Action Point with Cynthia Black 03-30-2008: The Reference Shelf

This reference shelf was combined with 4-06-2008.

VIDEO: Obama Reverend's So-Called "Hate Speech" and the Propaganda Campaign Behind It!

Since ABC television's release of selected "hate" language from Obama's long-time Pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the permutations of it into a hypnotic loop has been fast and targeted and is an excellent example of how ABC, Fox and talkers from Limbaugh to Savage are working in concert to trigger the "angry black man" frame in the minds of Americans.

Even if one does not hear the loops, angry coast-to-coast rebroadcasts bits of it create another endless loop of questions, arguments, concern and accusations-- all likely to result in one thing-- people will just get sick of hearing about it.

Eventually, just the sound of Barack Obama's voice regardless of what he is saying will trigger an uncomfortable sense in any listener and I believe it is creating a dislike for Obama --uneasy memories of the voices on those clips or just a subtle unidentifiable discomfort-- that is the real aim of the strategy behind this campaign. Why? Well, people vote from their feelings don't they? Many deciding at the last minute in the voting booth?

Wouldn't it be useful for Republican strategists if an ingrained 90's era Clinton "bad feeling" button paired with this current attack on Obama helped the undecided vote at the last minute for McCain, who they may not like intellectually but about whom, they at least don't "feel" uneasy? (for more on how techniques to create this effect are manufactured and work in elections see Thom Hartmann's book Cracking the Code, Chapter 5, "How Feelings Are Anchored").

Examine the following; the audio loop being played in part or whole on Hannity's daily radio show:




Now, listen to the "chickens coming home to roost" comment from a section 9 minutes long and apparently from a sermon September 17th 2001-- 6 days after 9/11.





This next clip contains the snippet "God damn America" (near the end) from a sermon on the changing nature of governments that contemptuously act as God and what they can expect.




In context, those bits and pieces of angry rhetoric blend into REASONED AND WHOLE OPINIONS, with logical connections to how faith and God interplay with society. And regardless of how YOU feel about the content of the sermons, you do NOT hear Barack Obama's voice, have any reason to picture him or have any reason to feel you don't like him. But going back to loop one, embedded in your mind?

Oh yes you do, oh yes you do.

Action Point with Cynthia Black 03-23-2008: The Reference Shelf

Just a little note from me to you;

With our third hour and the Campaign 2008 gloves coming off (and I'm referring to the right-wing media, not the Democratic Primary which is I think, the least of this country's problems) Action Point and our Reference Shelf content will be covering more of the “horse track” (as Brad Friedman puts it) and less of the Presidential horse race. Brad in his case means election fraud tactics. I mean the blatant use of propaganda language techniques and fraudulent media manipulation intended to confound “democracy-loving” Americans of all parties.

And you can continue to count on us to keep delivering the policy and issues through our great Action Point interviews and guests!

-- Best, Cynthia Black



Today's article and item links:

• POLITICS: NATIONAL: CAMPAIGN 2008: Following up on last week and Jeffrey Feldman's advice to focus on the violent framing of right-wing religious endorsements for McCain (which violent innuendo they have, by the way, begun sliming onto Barack Obama's supporters) we bring you this: Hagee, in 'NYT' This Sunday, Says McCain Sought His Endorsement:

  In an interview that will appear in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine, controversial televangelist Rev. John Hagee declares, "It's true that [John] McCain's campaign sought my endorsement." McCain has attempted to distance himself from some of Hagee's views, much as Barack Obama is doing in relation to Rev. Jeremiah Wright. But unlike McCain, Obama has not stood on stage with Wright and accepted his accolades this year.

AND taking on the right-wing wing smear machine requires some ammo. For those fighting for Obama, here are just a few articles containing excellent arguments: An Attack on Our Senior Pastor and the History of the African American Church and on the same site look for A Word of Respect for Jeremiah Wright.

• NEW SITE: RELIGION DISPATCHES: This week the article that causes me to declare this our latest new site also addresses the racist attacks on Obama with this article: Obama's Pastor and the Politics of Patriotic Treason:

  This past week, the controversy surrounding Senator Barack Obama’s pastor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, reached a head. Investigative reporters at ABC released excerpts from Dr. Wright’s sermons where he appears to be making inflammatory and unpatriotic pronouncements against the United States. Excerpts include Dr. Wright attributing the 9/11 attacks to a matter of “the chickens coming home to roost,” and suggesting African Americans sing “God Damn America” in place of “God Bless America.”

