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  • From: "Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>
  • To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Drowning in a fog of fear
  • Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 09:20:29 -0700

The Bush admin has followed a strategy that was perfected by one of his
political buddies, Michael Farris. Farris has made millions with fear
mongering and creating a need that doesn't exist. H$LDA has spent 20 years
creating fear and then holding out their hands while the scared folks hand
over the $100 for the supposed security blanket that will protect them from
the "evil" boggieman that they perceive to be right outside their door.

The Bushies have also spent millions of our tax dollars on pr with a spin.
The following news article is just one small piece of the puzzle.

Lynda
=====

> October 16, 2004
> Study for U.S. Rated Coverage of Schools Law
> By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO
>
> WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 - An essay written by a third-grade teacher and
published in The Portland Oregonian that criticized the federal No Child
Left Behind law got one of the lowest ratings: a negative 60.
>
> An article in The Akron Beacon Journal that credited No Child Left Behind
with driving schools to close the achievement gap was praised, earning a
score of 55 points.
>
> The gold medal?
>
> That went to a piece that ran in The Seattle Times, signed by Education
Secretary Rod Paige himself, who "specifically credits President Bush for
championing" No Child Left Behind. It got a near-perfect 95.
>
> "The article would have rated an ideal 100 points if it had appeared in a
more prominent newspaper," said the evaluation of newspaper coverage
commissioned by the federal Education Department.
>
> The department paid $700,000 to Ketchum, a public relations and marketing
firm, to rate newspaper coverage of the education law in 2003 and to produce
two video press releases in the format of news articles. The videos were
reminiscent of videos about Medicare that were sent to television stations
around the country and criticized by federal budget monitors this year as
violating the federal law barring the use of Congressional appropriations
"in a general propaganda effort designed to aid a political party or
candidate."
>
> The Education Department contract has come under fire from Senators Frank
R. Lautenberg of New Jersey and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, both
Democrats, who asked the Government Accountability Office to determine if
the department broke the law.
>
> In their letter to the agency, the senators wrote that the contract
represented "an illegal use of taxpayer funds."
>
> "A comprehensive, nationwide media study identifying journalists and news
organizations writing favorable stories on President Bush and his political
party's commitment to education has only a political purpose," they wrote.
>
> The articles were ranked by how frequently and favorably they mentioned 11
features of the new law, and according to the company's written description,
whether or not they portrayed "the Bush administration/the G.O.P. as
committed to education."
>
> Susan Aspey, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said the
videos were done before the Government Accountability Office issued its
ruling and were no longer in use, but she defended them as an effort to
publicize the new law.
>
> She said, however, that the rankings did not influence the department's
treatment of reporters. She also defended the rating of reporters in part on
their friendliness to the Bush administration and the Republican Party,
saying, "The fact of the matter is that this president and this
administration championed and led the No Child Left Behind Act."
>
> "Our general counsel reviewed everything that we have done," said Ms.
Aspey. She rejected criticism of the contracts as "purely politics."
>
> The videos and evaluations were obtained by People for the American Way, a
nonprofit organization, under the Freedom of Information Act. The Associated
Press first reported on the contract earlier this week.
>
> Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

----- Original Message -----
From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
>
> "Or, as Dr. Siegel told me: "Voters are shrouded in a 'fog of fear' that
is
> impacting the way our brains respond to the two candidates."
>
> "Thanks to the Bush campaign's unremitting fear-mongering, millions of
> voters are reacting not with their linear and logical left brain but with
> their lizard brain and their more emotional right brain.
>
> "What's more, people in a fog of fear are more likely to respond to
someone
> whose primary means of communication is in the non-verbal realm, neither
> logical nor language-based. (Sound like any presidential candidate you
know?)






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