Frank Luntz: Market Researcher, Salesman and Fox News "Analyst"

Introduction:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

How to handle an audience and appeal to their feelings:

1. Body language tips,
2. Handling audience tips,
3. Creating a more positive phrase for 'drilling for oil' became 'energy exploration'. (inaccuracy doesn't matter as long as there is a sliver of fact - KISS principle, i.e'. keep it simple stupid),
4. 'climate change' as opposed to 'global warming' ,
5. 'simple truth' (not a lie as it contains a sliver of fact!),
6. 'you decide' to lock in the last manipulative phrase (most of the viewers decisions are based on the views of who they trust... even the books they read ), 7. 'buzz words' - words that people focus on opposed to facts,
8. Use 'simple truth' only once in a discussion or article ?,
9. A criminal getting caught should apologize 3 times, "I'm sorry, I made a mistake, forgive me'
10. Uses the sighing gesture in an interesting way... separating interview reality from fox news manipulations realities,
11. Frank Luntz is marketing a book,which means some this information is open for the public. Not doing so would make people angry so he is being smart.

More information...

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Stephen Colbert: I want you to help me make the idea, corporations are people, appealing to Americans. Is that possible?

Frank Luntz: It's gonna be a challenge but I believe it can be done

[Learn more about corporations here.]

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Notice:

1. How a group of people is convened to see HOW to market to people and although people start off against corporations they soften and start helping out.

2. A variety of images are tested. Given the environment, the feeling of group sentiments and the feeling invoked by the images on the screen, may have actually helped bring the poeple around to helping create an image for corporations.

3. Based on this focus group Frank Luntz declares that, "...effectively communicating... that 'corporations are people' clearly CAN be done."

(Notice the reflexive reaction by Frank Luntz when Stephen Colbert tries to dip the flag in tea. What other reflexive behavior might he have that could be used to a truth tellers advantage?)

4. Using this information he creates a 30 second add using words and visuals that have been carefully tested to create positive feelings for an idea that is essentially a lie (i.e. a corporation is a legal entity that exists only on paper, clearly NOT a human being or 'person'.)

In other words, what Frank Luntz did was create an atmosphere to get useful feedback for a marketing/advertising campaign.

The following Focus Group consists of people who are 1. All Republican, 2. All know they are on live TV, 3. Probably feel sympathy for Mitt Romney because of the 'Mormonism' scandal and that is the cause of the emotional move towards Romney, however, all the reasons given are carefully thought out to look good (it's TV dammit!). Notice some of the words used to support Romney include 'elegant' and 'Reaganesque' which are so subjective that an emotional reason for their explanations make allot of sense...



Participants said Romney "looked presidential," called him "Reaganesque," "elegant," and "decisive," and praised his "specific answers." Perry, on the other hand, was pegged as "too defensive" and "such a waffler." One woman called his support for education for illegal immigrants "absolutely disgusting."

Here is how an add testing works:



 Notes from above;

1. Topic: How to be negative without seeming negative (i.e. negative adds had a bad reaction so a focus group was created to create attack adds that don't seem like attack adds)

2. Using above information in a good comfortable setting followed by that group recording their opinions second by second in response to an add (note that rapport has already been established with the focus group - see Colbert Report video above).

3. People have prepared their answers (themselves of course, they want to look good. It's TV.)

[Also Read: The Emotional Nature of Decision Making ].

Meet Ann Coulter - Through Her Book "Demonic" and 'Occupy Wall Street' Protest Views

Joy Behar: Interview with Ann Coulter on her Book "Demonic;



Although the general idea of an individual losing themselves in a mass movement is correct, the 'occupy wall street' movement has legitimate demands with definable solutions that, if addressed, would resolve the protestors problems. However, constant fighting by creating an 'us vs. them' dynamic could create such a mass movement.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Approx 2 min 30 seconds into video: Ann Coulter says this is the sort of movement that leads to totalitarianism! [See Republican behavior in Debt Ceiling Debate, then continue reading...]


Ann Coulter on Fox News on 'Occupy Wall Street'(Link to video is here)

From a transcript:

ANN COULTER, "DEMONIC" AUTHOR: Yes. I mean, certainly the liberal reaction to it. Part of -- what the book is about and the reason it is called "Demonic" is that I've always sort of noticed that liberals behave in a mob-like way.


So I read every book I could find that mentions mobs, crowds, group- think and finally read Gustave Le Bon's "The Crowd, A Study of the Popular Mind." He's the father of group think, French philosopher, social psychologist and you read his book and page after page oh, that's liberals. That's liberals.


