How the World Really Works. Lobbyiests Buy Politicians.

THE AMERICAN DREAM

When you think about how things happen in America, how laws get passed or policies are made, you realize they happen through the exertion of influence. From the National Rifle Association to the pharmaceutical industry to the tobacco lobby, powerful interests put pressure on our elected officials and government institutions to sway or stop change.

Can Movies Make You Smarter?
YES THEY CAN!

“Thou Shalt Not,” “Whitey” Schafer's most famous image.
White women get away with everything, black women weren't usually affected by the Haye's code.

The Sharing Economy Isn't About Sharing at all it's an access economy. When “sharing” is market-mediated — when a company is an intermediary between consumers who don't know each other — it is no longer sharing at all. Rather, consumers are paying to access someone else's goods or services for a particular period of time. It is an economic exchange, and consumers are after utilitarian, rather than social, value.

K12 PUBLIC EDUCATION

K-12 Education is no different.

When reduced to its most fundamental elements, public education is a cold, hard business.

FILM INDUSTRY AND GOV'T COLLABORATION

Mid 20th century America was a crucial turning point in Hollywood film. This is where we get the notion of an American Dream.

Hollywood films is where we learned that America gives your the opportunity -- and if you work hard for what you you'll achieve -- the "American Dream."

The films below will show you the truth about the opportunity to get what you want. What you think you've been promised doesn't always work out that way.

These films will show the truth
about how the world really works.

It didn't work out for Sony that well when Sony Pictures chairman, Michael Lynton, told industry colleagues of a plan to withdraw from the MPAA movie trade organization, because of the slow response and lack of public support in the aftermath of the attack on Sony and its film “The Interview,” as well as longstanding concerns about the cost and efficacy of the group.

Lies My Teacher Told Me

Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the U.S."

Autobiography of Mark Twain

The Big Short

Flash Boys

The Social Network
Director David Fincher's biographical drama chronicles the meteoric rise of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) from Harvard sophomore to Internet superstar, examining his relationships with co-founder Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) and Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake). The film racked up Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Eisenberg) and Best Supporting Actor (Garfield).

Generational lifetime GOVERNMENT
Manipulation AND
MPAA CENSORSHIP

2015 The 93 year old MPAA Controlled Movies are Censored Propaganda supervision of a film ratings system and he policy front for Hollywood's major film studios.

Maintaining the MPAA
Walt Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, (Comcast owned) Universal and Sony each spend 20 million in dues every year to belong to the MPAA. As recently as 2012, public tax filings by the film association, a nonprofit, showed one-year expenditures of about $69 million, supported by dues of about $10 million from each studio, plus income from the ratings system and other sources, to support a staff that then numbered about 200. But the current contributions are approaching $25 million a year, according to several executives.

Documentary filmmakers are moving into the cultural debate now that the news media isn't fulfilling its role.

Thomas J Dodd was a FBI agent and United States Senator from Connecticut and was the first censured by the Senate since Joseph McCarthy in 1954. The censure was a condemnation and finding that he had converted campaign funds to his personal accounts and spent the money.^[24] Beyond the Senate Ethics Committee's formal disciplinary action, other sources (such as investigative journalist Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson's Congress in Crisis [26]
Dodd played an instrumental role in the prohibition of LSD in the United States, presiding over subcommittee hearings purportedly investigating the drug's effects on youth. Notably, Harvard psychologist and LSD proponent Timothy Leary was called to testify. Despite that Leary urged lawmakers to enact a strictly regulated framework where LSD would remain legal, Dodd and his colleagues drafted a ban which was later adopted. This event was one episode in the prelude towards an all-out "War on Drugs" in the 1970s.[22]

