Corporate interests influencing politics, cable entertainment masquerading as news, and left or right leaning journalists are the single most destructive force in society.

How difficult is it to report  facts, not opinions or speculative  drivel . The polarization of this NATION is a by product of Corporate involvement in policy decisions.

Remember, the most influential cable networks, newspapers, etc. are controlled by the same recycled corporate interests.

The next time you turn on the television, be mindful of who is bankrolling the information.

Who Controls the Media?

Parent Company	Networks Owned	Cable Interests
General Electric $100.5 billion 1998 revenuesBackground: GE/NBC’s ranks No. 1 on the Forbes 500. Prior to its merger with NBC and an alliance with Microsoft, GE specialized in electronics. The peacock owns many New York sports team. It also owns or has equity stakes in many popular websites, including Snap.com and iVillage.	NBC includes programming, news and more than 13 TV and radio stations	Owns 25-50% of the following: A & E (with Disney and Hearst) American Movie Classics (25%) Biography Channel (with Disney and Hearst) Bravo (50%) Bravo International CNBC Court TV (with Time Warner) Fox Sports Net History Channel (with Disney and Hearst) Independent Film Channel MSG Network MSNBC (50%) National Geographic Worldwide News Sport Prime Prism (with Rainbow, a subsidiary of Cablevision, and Liberty Media, a subsidiary of TCI) Romance Classics Sports Channel Cincinnati, Chicago, Florida, New England, Pacific, Ohio, Philadelphia
Time Warner $26.8 billion 1998 revenuesBackground: The largest media corporation in the world, Time Warner owns film and music production companies, theme parks, sports teams, magazines, websites and book publishers as well as Turner Broadcasting	TURNER BROAD-CASTING includes sports teams, programming, production, retail, book publishing and multimediaWB Television Network	HBO (75%) Cinemax HBO Direct Broadcast Court TV (33% with GE) TBS Superstation Turner Classic Movies TNT Cartoon Network Comedy Central (37.5% with Viacom) Sega Channel OVATION (50%) Women’s Information Television (WIN) (partial) TVKO (75%) 4 regional all-news channels CNN CNN/SI (with Sports Illustrated) CNNfn (financial network) CNNRadio Headline News Sportsouth CNN International CNN Airport Network
The Walt Disney Co. $23 billion 1998 revenuesBackground: With its 1995 merger with Capital Cities/ABC, Disney has become a fully-integrated media giant. In addition to its theme parks, the company profits from retail outlets, magazines, book publishers, websites, motion pictures, sports teams, TV, cable, radio, music and newspapers.	ABC includes ABC Radio, ABC Video and ABC Network News	Disney Channel Disney Television (58 hours/week syndicated programming) Toon Disney Touchstone Television A&E (37.5% with Hearst and GE) Lifetime Network (50%) ESPN (80% with Hearst) ESPN2 (80% with Hearst) ESPN Classic (80% with Hearst) ESPN West (80% with Hearst) ESPNews (80% with Hearst) Buena Vista Television Biography Channel (with GE and Hearst) History Channel (37.5% with Hearst and GE) Classic Sports Network E! (35%)
Viacom $18.9 billion 1998 revenuesBackground: Viacom’s purchase of Paramount, CBS and Blockbuster Video enables them to use cable, television, movies, comic books, theme parks, music publishing and book publishing to cross-market their products. Broadcasting alone brings in over $6 billion in revenues.	CBS includes stations, CBS Radio, CBS Telenoticias and CBS Network NewsUPN includes programming and TV stations (50%)	Nickelodeon MTV M2: Music Television VH1 Showtime Nick at Nite’s TVLand Paramount Networks Comedy Central (50% with Time Warner) TNN: The Nashville Network Movie Channel FLIX All News Channel (50%) Sundance Channel (45%) Midwest Sports Channel CBS Telenoticias (30%) Home Team Sports (66% with News Corporation)
News Corporation $13 billion 1998 revenuesBackground: CEO Rupert Murdoch’s style has inspired respect and fear, and it has also made his multinational ventures in publishing, television and satellite services very successful. The company owns 20th Century Fox, the New York Post, the London Times, TV Guide, many stadiums, the LA Dodgers and five New York sports teams.	FOX includes programming and stations	Fox Family Channel (50%) Fox News Channel fx (50% with TCI’s Liberty Media) fxM (50% with TCI’s Liberty Media) Fox Sports Net (25% with TCI, GE and Cablevision) The National Geographic Channel (50%) FIT TV Partnership Regional networks, including TV Guide Channel and Fox Sports New York

