SourceWatch

Learn about corporate "speech" and other "rights" v. people's rights. And help put Americans before corporations.

This special feature helps document who is behind the argument that we the people should not be able to regulate corporations, such as Citizens United, which was founded by Floyd Brown of the infamous Willie Horton smear campaign against then-presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. It features information on growing national efforts to change the law, including moving to amend the Constitution. If you think the Court got it wrong, you can help us put people before corporations.

Senator Dodd Doubles Down on a Losing Bet

by Mary Bottari

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)

But a second chance for this unpopular and failed institution is currently in the works. In an effort to please Republicans and achieve a bipartisan bill, Dodd is not only going to let the Fed keep its bank supervision and rulemaking authority, he wants to give it authority over the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA).

How would this work, exactly? The CFPA issues strong rules cracking down on credit card abuses one week and the Fed issues contrary rules the next? Moreover, if I were the Fed chairman, I would insist on veto power over any agency under my jurisdiction. Click here to read more.

Take Action This Week on Bank Reform!

The Senate is about to take up financial reform legislation that will set the shape of economy for the next 50 years. Call or email your Senator and tell them "Support financial reform that holds the big Wall Street banks accountable. Shrink the 'too big to fail' banks, close the loopholes to make sure that 100% of derivatives are traded on an open exchange, and create a strong, independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). And don't bury the CFPA in the basement of the U.S. Treasury Department."

This article is part of the Real Economy Project. Take action at BanksterUSA.org.

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  Healthwashing Soda

Soda and sugary drink manufacturers are dusting off the tobacco industry's PR manual to try and scare us into opposing soda taxes. Can you spot the tired old PR tactics? If not, we'll gladly give you some help. Here's what to look for: Step One: Position your product as the solution, not the problem; Step Two: Broaden the issue to take attention off your products; Step Three: Claim the tax (or whatever else you don't want to happen) will tank the economy and kill jobs. Finally, appeal to peoples' emotions -- never intellect -- and above all, scare, scare, scare 'em. Read more about their PR strategies here.

• Conservative, Republicans Keep Up Incorrect Use of the "Nuclear Option" Republicans and conservative news media outlets like Fox News keep repeating an error made by new Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass), when he mistakenly called the Senate process of reconciliation "the nuclear option." He used the wrong term. Now everyone else is, too. Constantly.

• Philip Morris Pushing Smoking Hard in Foreign Countries As the domestic cigarette market shrinks, tobacco companies are taking their business to the developing world, where they don't have to deal with pesky things like advocacy groups that oppose industry activity, smoking bans, or a populace that is aware of the health hazards of smoking. Now Philip Morris (PM) is playing hardball in lesser-developed countries to try and preserve their ability to market cigarettes however they want. On February 19, PM filed a lawsuit against Uruguay to try and force that country to withdraw a new law requiring 80 percent of each side of cigarette packs show graphic images depicting the health effects of smoking. So why is Philip Morris coming down like a ton of bricks on less developed countries? Because as cigarette makers lose their markets in the developed world, they need poorer and less-educated populations to keep expanding their business. That means moving into developing countries, and how they market cigarettes there is often egregiously repugnant. Read more here.

• High-Fructose Public Relations Nutrition experts are battling sugar industry trade groups over over public information about the health hazards of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and other caloric sweeteners. Nutrition experts say that HFCS added to soft drinks and countless other foods and beverages increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, and promote weight gain by adding empty calories to the average diet. But HFCS manufacturers say their products don't cause health problems or weight gain. To make their point, the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) is running a series of TV ads aimed at boosting the image of HFCS and convincing people that they are misled by marketing tactics that imply that products labeled "high-fructose corn syrup-free" are healthier than products with HFCS. CRA also launched sweetsurprise.com, a Web site featuring photos of cute, slender, healthy-looking kids and families happily eating, drinking and riding bikes. The site touts the benefits of HFCS, and counters claims that HFCS has any relationship to obesity and other health problems.

• Cable TV Shows Rife with Hidden Flacks and Lobbyists Cable news programs on MSNBC, CNN, CNBC and Fox News routinely use commentators with financial conflicts of interest that they fail to disclosed to viewers. Lobbyists, PR flacks and corporate officials regularly appear promoting their clients' interests, but are only identified as "Former Governor," "Republican Strategist" and "Retired U.S. Military," without disclosing their blatant lobbying connections.

