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Name: J.P. Farris
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The Truth is Out There

Posted by J.P. Farris on Sunday, July 16, 2006 11:41:13 PM
 When I was a kid I loved to write which made it only natural for me to turn to journalism in high school and photojournalism in college, but what turned me off was journalists and the media depicted as lacking heart or compassion, doing anything to get a story. Countless are the times I saw journalists on TV acting like a mob, lacking compassion as they converged on grieving families or crime victims on the court house steps with cameras and microphones. I believe in journalistic integrity and compassion, qualities that are often overlooked in the rush to get a story. I have seen the ugly face of bias rise up in journalistic reporting, bias that gives way to “yellow journalism”, my biggest pet peeve. It is such bias that has caused many to lose trust in journalism and the media.

The American Society of Newspaper Editors conducted a survey, embarking on a one million dollar project to improve the credibility of newspapers and journalism. The study identified several areas where newspapers need to develop strategic initiatives intended to make measurable progress to improve credibility.

The study was based on telephone interviews with 3,000 Americans followed up with 16 focus groups. The research was designed, conducted and analyzed by Urban & Associates, Inc. of Sharon, Mass., under the direction of Christine Urban.


Among the findings:

BulletInaccuracy: More than a third of adults said they see spelling or grammar mistakes in their newspaper more than once a week, and 21 percent said they see them almost daily. “It seems like the paper’s gotten sloppier in the last 10 years,” said one focus group participant.

BulletSensationalism: More than 80 percent of Americans believe that sensational stories get lots of news coverage simply because they’re exciting, not because they’re important. The motivation is to sell newspapers and attract news audiences, a similar number of Americans believe.

BulletBias: While 78 percent of U.S. adults believe there’s bias in the news media there is no consensus definition of what “bias” means. Almost one-third (30 percent) see bias as “not being open-minded and neutral about the facts”; almost another third (29 percent) believe bias is “having an agenda and shaping the news to report it”; another third (29 percent) define bias as “favoritism to a particular social or political group.” Eight percent said that bias is “all of these.” The public is also split on liberal vs. conservative, with 47 percent saying their local paper tends to be more politically liberal than themselves, and 34 percent saying it tends to be more politically conservative than they are.

BulletManipulation of the press: 78 percent of the public believes that powerful people or organizations can influence a newspaper to “spike or spin” a story. The most frequently cited groups the public thinks influence news decisions are politicians or government officials, big business and wealthy individuals. Half (50 percent) believe that advertisers’ interests influence decisions. A big criticism (felt by 59 percent of the public) is that newspapers are concerned mainly with making profits, rather than serving the public interest.

BulletCorrections: When they see errors, 19 percent of readers say they “always” see a correction, and 40 percent say they “sometimes” see one. Some 63 percent say they “feel better” about the quality of the news coverage they get when they see corrections. “If there’s a mistake, admit it,” said a focus group participant. “People are more likely to believe you. Don’t hide it in small print. Let them know you want them to know your mistakes.”

BulletTelevision and newspapers: The study asked a number of questions about television and newspapers, in order to draw some comparisons. For example, when asked which is the worst offender in terms of bias, 42 percent said television, while 23 percent said newspapers. Television is overwhelmingly seen as the dominant source of national and world news, while a majority (54 percent) say newspapers are their primary source of local news. When there are conflicting factual accounts in one medium or another, the public tends to believe the news medium that had more time to collect and study the facts.

BulletUnnamed sources: More than three-quarters of U.S. adults expressed concern about the credibility of news stories that use anonymous sources, and 45 percent say the story shouldn’t run at all if no one will go “on the record.” At the very least, newspapers should explain why they use unnamed sources when they feel they have to, focus group participants said.


Urban has listed six major conclusions discovered by the study:


BulletThe public sees too many factual errors and spelling or grammar mistakes in newspapers.

BulletThe public perceives that newspapers don’t consistently demonstrate respect for, and knowledge of, their readers and their communities.

