Bush Issues Order to Increase His Influence Over New Government
Regulations (posted on 1-31-07)
President Bush last week published an executive
order that says that each federal agency must create a regulatory policy office run by a presidential representative.
This gives the president greater control over potential regulations that increase business costs, such
as ones on worker safety, health, and the environment. In the past, these rules have been created by civil servants
and scientists.
New York Times article by Robert Pear (1-30-07)
Does it seem like a conflict of interest in a democracy when its most powerful person can grant
himself more power and influence?
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Government Global Warming Scientists Complain of Bush Administration Interference
(posted on 1-30-07) An investigation by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Government Accountability
Group has found significant evidence of systematized Bush administration interference in the presentation of scientific findings
by government scientists about global warming. Surveys were distributed to 1600 climate scientists who reported at least
435 occasions where their work has been made more difficult or has been edited for presentation to make the conclusion
of global warming appear less certain than their work has shown.
ucusa.org (1-30-07)
Pfizer Engaged in "AstroTurf Lobbying" Campaign Against Lower
Drug Prices (posted on 1-27-07) Currently, Pfizer Inc. is utilizing an
"artificial grassroots movement" to encourage people to contact contact their senators and congresspeople and
tell them they are against any bill that is created which would allow the government to negotiate
lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare recipients. (But they don't quite say it that way!) They
say that "History reminds us that when the government interferes in a free market and controls prices, the results
can be dangerous."
Large companies who do "Astroturf lobbying" are able generate significant
numbers of letters and phone calls to politicians, who sometimes don't realize that an organized effort is producing
them. The "grassroots" movement is created by hired organizers who use sophisticated databases to
find "activists" who appreciate the message that they are told and will act on it.
Boston.com (1-27-07)
Los Angeles Times (1-27-07)
Sourcewatch.org
President Bush Spins Need for Troop Surge (posted on 1-26-07)
Here are two statements that the president made today:
(1) "Some are condemning
the plan before it even has had a chance to work."
Mr. Bush is appealing to our sense
of fairness, while not acknowledging that the American people have waited longer for this war to end than any other except
the Civil War and the Vietnam War. Mr. President, should we stay in Iraq indefinitely?
(2) "If
failure is not an option, then it is up to the president to come up with a plan that is more likely to succeed."
Perhaps a more logical way to look at this situation is, "If there is practically no possibility of military
success no matter what we do, what is the point of adding more troops? More troops put in harm's way most likely
mean more deaths.
"Coundown with Keith Olbermann" (1-26-07)
Study Shows Widespread Deceptive Packaging for Children's
Foods (1-26-07)
A study by the Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity
Environments found that 51% of "the most aggressively advertised children's foods that prominently feature fruit
on their packaging contain no fruit at all." Examples include Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries, Fruity Cheerios, and
Yoplait Go-Gurt Yogurt.
"Food and beverage companies are some of the most sophisticated communicators
in the world and are clearly capable of accurately reflecting what is in their products if they wanted to," said Leslie
Mikkelsen, a registered dietician and lead author of the study.
PreventionInstitute.org (1-27-07)
Top Aide Says Cheney Directed Effort to Spin
News Against Iraq War Critic (posted on 1-25-07) "Vice President
Dick Cheney and his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were personally and actively involved in an
effort to spin news coverage and discredit a critic of the Iraq war even before the fact that his wife was a CIA operative
became public, a senior White House official testified Thursday."
"In the first insider account of how
top officials reacted when questions began to be raised about the intelligence used to justify the war, Catherine J. Martin
said that at one point Cheney dictated a detailed list of talking points to be used by Libby and others in making calls to
reporters. Martin was Cheney's top media aide at the time and is now deputy White House director of communications for
policy and planning."
Los Angeles Times article by Richard B. Schmitt (1-25-07)
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President Uses Clever Wording in State of the Union Address
(posted on 1-24-07)
Here is a statement Mr. Bush made to the Senators and Congresspeople last
night: Many in this chamber understand that America must not fail in Iraq, because you understand that the consequences
of failure would be grievous and far reaching.
New York Times (1-24-07)
This is very carefully worded. First, he is telling legislators they either understand or
they don't. Second, he is saying that if they don't agree with him, then they don't understand. Third,
he defines "not understanding" as accepting failure. Fourth, he implies that if we follow his lead, we won't
fail. Fifth, he leaves out the fact that the great majority of knowledgeable people don't think we can win militarily.
Finally, since he knows much of the country is watching, the five interpretations above apply to us; but his words
come across much more powerfully when they're said indirectly.
