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June 29, 2005

06.29.05 Edition | New Phase for the EZLN; Plutonium 238 Production; Deleting Ads in Vienna
June 29, 2005 Edition

"The Best of the Rest of the Web"

THiS WEEK: Zapatistas about to launch new political phase; the vicious military crackdown in Uzbekistan last month came courtesy of US "anti-terrorism" trainings, new reports show; top cases of the Bush administration doctoring facts to suit its agenda; cheery news from Tim Kreider; documentary profiles several leaders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in Palestine; religious camps try to "cure" teens of homosexuality; US planning to start up production of plutonium 238 for the first time since the Cold War; Viennese artists "delete" ads in their city for two weeks; a look at the world of private contractors in Iraq; the problem with trying to "reframe" the abortion debate; and much, much more.

This Week's Picks:

  1. Zapatistas Launch New Political Phase
    After issuing a "red alert" and holding meetings with over 10,000 indigenous and Mexican members of the EZLN, the Zapatistas have released a cryptic communiqué that suggests some major strategic shifts-though the exact nature of those shifts isn't defined. Some have suggested that the EZLN is preparing to deescalate their armed struggle, embarking instead on a more mainstream political life; others argue that they're trying to stake out a clear position before the Mexican presidential elections. Or is it something else entirely?

    Reuters Alertnet
    http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27 328575.htm

    To read the communiqués in English or Spanish, and to read updates on the situation in Chiapas as it happens, check out the Chiapas IMC: http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org


  2. Uzbek Ministries in Crackdown Received US Aid
    Uzbek law enforcement and security ministries implicated by witnesses in the deadly crackdown in the city of Andijon last month have for years received training and equipment from the US, according to American officials and Congressional records—under the name, of course, of anti-terrorism training.

    C. J. Chivers and Thom Shanker | The New York Times / Truthout
    http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/061805A.shtml


  3. The White House's White-Out Problem
    The Bush administration has gotten into the nasty habit of doctoring its reports whenever the facts don't match its preconceived agenda. Here are some instances of the White House's magic pen at work.

    Think Progress Blog
    http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=1127


  4. CARTOON | Cheering News
    Artists's Statement: "For several weeks we've been in this weird summer lull where there's been no real news whatsoever. The New York Times has been running borderline-tabloid stories about the trivial and the grotesque: a feature on "Meth Mouth," a really unphotogenic syndrome afflicting habitual users of crystal methamphetamine, a human interest fluff piece about an aspiring actress playing Curious George at a book fair whose fake head deflated, even an article about a bag of garbage on the Upper East Side that smelled really bad..."

    Tim Kreider | The Pain
    http://www.thepaincomics.com/weekly050622a.htm


  5. VIDEO | Hunted Everywhere
    Leaders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Palestine describe their lives as the most wanted men in the West Bank, discussing how to avoid capture, dealing with the constant possibility of death, and why they became fighters in the first place.

    Balata Film Collevtive
    ht tp://video.indymedia.org/download/%5BIndymedia%5D_(2005-04-25)_huntedeverywhere-balatacamp.mpg


  6. The Onion's 300th Anniversary Issue: 1756—2056
    "Democratic Middle Eastern Union Votes to Invade US"; "Abraham Lincoln's DNA No Available Over the Counter"; "SOLOPEC Nations Warn Sun's Output May Fall Short of Demand," and other hilarious stories adorn this special issue. Maybe such humor advances nothing that's politically useful, but are you really reading the Onion for politics in the first place? If so, you're probably also one of those people who thinks getting your news from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is a good idea...

    The Onion
    http://www.theonion.com/2056-06-22


  7. Ron Howard's "Cinderella Man:" The Crass Slipper Fits
    With the Depression era boxing film Cinderella Man, producers had the opportunity to examine the complex racial and labor issues facing people at the time. Instead, they've presented a watered down and simplistic 1930s.

    Dave Zirin | Counterpunch
    http://www.counterpunch.org/zirin06212005.html


  8. Setting Him Straight?
    Zach is a gay teen whose parents forced him to attend "religious camp" to "make him straight." But these camps are better at psychologically hurting teens than at changing their sexuality.

