Follow the Money

From The Independent

Tony Blair is to reward a clutch of millionaire Labour Party donors - including the head of the Priory celebrity rehabilitation clinic - with peerages, The Independent on Sunday has learnt. In a move that will trigger a fresh row over "cash for honours", Mr Blair is to elevate to the Lords four businessmen who between them have given almost half a million pounds to the party. (Read More)

From The Guardian

The drinks industry is planning a ruthless campaign of economic incentives and psychological tricks to get customers to drink as much as possible when licensing laws are relaxed, The Observer can reveal. (Read more)

From The Nation

On October 23 an estimated 122 million Brazilians will vote in a national referendum on whether to ban the sale of guns and ammunition to private citizens. The first of its kind in the world, this referendum has divided the population of Brazil, a world leader in gun deaths, along sim or não lines. In 2003 voters here passed what is the strictest gun law in the Americas; now the nation's top leadership is divided on how much further to go. The stakes are high. The United Nations reported in June that between 1979 and 2003 more than 500,000 Brazilians died from firearms, 39,000 in 2003 alone. President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva supports the ban as a way to control the flow of Brazil's estimated 17 million guns, while Vice President and Minister of Defense José Alencar says it will only benefit criminals with guns. (...) Flush with money but short on tactics, Brazil's gun lobby has sought help from northern kin, the National Rifle Association. In 2003, as the Disarmament Statute neared a vote, Charles Cunningham, an NRA lobbyist in Washington, traveled to São Paulo on invitation from the Brazilian Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, a pro-gun group. He spoke publicly and met privately with gun supporters to discuss strategies, though an NRA spokesman said the association does not discuss the contents of its meetings. The NRA denies any direct funding of Brazilian groups, but activists say Brazilian gun control foes have directly translated NRA materials and used statistics and rhetoric that bear a striking resemblance to NRA's television infomercials aired in the United States. In some cases, the translations were culturally clumsy. One TV spot refers to the "right" to own a gun (Brazilians have no such right) while another argues for gun ownership because "it can take up to seven minutes for police to respond to your call." Jessica Galeria, a former Fulbright scholar who coordinates research on women and armed violence for Viva Rio, a Brazilian gun control group, observed that the "seven minutes" reference was taken from American NRA materials. In Brazil, she said, "it would likely take much longer." (Read more)

From The Independent

The gun lobby in the United States scored a powerful if not unexpected victory yesterday when Congress passed a Bill that bans firearms victims from suing the makers of the weapons. The Bill, which got the green light from the Senate in July, was approved by 283 to 144 in the House of Representatives, and will now go to the White House. Officials confirmed that it will be signed into law by President George Bush shortly. (Read more)

From Media Lens

It should go without saying that a truly independent press would regularly investigate the business activities and interests of its managers and owners. The Times would examine critically the empire of its proprietor, Rupert Murdoch; the Guardian would examine the extensive business interests and establishment links of the Guardian Media Group directors; and the Independent would delve into the affairs of Irish billionaire Sir Anthony O'Reilly. (Read More: Media Lens Alert October 11, 2005 A Special Kind of Independence)

Read also a fine collection of News & Comments: That Deadly Cancer Called CAPITALISM