[ecrea] The Weekly Spin, July 26, 2006

>THE WEEKLY SPIN, July 26, 2006
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>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>== BLOG POSTINGS ==
>1. The Best War Ever:  Lies, Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraq
>
>== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
>1. The Business of Government Science
>2. Lovins Says U.S. Nuclear Power Is Too Dead To Jump Start
>3. Long Island Drug Bust
>4. Beyond Persecution?
>5. Greenwashing Is All About the Greenbacks
>6. btw, u should look out 4 IEDs
>7. War is the New Peace
>8. Who Is Strumpette?
>9. Crackdown in Cairo
>10. Investigation Sought Into Campaign Against Drug Whistleblower
>11. Ethics Talk And Ethics Walk
>12. Newt & the Neocons Pitch World War III -- Who's Buying It?
>13. Business Lobbies Hard for India's Nuclear Exemption
>14. Medical Journal Bats On After Three Strikes
>15. Pentagon Seeks More Bang for Propaganda  Buck
>16. He Who Sows the Wind, Reaps the Storm
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>== BLOG POSTINGS ==
>
>1. THE BEST WAR EVER:  LIES, DAMNED LIES AND THE MESS IN IRAQ
>by John Stauber
>
>  Exactly three years ago our book Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses
>  of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq was published. Our publisher
>  pitched it this way: "Rampton and Stauber take no prisoners as they
>  reveal - headline by headline, news show by news show, press
>  conference by press conference - the deliberate, aggressive, and
>  highly successful public relations campaign that sold the Iraqi war
>  to the American public. Rampton and Stauber show us a brave new
>  shocking world where savvy marketers, 'information warriors,' and
>  'perception managers' can sell an entire war to consumers." Our new
>  book, The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraq, is
>  a month away from publication; it will hit bookstores September
>  14th.
>For the rest of this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5009
>
>== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
>
>1. THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT SCIENCE
>http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/24056
>  Nearly one in five scientists appointed to expert panels of the
>  National Academy of Sciences (NAS) had direct financial ties to
>  companies that stood to benefit from the deliberations, according to
>  a sampling released by the Center for Science in the Public Interest
>  (CSPI). NAS was created by President Lincoln in 1863, to
>  "investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of
>  science or art" when requested by any department of the government.
>  "I believe there are scientists out there without conflicts of
>  interest who can serve on these committees and do a comparable job"
>  to experts with ties to the affected companies, said Merrill
>  Goozner, CSPI's director of Integrity in Science program. CSPI cites
>  the example of a NAS panel evaluating the risk of mercury in fish
>  that included a scientist whose research was funded by pro-industry
>  lobbying groups such as the United States Tuna Foundation. Another
>  panel studying pollution emissions included 10 out of 11 scientists
>  with ties to carbon-emitting industries.
>SOURCE: The Scientist, July 24, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5010
>
>2. LOVINS SAYS U.S. NUCLEAR POWER IS TOO DEAD TO JUMP START
>http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/24/AR2006072400976.html&e=14823&sa=X&oi
>  Amory Lovins, the Chief Executive Officer of the Rocky Mountains
>  Institute, an eco-efficiency think tank, is aghast at U.S.
>  government support for the U.S.- India Civil Nuclear Cooperation
>  Initiative. The agreement would facilitate an expansion of nuclear
>  power in India, which is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation
>  Treaty. "We're going to blow up what's left of the nonproliferation
>  regimes to promote a sector that doesn't make sense," Lovins told
>  the Washington Post. Lovins believes India would be better off
>  promoting energy efficiency than pouring scarce funds into nuclear
>  power. Lovins said that the subsidies provided to nuclear power in
>  the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005 "are equal to the entire capital
>  cost of the next six reactors . . . but is similar to defibrillating
>  a corpse: it will jump but not revive."
>SOURCE: Washington Post, July 25, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5008
>
>3. LONG ISLAND DRUG BUST
>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/22/business/22drugdoc.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
>  In March this year Dr. Peter Gleason, a Maryland psychiatrist, was
>  arrested by the FBI at a Long Island train station and later charged
>  for promoting off-label use of Xyrem, a prescription drug
>  manufactured by Jazz Pharmaceuticals. The New York Times reports
>  that federal prosecutors allege that "at hundreds of speeches and
>  seminars where he was rewarded with generous fees, Dr. Gleason
>  advised other physicians that a powerful drug for narcolepsy could
>  be prescribed for depression and pain relief. In doing so, he
>  conspired with the drug?s manufacturer to recommend it for
>  potentially dangerous uses the prosecutors claim." Gleason admits
>  that he was paid over $100,000 last year alone from Jazz
>  Pharmaceuticals. Gleason, who was released on bail, argues that he
>  was only charged after he refused to help build a case against the
>  drug company which, New York Times reporter Alex Beremson writes,
>  "court documents seem to support."
