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September 28, 2005
09.28.05 | US Forced to Import Bullets; "True Porn" Comics; Foucault and the Iranian Revolution
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September 28, 2005
Edition |
| "The Best of the Rest of the Web" |
THiS WEEK: US running out of bullets; Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez promises to provide the US poor with cheap fuel; the real meaning of reconstruction in New Orleans; Jonathan Kozol on how the US educational system is still leaving poor kids behind; "True Porn" comics; why Michel Foucault was so enamored of the Iranian Revolution; a funny cartoon; disturbing edits of government reports on global warming; relief workers at risk in New Orleans; a brief history of flash mobs; why discrimination—not just housing prices—continues to keep so many from owning their own home; dolphins with toxic dart guns on the loose in the Gulf of Mexico; and much, much more in this week's edition of Media Picks.
This Week's Picks:
- US Forced to Import Bullets
US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan—an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed—that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand.Andrew Buncombe | The Independent / Uruknet
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m16122&l=i&size=1&hd=0 - Chavez Staying True To Pledge For US Poor
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has vowed to provide cheap oil to poor people in the US—sending officials from Citgo (the Venezuelan state-owned energy company) scrambling to fine-tune his language.Estanislao Oziewicz | Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20050923.CHAVEZ23/TPStory/TPInternational - AUDIO | Hugo Chavez Speaks
In his first interview in the United States, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez discusses the war in Iraq, his plans for sending cheap fuel to the US poor, the role of the media in the aborted coup against him, and Venezuela's request for the extradition of Cuban anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles.Amy Goodman | Democracy Now!
Part One:http://www.archive.org/download/dn2005-0920/dn2005-0920-1_64kb.mp3
Part Two: http://www.archive.org/download/dn2005-0920/dn2005-0920-1_64kb.mp3 - CARTOON | How American Health Care Works
Shannon Wheeler | Too Much Coffee Man
http://www.tmcm.com/comics/tmcm050926.gif - Purging the Poor
"Reconstruction," whether in Baghdad or New Orleans, has become shorthand for a massive uninterrupted transfer of wealth from public to private hands, whether in the form of direct "cost plus" government contracts or by auctioning off new sectors of the state to corporations. Already in New Orleans, this "reconstruction" appears to be coming at the cost of diversity.Naomi Klein | The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051010/klein - INTERVIEW | Five Minutes with Jonathan Kozol
Author Jonathan Kozol talks about how the American educational system continues to betray lower-income inner-city children.Elana Berkowitz | Campus Progress
http://www.campusprogress.org/features/552/five-minutes-with-jonathan-kozol - Lusty Lady
'True Porn' comics tell stories of boredom, ecstasy, impotence, and onanism.Rachel Kramer Bussel | Village Voice
http://villagevoice.com/people/0539,bussel,68184,24.html - AUDIO | Foucault and the Iranian Revolution
What are the risks when the left champions anti-imperialist movements that are neither secular nor leftist? Janet Afary and Kevin Anderson talk about their controversial new book, Foucault and the Iranian Revolution : Gender and the Seductions of Islamism, which looks at philosopher Michel Foucault's support for the clerical movement that ultimately installed the Ayatollah Khomeini as head of the Islamic Republic of Iran.Sasha Lilley | Against The Grain
http://www.againstthegrain.org/audio9.20.05.mp3 - Silent Spring
From editorial revisions and marginal notations made to government reports on global warming by Philip A. Cooney, then chief of staff for the White House's Council on Environmental Quality. Cooney's previous employer had been the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade and lobbying group of the petroleum industry. Soon after the documents were released by the Government Accountability Project in June, Cooney left the administration to take a public-relations job with ExxonMobil. - Relief Workers May Be Next Wave of Katrina Victims
Though evacuation orders have been in place since Hurricane Katrina shredded New Orleans weeks ago, the city has never been empty. As water poured over its walls, many first responders, military and medical personnel, and other public servants stood their ground, and still more flowed in from other areas, placing themselves in harm's way to help others. But as the floodwaters recede and the city looks toward recovery, environmental groups are warning that numerous hazards still residing on New Orleans' sodden ground could cause short- and long-term health problems. And they say the government's efforts to protect recovery workers threaten to be as incompetent as its initial response.Michelle Chen | NewStandard News