• Fooled you! The U.S. Military's Afghanistan PR Fib For weeks, the media reported that the U.S. military was engaged in a big offensive in Marja, Afghanistan, a densely-populated urban "city of 80,000 people." But that description of Marja turned out to be a lie, and one of the most dramatic pieces of misinformation provided by the military so far in the entire war, aimed at hyping the offensive as a big turning point in the conflict. Marja is really just a sparsely populated, rural farming area, without any cities or towns.

• Reality TV Star Pushes Financial Reform
  
  the Funny or Die crew took the fight for financial reform to a new level, tapping the talents of reality TV star Heidi Montag who delivers the message that "with hidden fees and standard interest rate increases, that $11,000 jaw line can end up costing $50,000 dollars!" Montag is famous for her multiple plastic surgeries featured recently on the cover of People magazine.

RNC Pushes Fear to Raise Funds

Depiction of Obama in RNC presentation

A confidential Republican National Committee (RNC) PowerPoint presentation about fundraising strategies discusses raising money for the 2010 election cycle by capitalizing on donors' fear of President Obama and the promise to "save the country from trending toward socialism." One page of the presentation titled "The Evil Empire" depicts Obama as the Joker from Batman, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Cruella DeVille, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as Scooby Doo. Another page explains that major donors who engage in "calculated giving" are "ego-driven," react to "peer to peer pressure" and are motivated by "access," while smaller donors -- called "visceral donors" -- are "reactionary," motivated by "fear" and "extreme negative feelings toward existing Administration." A hard copy of the presentation was left behind in a Florida resort hotel where the RNC hosted a fundraising event. It was found by a Democrat, who provided it to Politico.com.

SourceWatch's article on Existing U.S. Coal_Plants is the top article, followed by the profile of Xe, the private security company former known as Blackwater. An article on the Bilderberg Group, "an informal secretive transatlantic council of key decision makers," has moved up to number three on the list of most popular articles. The article on Propaganda techniques follows close behind. The articles on Think tanks and Global warming skeptics are also among SourceWatch's top ten most popular articles.

We Need help keeping up with all the latest power companies fleeing the pro-coal industry front group, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity!

ACCCE's Christmas, 2008 singing lumps of coal ad

* Here's How you can Help:

Help us update SourceWatch's article on the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, to reflect the latest companies exiting the group. Please cite published, authoritative sources for information you ad. If this is your first time editing on SourceWatch, you can register here, and learn more about adding information here, here, and here. Hold onto your hat, have fun, and thanks for your help!

If you would like to help in other ways, please take a look at some of our earlier citizen journalism projects here.

"The folks at the Center for Media and Democracy have done incredible work documenting fake grassroots ("astroturf") groups. Here, they're helping protects the rights of all Americans to exercise their right to vote. They are completely non-partisan. These guys are the real deal." Craig Newmark, Craig's List

"A truly impressive project based on cutting edge web technology." David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World and The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community.

"The troublemakers at the Center for Media and Democracy, for example, point to dozens of examples of "greenwashing," which they defined as the "unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue by a company, an industry, a government or even a non-government organization to sell a product, a policy" or rehabilitate an image. In the center's view, many enterprises labeled green don't deserve the name.—Jack Shafer, "Green Is the New Yellow: On the excesses of 'green' journalism", Slate, July 6, 2007.

"As a journalist frequently on the receiving end of various PR campaigns, some of them based on disinformation, others front groups for undisclosed interests, [CMD's SourceWatch] is an invaluable resource."—Michael Pollan author of The Botany of Desire

"Thanks for all your help. There's no way I could have done my piece on big PR and global warming without the CMD [Center for Media and Democracy] and your fabulous websites."—Zoe Cormier, journalist, Canada

"The dearth of information on the [U.S.] government [lobbying] disclosure forms about the other business-backed coalitions comes in stark contrast to the data about them culled from media reports, websites, press releases and Internal Revenue Service documents and posted by SourceWatch, a website that tracks advocacy groups." Jeanne Cummings, 'New disclosure reports lack clarity", Politico, April 29, 2008.

Corporations Hide Flight Records From Public View

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