>SOURCE: New York Times, July 22, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5007
>
>4. BEYOND PERSECUTION?
>http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1190528.ece
>  The global oil giant, BP, has reached a multi-million pound
>  out-of-court settlement with a group of Colombian farmers after they
>  brought a legal action against the company in Britain. They alleged
>  that Exploration Company (Colombia) "benefited from harassment and
>  intimidation meted out by Colombian paramilitaries employed by the
>  government" to guard a 450-kilometre long pipeline from the
>  Cusiana-Cupiagua oilfields. "Marta Hinestroza, one of the farmers'
>  lawyers, fled Colombia for Britain when she discovered that her name
>  was on a paramilitary hit list. In November 2002, the Home Office
>  granted Ms Hinestroza political asylum after she told of the threats
>  she faced while working in the region," The Independent reports.
>SOURCE: The Independent (UK), July 22 , 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5006
>
>5. GREENWASHING IS ALL ABOUT THE GREENBACKS
>http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002878049
>  Brandweek examines some of the latest corporate greenwashing
>  efforts. A recently released study by Landor Associates, part of the
>  WPP, found that "fifty-eight percent of the general population" are
>  "self-proclaimed "Non-Green' individuals [who] do not care about
>  environmentally friendly practices, including recycling, corporate
>  social responsibility, or natural and/or organic ingredients. ...
>  [T]wenty-five percent of the respondents consider themselves 'Green
>  Interested,' meaning that while this group is concerned about the
>  environment, it is not active in its defense. The remaining
>  seventeen percent surveyed are, in fact, 'Green Motivated,' meaning
>  that they feel it's very important for a company to be Green."
>  Brandweek observes "the noise in the green marketing space has grown
>  louder in recent months" with " Dow Chemical's 'Human Element'
>  campaign ... Shell Oil launched a $30 million marketing campaign in
>  June ... General Electric continues to build on its 'Ecomagination'
>  effort... In June a public/private partnership titled EcoZone was
>  launched, created by EcoMedia, a New York-based media company. Such
>  companies as DaimlerChrysler, Alcoa and AbTech ... pay up to $5,000
>  per sign to put their logos on billboards carrying environmental
>  messages ... 'Green is green as in the color of money,' said Judy Hu
>  ... at General Electric. 'It is about a business opportunity, and we
>  believe we can increase our revenue behind these Ecomagination
>  products and services.' "
>SOURCE: Brandweek, July 24, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5005
>
>6. BTW, U SHOULD LOOK OUT 4 IEDS
>http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Marines_MySpace.html
>  94 million registered users ? many in their teens and 20s ? use
>  MySpace.Com as a way to connect with others with similar interests.
>  The U.S. Marine Corps is hoping to tap into that pool of potential
>  recruits through its own MySpace profile. According to Gunnery Sgt.
>  Brian Lancioni, it?s ?definitely the new wave. Everything's
>  technical with these kids, and the Internet is a great way to show
>  what the Marine Corps has to offer.? Louise Eaton, media and Web
>  chief for the U.S. Army Accession Command agrees. ?It is where
>  prospects are. We go to where they are to try to inform them of the
>  opportunities we offer.? Fortunately, the Marine Corps has stated
>  that they won?t actually enlist anyone directly through the
>  MySpace site ? they will meet the potential recruits in person
>  first. The approach has its critics. Steve Morse with the Central
>  Committee for Conscientious Objectors stated ?It's kind of
>  obnoxious of them to be using something that's sort of like a youth
>  domain, to kind of come in and really sucker youth into something
>  they're not really explaining fully.?
>SOURCE: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 24, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5004
>
>7. WAR IS THE NEW PEACE
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/20/AR2006072001907.html
>  Shortly after attacking Iraq in March 2003, President Bush told
>  wounded soldiers that "the war in Iraq is really about peace." Now
>  it seems that 'peace' is breaking out in Lebanon too. The Washington
>  Post reports that "Bush sees a step to peace" in the current
>  "Mideast strife." According to White House counselor Dan Bartlett,
>  "a moment of clarity has arrived."
>SOURCE: Washington Post, July 21, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5003
>
>8. WHO IS STRUMPETTE?