For example, creating messiahs, a crowd very quickly goes to extremes, they're simple-minded, they will create messiahs and I have a hilarious chapter because I quote liberals on what they say about FDR, JFK, about Clinton, about Obama, fainting at his speeches, they're pledging their loyalty to him. Same thing with Clinton, go back to him and meanwhile, Ronald Reagan wasn't even the most popular conservative his first year in office. My newspaper "Human Events," which was Ronald Reagan's favorite newspaper was attacking him so much. The Washington Post reported at one point that Reagan said and I'm still reading you guys, but I'm liking you a lot less. And I've got headlines throughout all late years of the Reagan administration.


We don't worship our leaders. We don't turn them into idols, probably because we have a real savior. We certainly don't demonize the opponents that way we do. We may ridicule them, make jokes about them. But the way they turned George Bush into the enemy, a Nazi. George Soros and Al Gore have all compared him to Hitler. He was compared to Usama bin Laden by a New York Times op-ed writer. William Raspberry, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist, a liberal, called him the devil.


These aren't intended to be jokes. They are not taken as jokes and then you do get actual violence from the left. You still get it now. Big part in the middle comparing the French Revolution to the American Revolution, something liberals lie about. I was surprised how many of my friends knew very little about the French revolution and then you always see being lied about including on Chris Matthews show last week. It was just like ours, wasn't that for liberty?


The New York Times talks about Bastille Day being the equivalent to the 4th of July. No, Bastille Day, it would be as if this country celebrated the L.A. riots. It was a monstrous, beastly attack on a nearly empty prison because it was an eyesore based on rumors. This is the revolt of a mob. It was an extremely anti-religious revolution. They desecrated Notre Dame.


In fact, the word vandalism had to be created because of the French revolution and what they did to the churches and monasteries. They destroyed ancient valuable monasteries, ripped them to the ground, hacked priests to death, gave mock sermons, wiping their behinds with the host, talking about the whore the Virgin Mary. That was their revolution. It's a revolution of the mob that was then followed in Russia. It was followed in Cuba. It was followed in China. It was followed in Cambodia.


By the way liberals in this country and The New York Times cheered on all those revolutions that followed the French revolution. The successful revolution, our revolution, which was fought by Christians, Englishmen, thinkers, debaters, that has not been followed around the world. Interestingly enough the Tea Party, the original Boston Tea Party was not warmly embraced by our founding fathers. They were worried because they thought it was the action of a mob.


HANNITY: Let me just go. Right out of the box. You talk about the psychology of the liberal and the Democratic Party is the party of a mob. Irrespective of what the mob represents. They activate mobs. They depend on mobs. They coddle mobs.


You know, you're on "Good Morning America" tomorrow. The first question is going to be are you saying all liberals and all Democrats are mobsters, Ann Coulter? There's a point that you're making -- that's why I wanted you to go on uninterrupted here because throughout the book you are laying out a case that ends in a conclusion. It's not something we could even get in in two segments, but I really want you to follow through from that starting point and all the examples and you lead us through the French revolution to conclude -- to come up with this title "Demonic," which they will freak out about, why?


COULTER: Well, I began the book with the scene in the Bible when Jesus approaches the possessed man and this man screaming out of his mind. Don't torture me. Jesus, little exchange, Jesus says what is your name? He answers my name is Legion.


The demons run out of him. The demon's name is Legion. The demon is always a mob. You see this over and over again. In real life exorcisms, they talk to the possessed. It is always they. Satan saying they all belong to me and this is -- I mean, it is part of why liberals are a mob and are so obsessed with status and power. Conservatives, as I said, have a real savior. It is more up and down. We don't care as much. In fact, Christians kind --


HANNITY: People suggest you are saying that all liberals are demonic, you are not saying that. There's a point though that you are making about --


COULTER: Mobs are always demonic. They are antithetical to this country's history. We have always understood that mobs were dangerous. I mean, Shays' Rebellion is what created the Constitution. It was a mob uprising.


And the articles of confederation weren't enough to keep the people safe. As I say, the Boston Tea Party. They very concerned that it looked like the action of a mob and two of the participants Paul Revere and Sam Adams specifically defended the Boston Tea Party saying there was no property destruction, other than the Tea. Ben Franklin insisted they take up a collection to repay the India Tea Company. Paul Revere made sure the lock had to be cut for the Boston Tea Party was replaced. And one guy who took tea for his personal use was severely punished. It was not the act of a mob, but even that much upset them.