Other Major Players:

AT&T (TCI) – Recently acquired by AT&T, TCI’s hold on cable, internet and local phone services contributed to $7.6 billion in 1997 revenues. TCI is the second-largest US cable television system provider, and it has 10% ownership of Time-Warner/Turner. The company owns all or part of USA Network, Sci-Fi Network, E!, Court TV, Starz! and Starz! 2, Black Entertainment Television, BET on Jazz, BET Movies/Starz! 3, CNN, TNT, Headline News, Prime Sports Channel, The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel, QVC, Q2, Fox Sports Net, The Travel Channel, Prevue Channel, Animal Planet, The Box, Telemundo, International Channel, Encore, MSG Network, Action Pay-per-view, and the Home Shopping Network.

Sony – Sony’s main media interests, earning $9 billion in 1997 sales, are in film and television production, movie theaters and music.

Universal (Seagram) – In addition to Universal Studios, with its production facilities and theme parks, the company owns the USA and Sci-Fi cable networks.

http://www.nowfoundation.org/issues/communications/tv/mediacontrol.html

On the heels of what is being chided as the best National Convention in history, the jobs numbers are out.   Opponents would have people believe that less than expected jobs numbers are   all Obama’s fault.  On the contrary, Obama and Democratic members of congress have repeatedly tried to pass comprehensive job creation legislation.   Republicans have repeatedly voted against them.

The method Republicans have used to block all jobs legislation in the past two years is the same. A jobs bill comes up, it is filled with positive things for the economy, Republicans filibuster debate, this shields them from having to make floor speeches on why they don’t want tax breaks for small businesses… etc.

Why? Well, if the economy recovers too strongly before an election, Republicans will lose power. If jobs numbers look too good, people will want to keep the same party. By Republicans blocking all jobs legislation and keeping jobs numbers from improving they believe this is their ticket to power.

In other words, if you and other Americans suffer just long enough it will pay off for Republicans.

They sacrifice the citizens’ jobs with the hopes that they will create more Republican jobs in Congress.(FULL STORY HERE AT Policy MIC).

Republicans tout their patriotism.  Patriotism is defined as devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty.  

OH, I get it, this is how Republican’s show their love for this nation.

Cross Posted on All Things Democrat

I was fortunate to serve as a Democratic National Delegate for Texas.  The still photo above was taken from a video of the President’s speech on the Here is the entire video.  Te picture above was taken from the end of the video.

Politicians have been selling out to the highest bidder for years. Who are the benefactors? It doesn’t take a Rhodes Scholar to figure it out. The GOP represents Wall Street; Democrats represent Main Street. Republicans may reign supreme from time to time. But, for many, many years–Democrats controlled congress…

Democrats controlled the House of Representatives for 60 years between 1933-1995 (in all but four years); and, they controlled the Senate in all but ten years. If you wanted something done, you needed the support of the Democrats. Those were the good ol’ days- a time when Congressional leaders upheld public interest. Somewhere, along the way, things changed:

Republicans seized power in 1994 by raising massive amounts of campaign cash. Between 1994-1998, Republican candidates raised a record breaking $1 BILLION+ dollars (Kaiser, 2009. So Damn Much Money, p. 272).

In 1994 (for the first time since 1954), Republicans gained control of both houses. The power shift gave the Neo-Cons a taste of how much power they stood to lose, if they didn’t keep their sponsors happy. Perhaps, this could explain why the power hungry Neo-Cons turned their collective focus away from public interest, to their corporate bedfellows. After all, they had $1 billion+ favors to repay. But, the Democrats would not go quietly- between 1995 and 2010, congressional power shifted as many times in fifteen years as it had in the past forty-five years (Lessig,L. 2011. Republic Lost, p.94).