    Mubarak Dahir | Alternet
    http://www.alternet.org/rights/22280/


  9. US to Produce Deadly Isotope
    The United States is planning its first production since the cold war of plutonium 238—one of the most deadly forms of the element—for use in secret missions, possibly including spy satellites and undersea devices.

    Jamie Wilson | The Guardian
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1516341,00.html


  10. Artists "Delete" Ads in Vienna for Two Weeks
    The Starbucks signs are covered by bright, canary yellow fabric and plastic. So are the placards outside a soup restaurant, a jewelry shop, a bank and all other businesses on a stretch of a popular Vienna shopping street. The coverings are part of a two-week art project dubbed "Delete!"—created by artists Christoph Steinbrener and Rainer Dempf to spark public debate about just how much advertising society can take.

    AP/MSNBC
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8233615/

    For more pictures, check out the Delete! Website (mostly in German): http://www.steinbrener-dempf.com/delete.php?cat=pr esse


  11. AUDIO | I'm From the Private Sector and I'm Here to Help
    In this episode of This American Life, Nancy Updike goes to Iraq to try to figure out what it's like to be a private citizen working in the middle of a war zone. Private contractors are a part of this war in unprecedented numbers, but we don't know that much about the people doing these jobs - why they chose to come to Iraq, and what they're seeing that we can't. [RealPlayer]

    This American Life
    Abridged Version: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/ra/266.ram
    Uncut Version: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/ra/266_bonus.ram


  12. Spies Implicated in Indonesian Activist's Death
    A team investigating the murder of an Indonesian human rights activist has found indications that the country's intelligence agency was involved.

    BBC
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4123802 .stm


  13. If the Frame Fits...
    In the wake of the 2004 election, Democrats have embarked on an orgy of what the linguist George Lakoff calls "reframing"—repositioning their policies linguistically to give them mass moral appeal. Prime candidate for a values makeover? Abortion, of course. But there's a word that doesn't show up much in the new abortion frames: women. "Reframing" abortion is actually a kind of deframing, a way of taking it out of its real-life context, which is the experience of women, their bodies, their healthcare, their struggles, the caring work our society expects them to do for free.

    Katha Pollitt | The Nation
    http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=200507 11&s=pollitt


  14. Torture Fatigue
    "The Christian in me says it's wrong," Army Specialist Charles A. Graner Jr. said of torturing prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. "But the corrections officer in me says I love to make a grown man piss himself." Photos taken of him demeaning captives at Abu Ghraib exposed Graner as the sadist that his surroundings allowed him to be. But are the differences between brutal correctional officers like Graner and other Americans as stark as we would like to think?

    Silja J.A. Talvi | In These Times
    http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2 179/


  15. VIDEO | Salt of the Earth
    A unique achievement in activist film making not only for its progressive portrayal of issues relating to labor, race and gender but also in that the filmmakers were victims of the Hollywood blacklist. The film, made in 1954, tells the tale of a real life strike by Mexican-American miners for safe working conditions.

    DemandMedia.net
    In MPEG4, DVD and VCD formats | [229 MB]
    http://demandmedia.net/story/2005/3/30/161036/183



- Media Picks Contributing Editor: Erica Wetter
- Media Picks compiled and edited by Erin Wiegand and Brian Awehali

Posted by erin at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2005

06.21.05 Edition | A White Bill Cosby?; The Dark Side of American Policing; Military Recruitment in Middle School
June 21, 2005 Edition

"The Best of the Rest of the Web"

THiS WEEK: Musings on what a Billy Graham sermon might sound like if he was capable of white self-criticism; US army rebuilds ties with Indonesian military under the guise of humanitarian aid; how to create your own podcast; cheap foreign chicken driving Ghanaian poultry farmers out of business; how American Indians are using food to fight diabetes and revive cultural tradition; former police chief Norm Stamper talks about the institutionalized racism in the police force; Israeli army uses new sound weapon, "The Scream," to suppress protest; middle-schooler asks why the federal guard is in her school; and much more.

