Who knew Fish Bucks, Pouches of Stars and Smurfberries could cause such trouble? Apple is facing a class-action lawsuit from parents alleging the company lets minors purchase virtual goods in app games without parental approval. Though Apple recently changed its policy to require passwords each time an in-app transaction is made, the lawsuit contends that Apple continues to profit unfairly from the sale of in-app goods. These games, downloaded for free, are known as “freemium” games. They often offer the opportunity to purchase virtual currency, that, despite the silly names, cost real money. “The targeting of children by Apple and inducing them to purchase without the knowledge or authorization of their parents, millions of dollars of Game Currency is unlawful exploitation in the extreme,” the complaint says. Previously, children had been spending chunks of their unsuspecting parents’ money on things like Smurfberries, in the game “Smurf’s Village.” For the first fifteen minutes after download, no password is required to buy items. Even after the update, that fifteen-minute window still exists after the password is entered upon opening an app. Garen Meguerian, who filed the suit, found that his 9-year-old daughter had purchased around $200 in virtual goods from free games including “Zombie Cafe” and “City Story,” without his knowledge. “Such games are designed to induce purchases,” the complaint says. “These games are highly addictive, designed deliberately so, and tend to compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of Game Currency, amounting to as much as $100 per purchase or more.” At issue is Apple’s complicity in the sale of these goods. The suit alleges that Apple is deliberately exploiting minors to make millions of dollars. “Apple supervises and controls the function and operation of the Apps it sells,” the complaint states, going on to note that “the sale of the App and/or any Game Currency is a transaction directly between Apple and the consumer.” Because Apple is the one charging the credit card, Apple, and not the third-party apps providing the games, are the ones to blame, according to the suit. The complaint illustrates the issue by describing the set-up of the game “Smurf’s Village,” where users enter a virtual world with the object of building a village. The game, while free to download, offers bundles of Smurfberries, which are important in achieving the aim of the game. A bundle of 1,000 Smurfberries is 59 dollars. “Apple offers many games that use the same bait-and-switch business scheme as Smurf’s Village,” the complaint alleges. “Apple entices the child with a free download of a gaming platform that then offers the sale of irresistible Game Currency in order to enjoy the game as it was designed.” The Federal Trade Commission had started to look into the issue of minors purchasing in-app goods before Apple instated the password-check change. “Smurf’s VIllage” has also added a warning that in-app goods cost real money to its iTunes page. The suit comes at a time where the profitability of such virtual games seems poised to explode. A survey by Urban Airship predicted that in-app purchasing would rise from 8 percent in 2010 to 31 percent in 2011. Further, research firm Distimo discovered that 34 percent of revenue generated by the top 100 apps comes from “freemium” apps, despite the fact that less than 2 percent of all apps follow such a model.
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Do you wonder (like I do) what the tax accountants and executives are doing over at GE this weekend? Frantically rushing to fill out their IRS returns like the rest of us? Hardly. They’re taking the weekend off to throw themselves a big party and have a hearty laugh at all of us. It must really crack them up to see us like suckers scurrying around to make sure we report everything to Uncle Sam — and even send him a check, if necessary. The joke’s on us, folks. GE and tons of other corporations will have a tax bill for 2010 of ZERO. GE had $14.2 billion in profits in 2010. Yet they will contribute NOTHING to the federal government while every last dime is soaked from us. In the latest budget deal, our politicians could have tackled the deficit by stopping the flow of these ill-gotten billions to corporations. Instead they cut billions from “wasteful” programs that do “wasteful” things, like create new jobs, drive economic growth, and help the needy and our nation’s children. It’s democracy in reverse and it sickens me. GE spends $20 million a year to lobby Congress to throw themselves this party. But do you know what speaks louder than $20 million? 20 million votes! 20 million people, and more, standing together and taking to the streets. That starts now, with you. This coming Monday, April 18th, is Tax Day — and that’s the day when “we the people” will demand our country back from these corporations in events all across the country. You can find the nearest event to you here. MoveOn members — along with union, community, and environmental allies — will gather outside the headquarters and local offices of the biggest corporate tax dodgers to deliver tax bills from the American people. And we’ll demand that our leaders make these corporate deadbeats pay. We’re doing this because we don’t buy into the Big Lie: that greedy teachers caused the crash on Wall Street! That the selfish firefighters sent millions of jobs overseas! That pregnant woman, infants, and children are sending us into deficit! No, it was the big corporations that did this. It was the CEOs and the top 1 percent of the country. THEY brought on the mortgage crisis. THEY made off with trillions of dollars from our economy. THEY are systematically destroying the middle class. And THEY have bought and sold the very people elected to represent us! On Monday, we will have something to say to Exxon, Chevron, and the big banks that crashed our economy and got billions in bailouts, like Citigroup and Bank of America, who pay little or no federal income tax. In fact, the IRS will likely give them a tax REBATE. If that doesn’t boggle your mind then nothing will. The Tax Day events are about sending this message: We are coming after you, we are stopping you, and we are going to return the money, jobs, and homes you stole from the people. This is your tipping point, Corporate America. And I, for one, am glad it’s going to happen this Monday. If you’ve never been to an event like this before, this is the time. And don’t go alone, because none of us can win this fight by ourselves. Plus, it’s more fun and exciting to go along with friends and family to be part of real democracy in action — not the store-bought kind Big Business gets on Capitol Hill. I really hope you can make it. This is our chance, my friends. Take the time on Monday to make your voice heard. I can guarantee you I will. Please join me.P.S. In case you missed this story in yesterday’s New York Times: “In Financial Crisis, No Prosecution of Top Figures.” It exposes how the leaders in both parties made sure no one on Wall Street was going to jail after the collapse of 2008.