In 2008, Republicans were dumping campaign cash at any contender they thought could beat a Democrat (Hillary or Obama). It didn’t take long for Democrats to learn that in order to beat Republicans (and BIG MONEY), you’ve got to raise a lot of cash, too. Presidential Candidates – Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain – together spent more than $1 billion, an unprecedented figure. But, Obama didn’t win because of the massive amounts of campaign cash alone, he had a message. Of course, the cash helped Obama, no doubt, but he inspired Americans at a time when many of us had had a belly full of Bush, Cheney, the Industrial Military Complex, and failed Republican policies.

And, just when we thought we’d be able to loosen the Neo-Con stranglehold on humanity, enter the DRAGON: Citizens United.

The Citizens United ruling in 2010, was the proverbial nail in the coffin of public interest. All hail BIG BUSINESS. The landmark decision allows corporations and unions to throw endless amounts of cash at politicians. (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S.08-205 (2010), 558 U.S., 130 S. Ct. 876 (January 21, 2010)).

As the saying goes, “You get what you pay for.” Therefore, I am duty bound to open up my checkbook and throw as much cash as possible toward QUALIFIED Democrats who do not worship at the altar of Wall Street, but work with us folks down here on Main Street. Please feel free to do the same, Main Street depends on it.

Cross posted on: www.definedontdefend.com and www.allthingsdemocrat.com

Matthew Modine’s very short film with a VERY POWERFUL MESSAGE.
This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. The best way to create hope is to create opportunity.

It’s easy to bemoan our political leaders and we no doubt expect way too much from them. They are, after all, no more than elected public officials. We vote them into office to represent us. When they fail to represent the will of the people and the nation, we need to replace them and find those that will. This democratic process is but one of the goals of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. OWS can now be found in 951 cities in 83 countries including Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa. OWS is a people-powered movement that began in the financial district of New York City and has grown into a global occupation. It’s people from all over the world asking for better management. People asking this from their leaders and nations. People recognizing that governments commitment to the future is short-sighted. People exercising their right to demonstrate — which is the most basic emblem of democracy. Everybody is each of us. If you think you’re too small to make an impact, remember how annoying it is to try and sleep with a mosquito in your bedroom. I made this film to demonstrate.

EXCLUSIVE: WWW.OWSPR.COM
WWW.WORKHOUSEPR.COM
Media Contact Workhouse, CEO Adam Nelson via nelson@workhousepr.com

Original Story via CLROSE at  ALL THINGS DEMOCRAT

Mitt Romney was born and raised in Michigan, which technically makes it his “home state”. He was Governor of Massachusetts and he and his wife still maintain a condo there. The Romneys also have a “compound” in New Hampshire, and a beach house in California.

It would be reasonable to think that at least one of the four states he has a connection to would be behind him as a candidate – think again.

Currently, President Obama is ahead of Romney in the polls in all four states where the Romneys have ties. According to Real Clear Politics

   Obama’s leads are:

•   Michigan: +8.5
•   Massachusetts: +21
•   California: +23.5
•   New Hampshire: +6.4

Trailing in Michigan is understandable, after all Romney has bungled and re-bungled the issue of the bailout for the major automakers – they should go bankrupt, the bailout was my idea, etc., etc. Then there was the idiot move where, as the New York Times reported,  he told several thousand Wisconsin voters:

 “…one of the most humorous” connections he had to the state came when his father, George Romney, closed an auto plant in Michigan and moved it to Wisconsin. When the elder Mr. Romney later ran for governor of Michigan, the son recalled, the plant closure became a rather sensitive subject, especially when a school band played   the Wisconsin fight song at a parade…”

Hardly an amusing anecdote.

READ THE ENTIRE STORY HERE:  Romney Trails in His Home State – No Matter Which One He Chooses.

2008 oppo-research is a window into the mind of Romney.  There is little doubt that updating is in order, but it is still an interesting read nonetheless.

McCain’s 2008 opposition dossier on Romney: He’s weak and a flip-flopper

Talk about awkward.

John McCain’s entire 2008 opposition-research dossier on then-foe Mitt Romney has reportedly been found and posted online, thanks to BuzzFeed.

The two politicians were bitter opponents for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. McCain won, of course, and Romney backed the Arizona senator after conceding. (entire story here).  via ALIYAH SHAHID at Daily News.

Here is the entire ROMNEY Playbook PDF file.

 

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