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(part 1):
New shopping, new life: (Which is intended to help Your Correspondent supplement his disability benefits, for the most part, as well as Some Good Causes, foremost among them being Reduction of the U.S. National Debt):
(part 2):
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And why not take a moment to look @ PayPal as a way to add online shopping to your website, or otherwise raise funds.
SOME OF YOU READERS MAY THINK THE ABOVE PICTURE IS RATHER IRRELEVANT ON THE POINT I AM ABOUT TO ADDRESS, by way of the ConWebBlog:
The Media Research Center continues its tunnel-vision interpretation of the state of the newspaper industry with a Nov. 21 NewsBusters post by Tom Blumer, who chortles at the declining value of New York Times Co. stock (he denigrates the Times as "Manhattan's quaint little alternative newspaper"), accuses the Times of "insufferable bias," then claims: "Yours truly and many others saw deep trouble ahead for the Times as early as the summer of 2005 if the paper didn't stop its Bush-deranged, standards-compromised march towards the cliff."
What "yours truly" is referring to is a post by Blumer on his BizzyBlog in which he rants against the Times for covering the leak of Valerie Plame's identity by Bush administration officials, which Blumer designated as "Nadagate," "non-scandal about which I refuse to blog in detail" with "main players, whose full names I refuse to type. It appears obstruction of justice and lying to a grand jury is "nada," as far as Blumer is concerned.
Nowhere in either post note what actual media analysts do when discussing declining newspaper circulation: the paradigm shift from print to online and the growing commoditization of news.
Blumer's suggestion that the Times' problems are solely attributable to its alleged liberal bias is a politically motivated interpretation unsupported by the facts.
Which raises the question: If, as conservative illogic suggests, the Mainstream Media is in decline because of "liberal bias," are we to follow, therefore, that the conservative media is now in the ascendency?
If so, which conservative media outlets are showing consistent and healthy gains in circulation and advertising revenue year on year, based on audited circulation or viewership figures as the case may be?
And how many of these conservative media outlets have substantial audience numbers in lower-income, economically-disadvantaged or otherwise "white trash" neighbourhods best described as "culturally-deprived environments"? Is their appeal in such areas largely because of an unhealthy emphasis on quasi-pornography and appeals to jingoistic patriotism?
Are those involved with these conservative media outlets (un)consciously (un)aware that their core audience is comprised mostly of the vulnerable, the ignorant and the psychoemotionally unstable as may take its content way too literally--especially if such involves "calls to action" bordering on mayhem, civil disorder and violence?
We await your answers. And you can leave them in the comments section, so long as they are tasteful and respectful.
A COUPLE OF ITEMS FROM THE PAST WEEK'S NEWS THAT YOUR CORRESPONDENT IS AWARE OF perhaps illustrates what I'm getting @ in the title of this piece:
Bob Jones University, perhaps one of the more illustrious specimens of Fundamentalist/Primitive Christian Higher Education (if you could call it that), issued formal apologies for policies based not so much on Biblical Teaching and Authority (as officially claimed) as on "local custom and tradition" which, until 1971, barred blacks from admission ... and, until 1999, banned interracial dating among students.
eHarmony.com, in settling charges of discrimmination against the GLBTQ community with New Jersey's Human Rights Commission, announced that it had agreed "with reluctance" to set up a separate dating and relationships portal as would cater to the GLBTQ element (remember that eHarmony's founder, Dr. Neal Clark Warren, has openly expressed homophobic views and articles of faith--howbeit not on eHarmony's radio and TV adverts).
But, on the other hand, certain Zealots and True Believers in the Final Perfection of Pure Capitalism as a Holy of Holies vis-a-vis American Soverignty and Soverign Identity are afraid to express reluctance until and unless pushed, come to think of it. Dave Zweifel's "Plain Talk" e-column in The Capital Times (cyberspace, via Madison, WI) illustrated just how afraid certain hyperconservatives are reluctant to sign on to pleas by Detroit's "Big Three" for Federal financial relief while otherwise supportive of Pure Capitalism:
I'm not 100 percent sold on this $25 million lifeline that General Motors wants from the federal government, but listening to some of these self-important commentators attack it as being a sop to the United Auto Workers is enough to make one sick.