• ELECTION FRAUD: Will Rush Limbaugh Be Indicted for Voter Fraud? This could get very interesting. Not because Rush will be indicted, but because pressure on free-speech rights for broadcasters could open up that fat greasy can of worms labeled: Media Lies Are Legal.

  In case you missed it, Rush Limbaugh, the nation's top-rated talk radio host, was urging Republicans in Texas and Ohio to skip their party's primary on March 4 and instead cast a vote for Hillary Clinton in order to prolong the fight between her and Barack Obama. And that Tuesday, as media in both states reported, thousands of Republicans did just what Limbaugh and others had suggested -- they changed parties to vote for Clinton.
  

• NATIONAL SECURITY: Dick Cheney tour sparks Iran war rumours:

  Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, has triggered speculation that he has been using a tour of the Middle East to prepare Iran's neighbours for a possible war with Tehran.

  That as well as Bush's Bum John McCain and his stuttering insistence It's "Common Knowledge" That Iran Is Training Al-Qaida... (psst...guys...never trust a newbie with unpracticed propaganda technique) should put you on Iran Alert. More from Action Point on Iran and Iraq next week.

AND from the small but mighty McClatchy Newspapers: Bush erroneously says Iran announced desire for nuclear weapons:

President Bush contended that Iran has "declared they want a nuclear weapon to destroy people" and that the Islamic Republic could be hiding a secret program. Iran, however, has never publicly proclaimed a desire for nuclear weapons and has repeatedly insisted that the uranium enrichment program it's operating in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions is for civilian power plants, not warheads.

• PERSONAL SECURITY: Fallout from The Energy Policy Act of 2005: Before you think I haven't noticed, the source of this article and the journalist who today will be discussing the topic on Action Point, has a “right wing” bent. I have found that in some cases, especially on First Amendment and National Security issues, all Americans regardless of party agree on important issues. This is one of those issues, so join me in checking your bias for this stunning coverage!

  And in 2007, barely after the ink dried from EPAct 2005, the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 was passed by federal lawmakers and signed into law. EISA conveniently serves to obfuscate critical issues that continue to stress the US electrical power grid, its energy generation and transmission capacity. Yet, EPAct 2005 has continually escaped public scrutiny and a lack of accountability in both houses of the US Congress.

  AND I don't see this story in election terms because really, if they are snooping in the files of the high and mighty, what can get away with when it comes to you? Passport files of candidates breached:

  State Department employees snooped through the passport files of three presidential candidates — Sens. Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain — and the department's inspector general is investigating. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the violations of McCain and Clinton's passport files were not discovered until Friday, after officials were made aware of the unauthorized access of Obama's records and a separate search was conducted.
  

• MUST READ: New Crisis, Old Isms: Weighing in “...routinely package corruption as sound public policy,” re: the mortgage crises, David Sirota nails it again as this weeks Must Read:

  Some background: During the housing boom, banks doled out home loans to financially strapped borrowers, often on predatory terms. On the creditor side, these same banks packaged many of the loans as complex securities and sold them off to unwitting investors, generating a handsome profit on the paper transactions. At the same time, Wall Street used campaign contributions to coerce Congress into blocking anti-predatory-lending bills and repealing a landmark law regulating how banks could buy and sell securities.

  By the way, join us for this week's Palast Report in which Greg expands more on the “campaign contribution” side of the story.

Action Point with Cynthia Black 03-16-2008: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• POLITICS: NATIONAL: CAMPAIGN 2008: The Violent Vision of Mccain's Newest Mentor: from Jeffrey Feldman:

  Parsley's views on Islam are just one aspect of his much larger violent vision--which focuses on the violent conflict between Christianity and what he calls 'secularism.' To read Parsley's violent language as he encourages his readers to join the so-called 'war' is to come face-to-face with the violent rhetoric John McCain will tolerate--even encourage--to win votes in November.

• PERSONAL SECURITY: NSA Domestic Spying Grows:

  The central role the NSA has come to occupy in domestic intelligence gathering has never been publicly disclosed. But an inquiry reveals that its efforts have evolved to reach more broadly into data about people's communications, travel and finances in the U.S. than the domestic surveillance programs brought to light since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

• INTERNATIONAL: Petraeus: Iraqi Leaders Not Making 'Sufficient Progress':

  Many Iraqi parliament members and other officials acknowledge that the country's political system is often paralyzed by sectarian divisions, but they also say that American expectations are driven by considerations in Washington and do not reflect the complexity of Iraq's problems.

