What is the actual “unfortunate truth?” It is the relentless barrage of lies and twisted, self-serving, short-sighted propaganda we are subjected to by the energy sector, the private health insurance sector and the conservative talking-head sector.
A couple of the latest salvos can be found locally in the Tribune-Star. One was a full-page advertisement from the group Energy Citizens and the other was Diana West’s pitiful attempt to advocate for Rush Limbaugh’s rights.
The ad claims “Another unfortunate truth about Congress’s climate bill” will be the loss of 2 million jobs. Besides being another lie, it baits us with passive-aggressive terminology and partisan coding. These communication strategies have dominated the “no-change” sectors’ efforts to dig in like ticks against reforms intended to improve the lives of all Americans and make us a more civil society, create a fairer, more robust economy and advance our role as a responsible, cooperative global neighbor and leader.
This is not baseless criticism. Using tactics employed by health insurance companies, the American Petroleum Institute created Energy Citizens and directed them to hold rallies, put ads in papers and disrupt progressive energy reform. They have a list of places to target and Indiana is on that list. The “evidence” cited in these taser tactics of predicting massive job losses and high gas prices if Congress has its way is the result of “research” done by Charles River Associates International. Why doubt their evidence or research? It is widely known that Charles River Associates has been producing flawed research for many years to support the claims of those in the energy and conservative business sectors (see U.S. Chamber of Commerce).
Charles River Associates uses a proprietary research method that resists objective scrutiny while cherry-picking data that ensures the results their clients want. It has done the same thing to fight environmental protection policies, citing extreme projections, well beyond those of government or academic research (10 to 14 times more extreme), of damages to agricultural industries, dramatic food cost increases, etc. All of this is designed to scare people and fabricate opposition to policies that might derail their clients’ gravy train.
As for West, she views aggressive rebuking and containment of those in her camp, such as Limbaugh, as a violation of free expression. Necessary to her indignant outrage is neglecting that the allegations and commentary about Limbaugh and the others are true! These people are guilty of knowingly trying to dupe American citizens out of their birthrights and as a result should be treated like the carpetbaggers and vandals they are.
Perhaps the message in all this is to be smarter about what you believe, especially when the stakes are high, investigate your sources and remember that trust is the mother of deceit. Marian Wright Edelman points out that “We do not have a money problem in America. We have a values and priorities problem.” Our government is us. It is not some foreign conglomerate shipped in to tell us what to do. We dictate the values and the priorities and task them to solve problems accordingly. While the control big-money interests have over our government suggests otherwise, their money would have much less influence if more Americans were in agreement over the issues, held politicians accountable and we all treated the truth with respect.
— Don Rogers
Terre Haute
Flashpoint
FLASHPOINT: Unfortunately, the truth is often twisted
- Flashpoint
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FLASHPOINT: Graduation rates are up; great news for Indiana
As Hoosiers celebrate the conclusion of a truly remarkable Super Bowl experience, there is even more good news that should fill us with pride.
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FLASHPOINT: Tech trail leading us into a dense, digital forest
It seems the Southwest Parke schools are the latest to play the laptop lottery game.
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FLASHPOINT: Republicans enable war on middle class, unions
About six years ago at the pinnacle of the Bush/GOP Dictatorship, I began telling you that the wealthy and Corporate America were laying the ground work to politically, financially and physically take over America.
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FLASHPOINT: Howey ignores truth to advance his agenda
Brian Howey’s Jan. 8 column about the U.S. Senate race proves once again that he will not allow the facts or journalistic ethics to get in the way of attacking Richard Mourdock and promoting his chosen candidate, Dick Lugar.
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FLASHPOINT: Putting fairness first
This time of year, with chords of Auld Lang Syne still ringing in our ears, it’s not uncommon or unnatural to think of days gone by as being more desirable than the era we live in today.
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FLASHPOINT: What really motivates right-to-work proposal?
You may have heard about the upcoming “right-to-work” legislation before our lawmakers in the next session of “law making.”
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FLASHPOINT: The right-to-work debate: ‘Devil at Our Doorstep’
As the 2012 Indiana Legislative Assembly convenes, January will represent a tipping point for all Hoosiers’ individual freedoms as politicians and Big Labor draw battle lines to determine if Indiana will become the 23rd right-to-work state.
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FLASHPOINT: State’s House Democrats will offer alternative for job creation
As the leaders of single-party control in state government outline their agendas for the 2012 session of the Indiana General Assembly, it is easy to be cynical about their intentions in the months to come.