BulletThe public suspects that the points of view and biases of journalists influence what stories are covered and how they are covered.

BulletThe public believes that newspapers chase and over-cover sensational stories because they’re exciting and they sell papers. They don’t believe these stories deserve the attention and play they get.

BulletThe public feels that newsroom values and practices are sometimes in conflict with their own priorities for their newspapers.

I have got into the habit of reading multiple newspapers and going to more than one news source in order to keep more up to date with current world events. I have aligned myself with media watchdog groups in the belief that journalistic integrity, compassion and credibility still exist…and it’s making a comeback. There is still bias in some areas of the media, but the truth is out there.
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Dominating the Headlines

Posted by J.P. Farris on Saturday, July 15, 2006 4:13:09 PM
 Since I started blogging I have become a news junkie.  I get multitudes of news reports delivered tomy inbox from CNN, Boston Herald, Boston Globe, the infamous New York Times, the Jerusalem Post and other news services and alerts. I go over the headlines every morning for something to blog about.

Lately my inbox has been full and all the headlines have been dominated by what is going on in Israel and the Middle East. There is a sinister connection between Hizballah, Hamas, Fatah, Syria and Iran.

"The historical ties between Iran and Hizbullah are well known, and Syria also has very close ties to Hizbullah. Again, there's a long history there and it's well known," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters this week. He added that Syria "has a very particular responsibility" for peace in the Middle East as well as for bringing about the release of two IDF soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah terrorists Wednesday morning.

McCormack said there is a clear connection between last month's kidnapping of IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit by Hamas terrorists and the Hizbullah attack and abductions. "If you look at these actions, these are deliberate attempts to try to escalate tensions in the region," he explained. "And you look at the timing...very clearly these are individuals here that are seeking to provoke a negative reaction in the region.

He also told reporters, "You have a terrorist organization that is heading the government of the Palestinian Authority that is not a partner for peace."

Lebanon urged the U.N. Security Council on Friday to quickly impose a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, but Israel said it was trying to free its neighbor from terrorist occupation and insisted the Beirut government secretly backed its actions.

Lebanese Foreign Ministry official Nouhad Mahmoud and Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman addressed an emergency session of the 15-nation council as Israel intensified attacks on Hezbollah targets and Hezbollah fighters fired more rockets across the border into Israel.

The United States on Thursday vetoed a resolution drafted by Arab nations calling on Israel to immediately end its two-week military incursion in Gaza.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton called the measure "not only untimely, but already outmoded" and biased against Israel. (I agree)

Mahmoud said Israel's actions were "aimed at bringing Lebanon to its knees and subverting it by any means."

"Ido not need to explain to you here who the victim is and who the aggressor is," he said. He asked the council "to take an immediate and clear decision calling for a comprehensive, immediate cease-fire, a lifting of the air and sea blockade imposed upon Lebanon and and calling for an end to Israeli aggression."

(I beg to differ with Mr. Mahmoud. Who instigated the aggression by kidnapping Israelis from their native soil? Who made the first move?)

Gillerman, however, said the Lebanese government had brought the Israeli actions on itself, by allowing Hezbollah to remain armed and keep de facto control over southern Lebanon, enabling it to cross the border to seize two Israeli soldiers.

Who is Hezbollah, also spelled Hizballah? I read a report from CNSNEWS.com.

Hizballah: Iran's Tool
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
July 14, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - The Iranian-created and funded organization at the center of the unfolding conflict between Israel and Lebanon is considered one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world, responsible for the deaths of more Americans than any other group apart from al-Qaeda.

Since its establishment in the early 1980s, the Hizballah has carried out a proxy war on behalf of Iran and Syria against Israel, focusing on South Lebanon but also targeting Israeli and Jewish institutions in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

The Shi'ite group's involvement in terror attacks against Americans has been deadly too. The group brought the Islamist strategy of suicide bombing to the world's attention in 1983, when it killed more than 350 people, including 241 U.S. servicemen and 58 French troops, in a series of attacks in Beirut.