Chris Dodd Joining MPAA As Top Lobbyist
Breaking Promise Not To Become A Lobbyist Just Weeks After Leaving Senate 2011;
One of the worst kept secrets in DC and Hollywood over the last month or so is the news that former Connecticut Senator and failed Presidential candidate Chris Dodd became the MPAA's new boss (salary: $1.2 million per year). This came after a failed attempt to get former Senator (and failed presidential candidate) Bob Kerry to take the role last year.
Dodd has proved himself to be perfect for a Hollywood job, because he is a blatant liar. Last summer, Dodd insisted that he would not become a lobbyist. He made this abundantly clear. When asked what he would do, he was explicit: "No lobbying, no lobbying." Yeah, apparently a million dollar plus salary makes you a liar barely a month after leaving the job. Of course, technically, Dodd is also barred from becoming a lobbyist for two years after leaving the Senate, but there's a kind of *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* trick that Dodd and others use to technically claim they're not lobbyists while merely running one of the bigger and most high profile lobbying organizations around.
Of course, it'll also be interesting to see if Dodd sells his soul and changes some of his professed principles. For example, he was a big supporter of "net neutrality." But the MPAA has come out against net neutrality, claiming it would hamper its efforts to "fight piracy." He was also against ISP data retention, which the MPAA has supported (again as a way to fight piracy). On copyright he was somewhat non-committal, but did talk about how fair use rights are important remember Jack Valenti once declared that fair use doesn't exist.
Anyway, I guess it shouldn't surprise us that a politician lied and went back on his basic principles in favor of a huge check from industry.

NET NEUTRALITY

Net Neutrality explained by a NINE year old

My 9-year old son spends a lot of time online and recently came to me asking what Net Neutrality meant. I explained it the best I could. I just okay with current political events and he had a lot of questions. Had to actually look up some answers.

I recently overheard him explaining it to one of his friends, much better than I could, like this:

Pretend ice cream stores gave away free milkshakes. But you had to buy a straw to drink them. But that's okay, because you still get free milkshakes.

One day you're drinking a free milkshake and you look down and the guy that sold you the straw is pinching it almost shut. You can still get your milkshake, but it's really hard and takes a lot longer.

So you say, "Hey! Stop that!" And the straw guy says, "NO! Not until the ice cream store pays me money."

And you say, "But I already paid you money for the straw." And the straw guy says, "I don't care. I just want more money."

I think he nailed it.

2/26/15 F.C.C. Approves Net Neutrality Rules, Classifying Broadband Internet Service as a Utility

MPAA CEO Chris Dodd Admits Bribery

House Petitioned to Investigate MPAA Bribery January 22, 2012
The public has started a petition asking the White House to investigate comments made by MPAA CEO Chris Dodd a few days ago on Fox News. Closing a tumultuous week of wide protest against PIPA and SOPA - two MPAA backed anti-piracy bills - Dodd threatened to stop the cash-flow to politicians who dare to take a stand against pro-Hollywood legislation. Clear bribery, the petition claims, and already thousands agree.
Talking to Fox News, the MPAA's boss threatened to stop contributing to politicians who don't back legislation designed to protect Hollywood.
"Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake," Dodd said. Although it's no secret that the movie industry has a powerful lobby in Washington, explicitly admitting that bribery is one of the tactics the MPAA uses to have their way wasn't well received by the public. A White house petition was started to investigate Chris Dodd and the MPAA for alleged bribery.

"This is an open admission of bribery and a threat designed to provoke a specific policy goal. This is a brazen flouting of the ‘above the law' status people of Dodd's position and wealth enjoy," the petition reads. "We demand justice. Investigate this blatant bribery and indict every person, especially government officials and lawmakers, who is involved."