This Week's Picks:

  1. If White America had a Bill Cosby
    It's often taken for granted that extremely harsh black self-criticism is par for the course. After all, African American intellectuals, from jackleg preachers and political organizers down to eminent scholars and critics like Harold Cruse, John Henrik Clark, and Amiri Baraka, as well as our Nobel laureate in literature, Toni Morrison, are famous for never holding any punches when analyzing all backwardness among the people, such as misogyny, anti-democracy, provincialism, covetousness, opportunism, fatalism, dependency, and laziness. But when was the last time you heard a big white celebrity with moral authority raining down critical bombs on white people's heads? What would, say, the Rev. Billy Graham sound like if he was a little more like a white Bill Cosby?

    Jonathan Scott | The Black Commentator
    http://www.blackcommentator.com/142/142_white_cosby.html


  2. The Tsunami's Deadly Fallout
    In the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami last December, the US military has been exploiting the call for humanitarian aid to rebuild military ties with the Indonesian armed force, notorious for serious human rights abuses in East Timor.

    John M. Miller | World War 4 Report
    http://www.ww4report.com/node/568?PHPSESSID=66ec14d1e07679c6bb84c5efb7b4a15a


  3. AUDIO | Podcasting 101
    Follow the Promiscuous Bullet team as they show a novice just how it's done—podcasting, that is. This production covers the basic tools for creating audio content for distribution through internet subscription channels.

    Stephen Bates | Benchmark Video Productions
    http://www.archive.org/download/pbullet/podcast-streaming.mp4


  4. Playing Chicken: Ghana vs. the IMF
    For the last few years the Ghanaian market has been flooded with cheap imported chicken from the European Union and the United States. These are usually fatty chicken parts that come in packages without labels. Nonetheless, demand for local poultry has collapsed, threatening the livelihoods of over 400,000 poultry farmers in the small West African nation.

    Linus Atarah | CorpWatch
    http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12394


  5. Got Tradition?
    American Indians use native foods to fight diabetes and revive Indian culture.

    Daisy Hernandez | ColorLines
    http://www.arc.org/C_Lines/CLArchive/story8_2_01.html


  6. INTERVIEW | Seattle Confidential
    Former police chief Norm Stamper, author of a new book called Breaking Rank, opens up about the dark side of American policing, from institutionalized racism to misogyny and homophobia.

    Laura Barcella | AlterNet
    http://www.alternet.org/story/22196


  7. The Army Is Screaming
    The Israeli army has put an unusual new weapon into service, one that produces an unbearable sound that causes acute dizziness and nausea in its victims. Dubbed "The Scream," the device is being lauded as a welcome, non-lethal addition to the IDF's arsenal of means to control and suppress violent protest. But what most commentators have failed to note about this and other so-called non-lethal weapon technologies is that, from a military perspective, they are all about improving optics rather than reducing fatalities. While using lethal force to respond to protests is likely to attract the attention and indignation of the international community, non-lethal options can be deployed more frequently and more widely, often with total impunity. Thus, the temptation is great to use such weapons to suppress non-violent protests, political gatherings that would have been left unmolested in the absence of non-lethal means.

    Adbusters
    http://adbusters.org/blogs/content/view/55/47


  8. AUDIO | Acting Collectively
    Most of the social and economic gains we have in the US have come from the struggle of social movements. But what makes some movements successful? At a recent conference, Raj Jayadev talks about the challenges in organizing young temp workers in Silicon Valley, while sociologist Kim Voss argues that the weakness of the American labor movement has aided the spread of neoliberalism internationally.

    C.S. Soong | Against the Grain
    http://www.againstthegrain.org/audio6.13.05.mp3


  9. Class of 2010: The Next Generation of Soldiers?
    A middle schooler asks why the National Guard is in her school—and why recruitment programs like this one, which purport to "keep kids off the street," are required in order for schools to receive federal funding.

    Eliza Leas | Left Hook
    http://www.lefthook.org/Ground/Leas061605.html


  10. VIDEO | Hijacking Catastrophe
    A clip excerpted from a documentary highlighting the conditions that produced the Downing Street Memo and the Bush administration's attempts to "fix" pre-war intelligence.

    http://hijackingcatastrophe.org/downingstreet


  11. US Agency 'Giving Green Light' to Human Toxin Tests
    Congressional Democrats recently accused the US government environment body of opening the door to tests of pesticides on humans that "appear to routinely violate ethical standards."

