ABC and WZZM 13 give McDonalds a free pass on their ongoing campaign to target children
Yesterday on the ABC show Good Morning America, there was a perfect example of the inherent flaw in commercial media – the inability to seriously challenge corporate interests.
Good Morning America reporter George Stephanopoulos presented a story about the McDonalds Corporation’s decision to revise their Happy Meal package to include fruit. This decision by the fast food giant to provide the same kinds of food “stuff “ – chicken nuggets and fries – clearly demonstrates that they are primarily interested in public perception over real nutrition.
Good Morning America then blew a perfect opportunity to actually confront what any reasonable person would see as a complete scam from McDonalds. The show invited the President of the McDonalds Corporation to the show and did not hold them accountable for decades of targeting children with unhealthy food.
In watching the video you hear George Stephanopoulos refer to “some critics” who would rather see the Happy Meal discontinued, but the ABC commentator did not identify any of these “critics” nor provide them with equal airtime to challenge the McDonalds Corporation.
What viewers hear instead are vague commitments from McDonalds about providing nutritional information in every Happy Meal box. At one point Stephanopoulos even admits that he can hear his children telling him to take them to McDonalds so they can have some fun.
It’s bad enough that a major TV network gives a free pass to a company that is complicit in obesity, ecological destruction, worker exploitation and deceiving children (as documented in the film McLibel), the ABC Network provided a national forum for McDonalds to continue to lie to the American public.
To make matters worse, Michelle Obama then released a statement saying:
“McDonald’s is making continued progress today by providing more fruit and reducing the calories in its Happy Meals. I’ve always said that everyone has a role to play in making America healthier, and these are positive steps toward the goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity.”
At the local level, ABC affiliate station WZZM 13 not only plugged the Good Morning America story about McDonald’s claim to care about children, they also missed a big opportunity to take the fast food giant to task for decades of targeting children with unhealthy foods.
Channel 13 invited 2 local moms to come and “debate” the McDonalds Happy Meal issue in their TV studio. However, the 7 minute segment basically consisted of one mom saying she never takes her kids to fast food restaurants and the other saying she does is every once in a while. In other words, McDonalds got a free pass on WZZM 13, since their decades long practice of targeting children with unhealthy foods was pretty much ignored.
WZZM 13 could have provided viewers with valuable information from the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood or encouraged parents to read an excellent toolkit for how to fight fast food marketing produced by the Berkeley Media Studies Group. The local ABC affiliate could also have invite a public health official or someone from the local group Stop Targeting Our Kids (STOK) so that viewers would have a greater opportunity to understand how McDonalds deceives children. The fact that WZZM 13 did not hold the McDonalds Corporation accountable is no surprise considering McDonalds is a regular advertiser on the local ABC station.
Tuesday afternoon, a press conference alongside the Grand River brought representatives from the Sierra Club, We Are the People and the Blue Green Alliance together to challenge new Michigan legislation (HB4326/SB272) that destroys crucial environmental, consumer and worker protections and strip the governor’s authority to protect the Great Lakes. According to Sue Levy, representing the UAW, “4326 prevents the state from adopting standards that are tougher than federal standards. We will have to rely on Washington to protect Michigan’s resources and workers. It will tie our hands from protecting the Great Lakes. Fewer environmental resources will mean fewer workers on the job.”
Mike Berkowitz, chapter organizer for the Sierra Club, stated, in a press release circulated at the start of the press conference, “This legislation sends a clear message that state politicians don’t think the Great Lakes are worth protecting. Washington bureaucrats are not better equipped to protect the Great Lakes than the people who live right here in Michigan. This ‘one-size fits all’ approach won’t protect ‘Pure Michigan’ and it won’t create a single job.”
Berkowitz recapped that statement when he took the podium. He also shared examples from recent history that reaffirmed the dangers of the new legislation. Because Michigan’s governor has the authority to protect the Great Lakes, in 1976, Governor Milliken was able to save Lake Erie by instating limits on phosphorous. Berkowitz noted that Governor Granholm’s stronger-than-federal mercury limits have prevented even higher levels of this deadly toxic metal to enter the food supply of Michigan populations dependent on fish for sustenance. And, Michigan’s more stringent regulation of CAFOs has protected the Great Lakes, inland lakes and rivers, like the Grand, from being turned into manure filled dumping grounds. (CAFO stands for concentrated animal feeding operations, i.e. huge factory farms.)