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FLASHPOINT: Community colleges must lead way in reshaping higher education
In the 1970s, I began what was three decades in the automotive industry. ... Today, in my position as president of Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, I see higher education confronted with some of these same challenges.
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FLASHPOINT: There’s little right about ‘right to work’ proposal
The danger contained in these three simple words – “Right to Work” — is that they sound so innocent.
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FLASHPOINT: The next big movement? Reform Congress
We are living through one of the most remarkable times in recent history.
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FLASHPOINT: Christmas trees and crony capitalism
I’ve been involved in selling fresh Christmas trees for as long as I can remember.
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FLASHPOINT: Salute to Rooney and all veterans
When I awoke to the news that CBS’s “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney had passed away I was truly saddened.
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FLASHPOINT: Corporate welfare for Menards?
As near as I can figure from a recent story in the newspaper, our government representatives, state and local, are scrambling to find money to give to Menards because of a distribution center they are thinking about building on the city’s North Side.
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FLASHPOINT: State Archives needs permanent, safe home
The records in the Indiana State Archives are priceless, one-of-a-kind treasures not to be found anywhere else.
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Flashpoint: State Archives needs permanent, safe home
The records in the Indiana State Archives are priceless, one-of-a-kind treasures not to be found anywhere else.
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FLASHPOINT: Attracting foreign investment involves more than business climate
A week before I left Indiana to lead my fifth international trade mission, I met with students at Speedway High School who had visited Japan two years ago. They were sharing their advice on Japanese protocol.
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FLASHPOINT: Scoring the Indiana Chamber
It is a question asked routinely — almost reflexively — during the last days of a General Assembly: “Will the Chamber score this?”
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FLASHPOINT: The growing power of lobbyists
Back in 1982, Mississippi’s powerful U.S. Sen. John C. Stennis faced a tough re-election fight. Advisers told him he had an ace up his sleeve: as chairman of the Armed Service Committee, he could raise bundles of campaign cash from defense contractors. But Stennis balked. “Would that be proper?” he asked. “I hold life and death over these companies.”
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FLASHPOINT: Fiscal hawks: Speak out on state’s largest publicly funded project
Indiana has a number of fiscal hawks among our elected officials who talk tough about ending subsidies and cutting wasteful projects.
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FLASHPOINT: A great company will soon disappear from community
This is in reference to the Tribune-Star story of Aug. 6 concerning the Terre Haute Sherwin-Williams plant’s intention to close by end of the year:
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FLASHPOINT: Collegiate relations committee proposal addresses neighborhood ills
With the beginning of the school year, it is apparent that Terre Haute is a college town in many respects, especially for those who live in the Farrington’s Grove neighborhood, south of downtown.
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FLASHPOINT: Indiana learning from a founding Hoosier family
The Delph family excursion through southern Indiana over the Labor Day weekend was as memorable as it was enjoyable. Lilly turned 5 and got to spend her birthday at Holiday World riding rides and eating sweets. Abby got to drive Dad around on the pretend cars foretelling our new world order. Emma, Anna and Evelyn further cemented their status as rollercoaster girls dragging Mom and Dad on the Voyage, arguably the most brutal ride of all for parents.
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Social media makes news more intimate, more disturbing In decade after 9/11
When a student recently asked what was “the hardest story” I had to cover during my 26 years working at CNN, the question caught me off guard.
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FLASHPOINT: Better access to quality health care can happen
Over 50 million Americans live in areas where there are simply not enough health care providers to meet their basic needs.
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FLASHPOINT: Seeking understanding from insanity of war
On the evening of Sept. 11, 2001, my family and I gathered to watch the unending news reports and the searing images of our homeland under attack.
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How to listen to a politician
As summer draws to a close and next year’s political campaigns get down to brass tacks, you’re going to be hearing a lot more from politicians seeking your vote.
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FLASHPOINT: Congress must help keep American dream within our reach
Since the 2010 mid-term elections, House Speaker John Boehner and his blindly dedicated Republican followers have not introduced a single bill for job creation.
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FLASHPOINT: Howey’s Aug. 21 column was inaccurate
Elected officials accept public debate.
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FLASHPOINT: Measles outbreak demonstrates the need for up-to-date vaccinations
Real incidents that engage national, state and local health professionals can be far more fascinating than television investigative dramas and are clearly more important.
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