    Julian Borger | Guardian UK
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1508652,00.html


  12. In Colombia, Indigenous Peace Initiatives Under Attack
    In recent weeks, the government of President Alvaro Uribe has launched a major counter-guerilla offensive called the Patriot Plan, in apparent emulation of the U.S. anti-terrorist legislation. One frontline in this contest is Toribio, a Nasa Indian village in the mountains of conflict-torn Cauca department, where residents have proclaimed their own right not to participate in the war.

    Bill Weinberg | Pacific News Service
    http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=eb8daa7206caa448e6e3fe54353b938d

    Posted by erin at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

    June 15, 2005

    06.15.05 | G8 Cancels Debt for Poor Countries, With Strings Attached; The Cuba Diet; ExxonMobile Funding Public Policy on Global Warming;
    June 15, 2005 Edition

    "The Best of the Rest of the Web"

    THiS WEEK: G8 cancels debt for 18 poor countries in exchange for an agreement to facilitate further private investment; Bolivia gets a new president; world's largest working model of sustainable agriculture, in Cuba; report from the National Conference on Media Reform; what's really behind the "Student Bill of Rights"; ExxonMobil funds public policy groups to undermine evidence of global warming, and is shown to have had a hand in the US refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol; the "war on terror" potentially moving to Latin America; military recruiters target middle school kids as future soldiers; anarchist collectives under attack in Italy; anti-semitic swing music, corporate jingles, and conspiracy theory singles; study examines how US universities might look without affirmative action; animal rights activists under attack; and more.

    This Week's Picks:

    1. Debt Cancellation Activists Welcome Relief But Call for More
      A G8 deal cancels 100% of the IMF and World Bank debt owed by 18 impoverished countries (most of them in Africa), with 9 more expected to qualify in about a year and a half.

      All Africa
      http://allafrica.com/stories/200506130665.html

      ...but not surprisingly, qualifying conditions require countries accepting debt relief to agree to "boost private-sector development and to eliminate "impediments to private investment, both domestic and foreign."

      George Monbiot | The Guardian
      http://politics.guardian.co.u k/columnist/story/0,9321,1505931,00.html


    2. Bolivia: New President Installed, Temporary Truce Declared
      Supreme Court Justice Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé has replaced US ally Carlos Mesa as the president of Bolivia. Mesa resigned on June 6th. While a temporary truce has been declared by the mining cooperatives and some other groups, the provinces of La Paz and El Alto may continue their blockades. The movements have indicated that their objective has not been fulfilled by the installation of a new president. According to one labor activist: "We are still right here. We are demanding the nationalization of the oil industry 100 percent. Until we get an answer we are going to keep marching, because there are no jobs, lots of hunger and we still don't have answers—even with this new clown."

      Bill Cormier | The Boston Globe
      http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2005/06/10/protesters_declare_truce_in_bolivia


    3. AUDIO | The Happy Listener's Guide to Mind Control
      Ken Freedman at WFMU has posted a compilation of corporate, religious, and political propaganda recordings he put together during the Cold War. Tracks about efficiency from the Exxon Singers, excerpts from US government "training films," and even anti-semitic swing music.

      Ken Freedman | WFMU's Beware of the Blog
      http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/04/the_happy_liste.html



    4. Bush Lifts Ban on Vigilantism—"Let's See What Happens," Says President

      The Onion
      http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4123


    5. The Cuba Diet
      Cuba may have created what may be the world's largest working model of a semi-sustainable agriculture, one that doesn't rely nearly as heavily as the rest of the world does on oil, on chemicals, on shipping vast quantities of food back and forth. They import some of their food from abroad—a certain amount of rice from Vietnam, even some apples and beef and such from the United States. But mostly they grow their own, and with less ecological disruption than in most places. In recent years organic farmers have visited the island in increasing numbers and celebrated its accomplishment.

