Readers' Comments

  • Lawmakers Get To K Street Via Capitol Hill   13 years 30 weeks ago
    The Revolving Door
    I did a research paper that touched on this subject and found Jonathan Rauch's book, "Demosclerosis," a great source of info. In Rauch's book which was published in 1994, it was said that 40% of Congressmen had become professional lobbyists upon leaving public office. If that number has only risen to 43% today, then the trend is not increasing at an alarming rate, but is still something that needs to be carefully watched. As with any position of power, the tendency to abuse the privilege becomes greater when people believe that no one is watching. If anyone out there has any suggestions for other books, publications, or other sources of further information regarding this phenomenon, please post it or email me as I am very interested in this topic. ehoff1@mail.csuchico.edu Thank you.
  • Iraqis Don't Count   13 years 30 weeks ago
    Journalists Have Fingers and Toes, too
    Perhaps, instead of running around playing warrior, some of these enterprising journalists could visit Iraqi morgues, hospitals and families, develop their own numbers, and talk to some of the Iraqi victims' families? No, they'd rather be guests on cable TV (have you noticed how many print journalists find themselves on Fox, CNN, MSNBC, et al these days?) Please. Journalist, heal thyself. If you are expecting the dissembling (or as King George said, "disassembling") Bush administration to do the job for you, you are truly as deluded as Geraldo Rivera - (whose real name is Jerry Rivers).
  • Government Abandons Children to Big Food   13 years 30 weeks ago
    All all kids orphans?
    Since "the government" is not responsible for feeding our kids, how can they "abandon" kids to Big Food? Whatever happened to parental responsibility? My mom and dad made sure they knew what I was eating. I detest the Bush administration and abhor most of what they are doing, from Iraq to the environment. But this is liberal claptrap.
  • War is Fun as Hell   13 years 30 weeks ago
    War is hell...so is RECRUITING!
    Sheldon Rampton's column is interesting and enlightening. But it is more than a little unfair to the uniformed military, which has been put in its currently difficult position - recruiting-wise - by the madness of King George and his War Minister Rumsfeld. Say you're an Army Sergeant First Class (SFC, E-7) in Dayton, Ohio and you're charged with signing up 10 men or women each month. Your quota, the pressure on you, and your sworn obligation aren’t diminished by the fact that the civilian leadership in the West Wing and Pentagon has no idea what the hell they're doing in Iraq. You still have to do your job, and in fact, the men and women "over there" depend on you since they don't leave until they are replaced. So you use the tactics that work, and that recruiters, frankly, have always used. That doesn't make them wrong, or dishonest. Anyone who doesn't know what's going on in Iraq is culpably ignorant, more so any young person who contemplates joining the military. Let's focus less on the underpaid airmen, soldiers, sailors and Marines who are doing their jobs, and more on the clowns who've sent them in harm’s way without a plan nor a way to get out.
  • Terror War Gets New Slogan   13 years 30 weeks ago
    It's an acronym dummies!
    Don't you get it? This is brought to you by the same asswipe brigade headed by Karl (Turd Blossom) Rove that called destroying the last shreds of the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th amendments the "USA PATRIOT" Act, cobbled out of an asinine and meaningless newspeak phrase. Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism ... Global SAVE, get it?! With the boy emperor as, you got it, the head SAVior.
  • Terror War Gets New Slogan   13 years 30 weeks ago
    semantic transfusions
    So "global struggle against violent extremism" replaces "global war on terror" ? Could this also mean the "last throes of neocons against World peace" (did Dick dig that one ?) or an end to the "global destruction of the American ideal by warmonger fanatics" ? No way Jose : they're talking about "violent extremism", which is so much unlike White House extremism. When a "violent extremist" performs torture, he is attacking civilization. When a White House extremist makes torture legal, he is protecting the nation. It took them four years to realize the solution was "more diplomatic, more economic, more political than it is military" ? It won't take long for the World to remember diplomacy and economy are in the hands of Lobby Dick Cheney while politics remain in the pristine claws of Karl Rove. Stephane MOT http://www.stephanemot.com
  • EPA Seeks to Protect Its Own Image   13 years 30 weeks ago
    For another take on this story ...
    ... check out http://jabbs.blogspot.com/2005/07/more-paid-propagandists-epa-to-pay-5.html
  • Pentagon Repeats Quote In Separate Car Bombing Statements   13 years 30 weeks ago
    For another take on this lunacy
    You can go to http://jabbs.blogspot.com/2005/07/us-military-in-iraq-caught-posing.html

