Looking into the future the Pelican feeding its young from a self-induced wound in its own breast (as depicted, mysteriously, on the state flag of Louisiana) is accepted as an appropriate symbol of both self-sacrifice and rebirth. Through his selfless efforts, man is raised from the slavery of ignorance to the condition of freedom conferred by wisdom. Given the current state of affairs in Louisiana, one hopes that the understanding of the Pelican as a symbol shall point the way towards a new consciousness of ourselves as a whole, and lead us to face our futures with strength, grace, wisdom and faith, to learn from our mistakes and carry our successes and zest for living to future generations.

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Cultural Revolution is Our Business

Our effort is to inform you the reader. We've selected some literature and posted it. Hoping to spread some awareness and an alternate view of the media and how we percieve it for what it really is.

I pledge allegiance to a world corporation and to the globalization for which it stands. One bank, under God with Dick Cheney-Bush, Monsanto, McDonalds, and privitazation for all so help me God-In oil we trust.

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Ever Wonder Why We Have Such a Hard Time Getting Our Message Out?

Through acquisitions and mergers, virtually all media has been purchased by a handful of extremely conservative males and major corporations with a keen interest In shaping "message". With the understanding that he who controls the media also controls the message, examine who now owns the major marketplace for ideas:

1. NBC is owned by the ultra conservative General Electric Corporation

2. CBS is owned by Westinghouse

3. ABC is owned by Disney (a ray of hope is given)

4. Viacom, UPN, MTV, VH1, Showtime, TVLand, Comedy Central, United Cinemas International are owned by far Rightist Sumner Redstone

5. FOX and 22 other US stations, constituting the largest U.S. station group which covers over 40% of U.S. households is owned by ultra conservative Rupert Murdoch

6. 50% of TCI's Liberty Media, Family Channel [with partners Pat Robertson and Bob Dole], the New York Post, TVGuide, Star Tabloid, and 132 other newspapers and magazines are also owned by Rupert Murdoch

7. TCI, the largest cable provider in America, is owned by extreme conservative John Malone

8. Gannet, with ultra conservative Allen Newharth at the helm, owns 90 plus newspapers, including USA Today

9. And, then in many small communities, this process of message ownership has been replicated by a cabal of very wealthy families who have purchased or have controlling interests in "lateral media" -newspapers, radio, and television.

10. The laws that once prohibited one company from owning all media were dismantled during the Reagan years. The Fairness Doctrine, which was established in 1949, was killed in 1987.

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A Few Good Reasons Why You Should Turn Off Your TV

carbusters.org
1. TV is intrusive: televisions in pubs, schools and airports don't allow viewers to opt out of watching. Let's get TVs out of pubic places!

2. TV weakens democracy: a few huge companies(the TV networks)decides what gets broadcast and what doesn't, effectivily censoring public expression.

3. TV reduces creativity: what happens when one is constantly fed someone else's obsessive thoughts and images?

4. TV erodes family life & community involvement: the job, the commute, sleeping. What else is there? With 4 hours a day spent in front of the TV, average North Americans have little time left to interact with friends and family and to be active in their communities.

5. TV creates a 'viewing addiction': how many times have you sat in front of the TV for hours when nothing is on? But we keep going back for more.

6. TV turns violence into entertainment: the average American child will have witnessed 16,000 murders on TV by the age of 18, according to the American Medical Association.

7. TV shortens viewers' attention span: to serve advertisers[INSERT AD], action on TV is exciting[INSERT AD]and fast. Are you still with us?

8. TV promotes unhealthy lifestyles: a dozen medical studies since 1985 have linked excessive TV watching to increasing rates of obesity. Just think of all those ads for junk food, and the passive nature of watching TV.

9. TV blurs ordinary life with advertisers' fantasy: TV makes ordinary life appear dull. We need sitcom lines and plots to help us articulate our own experiences. Just like in that episode of...

10. TV becomes a filter to reality: If it isn't the media, we don't believe it's true. Honest!

11. TV promotes consumerism: TV characters always have what's cool-this new fashion, that new car. Advertising reinforces this message(shop, shop, shop). American children will see an estimated 360,000 ads by the time they graduate from high school.

12. TV promotes illiteracy: why read the book when you can watch the movie? Turn off your TV before you forget how to read this!

Text and leaflet by Pablo Mendez-Statistics from TV-Free America.

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Study Ties Television to Premature Puberty, Autism

Agence France Presse
February 20, 2007
The Vancouver Sun
Reprinted from: http://www.canada.com

LONDON -- Watching television can harm children much more than previously thought as it raises the risk of bad eyesight, obesity, premature puberty and autism, a study found Monday.

The study published in the science journal Biologist concludes that cutting viewing time for children must become a health priority and could save Britain's state-run National Health Service (NHS) money.

It found that watching television inhibits the production of the hormone melatonin, which affects the immune system, sleep cycle and the onset of puberty.

Lower melatonin levels may be one reason that girls are reaching puberty much earlier than in the 1950s, according to the study by psychologist Aric Sigman. It is also because the average weight levels of girls has increased.

Lower levels of melatonin may also make it more likely that cell DNA will produce cancer-causing mutations, it said.

Among the study's findings are that early childhood television viewing:

1. May be a trigger for autism.
2. Appears to be a key cause of permanent eyesight damage.
3. May be a bigger factor in causing obesity than diet or exercise.

The study also found that the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease increases with each extra daily hour of television viewing among people aged 20 to 60.

TV watching is associated with irregular sleeping patterns among infants and toddlers, and it significantly increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

"Given the population's sheer exposure time to this environmental factor, it is more than puzzling to consider how little awareness and action has resulted," Sigman said.

"While society has shown alarm over school dinners, it has ignored the high-screen diet children have been consuming."

Sigman added that it was "particularly disconcerting" that some academics warned against over-reacting to these findings, warning that ignoring them we could "ultimately be responsible for the greatest health scandal of our time."

Sigman, author of the book Remotely Controlled: How Television Is Damaging Our Lives, urged the British government to consider the problem "urgently".

He proposed banning the youngest children from watching television and only introducing it "judiciously" after that.

The average six-year-old child in Britain will have spent one full year watching television and more than half of three-year-olds have a television set in their bedroom, he said.

"To allow children to continue to watch this much screen media is an abdication of parental responsibility -- truly hands-off parenting," Sigman said.

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Toddlers and Television

By Lisa McLaughlin

The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that TV can negatively affect early brain development, especially for kids 2 and younger, when learning to talk and play is so crucial. Despite that kind of caution, the Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati has found that 40% of 2-year-olds watch more than 3 hr. of TV a day.