      Bill McKibben | Harpers
      http://www.harpers.org/TheCubaDiet.html


    6. AUDIO | Globalizing Media Reform
      Whether talking about global warming or racial inequality, activists say media reform is part of the solution to the world's problems. In response to increased concentration of media ownership in recent years, the reform movement is coming up with new ways of fighting for a free and just media system. Featuring activists and journalists speaking at this year's National Conference on Media Reform in St. Louis, Missouri.

      Pauline Bartolone (host) | National Radio Project
      http://www.radioproject.org/sound/050608.ra


    7. What's Really Behind the "Student Bill of Rights?"
      An older generation of teachers may remember the days of loyalty oaths and red scares. During the McCarthyite early 1950s, educators accused of being Communists or harboring leftwing views were driven from the state's school system. Today, witch hunts seem once again to be on the rise.

      David Bacon | Pacific News Service
      http ://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=8576ff451088c0610e24e6f45bd20f19


    8. Some Like It Hot
      Forty public policy groups have this in common: They seek to undermine the scientific consensus that humans are causing the earth to overheat. And they all get money from ExxonMobil.

      Chris Mooney | Mother Jones
      http://www.motherjones.com/ne ws/feature/2005/05/some_like_it_hot.html


    9. Revealed: How Oil Giant Influenced Bush
      President's George Bush's decision not to sign the United States up to the Kyoto global warming treaty was partly a result of pressure from ExxonMobil, the world's most powerful oil company, and other industries, according to US State Department papers seen by the Guardian.

      John Vidal | Guardian UK
      http://www.guardian.co.uk/cli matechange/story/0,12374,1501646,00.html


    10. "War on Terror" Has Indigenous People in Its Sights
      The "war on terror", identified in Amnesty International's annual report as a new source of human rights abuses, is threatening to expand to Latin America, targeting indigenous movements that are demanding autonomy and protesting free-market policies and "neo-liberal" globalisation.

      Gustavo Gonzalez | Inter Press Service
      http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=28962

    11. The Children's Crusade
      Military programs move into middle schools to fish for future soldiers.

      Jennifer Wedekind | In These Times
      http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/21 36




    12. Witch Hunt: Italy
      An intense action initiated by the ROS (Carabiniere / Italian Police) and DIGOS (a special police force used to repress social and political movements) has been carried out against anarchist collectives in several regions of Italy. As of May 19th, over 50 people have been arrested and face accusations such as being part of a "Subversive Organization."

      Indymedia Italy
      http://www.indymedia.org/en/2005/06/116424.shtml

      More information here, from Reuters: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19 670038.htm

      and the Brighton Anarchist Black Cross: http://www.brightonabc.org.uk/stories.htm#italyraid s


    13. Demographic Dislocation
      A new study by two Princeton University researchers uses admissions data from elite colleges to portray what would happen in a world without affirmative action.

      Scott Jaschik | Inside Higher Ed
      http://insidehighered.com/news/2005/06/07/affirm


    14. Animal Activists on Trial Under Terrorism Law
      Six animal rights activists are being tried under the 2002 Animal Enterprise Protection Act , a law that equates their activities (disrupting and threatening companies that engage in animal testing) with terrorism.

      John Hurdle | Commondreams/Reuters
      http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0610-03 .htm

      In the San Francisco Bay Area, animal rights activists are being targeted through the use of a grand jury, a tool used by the government to gather information about particular social movements. For more information:

      FBI Witch Hunt: http://www.fbiwitchhunt.com
      Probing the Animal Rights Underground (Chris Thompson, East Bay Express): http://www.eastbayexpress.com/issues/2005-06-08/news/cityofwarts.html


    - Media Picks Contributing Editors: Rebecca Onion, Adam Barker, and Erica Wetter
    - Media Picks compiled and edited by Erin Wiegand and Brian Awehali

    Posted by erin at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)

    June 07, 2005

    06.07.05 Edition | Zapatista Soccer; Footage From Bolivia; Toyota & Hip Hop
    June 7, 2005 Edition

    "The Best of the Rest of the Web"

    THiS WEEK: More mirthful revolt than you can shake a stick at, whatever that aphorism even means...Zapatista soccer strategy; The Bush Administration's "humane" gulag; one Middle Eastern actor's attempt to cash in on racism; why, with regard to the U.S. environmental movement, more is not necessarily better; France and Holland reject the EU constitution...so what's next?; conscientious objector Aidan Delgado talks about what he saw in Iraq; footage of the uprising in Bolivia; Alaska decides that shooting wolves from airplanes is fair sport; and much more, of course.