    David R. Mark heads Journalists Against Bush's B.S., at http://jabbs.blogspot.com

  • Coke's Sweet Intentions   13 years 31 weeks ago
    IMO both Coke and SCPI are bo
    IMO both Coke and SCPI are both acting due to selfish reasons. Coke could care less about kid’s health, they just want to avoid lawsuits by pudgy self-hating headline hogging lawyers. SCPI may honestly think they have the public’s best interest at heart, but so did Prohibitionists. In reality they were projecting their own private angst unto social issues only to exerbate the problem. Coke’s approach will probably do less harm in the long run. They shouldn’t mention childhood obesity. The antifat hysteria and moral panic has already taken too much of a toll on kids. Too many already live in terror of getting fat and even 3rd and 4th graders are on diets. Which just leads to weight gain and eating disorders in later life. Concentrating on fitness is also beneficial for all kids as studies not sponsored by the diet industry find that fitness is by far more important than weight for good health. So we don’t have both unfair scapegoating of fat bodies and a false sense of security in sedentary thin kids with junk food habits. (Although I do think it is good they are raising the connection between too much soda and brittle bones. Lost in the fat is the cause of all physical, social, mental political, and economic ills broken record are lesser known risks. p.s I don't know if it is just my computer but leaving a message here is a real pain! The box keeps getting merged with the text area.
  • Judge Says Loggers SLAPP Suit "Embarrassing"   13 years 31 weeks ago
    Bob Brown
    Senator Bob Brown from the Greens is the hero here. The ultra-sensible Mr Brown leads a committed team against the usual corporate thugs, and they guard more than the forest. Firmly opposed to the "war of error' Mr Brown addressed the President directly in the Australian parliament on the issue of Australians held in Guantanamo. Go the Greens!
  • Pentagon Hires Shredder Expert   13 years 32 weeks ago
    Great site
    Thanks for the incisive site. The awe-inspiring arrogance of the Bush Administration, Mr Earl and the criminal justice system in America, is truly Orwellian.
  • Surveying the Fake News Scene   13 years 32 weeks ago
    belaboring the obvious
    Eh, I think anyone who comes into contact with this story will have a predictible opinion. Sort of like asking Fox News viewers if they think Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 bombings. I'm not sure why I suffered through your dumb registration process (thank you, mailinator!) to post this comment, but you guys deserve a ribbing for this dumb study.
  • Lobbyists Without Borders   13 years 32 weeks ago
    bush father sets up original CNOOC
    go to archives of c-span and hear the 2nd in command under bush's father set up this company it's an aei lecture you know the same group that brought you the war in iraq the man also wrote a book called 'china hands' the irony drips from this in that this guy was rockefellers oil salesman in pre1940's china. All this garantees that this will sail thru sec or anybody seeking to stop it. also the guy says how this is the blueprint for development of mainland china and that this could lead to the economic expansion of the chinese economy all this says is sellout of our jobs for profit for elite bankers and financiers with no vote for you and I.
  • Sierra Club: Is Selling Ford Selling Out?   13 years 32 weeks ago
    Fiddling with hybrids, while ZEVs die.
    The Sierra Club's ringing endorsement of a mere 2000 Mercury Mariner Hybrid vehicles (29/33 mpg) is emblematic of the sad state of both the automotive industry and the environmental movement. While Dan Becker and Neil Golightly were meeting to come to such an insignificant nationwide result, in California alone an equal number of zero-emission, zero-gasoline electric cars have been taken from satisfied customers and destroyed. 1000 GM EV1s sit crushed in the Arizona desert, and an untold number of Toyota RAV4 EVs, Ford RangerEVs, Ford Th!nk City EVs, and Honda EV+s have similarly been "recycled," as they like to put it. Ford, at least it can be said, is acting in its perceived bottom-line interest in refusing to offer proven non-petroleum options, and touting as significant a 29/33 mpg vehicle merely because it sports the label "hybrid." What interest our oldest environmental organization has in giving Ford and the auto industry cover for denying us meaningful choices remains a mystery to me. www.dontcrush.com
  • Sierra Club: Is Selling Ford Selling Out?   13 years 32 weeks ago
    Internal Debate, External Unity
    I think it's appropriate for environmentalists to debate the Sierra Club's choice to assist Ford in promoting the Mariner Hybrid SUV. I want to emphasize the importance of maintaining unity when looking at the big picture: climate change, Iraq, oil addiction, etc. When the Wall Street Journal comes calling, our internal discussion should take a back seat to our external, public criticism of the Bush Administration's inaction on climate change, Exxon Mobil's junk science, Cheney and Rumsfeld's oil-motivated militarism, etc. The media always like controversy. We can use their interest to further our cause. The bad guy here isn't the Sierra Club, or even Ford. It is the obstructionists who prevent us from engaging a national Apollo Project for renewable energy and sustainable transportation. If we can keep the media focused there, then the American people will eventually come around. Ford's short term greenwashing is only acceptable if they make continual progress by making more hybrids. 2,000 cars is a very small step. At this point, Toyota will sell more Priuses in one month than Ford expects to in a year. That's not leadership, yet. Sierra Club may have given pre-emptive flattery, but if Ford responds, then maybe they were just a little ahead of the curve.
