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Internet Message Format | 2000-05-21 | 10KB

From: "T. Casey Brennan" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (cbiz) T. Casey Brennan's version of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee: The International Organization of Journalists from Communist Czechoslovakia...
Date: 11 May 2000 14:08:37 -0700 (PDT)


This is an article about my work from a 1987
publication in Communist Czechoslovakia.  To really
understand it, you have to read CONJURELLA, my account
of my family's (and my own) unwilling participation in
the JFK assassination, posted at:

http://www.morethanconquerors.simplenet.com/MCF/conjurel.htm


From THE DEMOCRATIC JOURNALIST Volume XXXIV No. 7-8,
July-August 1987

Monthly of the International Organization of
Journalists, published in English, French, Russian and
Spanish.  Circulated in 165 countries.

Chief Editor: Rudolf Prevratil
Editor: Karel Hejc
Address: Rooseveltova 18, 160 00 Prague 6,
Czechoslovakia

(The following article is signed M.M., and is
accompanied by a cartoon denoted "Drawing by Martin
Marek".  The article goes on to discuss works by
myself, T. Casey Brennan.)

YOUTH AND MASS MEDIA
Smoking and Advertisements in Mass Media/36

Are smokers the only real heroes?  Certainly not in
life.  But what about the movies, television or
adventure stories?  It is almost impossible to provide
precise statistics but the truth is that examples
where the main hero of an exciting story reaches for a
cigarette or a cigar in decisive moments, or has a
cigarette dangling from his lips while he calmly
solves a difficult situation, are, to say the least,
not rare.  It is, simply, a stereotype that is never
missing from a scenario and is always used very
suggestively to influence an audience.

Some might say - but it doesn't matter, in the end
smoking or not smoking is a personal affair.  Of
course it is, but the influence of some media, for
instance, television, in creating attitudes and habits
especially in adolescents, is exceptionally strong,
and this has been proved by many sociological and
psychological surveys.  What good is it if, in a
number of countries, cigarette advertising is curbed
while indirect promotion of smoking has practically no
limits.

Film and television heroes who smoke clearly have a
greater influence on the value-orientation of
teen-agers than the loudly proclaimed Barnum-like
advertisements of tobacco firms.  The problem which
for years now has been the subject of an anti-smoking
drive by doctors, teachers and psychologists in many
Western countries does not concern only films and
television but also, for instance, "comics" for
children.

The country where this problem is especially urgent is
the United States.  For years, the USA has held the
leading place in a list of countries with the greatest
consumption of tobacco products per person.
Manufacturers of tobacco and cigarettes in the United
States traditionally form an influential pressure
group and the big anti-smoking campaign has so far met
with only marginal success.

What is interesting, however, is that the seriousness
of the situation and the danger involved in indirect
promotion of smoking is beginning to be realized by
some publishers and writers of stories for children
and youth.  For example, the author of a number of
comic texts, T. Casey Brennan, began a campaign with
his friends several years ago called: Cartoon heroes
needn't smoke!  "The important thing," said Brennan,
"is protecting children.  Comic books have a lot of
influence on children.  When a comic book hero is
shown smoking, it's like subliminal cigarette
advertising."

Brennan's group has appealed to a number of public
figures, Congressmen, publicists and journalists in
the USA and abroad urging their support.  The bulletin
of the World Health Organization called WORLD HEALTH
carries information about this movement which is still
relatively small.  Only the future will tell whether
such a campaign will bring about any substantial
improvement in the situation.  But it certainly
deserves attention.

--  MM

(Note: The issues of WHO's WORLD HEALTH magazine
discussing my work are October 1983, page 30, and
January-February 1986, page 9.  They are easily
obtainable at any University public health library, or
UN office.)



=====
http://www.morethanconquerors.simplenet.com/MCF/victm-hm.htm#Brennan
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~realoto/eqv3c.html http://tcasey.inri.net
http://www.konformist.com/mkkafe/tcasey/tcasey.htm http://www.wynd.org/tcb.html
http://www.sentex.net/~dvanhorn/tcasey/tcasey.html http://www.16ton.com/colo/tcb.htm
http://www.videogasm.com http://www.davestevens.com/ds_harri.htm
  http://www.vampifan.com/other/htmls/other.html http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/2544/arq.htm

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Sam Uzi <[e-mail]>
Subject: (cbiz) ACLU Action Update: "Drug War" Legislation (fwd)
Date: 21 May 2000 01:40:20 -0700 (PDT)



...not funny...