“Imagine the Grand River here, filled with feces and urine,” Berkowitz said.
Last, Mark Schaur, from the Blue Green Alliance (a front group for the Democrats) took the podium. He reiterated his quote from the same press release, “Racing to the bottom on environmental protection and worker safety isn’t a jobs plan for Michigan. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Instead we need to build on Michigan’s unique assets—its people and its natural resources—to create the good jobs of the 21st century here.”
He went on to say that Michigan’s people and natural resources “power our economy,” stating that this legislation would ultimately make the US economy less competitive and cause us to lose the “race” for green jobs to China and Germany.
During the question and answer period following the presentations, GRIID asked if any of the speakers knew of industries or entities who had lobbied to get HB4326/SB272 passed. No one had an answer. However, the easily accessible minutes of the May 18, 2011 Committee on Regulatory Reform listed the following supporters of the bill:
- Michigan Association of Home Builders.
- Telecommunications Association of Michigan.
- Michigan Chamber of Commerce
- Michigan Farm Bureau
- National Federation of Independent Business,
- Michigan Manufacturers Association
Clearly, HB4326/SB272 is a dangerous affront on Michigan’s environment. Combining the environmental impacts with the call for more jobs and a stronger economy may be a good strategy in this instance. However, the environmental crises we now face–locally and globally–require an immediate and radical shift in our patterns of consumption. Green jobs and new technologies are not enough.
Detroit City Council First in Michigan to Support a Ban of Dangerous Gas Drilling Technique
This article is re-posted from Food & Water Watch.
Last Friday, Detroit’s City Council became the first in Michigan to pass a resolution supporting a ban on a controversial gas drilling technique known as fracking. The Council passed the resolution unanimously. Council member JoAnn Watson offered up the resolution, and several local activists attended the Council meeting to show their support. In banning fracking, Detroit joins 65 other municipalities across the United States who have taken action against the practice.
“Detroit sent a strong message indicating that a ban on fracking is necessary to protect public health and preserve Michigan’s natural resources,” said Lynna Kaucheck of Food & Water Watch. “Michigan sits in the middle of 20 percent of the world’s available fresh water; that means we have a distinct responsibility to protect this vital natural resource. The time to ban fracking in Michigan is now.”
Fracking involves injecting water, sand and toxic chemicals deep underground to break up dense rock formations and release natural gas. Opponents of fracking cite the high potential for water and air pollution as a leading reason to ban the practice. Over 1,000 cases of water contamination have been reported near fracking sites.
Public opposition to fracking has escalated in recent months, with concerned residents and environmental and consumer advocacy groups campaigning against the practice. Recent reports show that oil and gas interests have leased nearly $200 million worth of Michigan-owned drilling rights in the Collingwood-Utica formation in the last year. The Collingwod-Utica formation is a deep shale deposit that rests under the northern portion of Michigan’s lower peninsula.
“Its time our state lawmakers truly put the state of Michigan and its tourism and agriculture industries ahead of greedy oil and gas interests” said Kaucheck. “We need to support the industries that make our state great, instead of selling of our natural resources to the highest bidder.”
In other parts of the Midwest where fracking is increasingly common, residents have reported complications ranging from headaches and blackouts, noxious odors in the air and sudden blindness, hair loss and death among their livestock.
A 2011 Cornell University study found that the process of fracking also releases methane, which according to the EPA, is 21 times more damaging of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Similarly, a study released by researchers at Duke University in April found methane levels in shallow drinking water wells near active gas drilling sites at a level 17 times higher than those near inactive ones.
“This resolution is a great first step and a bold statement from the Detroit City Council,” said Kaucheck. “We hope that other municipalities and the state follow suit.”
Earlier this year, the U.S. House and Energy Commerce Committee determined that 14 oil companies had injected 780 million gallons of fracking chemicals and other substances into U.S. wells between 2005 and 2009. This included 10.2 million gallons of fluids containing known or suspected carcinogens.
The companies however, are not required to disclose the chemicals in fracking fluid, which they claim should be protected as a “trade secret”. They are also exempt from seven major federal environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act.