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ABC to axe two of its longest-running daytime soaps and replace them with ‘lifestyle’ programmes featuring reality TV stars All My Children has survived Vietnam, abortion, teen prostitutes, murder and cocaine addiction. Erica Kane, the soap’s biggest star, has seen off 10 husbands and once took on a grizzly bear while dressed as a nun. Now the 41-year-old show has met its match – in reality TV. ABC is to abandon All My Children and rival daytime soap opera One Life To Live, two shows that have been running for a combined 83 years, this summer. They will be replaced by “lifestyle” programmes starring hosts made famous in reality TV shows. Only four daytime soaps will remain, down from 20 in their heyday. The remaining programmes – General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, The Young and the Restless and Days of Our Lives – are slashing costs as audiences desert them for increasingly popular reality shows such as Jersey Shore. Lynn Leahey, editor of Soap Opera Digest, said the news was “very painful”, adding that changing demographics were partly to blame. “Women are not at home in the same numbers they used to be … Mothers used to pass the soap-watching bug on to their daughters – that just doesn’t happen now. “Facebook is the new soap. It gives you that same sense of intimacy, of catching up with people’s lives, seeing their weddings, their children being born and growing up, that people got from soaps.” Kelly Ripa, one of the biggest US television stars, got her break in All My Children. She said she felt “heartsick” at the news. “All My Children was more than a job,” she said. “It was my family. It was there that I met my husband, it was there when my first two children were born, it was there where I met many of my lifelong friends.” Other stars showed their anger after they were reportedly told the news via texts and calls from journalists. “If you’re not an over-tanned guido who gets drunk and punches someone in the face where do you fit into television any more?” one star said on Fox News. Soap operas began in the 1950s as vehicles for advertisers, including soap companies, to pitch their wares to stay-at-home mothers. They had their heyday in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when their stars were some of the biggest names in the US, inspiring night-time successes like Dallas and Dynasty. When General Hospital’s “supercouple”, Luke and Laura Spencer, got married in 1981, 14 million people tuned in to watch. Hollywood heartthrob James Franco recently did an eccentric stint on GH, but even his star wattage could not drag the show out of the emergency room. It now averages between 2.5 million and 3 million viewers, while the latest season of Jersey Shore debuted with 8.45 million. Soaps as a springboard Footloose star Kevin Bacon, to whom everyone is related by six degrees of separation, got his big break as teenage alcoholic TJ Werner in Guiding Light, America’s longest-running soap opera, which was cancelled in 2009. Julianne Moore, fashion plate, constant Oscar runner-up and star of The Hours, The Kids are Alright, Magnolia, etc, played troubled sisters Frannie and Sabrina Hughes (both of them) in As the World Turns. The show was axed last year. Before Top Gun, When Harry Met Sally and Antonio Banderas, Meg Ryan was Betsy Stewart Montgomery Andropoulos in As the World Turns. Tommy Lee Jones, the Men in Black hardman and former Harvard pal of Al Gore, got his first lead role as the murderer, adulterer and blackmailer Dr Mark Toland on One Life to Live. Demi Moore played ace reporter Jackie Templeton on General Hospital in 1982. Just long enough for Hollywood to spot her and launch a career that started with St Elmo’s Fire and Ghost and ended with Ashton Kutcher. US television Television US television industry Television industry Soap opera Drama Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …John King Justifies Bringing on Birther Orly Taitz: Our Job is Not Just to Cover Things We Know to be True
April 16, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media John King knew he was going to be criticized for bringing in Birther queen Orly Taitz during a segment which began with talking about whether or not Gov. Jan Brewer is going to sign Arizona’s Birther law which just made its way through their state legislature . Here’s the damage control from King at the end of the segment from the criticism he knew he had coming: KING: I’m going to end the conversation now. People are entitled to go to your Web site and I hope we can talk again. But I’m going to end this conversation tonight right now. Listen, I sit in meetings for those of you at home and I’m going to pick this up and read it all. For those at home who says, you know, you crazy jerk, why are you even going down this road? I’m going down this road because our job is not just to cover things that we know to be true. It’s our job is to cover things that people are talking about in politics. And to try, to try to have rational conversations about why people believe what they believe, even if our reporting suggests what they believe is not true. And we will continue to do that. I can assure you, we will never be perfect, but we try to do it in a respectful way. There’s nothing “respectful” about spending at least half of the 12 minutes of a segment of your show allowing