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April 20, 2006
04.20.06 Privatising the Internet; V for Vendetta; Global Warming Disaster in the Andes
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April 20, 2006 Edition |
| "The Best of the Rest of the Web" |
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THiS WEEK: Private companies lobbying congress for control of the internet; theocracy in the United States; the political weight of V for Vendetta; a look at power and "progressiveness" in Latin America; why immigrant rights matter for non-immigrants; logging giant Weyerhaeuser dupes customers with "green" labels; behind the scenes of TransAmerica; global warming means disaster now, not in some far-off future, for villagers in the Andes; no such thing as "neutrality" in art, says Howard Zinn; what the media is missing in the debate over the new Massachusetts health care plan; US continues to undermine Haiti's Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his party, Lavalas; and several other items of definite interest and amusement in this week's Media Picks.
This Week's Picks:
- VIDEO | The End of the Internet? Net Neutrality Threatened by Cable, Telecom Interests
The vital concept of net neutrality—universal and non-discriminatory to the Internet—is at risk. Phone and cable companies are lobbying Congress for legislation that would permit them to operate Internet and other digital communications services as private networks, free of policy safeguards or governmental oversight.Amy Goodman interviews Jeff Chester | Democracy Now!
Part One: http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2006/april/video/dnB20060413a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=52:05
Part Two: http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2006/april/video/dnB20060414a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=34:01 - Theocons and Theocrats
Is theocracy in the United States (1) a legitimate fear, as some liberals argue; (2) a joke, given the nation's rising secular population and moral laxity; (3) a worrisome bias of major GOP constituencies and pressure groups; or (4) all of the above?Kevin Phillips | The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060501/phillips - Ideas Are Bulletproof
V for Vendetta stands out because it is unashamedly about political ideas. "Behind this mask is an idea, Mr Creedy", V explains, "and ideas are bulletproof". And the ideas that the film raises—that "acts of terror" can be useful and that people hold power over their governments—are ones that few filmmakers would be brave enough to touch in the current political climate.Alison Dellit | Autonomy & Solidarity / Green Left Weekly
http://auto_sol.tao.ca/node/view/1994 - CARTOON | A Matter of Balance
Shannon Wheeler | Too Much Coffee Man
http://www.tmcm.com/comics/250_warwarwar.gif - Social Movements and Progressive Governments: The Current Veins of Latin America
Bolivia has Evo Morales. Mexico has the Zapatista movement. Argentina is Kirchner's. Where do social movements stop when facing progressiveness that restores power? Are these governments the triumph, or the downfall of these movements?Claudia Acuña, Translated by Kirsten Daub | Autonomy & Solidarity
http://auto_sol.tao.ca/node/view/1990L - If We Care About Living Wages and a Level Playing Field, We'd Join the Protesters
Forgive me for feeling a twinge of envy when Hispanic men, women and children came in huge human waves of demonstrators last Monday, hordes of them bedecked in white to signify not surrender, but non-violence. Then it occurred to me: we could have been there.Deborah Mathis | Black America Web
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/sayitloud/mathis417 - Weyerhaeuser Tries to Dupe Homebuyers with "Green" Lables
A Rainforest Action Network report confirms that Weyerhaeuser building products and new homes marketed in the United States as "environmentally friendly?" use wood clear-cut without consent from indigenous territory within the threatened Boreal Forest.Friends of Grassy Narrows
http://friendsofgrassynarrows.com/item.php?545F - AUDIO | TransAmerica
Behind the scenes of the film "TransAmerica," a number of trans persons provided guidance to the filmmakers and actress Felicity Huffman. Andrea James, appeared in the film as voice coach for Huffman's character, while Calpernia Adams, portrayed the Texas fiddle player who appeared in the trans group meeting. Both actresses are also activists, and we also talk with them about their work on behalf of the transgender community.Nancy Nangeroni and Gordene O. MacKenzie | GenderTalk
http://www.gendertalk.com/real/550/gt555.shtml - AUDIO | Early Warning
It might seem paradoxical to have glaciers right at the equator, but the high altitude of the Andes Mountains has kept the peaks snowy year round for thousands of years—up until now. Now, the glacier at Cotacachi Mountain has melted, and the region's native people try to cope with a warmer, drier, world.Pauline Bartolone | Living on Earth
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=06-P13-00014&segmentID=5 - Passion & Propaganda
"Almost anything in world of culture is inevitably political in one way or another. You might say it's political even when it isn't political, that it makes a statement even when it doesn't make a statement. If you perform or create something that doesn't say anything about society, you're still saying something. You're saying it's okay to stand off from what is going on. There's no such thing as neutrality in art."Chris Pastor interviews Howard Zinn | Clamor Magazine
http://www.clamormagazine.org/issues/35-5/content/culture_1.php - Activists Seek Broader Immigration Debate
Massive protests across the country have amplified the controversy surrounding immigrants' rights, but in the political tug-of-war over revamping the country's immigration policy, a wide gulf has emerged between the agendas in Washington and the communities whose freedoms are at stake in the fray.Michelle Chen | New Standard
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3066 - AUDIO | The Spin on "Universal Health Care"
Listeners have likely heard about the 'Massachusetts miracle', the healthcare plan passed by Massachusetts' legislature and favored by Gov. Mitt Romney made front pages last week, with many accounts calling it a plan for universal healthcare. Our guest says that's just what it's not. So how is the press getting it wrong?CounterSpin
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2862 - Seeking an "Even Playing Field": Washington and UN Work to Undermine Lavalas
set for April 21, the International Republican Institute (IRI) helped form and coach three coalitions of right wing and social-democratic parties, which were all partisans of the Feb. 29, 2004 coup d'état against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his democratically elected Fanmi Lavalas (FL) government.Jeb Sprague | The Narcosphere
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2006/4/13/15539/1082 - Two Years in Jail for a Joint?
The war on drugs reached the pinnacle of cruelty when 18-year-old Mitchell Lawrence was sentenced to two years in jail for selling a teaspoonful of marijuana to an undercover police officer for $20.Anthony Papa | AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/34814
- Media Picks Contributing Editors: Adam Barker, Justin Park
- Media Picks compiled and edited by Erin
Wiegand and Brian Awehali
Posted by erin at April 20, 2006 11:20 AM