Category Archives: corporations

Polyphonic Spree

I just saw the VW/ipod commerrcial with Polyphonic Spree (turn the music off on the main site, then try the polyphonic player).  Once again showing that VW Bug’s and Apple’s advertising are on the cutting edge.  They were one of the most amazing shows I saw at 2002 SXSW and had to see again this year.  By the end, you’re not sure if they are aping a cult or are trying to get you to join, but you don’t really care.  This 20-plus-piece band is one to see if you can get the chance!
They’ll be in NYC/Boston rsn, then europe for a bit, back in texas briefly in Sept (but not Houston), then sweeping about the usa.

-b

Open Letter – sloppy media

Open letter to Associated Press, Martin Reynolds of the Gartner Group, and the Houston Chronicle.


James T. Campbell, Houston Chronicle Reader Representative, readerrep@chron.com
Scott Clark, Assistant Managing Editor, Business, edtgsc@chron.com
Conrad Bibens, Wire Editor – Business, conrad.bibens@chron.com
Martin Reynolds, (VP ?) Gartner Group, martin.reynolds@gartner.com
in lieu of an ombudsman contact on the AP web site…
Managing Editors, Associated Press, apme@ap.org
Edward Jones, President, Associated Press Managing Editors, edjones@freelancestar.com
Stuart Wilk, Vice President, Associated Press Managing Editors, swilk@dallasnews.com
General Contact Address, Associated Press, info@ap.org

There seems to be an unbalanced bias between two articles that ran in the Houston Chronicle’s business section this week and both of which came via the Associated Press.

They were both very small, wire articles and could have been shoved in to fill the gap of a few column inches. One was on Apple Computer, the other on Microsoft – certainly could be viewed as balancing the coverage. But they show signs of subtle bias and laziness in our media; small signs in small articles that reflect upon the whole. They reflect the media as a mouthpiece of the corporations. One has a partial quote that seems to be placed for maximum emotional effect. (Is there a need to keep the readers of a three inch column entertained in the last paragraph?)

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GPA on list of good non-profits

From a few days ago in the paper. Houston Greyhound Pets of America among the best non-profits in the city…

-bill

Nonprofits lend a bigger helping hand
Houston groups ranked at top in national study

By MIKE SNYDER
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
June 19, 2003, 11:45PM

For every dollar it gets from donors, the Houston Area Women’s Center spends 84 cents on shelter and services for domestic violence survivors.

Only 16 cents goes to fund-raising and administrative costs.

Such efficiency is characteristic of Houston’s largest nonprofits, which rank among the nation’s best in a new study evaluating the financial health of some 2,500 tax-exempt organizations around the country.

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Corporate Personhood

It’s a bit lengthy, but historical and current knowledge that every self-respecting citizen should know.  The Santa Clara Blues: Corporate Personhood versus Democracy by Bill Moyers, is and excellent introduction.  If you happen to hear about the coming court case in the news, where Nike will be claiming First Amendment right to free speech, even when the speech is a lie, you will know the back story.

For some reason, I hear Ice-T singing in my head… “freedom of speech, that some mother-fucking bullshit…” but that’s a different political argument.

-b