• ECONOMY:Forget Spitzer, fire Bernanke:

  In essence, this is a US$200 billion facility that is being misapplied to rescue a specific part of the financial system at a preferential rate, and without any disclosure required on usage. Given all this, it is impossible for anyone to expect that the ultimate cost of this facility will not be borne by US taxpayers;

  AND: from Greg Palast Eliot’s Mess:

  While New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was paying an ‘escort’ $4,300 in a hotel room in Washington, just down the road, George Bush’s new Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Ben Bernanke, was secretly handing over $200 billion in a tryst with mortgage bank industry speculators;

  AND:Economy Hammered by Toxic Blend of Ailments:

  “We have to be careful about what medicines we throw at this, whether it’s stimulus packages or a bailout,” said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Company. “A lot of what we are dealing with is a solvency problem. We need to let the system wash it out.”

• NO COMMENT: Bush says if younger, he would work in Afghanistan:

  "I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed."

  "It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks," Bush said.

• FUN, WEIRD & COOL: Lawrence Welk vs. The Hippies My favorite of this collection is the send-up of Lou Reed's 1960's “Sister Ray”!

  Thirty years before American Idol, parts of America were still uncomfortable with the very idea of rock songs even appearing on television, especially during Welk's squeaky-clean song and dance show. And since The Lawrence Welk Show ran for three decades, these videos suggest the ultimate long, strange trip. They're a window in time, capturing a bizarre never-world where the hour-long show actually surrendered happily to the coming onslaught of rock:

  Hat-tip to Freedom's Phoenix.

• NEW!! JOIN THE SHOW ON SUNDAY'S with NEW LIVE CHAT!! Voice of Arizona now hosts Action Point on it's 50 state online network, Voice of North America! Log on, join in!! Thank you VOA!!
  

Action Point with Cynthia Black 03-02-2008: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• POLITICS: NATIONAL: CAMPAIGN 2008: Amid McCain's new status, old scandals stir:

  As William K. Black watches John McCain move toward the Republican presidential nomination, he thinks of a day 21 years ago that he considers one of the most troubling of his life. Black, a senior federal savings and loan regulator at the time, attended a meeting at which he felt McCain and four other senators pressured federal regulators to back off from investigating the troubled Lincoln Savings and Loan.

  "I remain very upset that what they did caused such damage," said Black, now a professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, recalling how Lincoln's bankruptcy cost the government $3 billion. Moreover, he said he believes McCain intervened partly because his wife had invested money with Lincoln chairman Charles Keating, a campaign contributor who let the McCains use his home in the Bahamas.

  AND Primer: Obama vs. Clinton on the Top 10 Economic Policy Issues:

  As a practical matter of readability, Clinton's document is a clear 12-page report, with nonduplicative points and slightly less detail. Obama's is a 48–page thesis in which several key ideas appear multiple times with slightly different descriptions each time. But that's stylistic choice. On the economic substance, Clinton beats Obama 5-to-3 and ties on 2 topics.

• ENVIRONMENT: Global warming inspires enterprising solutions: "It's a gold rush," says Peter Fusaro, head of consulting firm Global Change Associates.

  The CO2-busting industry is exploding as federal legislation to cap the emissions of utilities and other industries grows more likely, offering the prospect of huge profits. Nearly 400 start-ups are operating 600 carbon-mitigation projects in the USA, with the number of companies set to triple the next two years, says consulting firm Point Carbon.

• NATIONAL SECURITY (USA): Ports report urges better evaluation of nuke detectors:

  The government needs to develop a better way to evaluate the effectiveness of technology to detect nuclear and radiological material at U.S. ports, according to a report commissioned by the Homeland Security Department.

• MUST READ: The New Permanent Campaign from David Sirota:

  Today's permanent campaign aims to ensure that the recent surge in Democratic voter turnout becomes the foundation of a lasting political infrastructure for progressives, rather than a momentary boomlet of presidential election euphoria. That means "creating mechanisms for people to remain engaged in politics between elections," as Thomas Bates says.