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POPSU.S. Ranked 36th Freest Press in the World 
Who Controls the U.S. Media? For the most part, the media spreads a lot of misinformation and corporate propaganda. This is not at all surprising considering that Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch's News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, Viacom (formerly CBS) and General Electric's NBC are the top owners of the entire media industry, which includes everything you read and hear in newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, wire services and photo agencies. In the last 15 years alone, your sources for news have shrunk drastically. Whereas in 1983, 50 corporations ruled the U.S. news media, by 2004 this number decreased to a minuscule six corporations! As you might imagine, with just six corporations deciding what’s worthy of news and what’s not, you end up with sensationalized tragedies, celebrity features, and anything else that will capture people’s attention. There is virtually no competition in the media market today whatsoever, and this s
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POPSThe The "The Beat(en) Generation" And our youth, oh youth, are being seduced By the greedy hands of politics and half truths The beaten generation, the beaten generation Reared on a diet of prejudice and misinformation The beaten generation, the beaten generation Open your eyes, open your imagination We're being sedated by the gasoline fumes And hypnotised by the satellites Into believing what is good and what is right You may be worshipping the temples of mammon Or lost in the prisons of religion But can you still walk back to happiness When you've nowhere left to run? If they send in the special police To deliver us from evil and keep us from peace Then won't the words sit ill upon their tongues When they tell us justice is being done That freedom lives in the barrels of a warm gun? The beaten generation, the beaten generation Reared on a diet of prejudice and misinformation The beaten generation, the beaten generation Open your eyes, open your imagination
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POPSNational Writing Day Now there's the computer and the internet. In the digital age, anyone with a laptop, a wi-fi card, and a place to sit at Starbucks can put material into cyberspace. The digital revolution means everyone's an author, every day is National Writing Day. And this sudden democratizing of the writing process generates its own set of complaints: * it's wrong to give so many people access to authorship -- after all, most people won't be very good at, and some people are going to write things that we don't agree with * computers make writing too easy -- something so important should only come with effort -- no pain, no gain -- maybe we should increase the entrance fees? * we need to control, license, censor what's on the 'net: after all, the web is full of lies, misinformation, nonsense, pornography, fraud, Nigerian money scams, and hate, not to mention all those pictures of little cats But despite the complaints, writers everywhere are grabbing their keyboards...
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POPSCDC Massive Misinformation Campaign: Error Rate Up To 97% Back then, the media was all over the shortage and the incompetence it exposed. Once again, the vast majority of the vaccine will have been made available too late to have any significant impact on the spread of the disease. Whether it will have any impact on the public’s perception of the government’s competency to control health care is a matter of speculation, entirely, but it seems liable not to help. And that is perhaps why Obama determined that this is the moment in which it was most propitious to declare an emergency, so that when the epidemic ends he can recycle his rhetoric regarding jobs created or saved. Whether the administration will use the declared state of emergency to stifle the babblings of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan remains to be seen. Likely the decision will be made by CDC poobah Eric Holder.
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POPSObama's Tax-Payer Funded Propaganda Campaign 
The President's website starts from the premise of public option--that is what the Left has long desired. Government run health care, aka Single Payer (the government) is what they covet. They know that they'll likely lose seats in 2010, so this is their last, best, and probably only hope of getting the prize. "Reform will stop 'rationing' not increase it": Right now, when a person needs a procedure that is not covered by his insurance company, the individual complains to the doctor and to the insurance company. The doctor asks the insurance company for a review, writes a letter of medical necessity and the insurance company either approves or denies coverage. If the evidence is compelling, they approve. Sometimes this needs to be appeal. Sometimes, yelling on the phone is involved. If the insurance company doesn't approve, the patient can pay for the procedure himself. If the withholding of the procedure harms the patient, the patient sues the insurance company.
