Ventures
  • Turner Entertainment Media Networks Limited
  • CNN Chile
  • CETV
  • CNN-IBN
  • CNNj
  • CNN TÜRK
  • CNN.co.jp (Japanese)
  • Zee Turner Ltd (India)
  • Boing
  • Turner International India Private Limited
  • WB Channel
  • Cartoon Network (India)
  • Websites/Broadband Services
  • CallToons
  • Super Deluxe
  • Beme Inc.
  • Technology
  • iStreamPlanet
  • LTS Garðbær Studios
  • Wit Puppets
  • Le Gué Enterprises BV
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
  • DC Entertainment
  • Warner Bros. Consumer Products
  • Warner Bros. Digital Networks
  • Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures
  • Warner Bros. Pictures International
  • Warner Bros. Museum
  • Warner Bros. Pictures Group
  • Warner Bros. Pictures
  • Music
  • Domestic Distribution
  • Warner Animation Group
  • Warner Bros. Family Entertainment
  • DC Films
  • New Line Cinema
  • Turner Entertainment Co.
  • WaterTower Music
  • Warner Bros. Domestic Distribution
  • Castle Rock Entertainment
  • The Wolper Organization
  • Flagship Entertainment (China) (49%) (joint venture with China Media Capital (41%) and TVB (10%))
  • Warner Bros. Television Group
  • Blue Ribbon Content
  • Warner Bros. Television
  • Warner Horizon Television
  • Warner Bros. Television Distribution
  • Warner Bros. International Television Production
  • Warner Bros. Television Productions UK
  • Ricochet
  • Twenty Twenty
  • Wall to Wall
  • Renegade Pictures
  • Yalli Productions
  • Eyeworks
  • Telepictures
  • Momlogic
  • Alloy Entertainment
  • eleveneleven
  • The CW (50% with CBS Corporation)
  • Warner Bros. Animation
  • Hanna-Barbera Cartoons
  • Fandango Media (30% with NBCUniversal)
  • Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group
  • Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
  • Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
  • WB Games
  • Avalanche Software
  • Monolith Productions
  • NetherRealm Studios
  • Portkey Games
  • Rocksteady Studios
  • TT Games
  • TT Games Publishing
  • TT Fusion
  • Traveller's Tales
  • TT Animation
  • Playdemic
  • Turbine
  • WB Games Montréal
  • WB Games San Francisco
  • WB Games New York
Content libraries & investments
  • Adify (Acquired by Cox)
  • Admeld (Acquired by Google)
  • Arroyo (Acquired by Cisco)
  • BigBand Networks (Acquired by ARRIS)
  • BroadLogic (Acquired by Broadcom)
  • Entropic Communications (IPO in December 2007)
  • GoldPocket (Acquired by Tandberg TV)
  • Glu Mobile (IPO in March 2007)
  • Kosmix (Acquired by Walmart)
  • Maker Studios (Acquired by The Walt Disney Company)
  • MediaVast (Acquired by Getty Images)
  • Meebo (Acquired by Google)
  • N2 Broadband (Acquired by Tandberg TV)
  • NuvoTV (Acquired by Fuse Networks, LLC)
  • PlanetOut (IPO in October 2004)
  • PlaySpan (Acquired by Visa)
  • ScanScout (Acquired by Tremor Media)
  • SkyStream Networks (Acquired by Tandberg TV)
  • Tumri (Acquired by Collective)
  • Vindigo (Acquired by For-Side)
  • Other units
  • Global Media Group
  • Time Warner Medialab
  • Time Warner Investments - venture capital unit
  • Adaptly
  • Bluefin Labs
  • Conviva
  • CrowdStar
  • Dynamic Signal
  • Double Fusion
  • Everyday Health
  • Exent
  • Gaia Online
  • tvtag previously as GetGlue
  • Simulmedia
  • Tremor Video
  • Trion Worlds
  • VisibleWorld

Monday, July 19, 2021

Pay Up Or Get Out

One of the big fantasies we've been suckered with is the one about "the noble job creators" - the companies we have to bow down to for practically everything.


eg: WalMart employees get fucked over (right along with the rest of us) because the Waltons have figured out how to stay within legal parameters (which their lobbyists helped establish) while paying their people so little that an alarmingly big chunk of their hourly staff qualify for Medicaid.

