16,063
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
SW: update item
[[Image:Westin kierland acc.jpg|210px|left|frame|The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, AZ]]<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/node/11231 ALEC and Westin/Starwood: Who is Your Hotel in Bed With While You're in Bed at Your Hotel?]</h3>by [[Lisa Graves]]<br>Tucson-based civil rights attorney Stacy Scheff believes that Westin Kierland may have violated federal constitutional law when they threw a journalist (and paid guest) out into the dead of night--due to the simple fact that the journalist evicted had written critically of (and was not liked by) the organization hosting a conference at the hotel. (A new story about these events is available [http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/01/11230/inside-alec-naked-contempt-press-and-public-scottsdale here]). Essentially, Scheff argues, federal law, which holds the hotel industry under heavy sway as a form of interstate commerce, provides protections for certain protected classes under the Civil Rights Act. As such, "viewpoint" (i.e. critical members of the press) may well be incorporated as such a protected class. Read the rest of this item [http://www.prwatch.org/node/11231 here.]
-----
[[Image:Gasland debunked JP 1SmirnoffIcewildgrape.jpg|210200px|right|frame|Image from the EID website]] <h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/node/11116 "Energy in Depth," "Counter-Insurgency" Tactics, and Astroturf 11212 The Alcohol Industry's Stealth "Energy CitizensJoe Camel"Strategy]</h3>by Sara Jerving<br> The corporations pushing for expanded "hydraulic fracturing" ("[[frackingAnne Landman]]") for "natural gas" are putting big money into PR campaigns due to growing citizen concerns about this damaging drilling process. At a "Media and Stakeholder Relations: Hydraulic Fracturing Initiative 2011" meeting this winter, an industry representative went so far as to <br> A new [http://wwwajph.cnbcaphapublications.comorg/iddoi/45208498 suggest that industry] public relations agents download the Uabs/10.S2105/AJPH. Army/Marine Corps' "Counterinsurgency Field Manual2011." He noted that it would be helpful because 300387 study] published in the industry is "dealing with an insurgency." Chris Tucker, January 2012 issue of the spokesperson for [[Energy in Depth]] (EID) defended A''merican Journal of Public Health'' examines the statement by saying it was meant only as a joke, sophisticated PR and marketing strategies that "there are no black helicopters here. ... We go alcoholic beverage companies have used to re-make the image of distilled spirits to township meetings, and we hear what people have appeal to sayunderage drinkers.The article, " But Tucker is heavily involved Joe Camel in the "counterinsurgencya Bottle: Diageo," working for one of the industry's many tentacles of its spin campaign. EID is a Washington-basedSmirnoff Brand, industry-funded [[front group]] that attacks people concerned about and the dangers Transformation of fracking and the cocktail Youth Alcohol Market," by James Mosher, utilizes a case study of toxic substances being used in Diageo's Smirnoff brand to illustrate the drilling processestactics. Read the rest of this item [http://www.prwatch.org/node/11116 11212 here].
-----
[[Image:401k.jpg|180px|right]]<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/node/11205 When Medicare Isn't Medicare]</h3> by [[Wendell Potter]]<br>Let's say you have a Ford and decide to replace everything under the hood with Hyundai parts, including the engine and transmission. Could you still honestly market your car as a Ford? That question gets at the heart of the controversy over who is being more forthright about GOP Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to "save" Medicare, Republicans or Democrats. If you overhaul the Medicare system like you did your Ford and tell the public it's still Medicare, are you doing so honestly? As I noted last week, PolitiFact, the St. Petersburg Times' fact checker, decided that the Democrats' claim that Ryan's plan would mean the end of Medicare was so blatantly untrue it merited designation as the 2011 "Lie of the Year." Republicans, whose erroneous claims about health care reform garnered "Lie of the Year" prizes in 2009 and 2010, cheered. Democrats, as you might imagine, jeered -- as did some journalists and pundits. PolitiFact's Washington-based editor defended the choice by contending that Ryan's proposal to restructure Medicare by providing beneficiaries subsidies to buy private insurance would not "end" the program. It would still be Medicare, he reasoned. What he's missing is that Ryan's proposal would change the program so fundamentally as to represent the equivalent of replacing the engine and transmission. Read the rest of this item [http://www.prwatch.org/node/11205 here.]
