| Number 411 | July 8, 2008 |
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This Week: Six Examples of Wartime Propaganda
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Greetings, Almost this entire issue—except for the "Quote" of the Week"—is all about Nygaard Notes and the need for you to make a Pledge of support. Maybe it's because this is the first time that I've done a Pledge Drive in the summer months, but for whatever reason we're off to a slower start than usual. Therefore I have a single focus this week: To convince some of you readers of the Notes to make your support tangible. This is the moment! Make your Pledge today! In solidarity, Nygaard |
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As usual, the first week of the Nygaard Notes Pledge Drive is off to a slow start. Remember, I plan to keep this Pledge Drive going until at least TEN people either become Pledgers for the first time or renew Pledges that have lapsed. Or until we can't stand it any more; whichever comes first. I have heard from a few of you, but not nearly enough! Maybe it's because you are wondering how much to pledge. If that's the problem, elsewhere in this issue I offer my ideas on how to figure out how much YOUR Pledge should be. (see the cleverly-titled "How Much Should Your Pledge Be?") Repeat: We're off to a SLOW start, so please send in your Pledge now. Today. As soon as you finish reading this. Immediately. You get the idea. THANK YOU! |
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Last week I published the first names of the 18 of you who last sent in your pledges in May or June of 2007. This was done to remind you take action and renew your Pledge and keep it current, before I send you a formal reminder. Some of you have done so! Those who have not I will list again (this time using initials): MN, JS, LA, MM-R, NR, JM, KM, KB, NS, JS, MM, BE, LS/DD, RC, and CU. And, a little overdue: JM, DH, HS, EM, JG, FJ Please renew your Pledge NOW. Thank you! |
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Just in case you think you are alone in appreciating the unique and difficult-to-describe phenomenon that we know as Nygaard Notes, here are a few comments from recent months that have been sent in by your fellow readers. These are unsolicited—I would never ask people to write nice things about my work. But they do. Here are a few of them: On January 10 Amy said, after reading the 2007 Nygaard Notes Year in Review: "It is always fun to read this yearly recap Jeff, you really take on the world! We are lucky readers. . . . Thanks AGAIN for your shining light." Joanna wrote on January 16th, responding to my series on Venezuela: "Another excellent piece. I am so impressed with what you are doing." Martha chimed in on January 16th to say, "I want to congratulate you on the excellent number of stories that are picked up by other publications. NN is too good to keep small." Bonnie, January 25th, after I thanked her for renewing her Pledge of support for Nygaard Notes, said, "It's thanks to you, Jeff. Your work amazes me." Rebecca, in her March 13th note telling friends and family why they might want to subscribe to the Notes, told them that "I really enjoy his analysis, and the topics he covers. Also, the way he synthesizes from a bunch of news sources." On June 13th John wrote in to say, in reference to my piece " The Birthday of Minnesota, The Birthday of Israel": "The latest issue is particularly excellent. I sent it on to my whole family. Maybe some will subscribe." Writing about the same issue, reader Jett wrote: "This is great. As was the last one. As are they all." Professor R wrote in after Nygaard Notes #408 to say: "I've been meaning to write... Your last issue about Minnesota/Israel and the dispossessed was spectacular! I used it with my Mellon students (juniors and seniors of color) . . . I have one native student, Navajo/Dine, from Arizona, and she was very moved by your piece. Thanks so much!!!" And just this past week Davis wrote in to say this: "I deeply appreciate writing which includes the writer's discovery of language, self, and world, and so I almost always read the whole of your Notes, even when I'm tired and not that interested in the subject." All of the writers above have made their Pledges of support for Nygaard Notes, doing their part to keep this project strong. Please consider adding YOUR name to the list. Do it today. Nygaard Notes OR hit the "Subscribe/Support" button on the left of your screen right now!