HANNITY: We are going to come back. As with all of your books, we try predict where the attacks are going to come from.


COULTER: You can't do it. Let's have an office pool here at Fox and see if anyone -- but you're all going to have the read the book.

The old (tried and true?), condescending hippie attitude:

WINGLESS, BLOODSUCKING AND PARASITIC: MEET THE FLEA PARTY!

So far, the only major accomplishment of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters is that they have finally put an end to their previous initiative, "Occupy Our Mothers' Basements."

Oddly enough for such a respectable-looking group -- a mixture of adolescents looking for a cause, public sector union members, drug dealers, criminals, teenage runaways, people who have been at every protest since the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, Andrea Dworkin look-alikes, people 95 percent of whose hair is concentrated in their ponytails and other average Democrats -- they can't even explain what they're protesting.

Note: She has switched to Romney-Cain. Her views sharply conflict Ron Paul's views (Also see 'Case for Ron Paul 2012')

Ron Paul on Occupy Wall Street Protestors




From NewsMax.com

Ann Coulter's chilling two-chapter recapitulation of the French Revolution is worth well more than the price of her new book, "Demonic," but that's just a bonus.


Also priceless are Coulter's plethora of one-liner skewerings of the liberal mob, but I digress. What make this her best book are her incisive demonstration that the revolution was the mother of the many totalitarian "revolutions" it spawned in the name of the people, her dissection of the mob mentality that drove it, and her case against today's American liberals as exemplars of this mob mentality.


She first establishes her base line, defining the mob as "an irrational, childlike, often violent organism that derives its energy from the group. Intoxicated by messianic goals, the promise of instant gratification, and adrenaline-pumping exhortations, mobs create mayhem, chaos, and destruction, leaving a smoldering heap of wreckage for their leaders to climb to power."


This description sounds allot like the part 1 of my article on the, I guess 'mob-like', features of the new tea party created by Fox News - [Modern Fundamentalism] - Law 27: Play On People's Need to Believe to Create A Cultlike Following (part 1)


From LA Times:

When CBS' Jeff Glor asked what inspired her to write the book, Coulter replied, "How difficult it can be to talk to liberals. You're talking about Fannie Mae pushing subprime mortgages on the banks, bigger banks bundling the mortgages, and then the real estate market tanking and blowing up the entire economy -- and suddenly they're babbling about Bush driving a car into a ditch."

Explanations...

Overview of "Socialism"

Overview of The Republican Party

Class Warfare 

Occupy Wall Street vs Tea Party

The Financial Disaster with PBS and The Daily Show

An Introduction to Fox News's Sean Hannity.

Sean Hannity is a strange fellow. He is so stuck on one side of the political spectrum, to such a degree, it makes one wonder if he is being paid to be this way (I mean, he is obviously too smart NOT to notice the contradictions between his opinions during the Bush presidency and his opinions now...)



He also seems to have made allot of people angry, just check out the following extracts of the evidence that people are gathering against him...

Here is a poll on Hannity's website that seems to advocate an armed insurrection (which is literally treason)

The Doctored Clip Sean Hannity Doesn't Want You to Know About

The following extracts make my point for the possibility that Hannity is being paid for his views... (All the following extracts are from this website)

All Hannity quotes from Hannity and Colmes unless otherwise noted.

HANNITY: "You're not listening, Susan. You've got to learn something. He had weapons of mass destruction. He promised to disclose them. And he didn't do it. You would have let him go free; we decided to hold him accountable." (4/13/04)

FACT: Hannity's assertion comes more than six months after Bush Administration weapons inspector David Kay testified his inspection team had "not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material" and had not discovered any chemical or biological weapons. (Bush Administration Weapons Inspector David Kay, 10/2/03)

HANNITY: "Colin Powell just had a great piece that he had in the paper today. He was there [in Iraq]. He said things couldn't have been better." (9/19/03)

FACT: "Iraq has come very far, but serious problems remain, starting with security. American commanders and troops told me of the many threats they face--from leftover loyalists who want to return Iraq to the dark days of Saddam, from criminals who were set loose on Iraqi society when Saddam emptied the jails and, increasingly, from outside terrorists who have come to Iraq to open a new front in their campaign against the civilized world." (Colin Powell, 9/19/03)

HANNITY: "And in northern Iraq today, this very day, al Qaeda is operating camps there, and they are attacking the Kurds in the north, and this has been well-documented and well chronicled. Now, if you're going to go after al Qaeda in every aspect, and obviously they have the support of Saddam, or we're not." (12/9/02)