  • Sierra Club: Is Selling Ford Selling Out?   13 years 32 weeks ago
    Would John Muir Drive?
    "What Would John Muir Drive? Maybe This SUV 'For years, we've pressured Ford to make more fuel-efficient cars and trucks,' says the Sierra Club's Dan Becker, 'Now they have begun to, and we want to help them succeed.'" So reads the post to the 300,000-strong Sierra Club email list, overtly promoting a Ford SUV. To be fair, any vehicle that gets better gas mileage is good news. However, a closer look reveals that Ford will only produce 2,000 of these vehicles in the 2006 model year. This represents three one-hundredths of one percent of Ford’s estimated 2005 sales of nearly 7 million vehicles. And still, Ford is in last place in fuel efficiency among the world’s major automakers. The fact is that America can no longer afford to support Ford's oil addiction. If you agree, go to www.FreedomFromOil.org and sign the Declaration of Independence from Oil. Meanwhile, the campaign to Jumpstart Ford continues with a full page ad in today's New York Times. Q: What do Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, Dick Cheney, and Bill Ford Jr. have in common? A: They all love gas guzzlers.
  • Doctored Health News   13 years 32 weeks ago
    Using VNRs in Health News
    I founded my company, NewsMD Communications on the very principle that health news is vital and should be reported by health journalists and not public relation personnel. In producing video news releases, I conduct independent research,interview multiple sources as well as analyze and critique information before doing so. Many health reporters contact me for stories because they know I review stories with the same critical eye that they would if they had the time. It's the production -- not the control of content that is paid for. There's a big difference. But, that's no excuse for the health producer or reporter to not get on the phone to do actual research on the story themselves. If they don't then they're simply not doing their jobs. I know I don't allow anyone to control editorial content.
  • Rhetoric vs. Reality in London   13 years 33 weeks ago
    Thank you for excellent and timely article
    Please let me add a few somewhat cynical observations about the bloggers you survey. As you observe, these web pundits seem determined to show that the tragedy in London validates our current policies and practices in the war on terror. Less than two weeks ago, the same bloggers were celebrating the wisdom of Bush's flypaper strategy– "better to fight them over there, than over here." Now that "over there" is London, however, these self-proclaimed voices of conservatism have fallen back to "liberal-bashing"--the tried and true tactics of distortion and misrepresentation developed during the Clinton years. In fact to be consistent, these bloggers should be celebrating the attack in London as further vindication of Bush's wisdom. If only we had this level of outrage in 1998 during the American embassy bombings in which 250 people were killed. A concerted effort then to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, and to dismantle Al Qaeda, would made 9-11 and subsequent attacks a non-possibilty. But our same self-proclaimed ultra-patriots were more interested in the Starr Report and impeaching Clinton for having sex with an intern. Osama bin Laden declared war on the US in 1996; he issued an even more vehement fatwa in 1998. Karl Rove claims that "conservatives prepared for war after 9-11." Only three years after the embassy bombings, and five years after war was declared on us. Personally, I think no more damning indictment can be made against the Bush neocons and their supporters than Rove's own words. Iraq was the wrong war with the wrong enemy at the wrong time. Now, to defend this failing policies and practices, we have "liberal-bashing" once again: the tried-and-true tactics of distortion and misrepresentation. This failed our nation in 1996, in 1998, and is failing our nation now.
  • Rhetoric vs. Reality in London   13 years 33 weeks ago
    England is not the same as Britain
    A minor point, but you said: "As for Galloway's suggestion that England should pull its troops out of Iraq...". As Galloway is Scottish, I would doubt very much that he made the mistake of believing that England (which has no dedicated government, and no army) could pull its troops out of anywhere. There is a British army (which contains many British people who are not English), controlled by a British government. Britain and England are not synonymous.
  • Spin Doctors   13 years 34 weeks ago
    Ethics in science
    I'm planning to organize a panel on ethics at the next meeting of the International Federation of Science Editors in Melbourne, Australia in 2006. Suggestions about qualified speakers in the medical field who might be intersted in participating would be welcome.
  • How to Bury a Mad Cow   13 years 34 weeks ago
    BSE in Pet Food?
    Since the first incident of BSE reported in North America, I've been asking the USDA and the FDA if the downers or any other contaminated animals are being put into pet food.