Scientists at the Endocrine Disruption Exchange who tested fracking fluids found that 25 percent can cause cancer; 37 percent can disrupt the endocrine system; and 40 to 50 percent can affect the nervous, immune and cardiovascular systems.
Last month Food & Water Watch released a report entitled The Case for a Ban on Fracking. The report reveals how the natural gas industry’s use of water-intensive, toxic, unregulated practices for natural gas extraction are compromising public health and polluting water resources across the country.
The Case for a Ban on Fracking is available here.
A map of municipalities that have taken action against fracking is available here. As of today, Grand Rapids has not taken action to ban fracking.
Milk for Thought’s Big Pink Bus in Grand Rapids Thursday
On Thursday July 28th, Milk for Thought’s “Latch On America Tour” Big Pink Bus will park at Rosa Parks Circle for a full day of events celebrating and promoting breastfeeding.
The fun starts at 10 a.m. Grab a sign and welcome the bus when it arrives at 10:20. According to its website, “At Milk for Thought, we want to change the landscape of breastfeeding — from attitudes to advocacy to education. Our goals are to work collaboratively to empower pregnant and breastfeeding moms by connecting them to local experts and counselors, baby-friendly hospitals and birthing centers, support groups, and other mothers who are out there and want so much to help. Instantly, new moms will get the support, encouragement, and shoulder to lean on that they need to have a successful breastfeeding journey.”
Why all the hype about breastfeeding? Here’s just a few of the many reasons. Breastfed babies are healthier, smarter and less prone to ear infections, allergies, diabetes and asthma. Breastmilk is inexpensive (think free), convenient and is the only true species-specific formula available for human babies. Mothers who breastfeed enjoy the relaxing effects of oxytocin each time their babies suckle. They are less prone to breast cancer, osteoporosis and ovarian cancer.
The fun starts at 10 a.m. Grab a sign and welcome the bus when it arrives at 10:20. The day’s line-up includes a line-up of speakers including the Healthy Kent Breastfeeding Coalition, physicians, elected officials, breastfeeding mothers, authors, La Leche League and representatives of Milk for Thought as well as live musical entertainment.
Of special note, at 1:30 p.m., Troy, Michigan mother, Afrykahn Moon, will share her experience of being kicked off a public transit bus there for breastfeeding her two-week-old son.
Multiple community partners will have resource tables. In the “Faces of Breastfeeding in Michigan” photography area, visitors can have their pictures taken to share what breastfeeding means to them.
For the full listing of speakers and events, visit the Facebook event page.
GRIID is taking a break for a week
From now through July 25 GRIID will be taking a break from posting, but will resume writing independent news, providing news analysis and documenting local justice campaigns beginning July 26.
(This article by Dave Lindorff is re-posted from Common Dreams.)
The smoking ruin that is the Obama White House, and the rotting corpse that is the Democratic Party, have, incredibly, together been boxed into a corner by, of all things, the certifiably insane Republican Party.
This amazing situation has resulted not through any brilliant strategy on the part of the Republicans, but by the self-inflicted wounds of the Democrats.
Faced with a collapsing economy that is at serious risk of performing a reprise of the Great Depression, Congressional Democrats and President Obama were in a perfect position to grab the flag and run home with it by declaring war on unemployment and on the party that has unequivocally declared itself openly to be the standard bearer of the wealthy and powerful.
All the president and Congressional Democrats had to do was announce that Social Security, Medicare, education and programs to protect the poor were all off limits in any discussion of the federal budget, and to declare an immediate 25% cut in military spending, as called for earlier by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee.
How hard would that have been to do? The polls show it’s what the public wants. Any elected official who did this, particularly someone elected and re-elected as a Democrat, would have been hailed by voters for such a bold action.
According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in late May and released June 11, 60% of Americans correctly attribute the nation’s enormous deficit primarily to military spending, which eats up 52% of every tax dollar (Social Security and Medicare are entirely funded by separate payroll taxes, and not only have not contributed a single dollar to the federal deficit, but have been routinely borrowed from by the government to finance the deficit in the government’s operating budget caused by military spending). Only 24% blame the deficit on domestic spending other than military (and probably every one of those is a Republican or right-wing independent who likely believes that the earth was created 6000 years ago, and is flat, and who will never vote Democratic no matter what).