• What piracy crisis? MPAA touts record box office for 2007
• Piracy once again fails to get in way of record box office 2011

Chris Dodd won't give PG-13 rating to movie "BULLY" because the F-word is used several times in dialogue. The reason everyone wants the PG-13 is so kids can see the movie themselves." "Bully" follows several middle and high school students, and depicts the emotional and physical suffering caused by bullying. D.C. Public School Chancellor Kaya Henderson also spoke at the screening and said she plans to show "Bully" in D.C. schools.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated 2005
Kirby Dick's provocative documentary investigates the secretive and inconsistent process by which the Motion Picture Association of America rates films, revealing the organization's underhanded efforts to control culture. A Censorship Secret Cartel ruled by America's movie censors who were named in the film.
These ratings actually have an impact on ticket sales and a film-maker's ability to market his own work successfully. An R-rated movie automatically has its potential audience reduced by age limits, which is a choice the film-maker appealing to adults must make. The NC-17 rating, is the worst rating used as a weapon against independent movies, never the studios' product. The MPAA is a business association backed by the seven major studios. Dick exposes how studios get preferential treatment and how the MPAA views sex and violence.

Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship (2008) NR
Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was, well, nothing. This eye-opening documentary examines the rampant sexuality of early Hollywood through movie clips and reminiscences by stars of the era. Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and others relate tales of the artistic freedom that led to the draconian Production Code, which governed content from 1934 to 1968. Diane Lane narrates.

Trumbo
After failing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947, successful screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was blacklisted in Hollywood. This documentary details Trumbo's life through personal letters, interviews and archival footage. Well-known actors such as Joan Allen, Brian Dennehy, Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, Donald Sutherland and others lend their voices to readings of Dalton Trumbo's personal letters.

PRESIDENTIAL
IMPERIAL POWER

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (SUPPORTS WIKILEAKS)
Revisit a pivotal point in American history in this documentary that chronicles Pentagon insider Daniel Ellsberg's daring endeavor to leak top-secret government papers that disclosed shocking truths about the Vietnam War and Nixon's presidency. Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith direct this absorbing, Oscar-nominated account that features compelling interviews with Ellsberg, retired New York Times editor Max Frankel and other key figures.

The People Speak
Inspired by historian Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States," a slate of top performers takes the stage to recreate the voices of American history's most eloquent dissenters, many of whom are excluded from traditional history books. The words of slaves, authors, politicians, poets, protesters and others come to life, courtesy of a cast that includes Don Cheadle, Sean Penn, Sandra Oh, Marisa Tomei, Benjamin Bratt and many more.

WE'RE NOT BROKE
The story of Corporate Tax Dodgers and how corporations have been able to shelter over a trillion dollars from the U.S. government, and how citizens across the country take their frustration to the streets--and vow to make them pay. The story of American corporations that dodge taxes. Multibillion-dollar American corporations like Exxon, Google and Bank of America are making record profits. And while the deficit climbs and the cuts go deeper, these corporations—with intimate ties to our political leaders—are concealing colossal profits overseas to avoid paying U.S. income tax.
WE'RE NOT BROKE is the story of how U.S. corporations have been able to hide over a trillion dollars from Uncle Sam, and how seven fed-up Americans from across the country, take their frustration to the streets and vow to make the corporations pay their fair share.
CUT UNJUSTIFIED TAX LOOPHOLES Act
Instead of cutting public priorities, Congress should close offshore tax loopholes that let America's largest banks, pharmaceuticals, and high tech companies ship profits made in America to offshore tax havens. Tax haven loopholes cost an estimated $150 billion every single year. Tax-dodging companies benefit from our infrastructure, educated workforce, and national security. They should not continue to get a free ride while the public is left to pick up the tab of cuts to public programs, higher taxes, or more debt. As an ordinary taxpayer, I urge you to support the Cut Unjustified Tax Loopholes Act (S. 268). Close Offshore Tax Loophole
CONTACT YOUR CONGRESS PERSON - SENATORS-PRES.OBAMA

The Fog of War (Eleven Lessons From the Life of Robert S. McNamara)
This Oscar-winning documentary traces former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's career from government to the World Bank; but his work during the Vietnam War -- examined through archival footage and interviews -- is the real highlight. Having worked for both presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, McNamara played a key role in shaping both administrations' approaches to the conflict.

1967 Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
In 1967 it was illegal for a white person to marry a black person in 14 states! Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn star as wealthy Californians who consider themselves progressive until their only daughter (Katharine Houghton) brings home her African American fiancé (Sidney Poitier) in this snapshot of race relations in the late 1960s. The film earned two Academy Awards.