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POPSCanadian Doctor Shares True Pros & Cons of Canadian Health Care
Canadian doctor Michael M. Rachlis shares the truth about the Canadian Health Care system in hopes of dissolving propaganda and confusion. The Los Angeles Times posted and Op-Ed article by Canadian doctor Michael M. Rachlis. The whole thing is well worth a read and will provide a much better understanding of not only the Canadian health care system, but that of the U.S. as well. There's been a vast debate regarding a public option in the U.S. and most of it seems to be based on misinformation and fear tactics. Unfortunately, there's been a shortage of informed opinions and solid facts. I think it would be a good idea of many people who enjoy the benefit of universal health care in other countries would come forth and share their experiences. With the vast number of uninsured Americans, and the fact that insurance companies can and do deny coverage on a very arbitrary basis, there seems to be a need of some kind of major overhaul to the American health care system.
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POPSMeet Rick Berman-Misinformation's Top Gun For Hire Who is Richard Berman? Richard Berman is a Washington, D.C.-based hired gun who uses front groups to defend his corporate clients against the public interest. Using his lobbying and consulting firm, Berman and Company, as a revenue vehicle for his activities, Berman runs at least 15 industry-funded projects, such as the Center for Union Facts, and holds 16 "positions" within these various entities.
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POPSGlossary- a Bird's eye view! Tax – certainly not the fine that goes along with the individual mandate. No matter what that little #&%@! Stephanopoulos or Webster’s say. These and more at the site.
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POPS Obama as Dr. Evil Part of this was due to opposition to specific policies, and a belief that on certain critical issues, America has acted unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others. This has fed an almost reflexive anti-Americanism, which too often has served as an excuse for our collective inaction. Like all of you, my responsibility is to act in the interest of my nation and my people, and I will never apologize for defending those interests. But it is my deeply held belief that in the year 2009 " more than at any point in human history " the interests of nations and peoples are shared. It irks me that Obama believes that our interests are shared. Our interests could be shared, if Iran didn’t want to obliterate Israel, for example. However, presently that is not a shared interest of the United States. Obama courts the world, telling them how he appeases them"closing Guantanamo Bay, ending torture, ending weapons systems, ridding the world of nuclear weapons, and so on . .
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POPShow to spread misinformation the CBS report has an "update" at the bottom of the piece,from the kind of people CBS didn't bother to quote- (preferring the likes of the Heritage Foundation and CEI, staunch critics of cap-and-trade- more at source.............
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POPSEmbarrasing Internet Mistakes With near-instantaneous communication via e-mail and IM, the Internet makes socializing and "hanging out" with your friends as easy as updating your Facebook profile But like any technology, the Internet is just a tool, and when you're driving at these lightning speeds on the information superhighway, one wrong move -- a misguided keystroke, a mistaken Reply All -- can lead to disaster, fast. Private matters become public in one hot instant, and, like the contents of Pandora's Box, some secrets don't go away so easily once they're out there. Here are 12 cautionary online tales that serve to remind us how garden variety office gossip and misinformation can now go global in a split second.
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POPSWhat I Saw at the 9/12 March Wow! There is still a lot of misinformation floating around out there. Most people have good hearts and are fearful of what direction they think the government is headed, and rightly so. They should always question the government’s motives but they should also question their sources of information. One of the biggest dangers of any democratic society is to follow unquestioningly what you are told by the mainstream media. Especially a corporate controlled media that embraces bias and plays on your fears to get your attention. The author mentions many things these people are either against or fearful of. I am given the impression that these people are against them simply because they are perceived to be democratic principles. The truth is many of these things were started under a Republican administration. Some of these things fall directly onto Barack Obama.
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POPSNever Take A Poll At Face Value
Polls are tools if you understand them correctly they can give a wealth of insight into an issue. But never take them at face value alone, now what the margin of error means, what the actual questions and answer choices That were used for the poll. For example, I was once asked to participate in an over the phone poll. I was asked how I thought a certain local politician was doing his job. But rather than being able to say I didn't think he was doing a good job at all, I was only given a choice between a) a good job , or B) a fair job. There was no C) for just plain bad. Poll questions can also be worded so that they are certain to get the response that the poll taker wants. Why do they do this? So they can wave a poll in front of you hoping to sway your opinion. Any one in advertising , marketing, and politics knows this, and use it. Some are legit, some are bias, some are just poorly made. You need to know the difference and what they are really telling you.
