hmmm just read a story that said that the Bush administration has spent 294 million or so on PR.... I'll see if I can find a link
Dana On Apr 1, 2005 11:06 AM, Gruss Gott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Robert wrote: > > The Democrats pooh-poohed the whole notion of Sandy Berger being a thief > > as ridiculous. Well, it turns out the press was right: > > > > Here's my off-the-top-of-my-head Op-Ed. My point is, I think it's > time to start solving problems but to do that we'll have to remove the > money from politics. > > Polarization - It ain't just for Penguins > ------------------------------------------------------------- > "Polarization" has become a popular word when discussing politics > these days. So why is it that we're so polarized all of a sudden? > Because modern American politics has become like Amway. > > Companies such as Amway are examples of "network" or "multi-level" > marketing and they offer anyone the chance join and "get rich". They > align themselves with all types of products and/or services like > Primerica for financial planning and Excel Telecommunications for long > distance service. > > To some degree they all work the same way: a friend, acquaintance, or > ad offers you the ability to run your own small business by selling > products on your off-time. You'll quickly become a millionaire since, > due to low overhead, the product is an exceptional deal. > > If you dig deeper you find out there's a small catch: to start your > business you have to pay an up front fee for "training materials" or > "advertising" which is usually a few hundred dollars. Then you find > out that you can quickly make that money back by simply finding a few > friends to join since you'll get a cut of their upfront fee. Even > better, if your friends get their friends to join you get a cut of > THIER fee. And so on, and so on, and so on. > > Anybody who's paying attention quickly realizes that to make the real > money you don't sell the products, you just sign up friends and > encourage them to get their friends to sign up. > > These multi-level marketing companies are, in fact, just Ponzi schemes > operating under the guise of product sales to stay legal. Which > brings us back to politics. > > Modern American politics has become a collection of special interests > operating for profit under the guise of fixing social problems. And > the profits aren't just for special interests anymore. Growing levels > of professions have begun to figure out that they too can profit by > aligning themselves with one side or another. > > For example, it used to be implicit that when you claimed to be > reporting news you were also claiming to be a journalist, and when you > claimed to be a journalist you were claiming to be objective. No > longer. > > In February The National Press Foundation honored Fox News' Brit Hume > with its Sol Taishoff award. The 4 person committee that unamimously > elected him called him, "an excellent journalist." The trouble is > that Mr. Hume isn't objective and was said to practice "ideologically > connected journalism" by Geneva Overholser, the former ombudsman of > The Washington Post. > > Isn't "ideologically connected journalism" an oxymoron? I guess not. > Of course Mr. Hume would claim he's only "balancing" the tilt of other > media outlets. > > Here's the key: what he wouldn't say was that he was being objective. > Why not? Because that's less profitable. Why? Because millions of > people are also profiting by attaching themselves to his political > party and they want to hear what their side has to say; both to gather > their talking points and to justify their behavior. > > They've figured out that when you align yourself with a party you get > favors, attention, and profit. And the politicians at the root of it > have to pretend to be solving social issues to keep this Ponzi scheme > legal. Just like Amway. > > So why all of the polarization? Because increasingly it's the only > way to make money in America. Don't be surprised if during your next > job interview or client meeting they ask you which news channel you > watch. But then you'll probably know just how to answer. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:152615 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
