Last fall, when Jean Kilbourne's new book Deadly Persuasion was arriving on shelves, Publishers Weekly praised it as "a wake-up call about the damaging effects of advertising in our media-saturated culture." But six months later, the mass media's fingers remain firmly on the snooze button.

It's hardly surprising that few national media outlets have reviewed the book or interviewed the author. Kilbourne's work is a publicist's nightmare. Imagine trying to get an articulate critic of ads onto TV networks that rely on commercials for their big profits.

"If you're like most people, you think that advertising has no influence on you," Kilbourne writes. "This is what advertisers want you to believe. But, if that were true, why would companies spend over $200 billion a year on advertising?"

AUSTIN, Texas -- May I suggest that the governor of Texas get his rear back in this state long enough to call a special session to fix the mess in the prison system before the mother of all prison riots occurs?

How many times does he need to be warned? How much clearer could this possibly be? Texas prison guards are underpaid and overworked; the prisons are understaffed, and more guards walk off the job every week, leaving the prisons more dangerous for everyone in them, guards and convicts alike.

Tuesday's riot at Lamesa, with one prisoner dead and 31 injured, is the sixth time already this year that we have had violent episodes in the prisons. Twice this year guards have been taken hostage. In December, a guard was stabbed to death, and there was a riot at the Beeville unit.

Watch out Christian Right! B.R.E.A.D. rises and means serious business. Acting on the belief that faith in action builds justice and power, a coalition of local churches and synagogues is “Drawing together people of faith to act powerfully on issues of justice and fairness.”

On Monday, March 27th, B.R.E.A.D. (Building Responsibility, Equality, and Dignity) held an action meeting to present their Jubilee Housing Plan and to solicit Mayor Coleman’s response. The meeting, held at the Church of Christ of the Apostolic Faith, was attended by over 1600 people from B.R.E.A.D.’s 38 member congregations and local social justice activists.

There is a sound case to be made for dropping a tactical nuclear weapon on the Cuban section of Miami. The move would be applauded heartily by most Americans. Alas, Operation Good Riddance would require the sort of mature political courage sadly lacking in Washington, D.C., these days. Meanwhile, we can marvel at the shock with which many supposedly well-informed citizens are discovering that no well-dressed federal enforcement officer would dream of going out on assignment without an automatic weapon, full camo, hand grenades, a CS tear gas canister, handgun, knife, goggles and a backup SWAT team.

Last Saturday, Chris Matthews was excitedly telling his MSNBC audience that the famous AP photo of the Elian snatch perhaps proved "the black-helicopter crowd" might be right when they said America was turning into a police state. Welcome to America, Chris. Where have you been for the past 30 years? Don't you know that every day, somewhere here in the Land of the Free, squads of heavily armed men looking exactly like the fellow in the AP picture are bursting through someone's front door, screaming at the terrified occupants to lie facedown on the floor, trashing the furniture,

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."

Easter, it seems to me, is a good time to consider the gospel, and Silicon Valley seems like a good place to start.

Think "Silicon Valley," and what do you get? Multi-zillionaires, mansions, fancy cars and the heartbreak of Suddenly Acquired Wealth Syndrome -- that's the tragic dilemma afflicting those who become billionaires before they're 30 and are left trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives.

Would it surprise you to learn that seven out of every 10 jobs being created in Silicon Valley pay less than $10,000 a year? How much have you heard about that 70 percent of the residents?

The news media supposedly hold up a mirror of our society, but it seems more and more like a funhouse mirror. Headlines and great stretches of air time are devoted to the gyrations of the stock market, yet 50 percent of us own no stocks.

"(Be) not greedy of filthy lucre."

"Thy money perish with thee."