Ron Paul, Corporations, and the Media

[KeithE]

How many of you are even aware that Ron Paul won the New Hampshire Young Republicans "staw poll" last night very handily. The results:
Jon Huntsman - 3 percent
Herman Cain - 5 percent
Rick Perry - 8 percent
Ron Paul - 45 percent
Mitt Romney - 10 percent
Thaddeus McCotter - 8 percent
Rick Santorum - 3 percent
Michele Bachmann - 5 percent
Buddy Roemer - 3 percent
Gary Johnson - 6 percent
Newt Gingrich - 1 percent.
Rudy Giuliani - 1 percent (write-in)
Paul Ryan - 1 percent (write-in)
Others - 1 percent

That is a landslide

Now I have waited a day and searched the news outlets and the only media outlets (that I found googling "Ron Paul New Hampshire") that reported this were two local New Hampshire newspapers and the Huffington post (there was also some mention of a debate Paul won in New Hampshire last year but not by major media outlets):



And the Huffington Post gave it scant notice while the Seacoast Online highlighted Herman Cain (but did mention Paul's victory). Only the Hampton/Northhampton news source gave it anything close to it's due.

And remember Ron Paul came in a close second to Michelle Backmann in Iowa and was hardly mentioned in the newsarticles.

Why is that?

The reason, imso, is that Ron Paul is disliked by businesses becasue he is against the large subsidies they are getting. A measure of how much they dislike Paul and how much Paul challenges pro-business bills can be seen in the .

Page through these (democrats first, then Repubs, then Independents) Democrats are mostly below 50% while Republicans are mostly over 90%. Ron Paul is by far the lowest Repubilcan at 46%.

The media is run by what? Big business - there are now only 5 big media corporations and they dominate what is shown to the American public.

That is why Paul is given hardly any attention - he is disliked and probaby feared by business interests. Remember Citizens' United SCOTUS ruling declared "corporations are people" and can donate large amounts to candidates campaigns. Ron Paul has received no corporate donations.

The myth that most Republicans and many Democrats use to justify their pro-business voting records is that businesses create jobs. But as pointed out, that is not what is happening. Instead their coffers are enlarging, their CEO's are getting filthy rich, retreats/conferences are multiplying as are corporate jets, they are building plants overseas, setting up front businesses offshore to evade taxes, buying off politicians, buying up cheap "foreclosure" properties, and they are using the money to buy each other out making even larger megacorporations with more influence over our viewpoints, our lifestyles and our lifes.

This is the sad state of America finds itself in.

My heartfelt recommendation is that all of you balance your news with news from alternative sources like:
and/or
and
your own internet research.

You will hear about news items that never make the MSM/Cable Media and you will vote with expanded knowledge in 2012.

I also recommend following (or even participating in) . We will see if this gets any sympathetic media attention come Oct 6.

[Ed Pettibone]

Ed: KeithE are you aware of New Hampshire's State motto. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Free_or_Die

[Sandy]

I would add to your list, Keith, the Pacifica network. They operate five radio stations nationwide, with the network based in Berkeley, California and stations in Berkeley, Los Angeles, Houston, New York and Washington, DC. But you can also pick one of the stations and listen to it online. They are a great independent news source, without Faux Fox's extremism or the media's bent toward revenue.

http://pacifica.org/

[KeithE]

[KeithE]

An example of a viewpoint that is not represented in our media.


And there is another storyline about Lockerbie from Susan Lindauer that is not told by our media because of its implicating CIA drug money.


Instead Gaddafi is consistently demonized by the US media for being a tyrant at home and a terrorist abroad. Not sure what the truth is, but predictably there is another side to the story.

Also not sure the rebels are any better or worse .

Ron Paul is right, we should stay out of other country's civil strife. Seems like we (the US) gets involved most frequently when oil is involved.

[Sandy]

Paul's political philosophy is pretty libertarian, which is fine up to a point. It will be very difficult for him to pull off the GOP nomination with the corporate bankroll that controls the conservative media completely, and has a major impact on the rest of the commercial broadcast industry, working against him. His libertarian leanings also put him outside the realm of support of those who push the conservative social agenda.

I heard Michelle Bachmann, who seems to be off the radar screen this week, make some off the wall statement about how bad it is that we are "suffering" under a corporate tax rate of 34%. If only corporations in this country had to pay 34% of their profits in taxes. That would solve our cash flow, debt and credit rating problems! The problem is the 34% corporate tax rate combined with loopholes and exemptions, many of which were put in place during the Bush administration, puts the total corporate tax at well below that. In fact, so many of the exemptions and loopholes do not have to be reported publicly, it is difficult to actually figure out how much corporate tax is collected and from whom.

The bottom line is that the GOP candidate who best represents corporate interests will get the nomination, because a cataract of money will find its way around the limits of campaign contribution laws into general advertising and endorsements, and will make sure the Ron Pauls in the race get squashed.

[KeithE]

Sadly true. And I think it is so on the Democratic side vas well.

From the North Sea

[KeithE]

This got a little more media coverage than New Hampshire. But still Big Business will fight a Paul presidency in anyway they can . downplayed it and embedded a link to the fourth place Bachmann. Remember the hype after Iowa where Bachmann barely beat out Paul.

I'm not necessarily voting for Paul, just noting the preferential press treatment.