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September 21, 2005

09.21.05 | The New White Burden; The Passion of the Penguin; 20 Lies We Were Told About the Iraq War
September 21, 2005 Edition

"The Best of the Rest of the Web"

THiS WEEK: Plans afoot to bomb Iraq, again; wake-up call for white folks: the US is not a white country; meanwhile, Tyson Foods allows one of their plants to institute a "whites only" bathroom, and The UNtraining initiative searches for the root of racist conditioning; the humble penguin stirs up a religious fervor once reserved only for the likes of Mel Gibson; Al Jazeera points out the 20 appalling lies we were told about the Iraq war; remembering the "other" September 11th, in Chile; Massachussetts governor suggests—seriously—wiretapping mosques as a security measure; authors Umberto Eco and Nicole Krauss give their thoughts on the intersection of memory, writing, and truth; and much more in this long-overdue double dose of Media Picks.

This Week's Picks:

  1. US Set to Bomb Iraq, Yet Again
    In an attempt to "find" Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of the group known as Iraq's al Qaeda, US forces in Iraq have announced their intention to air strikes on towns in western Iraq.

    Reuters Alertnet
    http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ALI554744.htm


  2. The New White People's Burden: Take a Hard Look in the Mirror
    After Hurricane Katrina, will whites still view America as a white country?

    Robert Jensen | Houston Chronicle
    http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3348263


  3. Halliburton Gets Contract to Pry Gold Fillings from New Orleans Corpses' Teeth

    The Onion
    http://www.theonion.com/content/node/40525


  4. Black Employees Sue Tyson Foods for Maintaining 'Whites Only' Restroom
    Twelve black employees of Tyson Foods, Inc. are suing the world's largest meat producer, alleging the company allowed a segregated break room and bathroom which included a "Whites Only" sign posted on the wall in the Ashland, Alabama plant. The complaint also alleges that a picture of two monkeys with the names of two African-American employees written by the photos was placed on the locker of a black employee, and that a white employee led a plaintiff to a room and showed the plaintiff a noose.

    Michael H. Cottman | BlackAmericaWeb.com
    http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/tysonfoods831

    Pissed off? Tell Tyson what you think: http://www.tysonfoodsinc.com/Contact.aspx


  5. AUDIO | Untraining Racism
    Are people trained to be racist, and if so, can people be untrained? Robert Horton and Swan Keyes are part of an initiative called The UNtraining; they discuss the conditioning white people in this country experience and how it affects their lives, their relationships with people of color, and prospects for social justice.

    C.S. Soong | Against the Grain
    http://www.againstthegrain.org/audio9.07.05.mp3


  6. The Passion of the Penguin
    How the life cycle of the penguin is inspiring the religious right.

    David Smith | The Observer
    http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1572642,00.html


  7. 20 Appalling Lies We Were Told About the Iraq War
    After an astonishing two years of cowardice, the mainstream press has finally started during the past year to draw the world's attention to the unconscionable level of the administrative deception. But they seem surprised to find that when it comes to Iraq war, the Bush isn't prone to the occasional lie of expediency but, in fact, almost never told the truth.

    Al Jazeera
    http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=9592


  8. AUDIO | Chile's 9/11
    As US citizens observe the 4th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, few realize the dark significance of that day in Chilean history.Thirty two years ago, on September 11th, 1973, a US-backed military junta toppled Socialist president Salvador Allende, marking the beginning of decades of repression. Hundreds of thousands of Chileans fled to other countries, including the United States, in search of a peaceful existence.Onthis edition, a group of Chilean Exiles in the US reflect on the coup, and how music transformed their experience of terror into artistic expression.

    Pauline Bartolone | National Radio Project
    http://www.radioproject.org/archive/2005/3605.html


  9. Wiretapping Mosques?
    Governor Mitt Romney has suggested that in the name of "domestic intelligence gathering," the federal government begin wiretapping mosques and conducting surveillance of foreign students.

    Scott Helman | Boston Globe
    http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/09/15/wiretap_mosques_romney_suggests?mode=PF


  10. AUDIO | Of Words and Memory
    In two parts, authors Umberto Eco and Nicole Krauss discuss their recent novels, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (Eco) and The History of Love (Krauss), both of which explore the connections (or differences) between "true" memories and the written word. While Eco emphasizes the difference between memories "made of paper" and those made by love, Krauss believes that writing itself serves as the most important transmitter of memory available to us.

    Michael Silverblatt | Bookworm/KCRW
    Emberto Eco: http://kcrw.com/cgi-bin/ram_wrap.cgi?/bw/bw050825Umberto_Eco
    Nicole Krauss: http://kcrw.com/cgi-bin/ram_wrap.cgi?/bw/bw050818Nicole_Krauss


  11. The Net Censors
    The technology which runs the internet did not sprout from the ground. It is provided by people with a commercial interest in its development. Their interest will favour freedom in some places and control in others. And they can and do turn it off.

    George Monbiot | ZNet
    http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8717


  12. Left Behind
    The Bush administration's assault on environmental quality has, however, been so deliberate, destructive, and hostile that the usual explanations—while not wrong— are hardly adequate. During their time in power, Bush's officials have worked systematically and energetically to undo half a century of environmental law and policy based on hard-learned lessons about how to sustain healthy environments.

    Chip Ward (forward by Tom Engelhardt) | Mother Jones
    http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2005/09/left_behind.html


  13. State of Mine
    A PDF map of Canadian mining and the global resistance to it.

    The Dominion
    http://dominionpaper.ca/pdf/dominion-canadian_mining_poster.pdf


  14. INTERACTIVE | Calculate Your Greener Future
    A veritable green toolbox for the environmentally concerned is just a few mouse-clicks away. Several online green auditing tools can help you calculate your environmental impact and answer pressing questions about how you can lessen the stress you place on the planet.

    Rose Miller | Utne.com
    http://www.utne.com/webwatch/2005_216/news/11788-1.html

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

Posted by erin at September 21, 2005 09:23 AM

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