That same poll showed that the vast majority of Americans (73%) object to proposals to cut the budget by reducing federal funding for social programs, or federal funding to the states for education, or by reducing Social Security benefits (59%), for example by raising the retirement age.
What the Pew poll finds Americans do support is raising the cap on income subject to the Social Security Tax (FICA), from its current meager level of $106,000, to cover all income (66% in favor). They also favor raising taxes on those households that earn more than $250,000 a year (65% in favor), and they favor getting rid of tax deductions for corporations, which have allowed many wildly profitable companies like Exxon, GE and News Corp to pay no corporate taxes despite earning billions of dollars in profits (62% in favor). They also overwhelmingly favor reducing America’s military operations overseas, where the US currently maintains over 800 bases in countries all over the world, including wealthy allies such as Europe and Japan (62% in favor).
After being deluged with poorly written, simplistic and often ideologically-driven news stories all year hyping the supposed budget “crisis,” the percentage of Americans who say they are worried about the budget deficit has crept up from 24% to 28%, but far more Americans say they are worried about the jobs crisis (38%, up from 34% in March).
If you were a political advisor in the White House, or in the Democratic Congressional Committee or the Democratic National Committee, one would think that seeing those numbers, the strategy going forward would be obvious: declare the country to be facing New Depression, call the Republican Party out as a bunch of know-nothings, end the wars, bring the troops home, slash military spending, call for higher taxes on the rich, and, in Congress, introduce a public jobs program every day of every week, forcing the Republicans to vote them down, one after another through the next election day.
But the Democratic Party, as I said, is a rotting corpse, and it certainly is not an organization that sees itself as fighting for the common man and woman.
As for the White House political team, and the president himself, they seem to have long since lost their grip on reality.
The president has been hanging around with Wall Street bankers, taking their money and their self-serving ideas, for so long now he actually thinks like them. Congressional Democrats, like their Republican colleagues, are so covetous of corporate campaign cash and lobbyist perks that, with a few exceptions, they can’t imagine crossing any corporate interests.
This is not a case of Democrats being stupid. You’d have to be far worse than stupid not to see the correct political strategy to adopt at this point.
What has happened is that the Democratic Party is no more. It is, at this point, all about current incumbents gaining the favor of the corporate elite, lulling the public into a non-voting torpor or stupor, and of course, arguing that people worried about the nation’s future should vote for them yet again because “the Republicans are worse.”
In a press conference on Friday, President Obama made some incredible statements, all demonstrably untrue. He said “We are all part of the same country,” and yet he surely knows that when it comes to the leaders of America’s biggest corporations, including GE, whose chairman Jeffrey Immelt he appointed to head his Jobs Council, this is demonstrably false. While many of these leaders may be Americans by birth, the companies they run and represent earn the majority of their revenues and profits from operations abroad, and are thus, technically speaking, foreign enterprises, with foreign interests that trump any US interests. Obama said, “We are all in this together,” speaking of the supposed debt “crisis,” but of course, he has announced himself ready to cut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid programs, upon which poor and working class families depend, while leaving the rich largely unscathed. He has said it is the “will of the people” to cut the budget, but to the extent that that is even true, which is highly debatable, the will of the people is actually to cut military spending, not to cut Social Security or Medicare or even budgets for education or Medicaid.
The good news is that an increasing number of Americans appear to be finally realizing that this president is a fraud–a shill for bankers, the corporate interests and the neo-con military establishment who has just been posing as a man of the people.
The bad news is that there is little likelihood of any Third Party arising before 2012 that could seriously contest the national election, meaning that we are probably headed for either more of the same or a for Republican-led government.
The hope has to be that the blatant sell-out of the public interest and the national interest by both parties and by the president is becoming so self-evident that the American public will actually wake up from its media-induced somnolence and will abandon them both.
The institutional obstacles to such an unprecedented rebellion are of course enormous, but then, these are unprecedented times.
Based on the book by Pepi Leistyna, Class Dismissed navigates the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television’s beginnings to today’s sitcoms, reality shows, police dramas, and daytime talk shows.