So taxpayers get to pick up the tab for WalMart's healthcare insurance - as well as their water and sewer in a lot of cases, and of course their fire and police protection, as well as a fair amount of their federal taxes.

"State and local governments spend nearly twice as much
on corporate welfare as they do on fire protection"

WaPo: (pay wall)

President Biden and Democrats in Congress have kicked off a national debate about raising corporate taxes. Yet an arguably more important conversation is happening outside Washington, D.C.: how to slash the nearly $95 billion in tax incentives that states and cities give to businesses every year. And unlike the discussion about the corporate tax rate, the movement to cut corporate welfare has attracted notable support on both sides of the political aisle.

Legislators in 15 states have introduced bills that would block their governments from doling out tax incentives and subsidies through so-called economic development programs. Every state has used these programs, trying to convince corporations from Hollywood producers to sports teams to brand-name manufacturers to set up shop or stay within their borders.

State and local governments spend nearly twice as much on corporate welfare as they do on fire protection. It’s done through a combination of both direct payments and company-specific tax breaks: In Michigan, where I live, most incentives are cash payments. The same is true for the biggest giveaway programs in most states, such as Florida, where companies can get $3,000 “refunds” for each job they create. At least 35 states have handed out more than a billion dollars each, though many fail to report the true total.

Subsidies for Hollywood productions are among the most popular, with Michigan alone spending half a billion dollars between 2008 and 2015. National Football League teams worth billions of dollars each routinely get hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to build stadiums. Each state tends to reward its biggest corporate citizens: In Michigan, Ford, GM and Stellantis get the most; in Massachusetts, General Electric; in Louisiana, oil companies; and in Washington state, Boeing received the biggest tax break in history, worth $8.7 billion.

And, of course, states pull out all the stops to lure big-name businesses. Wisconsin courted the chipmaker Foxconn with $2.9 billion in state tax credits in 2017, while New York and Virginia dangled a combined $3.75 billion in incentives to win Amazon’s second headquarters.

Such deals have deservedly spurred a massive public outcry. The Foxconn debacle played a major role in the 2018 gubernatorial race in Wisconsin, and the subsidy was subsequently cut by more than two-thirds. Widespread opposition even led Amazon to cancel its New York plans. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Post.)

State lawmakers, representing various political bases, increasingly oppose these blatant handouts. No one has done more to draw attention to the issue than Dan Johnson, a progressive lobbyist in Illinois. In Michigan, the Senate Democratic leader and a key House Republican are leading the legislative charge. In Alabama and Utah, Republicans are in the vanguard. In Rhode Island, the Senate sponsor of the anti-subsidy bill is a Democrat, while the House sponsor is a Republican.

Despite their disagreements on other issues, these lawmakers share the view that states should compete on business climate and quality-of-life issues, not corporate welfare. They also have the facts on their side, as studies show that such subsidies can harm, not help, economic growth and almost always fail to drive the promised job creation.

Yet no state is willing to end its incentive program unless others do the same, fearing that unilateral disarmament would damage their economy. That’s unlikely: One study found that up to 98 percent of companies would make the same investment and expansion decisions without any tax breaks. Even so, state leaders aren’t willing to take the risk. Fortunately, the legislation under consideration in those 15 states is designed to overcome this hurdle.

Whether it’s Hawaii, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania or elsewhere, no bill currently under consideration would take effect on its own. If enacted, it would go live only after at least one other state passed the same measure. The goal is for many more states to enact the legislation simultaneously. It would then be illegal for all those states to reduce taxes or provide subsidies to entice specific companies to stay or relocate within their borders. Existing corporate welfare handouts would wind down until they disappear entirely. In short, the legislation creates an interstate compact to ban corporate welfare.

This concept is new, arising only in 2019. Yet the mounting interest from lawmakers across the country shows that momentum is building. Although no state has enacted anything yet, Utah is closest, with the interstate compact bill passing the House of Representatives in 2020. With each state legislative cycle, more lawmakers in more states introduce this policy. No wonder: Ending taxpayer giveaways to corporations has broad and bipartisan appeal.

This issue deserves at least as much attention as corporate tax rates. It’s a matter of respecting taxpayers and companies who pay their fair share. That’s a conversation America needs to have, and states are not only doing so, they’re moving toward the right decision.