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2395 - Remembering Flash Mobs
Who'd have thought a single email designed to mock New York scenesters would have turned into an international craze? The founder of flash mobs talks to Stay Free! about how it all happened.Francis Heaney | Stay Free
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/24/flash-mobs-history.html - Closing the Door on Americans' Housing Choices
Newspapers and TV commentaries around the country have been buzzing with alarm about skyrocketing housing prices. But for many Americans, spiraling home prices and rents aren't the only barriers to housing opportunity and choice. Discrimination—by landlords, real estate agents, and mortgage lenders— stands in the way of too many families searching for a place to live.Margery Austin Turner and Carla Herbig | Mother Jones
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2005/09/closing_the_door.html - Armed and Dangerous
36 bottlenose dolphins, trained in attack-and-kill missions by the US Navy, have gone missing after their compound was breached by Hurricane Katrina. The dolphins, trained to shoot "terrorists" with toxic dart guns, may now pose a threat to divers and surfers in the area.Mark Townsend Houston | The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1577753,00.html - Secrecy Power Sinks Patent Case
A federal appeals court deep-sixes a lawsuit filed by inventors of a fiber-optic connector after the government claims a top-secret project could be exposed in court. Critics warn that the "state secrets privilege" is ripe for abuse.Kevin Poulsen | Wired
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68894,00.html?tw=wn_7polihead - The Polls of Bel Air
The post-coup Haitian presidential election, currently planned for November 20, has a list of 54 candidates. The Canadian Prime Minister's 'special advisor on Haiti', Denis Coderre, suggested yesterday that this sprawling list of candidates was a good thing, a sign that 'democracy is like a flower that needs to be constantly tended'.Justin Podur | ZNet
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=55&ItemID=8801 - The New Hamas: Between Resistance and Participation
In March 2005, Hamas, the largest Islamist party in Palestine, joined its main secular rival Fatah and 11 other Palestinian organizations in endorsing a document that seemed to embody the greatest harmony achieved within the Palestinian national movement in almost two decades.Graham Usher | Middle East Report
http://www.merip.org/mero/mero082105.html
- Media Picks Contributing Editors: Erica Wetter, Adam Barker
- Media Picks compiled and edited by Erin
Wiegand and Brian Awehali
Posted by erin at 08:47 AM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2005
09.21.05 | The New White Burden; The Passion of the Penguin; 20 Lies We Were Told About the Iraq War
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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:
- 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 - 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 - Halliburton Gets Contract to Pry Gold Fillings from New Orleans Corpses'
Teeth
- 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/tysonfoods831Pissed off? Tell Tyson what you think: http://www.tysonfoodsinc.com/Contact.aspx
- 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 - 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 - 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. - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 09:23 AM | Comments (0)
September 08, 2005
09.08.05 | Bush Doesn't Care About Black People; CEO Barbie; Rising Flood of Poverty
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September 8, 2005
Edition |
| "The Best of the Rest of the Web" |
THiS WEEK: Kanye West explains on live national television that Bush doesn't care about black people; the highly unrealistic CEO Barbie; Palestinian filmmaker tells the story of two suicide bombers-to-be; more than you ever thought you'd want to know about garbage and electronic waste, in two parts; new version of "American Scientists" stamps features Rick Santorum (sexuality theorist) and god (intelligent designer); rich richer, poor poorer; a striking series of photos from the 1979 US Embassy takeover in Iran; Sonia Shah critiques The Constant Gardener; taking a moment to remember that the US is still detaining people in secret locations without charges being brought against them; and more.