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/07/19/BL2006071900447.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
>  Howard Kurtz gives a shout out to an anonymous team of PR industry
>  bloggers who are posting under the identity of "Strumpette," a
>  slutty expert in marketing communications with "perfect perky boobs"
>  who "sprinkles high-toned dissections of the flaws and foibles of
>  the PR business with personal insults and the occasional expletive.
>  Strumpette's posts are quite pugnacious, under such headlines as 'PR
>  Mega-Firm's CEO Caught in Big Lie', 'Exposing the Communist
>  Blogifesto' and 'Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Viagra for the PR
>  Business.'" Some PR people think she is "vicious," while another
>  damns the blog with faint praise, saying it is "marginally funny,
>  and acts like a stripper in a nursing home."
>SOURCE: Washington Post, July 19, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5001
>
>9. CRACKDOWN IN CAIRO
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/18/AR2006071801565.html
>  "With the tacit consent of the Bush administration, authoritarian
>  Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is continuing his campaign against
>  the democratic movement that sprouted in his country last year,"
>  writes the Washington Post. His government has made it illegal to
>  ""affront the president of the republic" — or insult
>  parliament, public agencies, the armed forces, the judiciary.
>  Journalists and bloggers have been arrested, jailed and brutally
>  treated. "The crackdown on the press was predictable," the Post
>  says, "because it followed Mr. Mubarak's assault on opposition
>  political parties and on a judges' reform movement — the two
>  other key elements of Cairo's promising Spring of 2005."
>SOURCE: Washington Post, July 19, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5000
>
>10. INVESTIGATION SOUGHT INTO CAMPAIGN AGAINST DRUG WHISTLEBLOWER
>http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-vioxx-whistleblower,0,3647595.story
>  Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley has written to the
>  inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services
>  seeking an investigation into whether the Food and Drug
>  Administration and Merck collaborated to try and discredit a
>  whistleblower. Dr. David J. Graham, a FDA drug safety official,
>  publicized the risks associated with Merck's painkiller, Vioxx. In
>  his letter, Grassley cited notes by a Merck employee of a
>  conversation with an FDA official who mentioned an "opportunity to
>  get (the) message out" on Graham and distribute the company's
>  critique of him to journalists. In a statement to Associated Press,
>  Merck wrote that it has "right to express our views when we believe
>  information others have presented is not fair and balanced." In a
>  deposition in a class action case against Merck, Graham stated the
>  material obtained under discovery "actually demonstrates more
>  clearly just how widespread the organized campaign to discredit and
>  smear me was."
>SOURCE: Newsday, July 19, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/4999
>
>11. ETHICS TALK AND ETHICS WALK
>http://www.pria.com.au/prianews/id/111
>  The anti-astroturfing campaign has drawn a response from the Public
>  Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA). The National President of
>  PRIA, Annabelle Warren, wrote in a statement that the organisation
>  "strongly opposes astro-turfing practices" and that members must
>  "adhere to the highest standards of ethical practice." If that is
>  the case why did PRIA's College of Fellows recently reject a
>  complaint by Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne over the
>  front group, Tasmanians for a Better Future? Warren said she
>  couldn't comment on the case as the PRIA Board was presented only
>  with a recommendation but not the rationale for the College of
>  Fellows assessment. Senator Milne was unavailable for comment. Keith
>  Jackson, from the Sydney PR firm Jackson Wells Morris notes that
>  there has been no response to the anti-astounding campaign by the PR
>  industry "Big Guys" including Burson-Marsteller, Edelman, Weber
>  Shandwick and Porter Novelli. "They say ethics. We see denial," he
>  concludes.
>SOURCE: Public Relations Institute of Australia, July 19, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/4998
>
>12. NEWT & THE NEOCONS PITCH WORLD WAR III -- WHO'S BUYING IT?
>http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34039
>  Bill Berkowitz reports, " For years, U.S. neoconservatives have been
>  ratcheting up the rhetoric -- mostly in small gatherings and on
>  partisan web sites -- claiming that terrorist activities around the
>  world constituted the initial stages of a new world war. But during
>  the past week or so ... Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the
>  United States House of Representatives, is using any platform
>  available to him to convince the public that the U.S. is engaged in
>  World War III. ... While Gingrich's media tour definitely thrust him
>  back into the national political spotlight, it may have also given
>  the public a sneak peek into the Republican Party's
>  political/marketing strategy for the November congressional
>  elections: If the war on terrorism doesn't create a fearful enough
>  climate amongst voters, why not ratchet it up by mentioning the
>  spectre of a World War III? ... John Stauber ... [co-] author of the
>  forthcoming book, '"The Best War Ever", [told IPS] 'You've got to
>  call it something and five years after 9/11 with Osama [bin Laden]
>  still roaming free and Iraq an American quagmire, and the Republican
>  Party in danger of losing control of Congress, this ploy makes
>  marketing sense.' "
>SOURCE: Inter Press Service, July 20, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/4997
>
>13. BUSINESS LOBBIES HARD FOR INDIA'S NUCLEAR EXEMPTION
>http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/17/bloomberg/sxrupee.php
>  Robert Hoffman, a lobbyist for Oracle, describes the preliminary
>  Congressional vote to exempt India from a ban on nuclear technology
>  sales as "a coming-out party of sorts for the India lobby." The U.S.