some discredited Birther nut like Taitz to rant and rave and spew conspiracy theories that you know aren’t true. Well, at least someone on CNN admitted what we already knew was true: Facts don’t matter much in their reporting. If some wingnut politician or political figure says something, they must cover it in the name of being “fair and balanced.” King went on to ask if the White House is somehow more worried about the Birther nonsense than they’re letting on and if they’re trying to “at least use a subtle message to rebut this.” Yeah, that’s it, John. They’re speaking to the Birthers in coded messages that the rest of us somehow missed. Transcript of the portion via CNN below the fold. KING: OK. Let me — let me Cornell — stay with us, please. I’m sorry. But stay with us. I just want to let Cornell into the conversation — because when you listen to that, you can say, if you want, you can say, crazy. You can say absurd. However — however, you’re in the polling business, and a chunk and not an insignificant chunk of the American people believe this. Let’s look at our latest poll. Was Barack Obama born in the United States? Definitely yes: 46 percent. Probably yes: 26 percent. Probably no: 15 percent. Definitely no: 10 percent. Ten percent of all Americans think their president is not born in this country. CORNELL BELCHER: And I wonder what party they — KING: Well, you say what party. So, let’s look it. Let’s break it down by party. Was Barack Obama born in the United States? Forty-three percent of Republicans say probably or definitely not. Twenty-three percent of independents say probably or definitely not. But this one jumps out and surprised me — 11 percent of Democrats say probably or definitely not. Does the president have to do something more proactively to clean this up? Or as he said yesterday with this interview with George Stephanopoulos, you know, I don’t do conspiracy theories. Is that enough? BELCHER: No. KING: Is that enough that in a close election, this controversy, we at CNN have done a lot of work on this and we think it’s bogus, but 43 percent of Republicans, 23 percent of independents and 11 percent of Democrats have doubts. BELCHER: Forty-three percent of Republicans is what you want to focus on, quite frankly. As someone who did polling work for the Obama campaign, it’s not something that’s new to me and something that sort of has a direct relationship with their inability to sort of accept Barack Obama. The problem here is this: it is so categorically insane and you have so many sort of rational people, you know, not wanting to accept the truth. You have to ask: what is it about this president that makes them not want to accept the truth? Why are so many people vesting so much in something that is categorically — KING: Orly, I think the question Cornell is asking, he’s trying to ask it more politely. Let me ask it bluntly. If Barack Obama were white, would we be going through this? TAITZ: Absolutely. And as a matter of fact, when President McCain ran for office, the Senate — KING: President McCain said — Senator McCain, excuse me, Senator McCain said, take this off the table. He is an American. I believe he is an American. Let’s talk about his views on taxes. Let’s talk about his views on Social Security. Let’s talk about his views on national security. TAITZ: Let me answer. When Senator McCain wanted to run there was a hearing, a senatorial hearing, and it was Senate resolution 511 whereby it was decided that he was a natural born citizen. And as a matter of fact, what I believe is there is a political correctness that went haywire that allowed Barack Obama to get in the White House with a stolen Social Security number. Here, I have documents that the nation needs to see. This is — BELCHER: Senator McCain — here’s the problem. You’ve dominated the time. (CROSSTALK) TAITZ: No, no, sir. BELCHER: You’ve dominated the time. I’m going to talk. Senator McCain is a guy who wasn’t born in this country and you don’t have the same sort of fervor going around saying anything — (CROSSTALK) BELCHER: What’s the variable? What is the variable here? The variable here is you’ve got an African-American president. TAITZ: No. No. BELCHER: None of this ever came up (INAUDIBLE) African-American president. That’s the only variable here. And when you have this sort of ill logic, there is nothing the president can do to sort of prove this. You have a birth certificate. You have an announcement. They reject the truth. They don’t want the truth to be true. Why do they want this truth to be true in this case with this president? KING: Let me play — I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. Hold on one second. Just one second. I will let you answer. Hold on one second. My name is in the funny lights behind me. I get to talk just a little bit. I want you — this is the cynic in me, Cornell, that the White House says they don’t worry about this, but every now and then, you start to hear things where I think that somebody quietly is trying to at least use a subtle message to rebut this. Listen to this recent little — several little snippets of the president and things around him. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We’re all Americans. And that spirit of patriotism. This isn’t a Democratic or a Republican idea, it’s patriotism. This is what America is all about, everybody from different places, enjoying those things that bind us together. The thing about America is that is great is that we’re bold. We’re tough. We show the world that all things are possible in the United States of America. (END VIDEO CLIP) BELCHER: That’s who he is. I mean, that’s not new. That’s going back to the very beginning of this campaign. Look, we’ve got a fairly good percentage of Republicans last time around who voted for us, I mean, somebody, I think even Ike’s daughter voted for us because of this idea of American exceptionalism. There were articles after articles sort of saying this president reminds us of Ronald Reagan because of his exceptionalism. TAITZ: Sir, I mean, look, this is ridiculous. BELCHER: The ideals this guy believes that we are one and sort of patriotic. Patriotism isn’t a Republican ideal. It’s a Democratic ideal as well. KING: Orly, we’ve been waiting. TAITZ: Let me respond to this. KING: Let me ask you a question. We’ve been waiting — Donald Trump, the businessman who says he may run for president. We’re waiting — he’s supposed to do a live event down in Florida. That’s the event right there where he’s supposed to come out and talk to reporters. He has – he has risen in the polls among Republicans to second in our recent poll behind Mike Huckabee, tied with Mike Huckabee at 19 percent. He has jumped up in the polls the last few weeks because he has been beating this like a drum. Would you vote for Donald Trump for president? TAITZ: Absolutely. And it’s not only because of the Social Security issue. Not only because of the birth certificate. Barack Obama is committing Social Security fraud. The biggest crime ever committed — KING: You’re accusing the president of the United States of committing a felony. TAITZ: Absolutely. Yes. And he’s not a legitimate — he’s not legitimate president. Here is selective service certificate that can be seen on my Web site OrlyTaitzESQ.com, and it was filed with the courts. KING: I’m going to end the conversation now. People are entitled to go to your Web site and I hope we can talk again. But I’m going to end this conversation tonight right now. Listen, I sit in meetings for those of you at home and I’m going to pick this up and read it all. For those at home who says, you know, you crazy jerk, why are you even going down this road? I’m going down this road because our job is not just to cover things that we know to be true. It’s our job is to cover things that people are talking about in politics. And to try, to try to have rational conversations about why people believe what they believe, even if our reporting suggests what they believe is not true. And we will continue to do that. I can assure you, we will never be perfect, but we try to do it in a respectful way.
Continue reading …John King Justifies Bringing on Birther Orly Taitz: Our Job is Not Just to Cover Things We Know to be True
April 16, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media John King knew he was going to be criticized for bringing in Birther queen Orly Taitz during a segment which began with talking about whether or not Gov. Jan Brewer is going to sign Arizona’s Birther law which just made its way through their state legislature . Here’s the damage control from King at the end of the segment from the criticism he knew he had coming: KING: I’m going to end the conversation now. People are entitled to go to your Web site and I hope we can talk again. But I’m going to end this conversation tonight right now. Listen, I sit in meetings for those of you at home and I’m going to pick this up and read it all. For those at home who says, you know, you crazy jerk, why are you even going down this road? I’m going down this road because our job is not just to cover things that we know to be true. It’s our job is to cover things that people are talking about in politics. And to try, to try to have rational conversations about why people believe what they believe, even if our reporting suggests what they believe is not true. And we will continue to do that. I can assure you, we will never be perfect, but we try to do it in a respectful way. There’s nothing “respectful” about spending at least half of the 12 minutes of a segment of your show allowing some discredited Birther nut like Taitz to rant and rave and spew conspiracy theories that you know aren’t true. Well, at least someone on CNN admitted what we already knew was true: Facts don’t matter much in their reporting. If some wingnut politician or political figure says something, they must cover it in the name of being “fair and balanced.” King went on to ask if the White House is somehow more worried about the Birther nonsense than they’re letting on and if they’re trying to “at least use a subtle message to rebut this.” Yeah, that’s it, John. They’re speaking to the Birthers in coded messages that the rest of us somehow missed. Transcript of the portion via CNN below the fold. KING: OK. Let me — let me Cornell — stay with us, please. I’m sorry. But stay with us. I just want to let Cornell into the conversation — because when you listen to that, you can say, if you want, you can say, crazy. You can say absurd. However — however, you’re in the polling business, and a chunk and not an insignificant chunk of the American people believe this. Let’s look at our latest poll. Was Barack Obama born in the United States? Definitely yes: 46 percent. Probably yes: 26 percent. Probably