FACT: David Kay was on the ground for months investigating the activities of Hussein's regime. He concluded "But we simply did not find any evidence of extensive links with Al Qaeda, or for that matter any real links at all." He called a speech where Cheney made the claim there was a link "evidence free." (Boston Globe, 6/16/04)

HANNITY: "[After 9-11], liberal Democrats at first showed little interest in the investigation of the roots of this massive intelligence failure...[Bush and his team] made it clear that determining the causes of America's security failures and finding and remedying its weak points would be central to their mission." (Let Freedom Ring, by Sean Hannity)

TRUTH: Bush Opposed the creation of a special commission to probe the causes of 9/11 for over a year. On 5/23/02 CBS News Reported "President Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe Thursday to voice his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11." Bush didn't relent to pressure to create a commission, mostly from those Hannity would consider "liberal" until September 2002. (CBS News, 5/23/02)

HANNITY: "First of all, this president -- you know and I know and everybody knows -- inherited a recession...it was by every definition a recession" (11/6/02)

HANNITY: "Now here's where we are. The inherited Clinton/Gore recession. That's a fact." (5/6/03)

In the following video you will see advocation for nuclear strikes (as opposed to using nukes as a deterrent) and how words can be twisted. Notice in particular the use of the following sentence...

... "Why is it so difficult to speak the truth in this day and age?" -Anyone can confuse an uninformed Fox News watcher with this sentence



I think that one reason people are so angry at Sean Hannity is because intentionally causing conflict in your country is treason according to the Constitution of The United States...

Article 3 - Section 3

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

[Note: Glenn Beck seems to be doing the same thing, i.e. advocating treason, yet nothing is being done about it! - Glenn Beck's Treason Proof 1 - Glenn Beck's Treason Proof 2 -  sorry about the videos, Fox News seems to have blocked their videos from showing on my blogs.]

On a side note:

Here is a video of an interview with the Governor of Wisconsin...



Compare that with the video's on this page  then read the following articles...

As the nation focuses on the efforts of Governor Scott Walker to take away collective bargaining rights from public employees in Wisconsin, new information is coming to light that reveals what is truly going on here. Mother Jones is reporting that much of the funding behind the Walker for Governor campaign came from none other than uber-conservatives, the infamous Koch Brothers. What’s more, the plan to kill the unions is right out of the Koch Brothers play book.

And from the Salon.com;

Ian Murphy, editor of the Buffalo Beast, just did something wonderful. Murphy, pretending to be billionaire industrialist and secretive conservative political activist David Koch, called Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, currently in the midst of attempting to crush the public employees' unions. "Koch" got through to Walker (who hasn't been taking calls from the Democratic state Senate minority leader). He taped the call and put it online.
So Walker will happily take a call from a Koch brother. He says that he considered "planting some troublemakers" among the protesters. He is convinced that everyone is on his side. Like most people who only watch Fox, he has a skewed impression of the popularity of his union-crushing proposals. (His plan is, nationally, roundly unpopular. Except on Fox.)

The Koch Brothers are the same guys who I've written about in my Introduction to Water Politics.

Who is Ayn Rand?

The following extract is from a 'Brief Biography of Ayn Rand':

Ayn Rand was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 2, 1905. At age six she taught herself to read and two years later discovered her first fictional hero in a French magazine for children, thus capturing the heroic vision which sustained her throughout her life. At the age of nine, she decided to make fiction writing her career.

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Notes on Ayn Rand from the above video:

Her philosophy is of rational self interest and she states that the purpose of life is in pursuing your own happiness with NO regard for others.


In the video clip of her interview in the above video you will find the following:
.
She claims to be challenging the moral code of altruism

Altriusm is immoral is it is placed above oneself (i.e. nothing should be above you).

If a man of woman is weak they don't deserve love.


In some instances it is appropriate to be selfish and in other instances it isn't ...

"This officer — like so many others I have met with on bases, in Baghdad and Bagram, at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval Hospital — spoke with humility about how hisunit worked together as one — depending on each other, and trusting one another, as a family might do in a time of peril."


