Exclusively in the new print issue of CounterPunch

HOLLYWOOD AND THE CIA — Film historian Ed Rampell details Hollywood’s entangled relationship with the CIA and the Pentagon; HOUSES OF THE DEAD: Nancy Kurshan exposes the cruel human rights offenses taking place inside America’s vast gulag of Control Unit Prisons; BROTHERHOOD OF SUMMER: David Macaray charts the history of the most powerful union in the US: the Baseball Players Association; TAR SANDS COME TO AMERICA: Steve Horn explains how the Keystone Pipeline debates have diverted attention from Big Oil’s other plans to transport Alberta’s oil into the US. PLUS: Jeffrey St. Clair on CONSTITUTIONAL ENTROPY; Mike Whitney on HOW THE BANKS TARGETED BLACKS; Chris Floyd on THE RISE OF BRITAIN’S TEA PARTY; Kristin Kolb on THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE; Kim Nicolini on the FILMS OF WILLIAM FRIEDKIN; and Lee Ballinger on POETS VS. THE ONE PERCENT.

Weekend Edition September 24-26, 2010

Dancing With the Liquid Candy Queen

True Majority and Pepsi

by RUSSELL MOKHIBER

True Majority ought to change its name.

Try: The Pepsi Generation.

True Majority is the Ben & Jerry’s creation that has become a Democratic Party front group run by USAction.

And True Majority has entered a contest sponsored by the Pepsi – the liquid candy queen – the company that brought you the childhood obesity epidemic.

The contest is called: Pepsi Refresh.

Pepsi gives away $1.3 million a month to worth causes.

You enter your idea at the Pepsi Refresh website.

You pick a category.

TrueMajority and USAction entered for $250,000.

They want to use the money to explain to Americans what a good deal Obamacare is.

Wow kids, if you are 26 and under, you too can be covered by your parents health insurance!

And then every month, people vote on line for you or your competitors.

If you get the most votes, you get the money.

Right now, USAction is in fifth place.

Voting ends in eight days.

Michael Jacobson knows what Pepsi is trying to do here.

Jacobson is executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which put out a classic report a couple years ago titled Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks Are Harming America’s Health.

“Junk-food makers, like alcohol and tobacco companies, often try to distract attention from the harm they wreak on public health by donating money to worthy charitable causes,” Jacobson said. “Giving away each month the equivalent of about what it costs to broadcast a 30-second commercial is a highly effective PR strategy.”

David Elliot of TrueMajority sent out an e-mail this week asking supporters to vote for TrueMajority’s entry.

With eight days left in the voting, USAction ranks fifth among the competitors in the $250,000 category.

We rang up Elliot and ask him if TrueMajority would take money from any corporation.

“Absolutely not,” Elliot said.

Defense contractors?

“Probably not,” Elliot said.

Were any moral qualms raised within the organization about entering a contest that inflicted such harm on the health of America’s children?

“Not at my level,” Elliot said.

Elliot defended the group’s action, saying that the money would be put to good use, to educate Americans what a great deal Obamacare is – especially for young people.

But Pepsi is actively damaging the health of young people.

And Obamacare is an insurance industry written bill that won’t control costs, won’t cover everyone, and keeps the insurance industry in control of the system.

That’s great – using Pepsi money to defend the insurance industry.

TrueMajority – Taking Democratic Party front groups to new lows.

RUSSELL MOKHIBER edits Single Payer Action.