<p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333" color="#ffffff">I made reference to the irony of Bush's wish to spread "freedom" throughout the world in my </font><a href="http://turing.plymouth.edu/~estiller/blog/archives/20050124.html"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333" color="#ffffff">Jan. 24th posting</font></a><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333" color="#ffffff">. Additonal information has surfaced which was brought to my attention by the recent edition of The Nation magazine. Human Right's Watch has issued a report entitled,  <em><a href="http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/01/25/usdom10052.htm">Blood Sweat, and Fear, Workers' Rights in US Meat and Poultry Plants</a></em>. </font></p><p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333" color="#ffffff">Is this the "freedom" that Bush wishes to export to other countries? Does Bush have a different definition of the word, freedom than we do? Perhaps we should look up "freedom" in our Bushionary:</font></p><p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333" color="#ffffff">Freedom : (Noun) the condition of large corporations being free; the powerof these corporations to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints. The power to under-pay and exploit workers at will.</font></p><p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333" color="#ffffff">Well, I guess that explains it. But, do we really want to export this "freedom" to other countries?</font></p>
You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch!
Posted in Media Watch on February 11, 2005 by Blog Admin<p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333">I find the Bush budget to be particularly outrageous, given his (hidden) budget priorities. It seems that all the money is going to the defense industry, and coming out of the pockets of the poor and the environment. He is cutting back on health-care for the poor, pell grants, EPA funding etc.</font></p><p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333">Guess where Bush got his money? Ok Ok, from his daddy!  But, where did George Sr. get <em>his</em> money?  From <em>his</em> daddy and oil. Historically, the Bush family got their money as from the defence indistry (see </font><a href="http://www.oshoresbooks.com/library/books/americandynasty.htm"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333"><em>American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush</em> </font></a><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333">by Kevin Phillips for details<em>)</em>. According to </font><a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040301&s=drew"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333">The Nation:</font></a><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333"> <font size="2">" Phillips argues that the Walker and Bush families, along with other wealthy investment bankers, profited mightily from the rearmament efforts after the end of the First World War and were prominent members of the "military-industrial complex,". </font>Currently, George Sr. sits on none-other than the </font><a href="http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=1875084"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333">Carlyle Group's Board</font></a><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333"> of Directors. Do we see a little conflict of interest? </font></p> <br /><a href="http://turing.plymouth.edu/~estiller/blog/archives/9-Youre-a-Mean-One-Mr.-Grinch!.html#extended">Continue reading "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch!"</a>
That new-car smell!
Posted in Industry watch on February 5, 2005 by Blog Admin<p>Buy <em><a href="http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9844/9844.intro.html">Deceit and Denial, the Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution</a></em> by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner.</p><p><img height="62" hspace="5" src="http://turing.plymouth.edu/~estiller/blog/uploads/hairspray.serendipityThumb.jpg" width="110" align="left" border="0" />According to <a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050207&s=wiener">Jon Wiener</a> in his Nation article, the chemical industry is launching a campaign to discredit the authors of this book that chronicles the history of said industry covering up health risks associated its products, like tetraethyl lead and vinyl chloride. The chemical, <a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20000320&c=1&s=kitman">tetraethyl lead</a> ,was introduced into gasoline to create leaded gas, despite numerous lead poisonings by workers exposed to it. Although <a href="http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/vinyl/1.asp">vinyl chloride</a> was known to be a potent carcinogen, it was used as an aerosol propellant in products like hairspray until 1974. Industry is still releasing 1 million pounds of vinyl chloride into the atmosphere every year by using it to create PVC pipes and car upholstery. According to the EPA, <a href="http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/vinylchl.html">"Air inside new cars may contain vinyl chloride at higher levels than detected in ambient air because vinyl chloride may outgas into the air from the new plastic parts".</a></p><p /><p>I can still picture the cigarette industry CEOs sitting at a table during Senate hearings on the health risks of tobacco, claiming one after the other (without so much as a smirk) that there were no known health risks associated with their products.</p>
The real crises is health care not Social Security!