CORPORATION
VS. SLAVE LABOR

Fair Trade

Harlan County, U.S.A.
Director Barbara Kopple's film about the 1973 coal miners' strike in Harlan County, Ky., won a Best Documentary Oscar and was selected for the National Film Registry. Highlighting the struggles of families living in shacks with no indoor plumbing and enduring hazardous working conditions, the film details the conflict between the Eastover Mining Co. and the laborers determined to join the United Mine Workers of America.

Salt of the Earth
Director Herbert Biberman's prescient drama incited a furor upon its release with the political overtones in its story about the Mexican-Americans who went on strike to protest unsafe conditions and unfair treatment at New Mexico's Empire Zinc Mine. Presaging the civil rights and feminist movements, the 1954 film -- the only one blacklisted in American history -- paints a thought-provoking picture of the struggle by the miners and their families.

Che: Part 1 (The Argentine) / Che: Part 2 (Guerilla)
Benicio Del Toro delivers a searing, emotional performance as Ernesto "Che" Guevara, an asthmatic Argentine doctor who became one of Latin America's most legendary revolutionary leaders in the 1950s. Director Steven Soderbergh recounts the events of the Cuban revolution, in which Guevara, Fidel Castro (Demiàn Bichir), Tamara Bunke (Franka Potente) and other revolutionaries worked to overthrow the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

Citizen Kane
Orson Welles reinvented movies at the age of 26 with this audacious biography of newspaper baron Charles Foster Kane, which, in essence, was a thinly veiled portrait of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. Welles's complex and technically stunning film chronicles Kane's rise from poverty to become one of America's most influential men -- and it's considered one of the best movies ever made.

On the Waterfront
Winner of eight Oscars, director Elia Kazan's classic morality tale stars Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy, a has-been boxer who experiences a crisis of conscience while working for mobbed-up union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb). Terry turns a blind eye when Friendly's thugs kill a fellow dockworker to keep him from testifying in a corruption case, but he has second thoughts when the victim's sister (Eva Marie Saint) urges him to take a stand.

Live Nude Girls Unite!
This critically acclaimed documentary follows a group of San Francisco exotic dancers who decide to unionize to gain better wages and sick pay and to protect themselves against secret customer videotapes. Julia Query, a dancer at the Lusty Lounge, leads the unionization effort as the workers sort out their demands and go through the difficulties of bargaining with the union-busting law firm their managers hire.

FREE MARKET UNREGULATED CARTELS

Superpower: Far from a conspiracy film about the dangers of government secrets and regime change, this well-balanced film straddles the philosophical divide and allows viewers to understand the US quest for global dominance through economic and military strategy that is exposed through review of historical events, personal interviews, and analysis of US foreign policy.
The heart of Superpower lies in the analysis produced from a re-examination of history through a series of interviews with historians, documentarians, and academians. Examining key moments in America's history elicits a more consistent and plausible set of motives for US foreign policy actions guided by global expansion and military dominance, rather than the hyperbolic calls for democracy and totalitarian regime change that we have become so accustomed to hearing.
Should citizens trust that their government will keep them safe, a government that keeps secrets, and lies, in the name of national security? Does the simple act of withholding information lead to a world of eroding civil liberties and corruption? Superpower presents a view of US foreign policy, which lies in stark contrast to that depicted by corporate media, popular pundits, and US heads of state. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the US has emerged as the preeminent superpower of the world. Superpower illustrates how the United States has chosen to leverage that position to pursue a grand strategy which will ensure itself unilateral world domination through absolute economic and military superiority. It shows a consistent pattern of government deception.