The president's statement
above is similar to the one he made the day after the last election when he said, "I thought the American people understood
the importance of tax cuts and security."
Libby Says White House Sacrificed Him to Save Rove
(posted 1-23-07)
After Bush strategist Karl Rove acknowledged in
a conversation with columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent and it was printed in his syndicated
column, the White House felt pressured to conduct an investigation into that leak. The investigation cleared
Rove but stopped short of clearing Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney's chief-of-staff. At that point, according
to Libby's attorney,Theodore Wells, Libby went to Cheney and said "They're trying to set me up.
They want me to be the sacrificial lamb," . "I will not be sacrificed so Karl Rove can be protected."
Libby is accused of lying to outside investigators looking into the leak.
ABC News (1-23-07)
Big Tobacco Quietly Increases Nicotine Levels (posted on
1-19-07) According to a Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) study, large tobacco companies raised
the level of nicotine in their cigarettes by 11 percent from 1998 to 2005. They did this by increasing the concentration
of nicotine in the tobacco and also by increasing the number of puffs that need to be taken by smokers to finish a cigarette.
Research team co-leader Gregory Connolly, program director of the Tobacco Control Research Program at HSPH, said that
"Our analysis shows that the companies have been subtly increasing the drug nicotine year by year in their cigarettes,
without any warning to consumers."
Forbes (1-18-07)
Bush Cuts Cancer Budget and Then Takes Credit for Decrease in Cancer Deaths
(posted on 1-19-07)
Keith Olbermann declared the Bush Administration yesterday as today's "Worst
Person in the World" for taking credit for the decrease in cancer deaths in the past two years. Mr. Bush declared
that the cancer budget is up 26% since 2001; however, that increase is due to Clinton budget increases kicking in over time,
according to Mr. Olbermann. Mr. Bush actually cut the National Cancer Institute budget this past year and has proposed
cutting it again this year.
"Countdown with Keith Olbermann" (1-18-07)
Warrantless Wiretapping "Dropped" But What Does That Mean? (posted
on 1-18-07)
After announcing to great fanfare yesterday that the government was dropping its warrantless
telephone surveillance program, Alberto Gonzales, the top man in the U.S. Department of Justice, told senators today that
details would remain confidential from the Senate and the American public. As a result there is much speculation on
whether there will be judicial oversight over individual wiretaps.
Time Magazine article by Brian Bennett (1-18-07)
This manipulative technique can be called "Trust Us." Stephen Colbert Satirises Defense Secretary's Omisssion (posted
on 1-17-07)
Robert M. Gates, in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on January 11th, said
"I'm pleased to report that all active branches of the United States military exceeded their recruiting goals for
the month of December, with particularly strong showings by the Army and the Marine Corps." Mr. Colbert noticed, however,
that Mr. Gates failed to add that recruiting goals were much lower in December than in November. Specifically, the
Army's goal in November was 7000; whereas in December, it was 700.
"The Colbert
Report" (1-15-07)
Did Steve Jobs Manipulate Apple Stockholders? (posted
on 1-16-07) The president of Apple Inc. may be forced to step down from his position because the company set
up secret agreements with key employees, allowing them to earn millions of dollars from gains in its stock
price, even if its stock did not go up. The money came out of Apple's earnings, money that belongs
to its stockholders.
Providence Journal article by Froma Harrop (1-16-07)
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Moyers Condemns Corporate Control Over the Internet
(posted 1-16-07) At a conference for media reform on Friday, TV journalist Bill Moyers warned attendees
from around the country that corporate America wants to expand its control over the Internet while limiting access by average
citizens.
Free Press.Net article by Associated Press (1-13-07) Large telecommunications and cable companies want to charge websites money for increased
download speed. Not stated by these large companies, however, is that since there is a finite amount of download
capacity, customers of the small website owners that cannot afford to pay higher fees will sometimes be
forced to wait longer than they do at present to access data on those websites.
Muhammad Ali Cashes In on His Name (posted on 1-15-07) "Ali is lending his name, image and reputation as the "Greatest Of All Time" to a snack food
aimed at 18-to-24-year olds. It's the former heavyweight champion's first foray into marketing his image since selling
most of the rights to his name and likeness for $50 million last year."
"The snack food is produced
in conjunction with Mars, Inc., through a company called "G.O.A.T." It stands for "Greatest Of All Time,"
and the snacks hit bookstore shelves at five college campuses on Wednesday, coinciding with Ali's 65th birthday. "He transcends generations," said his wife, Lonnie Ali. "On a global basis, Muhammad is better known
than most athletes." Marketing experts say the product is a form of "persona branding,"
using Ali's image, name and reputation to induce customers into buying a product."
