THE HEADLINES

THE OFT-TOLD LIE: CANADIAN TAR SANDS OIL, PIPED TO TEXAS REFINERIES, WILL REDUCE U.S. DEPENDENCE ON “FOREIGN” OIL.

(Alternet)

Jim Hightower points out that the “oil independence” justification of the Keystone XL pipeline belies the fact that the great cross-U.S. line, besides disrupting humans and eco-systems along its route, will have no effect on supplies or price of gasoline in the U.S. The Port Arthur TX terminus of the line is the giveaway to the lie.  At this port location, the oil will be refined not into gasoline for domestic consumption but diesel and jet fuel oil and exported abroad. So much for “reduction of foreign oil dependency!”

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GO FIGURE: BRITISH TREASURY MINISTER SAYS PUTTING A CAP ON TAX DEDUCTIONS FOR CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS WILL HAVE NO “SIGNIFICANT” IMPACT ON THE FINANCES OF THESE CHARITIES.

(UK Independent)

British universities, for one “charity,” are heavily dependent on just such financial support, and the government equivocates on exactly when and how it will implement a policy of making the tax code more ”fair” by reducing the huge tax breaks enjoyed from the philanthropies of a few wealthy individuals.

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HE SAID/SHE SAID, BALANCED NEWS ACCOUNTS: THAT’S “JOURNALISM” FOR YOU TODAY.

(Dissident Voice)

Walter Brasch repeats an old experiment in biased perception by staging a scene of himelf being “shot” by a classroom intruder as he teaches a class, then asking students to write down as “witnesses” what they had seen. Of course different students, like witnesses to real crimes, “saw” different things.  With “reality” being subjected to such alternative views of it, news reporting on notorious events too often comes down to reporters quoting different versions of what (George Zimmerman or Trayvon Martin?) did leading up a crime.  Rarely is there anything resembling critical analysis of witness reports: the “story” then becomes that there is no single valid story of reported events, and people are left with a license to have their own “opinions” on matters on which they have no reliable information about the facts.

“OLD” EXPERIMENT—PSYCHOLOGY CONGRESS OF GOTTINGEN: 

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JOHN EDWARDS TRIAL BEGINS IN GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA, AND JUDGE WARNS ALL CONCERNED THAT SHE ISN’T JUDGE JUDY AND TRIAL WON’T BE OVER IN AN HOUR.

(Charlotte Observer)

Jury selection begins in trial of former presidential candidate charged with misappropriating campaign funds to support his mistress and mother of his child. The judge points out that jurors will have to decide the case in terms of “the law” as she defines it for them, and that the “support” being shown by Edwards’ family, along with other extraneous “personality” issues, will have to be set aside in the search for the answer to a single question: DID Edwards violate those laws?

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“IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE NEWS, GO MAKE SOME OF YOUR OWN.”

(Florida Center for Investigative Reporting)

Columnist Howard Goodman uses this sign-off message of a 70s radio broadcaster to describe what he says is the actual practice of the media consultants who handle public relations for Florida’s Governor Rick Scott.  With Scott’s much-touted promise to bring jobs to Florida, his spotty performance in that regard is covered over by Facebook-style internet postings that involve pasting fake headlines about job creation over actual additions of the Miami Herald.  Only because the fake story was pasted over a Herald story datelined Guatemala City would the internet viewer realize he/she was the target of some news “made up” by his media handlers.

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Quote of the day…