BRAVE NEW FILMS – In The Media

From newsobserver.com

Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane will have dinner next week with a UNC professor who has the mayor’s name in her job title.

McFarlane and her husband, Ron, made a major contribution last year to UNC’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy to create the Ron and Nancy McFarlane Distinguished Professorship in Pharmacy Practice. The couple own MedPro Rx, a specialty pharmaceutical company.

By T. Keung Hui for newsobserver.com

 Add the National Education Association to those accusing the conservative Koch brothers and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) of having backed the Wake County school board's former Republican majority that won the 2009 elections.

By Marcie Gainer for Disinformation

Old Poll

Our first weekly poll was a relative success. In light of our soon-to-be released Boredom, we asked your opinions on one of the issues raised in the film. It seems the majority of you agree with director Albert Nerenberg’s conclusion. The results are below:

Are Smart Phones Making Us More Bored?

- See more at: http://disinfo.com/2014/07/weekly-poll-update-what-issue-most-important/#sthash.OZX1JmXJ.dpuf

By Robert Greenwald for AlterNet

A dozen years ago, as the U.S. was pulled into war in Iraq by President George W. Bush, Fox News was not just any television network. It proudly blared the White House’s lies coming with singular warmongering fervor. Remember? The terrorists had ties to Iraq. Saddam wanted the bomb. Saddam had the bomb. He could hit us in 45 minutes. 

By Steve1960 for DailyKos

Making the case that American capitalism oppresses the white middle class was a tough sell back when I was a wee lad. For one thing, the thirty five percent of the American workforce that belonged to a union (and most of the rest who experienced the obvious "knock on effect" of a union scale wage) would strongly disagree. Today the story is much different. Such looming threats to the US middle class as predatory lending, union busting, changes in the bankruptcy laws that favor creditors, higher regressive local taxation and the shipping of jobs overseas all pale in comparison to the one only beginning to rear its ugly head: debtors prison!  In all honesty, people aren't actually sent to prison specifically for unpaid debts. But more and more are being sent for "violating a court order" to pay or for simply failure to appear in court when being sued for debt repayment. A report by popular radio show host, Thom Hartmann contained these harrowing lines;

By New Hounds Ellen for Crooks and Liars

You may think that Fox’s bias has always been common knowledge but it was the 2004 documentary Outfoxed that brought it front and center and put a stake through the heart of Fox’s “fair and balanced” mantra. As one of the researchers for the film, I am so proud to have been part of that effort.

By Manhasset Press

Billionaires David and Charles Koch are the subjects of a new documentary by Brave New Films that will be shown on “A SANE Voice, ” Great Neck SANE/Peace Action’s monthly program on Public Access Television.

By Jordan Melograna for Truthout

A hundred years ago, labor leaders fought for all the protections we know and rely on today in the workplace - safe conditions, the 8-hour workday, overtime pay and the ban on children in factories. These are rules so obvious today that is seems fantastical that people once had to march in the streets to get them. Yet, today, something even more fundamental is under attack. Workers are seeing their wages stolen by their bosses, with little recourse to do anything about it.

By Lindsay Waite for the Examiner

Shopping at Walmart offers convenience, low prices, and a lot of variety. I finally succumbed after years of resistance to occasionally shopping at Walmart. After all, they were touting that they had local produce, some organic. And their employment policies did not automatically exclude people with criminal records, pretty progressive in the USA. Walmart's spin of stories on discriminatory employment practices was covered by the media, suggesting these were rarities. Money talks and advertising pays big, I guess.

By Ellen for Newshounds

Marie Therese shares her thoughts about the 10th anniversary of Outfoxed and NewsHounds - with some reminiscing about how we tried to warn John Kerry and the Democrats about the Swift Boat campaign. When Ellen emailed to say that this month is the 10^th anniversary of the inception of the NewsHounds blog, I have to admit it caught me by surprise.  Ten years?  It can’t be!  After the shock wore off, I found myself reminiscing about the serendipity that eventually led eight dedicated women to first volunteer to do research for the documentary OUTFOXED and then to start a blog whose sole purpose was (and is) alerting the public to the fact the FOX News is anything but a news channel.