Big Sugar

How can the US government (politicians) allow this super-rich family to continue to do business as usual? Slave labor of Haitians in the Dominican Republic and Enviornmental offenders in Florida. This family receives $60 million of government subsidies for their sugar cane production in Florida; while they pollute the Everglades with agro-chemical runoff which spills into Florida Bay, and employ Haitians to cut cane for sub-human wages and let them live in horrifying conditions conditions. Big Sugar explores the dark history and modern power of the world's reigning sugar cartels.
Using dramatic reenactments, it reveals how sugar was at the heart of slavery in the West Indies in the 18th century, while showing how present-day consumers are slaves to a sugar-based diet. Going undercover, Big Sugar witnesses the appalling working conditions on plantations in the Dominican Republic, where Haitian cane cutters live like slaves. Workers who live on Central Romano, a Fanjul-owned plantation, go hungry while working 12-hour days to earn $2 (US). Coke is priced less than water.

The Corporation
is a 2003 Canadian documentary film written by Joel Bakan, and directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott. The documentary is critical of the modern-day corporation, considering its legal status as a class of person and evaluating its behavior towards society and the world at large.
Take Away: Corporations took advantage of the law finally passed on the backs of slaves! They sued the gov't as if they were entitled to those same rights and because of corruption they won! Chutzpa!

Inside Job:
Uncover the roots of the 2008 global economic crisis with Charles Ferguson's documentary, which combines extensive research and convincing interviews to single out a rogue industry that has tainted every sector of the financial system. Narrated by actor Matt Damon, this complex yet comprehensible film -- an Official Selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival -- features discussions with influential politicians, academics, journalists and more.

Life and Debt
Director Stephanie Black's documentary examines how policies of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other aid organizations have altered the Jamaican economy over the past 25 years, leaving the locals to struggle in poverty. Author Jamaica Kincaid narrates passages from her book on the topic, A Small Place, with Belinda Becker to a reggae soundtrack that includes songs by Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley, Mutubaruka and Peter Tosh.

Is Walmart Good for America?: Frontline
This PBS series dares to pose a question: Is one of America's biggest corporations actually ruining the economy? Marching across the nation, the big-box chain brings jobs and much-needed retail options to many towns. But, as a major purveyor of goods, the company's also hacked away at manufacturing jobs stateside, since the bulk of its products are made in China. Here, "Frontline" examines two cities profoundly affected by the Walmart movement.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

So now we're importing green technology from overseas. We're struggling to catch up. Taxpayers have dished out billions of dollars to bail out the auto companies. What's really interesting is lithium ion, which is definitely the leading battery technology today, most of the IP and most of the lithium, and definitely most of the processing, is in China. So we have essentially handed the Chinese a rapid advance in a market that would be very hard to catch up. And the Chinese appear to be investing very heavily in green cars and electric cars.

COMMERCE WITHOUT CONSCIENCE

White-collar Crime
This term was reportedly coined in 1939 means Lying, cheating, and stealing by business and government professionals.

EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE SAYS:

IT IS A CHASE - IT IS A RACE - IT ALWAYS IS

In racing there is a saying: "If your not cheating, your cheating your self, because everyone else is."

Humans Can't Help Themselves: He'll be sure to follow you even if it is to hell. Everyone has the right to dream big but did you know if you chase something to get something - something else will come chasing you. Life is about chasing and being chased. There is no escape.

Video: College Inc (PBS Frontline)
55:36 Are for profit schools the answer? Uncovering the truth about for-profit colleges and universities, this Frontline episode investigates the schools' powerful recruitment methods, convenient online curriculum, connections to Wall Street and astronomical revenues. Through interviews with former students, employees and education experts, this program questions whether such institutions of higher learning improve the lives of their graduates or simply saddle them with debt.

• This undercover video from the Government Accountability Office enrollment officers.
• More details on the money in gaming Google's search results.

