Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Media


Have you ever wondered who owns your favorite News Channel? Have you ever noticed why other news channels seem so one sided when it comes to politics? If you look closely at the corporations that own these media outlets and look at their political contributions, you’ll see that not only do they report for the benefit of the party they contribute to, but they completely ignore anything that isn’t on their political agenda or along party lines. Let’s take a look at General Electric to start out. What networks do you think they own and who politically do you think they support? You can find out here to see what political contributions were given by G.E. between 1999-Present.

http://www.campaignmoney.com/general_electric.asp

Do you notice any political affiliation there? Now let’s see all that G.E. owns when it comes to television.

Television networks: NBC Networks, Telemundo, Ion Media (partial stake).

Cable: NBC Entertainment, NBC News, NBC Sports, NBC Television, NBC Universal, CNBC, CNBC World (Arabia, India, Asia, Europe), MSNBC, Bravo, Sci Fi Channel, Telemundo, USA, Oxygen, Weather Plus, Mun2, Sleuth, Chiller, Universal HD, A&E Networks (25%; includes A&E, the History Channel, History en espaƱol, the Biography Channel, Military History Channel, Crime & Investigation Network, A&E HD, the History Channel HD, History International), the Weather Channel (partial), Sci-Fi Channel HD.

Production and distribution companies: NBC Universal Television Distribution, Universal Media Studios

26 television stations, owned under the “NBC Universal” division. These include NBC affiliates, 46 stations, Telemundo affiliates, and a small number of independents.

International Channels: 13eme Rue (France), 13th Street (Germany), Studio Universal (Germany), Sci-fi Channel (Germany), Calle 13 (Spain), Sci Fi Channel UK, Movies 24 (UK), DivaTV (UK), Studio Universal (Italy), Universal Channel (Latin America), CNBC Asia, CNBC Europe, 18 Hallmark Channels (worldwide), KidsCo (worldwide, partial).

Programming: NBC Network News, NBC Universal Global Networks, NBC Universal International Channels, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, Dateline NBC, Meet the Press, Early Today, CNBC, Squawk Box, Mad Money, CNBC World, CNBC Arabia, CNBC-India TV-18, Hardball with Chris Matthews, the Rita Cosby Specials Unit, Morning Joe, Mun2, Sleuth, A&E [partial], the History Channel [partial], the Biography Channel (partial), ShopNBC (27%).

General Electric has a large amount of Media might to get whatever political contribution to pay off as you can see. This is one of the “BIG 6”. There is not one Network that doesn’t have political ties. Each network is working for some sort of political gain. Why? Because their money is in the political view they hold. In basic terms this is how it is broken down.

Non-Bias News Network (NBNN) is owned by a Corporation.
The Corporation gives political contributions to political party or candidate.
Political party or candidate works for what Corporation wants in return the Corporation whether right or wrong makes the political party or politician look really good. Sort of a I’ll scratch your back you scratch mine kind of deal. In the process we’ll both make a ton of money! So you see our favorite News organization has political ties and they report what will benefit them most. Our freedom of press has basically been sold to the highest bidder.

This is just one Corporation that owns many major media outlets. I am not bashing one network and while holding another in esteem. In my opinion they all are in the business of politics rather than in the business of journalism.

Who is the CEO of General Electric and what is his back ground?

Jeffrey R. Immelt is the current chairman of the board and chief executive officer of GE. He was selected by GE's Board of Directors in 2000 to replace John Francis Welch Jr. (Jack Welch) following his retirement. Previously, Immelt had headed GE's Medical Systems division (now GE Healthcare) as its President and CEO. He has been with GE since 1982 and is on the board of two non-profit organizations.

His tenure as the Chairman and CEO started at a time of crisis — he took over the role on September 7, 2001[13] four days before the terrorist attacks on the United States, which killed two employees and cost GE's insurance business $600 million — as well as having a direct effect on the company's Aircraft Engines sector. Immelt has also been selected as one of President Obama's financial advisors concerning the economic rescue plan.