It has also long been associated with kidnapping of Western hostages in Lebanon, including a U.S. Marine Corps colonel and a CIA station chief, both subsequently killed by their captors. Five Israeli soldiers who were captured or disappeared in or near Lebanon between 1982 and 1997 remain missing in action, with suspected involvement of Hizballah or allied groups.

Hizballah was also responsible for another hostage situation targeting Americans - the June 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner during an Athens-Rome flight. The terrorists diverted the plane to Lebanon with its 153 passengers and crew, and murdered U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem, dumping his body onto the Beirut runway.

Hizballah claims as its greatest success forcing Israel's decision in 2000 to withdraw its troops from a narrow buffer zone it had maintained in southern Lebanon for 18 years.

Since the Israeli departure, the group has focused more attention on political activities while continuing attacks against Israel and refusing to disarm, despite a U.N. Security Council resolution requirement that it do. The Lebanese government has been powerless or unwilling to enforce the resolution.

In elections last year Hizballah won 14 seats in Lebanon's 128-member parliament. Along with its Shi'ite ally Amal, which won 15 seats, it's regarded by many Lebanese as the legitimate representative of the country's largest religious community.

The U.S. declared Hizballah a terrorist group long before 9/11, while Canada did in 2002 and Britain and Australia have both banned the Hizballah "External Security Organization."

As in the case with Hamas in Gaza, Hizballah and its backers have been fighting a propaganda campaign aimed at drawing a distinction between its military and political "wings."

The drive has been particularly successful in Europe, where many countries have refused to place Hizballah in its entirety on an E.U. terror list, arguing that the organization conducts political and social welfare activities too.

The Netherlands government was a notable exception, saying in a 2004 intelligence assessment that its investigation found the group's political and terrorist functions to be controlled by a single co-ordinating council.

"The Netherlands has changed its policy and no longer makes a distinction between the political and terrorist Hizballah branches," it said.

Other attacks researchers have attributed to Hizballah include a series of bombings in Paris in 1986, which killed 13; an unsuccessful attempt to carry out attacks in Cyprus in 1988; a plot, foiled by Spanish police, to carry out attacks against Jewish targets in Europe in 1989; an unsuccessful attempt to detonate a car bomb outside a Jewish community building in Romania in 1992; the bombing of a small passenger plane carrying 18 passengers in Panama in 1994; and a planned 1996 attack, also foiled by police, on an Israeli institution in Paris.

Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in 2002 called Hizballah a member of the international terrorist "A-team."

Terror alliance

One of the FBI's most wanted men is Imad Fayez Mugniyah, the head of Hizballah's security apparatus since its inception.

He has been linked to the 1983 Beirut bombings, the kidnapping and torture of hostages, the death of Stethem in the TWA hijacking, the bombings of the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish community center in Argentina in the early 1990s, at the cost of 114 lives, and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 U.S. servicemen.

A number of reports over the years have dealt with Mugniyah's intimate links with Iran, and especially with its Revolutionary Guard, whose former senior members - including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - now dominate Iran's government.

Last January, American Enterprise Institute scholar Michael Ledeen reported that Mugniyah was believed to be among Hizballah figures present at a meeting in Damascus with Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Western security specialists regarded that meeting as a reaffirmation of a longstanding Iran-Syria-Hizballah terrorist alliance.

The Israeli government said Thursday the fingerprints of Iran and Syria were all over this week's events in Lebanon and northern Israel, triggered when Hizballah crossed into Israeli territory, killed eight Israeli soldiers and abducted two others.

Iran and Syria are also backers of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, whose kidnapping of an Israeli soldier last month sparked the continuing crisis in Gaza.

A number of political analysts have attributed the widening conflict to Iran's concerns about the growing international pressure on its nuclear programs.

Ledeen does not believe Iran is driven by worry over a nuclear showdown, however.

"A U.N. debate serves Iran's interest," he wrote in the National Review Online Thursday.