Featuring interviews with media analysts and cultural historians, this documentary examines the patterns inherent in TV’s disturbing depictions of working class people as either clowns or social deviants — stereotypical portrayals that reinforce the myth of meritocracy.
7 p.m. Thursday July 21
IATSE Labor Hall
931 Bridge St NW
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Donations are welcomed. The screening will be followed by a discussion.
This event is co-sponsored by the Grand Rapids IWW and The Bloom Collective.
New Media We Recommend
Below is a list of new materials that we have read/watched in recent weeks. The comments are not a “review” of the material, instead sort of an endorsement of ideas and investigations that can provide solid analysis and even inspiration in the struggle for change. All these items are available at The Bloom Collective, so check them out and stimulate your mind.
Howard Zinn on History – This newly released collection of essays is another marvelous tribute to the man who gave us another way of viewing history in his seminal work A People’s History of the United States. These essays cover 5 decades and include themes like direction action, freedom schools, Columbus, beyond voting, radicalism, socialism and the US as Empire. Zinn’s style and personal commitment to working for systemic social change make these essays timeless and are a real tribute to how history can be both documented and taught. Highly recommended!
Stop Signs: Cars and Capitalism on the road to economic, social and ecological decay, by Bianca Mugyenyi and Yves Engler – For anyone concerned about the future of the planet and particularly global warming, this book clearly demonstrates that we need to make a radical shift in transportation. The co-authors show that more than any other consumer items cars have had more of a damaging ecological impact than any other commodity we have used in the past 100 years. Their book is written somewhat like a travelogue as they both attempt to move across the US and find that it is nearly impossible without a car. More importantly they look at the economic, class and sociological impact of cars and not just the environmental impact. Stop Signs is an important and sobering book about the urgency of our times.
Ours to Master and to Own: Workers’ Control from the Commune to the Present, by Immanuel Ness and Dario Azzellini – This book was one of those history books that leaves you feeling mad that you were not taught this information in school. There is such a rich history of worker councils, workers communes and worker owned enterprises that gives one hope that more of this could happen if we were just aware of it. The co-authors take us through the last 150 years to show that all over the world workers have been deeply committed to creating structures based on cooperation for the purpose of wanting more than just better wages. Worker run operations are also highly committed to different economic models, models that are in direct conflict with Capitalism. Ours to Master and to Own is an inspiring book that demonstrates we don’t have to follow the so-called free market model and attend business school in order to provide basic services for our fellow humans. This book can provide us with lessons on how we need to restructure our economic system that is not simply limited to buying local.
The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman (DVD) – This new documentary is a powerful film about the real status of public education in this country and a scathing respond to the privatize mantra that is the core message of last years’ film Waiting for Superman. The film is produced by New York educators and includes lots of information on campaigns to fight the privatization of public education. The film relies heavily on both parent and student perspectives, which gives the film more authenticity than just having experts comment. An important film for all communities faced with budget cuts and private sector forces that want to take over public education.
(This video is re-posted from ZNet.)
In the following video, linguist, philosopher, political activist and MIT Professor Noam Chomsky speaks about how there has been a concerted (and successful) public relations campaign to convince the public that climate change is a liberal hoax.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute and other businesses are said to be involved in this campaign. Chomsky also criticizes mainstream media outlets, such as the New York Times, for running articles in the name of “fabled objectivity”. These present two sides of a climate change debate equally, when the reality of scientific consensus is quite different. This results in a distorted picture of climate science.
Alabama Tops Them All With Harsh New Anti-Immigrant Law
When Arizona passed SB-1070, people across the country were stunned by its open declaration of war on undocumented workers in this country. States run by conservative politicians started lining up to imitate the law. So far, 1,538 similar bills and resolutions have been generated by various states and are pending votes. At the start of the summer, four states had passed extensive anti-immigrant laws like SB-1070.
Then, at the beginning of June, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley successfully oversaw the passage of a law in his state more severe than Arizona’s. SB-1070, meet your sadistic younger cousin: HB-56. One introductory part of the bill states:
The State of Alabama finds that illegal immigration is causing economic hardship and lawlessness in this state and that illegal immigration is encouraged when public agencies within this state provide public benefits without verifying immigration status.