It wasn't a buncha poor people who lobbied state and federal legislatures to put 100,000 pages of shelters, loopholes, and exemptions in the tax codes

Tuesday, April 06, 2021

Today's GOP Hypocrisy

A case went before SCOTUS in 2003, and the decision was named after Mitch McConnell - because Mr McConnell was a driving force behind the effort to make sure companies could continue their out-sized influence in shaping national policy.

Now Mitch is showing us - again - that he's king of the colossal hypocritical assholes.

And that he intends to continue his Daddy State ways, trying to impose his whimsy regarding what anybody can and can't do in politics.



‘Stay out of politics,’ Republican leader McConnell tells U.S. CEOs, warns of ‘consequences’

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell lashed out at corporate America on Monday, warning CEOs to stay out of the debate over a new voting law in Georgia that has been criticized as restricting votes among minorities and the poor.

In a sign of a growing rift in the decades-old alliance between the conservative party and U.S. corporations, McConnell said: “My advice to the corporate CEOs of America is to stay out of politics. Don’t pick sides in these big fights.”

McConnell warned companies there could be risks for turning on the party, but he did not elaborate.

“Corporations will invite serious consequences if they become a vehicle for far-left mobs to hijack our country from outside the constitutional order,” McConnell told a news conference in his home state of Kentucky.

Big business ties with Republicans began fraying under former President Donald Trump’s leadership and the party’s focus on voting restrictions has soured businesses embracing diversity as key to their work force and customer base.

Major Georgia employers Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines have spoken out against the law signed by Governor Brian Kemp, and Major League Baseball pulled the 2021 All-Star Game out of the state over the law strengthening identification requirements for absentee ballots and making it a crime to offer food or water to voters waiting in line.

“I found it completely discouraging to find a bunch of corporate CEOs getting in the middle of politics,” McConnell said.

Trump spent months after losing his reelection bid falsely claiming that his defeat was the result of widespread fraud. He failed in dozens of legal challenges. Nonetheless, lawmakers in 47 states this year have introduced 361 bills imposing new restrictions on voting, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

The Georgia law brought a backlash from some U.S. companies with strong ties to the state.

Coca-Cola Co. Chief Executive James Quincey called the law “unacceptable” and a “step backwards.” Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said: “The entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 election.”

Independent reviews have repeatedly shown that voter fraud is rare in the United States, and state and federal probes found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election which the Republican Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Corporate America has long thrown its political muscle behind Republican candidates and officeholders, often funneling more campaign contributions to conservative candidates than Democratic ones.

Thursday, May 31, 2018

The New Economy


...which isn't new at all - this shit's been going on for 40 years.

Axios:

Very few Americans have enjoyed steadily rising pay beyond inflation over the last couple of decades, a shift from prior years in which the working and middle classes enjoyed broad-based wage gains as the economy expanded.

Why it matters: Now, executives of big U.S. companies suggest that the days of most people getting a pay raise are over, and that they also plan to reduce their work forces further.

Quick take: This was rare, candid and bracing talk from executives atop corporate America, made at a conference Thursday at the Dallas Fed.
The message is that Americans should stop waiting for across-the-board pay hikes coinciding with higher corporate profit; to cash in, workers will need to shift to higher-skilled jobs that command more income.

Troy Taylor, CEO of the Coke franchise for Florida, said he is currently adding employees with the idea of later reducing the staff over time "as we invest in automation." Those being hired: technically-skilled people. "It's highly technical just being a driver," he said.
The moderator asked the panel whether there would be broad-based wage gains again. "It's just not going to happen," Taylor said. The gains would go mostly to technically-skilled employees, he said. As for a general raise? "Absolutely not in my business," he said.
John Stephens, chief financial officer at AT&T, said 20% of the company's employees are call-center workers. He said he doesn't need that many. In addition, he added, "I don't need that many guys to install coaxial cables."