Indeed, some are portraying the UAW as the real villain of the American auto industry's enormous financial problems--not the corporate leaders who were paid handsomely to be visionaries for their stockholders but were so blinded by big car profits that they couldn't see the sea change that was headed their way.
Many of these anti-union pontificators don't have a problem with pumping tens of billions into those banking conglomerates like Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase where millionaire executives can pad their own accounts or throw multimillion-dollar "retreats" for the company bigshots like insurance giant AIG did with money from its first U.S. Treasury bailout. Bailing THESE guys out is necessary to save the American economy, they say, but not the men and women who have toiled 40 hours a week on the assembly line floor so they can pay their mortgages and with any luck send their kids to college.
These columnists and bloggers lump unions with corporate America as "special interests," and since the UAW pumped lots of money into Barack Obama's campaign this fall, they claim that's why he and Democrats in Congress are ready to bail out GM.
True, unions do get deeply involved in elections, just like their management counterparts do. But, their "special interests" happen to be the working people who through the years have typically received the short end of the stick while corporations like Boeing, Xerox, Motorola, Dow Chemical, General Electric and other corporate special interests have made their contributions and been treated to corporate welfare by their friends in government.
It's also true that UAW members at GM, Ford and Chrysler are paid more than are the workers at the foreign-owned American auto plants, but that's not to say the union hasn't made considerable concessions in an effort to help right the ship, including taking over health insurance and agreeing to wage concessions that will eventually close that disparity.
Some of these union critics would rather have the auto companies go bankrupt so that they can, with a bankruptcy court's blessing, tear up the union contracts and eliminate other workers' safeguards. Some won't be happy until auto workers earn Wal-Mart-like wages. Perhaps, then they, too, can qualify for free health care that the taxpayers provide those who fall below the poverty line. That would really move America forward.
If we decide we need to provide taxpayer loans to the auto companies, we need to do it very carefully and with safeguards that will not only make those corporations stronger, but give taxpayers a good chance of getting their money back in the end.
And if it helps the working people who are the backbone of our country, that's not a bad thing at all.
As in its being of a purely informational nature, providing only basic information about facilities and amenities and contact details; reservations will need to be made as explained on the website.
Making it possible was a handy little resource called WebSpawner, as allows anyone to make their own modest little presence on the Information Stuporbahn with little or no knowledge of Internet basics. And free of cost for basics; see the site proper for details.
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SPEAKING OF MOTELS, YOUR CORRESPONDENT HATH THIS PECUILAR AFFINITY FOR INDEPENDENT MOTELS (as in such not affiliated with the major "cookie-cutter" chains like Best Western, Holiday Inn, or such as are in the Choice Hotels or Starwood groups) when it comes to any accomodation choices he wishes to make.
And in attracting attention to this weblog through a simple direct-mail campaign using the letterposts exclusively; "spam" (as in unsolicited bulk e-mail) is not only ineffective, but also violates Terms of Service (ToS) agreements among website and weblog hosts, contrary to such who see "bulk e-mail marketing" (to use the rather feeble attempt @ lily-gilding the "spam" community euphemistically useth) as "the advertising medium of the new millennium," not to mention being "environmental" by virtue of supposedly not using paper and other "wasteful" resources.
And besides, aren't there letter carriers who need work in these otherwise trying socioeconomic times where jobs may become limited or otherwise unavailable?
And just how many ethical online businesses are there as actually use "bulk e-mail marketing" exclusively for online marketing (as opposed to more ethical means like search-engine optimisation, banner ad exchanges or link swaps)--and manage to attract "fresher, timelier response" to their latest e-mail campaigns all the while?