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POPSGet the real facts False Republican Attacks on Health Insurance Reform In an attempt to stall or even derail health insurance reform, many Republican officials have continually made false and outlandish claims that distort the truth about the reforms that are actually being proposed. Special Interest Groups' Misinformation Campaign Special interest groups continue to rely on scare tactics and mistruths to create confusion and distort the debate. In many cases, they’ve attacked provisions that don’t even appear in any of the health-care measures under consideration. Viral Chain Emails Filled with Blatantly False Claims Many people have received anti-health-reform chain emails filled with blatantly false claims.
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POPSFive Biggest Lies in the Health Care Debate
I am tired of wading through the inflammatory claims designed to scare people into thinking the government is out to rob us blind and turn us all into socialist puppets. These manipulative tactics are not conducive to debate and are designed to hijack the legislative process to fulfill the needs of selfish interests. If any politician cannot debate this issue with truth and honesty and with respect for their opponents and the democratic process then they need to be identified and removed from their positions. Those participating in this despicable charade dare not claim themselves to be American for it besmirches the spirit of our founding fathers and denigrates their intended ideals for this nation. Lies are the tools of desperation and should be brought out into the open along with their underhanded perpetrators. There are valid fears of socialism when the government begins taking over the means of production but valid meaningful debate needs to take place to prevent it.
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POPSIsrael Leads the Lies About Iran Nukes
Israel and USA neocons led the way lying about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction and for the past few years are spreading the same lies about Iran. And our corrosive and toxic media prints this negative gossip as if it was news. Then generals and politicians quote the false non-news gossip. All the while (like in Iraq) the actual facts and info from the IAEA has to be ignored. It's quite a trick but how dumb could we be to get fooled by it again. Of course, it's not like most people are fooled but the warmongers need to come up with some reason for invasion so this gives 'em something to babble while their war plans move forward. The extra "irony," is Israel is the nation with the hundreds of illegal nuke weapons. So, it looks like the pressure of another war for the sake of Israel and Oil remains the Master Plan. Israel is probably also the most racist nation in the world and accusing everyone else of racism seems to cover this fact up. Don't ge
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POPSYou say that like it's a bad thing – looking at anti-union misinformation More: I don't know to what extent union laws need to be revised to address abuses. I can't tell, because the information pool is so polluted by propaganda‡. But to blame the unions every time that union-corporate interactions go wrong? That's like blaming the wife in every divorce.… ‡ And that in itself is a significant piece of information.
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POPS NOT N.I.C.E. (criticism of NICE has been ceaseless) saw nothing wrong with running this unabashed love-letter to a health-care system, in effect, ruled by death panels (See my post on this last Friday, or Tom Maguire's Sunday item for more). Now, suddenly, to even suggest such a possibility is McCarthyism " now called Palinism " according to Richard Cohen. What drives me crazy about liberal complaints about conservative tactics these days is how selective they are. Obama, Barney Frank, Jacob Hacker, and others have said that they want these reforms " specifically the public option " to lead to single payer. But when conservatives take them at their word, suddenly it's outrageous misinformation and "fishy" stuff. When the wind is at their backs, liberals look way off to the horizon, like Obama at a podium, dreaming of a future of European-style statism. But when conservatives use this to their advantage, suddenly it is outrageous to even consider the possibility of a road to hell being paved with good intentions. . . .
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POPSThe Health Insurance Industry's stand on it all They're winning so long as anyone is believing the deceitful misinformation about Health Care Reform. Do you want them to be allowed to pay only 65% of every medical expense you get, while you have to pay the other 35%, on top of your premiums?
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