who owns your news???

When you turn on the news, or look at your paper, or turn on your favorite talk radio, what are you really getting??? Do you know who owns your favorite outlet?

(originally this was going to become a more in-depth break down of what companies own which news outlets, but there are several websites that have documented this and I don't want to spend 3 hours reinventing the wheel, you can easily do a basic websearch and find the facts for your self or I will just include a few links on the bottom of the post if you are too lazy to type)

Basically, all your major news sources are controlled by a few multinational enormous corporations. Media giants (Disney, Time-Warner, Comcast, News Corp) and defense contractors(GE, Westinghouse) which profit handsomely when we are in wars or when we have some latest craze to be scared of (Y2K, bird flu, killer bees, terrorists......). Man, it really isn't hard to come up with these things, in the spirit of Halloween I will throw in razor blade apples and LSD/arsenic laced candy. If I turn on MSNBC they are screaming about the right-wing elitists that are trying to ruin our country. If I turn on, maybe I should say flipping through and happen to catch a glance of, Fox News they are calling our president a ___________ (fill in blank with whatever seems the worst) Muslim, Communist, Socialist, Nazi, Marxist.... or make up something else up. Do they even stop to consider that most of the ideologies are diametrically opposed to one another? Nazi vs Communist have you ever heard of WW2? Communist vs Islam wasn't it the Soviet-Afghan War which led to the rise of Bin-Laden? A man that America armed and trained because at the time the politicians thought they could control him and it led to........... lets get back on topic. The point is these people profit from you and I listening to them and mindlessly repeating what they say. The greater the crisis the more we turn on our radios and tv's and listen to the pundits.

Ok, parting example, and I don't mean to pick on Fox but it really is just too easy.
Fox News can't seem to go 10 mins without talking about the ground zero mosque and saying what a travesty it is and that Muslim's are rubbing it in America's face. Did you know that News Corp's second largest share holder is a Saudi Prince? He is a member of the board and he happens to be giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to build the ground zero mosque. Why would Fox's owners be against the mosque publicly but be building it privately? Because its a win-win for them. Money pours in to the mosque from those who want to show support or disgust for the hate mongering. Money also pours in to Republican campaigners who promise to rid America of Islamic extremists and terrorists. They win, we lose.

I'm not saying you have to spend all your time searching the internet to try and find out about whats going on, but you need to know who its coming from so you can read between the lines. Most of it isn't even important or real, so don't stress yourself out over it. Think for yourself, if it sounds silly when you say it out loud, it usually is.

Have a happy Halloween, thanks for the read.


http://www.whoownsthenews.com/
http://www.mediaowners.com/
http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/media-ownership/dashboard.php

Small cardboard people

Just passing this along, enjoy.

Via This Blog Rules | Why go elsewhere? by Marko

Anton Tang, a talented artist and blogger from Singapore, has taken to the habit of photographing plastic “cardboard people” in typical, everyday settings and environments.

The special thing about these photos is that they add life to the tiny characters, and that gives you the impression that they all have a story to tell. The photos themselves are absolutely stunning. The right combination of lighting and angles makes the “cardboard people” look average-sized and not small.
Another artist has done a similar thing by using small cement figures and placing them on the streets of several European cities.
 

There is nothing new under the sun

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society-the farmers, mechanics, and laborers-who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government. There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing. In the act before me there seems to be a wide and unnecessary departure from these just principles....
...Experience should teach us wisdom. Most of the difficulties our Government now encounters and most of the dangers which impend over our Union have sprung from an abandonment of the legitimate objects of Government by our national legislation, and the adoption of such principles as are embodied in this act. Many of our rich men have not been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought us to make them richer by act of Congress. By attempting to gratify their desires we have in the results of our legislation arrayed section against section, interest against interest, and man against man, in a fearful commotion which threatens to shake the foundations of our Union. It is time to pause in our career to review our principles, and if possible revive that devoted patriotism and spirit of compromise which distinguished the sages of the Revolution and the fathers of our Union. If we can not at once, in justice to interests vested under improvident legislation, make our Government what it ought to be, we can at least take a stand against all new grants of monopolies and exclusive privileges, against any prostitution of our Government to the advancement of the few at the expense of the many, and in favor of compromise and gradual reform in our code of laws and system of political economy.

Part of President Andrew Jackson's Veto Message Regarding the Bank of the United States; July 10, 1832

Large banks feeding off the general public is nothing new. We just used to have presidents with enough courage to stand up to them. But now we:

Relax reserve standards.

Bail them out when they take too much risk.

Open up the discount window so they can barrow our money at super low interest, then they turn around and buy our bonds at a higher interest and make huge profits taking advantage of the system.

Congress turns a blind eye to the huge profits and bonuses since large chunks of taxpayer money now gets funneled to them through the banks lobbyist.

The courts rule that the people have no right to know where the money comes from.

And most of us will go to the poles and vote for more of the same because we like the little letter next to a candidates name.

For those of us who are fans of history, watching the political banter is both frustrating and humorous. It is both sad and ironic that a distinctly human trait is to not learn from the past.

Thanks for the read.



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