Because of the changes coming, AT&T is pushing employees to take nano-degree programs to prepare them for other jobs — either at AT&T or elsewhere.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Today's Corporate Overreach


Albert Breer, Sports Illustrated:
ATLANTA — On Tuesday, NFL owners put three hours aside for a privileged session to speak—amongst themselves and family members—about the most sensitive of topics.
One was how the league will handle players kneeling during the national anthem going forward. An idea being floated in the room goes like this: It would be up to the home team on whether both teams come out of the locker room for the anthem, and, should teams come out, 15-yard penalties could be assessed for kneeling.
The league is currently being sued by Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid, with the two unsigned free agents alleging that NFL teams colluded to keep them unemployed. Kaepernick was the first NFL player to kneel during the national anthem, to protest police brutality, starting a trend that swept across the league in 2016 and '17.
The NFL addressed the anthem issue at its meetings in October and March, with plans to further discuss it at this meeting. The league also met with the Players Coalition in October, and agreed to a seven-year, $89 million social-justice partnership.
According to sources, the owners also discussed how to move forward its partnership with the players and finalized the terms of the deal.
My dearest NFL,

Fuck you.

Even if you decide not to go thru with it, you're seriously considering it. Add this to all your other attempts to manipulate and control players to the point where most of them lose everything no matter what they're willing to sacrifice in order to play a game that makes a very few people obscenely wealthy, and I can only conclude one thing - fuck you.

Your pal,

Mike

Monday, July 03, 2017

Times Change

...except when they don't.

This takes a while and it's not the greatest thing anybody ever put on, but there're great recurring themes - as in: History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure as fuck rhymes.

Friday, December 30, 2016

Commerce Marches On

From WaPo today:
A new law in Michigan will prohibit local governments from banning, regulating or imposing fees on the use of plastic bags and other containers. You read that correctly: It’s not a ban on plastic bags — it’s a ban on banning plastic bags.
--and--
Bans and restrictions on the use of plastic bags are widespread in other parts of the country and around the world. The rationale is simple: Plastic bags are infamous non-biodegradable sources of pollution — although they will eventually break down into tiny pieces, scientists believe this process can take hundreds of years, or even up to a century, in landfills.
--and--
The new Michigan law was met with praise from the Michigan Restaurant Association for this reason.
“With many of our members owning and operating locations across the state, preventing a patchwork approach of additional regulations is imperative to avoid added complexities as it related to day-to-day business operations,” said Robert O’Meara, the association’s vice president of government affairs, in a statement.
Threaten the Cookie Cutter Cost-vs-Profit Structure, and the Rent Collectors will punish you.


And what was that about a powerful remote Central Government imposing its will on the noble local folk?

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Meanwhile, Back At The Planet

I hate it when I get to thinking there's more truth being spoken by fictional characters on a TV show than by anybody in any position of authority anywhere here in These United States of Opinion-As-Reality.

At the same time, I wonder if this is just to see if anybody's listening. 

And I wonder if this little vignette is simply a plot device in Aaron Sorkin's devious little brain. 

And what if it's only an attempt to illustrate his other point about Crowd Sourcing and the dangers of instant reactions due to the immediacy of social media driving the mob, which is masquerading as "true democracy"?

And I wonder if the whole thing is so twisty-turny that it spins off into the infinite numbers of universes where everything that can happen does happen, and all you have to do to make it real is to say it's real.

And what about the very very very very real shit hitting the fan because of Climate Disruption?

and and and - fuck, I hate my brain sometimes.

Sunday, September 07, 2014

Welcome To The Jungle



They've always said that if we de-regulate, we'll get more competition and better pricing because of that competition.  It should seem pretty obvious by now that it's complete bullshit.

How long do we need to be bent over and fucked with our pants on before we get up on our hind legs and demand to be treated better?

hat tip = FB friend VWE

Friday, June 13, 2014

Follow The Money

Eric Cantor never knew what hit him - and since the Press Poodles haven't figured out anything about anything in a solid dozen years or more, we needn't burden them with any expectation of hearing much from them about it (maybe because half of them get paid to push this shit, while the other half gets paid to ignore this shit).

Salon has an interesting take:
Back in 2008 during America’s financial collapse, BB&T Bank was one of the many big banks that crashed. In order to stay afloat, that bank took a $3.1 billion bailout from the Bush administration.