The Insider
Nominated for seven Oscars, this thought-provoking thriller from director Michael Mann is based on the true story of a Big Tobacco scientist who exposed industry secrets and the newsman who fought forces that would have squelched the story. When TV producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) coaxes researcher Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) to speak about his former employer's knowledge of tobacco's harmful qualities, the corporations try to silence them. This is one of those films you should see along with Wall Street, Thirteen Days, and All the President's Men if you want a (dramatized) picture of how the power-centers in America really operate under extraordinary circumstances - scandal and massive threats, in this case. Michael Mann shows us the forces that impact people when billions of dollars and entire corporations (hence thousands of jobs) are at stake - not to mention the millions of lives perhaps cut short by not understanding the full disclosure behind using a product that kills. The Insider dramatizes an American tragedy. We have become a nation of people who willfully allow those in power to tell us lies. The government lies to us and the press lies to us, and more often than not we are lied to in order to protect the financial interests of big business. The second tragedy of this film is that so few people have seen it.

Wall Steet
Enterprising stockbroker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) falls under the enticing spell of Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), an unabashedly greedy Wall Street arbitrageur who tutors him in the unscrupulous tactics that put the corporate raider on top. But when Gekko embroils his protégé in an insider-trading scheme that may risk the jobs of kith and kin, Fox develops a conscience and decides to turn the tables.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Based on the book of the same name by Peter Elkin, director Alex Gibney's documentary takes a behind-the-scenes look at the powerful energy company whose downfall forever changed the landscape of the business world. With a blend of fascinating footage, fast-paced interviews and a wealth of information, this film is a serious lesson in the potential trappings of dishonesty and unethical behavior dogging corporate America.

Casino Jack and the United States of Money
Documentarian Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) turns his acute focus on convicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, reproaching him and other legislators for their negative impact on U.S. politics. Gibney's film plays less like a dry treatise and more like a high-stakes political thriller, fearlessly examining the ways American policies and political processes are undermined by an endless quest for power.

Capitalism: A Love Story
Filmmaker Michael Moore (Sicko, Fahrenheit 9/11) takes on capitalism's roots, the floundering U.S. economy, and 2008's global financial meltdown and subsequent bank bailout in this rousing documentary. Combining stories about those who suffer most from Corporate America's greed and insatiable thirst for profits and the people most responsible for myriad crises, Moore embarks on another shocking fact-finding rampage.

The Art of the Steal
A gripping tale of intrigue and mystery in the art world, this film traces the history of the Barnes collection of Post-Impressionist paintings, which was worth billions and became the subject of a power struggle after the 1951 death of the owner. Dr. Albert Barnes collected 181 Renoirs, 69 Cézannes, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos and many other valuable paintings. But the political wrangling over the collection eventually led to its division.

MEDIA marketing, branding & advertising

MARIJUANA Is Illigal because of The Union of PARTNERS WITH
K12 EDUCATION AND THE PRIVATE PRISON PIPELINE The Most Profitable Industries - Private Prisons (great stats) , Medicine, Paper, Fuel, Textiles, Food.

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
Filmmaker Adam Scorgie explores the illegal marijuana industry in British Columbia, revealing how the international business is most likely more profitable than it would be if it was lawful in this enlightening documentary. Marijuana growers, law enforcement officials, physicians, politicians, criminologists, economists and celebrities -- including comedian Tommy Chong -- shed light on this topical subject in a series of compelling interviews.

Art and Copy
Explore the fascinating and sometimes mysterious world of advertising with this compelling documentary from filmmaker Doug Pray that features a host of interviews with some of the biggest names in the business. Meet the talented minds who created taglines forever embedded in the American psyche, including "Just Do It," "Where's the Beef?" and "Got Milk?" Hal Riney, Ed Rollins and many others share their insights.

Objectified
Discover how manufactured objects that surround us such as cars, phones and chairs influence our daily lives with this revealing documentary, which features top industrial designers discussing their creative processes and professional objectives. Director Gary Hustwit (Helvetica) explores not only how objects get made, but also why they make us feel the way they do and how they can make our world better.