Yahoo! News article by Brett Barrouquere of the Associated Press (1-15-07)
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Tom Cruise "Helps" David Beckham (posted on 1-14-07) "Scientology's chief cheerleader, Tom Cruise, helped tempt David Beckham to L.A., fueling speculation
the soccer ace and his wife may become the church's next celebrity converts. Beckham said yesterday (that) a late-night
phone chat with the "Mission: Impossible" star helped seal his decision to move stateside."
New York Daily News article by Adam Nichols (1-13-07) To find out more about the manipulative side of Scientology, click here.
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 The "Strict Father" Model of Understanding Conservative Thinking (posted
on 1-30-07) George Lakoff, in his book Moral Politics, describes how the political choices that conservatives make can be largely understood based on four
primary notions: (1) "There is a natural order to things--- God has moral authority over people; adults have
moral authority over children; men have moral authority over women, and people have moral authority over nature."
(2) "Rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior leads to moral strength." (3) "Maintaining
authority over children leads to them becoming self-disciplined and self-reliant." (4) "Seeking one's
self-interest is a moral activity and interfering with the seeking of (one's) self-interest is immoral." Based on these
premises, when people are not successful, it is because they are not self-disciplined enough or aren't acting
in their own self-interest.
These principles can explain conservative attitudes towards religion, criminals,
drug users, Affirmative Action, gays, government social programs, environmentalism, capital punishment, the military,
free enterprise, and government regulation.
Moral Politics--- How Liberals and Conservatives Think by George Lakoff (2002)
What If the US Was Invaded and 7 Million of Our People Were Killed?(posted
on 1-30-07) Our president chose to invade Iraq almost 4 years ago. The attack has led to the
killing of over 600,000 Iraqi people, with about 12% of then leaving their homes to avoid the same fate. Iraq had
about 25 million people when the war began. For the United States, this is equivalent to another country invading us
and killing over 7.2 million of our people while 36 million people escape with their lives to start their over again
someplace else.
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (10-11-06)
bbc.co.uk (1-7-07)
bartleby.com
"It's true" vs "I think it's true" (posted
on 1-29-07)
Manipulators are very good at morphing opinion into fact. For example, let's
take the difference between "You're wrong" and "I think you're wrong." In the first case,
the word choice is authoritative and stark. The statement's force comes as much from how it's said
as what is said. In many cases, it is a put-down. On the other hand, "I think you're wrong contains the
same content, but the force isn't nearly as great. This statement is based on the realization that one's view
of a situation is based on beliefs and perspective.
When people have the
need to win and to be right in order to feel strong, they often do it by making black-or-white statements that cause the person
they are talking to to feel bad.
How Do People With Power Over Others Gain an Even Greater Advantage? (posted
on 1-28-07)
They use psychological abuse. The Swedish National Encyclopedia identifies
many forms of psychological abuse: "humiliation, intimidation, mobbing, bullying, cyber-bullying, hate speech, manipulation,
stalking, cyberstalking, relational aggression, parental aggression, psychological punishment, mind control, shunning, coercive
persuasion, and harassment."
Tegis.Wordpress.com (1-26-07)
A Wal-Mart Whoops! (posted on 1-24-07)
For the seventh
consecutive year, Business 2.0magazine has produced a piece called the "101 Dumbest Moments in Business."
Six of the dumbest for 2006 were by Wal-Mart. Here is the Business 2.0 description of one of them:
"In September, a folksy new blog called Wal-Marting Across America pops up on the Internet."
"The
blog documents the purportedly spontaneous discoveries of RV-traveling megastore megafans Jim and Laura as they pull over
to chat with happy Wal-Mart employees, like the guy whose company health insurance saved his son's life, or the woman
who worked her way up from cashier to corporate manager."
"Unfortunately, it neglects to mention that
Wal-Mart arranged Jim and Laura's itinerary, paid for the RV, and compensated them for the blog entries. Exposed by BusinessWeek.com,
the stunt is especially bad news for Edelman (its PR firm), since it violates ethical guidelines it helped to write for the
nascent Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association."
Business 2.0
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| Photo from BagNewsNotes.Typepad.com |
A System That Teaches Salespeople How to Be More Effective (posted on 1-22-07) This system is call the "Three Brain Theory." Its creator begins selling it by describing
each of the three:
"The REPTILIAN brain. We are born with it. It is not influenced by culture
or personal history. It deals with survival and reproduction. It is the center for instinctive reflexes, primitive impulses,
sex and violence. We know from history that the Reptilian brain always wins."
