The wait is over! Palin’s ‘Undefeated’ movie trailer: Pure essence of propaganda
July 8, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Most normal moviegoing folks — especially those of us with kids — are looking forward to July 15 for one very good reason: It’s the release date for the final Harry Potter film , and the trailers look terrific. The end of Voldemort, at last! Then there are the hapless conservadweebs who instead will plunk down their hard-earned dollars to endure two hours of propaganda devoted to singing the praises of Sarah Palin titled The Undefeated . Of course, this is kind of a strange title, considering that Palin indeed was defeated in her campaign for the vice presidency. And for some reason, they didn’t title it The Uncompleted as a way of actually describing her term as governor. Or The Quitter, which would also be more accurate. Anyway, Andrew Breitbart plumped the first trailer for the movie yesterday. You’ll notice that he didn’t bother to mention to readers that he’s in the trailer. There is no need for full disclosure at propaganda mills like Breitbart’s operation. Indeed, the Palin trailer — and no doubt the movie itself — reminds me of the propaganda techniques identified half a century ago by the long-defunct Institute for Propaganda Analysis , because each of them can be seen at work here: — Name Calling, or hanging a bad label on ideas or persons. — Card Stacking, or the selective use of facts or outright falsehoods. — Band Wagon, or claiming that everyone like us thinks this way. — Testimonial, or the association of a respected or hated person with an approved or despised idea, respectively. — Plain Folks, a technique whereby the idea and its proponents are linked to “people just like you and me.” — Transfer, or an assertion of a connection between something valued or hated and the idea or commodity being discussed. — Glittering Generality, or an association of something with a “virtue word” to gain approval without examining the evidence. Now, you may ask yourself: Why would Sarah Palin put out a propaganda movie about herself right now if she weren’t running for the presidency? And that would be a good question. The answer, of course: She wouldn’t. Meanwhile, look for a fresh bumper crop of “Republicans for Voldemort” bumper stickers.
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SALT LAKE CITY — Elizabeth Smart is taking a job with ABC News as a commentator focusing on missing persons and child abduction cases. ABC spokeswoman Julie Townsend tells The Associated Press that the Utah woman who was kidnapped, raped and held captive at age 14 by a Salt Lake City street preacher can provide viewers with a unique perspective on such cases. Townsend says the deal with the now 23-year-old Smart has been in the works for some time. She says Smart could be on the air within the next few weeks. Smart spokesman Chris Thomas says the Brigham Young University music student wants to use the media position to create awareness about cases involving missing children. In May, Brian David Mitchell was sentenced to life without parole in federal prison for Smart’s 2002 abduction.
Continue reading …Turnaround is Fair Play – Ezra Klein Creates New Twitter Hashtag to Ask Questions of John Boehner
July 8, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media After President Obama held his first Twitter town hall this week and took a question from Speaker of the House John Boehner among many others, The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein who was filling in for Martin Bashir decided that turnaround was fair play for John Boehner. Klein has started a new hashtag on Twitter where you can ask questions you’d like to see John Boehner answer and he promised to read some of them on the air this Friday. The new hashtag is #ASKBOEHNER for anyone on Twitter that would like to submit a question. My question would be “John Boehner, where are the jobs?”
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is once again getting a disproportionate share of attention for alleged “gaffes” compared to President Obama. The latest, a dubious Democratic claim that Romney flip-flopped in his remarks upon the state of the economy during the Obama administration, made Wednesday’s print edition. It comes courtesy of Jim Rutenberg, following Romney on the campaign trail in New Hampshire: “ Romney Questioned on Critique of Economy Under Obama .” But as Mr. Romney has finally started to campaign in earnest over the past couple of weeks, the dangers of his perceived leading status are coming into view, with a more intense focus on his every word. And in the past few days, it has revolved around three words in particular: “things are worse.” During his campaign swing through this crucial state this week, Mr. Romney has been faced with repeated questions about the consistency of his commentary on President Obama’s handling of the recession and the subsequent economic recovery. To recap: On Thursday, when asked by a journalist in Pennsylvania to jibe his assertions that “things are worse” under Mr. Obama with various signs of economic improvement since the president took office, Mr. Romney replied, “I didn’t say things are worse,” adding, “What I said was the economy hasn’t turned around.” Democrats accused him of “flip-flopping” on a central assertion of his candidacy. Attending Fourth of July festivities in New Hampshire on Monday, Mr. Romney reasserted that “the recession is deeper because of our president” and that the recovery was more anemic because of him as well. (The recession was declared officially over as of June 2009, but the recovery, especially in employment, has been weak and inconsistent.) Notice Rutenberg never actually quoted Romney saying the phrase “things are worse,” though that’s certainly how a reader would interpret his quotation marks. Times Watch could not locate an instance of Romney uttering the phrase in quotes, although Romney has used various iterations of what he said during his presidential announcement: ” Barack Obama has failed America. When he took office, the economy was in recession. He made it worse .” But that's not quite the same thing. Ace of Spades untangled the web of the media and the Democratic Party accusing Romney of a flip-flop:
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WWF demands full environmental impact assessment before Shell starts work near the Ningaloo marine park, north of Perth Conservation groups in Australia say a decision to allow Shell to carry out exploratory drilling near Australia’s newest world heritage site, Ningaloo marine park, could devastate the area if there was a spillage. “It beggars belief that the government is not requiring a full environmental estimate of this drilling proposal,” said Paul Gamblin of the World Wildlife Fund. Instead, the enrgy giant must abide by certain conditions, including visual observations for whales. The Australian government said Shell’s proposal did not require further assessment. Ningaloo reef, about 750 miles north of Perth, is best known for its whale sharks, the world’s largest fish. The 160m long reef is also home to rare and endangered wildlife including whales, sea turtles and birds. Ningaloo marine park, which includes the reef, was designated a world heritage site last month. The exploration well will be dug 30 miles from the edge of the park, primarily in search of gas. In a statement Shell said it was “mindful of significant biodiversity and heritage values of the Ningaloo region and plan to continue our operations accordingly”. The proposal said in the unlikely event of a spillage travelling towards the reef “there is sufficient time to collect dispersant and boom…to contain any damage.” Several drilling and floating platforms already operate to the north of the reef but conservationists say this well – to the west – would expose a much bigger section of the reef to danger. “One of our main concerns is a spill off the side of the reef because of the way the winds and currents work – there’s only so far for a spill to go before it ends up hitting the reef,” added Gamblin. The area is also prone to cyclones. Two years ago Australia suffered its worst oil disaster in the Montara oil field off the northern coast of Western Australia. It took three months go bring the spill, which led to 2000 barrels of oil spewing into the ocean each day, under control. The government says since Montara it has adopted a “more rigorous approach for the assessment of offshore drilling”. Australia Marine life Royal Dutch Shell Conservation Wildlife Oil Oil and gas companies Alison Rourke guardian.co.uk
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Former prime minister delivers harshest verdict yet on his successor and warns party to avoid ‘politics of protest’ Tony Blair has delivered his most damning verdict on Gordon Brown’s government to date, claiming New Labour died when he left office in 2007 and that the party “lost its driving rhythm”. The former prime minister said the 13-year Labour government should be remembered in two phases – his and Brown’s – and there was “no continuity” between the two. In a speech in London to the New Labour thinktank Progress, Blair also advocated a “pick and mix” of policy that did not adhere to old narratives of left and right. He urged the party to let go of some of its old ideologies in order to arrive at the “right” policy decisions. He said: “I remain unremittingly an advocate of third-way, centre-ground, progressive politics that came to be called New Labour. From 1997 to 2007 we were New Labour. In June 2007 we stopped. “We didn’t become old Labour exactly. But we lost the driving rhythm that made us different and successful. It was not a government of continuity from 1997 to 2010 pursing the same politics. It was 10 plus three.” It is the most comprehensive analysis Blair has made distinguishing between his and Brown’s premiership. He also stressed his support for the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, but warned that the party could not indulge in the “politics of protest”. He said: “Parties of the left have a genetic tendency to cling to an analysis that they lose because the leadership is insufficiently committed to being left, defined in a very traditional sense. There’s always a slightly curious problem with this analysis since usually they have lost to a rightwing party. But somehow that inconvenient truth is put to the side. “This analysis is grasped with relief. People are then asked to unify around it. Anything else is distraction, even an act of disloyalty. This strategy never works.” Recalling his government’s policies to introduce academies, more patient choice in the NHS, asbos and university top-up fees, plus its pro-business stance – all of which were controversial on the left of the party – he said: “Some of these policies could be supported by people who don’t vote Labour. That’s not a bad thing. “In the real world of the 21st century there will be some pick and mix of policy. Sometimes it will be less left v right than right v wrong. Above all today, efficacy – effective delivery, motivated of course by values – matters as much if not more than ideology. Don’t fear it. Embrace it. It liberates us to get the correct policy.” He argued that Labour should make the economy its priority. “I still think we need to focus a lot on the micro side: targeted policies that support business, jobs, that allow that large amount of cumulative reserves in business to be invested and that also gives us an opportunity to regain, which I think is very important to us, our relationship with business.” Tony Blair Labour Gordon Brown Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Rupert Murdoch’s News International announced Thursday that the British tabloid News of the World was shutting down, but Vanity Fair contributor Michael Wolff says the phone hacking scandal may not end there. “Hacking, listening to your voicemail messages was for a period, a rather long period, a tabloid tool,” Wolff told Current’s Keith Olbermann Wednesday. “It was like a typewriter. Everybody in the newsroom did it and they did it to everybody who the news touched.” “Is there any reason to assume or that we are correct in assuming that nobody in the Murdoch companies would have done that [in the U.S.]?” Olbermann asked. “I think it’s the next question,” Wolff said. “So it’s just now, the questions are just kind of dawning on everyone. In my newsroom today, I said, ‘Hey, what happened? They must — could they have done it here? Literally, can you do it here? Can you hack someone’s phone here? Is there a difference?’” “And there is not a difference,” he explained. The Independent revealed in February that Murdoch’s most read British tabloid, The Sun , was also being investigated for phone hacking.