MEDIA SAVVY
KNOW THE LIARS

Rig the Game;TRUE GRIT
Enterprising publicity executive of the eras set out to rig the game. Mr. Rehme recalled sending members of the Paramount office staff to buy boxes of books from stores that, by his information, were being monitored by The New York Times in compiling its best-seller list. (These days, a dagger symbol next to a book on the best-seller list indicates that booksellers have noted bulk sales.) “It worked,” maintains Mr. Rehme, who then circulated all those books to people in the news media and others, pumping up interest in a story Paramount was promoting as “a brand new brand of American frontier story.” By the time “True Grit,” the old one, started shooting, the Hollywood trades pegged the novel as the No. 2 best-seller in the country. Maybe it was. Or maybe Mr. Rehme was just Hollywood's No. 1 promoter at the time. Learn How to really make money self publishing.

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
Explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Exposing the thinking, the money trail and the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how America's “free market” policies have come to dominate the world-- through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries. Klein may well have revealed the master narrative of our time. And because the pattern she exposes could govern our future as well,could turn out to be among the most important books of the decade."

Wag the Dog
When the president is caught in a sex scandal less than two weeks before the election, White House spinmaster Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro) creates a phony war with the help of Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) to distract the electorate. From acclaimed director Barry Levinson and writers Hilary Henkin and David Mamet comes this biting look at American politics and its insidious relationship with the media.

Speaking Truth
to Power

Taxi to the Dark Side 2007R 106 minutes
Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) directs this Best Documentary Oscar winner that uses interviews, news footage and firsthand reports to examine the Bush administration's policy on torture. The film focuses on the case of an Afghan taxi driver who picked up three passengers and never returned home. Instead, he wound up dead at the Bagram Air Base, killed by injuries inflicted by U.S. soldiers.

The Weather Underground
Uncover the roots of the 2008 global economic crisis with Charles Ferguson's documentary, which combines extensive research and convincing interviews to single out a rogue industry that has tainted every sector of the financial system. Narrated by actor Matt Damon, this complex yet comprehensible film -- an Official Selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival -- features discussions with influential politicians, academics, journalists and more.

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington 1939
A naive man is appointed to fill a vacancy in the US Senate. His plans promptly collide with political corruption, but he doesn't back down.

Freakonomics
Crime is down because they found that it correlated with the 1970's law that passed giving women the right to choose. Paying school children money to bring up their test scores as an incentive didn't really work.

THE RICHEST 1%

THE SECRETS OF HOW LOBBYIESTS BUY POLITICIANS.
YOU CAN FIND THE MONEY
YOU CAN LEARN THEIR TECHNIQUES

Jamie Johnson Heir to the Johnson and Johnson Family wealth disagrees with Koch Brothers control of American Government, Law, and Policy throught the "Tea Party".

Article: Of course, Jamie Johnson comes from a background that is far more than simply dysfunctional and eccentric. During the longest, most expensive contested-will trial in U.S. history, which ensued after the death of Jamie's grandfather Seward Johnson in 1983, lurid tales--including murder for hire, sexual deviance, drugs, and suicide--were revealed. Why is it that kids with all of life's advantages get into trouble? Opportunity, for one thing. "I don't know if rich kids are any more messed up than ordinary kids," says Arlyn Davich, who knew Jamie Johnson when they both attended the Pingry School in Martinsville, N.J. "But they have the means, the money, and the time to indulge in bad behavior." How do their parents fit into the picture? "It's hard to generalize," says a member of Johnson's social set, "but when we were growing up, we always used to have the parties at the wealthiest kids' houses because the parents seemed the most likely not to be home. Also, if the police came, you would be less likely to be in trouble."
To Jamie Johnson, a parent's failure to discuss family finances also contributes greatly to dysfunctionality. "In my experiences, I think it's taught to you from a very early, early age: Don't talk about money because it's impolite," he says, sipping a glass of water. "People in America love to think of this as a society where everyone earns what they have, and in some ways [inherited wealth] contradicts that notion, and I think that makes people uncomfortable."
You want uncomfortable? Just watch the scenes in Born Rich in which Jamie confronts his father, James "Jimmy" Loring Johnson, about the family's fortune. Jamie: "I don't want to be nervous about money, or be nervous about who I am. And I feel like you are feeling nervous about this film--is maybe that nervousness of who you are?" Dad: "And you are in control of this film. And I am not. So there is, uh, a little source of nervousness." Later in the movie, when Jamie asks his father--who spends his days painting--what he should do with his life, the elder Johnson suggests "collecting historic documents, papers, publications ..." Johnson the younger cocks a skeptical eye to the camera.

