WENDELL POTTER: I thought that he hit the nail on the head with his movie.
But the [Insurance] Industry, from the moment that the Industry learned that Michael Moore was taking on the health care industry, it was really concerned.
BILL MOYERS: What were they afraid of?
WENDELL POTTER: They were afraid that people would believe Michael Moore.
Her phone rings. It is another board member, and he is at the Capitol. We are off to the third floor and a day that accelerates from 0 to 60 very quickly. Among the sea of suits, we find her guest and connect him with Rep. Stephens, who will escort him onto the floor of the House for a visit.
Immediately thereafter, we meet up with the lobbyist for the Department of Economic Development, which houses the tourism budget and serves as the state's marketing apparatus for the industry. They discuss the House budget cuts, pending legislation and chart strategy. During that conversation she is approached by another lobbyist from the Association County Commissioners of Georgia who relays concerns over a hotel tax bill introduced a day earlier. Joy assures her the bill is a temporary bill and that a substitute is coming. [...]
Not much later, the lobbyist for the Georgia Municipal Association approaches Joy expressing similar concerns. Joy again explains a substitute is coming.
In a press conference today, Defense Secretary Gates announced the replacement of America's top general in Afghanistan. The commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, General McKiernan, is being replaced by Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal. McChrystal, former Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), is seen by Secretary Gates as having a more suitable background to the complexities of the war in Afghanistan.
a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It depicts the plight of the French proletariat under the brutal oppression of the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution
The share of total income going to the top-earning 1 percent of Americans went from 8 percent in 1980 to 16 percent in 2004.
...
One reason: gains in the stock market. Affluent people own more stocks, and executives are often paid in stock or stock options. So when the market does well, their wealth accelerates quickly
Well, Bill Moyers is currently telling the historic Story about the Need for "Two Banking Systems" ...
Over the past three years [as of August 2004] the big five Media companies, Disney (ABC), News Corp (Fox) GE (NBC & Telemundo), Viacom (ABC), Time Warner (CNN & WB) plus the NAB [National Association of Broadcasters] have spent over $79,740,000 on lobbying. ...
It can be hard to determine which partner is leading the dance at any given moment. General Electric, which owns NBC, spent over $45 million dollars on lobbying in 2003 alone. GE is also a defense department contractor with annual revenue of $134.2 billion, profiting handsomely from its government contracts in Iraq.
by Montana Maven (cross-posted by permission-benny)
Issues Divide, Values Unite? True? When I first heard this phrase, I was puzzled. For me, it could easily be the other way around. Values are pretty personal and how we rank our values is also personal. But aren't issues our day-to-day problems? And aren't they the deals we try to work out around the kitchen table or the conference table? Didn't King Arthur come up with the idea of problem-solving around a round table to keep individual values and rank out of the way? Issues aren't convenient or conventional or easy. They take hard work to do and hard work to even think or write about.
When politicians only talk about values, they are just being lazy. We need to see the blue print and the repair manual.
Right now, it still appears to be easy to divide and conquer the American people with racism, sexism, and agism. Politicians are still working hard to keep the so called culture wars going. Just where did all this warfare start?