HB-56 enables police to stop anyone who they believe could be an illegal immigrant, thus legitimizing racial profiling. They must also demand proof of citizenship from anyone they stop for another offense, from jaywalking to speeding. People can be detained if they don’t have papers proving they were born in this country or have official immigration status. However, Alabama’s new law goes beyond police involvement. It also mandates the complicity of the state educational system, businesses, and landlords.
Starting September 1, all immigrants in Alabama will be guilty of a state crime if they do not carry documents proving their legal status. Not a misdemeanor—a crime. And they can be held indefinitely until they provide the proper paperwork.
It will also be a crime in Alabama to give a ride to an undocumented worker—this includes rides from friends, from church organizations, from carpool groups, and even from school buses. To further hinder the “illegal transportation” of workers, the bill has a clause making it a crime to pick up farm laborers for transport on buses if the vehicle that is stopped blocks traffic in any way. Obviously, this allows police to swoop in and check everyone’s papers; but it also means that farm employers will have problems offering transport to their workers to the fields each day.
Alabama teachers and school administrators must collect copies of birth certificates or sworn affidavits of citizenship from every student, starting with kindergarteners. Colleges may not have undocumented immigrants as students—not even those who are seeking political asylum.
It will be a crime to rent an apartment to any family that includes an undocumented immigrant—making it impossible for families with even one member without papers to find a place to live.
And no more immigrant guests in your Alabama home. “Harboring” an undocumented worker, even for a single night, can lead to your arrest as well as the arrest of your guest.
In addition, Alabama businesses must use the federal program E-Verify to prove that every employee is a citizen of the United States or a “legal” immigrant. Anyone who has ever used E-Verify knows that it is filled with inaccurate and misleading information; it is also costly. The program has an error rate of about 10 percent and in some cases, even higher. In 2008, 33.5 percent of firings of immigrant workers occurred because of false E-Verify information. But the Supreme Court has upheld Arizona’s mandate to employees for its use, so that part of this law is not open for challenge.
The ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center filed suits to contest HB-56, but a judicial remedy is a lengthy process, and with the courts still stacked with Bush appointees, a risky one. An immigration attorney named David Isaacs wrote a lengthy analysis of whether the law is unconstitutional. It included this observation:
Among other things, the law appears to bar refugees fleeing political persecution from Alabama’s public universities; make it illegal to provide housing or transportation to someone so that they can attend a proceeding at which the federal government has specifically demanded they be present; and generally attempt to rewrite the Immigration and Nationality Act….
Isaacs goes on to comment that the law actually deprives immigrants of guaranteed rights that should be protected until they have had the time to have their status reviewed by federal authorities. And states do not have the right to amend federal laws.
Governor Bentley has no qualms about HB-56, as he crowed to the press that the new law was a “jobs creation bill for Americans. This will put thousands of Alabamians back in the work force.” There are currently an estimated 120,000 undocumented immigrants in Alabama. Most of them pick tomatoes in Alabama’s ghastly summer heat or work in chicken processing plants. It will be interesting to see how many native-born Alabama residents line up for those jobs once they’re vacated. In the meantime, a shortage of workers at harvest time could deep-six Alabama’s already sinking agricultural economy.
A reader of the Birmingham News wrote to the paper’s editor shortly after the law was passed, reporting that Latino friends of hers had already been harassed—both by residents and the police. The harassers clearly felt that that the new law empowered them in their bigotry toward minorities. One instance involved the police, who stopped a Latino man and demanded “to see his papers.” This, the letter writer noted, despite the fact that the law doesn’t even go into effect until September 1.
And an Alabama legislator named Mo Brooks is obviously feeling empowered as well. This week, Brooks stated, “I will do anything short of shooting them [undocumented immigrants]. Anything that is lawful, it needs to be done because illegal aliens need to quit taking jobs from American citizens.” Brooks also said that undocumented workers have “victimized” Americans by their very existence in the state.
Will HB-56 become the new gold standard as state after state attempts to adopt these racist laws? It seems likely that, unless the law is successfully challenged in the federal courts, states will follow the Alabama example. They will push the envelope as far as they can, using the economy as an excuse to justify an ongoing witch hunt against immigrants and minority workers.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 