This Week's Picks:
- VIDEO | Kanye Tells It Like It
Is
Kanye West ignores the teleprompter and rips into the racist media coverage of the Katrina aftermath. A must-see.Badmash.org
http://www.badmash.org/videos/videos_flv.php?v=Kayne.flv&t=Kayne-West-Bush-Blac - CEO Barbie
Criticized For Promoting Unrealistic Career Images
"Real women in today's work force don't have Barbie's Dream Corner Office. More often than not, they have cubicles—or Dream Kitchens. I mean, what's next? 'Accepted By Her Male Peers' Polly Pocket?" - US Faces Rising
Flood of Poverty
"The rich got richer and the poor got poorer," is a sentence most often used to describe the economic plight of underdeveloped countries. But last week, it was being used to describe the economy of the world's lone superpower: the United States.William Fisher | ZNet
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=72&ItemID=8657 - REVIEW | Paradise Now
While suicide bombers are often portrayed in the West as brainwashed automatons, Mr. Abu-Assad said his research in Palestine suggested that people acted mostly out of conviction. "The daily humiliation is so big that people just agree to it," he said. "The biggest motivation is the feeling of impotence. You are captured in your own city; you can't do anything about it; you are nothing. By attacking the enemy society," he says, suicide bombers "go from losing to winning. Religion is just a ceremony. That is the research I did. And I'm not the only one saying it. All the talk about brainwashing and virgins and the other life—it's just ceremony."Alan Riding | The New York Times / MediaRights
http://www.mediarights.org/news/2005/09/08/palestinian_film_looks_at_suicide_bombers.php - AUDIO | Garbage
The world of trash: Those who haul it, those who control it, and those who live in it. Includes a segment with Heather Rogers, whose words also appear in her book Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage and in the Spring 2005 issue of LiP.This American Life
http://www.thislife.org/ra/249.ram - AUDIO | Taking Apart
E-Waste
Most of us don't realize the toxic mix contained in electronics and the public health hazards posed when they are "recycled"—whether by child labor in China or India or disassembled by prisoners in the US. Sheila Davis of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and CEH's Anita Sarah Jackson break down the dangers of e-waste.C.S. Soong | Against the Grain
http://www.againstthegrain.org/audio 8.29.05.mp3 - American
"Scientists" Stamps
Stay Free! parodies a new line of stamps featuring American scientists. Adorn your letters and business correspondence with "forensic creationist" William Jennings Bryan and "sexuality theorist" Rick Santorum.Stay Free!
http://blog.stayfreemag azine.org/2005/08/science_stamps.html
Go directly to the stamps: http://blog.stayfreemagazi ne.org/files/science-stamps.pdf - PHOTOGRAPHY | Images of the Iranian
Revolution
Following soon after their publication of 400 pages of still-classified documents seized from the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 (http://www.thememoryhole.org/espionage_den/index.htm), The Memory Hole has posted 74 photos they received on an Iranian CD along with the documents—a photographic essay documenting the storming of the embassy, the seizing of hostages, demonstrations during the 444-day occupation of the embassy, and shots of newspaper headlines of the day.The Memory Hole
http://www.thememoryhole.org/espionage_den/embassy.html - REVIEW | The Constant Gardener: What
the Movie Missed
A lush, atmospheric drama, The Constant Gardener brings unprecedented exposure to crucial issues facing the Western pharmaceutical industry and all those who partake of it. But challenging these issues is not nearly as black-and-white as this film would have it.Sonia Shah | The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050912/sha h - ACTION | Remembering the
Disappeared
August 30 was the International Day of the Disappeared—in this report, Amnesty International discusses the unknown number of detainees still held in secret custody, in unknown locations, as part of the US "War On Terror." Includes "action sheets" with background information and detailed instructions on writing appeal letters for three victims of this abuse.Amnesty International
http://web .amnesty.org/web/web.nsf/print/D9837876A7FFD4D38025706C002EE1C0 - Seeking Amnesty
for the Empire: Introducing the Right's AI
Upon opening up the September issue of Harper's, I came across a full-page ad for AI—Amnesty International, I assumed. On closer inspection, however, I realized that the ad was for an AI of a different sort altogether: AI, you see, is the abbreviation for a new conservative publication, The American Interest: Illuminating America's Global Role, which premieres this September.Derrick O'Keefe | Seven Oaks
http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/com mentary/76_comm2.html - The One-Eyed
King
Alan Greenspan is the most ideological Fed chairman since the 1930s. Without ever acknowledging his intentions, he enlisted himself and the awesome governing powers of the central bank in advancing the "reform" agenda of the Republican right. The chairman thus became an important actor in achieving the profound transformations that occurred during the last generation: the retreat of government, the rise of market ideology and the financialization of American economic life.William Greider | The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050919/ greider
- Media Picks Contributing Editors: Adam Barker and Erica Wetter
- Media Picks compiled and edited by Erin
Wiegand and Brian Awehali
Posted by erin at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)