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I know I said last week that what I write about is not as important to me as how I write about it. Nonetheless, I think it is worth telling the new subscribers—and reminding you old-timers—of the breadth of subjects that you will find in these pages. Here is a very limited sample of what the past few months of Nygaard Notes have brought you: In November I explained "The Investment Theory of Money in Politics" as it applies to health care and the presidential elections. In the same month I gave six examples of how "Propaganda Frameworks" play out in the media, with an emphasis on Wartime Propaganda. Around the beginning of 2008 I ran a multi-part series on Venezuela and how the U.S. treats this "threat to our interests." I often write about official history as it appears in the obituaries, and in February I wrote about the deaths of Indonesian dictator Suharto and former CIA officer Philip Agee. Also in February I did a little series on the federal budget, focusing on housing issues. March brought a look at Chile and their lesson for the U.S. on "mandates," as well a look at the powerful—and conservative—myth that political candidates should "put ideology aside." For the past three years I have written extensively about the virtually-unreported air wars being conducted by the United States in both Iraq and Afghanistan. April 2008 was the latest installment. I followed this up with a focus on the increasing use of "unmanned vehicles" to conduct this air war. I called it "Remote-Control War." In May I explained how the increasing focus of newspapers on "local" news is interpreted in such a way as to keep our world small and parochial. In the next issue I talked about how much "good news" is kept out of the daily news stream—and what it is, exactly, that makes our news producers consider some things "good news" and other things not. My piece from last month, "The Birthday of Minnesota, The Birthday of Israel," got LOTS of response, and I am hoping to publish it more widely before long. Most recently I took on the New York Times and how they pass on propaganda about the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Yes, ALL of that has been found in these pages in the past few months. But, it's true, the above list only tells you a little bit about what Nygaard Notes is all about. The real value is in the process and the consciousness, in what is between the lines. I think that is why people really make their Pledges of support for the Notes. I hope the above list moves you to send in your Pledge, too. |
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In fact, here are THREE distinct methods for figuring out how much you would like to donate to support this independent journalism project. Method #1: Tried and True: Pay Per Issue The familiar way of pledging, or subscribing, is to attempt to determine what each issue is "worth." That would involve a look at the "market," which would mean finding other newsletters like this one that charge per issue and trying to be competitive with them. This "traditional" method is not my favorite, since it makes it seem like each issue is "worth" a certain amount, which is not the way I think. (The way I think is more like Method #2 below.) (Plus, how can you find another newsletter like this one? It's unique!) Still, if you want to do it this way, here's what you need to know: One year in Nygaard Notes-land usually comes to about 35 to 40 issues, sometimes more. So, if each issue is worth a dollar to you, then you could send me $40. Fifty cents each? Then it's $20.00. Maybe each issue is worth $5.00 to you. Then you would send in $200. And so on. Method #2: Income/Wealth Calculation A second way to think about what amount to pledge is to relate your contribution to your own income or wealth. Are you willing to devote one or two hour's worth of your wages each year to supporting Nygaard Notes? Then send me that amount. If you make minimum wage, I am more than happy to accept $5.85 or $11.70 for your annual subscription donation (soon to be $6.55 or $13.10). Maybe the minimum wage in your state is different than the federal minimum, which is the number I used. Go with that. If you make closer to the median hourly wage for United Statesians, then it gets a little more complicated. If you are a woman, the median hourly wage is $15.03, so you could send me that amount, or twice that, $30.06. If you are a man, then the number is higher—fourteen percent higher, in fact: $17.20. So, send in your $17.20 or $34.40. Looked at another way, if you are "management," then you make closer to $40/hour. If you are a rehabilitation counselor, on the other hand, send in $14.25. Preschool teacher? Then it's $11.12. I could go on and on. You get the idea. Moving away from income to wealth (that is, looking at what you HAVE instead of what you EARN), you could send one-tenth of 1% of your net worth. Since the median net worth for all households in the United States is about $93,000 (most recent figures), this would be roughly $93.00. (For help in figuring out your own wealth, the median household income, etc., see Nygaard Notes #138, "Wealth in the United States.") Method #3: Whatever You may think up your own Pledge amount based on some outrageously complex system that is impossible to reproduce here. Or, you may just wing it. Whatever works for you is fine with me! Whatever you decide to send, I will record it and then I will contact you in a year and ask you to renew your Pledge. (Most people do renew, but you don't have to.) I will even send a pre-addressed and stamped envelope—that's about as easy as it gets. Thank you for supporting Nygaard Notes! |
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On June 10th the Commonwealth Fund released a report called "How Many Are Underinsured? Trends Among U.S. Adults, 2003 and 2007". This major report was poorly-covered in the nation's corporate media, and when it was the coverage was relegated mostly to the Business pages. Does this seem odd to you? It did to me. Then I realized that, while this may be a story about social welfare and human suffering for most of us, for those in the insurance industry and their stockholders this story is indeed a "business" story. Every corporate newspaper has a "Business" section, but I've yet to run across a corporate newspaper with a "Social Welfare" section. So that explains that. The Christian Science Monitor was the exception to the rule here. Not only did they place the story on the front page, but they also pulled out some of the non-Business points pretty well. Their lead paragraph, for instance, read "In what experts call a ‘startling' development, the number of people who have health insurance but not enough to pay their medical costs has spiked from 16 million in 2003 to 25 million in 2007, according to a new analysis." And, as one of the study's authors points out, "The erosion in insurance protection is putting patients, families, and the nation's health and economic security at risk." In addition, according to the report, "underinsured Americans are now acting more like the nation's 47 million uninsured: They're more likely to forgo recommended medical care for fear they won't be able to pay for it. Such preventive intervention is key to keeping healthcare costs down, medical experts say." The Monitor explained what is meant by "uninsured" people. They are "working Americans whose employers don't provide health insurance so they have to buy it on their own, or who have jobs that offer only catastrophic plans with high copayments and deductibles in the thousands of dollars." They then quote Patricia Schoeni, executive director of the National Coalition on Health Care, who makes the point that "If a $3,000 deductible were a tax, it would be a very high one," says "People are going to figure this out, and when they do they're going to demand [that] Congress do something about the healthcare system." That "something" may well include an expansion of the Medicare program to cover everyone, and idea that would be called a "single-payer" health care system. Which would likely cost a lot less than $3,000 per person when spread among everyone. Yet not a single newspaper in the nation mentioned the words "single payer" in relation to this story. An even better story on this report appeared in the Russian online newspaper Pravda. Find that article here. |