>  Atomic Energy Act bans nuclear sales to countries, such as India,
>  that have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Last month, both
>  House and Senate committees gave in-principle support to the
>  agreement negotiated between U.S. President George W. Bush and
>  Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Under the agreement, only 14
>  of India's 22 nuclear reactors would be open to international
>  scrutiny. The U.S India Business Council, a project of the U.S.
>  Chamber of Commerce, have hired lobbyists Patton Boggs to help with
>  their campaign. The Indian government have hired Barbour Griffith &
>  Rogers to promote the agreement. The final Congressional vote in
>  expected within weeks.
>SOURCE: International Herald Tribune, July 18, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/4996
>
>14. MEDICAL JOURNAL BATS ON AFTER THREE STRIKES
>http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/health/4055561.html
>  For the third time in two months, Catherine DeAngelis, the
>  editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association
>  (JAMA), has been embarrassed by revelations that articles published
>  in the journal have not included full disclosure by authors of their
>  drug industry funding. The latest edition of JAMA includes a study
>  which links severe migraines to heart attacks in women. "All six of
>  the study's authors have done consulting work or received research
>  funding from makers of treatments for migraines or heart-related
>  problems," reported Lindsay Tanner for Associated Press. "Authors
>  should always err on the side of full disclosure," DeAngelis wrote
>  in a note to readers. The Center for Science in the Public Interest
>  argues that journals should institute a three-year ban for
>  non-disclosure and the penalty should apply to all publications
>  involved in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
>  Last week, DeAngelis told (sub req'd) the Wall Street Journal she
>  was against instituting a ban.
>SOURCE: Houston Chronicle, July 18, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/4995
>
>15. PENTAGON SEEKS MORE BANG FOR PROPAGANDA  BUCK
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/18/AR2006071801372_pf.html
>  "The U.S. military has removed two firms from a psychological
>  operations contract aimed at influencing international public
>  opinion," reports the Washington Post. "The firms, plus a third
>  company (SYColeman) that will retain the contract, spent the past
>  year developing prototypes for radio and television spots intended
>  for use in Iraq and in other nations... The TV and radio contract,
>  originally worth up to $300 million over five years, had been held
>  by three firms since last year: the Lincoln Group; San Diego-based
>  Science Applications International Corp.; and Arlington-based
>  SYColeman, a subsidiary of New York-based L-3 Communications Corp.
>  ... 'We learned that working with three companies increases
>  expenditures in both time and money and does not provide best value
>  to the government," said Lt. Col. David Farlow, spokesman for the
>  military's psychological operations unit. Lincoln Group spokesman
>  Bill Dixon said in a statement yesterday that the firm 'continues to
>  win contracts' for Pentagon propaganda, but 'because confidentiality
>  is vital to this work, the firm will not comment on the details of
>  any contracts.' "
>SOURCE: Washington Post, July 19, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/4994
>
>16. HE WHO SOWS THE WIND, REAPS THE STORM
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/18/AR2006071800400.html
>  It isn't only Israeli bombs that are landing in Lebanon. Propaganda
>  flyers are also descending on the Lebanese landscape. This is just
>  the most recent chapter in Israel's efforts to influence Lebanese
>  opinion. "In a crude drawing, leaflets dropped by Israeli planes
>  over Beirut depict Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as a
>  cobra dancing to the tune of the flute-playing leaders of Iran,
>  Syria and Palestinian group Hamas. The cartoon shows two bombs near
>  Nasrallah's head, while the foreign leaders sit cross-legged on a
>  map of Lebanon. Typed in Arabic and signed the ?State of
>  Israel?, the flyers are part of attempts by Israel to turn the
>  Lebanese against the guerrilla group it is fighting.? A
>  translation of the leaflet pictured here is available at
>  BloggingBeirut.com. In the past, Israel has also used leaflet drops
>  to discourage Lebanese aid to Palestinian fighters.
>SOURCE: The Washington Post, July 18, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/4993
>
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