At the helm of the bank at that time was John Allison, an Ayn Rand-loving CEO.
According to The Street, during his time as CEO of BB&T, Allison regularly used the BB&T Charitable Foundation, “to provide grants to schools that agree to create courses on capitalism that feature the study of ‘Atlas Shrugged.’”
Meanwhile, according to New York Magazine, Allison gave $500,000 to Randolph-Macon College to hire Dave Brat, so that he too could teach the Ayn Rand libertarian philosophy as an economics professor.
Shortly after BB&T accepted $3.1 billion government bailout from the Bush Administration, Allison resigned as CEO, and was picked up by Charles Koch, to become the new president of the Cato Institute, formerly known as the Charles Koch Foundation, and to keep spreading the work of Rand.
--and--
So, Dave Brat is far more than just a college professor who beat Eric Cantor in a fluke of a primary.
He is a complete shill for Ayn Rand-loving libertarians and the Koch Brothers.
And he is apparently a graduate of the Kochtopus’ “Teach Ayn Rand in College, Do Well, and We’ll Send You to Washington” program.
Besides saying that Brat’s win was just a fluke and that he’s just a college professor, pundits have also been saying that Cantor lost to Brat because of his stances on immigration, and because he ran a poor campaign.
Again, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
So I guess the theory is, "We don't need a traditional campaign organization when all we really have to do is pay Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity to pimp our guy directly to the rubes".

Works pretty good in a Primary - makes me wonder what they have in store for us in the General.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Y'are What Ya Eat

...so knowing what you're shoveling into your gob every day is kinda the key to the whole "Know thyself" / "To thine own self be true" thing, ain't it?

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


One of the things we have to get done is to take the FDA back from the Big Ag and Big Pharma mega-corporations that own it now.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Connections

Like the man said - follow the money.  Wall Street, Capitol Street, K Street, Main Street - they're all connected by rivers of money.  If you have enough money, you can buy your way into or out of just about anything.

Fact is, the food industry is only as safe as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lets it be. It was not that long ago that food companies were found to be doing such things as adding sawdust to bread. Food fraud is rampant, with companies willing to do anything to make a buck. And with the continuing effort to eliminate the powers of the FDA in the name of profits, it is clear that the “free market,” as coined by Milton Friedman, does not work, period.


I'll quibble just a bit with "free market...doesn't work, period".  If the free market is hollowing out the middle class and making it more and more difficult for more and more people to make the end of the month match up with the end of the money, then The Free Market is actually working pretty much as designed.


Making just a slight turn in the road - from Business Insider:

In its early days, the National Rifle Association was a grassroots social club that prided itself on independence from corporate influence.
While that is still part of the organization's core function, today less than half of the NRA's revenues come from program fees and membership dues.
The bulk of the group's money now comes in the form of contributions, grants, royalty income, and advertising, much of it originating from gun industry sources.
Since 2005, the gun industry and its corporate allies have given between $20 million and $52.6 million to it through the NRA Ring of Freedom sponsor program. Donors include firearm companies like Midway USA, Springfield Armory Inc, Pierce Bullet Seal Target Systems, and Beretta USA Corporation. Other supporters from the gun industry include Cabala's, Sturm Rugar & Co, and Smith & Wesson.
The NRA also made $20.9 million — about 10 percent of its revenue — from selling advertising to industry companies marketing products in its many publications in 2010, according to the IRS Form 990.

Additionally, some companies donate portions of sales directly to the NRA. Crimson Trace, which makes laser sights, donates 10 percent of each sale to the NRA. Taurus buys an NRA membership for everyone who buys one of their guns. Sturm Rugar gives $1 to the NRA for each gun sold, which amounts to millions. The NRA's revenues are intrinsically linked to the success of the gun business.
Guns, Oil, Finance, Ag, Defense - even the apparatus of the 2 major parties.  Taking just a quick stroll around Google, you can stumble across an amazing array of organizations and companies that are very very busily making your government their bitch.





And those vids are kinda old now, but y'know what?  $14 Billion to fund all the campaigns of all the congress critters sounds like a fuckin' bargain to me.

Somethin's gotta give.

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Sweet Justice

It won't work because mocking the law (even when the law is down on its fucking knees begging to be mocked) can be really dangerous.  That said - go get 'em, tiger.

Addicting Info:
The designated carpool lane on Highway 101 near Frieman’s northern California home is specified to be for “two people or more” during rush hour. The police say Frieman was driving alone, but rather than pay the $478 fine, he plans to head to court on Monday to challenge the ticket. His reasoning? He had his papers of incorporation with him and since the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people, there were two people in the car.