    This Week's Picks:

    1. Zapatista Soccer
      A hilarious exchange of letters between Subcommandante Marcos and Massimo Moratti, President of the FC Milan football club, arranging a friendly match between the pros and the Zapatistas. Includes the trademark wit of Marcos, a hefty dose of political and social commentary, and some unusual football strategy courtesy of Durito.

      Subcommandante Marcos & Massimo Moratti | ZNet
      http://www.zmag.org/content/sh owarticle.cfm?SectionID=59&ItemID=7984


    2. AUDIO | Guantanamo Bay: A "Gulag Of Our Times" or a "Model Facility"?
      A week ago Amnesty International accused the Bush administration of being a "leading purveyor and practitioner" of human rights violations, debate has intensified over the U.S. war on terror. On Tuesday, Bush described the Amnesty report as "absurd." Today we host a debate between Amnesty's William Schulz and attorney David Rivkin.

      Amy Goodman | Democracy Now
      mp3: http://www.archive.org/download/dn2005-0601/dn2005-0601-1_64kb.mp3
      Read the transcript: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl? sid=05/06/01/1441204


    3. Wanted: Meaningful Hollywood Role as Terrorist, Suicide Bomber, or Rock-Thrower
      Dear Hollywood Agents and Casting Directors: As a Middle Eastern actor who has studied his trade in the most prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company in London, I would like to inform you of my availability to take on any terrorist or terrorist-related roles currently available. Years of playing Hamlet and Francisco in small theater houses have prepared me for more dynamic and meaningful parts such as hijacker, suicide bomber, kidnapper, rock-throwing fanatic, hostage-taker, insurgent, fundamentalist mullah, or the ringleader of a terrorist sleeper cell in New York City.

      Siamack Baniameri | Muslim WakeUp!
      http://www.muslimwakeup.com/main/archives/2005/06/looking_for_a_j.php


    4. The Soul of Environmentalism
      Environmentalists face the paradox of diminishing power and swelling ranks, and they are not unique in this regard. Membership in human rights, pro-choice and environmental organizations has swelled in the last four years—not because of bold new strategies, but because of bold new threats. If the growth in membership is akin to the mobilization of white blood cells in a body facing disease, then progressive movements in the United States may well be facing a sickness unto death.

      Michel Gelobter | AlterNet
      http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/22117


    5. CARTOON | Emissions Standards

      Clay Butler | Sidewalk Bubblegum
      http://www.sidewalkbubblegum.com/images/165.gif


    6. Excuses, Excuses: How the Right Rationalizes Racial Inequality in America (Part Three: Housing)
      Despite decades of studies confirming the existence of housing bias, conservatives regularly devise and offer excuses for disparate housing outcomes, all of which presume that there are logical reasons why folks of color get loans less often, or on less favorable terms, and none of which reasons have the least bit to do with racism.

      Tim Wise | Black Commentator
      http://www.blackcommentator.com/140/140_wise_3. html


    7. AUDIO | The Future of the EU
      Dutch voters today are expected to join the French in rejecting the European Union's new constitution. Britain may decide not to hold any referendum at all. Nationalism, unpopular leaders and fear of American-style capitalism are putting the brakes on the historic integration of former enemy countries.

      KCRW
      http://kcrw.com/cgi-bin/ram_w rap.cgi?/tp/tp050601The_Future_of_the_Eu


    8. 'Keepin' It Real'—Will Corporate Sponsorship Build Up or Tear Down Urban Culture?
      A few years ago, Toyota executives embarked on a marketing scheme that competitors were certain would fail: to create a car based on the aesthetic of underground hip hop culture and market it in unprecedented ways. But today the Toyota Scion is selling in record numbers and has become a ubiquitous presence within the underground hip hop scene. Youth commentator and hip hop artist Hector Gonzalez wonders how savvy marketing and corporate sponsorship will affect a culture traditionally bent on "keepin' it real."