We wonder why NBC tends to side with liberal politics when it comes to reporting a story. It is this way with every network whether it is CNN or Fox News. They are all politically affiliated whether we want to admit it or not. This is all available to see for yourselves, and once you read up on it. You can see that all media has a political agenda disguised as Journalism. True Journalism reports the pros and cons of both sides of the political coin. However as our media outlets are owned by corporations that have invested in political ideals and rubbed elbows with politicians. They can’t possible report on both sides of the coin without hurting themselves and their political standing. That is why we have the bias media we have today.

Local channels are all owned by the same media outlets and so all of our news is filtered through the politically correctness of the Corporation that owns it leaving freedom of press under the watchful eye of a consolidated media system within our country. Consolidated meaning that all news facets are narrowed down to a select few of powerful corporations who dictate what the news is.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Photoshop Addiction


I haven't messed around in Photoshop for a while so I figured I would a bit the other day. It started out just doing things I was used to doing. I realized that I haven't really stepped out of my comfort zone in Photoshop. Meaning I've never challenged myself to do something new. So I decided to watch a tutorial on creating 3 dimensional letters and also one on reflection. Luckily my wife had messed around with reflections so I didn't need to watch that tutorial(Thanks honey). So after learning these new techniques I decided to experiment and to see what I could come up with. The above picture is my 4th try on reflections and 3d letters it is one of my favorite verses out of the Bible.

Romans 12:1-2; 1 And so, dear brothers and sisters,[a] I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.[b] 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

So that verse is my inspiration for the photo you see. I don't think I could ever tire of creating things on Photoshop. It is almost as addicting as coffee! Anyway I am pretty stoked that I learned a couple new tricks in Photoshop. Now it is on to details and textures. I think I'm going to look for more pointers so I can learn some new tricks.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Problems


Life is good even when times are hard. It is easy to get discouraged when things tend to work against you. Your car breaks down or you struggle to make ends meet. Health issues arise and you have no clue on how you are going to pay for the medical bills that will accompany the Doctor visit. Often we let the stress of every day life bog us down and let it eat at us a piece at a time.

We let our circumstances blind us from what could be. What I mean is that we let our stress cloud our thoughts. We start drowning in self pity and let our troubles dictate our life. If you take a moment while you are in the midst of these troubles and really take a look. You'll see that some strange way there is a blessing in each struggle we face. When you think about it, we really have no control of anything. We like to think we do but we do not. For instance when you are sick you can't control how sick you are or what the Doctor is going to charge you for treatment.

You may ask what kind of blessing comes out of being sick? I'll tell you what I learned from watching my Mom go through a life of diabetes, 2 kidney transplants, and Cancer twice. Even though she was on the verge of dying multiple times and feeling horrible for months on end. She often spoke of all the blessings she received due to her illnesses. She used to speak of all the amazing people she met while at the hospital. All the bonds she made with people as she sat hooked up to a dialysis machine for hours at a time.

She gained an appreciation for life and the relationships we share in it. Through her trials she gained riches greater then gold and she wanted us(her children)to know about them. She would often quote Matthew 17:20 - for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. She moved many mountains in her life and I saw that verse lived out by her every day that she lived. Sure she has weaknesses like all of us. Yet she never let her troubles get the best of her. She often talked to me about how God provides no matter what circumstances we face.

The challenge for everyone is looking for those blessings in our troubles. It is hard to see straight when it seems the world is falling in all around you. You just got to take a moment and hit pause, pray and seek the Lord in the midst of the chaos. When you do this those blessings seem to pop up everywhere. Sure you still are burdened by whatever trial you are in. However there is less burden when you finally see the blessings that are mingled in within that trial. So I encourage you all who face trials to pause,pray, and seek the Lord so that each trial you face becomes not a burden but a blessing.