(And Another Thing: In my use of the traditional letterposts for marketing this weblog, I prefer not to fall for the corny hokum suggesting that direct-mail campaigns can generate a 90% faster response rate by using markings implying express or otherwise expedited delivery [as in sound-alike terms for Postal Service products like Express Mail and Priority Mail] when they're otherwise using the letterpost mailstream.)
I THINK YOU WOULD FIND APROPOS THIS PICTURE TO ILLUSTRATE THE FOLLOWING WORTHWHILE ITEM by way of the Wake Up Wal-Mart Blog as makes note of apparent irony in recent press-release propaganda from Wally World heading into the holiday shopping season:
Al Norman has a story up on Huffington Post about a recent Wal-Mart press release talking about how Wal-Mart is helping Main Street. Normal points out the absurdity of the statement since Wal-Mart irreparably harms Main Street as opposed to helping it. It reminded us of a Press Release we saw a few weeks back. The release said that they, Wal-Mart, had been "relentlessly non-partisan" during the election. Of course if you read this blog, you know that Wal-Mart has been anything but non-partisan. They had been, possibly illegally, telling their employees to vote against Barack Obama in the election in order to forestall the Employee Free Choice Act. Both of these press releases are such outrageous distortions of Wal-Mart's actions, we wonder if Wal-Mart's PR folks have simply gone off the deep end.
The headline on Wal-Mart's press release this week simply makes no sense: "Wal-Mart Backs Main Street."
After having ravaged Main Street merchants for the past 46 years, how could Wal-Mart "back" Main Street by any stretch of the imagination?
It turns out that Wal-Mart's promise is not to Main Street---but to "thousands of rollbacks...targeting the needs of American families and communities." Wal-Mart has vowed "to lead on delivering a Christmas that costs less."
Wal-Mart's PR team thought that helping "Main Street" sounded good--even though businesses on Main Street will tell you that Wal-Mart is the Grinch who stole their Christmas. This October alone, 38,000 jobs were lost in the retail sector. Those bells you hear ringing are definitely not coming from Main Street cash registers.
As part of Operation Main Street, Wal-Mart is cutting prices for the next seven weeks, with a particular focus "on the prices of items families want and need most." Wal-Mart says that shoppers will be "amazed" at the depth of their price cuts on such essential items as: Betty Crocker potatoes; a General Electric 14 speed blender; and the board game Battleship. Most American families need Battleship, and it's hard to imagine what life on Main Street is like without the Littlest Pet Shop Play Pack.
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A cheap Christmas is perfectly timed for those "Wal-Mart Moms," many of whom must have voted last week for Obama. The New York Times magazine described these white woman as "slightly older and more downscale...more culturally conservative and more attuned to economics--who look most like the pivotal swing-voting bloc in 2008." If Wal-Mart Moms were supposed to pivot the election to McCain---they blew it! What has been pivotal for many of these Wal-Mart Moms is that their husbands have lost work, and the Moms themselves have had their hours cut back. Wal-Mart cannot help these families with their mortgage costs, or with their hospital and doctor bills---but the retailer is bringing down the cost of Betty Crocker potatoes.
Many Wal-Mart shoppers are working less, thanks, in part, to Wal-Mart's lack of appetite for American products, and a relentless pursuit of cheap labor in Third World sweatshops. We'll celebrate a cheap Christmas by default this year, as the American economy sours, and families cut back on their presents. If Wal-Mart were willing to be brutally honest, their Main Street press release would proclaim: "Our price rollbacks have led to American job rollbacks."
Wal-Mart's aim is to cut the cost of Christmas with "deeper values" for customers. But what Americans deeply value is a steady job at a decent wage--and those are hard to find at Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer. GM may be laying off hundreds of workers and running out of cash, but Wal-Mart is doing its part for transportation by taking $10 off the Power Wheels Barbie Princess Lil Quad Ride-On.