      Hector Gonzalez | Pacific News
      http ://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=95ba3a06d09545a53340e07a8e3fa632


    9. VIDEO | Aidan Delgado (Conscientious Objector): What I Saw in Iraq

      Truthout
      Part One: http://websrvr2 0.audiovideoweb.com/avwebdswebsrvr2143/news_video/adelgado1_300k.mov
      Part Two: http://websrvr2 0.audiovideoweb.com/avwebdswebsrvr2143/news_video/adelgado2_300k.mov


    10. VIDEO | Bolivia in Revolt
      More or less raw footage. It may turn out to be a phyrric victory—but this is a glimpse of what real "people power" looks like.

      Indymedia Video Distribution Network
      1 of 3: http://video.ind ymedia.org/download/[Indymedia]_(2005-05-31)_bolivia_uprising1.mpg
      2 of 3: http://video.ind ymedia.org/download/[Indymedia]_(2005-05-31)_bolivia_uprising2.mpg
      3 of 3: http://video.ind ymedia.org/download/[Indymedia]_(2005-05-31)_bolivia_uprising3.mpg


    11. Voted Off the Internet
      With Ultimate Blogger, blogs are succumbing to one of the most celebrated and criticized trends in mainstream culture—a reality TV-style competition.

      Marissa Meltzer | Alternet
      http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/22137


    12. Alaska Overrules Voters, Reinstates Aerial Wolf Hunt
      America's unpopular and unnecessary predator war continues.

      Matt Heikkila | Guerrilla News Network
      http ://www.guerrillanews.com/articles/1430/Alaska_Overrules_Voters_Reinstates_Aerial_Wolf_Hunt


    - Media Picks Contributing Editors: Rebecca Onion, Adam Barker, and Erica Wetter
    - Media Picks compiled and edited by Erin Wiegand and Brian Awehali

    Posted by erin at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)

    June 01, 2005

    06.01.05 Edition | Liberals vs. The Empire; Soldiers of Christ; Hymen Repair Surgery
    June 1, 2005 Edition

    "The Best of the Rest of the Web"

    THiS WEEK: Guantanamo Bay detainees say they were sold into capture; Normon Solomon weighs in on the rituals—and ritual silences—of Memorial Day press coverage; puppets vs. the Death Star; Mos Def speaks out against the $1 million bounty recently placed on Assata Shakur; the free market approach to the divine; colonial policies (past and present) in Kanehsatake, Canada; private airlines become the CIA's personal prisoner rendition service; Czech filmmakers fool a nation with an elaborate, anti-consumer ad campaign—and naturally, document the whole process; the new home censorship kit; the tricky business of hymen restoration; and more.


    This Week's Picks:

    1. The Buying of Prisoners
      Following a Freedom of Information Act request, the US government has released testimony from Guantanamo Bay detainees who say that they were sold into capture, at bounties ranging from $3,000 to $25,000.

      Michelle Faul | Associated Press / Washington Post
      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/31/AR2005053100754_pf.html


    2. The Silent Media Curse of Memorial Day
      Why does nobody ever really talk about war at the end of May?

      Norman Solomon | Common Dreams
      http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0526-24.htm


    3. CARTOON | Liberals vs. The Empire
      Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Emperor Palpatine has got to go!

      Tim Kreider | The Pain
      http://www.thepaincomics.com/weekly050525a.htm


    4. Assata Shakur: The Government's Terrorist is Our Community's Heroine
      Earlier this month the federal government issued a statement in which they labeled Joanne Chesimard, known to most in the Black community as Assata Shakur, as a domestic terrorist. In so doing, they also increased the bounty on her head from $150,000 to an unprecedented $1,000,000. Viewed through the lens of U.S. law enforcement, Shakur is an escaped cop-killer. Viewed through the lens of many Black people, including me, she is a wrongly convicted woman and a hero of epic proportions.

