Bush and Iran; Deja-War All Over Again?

Craig Unger reports in Vanity Fair magazine that "The same neocon
ideologues behind the Iraq war have been using the same tactic --
alliances with shady exiles, dubious intelligence on WMD -- to push
for the bombing of Iran. As President Bush ups the pressure on
Tehran, is he planning to double his Middle East bet? ... Whatever
the administration's master plan may be, parts of it are already
under way. ... According to Sam Gardiner, by the end of February
the United States will have enough forces in place to mount an
assault on Iran. That, in the words of former national-security
adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, would be 'an act of political folly' so
severe that 'the era of American preponderance could come to a
premature end'."

SOURCE: Vanity Fair magazine, March, 2007

Drug Ads Make Researchers Sick

A new study "funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and
published in the Jan. 29 Annals of Family Medicine, claims the $4.5
billion" direct-to-consumer drug ad (DTC) industry "produces ads
that are more emotional than informational, and may be convincing
Americans that they're sicker than they really are," reports
Advertising Age. Lead author Dominick Frosch said, "DTC ads send the
message that you need drugs" for problems "that many people used to
manage without prescription drugs." Former Food and Drug
Administration Commissioner Dr. David Kessler warned that
advertising drugs "based on their emotional appeal is something that
has great risks." The study found that 95 percent of DTC ads made
"emotional appeals," 78 percent "implied that use of the medication
would result in social approval," and only 25 percent included
information about illness prevalence. The Association of National
Advertisers and the Coalition for Healthcare Communications, an
industry group, expressed reservations about the study.

SOURCE: Advertising Age, January 31, 2007

Guerilla Marketing Gone Bad In Boston

urner Broadcasting apologized "for a marketing campaign that
sparked Boston's biggest security scare since the September 11,
2001, attacks -- closing bridges, shutting major roads and putting
hundreds of police on alert." The "outdoor marketing campaign"
promoting an Adult Swim cartoon "had been in place for two to three
weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle,
Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia." Boston police
feared that the magnetic lightboards of cartoon characters might be
bombs. According to PR Week, Turner Broadcasting has "hired outside
PR and legal counsel" to recover from its "marketing stunt gone
bad." Turner "declined to name the agency" it hired for PR
assistance, and said it had not yet decided whether to continue to
work with Interference, the agency that developed the lightboard
campaign. Associated Press reports that Turner has "agreed to pay
$2 million" to local Boston and Massachusetts state agencies.

SOURCE: Reuters, January 31, 2007

Deny Climate Change, Make a Cool $10,000

"Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each" by the
American Enterprise Institute (AEI) think tank, "to undermine a
major climate change report" from the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). AEI wants
"articles that emphasize the shortcomings" of the IPCC report, which
"is widely regarded as the most comprehensive review yet of climate
change science." AEI "has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil,"
reports Ian Sample, "and more than 20 of its staff have worked as
consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head
of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees." AEI
visiting scholar Kenneth Green sent the offer "to scientists in
Britain, the US and elsewhere," in a letter describing the IPCC as
"resistant to reasonable criticism and dissent." On February 5, the
Fraser Institute, "another Exxon-funded organization based in
Canada," launched "a review in London which casts doubt on the IPCC
report." The review is co-authored by Tad Murty and the event was
attended by Nigel Lawson and David Bellamy.

SOURCE: The Guardian (UK), February 2, 2007