"It deflects attention from our growing awareness of Iran's centrality in Iraq, and the urgency of going after the regimes in Tehran and Damascus. That is where Iran's doom lies, not in the endless charade about the nukes."

Ledeen argued that Iran was the "common prime mover" behind the war now running from Gaza to Israel, through Lebanon and to Iraq via Syria.

"Iran has been at war with us all along, because that's what the world's leading terror state does. The scariest thing about this moment is that the Iranians have convinced themselves that they are winning, and we are powerless to reverse the tide."

I also read a report that Israel apealed to Lebanon to join forces with them todispel the terrorist Hizballah. There are innocent Lebanese running for cover from the escalating violence and Americans are being evacuated. Not all Lebanese agree with Hizballah, so it is my opinion that Israel and Lebanon should work together to liberate Lebanon.

Innocent Israelis in the north are hiding in fear themselves from the violence while President Bush defends Israel's right to protect itself and its people.

The down side to the violence is that Lebanese who would agree with the Israelis in this instance are angered by the aggression shown against the whole country because of a terrorist faction in its government.

When will the madness cease? When the countries involved get wise and take action against the terrorists in their midst.
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Wolves in Sheeps' Clothing

Posted by J.P. Farris on Thursday, July 13, 2006 7:53:10 PM
 

When I was a kid I loved to write.  I wrote a lot of poetry and fostered dreams of becoming a published poet and writer, so you can imagine how I jumped at the chance for publication when I found an ad for a poetry contest in the newspaper.  I composed a poem and whisked it off to them.  I soon received a flattering letter about how good my poetry was and how they wanted to publish it in their anthology.  They sent me an offer to buy the book in advance at a discount, but I decided instead to wait until it was published before I bought it.   From time to time I would visit their website to check on the status of my poems.  Yes…I sent them even more poems for future anthologies.  I was waiting to be published in the book, at least one book, before I ordered a copy.  But the publication dates kept getting pushed back and the names of the anthologies I was to be published in kept changing.  My work has been posted at their site for six years and I’m still waiting to see my work published in one of the Poetry.com anthologies.

 

A few years after I submitted my poetry I learned of the scam when I came across an online article that informed me that Poetry.com is a fraud publishing organization.   It accepts 100% of applicants as 'Semi-finalists' in their 'international poetry competition' and sends a letter to the poor victims. The letter is full of flattery saying that you are a wonderful poet and the 'sectional committee' or 'panel of judges' has decided your poetry is good enough to be published. They ask a 'modest' payment of $50 plus extra if you want a copy of the book with your poem. They publish only those who pay, and six thousand poems per book at $50-$75 a poem with 60 books published a year is a lot of money.

 

Flattered writers are quick to pay money and order the book they were featured in. After a time another message comes saying their poetry was good enough to be read on a CD and asks them to go to an expensive winning writers’ convention. It's all to leach more money from those that haven't discovered they've been scammed. They have been scamming people since 1996 and continue to do so!  The truth is that Poetry.com does NOT publish your work if you do not pay for the book, and they publish 50+ books a year and do NOT sell them anywhere other than to the victims of their scam.  Check out  http://www.eliteskills.com/writing_scams/poetry.com.scam.php.

 

I have friends and acquaintances who like me have almost fallen victim to the scam, but they didn’t have the money to dish out.  I know of talented young people who are promising young poets that unknowingly send their work to Poetry.com with dreams of publication dancing in their eyes.  What kind of people would be cruel enough to crush their dreams and pull the carpet right out from underneath their dancing feet?  Such people prey on the dreams of young people like wolves in sheep’s clothing.

