My source spins quite a tale about the Met Office. The gist of it is this: The Met Office publicly published winter predictions for Europe for mild temperatures. At the same time, it apparently told the government (UK) in confidence that this winter would be more severe than average.

I realize my source is a skeptical website but regardless, does anyone have any concrete information on this? It would seem to me that if the UK government had this info yet did not bolster salt levels or winter maintenance budgets, I would imagine the public might be irritated by that.

(Note, this is my third attempt at this question. My links are obviously being the problem. This time, I only have a news source. If they stop questions with news sources as the links we have a problem.)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1343863/Met-Office-knew-Decembers-big-freeze-coming-hushed-up.html

Eric, I know that it (my previous question) has not been deleted but it has been removed from the main stream. Can you see it in the Global Warming section? I can’t.

Lowest approval and more debt by the 111th Congress than by the first 100 combined. It’s tough to spin.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/111th-congress-added-more-debt-first-100

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1341229/Bushs-memoir-sells-2MILLION-copies-just-month–nearly-Bill-Clintons-sold-years.html

Let the spin, begin.
Hey Paula, I post proof, how about you back up your statement.

I’m trying to find a good news article & event to use as an example of a global marketing fiasco. I want to find something that happened within the last year in which a company operated in one country went to another and failed magnificently due to differences in culture. Think Wal-Mart in Germany, but more recent. Any examples?
And by ‘global marketing fiascos’, I don’t mean business fiascos in general. I mean ones from when corporations went global with their product (as in brought their business to another country) and things went down the pie-hole. Corporate failures in general don’t answer this question at all!

In a recent news article posted on Yahoo! "Historic anti-smoking vote to give FDA new power", it states that "The legislation [...] would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the content, marketing and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

I don’t smoke cigarettes, nor do I advocate them, but think is a gross abuse of government power. Tobacco products already have the strictest rules concerning advertising (in CA ads are practically limited to magazines and gas stations only). Now the government is attempting to regulate it even more.

Also, in an odd "change-of-the-poles" effect, the government now IS Big Tobacco. Picture this, the government is now in control of what Big Tobacco makes, how it makes it, what it markets, how it advertises, and profits from it substantially through 300%+ tax rates excised on tobacco products in cities such as New York.

Does anyone else see several very wrong things with this scenario? Please no heated remarks about how cigarettes kill – WE KNOW.
gomanyes – "do you think that requiring FDA approval to sell a drug is also an abuse of government power?"

Yes, I do think that is another example of the government’s abuse of power. I believe gov. should only act as a facilitator, never* an inhibitor. Build roads, build schools, but let the markets do as they please. If the FDA wants to put a stamp on things it approves, that’s fine. But making non-approved products illegal is an abuse of power, because people have the right to choose what they put in to their bodies, whether it be cigarettes, alcohol, or medicine.
Bill M – I would agree with you if corporations forced people to consume their products. However the fact remains that individuals have the ability to choose whether or not they use tobacco products, and in what capacity. Would you like to edit your comment to include a rebuttal?
Lea R – I did not know until reading your post how severe the circumstances were in Canada surrounding tobacco and alcohol. It is interesting to learn how different things are.
It worries me because we are continuously creating more restrictive laws, but hardly ever do we abandon them. We are losing our freedoms inch by inch.

Many think cigarettes should be bad because of the health implications, but where does that road end? Will they next ban chocolate, and butter, and candy, and steak, and ham, because they all in some way or another can be detrimental to ones health?

People cit how many people have died from cigarettes frequently. It’s as if people think "If it weren’t for tobacco, no one would ever die, so we should get rid of it." I fail to see the logic in fruitlessly attempting to prevent something that is inevitable. (death)

So…I had to write an article for my block class…and I need some opinions on it.

Any and all help is appreaciated.
Thanks

Maddie’s First World Event
Zooey Deschanel, Ben Gibbard Marry Near Seattle
News Article
Source: http://www.spin.com/articles/zooey-deschanel-ben-gibbard-marry-near-seattle
Date of Article: 9/21/09
About: Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard getting married

Longtime beaus, Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard are finally going to tie the knot. Yay! Another celebrity marriage…*Cough-Divorce-after-two-minutes-Cough* Yes, I know I sound like Perez Hilton, but hey…can you tell me how many Celeb marriages have worked out?
….
I didn’t even know the two were dating; let alone engaged. The lovely couple, indeed, was reported to have been engaged as of the end of 2008.
Gibbard and Deschanel both share the same Indie characteristics; Alternative music lovers, unique individuals, both photograph in an eerily “Ghost Rock Star” way.

Gibbard is a musician in the group “Death Cab for Cutie” while his fiancé; is an extremely talented actress. She starred in the movie “500 Days of Summer.”

Hopefully these two stay together; they are the Public Eye Candy, as of now.

Can anyone find a news article to match (or relate) one of the following statements:
>Economic prosperity cannot last forever
>To keep US factories open, Congress can increase tariff on imported goods
>In a market economy, making profits is top goal of all businesses

They need to be at least somewhat recent and from a credible source (no blogs). Thanks so much! 10 points to the best answer!
And I did try a search already-

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/64910

I have read that women with college degrees are more likely to self-identify as "feminist". This is often stated as "well-educated women are feminists". But what makes a person well-educated?
1) A college degree
2) A knowledge of classic literature
3) The ability to read and understand the newspaper
4) The ability to sort out the "spin" and bias of a news article
5) an understanding of history
6) an understanding of the "big picture" (wars are fought by people with varying beliefs, not "good guys" vs. "bad guys" for example)

Or is it something else entirely? And finally, does your defnition of "well-educated" support the ideologies of modern feminism? (The feminism of Friedan, De Beauvoir, MacKinnon, Faludi, etc.)
Great point, Tracy: I’ll add another possible choice – the ability to see the "shades of grey".

Here are some examples of right-wing "spin" articles:

Christian Minister writes "Soy Milk Is Feminizing and Makes Your Kids Come Out Gay":

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53327

That same Blogger continues the Michelle "Whitey Tape Saga" long after having been discredited by even the most conservative pundits who were embarrassed by their extreme interest in the rumor:

http://www.hcsfjm.com/comments3.html

The "Jesus Camp Lady" Becky Fisher uses children to advance McCain’s attacks on Iran:

https://kidsinministry.org//index.php?option=com_myblog&show=God-Using-Kids-to-Bring-Attention-to-Israel.html&Itemid=37

I have never seen a "left wing" propaganda site that could be comparable to these… if they exist, please post links?
Nope… Huffington Post and DailyKos are reputable…
you can’t name a lie or half-truth coming from them…