Posted in Media Watch on February 2, 2005 by Blog Admin<p><img height="108" hspace="5" src="http://turing.plymouth.edu/~estiller/blog/uploads/dollar.serendipityThumb.jpg" width="110" align="left" border="0" />As reported today on <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4475013">National Public Radio</a> by <span class="byline"><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100955">Patricia Neighmond</a></span><noindex /></noindex />, a new study from Harvard University reports that the <strong>real </strong>economic crisis is <strong>health care</strong>. The Harvard Study indicates that 50% of all personal bankruptcies are attributed to medical bills. In George W. Bush's state-of-the-union address this evening <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4474425">he is anticipated to address the Social Security "crises"</a>, rather than health care.</p><p>I bet he does not so much as acknowledge the real crisis so many Americans are struggling with.</p><h3 class="contenttitle" />
More Media Payola
Posted in Media Watch on January 29, 2005 by Blog Admin<p>Apparently the Bush administration is taking literally the idea of selling its policies to  the American people by targeting key pundits and bribing them for their support. Columnist Mike McManus is the latest to be found out. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/09/white.house.reporter/index.html">According to CNN</a>, <font color="#ffff00">"<strong><font size="2">The Department of Health and Human Services said Friday that a third conservative columnist was paid to assist in promoting a Bush administration policy."</font></strong></font> McManus joins <a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050131&s=alterman">Armstrong Williams</a> and <a href="http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/8974">Maggie Gallagher </a>as pundits receiving administration payola.</p><p>Personally, I can think of better ways to spend tax-payer money than bribing columnists. How about putting some money behind your "No Child Left Behind" initiative, rather than paying Armstrong Williams nearly a quarter-million dollars to support his flawed policy.</p>
Ending tyranny?
Posted in Media Watch on January 24, 2005 by Blog Admin<p>In President Bush's<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/01/20050120-1.html"> inaugural address</a> he states the following:</p><p><font color="#ffff00">"The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause. "</font></p><p>How about ending corporate tyranny right here in this country? How can we battle tyranny in other countries, when we permit working conditions that are similar to those at the turn of the century, as described by Upton Sinclair in <em><a href="http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Sinclair/TheJungle/">The Jungle.</a></em> Christopher Cook's wonderful book, "<a href="http://www.thenewpress.com/newbooks/dietplanet.htm">Diet for a Dead Planet"</a> describes how immigrant workers working in the meat packing industry are denied bathroom breaks and suffer repetitive motion problems at high rates due to excessive line speeds that are set by the <a href="http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome">USDA</a>. Other problems such as contaminated meat also result from this. So, hey Bush! Slow the lines down!</p>
"Math is hard", Barbie
Posted in Sexist pigs on January 20, 2005 by Blog Admin<p>Here we go again! Derrick Jackson summarizes Harvard President, <font color="#ffff00">Lawrence Summers</font>'s recent bungling in his <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/01/19/summerss_tortured_logic/">Boston Globe editorial</a>. Summers suggests that under representation of women in science and engineering may be due to women's innate lack of ability or willingness to work hard. Gee, I wonder why Harvard has so few tenured women professors!? Can you say "class action law suit"?  I am a professor in computer science and information technology at a small university, and I am frustrated by how few women attempt to major in either discipline. I understand the social dynamics that steer women to other majors. Despite these influences some sciences have made spectacular advances, like the biological sciences. There is a significant research suggesting how we as teachers can make our disciplines more appealing to women. For computer science, may I suggest: <a href="http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~gendergap/">"Unlocking the Clubhouse, Women in Computing"</a> by Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher, which documents Carnegie Mellon's increase in women's enrollment. CMU went from 8% women in 1995 to 42% women in 2000. Brilliant!</p>
Am I crazy?!
Posted in Media Watch on January 13, 2005 by Blog Admin<p>In the January 11 edition of the Boston Globe I was struck by the unbelievable level of irony posed by a pair of articles. The first article, <font color="#ffff00">"4 fired at CBS for report on Bush"</font>, discusses how four high-level CBS employees were fired for their handling of the 60 Minutes piece concerning George W. Bush's service record. The second article, <font color="#ffff00">"Despite false claim, his star rises"</font> discusses how <font color="#ffff00">Robert G. Joseph</font> insisted that Bush make the claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium for nuclear weapons, and now he is likely to become undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. </p><p>The irony stems from the consequences of each group/person's laxity of fact checking. In the case of Joseph, tens of thousands of innocent lives have been lost and hundreds of billions of dollars squandered as a result of the war with Iraq, so he is being promoted.  In the case of CBS, their journalistic integrity has suffered, but Bush was still reelected, and they are being fired.</p>
WorldCom in the media
Posted in Media Watch on January 12, 2005 by Blog Admin<p><span class="date">January 6, 2005</span> · <a href="http://www.npr.org/about/people/bios/mbrand.html"><font color="#ffffff">NPR's Madeleine Brand</font></a> talks to Tess Vigeland of <i>Marketplace</i> about the latest turn in the WorldCom accounting scandal. Ten former WorldCom board members reportedly have agreed to pay millions of dollars <strong><font color="#ffff00">out of their own pockets</font></strong> to settle some pending lawsuits.</p><p>Using the phrase, " out of their own pockets", has a similar effect as saying "out of the goodness of their hearts". The money was effectively stolen from employees and investors, so a phrase reflecting that should be used. For example, I would say WorldCom board members are agreeing to repay some small portion of investors' money.<!-- end center column --><!-- start resources in center column --><noindex /></p>