    So far no replies.

    I wrote the Canadian Ag people and they do have oversight on their animal feeds, including pet food.

    Now, if Canada can relatively reasssure us, why cannot our own government?

  • How to Bury a Mad Cow   13 years 34 weeks ago
    Mad Cow
    Hello John, Liked your Milk Carton -"Have your seen this Cow?" I just recently found your stomach turning articles. The news media is doing us a great disserve, printing people and entertainment news while Rome burns. Here are a few more Question that crossed my mind. Mad Cow Disease: Is America Eating the Evidnece? Mad Cow Disease: Is Corporate Greed Putting Madness in Buns? Mad Cow Disease: Are Soldiers Eating the Evidence? In discussions on Civil war there is much commentary about the poor quality of meat and food provided to the troops of the north by government contractors. Is the government protecting itself? Is it more than corporate greed? Thanks Tegularius Secundus
  • When Is a Commercial Not a Commercial?   13 years 34 weeks ago
    VNRs
    The damn thing is, it would be easy to require digital signatures on all video feeds that enter the media stream. We would need laws to hold people accountable for fraudulent use of those signatures. Companies or entities that release video feeds would have to keep a log of all uses of the digital signature. News organizations would be required to reveal who signed the video press release, and consumers should be able to check the logs to see who really produced the feed. It would be no more difficult than signing an email. We have the technology.
  • Edelman's Rescue Plan for the PR Industry   13 years 35 weeks ago
    Obstructionist or Patriot?
    A couple of responses to Bob & Sheldon re: Edelman.

    Every OTC company that goes public is virtually required to employ investor relations and public relations counsel. I have worked for many start-ups and entrepreneurs who didn't have deep pockets. They barely had a shirt on their back. Entrepreneurs may excel at the big idea and pulling together a team to realize their vision but they often need serious help in communicating their business plan to a broader audience.

    Yes, big corporations have deep pockets for big-money PR programs. They have a lot on the line and 30,000 to 150,000 employees and a slew of investors, vendors and partners who depend on their success. Like advertising and other forms of marketing, public relations is part of the process, whether you need to sell a product, service or idea.

    The PR programs that succeed in stalling legislation and swamping public debate are unfortunate and fail as often as they succeed. Political parties, in my mind, are the experts at this. Look at the important legislation and appointments pending in federal government and how both sides of the aisle pull out their big guns and spin slogans and threaten and posture on television and in print media like we are waging an ideological civil war. Okay, “everything” is not PR but business, law, politics, and even education depends on it. That’s a fairly broad constituency.

    How do we cut through this? Think of the single blogger who is credited with killing the new EU Constitution. You could say that he is an obstructionist. You could also say he is a hero and patriot. He didn't have a printing press or a lot of money or connections. He had an idea and conviction. He cut through the clutter and people responded and he was the catalyst who bucked the government-sponsored PR machine.

    Blogs (Internet communication) are altering history in many profound ways. When I say there are few secrets anymore I mean that every employee of every company now has a soapbox to tell the world about what really goes on inside the once-protected walls of the office. H-P, Sun, and Microsoft are examples of large corporations who encourage employees to blog without prior management approval. Look at how we were treated to the internecine struggles at Los Alamos, of all places, through a public blog. Citizen-journalists (I count myself as one) are on the rise and they are finding a growing number of credible, paying outlets. They are not dependent on corporate media politics and they are not afraid to inject their voice in the news.

    Anyway, weren't we talking about Edelman?

    Besides being a second-generation PR guy, he is CEO of a company that has nearly 2,000 employees in offices worldwide and a host of clients who are jittery about their flacks being public. He is putting his views out there for the public and employees to pick apart. I think that is exemplary and other CEOs should follow suit. The 500 influencers? A flawed idea. So? Carl Pavano pitches good games but the Yankees can’t seem to back him up with enough hits to win. Chances are you will see him on the mound again.