So thank you, Wal-Mart, for bringing us a cheap Christmas. As America's manufacturing base hemorrhages to China, Thailand, and Vietnam, and Wall Street implodes, it's comforting to know that we can still get an 8" Home Decor Digital Picture Frame with iPod-Ready Input for only $99.
Wal-Mart, we thank you from the bottom of our Main Streets.
As I express it in the title of this item: "How can Wally World be 'helping Main Street' when they're probably closer to the Park & Flush Trailer Park?"
In any case, such shows a woeful contempt for Corporate Responsibility, Good Corporate Citizenship--and Common Sense, not to mention Morals and Decency, on Wally World's part.
RIGHT WING WATCH IS A BLOG OF PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY AS SEEKS TO EXPOSE TO AIR AND SUNLIGHT the latest in absurd propaganda missives and "calls to action" by the Religiopolitical Right targeting their followers, who are more than likely to be poor, ignorant and easily-influenced on obvious non-issues where appeals to True Patriot Love in All Thy Sons Command can be incorporate, risk of psychoemotional harm notwithstanding.
Since the emergence of warning signs of real or imminent socioeconomic harm during the election campaign, there's been plenty of patsies coming from the Religiopolitical Right's propaganda masheen vis-a-vis the root cause, all lacking any credible foundation in Reality. Latest example in this respect, per Right Wing Watch:
Last month, [Kyle] wrote a couple of posts highlighting the Religious Right's claim that our current economic mess was due to a collective loss of morality that could be traced back to abortion, homosexuals, and an overall breakdown in the family.
Notwithstanding the cardboard Santas who seem to have arrived in stores this year near Halloween, the holiday season starts in seven days with Thanksgiving. And so it will come to pass once again that many people will spend four weeks biting on tongues lest they say "Merry Christmas" and perchance, give offense. Christmas, the holiday that dare not speak its name.
This year we celebrate the desacralized "holidays" amid what is for many unprecedented economic ruin--fortunes halved, jobs lost, homes foreclosed. People wonder, What happened? One man's theory: A nation whose people can't say "Merry Christmas" is a nation capable of ruining its own economy ...
It has been my view that the steady secularizing and insistent effort at dereligioning America has been dangerous. That danger flashed red in the fall into subprime personal behavior by borrowers and bankers, who after all are just people. Northerners and atheists who vilify Southern evangelicals are throwing out nurturers of useful virtue with the bathwater of obnoxious political opinions.
The point for a healthy society of commerce and politics is not that religion saves, but that it keeps most of the players inside the chalk lines. We are erasing the chalk lines.
Keep in mind that this appeared in the Wall Street Journal and was written by the deputy editor of its editorial page.
With regards to the last paragraph of the original item, such has to leave you and me wondering if, in the Religiopolitical Right's Weltanschauung, the defence of Traditional Moral and Familial Values is that of free-market capitalism is that of Our Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity as a Pecuilar Among the Nations--and, what's more, all three are somehow intertwined and interconnected by Divine Will.
Sadly, though, there is nothing in either the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence or the Articles of Confederation implying the legality of such an interconnexion, let alone the Mayflower Compact.
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EN 'N ANDER DING: If you thought Supercow, the bombastic Spanish-speaking superhero alter ego of Cow on Cartoon Network's Cow and Chicken some years back, was rather silly, can you just imagine an equally-bombastic Afrikaans-speaking superhero seeking to deflate the arrogant racist mindsets promoted by the apartheid regime in South Africa for 46 years (1948-1994) as sought to inspire the "persecuted" Afrikaner into a hubris-weighted place of Pride and Honour rivalled only by Nazi designs on an "Aryan Master Race" "reclaiming German pride and honour"?
(Not to mention a fondness for an ur-sangria of Rooibostee and cheap Paarl red wines turned into an ur-Vin Mariani ... as well as Eet Sum Mor shortbread cookies, Tennis Biscuits, Romany Creams and Ouma Rusks.)