      Mos Def | Allhiphop.com
      http://www.allhiphop.com/features/?ID=1075


    5. Soldiers of Christ
      Colorado Springs, The New Life Church, and the "free market" approach to the divine.

      Jeff Sharlet | Harpers
      http://harpers.org/SoldiersOfChrist.html


    6. Surviving Canada, May 21: Kanehsatake
      These days, when spokespersons for the ongoing maintenance of colonial policies towards indigenous nations try to justify the same, they do so by discussing the matter as one of the past and not the present. In previous times the colonialist discourse could, with a little wrangling, be whittled down to the simple question of land. The question of taking land was not of either race or establishing a settler colony, we are assured—rather, it was couched in the very same language of "inevitability" that has earmarked so much pro-colonial discussion around indigenous nations' resistance. Much like war, a settler colony has a self-perpetuating, cyclical logic—one argument bolsters the other, and the second lie is referred back to the first to rationalize it.

      Such a language is an eerily familiar dialect in Kanehsatake, the territory adjoining the village of Oka, north-west of Montréal, Québec.

      Macdonald Stainsby | Surviving Canada
      http://independentmedia.ca/survivingcanada/2005-05-may_21_kanehsatake.html


    7. CIA Expanding Terror Battle under Guise of Charter Flights
      The airplanes of Aero Contractors Ltd. take off from Johnston County Airport here, then disappear over the scrub pines and fields of tobacco and sweet potatoes. Nothing about the sleepy Southern setting hints of foreign intrigue. Nothing gives away the fact that Aero's pilots are the discreet bus drivers of the battle against terrorism, routinely sent on secret missions to Baghdad, Cairo, Tashkent and Kabul. While Aero Contractors poses as a private charter outfit, it is in fact a major domestic hub of the CIA's secret air service.

      Scott Shane, Stephen Grey and Margot Williams | The New York Times / Truthout.org
      http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/053105Y.shtml


    8. VIDEO | Czech Dream
      In Czech Dream, Filip Remunda and Vit Klusak set out to explore the psychological and manipulative powers of consumerism by creating an ad campaign for a supermarket that didn't exist. At the store's "opening," over a thousand people showed up at a field to find only a canvas façade. The hoax itself took place last summer; now, their documentary on the process is being released.

      Czech TV
      http://www.czech-tv.cz/specialy/ceskysen/en/index.php

      Watch the trailer (sorry, Windows Media Player only): http://www.czech-tv.cz/specialy/ceskysen/video/engtit01hi.wmv


    9. National Advertising Board Launches 'Advertising: Get The Message!' Campaign
      New campaign promises to be even more successful than 2004 campaign, 'Advertising: Look At It.'"

      The Onion
      http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4121


    10. Your Handy Home Censorship Kit
      A new device allows consumers to cleanse their DVDs of sex, profanity and violence. Directors and copyright holders call foul—and the battle between moralists and filmmakers is on.

      Zack Pelta-Heller | Alternet
      http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/22027


    11. Adding Insult to Injury
      Contractors working through Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR)—the largest military contractor in Iraq—are being denied unemployment and insurance benefits. Some have reported being denied medical leave or a chance for a second diagnosis. And the stress and close encounters with death faced by such contractors are often treated dismissively: "In a war zone," says KBR spokeswoman Cathy Gist, "these jobs require courage, resolve and skill."

      David Phinney | CorpWatch
      http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12286


    12. Industry Aims to Strip Local Control of Food Supply
      Legislation aiming to prevent counties, towns and cities from making local decisions about our food supply is being introduced in states across the nation. These highly orchestrated industry actions are in response to recent local decisions to safeguard sustainable food systems. (Includes a list of resources for further action.)

      Britt Bailey & Brian Tokar | ZNet
      http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=13&ItemID=7942


    13. Restoring Virginity Becomes Risky Business
      Many women who seek hymen-repair surgery do so under threat of death if family members in religious fundamentalist households find out they are not virgins. Now, the US doctors who help them are also being intimidated.

      Sandy Kobrin | Women's eNews
      http://www.womensenews.com/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2304/context/cover/



    - Media Picks Contributing Editors: Rebecca Onion, Adam Barker, and Erica Wetter
    - Media Picks compiled and edited by Erin Wiegand and Brian Awehali

    Posted by erin at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)