no: 15 percent. Definitely no: 10 percent. Ten percent of all Americans think their president is not born in this country. CORNELL BELCHER: And I wonder what party they — KING: Well, you say what party. So, let’s look it. Let’s break it down by party. Was Barack Obama born in the United States? Forty-three percent of Republicans say probably or definitely not. Twenty-three percent of independents say probably or definitely not. But this one jumps out and surprised me — 11 percent of Democrats say probably or definitely not. Does the president have to do something more proactively to clean this up? Or as he said yesterday with this interview with George Stephanopoulos, you know, I don’t do conspiracy theories. Is that enough? BELCHER: No. KING: Is that enough that in a close election, this controversy, we at CNN have done a lot of work on this and we think it’s bogus, but 43 percent of Republicans, 23 percent of independents and 11 percent of Democrats have doubts. BELCHER: Forty-three percent of Republicans is what you want to focus on, quite frankly. As someone who did polling work for the Obama campaign, it’s not something that’s new to me and something that sort of has a direct relationship with their inability to sort of accept Barack Obama. The problem here is this: it is so categorically insane and you have so many sort of rational people, you know, not wanting to accept the truth. You have to ask: what is it about this president that makes them not want to accept the truth? Why are so many people vesting so much in something that is categorically — KING: Orly, I think the question Cornell is asking, he’s trying to ask it more politely. Let me ask it bluntly. If Barack Obama were white, would we be going through this? TAITZ: Absolutely. And as a matter of fact, when President McCain ran for office, the Senate — KING: President McCain said — Senator McCain, excuse me, Senator McCain said, take this off the table. He is an American. I believe he is an American. Let’s talk about his views on taxes. Let’s talk about his views on Social Security. Let’s talk about his views on national security. TAITZ: Let me answer. When Senator McCain wanted to run there was a hearing, a senatorial hearing, and it was Senate resolution 511 whereby it was decided that he was a natural born citizen. And as a matter of fact, what I believe is there is a political correctness that went haywire that allowed Barack Obama to get in the White House with a stolen Social Security number. Here, I have documents that the nation needs to see. This is — BELCHER: Senator McCain — here’s the problem. You’ve dominated the time. (CROSSTALK) TAITZ: No, no, sir. BELCHER: You’ve dominated the time. I’m going to talk. Senator McCain is a guy who wasn’t born in this country and you don’t have the same sort of fervor going around saying anything — (CROSSTALK) BELCHER: What’s the variable? What is the variable here? The variable here is you’ve got an African-American president. TAITZ: No. No. BELCHER: None of this ever came up (INAUDIBLE) African-American president. That’s the only variable here. And when you have this sort of ill logic, there is nothing the president can do to sort of prove this. You have a birth certificate. You have an announcement. They reject the truth. They don’t want the truth to be true. Why do they want this truth to be true in this case with this president? KING: Let me play — I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. Hold on one second. Just one second. I will let you answer. Hold on one second. My name is in the funny lights behind me. I get to talk just a little bit. I want you — this is the cynic in me, Cornell, that the White House says they don’t worry about this, but every now and then, you start to hear things where I think that somebody quietly is trying to at least use a subtle message to rebut this. Listen to this recent little — several little snippets of the president and things around him. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We’re all Americans. And that spirit of patriotism. This isn’t a Democratic or a Republican idea, it’s patriotism. This is what America is all about, everybody from different places, enjoying those things that bind us together. The thing about America is that is great is that we’re bold. We’re tough. We show the world that all things are possible in the United States of America. (END VIDEO CLIP) BELCHER: That’s who he is. I mean, that’s not new. That’s going back to the very beginning of this campaign. Look, we’ve got a fairly good percentage of Republicans last time around who voted for us, I mean, somebody, I think even Ike’s daughter voted for us because of this idea of American exceptionalism. There were articles after articles sort of saying this president reminds us of Ronald Reagan because of his exceptionalism. TAITZ: Sir, I mean, look, this is ridiculous. BELCHER: The ideals this guy believes that we are one and sort of patriotic. Patriotism isn’t a Republican ideal. It’s a Democratic ideal as well. KING: Orly, we’ve been waiting. TAITZ: Let me respond to this. KING: Let me ask you a question. We’ve been waiting — Donald Trump, the businessman who says he may run for president. We’re waiting — he’s supposed to do a live event down in Florida. That’s the event right there where he’s supposed to come out and talk to reporters. He has – he has risen in the polls