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Yemurai Kanyangarara was stabbed in the neck after getting off a bus in south-east London last week A third teenager has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 16-year-old on a busy high street in London. Yemurai Kanyangarara was stabbed in the neck seconds after getting off a No 96 bus in Welling, south-east London, last Friday. He was attacked outside the Superdrug store in Upper Wickham Lane, and taken to Queen Elizabeth hospital in Woolwich where he died. Today a 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody. Two other boys – one aged 15 and the other 14 – have already been charged with murder and appeared at Camberwell youth court on Thursday. They were remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday. Kanyangarara came to the UK from Zimbabwe as a toddler and was living in nearby Belvedere. He was a pupil at St Columba’s Catholic boys’ school in Bexleyheath and had recently finished his GCSEs. His father Kelton left a message on his Facebook page that read: “My boy is gone it is so painful – my heart is bleeding. RIP my boy I will always love you.” London Knife crime Crime guardian.co.uk
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It’s not just a front-page headline on the News of the World — it’s a story that has made the front pages of papers and websites around the world. And the 168-year-old British tabloid caused its own demise.
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Tensions mount as hundreds of thousands of activists expected in capital for Arab spring-style rally against ‘dirty politics’ Malaysia is bracing for an Arab spring-style stand-off on Saturday, when activists angry at “dirty politics” are expected to rally in Kuala Lumpur despite draconian government efforts to nip the movement in the bud. Tensions have mounted in this normally staid state, often called “Moderate Malaysia”, after a group of 62 non-governmental organisations known locally as Bersih 2.0 proposed a peaceful protest, dubbed the “Walk for Democracy”, against alleged vote-rigging and other electoral abuses in a recent state election. But the government last week declared Bersih – which means “clean” in Malay – illegal, and has warned that anyone wearing the yellow colours of protest will be detained. It has already arrested more than 200 supporters and organisers on charges ranging from the promotion of “illegal assembly” to “waging war against the king”. Some are being held for an indefinite period without trial. Although Malaysia’s next general election is not until 2013, polls could take place as soon as this year – with many speculating that the incumbent Barisan Nasional (National Front) may not fare so well. Headed by the prime minister, Najib Razak, Barisan Nasional has ruled Malaysia since 1955. It suffered a major setback in 2008 when it lost more than one-third of its parliamentary seats to Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Alliance), a coalition of opposition parties. Despite government accusations that they are actively threatening national security, Bersih’s leaders have been adamant that they are pushing solely for electoral changes. “We are calling for a government through free and fair elections, not street demonstrations” like in Egypt or Libya, said Bersih’s chairwoman, Ambiga Sreenevasan. After calling Bersih illegal, the government assented to a rally in a stadium. Opposition groups expect as many as 300,000 supporters to turn out. Police, however, have refused to grant Bersih a permit for the rally – a requirement for any gathering of five or more people – and have said they will work with the army to disperse Saturday’s crowds. Earlier this week police held a military exercise in which soldiers held up banners reading “Disperse or we will shoot”. Najib threw his endorsement behind local silat – or martial arts – groups, including one that has openly vowed to “wage war” against Bersih. “If there are evil enemies who want to attack the country from without and within,” Najib said this week, “you, my brothers, will rise to fight them”. Bersih organisers say they have received death, bomb and gang-rape threats in recent weeks, which they claim police have not investigated. “It has been challenging personally,” said Ambiga. Nonetheless, Bersih “understand our responsibility in holding the line on behalf of all of you who want nothing more than a clean electoral system and a better Malaysia.” While no one is entirely sure what to expect on Saturday, the lead-up has already caused mayhem. Extensive roadblocks have caused near standstills in Kuala Lumpur and many businesses will be closing. Widespread mobile phone and internet disruption is expected. Despite it being a supposedly peaceful protest, many are expecting violence. “This is the formula now, all around the world – in Libya, Egypt, it’s all the same – there will be violence,” said Mohamed Rayak, 32, a hotel manager. “But no one knows if it will be coming from the government or the opposition. If it’s from the government, then they can say it all got out of hand, and [the rally] has to be stopped.” Thousands of supporters have aired their views on Facebook and Twitter, with many of them, such as Thomas Chai, tweeting directly to the prime minister. “Beneath this YELLOW there is an idea, Mr Najib, and ideas are bulletproof,” he wrote. Bersih supporters in other parts of the world are expected to hold similar rallies on Saturday in Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, France, Switzerland, the US, Canada and the UK. Malaysia Protest guardian.co.uk
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