One Christian's view on Ayn Rand:

"Last month, author and Coffee Party contributor Michael Stafford's widely read essay decried the "Paul Ryan" budget and humorously compared Ryan's intellectual hero, Ayn Rand, to L. Ron Hubbard. On our blog talk radio show, Stafford described himself as a Republican and a true conservative who refuses to abandon his party to Glenn Beck and the politics of resentment. His writing is that of a man of faith who applies the teachings of the Bible to civic life, without the filter of partisan electioneering. Stafford, and other conservative leaders, are directly confronting political strategists on the far right, including Congressman Ryan, who are using the philosophy of Ayn Rand to supplant the teachings of the Bible with regard to our responsibility to society and our attitudes toward the elderly and the less fortunate, in order to muster public support for policies that benefit only the super-wealthy and multi-national corporations."


On her own Ayn Rand is fine. She had her philosophy. She wrote some fiction books and made allot of sales. I'm happy for her. The problem the United States is facing now is for some odd reason, the leaders of the Republican Party (and thus its news channel Fox) have decided to adopt the philosophy of a fiction writer as their party platform. That is absurd. (Here is a link to a movie about her)


Here is the kind of stuff you will find about the Republican Leaders Ideological Platoform:

The U.S. economy is crumbling. Businesses are collapsing in record numbers. Jobs have disappeared. Tax revenues are down dramatically. Coincidence?

Everything happening today under Obama resembles the storyline of Ayn Rand’s famous book, "Atlas Shrugged," one of the most popular books of all time, selling over 7 million copies. Now, under President Obama, "Atlas Shrugged" has come to life. Rand prophesized a country dominated by socialists, Marxists and statists, where looters, free loaders and poverty promoters live off the productive class. To rationalize the fleecing of innovative business owners and job creators, the looter class demonized the wealthy, just as Obama and his socialist cabal are doing in real life today.

The central plot of "Atlas Shrugged" is that in response to being demonized, over-taxed, over-regulated, and punished for success, America’s business owners were disappearing — dropping off the grid, and refusing to work 16-hour days to support those unwilling to put in the same blood, sweat and tears. They were going on strike. Because of that the original proposed title of “Atlas Shrugged” was “The Strike.”

They were going on strike to teach that civilization cannot survive when people are slaves to government. That without a productive class of innovative business owners willing to risk their own money and work 16-hour days, weekends and holidays, there are no jobs and no taxes to pay for government. If you punish the wealthy, the risk-takers, the innovators, you kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. In Obama’s America, fiction is becoming fact.


Just a few problems withe the above ideological position...

One of the biggest problems in the economy is the housing market, which collapsed after some of Bush's policies on the matter were implemented...




Yet another problem created by Bush...

From Warren Buffet:

Billionaire Warren Buffett said that the Bush tax cuts should be allowed to expire for the richest Americans and that the “trickle down” economic theory hasn’t worked.

“The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we’ll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on,” Buffett said in the clip from ABC News’ “

Warren Buffet isn't the only rich guy who is fine with being taxed...

More proof that the right vs. left debate is an ideological one.

It is very obvious from the following video that the anchor of Fox News Sunday genuinely believes what he is saying, i.e. he is obviously not lying (an assertion by some 'liberals' on the 'left' about Fox News in general). Also, notice that Jon Stewart respects the fellow and the debate is very civil... and even though they disagree there is an affection between the two.



I have outlined in this post on politics, that the economic debate over the US economy is an ideological one. You can see clearly that the anchor of Fox News believes that the media's ... er, lets say 'war, is an ideological one of liberals vs. conservatives, while on the other hand, Stewart believes that though there is a liberal bias in the other media (besides Fox) their focus is sensationalism and laziness (which he proves).

Another observation. the Fox News anchor didn't like South Park (a rather 'in your face' adult cartoon). That is understandable, many people can't handle that show especially amongst the older generations on both sides of the political divide. This is a normal conservative view irrespective of party all over the world. Also, Jon Stewart is from New York which is a very 'in your face' kinda city compared to the cities and towns of the south (the Republican base).

Hitler's Minions In Texas!

"Operation Paperclip" scientists at Fort Bliss, Texas, in 1946. Until 1945, these men worked for Adolf Hitler, but as soon as the war ended these “rare minds” began working for the American military and various intelligence organizations, the details of which remain largely classified. Rocket scientist Wernher von Braun is in the front row, seventh from the right with his hand in his pocket. Source: NASA

The above is published on the Fox News website. Whats utterly amazing is that since World War 2 America has increasingly become more and more filled with hate groups, particularly of the Neo-Nazi variety... did Hitler actually win the war? His message now fills the United States of America! Well, not really 'fill' more like permeates the society at a subliminal level where good citizens try to compromise with haters and end up adopting some level of hate for balance. The Nazi's never should have been allowed to enter America, now their groups cover the countryside. Be careful, Hitler found a way to attack from within!