among Republicans to second in our recent poll behind Mike Huckabee, tied with Mike Huckabee at 19 percent. He has jumped up in the polls the last few weeks because he has been beating this like a drum. Would you vote for Donald Trump for president? TAITZ: Absolutely. And it’s not only because of the Social Security issue. Not only because of the birth certificate. Barack Obama is committing Social Security fraud. The biggest crime ever committed — KING: You’re accusing the president of the United States of committing a felony. TAITZ: Absolutely. Yes. And he’s not a legitimate — he’s not legitimate president. Here is selective service certificate that can be seen on my Web site OrlyTaitzESQ.com, and it was filed with the courts. KING: I’m going to end the conversation now. People are entitled to go to your Web site and I hope we can talk again. But I’m going to end this conversation tonight right now. Listen, I sit in meetings for those of you at home and I’m going to pick this up and read it all. For those at home who says, you know, you crazy jerk, why are you even going down this road? I’m going down this road because our job is not just to cover things that we know to be true. It’s our job is to cover things that people are talking about in politics. And to try, to try to have rational conversations about why people believe what they believe, even if our reporting suggests what they believe is not true. And we will continue to do that. I can assure you, we will never be perfect, but we try to do it in a respectful way.
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Click here to view this media Before U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles began to rain down on Muammar Gaddafi’s air defenses, the only conversation that President Obama had to have was with his senior advisers. They, and they alone would decide whether a country founded as a democratic republic would engage in what George Washington would have likely viewed as a “foreign entanglement” – using 21st-century ordinance against a sociopath with a history of violence and a worse hat fetish than Sammy Davis Jr. Obviously, in 200 years the United States has evolved from a rebel-with-a-cause into a world power, and additional involvement in world affairs has become part of the cost of doing business. There is also a good argument to be made that after the terrible mistake of the Iraq invasion, the US can do some good by putting an end to the murderous Gaddafi in Libya, as part of an international coalition made up of Arab and African countries, blessed by the United Nations. Yet, that does not change the fact that congressional support for this operation was as important as an appendix or a Newt Gingrich marriage vow. Obama and his people simply knew they could ignore the people’s representatives and safely rely upon a militarized culture primed to support an attack on an Arab nation. Particularly one the US had already thrown down with only a generation ago. It is this fact that makes author, syndicated columnist and talk radio host David Sirota’s new book, Back To Our Future, not only a fascinating read about the culture of the 1980s, but a manifestly important work in helping explain why the United States does the things it does today. From involvement in a civil war in Libya to allowing a madman sans background check to saunter into his local arms bazaar and purchase a high-powered firearm for an attempted assassination of a congresswoman. The latter being easier than say, finding plutonium for your DeLorean in 1955. ‘Outlaw with morals’ As Sirota explains it, the ’80s were the age of cross-marketing, when concepts that had a place in American history suddenly became commonplace. The anti-government language of president Ronald Reagan adorned films such as Ghostbusters and E.T. These “political messages in non-political settings indoctrinated the young, when their filter for political propaganda was turned off.” As a result, these framed narratives became part of the conventional wisdom, continuing to this day. In much the way E.T. heightened suspicions about our government, Libyan terrorists in Back To The Future and a bad-guy professional wrestling star named The Iron Sheik helped prepare the American people for the role we’ve played in the Arab world over the past decade. Meanwhile, the “outlaw with morals”, or rogue who had to work against the system to get things done, was a key message that reached the masses. The bromide of “government being the problem, not the solution”, was not only contained in Reagan’s philosophy, but Wall Street’s ethic, the frontier mythology of many regions of the country, and films, music, and television series, but perhaps most importantly promoted using athletes by one of the most powerful marketing machines ever seen – Nike. As Sirota offers about Nike’s effect, “they took this narrative to the level of societal saturation”. This can at least partially explain the rogue individualism that can be found in the love affair certain Americans have with guns, and even more importantly, the corollary that only they can protect themselves, often from the very government they once looked upon for this service. Of course, this cultural sea change did not just happen by itself. An array of right-wing think tanks and media organizations, born in the 1970s to lead this kind of a cultural revolution, synergistically