    The PRSA code of ethics? I don’t know, I never took the PRSA seriously. Public relations is such a fractured industry that I don’t know if it is possible to have a unifying body. It may be up to each PR firm to develop their own code. We can then judge clients, and PR firms, by how closely they adhere to that code. News outlets are going through the same struggle as they discover journalists fabricating sources and sales people conspiring to inflate circulation figures.

    See Mark Rose biography
  • Edelman's Rescue Plan for the PR Industry   13 years 35 weeks ago
    Oh For A Little Glasnost

    Firstly Mark thanks for reading "Edelman's Rescue Plan for the PR Industry" and taking the time to respond. Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to responding but Sheldon has covered a number of my points in the meantime.

    But anyway, thought I'd still respond on some of your points. Firstly, I don't object to Edelman [[blogging]] at all – in fact I think we are furious agreement that it is a good thing. What I do contest is his suggestion that his five point plan would effectively address the ethical problems in the PR industry.

    You suggest that I have it in for the entire [[Public relations industry|PR industry]]. I divide the PR industry into three rough groupings – a) those activities which most people would agree are genuinely in the public interest (for example [[crisis management]] for natural disasters, tobacco control programs etc); b) those that could be classified as mostly harmless (which may involve event management, doing websites or annual reports etc); and c) those where PR is employed to ensure private or government interests dominate public policy debates about the health, social or environmental impacts of policies, products or technologies.

    The amount of work in the first category is relatively small while the 'mostly harmless' campaigns accounts for a larger chunk. My interest - and I suspect that of most citizens - primarily lies in what falls into the third category. (Think, for example, of the [[tobacco industry]]).

    Now for the more substantive points you raised on which we disagree. Yes "we all promote ourselves and our views". But if you are suggesting that that individuals advocating their point of view should be viewed as no different from what the PR industry does for its clients, then I disagree.

    Citizens' expressing their sincerely held points of view is something to be encouraged in a democracy. However, what the PR industry does is to largely cater for deep-pocketed corporations and government agencies. Often the greater the clients' controversy, the bigger the budget a PR company (or in-house department) will have to try and swamp public concern about their products or policies.

    Of course there are many big-budget PR campaigns that fail or backfire. But there are also many PR campaigns that succeed in stalling, if not preventing, important public policy changes. Their success relies not on the merit of the argument but simply on having more cash to fuel a stalling strategy.

    One of the significant evolutions in democratic practice last century was the shift in many countries from the property franchise to the universal franchise. It was recognition that the right to vote belonged to each individual irrespective of their wealth or sex. Part of the disquiet about the trends in modern democracy is how money politics is trying to reassert control – whether it is through political donations or by hiring lawyers, lobbyists or PR professionals.

    The reality is that the PR industry primarily caters for those who can afford its expensive services. (Yes, some companies do pro bono work for some non-profit groups or individuals but it really is a tiny, tiny percentage of what the industry does).

    Now I'd love to think that a wave of corporate and government glasnost is sweeping the world and will ensure that "there are few secrets anymore beyond deep, proprietary information." But I don’t see the evidence that would justify such optimism. By way of illustration, why is it that the client lists of so many PR firms are not disclosed?

    (Perhaps you could suggest some examples that illustrate your point just so I’m not misinterpreting what you meant).

    Sheldon has covered the problems with Edelman’s "500 influencers" idea well. I would take Edelman's enthusiasm for a more enforceable industry wide code of ethics and a code for his own company a little more seriously if he articulated a coherent position on video news releases (VNRs).

    But he doesn't. Instead what he proposes would amount to ending the deception of viewers of government VNRs but perpetuating it for those on the receiving end of corporate VNRs. It may be a pragmatic position but let's not pretend it's an ethical one. If Edelman can’t adopt a coherent position on VNRs why should we think an in-house code is going to be any better on issues that aren’t currently in the public spotlight?

    While I don't doubt you when you wrote that after 20 years in the industry you weren't aware of the [[Public Relations Society of America]]'s code of ethics, this surprises me. I had been under the impression that most people in the industry would have been aware of the PRSA's code, perhaps somewhat vaguely, even if they aren’t members.

    There are numerous problems with both the content and enforcement of codes of ethics in the PR industry, which I'll try to cover in a blog entry in the near future. However, the point in my previous blog was that [[Richard Edelman]] should articulate what exactly would make the enforcement of a new code more effective than the failings the PRSA experienced with the old one.

    Once again, thanks for taking the time to read and respond.