Forwarded message:

> >Subject: 05-15-00 -- ACLU Action Update: "Dug War" Legislation Assaults
> >    Civil Liberties, Stop the Use of Secret Evidence!
> >
> >TO: ACLU Action Network
> >FR: Jared Feuer, Internet Organizer
> >DT: May 15, 2000
> >
> >1). "Drug War" Legislation Assaults Civil Liberties
> >2). Stop the Use of Secret Evidence
> >
> >1). "Drug War" Legislation Assaults Civil Liberties: Congress is yet again
> >considering an assault on our civil liberties in the name of the "war on
> >drugs." The latest attack comes from H.R. 2987, the "Methamphetamine
> >Anti-Proliferation Act," which includes several challenges to our rights of
> >free speech, privacy and due process.
> >
> >The legislation slipped through the Senate with absolutely no debate late
> >last year. Our only hope of stopping this dangerous measure is to defeat it
> >in the House, where it is now awaiting a vote in the Judiciary Committee
> >before heading to the floor for final action.
> >
> >The bill represents a virtual wish list for the Department of Justice and
> >other law enforcement agencies. It includes some provisions -- including
> >one that would allow police to conduct "black bag" secret searches of
> >private homes and businesses -- that were solidly rejected when offered as
> >stand-alone legislation.
> >
> >Another provision of this legislation would allow the government to censor
> >websites, without providing notice to the website's owner. The provision
> >would give agencies like the FBI a right usually reserved for the courts;
> >to make judgment calls on the intent of online content and individual links
> >regarding drug use. The FBI could then order Internet Service Providers to
> >take down parts of a web site or the entire site itself within 48 hours --
> >all without telling the website owner!  The only way an owner might learn
> >that their site has been altered is to log on and check for him or
> >herself!
> >
> >As if this was not enough, the bill would also create several new federal
> >drug offenses, ignoring calls to halt the federalization of crime from such
> >individuals as Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Rep.
> >Maxine Waters. The bill would spend billions of dollars incarcerating
> >thousands more non-violent offenders despite a recent Rand Corporation
> >study that found that investing an additional $1 million in drug treatment
> >programs would be 15 times more effective at reducing serious crime than
> >enacting more mandatory sentences for drug offenses.
> >
> >Take Action! Tell your Representative to vote against this attack on civil
> >liberties. You can learn more about the legislation and send a FREE FAX
> >from our action alert at:
> >
> >http://www.aclu.org/action/meth106.html
> >
> >2). Stop the Use of Secret Evidence: Another foundation of our criminal
> >justice system is the right of the accused to face their accuser and to
> >see, hear and respond to the government's evidence against them.
> >
> >But in a harsh bill aimed at curbing immigration in 1996, Congress decided
> >to allow the government to use secret evidence when it seeks to deport
> >immigrants, including people in the country legally. Currently, the
> >Immigration and Nationalization Service is using secret evidence in about a
> >dozen cases.
> >
> >Appalled by this fundamental lack of fairness, Reps. John Conyers (D-MI),
> >Bob Barr (R-GA), Tom Campbell (R-CA) and David Bonior (D-MI) introduced
> >H.R. 2121, the "Secret Evidence Repeal Act." This legislation, which has
> >almost 100 co-sponsors, would insure that no immigrant is deported based on
> >secret evidence.
> >
> >The use of secret evidence is a feature of totalitarian governments, not a
> >democracy. Furthermore, the evidence often consists of nothing more than
> >rumor and innuendo, impossible to test for reliability during a deportation
> >proceeding.
> >
> >Take Action! The House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the
> >Secret Evidence Repeal Act on May 23. We need just a few more votes to move
> >this bill to the House floor. Please tell your Representative that you
> >support due process in the United States and ask that he or she support the
> >Secret Evidence Repeal Act. You can learn more about the bill and send a
> >FREE FAX from our action alert at:
> >
> >http://www.aclu.org/action/secret106.html



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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Glenn V. Morrison" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (cbiz) ACLU Action Update: "Drug War" Legislation (fwd)
Date: 21 May 2000 20:53:32 -0400


Interesting stuff, Sam,  but what if anything does it have to do with the
comics business?




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