Here is a website devoted to something Nazi related.

To check out a map of how far the hate groups have spread - including the Nazi invasion groups - check out his website.

Fox News has to voice the opinion of its constituents - it is important to keep in mind that their constituents includes the Ku Klux Klan and The Neo-Nazi's. thus, their broadcast has to encompass all their views or they will lose ratings.

Not - Breaking News: Covert Operations The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama. by Jane Mayer

[Note - August 18, 2011: A full analysis of F.A. Hayek's theories will be covered in my economics blog]

Fox News: Battle Over Union Rights Hits Airwaves (An introduction to the "Not - Breaking News")




One of the challenges in understanding the conservative and liberal split (that includes the current argument over unions) is to understand that the reason for all this animosity is an underlying belief in a way of life (which includes an outdated economic-political philosophy).

Covert Operations by Jane Mayer

The following are extracts with my emphasis and links (read the whole article here):

Members of the John Birch Society developed an interest in a school of Austrian economists who promoted free-market ideals. Charles and David Koch were particularly influenced by the work of Friedrich von Hayek, the author of "The Road to Serfdom" (1944), which argued that centralized government planning led, inexorably, to totalitarianism. Hayek’s belief in unfettered capitalism has proved inspirational to many conservatives, and to anti-Soviet dissidents; lately, Tea Party supporters have championed his work. In June, the talk-radio host Glenn Beck, who has supported the Tea Party rebellion, promoted "The Road to Serfdom" on his show; the paperback soon became a No. 1 best-seller on Amazon. (Beck appears to be a fan of the Kochs; in the midst of a recent on-air parody of Al Gore, Beck said, without explanation, "I want to thank Charles Koch for this information." Beck declined to elaborate on the relationship.)

In recent decades, members of several industrial dynasties have spent parts of their fortunes on a conservative agenda.

Of course, Democrats give money, too. Their most prominent donor, the financier George Soros, runs a foundation, the Open Society Institute, that has spent as much as a hundred million dollars a year in America. Soros has also made generous private contributions to various Democratic campaigns, including Obama’s. But Michael Vachon, his spokesman, argued that Soros’s giving is transparent, and that "none of his contributions are in the service of his own economic interests." The Kochs have given millions of dollars to nonprofit groups that criticize environmental regulation and support lower taxes for industry.

The following is an article arbsract and link to an article that explains a different perspective on some of the fundamentals of Friedrich von Hayek's theories - a man named Walter Block:

On Hayekian Triangles

Abstract:

The triangle is an integral part of the history of economic thought. It has been used by
writers such as Jevons (1871), Taussig (1896), Wicksell (1934, 1969) to illustrate and to help us understand capital theory. Since Hayek (1931) this geometrical figure has been used as a basic pedagogical device to explain the Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT). The purpose of the present paper is to argue that the triangle is highly problematic, if not fatally flawed, and that if ABCT is to be made intelligible this tool of analysis must be either completely jettisoned, or heavily supplemented with a list (see below) of its shortcomings. Moreover in some ways the triangle has been responsible for the relative lack of development of ABCT for over a half century.

Key words:
Austrian economics, business cycle theory, praxeology, economic geometry, triangles
JEL Category:

There seems to be a big misunderstanding over here doesn't it?

Introduction: Fox News In Context

Bret Baier Extended Interview on the Daily Show:

"In this unedited, extended interview, Bret Baier trusts that Fox News viewers can discern the difference between opinion shows and news."

The Daily Show - Exclusive - Bret Baier Extended Interview Pt. 1
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Take away:

Glenn Beck makes it feel like an appocalypse is comming and the rest of the Fox news program is 'telling the viewers how'.

The Daily Show - Exclusive - Bret Baier Extended Interview Pt. 2
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Takeaways:

Fox is a cover for some political operation underneath it (?)

Fox is the best rated cable news channel (Note: This involves marketing)

The Daily Show - Exclusive - Bret Baier Extended Interview Pt. 3
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

One thing that is obvious from the above videos is that the debate between the left and right in America has become extremely polarized. that is another reason I prefer BBC World News, they don't sit around a table and yell angrily at each other (a common theme in American news) but talk calmly. To gain a proper perspective of news (or anything for that matter) requires a calmness of mind which can't be achieved through anger as it causes stress - And stress shuts down the brains ability to think as it sends your body-brain into a 'fight or flight' response which decreases or reduces the blood supply to the brain and sends it to your muscles so you can fight or run the fuck away.