"The LIMBIC
brain, acquired during the beginning of human life (0-5) is in relationship with the mother. It is the center of emotion,
representing tensions, feelings and contradictions."
"The CORTEX, usually
in place around 7, is the center of rational thinking. It is the logic tool that we use to look at the world: science, logic,
control, numbers, statistics, money, and intellectual ability."
"Engineer
your communication in order to create emotions and speed up decision-making. Know the keys: Emotions drive memory. The
Reptilian brain is the ultimate decision-maker. The Cortex will slow down decision-making in most situations."
"The best consumer brands and advertisers know the triggers empirically – yet it is never easy to create the
right experience."
"We help you come up with an effective structure and flow for your communication,
and ensure that messages and communication techniques adequately target each of the 3 brains."
SalesLabIsn't it interesting how salespeople are taught not to fulfill what its customers' say they
want but rather to take advantage of our instincts and emotions?
IRS Appears to Have Fired Almost Half of Its Most
Effective Lawyers (posted on 1-22-07)
The IRS has apparently now discharged 157 of
its 345 lawyers (46%) who audit the returns of people subject to gift and estate taxes. These are tax returns of some
of the country's wealthiest people.
"Estate tax lawyers are the most
productive tax law enforcement personnel at the IRS. For each hour they work, they find an average of $2,200 of taxes that
people owe the government."
Sharyn Phillips, an IRS estate tax lawyer, calls
the cuts a 'backdoor way for the Bush administration to achieve what it cannot get from Congress, which is (the) repeal
of the estate tax.'"
New York Times article by David Cay Johnston (7-23-06)
School Bus Radio Launched (posted on 1-20-07) This is
how a company's website describes its new business:
"BusRadio has launched a national radio show that
is delivered exclusively to school buses nationwide. This free program is designed specifically to improve bus safety
while providing the students with both age appropriate content and an entertaining ride to and from school."
"All participating school districts receive custom designed and installed BusRadio equipment free of charge. This automated
system is completely turn key and requires no effort on the part of the school district or the contracted student transportation
provider."
"With BusRadio on board, you can provide a safer and more enjoyable ride…"
BusRadio.orgHere is what CommercialFreeChildhood.org says: BusRadio boasts that it will “take targeted student marketing to the next level” and provide companies
with a “captive audience” who, unlike listeners to commercial radio, are unable to change the station during ads.
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"How to Lie with Statistics" (posted on 1-18-07)
"The
secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and
over-simplify. Statistical methods and statistical terms are necessary in reporting the mass data of social and economic
trends, business conditions, opinion polls, and the census. But without writers who use the words with honesty and understanding
and readers who know what they mean, the result can only be semantic nonsense."
How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff (1952), Page 8. Who Controls the Internet? (posted on 1-17-07)
The Internet
is the best opportunity people have ever had to promote their own free speech to large numbers of people. Telecommunications
companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Bell South, along with cable companies such as Comcast and Time Warner have spent over
$150 million to lobby Congress to pass laws to better control access to the Internet and make a lot more money than
they're already making.
Save the Internet (12-08-06) ExxonMobil Think Tank (posted on 1-17-07)
The world's
largest oil company has provided over $600,000 to the Center for Science and Public Policy to alert "policy makers,
the media, and the public to unreliable scientific claims and unjustified alarmism which often lead to public harm."
PR Watch article by Bob Burton (4th Quarter, 2005)
It may lead to harm for society, however, when a "think tank" announces
conclusions that it comes to about subjects such as global warming without divulging that a large part of its funding
comes from a company with a major stake in what it announces.
Experts Often Sell Fear (posted on 1-15-06) "Armed with information, experts can exert a gigantic, if unspoken, leverage: fear. Fear that your children
will find you dead on the bathroom floor of a heart attack if you do not have angioplasty surgery. Fear that a cheap casket
will expose your grandmother to a terrible underground fate. Fear that a $25,000 car will crumple like a toy in an accident,
whereas a $50,000 car will wrap your loved ones in a cocoon of impregnable steel. The fear created by commercial experts may
not quite rival the fear created by terrorists like the Ku Klux Klan, but the principle is the same."
Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (2005)
Behind the Scenes Before a Presidential Speech (posted on 1-11-07)
David Kuo, former Bush White House insider, says that
before yesterday's presidential address, Mr. Bush's communications handlers almost certainly bounced
back-and-forth on questions such as: "What room should he speak from?" "Should he sit or stand?"
and "What can we do to make him appear stronger?"