grabbed this societal zeitgeist and hopped, skipped and jumped with it, declaring the 1960s and 1970s an illegitimate, naïve, or even dangerous social experiment. As Sirota reminds us, in the 1980s a minister speaking at The Heritage Foundation, one of these newish (1973) and lavishly funded right-wing media and policy operations intricately tied to the Reagan administration, believed he and his ilk, were “here to turn the clock back to 1954 in this country”. ‘Prepubescents’ in charge Danny Goldberg, former CEO of Air America, has also recognized this cultural evolution, and the role played by well-funded conservative organs in helping spread the non-love. As he sees it, appealing to the psyche and vision of the American people or pulling on their heartstrings, if you will, is in short supply on the Left, as “Democrats do not use imagination and culture to open minds for their agenda”. As Goldberg put it in a Nation piece, “you can count how many people click onto a web page, how long it was viewed and how many people it was forwarded to but determining how much impact it has on the minds of the readers requires educated guesses and fallible intuitive human analysis.” The Left had better begin to under this outsized role of culture, imagination and emotion in our politics soon. Because if we are indeed operating in parameters set up by not only the politics, but the arts and letters of 1980s, reinforced by millions of dollars invested in long-term conservative projects to convince the American people this is the way it has always been, we are in for a rough decade or three. For as Sirota says, “our world is increasingly run by the prepubescents, college kids, and young ladder-climbers who were originally indoctrinated and inculcated in the 1980s.” Therefore, if we are looking for an alternative to all-too-present strains of foreign adventurism, Wall Street me-ism and domestic militia-ism – among other challenges – we will need our own cultural rebirth to return to the values that once animated this nation. Because, whether he comes from Krypton, Kansas City or Kazakhstan, I am not ready to start kneeling before Zod anytime soon. You can follow Cliff on Twitter: @cliffschecter This column was first published at Al Jazeera English
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Click here to view this media Nothing illustrates the utter disconnect between conservatives and liberals better than this exchange. It begins politely enough, with Cavuto giving Rep. Johnson about 30 seconds to talk before he simply interrupts her with the flat statement that “we’re broke”. From there on, that’s all he says. Over, and over, and over again. Screw the poor, we’re broke. Screw the sick folks, we’re broke. Not only does he repeat it over and over, but he bullies her with it until she finally lets him have it right back. Transcript via Huffpost : “But Congresswoman, we’re broke,” Cavuto responded, adding that it might be time to “dig out.” Johnson said that the country needed to invest in the future through education. Cavuto cut in again. “If I die and leave to my kids just a lot of bills and debt…I’ve screwed their future.” “You’re screwing the future now,” Johnson shot back. “…I hate to break it to you, but all I do is follow numbers,” he said. I am Fox’s nerd here, and we are broke…broke broke broke broke broke.” As the two argued more, Johnson lost patience with Cavuto. “You know what?” she said. “Your problem is, is that you just don’t listen; you just scream and you’re screaming the same thing these fools are screaming here,” she said. “But ma’am, you’re saying the same thing,” Cavuto said. “I’m just asking you to say something different.” The interview ended with acrimony on both sides. “You can sit there and be as ignorant as you’d like to be, but it’s not going to solve it,” Johnson said to Cavuto. “…We’re going to hell in a handbasket,” he replied. “I think you’re already there,” she said. “When you refuse to have vision, you’re already in hell.” That’s it in a nutshell, that glaring difference between conservatives and liberals. Today’s conservative message is the equivalent of a parent turning down a job offer for the sole purpose of telling their children there’s no money and they’re broke, so no, they can’t have whatever it is they want. Really, it is. In the President’s speech the other day he said this: These are the kind of cuts that tell us we can’t afford the America we believe in. And they paint a vision of our future that’s deeply pessimistic. It’s a vision that says if our roads crumble and our bridges collapse, we can’t afford to fix them. If there are bright young Americans who have the drive and the will but not the money to go to college, we can’t afford to send them. Isn’t that what Cavuto is telling Rep. Johnson in this clip? Sorry, too bad. No money for the bright poor kids to attend college, we have to reserve that for those who can pay. No money for roads, we’ll just sell them off and let private companies maintain those roads they think are worth it, leave the rest to crumble away. Sorry, country, but people don’t matter here. Only making sure no person earning over $250,000 per year is not put upon to contribute one extra penny to the well-being of the nation that gave them their opportunity for prosperity. The scorched-earth conservative writ large. Give me my opportunity so I can block you from yours.