 

I have a friend who is a Private Investigator by trade.  He has accumulated documents and letters from Nigerian scams.  They are letters coming from overseas, many from the African nation of Nigeria but some come from China or Great Britain concerning a wealthy foreigner who needs help moving millions of dollars from his homeland and promises a hefty percentage of this fortune as a reward for assisting him.  These letters go something like:

 

REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

 

FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR STRICTEST CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND 'TOP SECRET'. I AM SURE AND HAVE CONFIDENCE OF YOUR ABILITY AND RELIABILITY TO PROSECUTE A TRANSACTION OF THIS GREAT MAGNITUDE INVOLVING A PENDING TRANSACTION REQUIRING MAXIIMUM CONFIDENCE.

 

WE ARE TOP OFFICIAL OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN IMPORATION OF GOODS INTO OUR COUNTRY WITH FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED IN <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />NIGERIA. IN ORDER TO COMMENCE THIS BUSINESS WE SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE TO ENABLE US TRANSFER INTO YOUR ACCOUNT THE SAID TRAPPED FUNDS.

 

THE SOURCE OF THIS FUND IS AS FOLLOWS; DURING THE LAST MILITARY REGIME HERE IN NIGERIA, THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SET UP COMPANIES AND AWARDED THEMSELVES CONTRACTS WHICH WERE GROSSLY OVER-INVOICED IN VARIOUS MINISTRIES. THE PRESENT CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT SET UP A CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL AND WE HAVE IDENTIFIED A LOT OF INFLATED CONTRACT FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY FLOATING IN THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA READY FOR PAYMENT.

 

HOWEVER, BY VIRTUE OF OUR POSITION AS CIVIL SERVANTS AND MEMBERS OF THIS PANEL, WE CANNOT ACQUIRE THIS MONEY IN OUR NAMES. I HAVE THEREFORE, BEEN DELEGATED AS A MATTER OF TRUST BY MY COLLEAGUES OF THE PANEL TO LOOK FOR AN OVERSEAS PARTNER INTO WHOSE ACCOUNT WE WOULD TRANSFER THE SUM OF US$21,320,000.00(TWENTY ONE MILLION, THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND U.S DOLLARS). HENCE WE ARE WRITING YOU THIS LETTER. WE HAVE AGREED TO SHARE THE MONEY THUS; 1. 20% FOR THE ACCOUNT OWNER 2. 70% FOR US (THE OFFICIALS) 3. 10% TO BE USED IN SETTLING TAXATION AND ALL LOCAL AND FOREIGN EXPENSES. IT IS FROM THE 70% THAT WE WISH TO COMMENCE THE IMPORTATION BUSINESS.

 

PLEASE,NOTE THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% SAFE AND WE HOPE TO COMMENCE THE TRANSFER LATEST SEVEN (7) BANKING DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THE RECEIPT OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATIOM BY TEL/FAX; 234-1-7740449, YOUR COMPANY'S SIGNED, AND STAMPED LETTERHEAD PAPER THE ABOVE INFORMATION WILL ENABLE US WRITE LETTERS OF CLAIM AND JOB DESCRIPTION RESPECTIVELY. THIS WAY WE WILL USE YOUR COMPANY'S NAME TO APPLY FOR PAYMENT AND RE-AWARD THE CONTRACT IN YOUR COMPANY'S NAME.

 

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO DOING THIS BUSINESS WITH YOU AND SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENTIALITY IN THIS TRANSATION. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE RECEIPT OF THIS LETTER USING THE ABOVE TEL/FAX NUMBERS. I WILL SEND YOU DETAILED INFORMATION OF THIS PENDING PROJECT WHEN I HAVE HEARD FROM YOU.

 

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

 

DR CLEMENT OKON

 

NOTE; PLEASE QUOTE THIS REFERENCE NUMBER (VE/S/09/99) IN ALL YOUR RESPONSES. 

 

More on the email schemes and schemers can be found at www.potifos.com/fraud/.  The worst part about this type of fraud is that they prey on the elderly.  Sixty percent of fraud victims are seniors and many of them die within eighteen months of being victimized.  I know the type of people looking to land a golden egg in their golden years and have had to steer them away from becoming victims to the sinister machinations of con men who walk about like wolves in sheep’s clothing.

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