Huffington Post (1-10-07)
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| Photo of David Kuo from twbookmark.com |
How People Persuade Us (posted on 1-11-07) Much has
been written about how to persuade people to do things that they wouldn't otherwise do. Here are some of techniques
that are taught by Roger Dawson, well-known sales and negotiation skills trainer:
"People can be persuaded
if they think you can reward them."
"People can be persuaded if they think you can punish them."
"People
will buy what you're saying if they think you can both reward and punish them."
"People can be persuaded
if you have bonded with them."
"People can be persuaded if the situation limits their options."
"People
can be persuaded if they think you have more expertise that they do."
"People can be persuaded if you act consistently."
Secrets of Power Persuasion--- Everything You'll Ever Need to Get Anything You'll Ever Want,
by Roger Dawson (1992)
Food Industry Wants Us to Eat More (posted on 1-10-07)"To satisfy stockholders, food companies must convince people to eat more of their products or to eat
their products instead of those of competitors. They do so through advertising and public relations, of course, but
also by working tirelessly to convince government officials, nutrition professionals, and the media that their products promote
health--- or at least do no harm."
Food Politics by Marion Nestle (2002), Page 1
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Concerns of 4 States to Have Greatest Impact on Who the
Next Presidential Candidates Will Be (posted on 1-31-07)
At present, presidential
candidates who can best sell their positions to the voters of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, the states
with the first four 2008 primaries, will be the ones most likely to become the nominees of their parties. Why should
the voters of these states have their votes count so much more than those of the other 46? How Can We Best "Support Our Troops"? (posted on
1-29-07)
Do we support them better by forcing them into more situations where they can
be killed or by allowing them to come back home?
Who Likes Our President? (posted on 1-27-07)
Which groups of people are the primary beneficiaries of the decisions that President Bush makes?
Psychological Beatings (posted on 1-26-07)
If
someone harms us physically. we can call the police. If someone harms us psychologically, who do we call?
Do You Ever Buy Because of How Much You Want to Save?
(posted on 1-25-07)
How often do you buy a product or service to save money only to find that you don't
use it?
How Real Are Book Testimonials? (posted on 1-24-07)
Do you think that many of the testimonials written for books are written by people who receive a favor in return from
the author or publisher?
How Well Do We Support Our Troops After They Get Hurt?
(posted on 1-23-07)
Once our injured troops return home, do we put enough resources into taking
care of them?
What if it Had Happened Under Clinton? (posted
on 1-23-07)
Do you think that Republican reaction to the outing of a CIA agent would have been
different if it had happened during the Clinton Administration? Societal Cost of Emotional Manipulation (posted on 1-22-07)
Can you imagine how much happier, healthier, and more productive we would be as a society if we didn't need
to spend time dealing with the effects of emotional manipulation? Why Did We Go to War? (posted
on 1-20-07)
What do you think the president's real reasons were for going to
war in Iraq? Do the Big Media Companies Care? (posted on 1-17-07)
Does it seem like the big media companies used to care a lot more about getting at the truth and a lot less about
their bottom line than they do now?
Toxins Are Free Only to Those Who Create Them (posted
on 1-14-06)
When companies produce toxins and don't pay for cleaning them up, we all suffer. These
toxins hurt our health and our taxes are used to try to clean up the messes they create. How do they get
away with taking advantage of the system in this way?
Image Is Everything (posted on 1-12-07)
Do
you ever wonder why politicians seem to make decisions based on "appearing strong" or "saving face" rather
than on saving or improving people's lives? Iraqi's Will Soon Begin to Live Happily Ever After (posted on 1-10-07)
In his nationally televised address tonight, President Bush explained
that "If we increase our support at this crucial moment and help the Iraqis break the current cycle of violence,
we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home," The "beauty" of this statement is that it sounds
so reasonable. He is telling us to accept that Iraq is in a "cycle" of violence. Do you think the violence
there goes up and down in a cycle or does the trend appear to go in one direction?
T. Colin Campbell and His Son, Thomas M. Campbell II, Authors, The China Study (posted on 2-4-07)
This book provides specific evidence from research studies, using hundreds
of citations, showing that eating less animal protein leads to less cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and Alzheimer's
in the population. It focuses, however, on one large study, of people in China, that shows similar results. The authors
also describe how much of the information that comes out about nutrition is not based on the public good.
The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications
for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-term Health, by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II (2006)
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