Based on hearsay instead of facts
They fabricate whatever it lacks
‘Cheaters, liars’ are names they use
Building a case without any clues

Innocent means that we turn away
Guilty! we’re glued day after day
When media gets us on their side
Their advertisers smile with pride

The clock ticks down to Super Bowl
Football frenzy is out of control
Not for the Seahawks to repeat
But for bad boy Brady to get beat
c2015pn

Click here if you can’t see the above video.

Both these Rhode Island powerhouses will clean up on Valentine’s Day, but what is even more interesting that CVS and Alex and Ani also both represent the two different kinds of flagships for a neighborhood economy. CVS traffics in convenience and Alex and Ani traffics in style, but one business model or the other usually anchors any successful enterprise zone – be it a Main Street or elsewhere.

But I think the Saturday Night Live spoof on CVS was more honest about that company’s business model than the message Alex and Ani paid local film maker David Bettencourt, senior cinematographer at Seven Swords Media, shot the commercial”to craft for them.

Alex and Ani isn’t helping to revive any Main Streets. It’s locating stores on already successful Main Streets. Here in Rhode Island, there are Alex and Ani stores in Wayland Square, Newport and East Greenwich. But there is not an Alex and Ani in West Warwick where Bettencourt shot scenes for the commercial and where company CEO John Feroce grew up.

I’m not suggesting there Feroce should put an Alex and Ani store in downtown West Warwick (though it certainly would certainly help the city’s economy more than it would hurt the company’s profit margin). But it sure does seem like a great argument for state aid to struggling cities if you ask me.

Think about it: West Warwick fits the bill for educating Feroce when he was growing up, but when he becomes a job creator he does so in East Greenwich and pays property taxes on a home he owns on Bellevue Avenue in Newport. That all works out great for East Greenwich and Newport, but not so much for West Warwick. This is Main Street revitalization only if you are okay with the West Warwicks of the world being left behind.

(Update: A Sodastream ad did air during the game)

But SodaStream is not only a threat to Big Cola, it’s also made by an Israeli company in Mishor Adumim, part of an Israeli settlement on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank. The international community (except perhaps the U.S. and Israel) recognizes these settlements as illegal.

Companies that operate in the settlements exploit Palestinian land, resources and labor.  They enjoy government support including tax incentives and lenient enforcement of regulations, while the taxes and profits go to support the Israeli economy.

You can learn more here.

American organizations asking people to boycott their products include Jewish Voice for Peace, United Methodist Kairos Response, CodePink, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and many others.