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Arrests and troop movements signal another government crackdown on protests in the tiny Gulf state Bahrain is braced for a fresh bout of violent repression as new arrests and the alleged death of a female student fuel sectarian tensions in the tiny Gulf state. Armoured vehicles and security forces were reported to be gathering in the streets of the capital, Manama, and in surrounding suburbs and villages. Meanwhile, evidence has emerged that Saudi forces have been involved in violence against the opposition in the mainly Shia villages and suburbs around Manama. In a graphic eyewitness account of the repression given to the Observer , a Bahraini who has been caught up in the violence claimed that officers with Saudi accents, in plainclothes but armed with automatic weapons, had led attacks on members of the Shia opposition on several occasions over the past month. When Saudi and UAE troops from the Gulf Peninsula Shield force entered the kingdom at the request of the government last month, it was said that they were there to guard strategic buildings and infrastructure. Reports from the city said that a young woman – beaten up last month by government supporters at Bahrain University – had died. A family member confirmed her death but the circumstances remained unclear. Arrests of lawyers and doctors working for the opposition continued. Protesters, who were brutally removed from their peaceful anti-government site at Manama’s Pearl roundabout last month, claim that there has since been a systematic campaign of repression by Sunni Bahraini security forces, backed by forces from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Human Rights Watch says that four people have died in custody over the past month, out of 430 who were arrested. Opposition sources say that the true figure is 720 arrested with 210 missing. Tensions were high after another day of mourning, for Karim Fakhrawi, a Shia businessman who died in police detention, allegedly after being tortured. The mourning also coincided with an important Shia festival, the commemoration of the death of Fatima al-Zahra, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad. This is traditionally marked by three days of religious observance, including marches, which are now banned under Bahrain’s month-old state of emergency. Meanwhile, Mohammed al-Tajer, a lawyer who represented detainees held during the protests, was reportedly arrested along with a doctor accused of treating injured demonstrators. Doctors and medical facilities have been singled out in the repression, with the main hospital in Manama, Salimanya, under military occupation for the past month. The government says that it is acting to maintain security after what it describes as an “attempted revolution” by mainly Shia protesters last month. It says hospitals were being used as organisation centres for the protests. The government appears to be backing down from a plan to outlaw the leading opposition parties, Al Wefaq and Islamic Action, after protests from America and Britain. But a suppression of media reporting continues. Last week a correspondent from the Financial Times was denied entry at the airport. No reason was given. Frank Gardner, the BBC’s security correspondent, was detained at the airport for three hours before being allowed into the country. Other journalists reported increasing difficulties in obtaining visas. Bell Pottinger, a British public relations company that advised the Bahraini crown prince, Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, and which was assisting with media visas, has had its government contracts suspended during the period of martial law. Prince Salman is regarded as a moderate, but the failure of his offers of “dialogue” with the protesters has handed power to Sunni hardliners, led by the prime minister, Prince Khalifa, who has been in office since 1971. The protests are seen as a threat to security across the whole Gulf region. There have been further protests in Iran in support of the mainly Shia Bahraini opposition, and Tehran recently warned Pakistan against sending any more “mercenaries” to join the crackdown. Many Bahrain police officers are hired in Sunni countries such as Pakistan and Jordan. Bahrain Arab and Middle East unrest Protest Middle East guardian.co.uk
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Indifference(Bill Cook)-Bobblehead Indifference(Bill Cook)-Out the window What is Humanism? by Bill Cooke Hoosier billionaire Bill Cook dies Bill Cook , the founder of Bloomington-based medical device maker Cook Group died Friday afternoon at his home., Bill Cook leaves large legacy: TMNews.com When he hears the name Bill Cook , Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan said Friday night, two words spring immediately to his mind. “Renaissance and opportunity,” he said after hearing of Cook’s death. “When you look at Bloomington throughout … Bloomington entrepreneur Bill Cook passes away | Inside the Hall … Friday afternoon brought sad news for the entire Bloomington community as Bill Cook , the founder of The Cook Group, passed away at his home. He was 80. Cook, Philanthropist Bill Cook Dies at Age 80 | News – Indiana Public Media Medical equipment group founder and philanthropist Bill Cook has died. Indiana Billionaire and Philanthropist Bill Cook Dies … Bill Cook was a businessman who knew better how to do things, so his company invented them. He started with $1500 in 1963, according to his biography written by Bob Hammel, and became the 101st wealthiest man in America with a net … billmutermusic says: DCI.org News: Star of Indiana founder Bill Cook passes away http://t.co/11AqJaP
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