Billionaire Samuel Curtis “S. C.” Johnson III, heir to the S. C. Johnson & Sons fortune, sexually assults his 12 year old step daughter only gets 4 months.

How the Internet
Got Started

1963 Timesharing: A Solution to Computer Bottlenecks

The Internet was developed in the 1960s by DARPA actually,with 4 nodes and 4 computers (see some good maps of the evolving net, starting from 1 node and 1 computer in Sept. 69) by 1971, the net was in heavy use by most of the serious researchers in the country. The original motivation of the ARPANET was to link together DARPA-supported computer science researchers, to allow them to share resources and information. It was a wild success that changed the way work was organized and performed in that research community. The most logical date of origin of the Internet is January 1, 1983, when the ARPANET officially switched from the NCP protocol to TCP/IP. Six months later, the ARPANET was split into the two subnets ARPANET and MILNET, which were connected by Internet gateways* (routers).
The planning for the January 1983 switchover was fully documented in Jon Postel in RFC 801. The week-by-week progress of the transition was reported in a series of 15 RFCs, in the range RFC 842 - RFC 876, by UCLA student David Smallberg. There may still be a few remaining T shirts that read, "I Survived the TCP/IP Transition". People sometimes question that any geeks would have been in machine rooms on January 1. Believe it!! Some geeks got very little sleep for a few days (and that was before the work "geek" was invented, I believe.) So, on New Year's Eve, hoist one for the 20th anniversary of the Internet.

2011 Dugan, the 19th (and first female) director of DARPA, came to the agency after co-founding Dugan Ventures, which in turn founded RedXDefense in 2005. RedXDefense was created to produce solutions for combating explosive threats. Dugan's involvement in both companies created friction in 2010, when RedXDefense won a $1.7 million contract from DARPA and Wired reported that the firm also owed Dugan $250,000. Dugan recused herself from any business dealings with RedXDefense, and DARPA Deputy Director Kaigham “Ken” Gabriel told the Los Angeles Times: “Honestly, this is something that is prevalent. . . . We just know how to deal with it. It's not that big of a deal, frankly.” The Times also reported that no law exists preventing a sitting DARPA chief from divesting in companies that receive defense contracts before assuming their post. That aside, the full interview from the Wall Street Journal's “All Things D” was posted Monday morning. Dugan discusses some of the latest developments at DARPA and the role the agency plays in some of the nation's most significant inventions.

How Computers
Got Started

History of Computers

Desk Set
1957 Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn) is a reference librarian whose tepid long-term relationship with television executive Mike Cutler (Gig Young) is fizzling. Enter Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy), a no-nonsense computer genius who's created a new product named Miss Emmy to automate the work of Bunny and her co-workers. The two butt heads in the beginning, but soon their disdain for one another turns to romantic sparks. The Real Computer Wonder Women!

Triumph of the Nerds
How the Home Computer Acutally Got Started. Robert Cringely's in-depth look at the rise of Silicon Valley giants from nerd-dom to success is exacting in detail, providing an impressive history of personal computing. All three episodes of the 1996 PBS series ("Impressing Their Friends," "Riding the Bear" and "Great Artists Steal") invite viewers into the lives of modern movers and shakers such as Microsoft's Bill Gates and Apple's Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. "The trick is to not put up with the bullshit of the guild system. That's what Bill Gates did, or he would have stayed at Harvard and become a near-great mathematician. -- Robert X. Cringely"

Never forget that Steve Jobs famously hatched an illegal anti-poaching scheme. The rich and powerful want to stay that way, and they do it via collusion.