Friday, December 27, 2013

Love and Power

Part 1: New World Notes #304, 28:40 (December 31):

Broadcast quality MP3 (39 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (13 MB)

Part 2: New World Notes #305, 29:18 (January 7, 2014):

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Decent quality MP3 (13 MB)

In Brief

We adapt to radio a documentary film by Adam Curtis.

Advocates of (1) computer networks, (2) Ayn Rand-ian "heroic individualism," and (3) financial deregulation--each claimed that their cause would increase personal freedom, expand democracy, and produce eternal prosperity and stability. These three causes were interconnected--and were combined in Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan.

All believed that the best thing politicians and governments could do would be to get out of the way and let "the New Economy" work its magic unhindered.

But it was all nonsense. This film explores these interconnected 20th-century delusions and their aftermath.

Part 1 takes us from the emergence of Ayn Rand in the 1950s to the economic bubble of the Clinton years (late 1990s).


Part 2 explores the love-affairs that damaged Ayn Rand's influence and Bill Clinton's power. It shows how computers and deregulation nearly destroyed the economies of several Asian countries while enriching U.S. bankers. And it shows how today's U.S. economy has been propped up and stabilized not by "heroic individuals" or computers or deregulated financial markets--but by politicians and government.  Specifically: by the politicians and government of China.  

Now what?

Love and Power (2011) is the first segment of Adam Curtis' trilogy, All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace.



Friday, December 20, 2013

Comic Satire for Christmas (2013 Edition)

New World Notes #303, 27:15 (December 24, 2013)

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(Not satire: a real ad)

In Brief

Some brief commentary by me, five seasonal satiric songs, and one satiric imitation Broadway "big production number." All take a comic but critical view of American hypocrisies, religiosity, commercialism, militarism, class warfare, and other Christmastime traditions.

I'm especially fond of the pseudo- "big production number": Stan Freberg's 1958 masterpiece, "Green Chri$tma$."  The audio fidelity is very good even by today's standards; the production is rich and sophisticated; the script is witty; and the message (alas) is still relevant.

Other contributions by Hugh Blumenfeld, Simon and Garfunkel, Anne Feeney, Roy Zimmerman, and Tom Lehrer.

Playlist:

  • Hugh Blumenfeld, "Long-Haired Radical Socialist Jew"
  • Simon and Garfunkel, "Silent Night / Six O'Clock News"
  • Anne Feeney, "Brave New Christmas"
  • Roy Zimmerman, "Buy War Toys for Christmas"
  • Stan Freberg, "Green Chri$tma$"
  • Tom Lehrer, "A Christmas Carol"
(Same here!)


Saturday, December 14, 2013

Dispatches from the War on Christmas

New World Notes #302 (December 17, 2013)

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Decent quality MP3 (14 MB)


In Brief

A mostly lighthearted look at the right wing's favorite fantasy. Which is: that "secular progressives" have declared a "war on Christmas"--part of their larger war to destroy Christianity, promote drug use, legalize prostitution and narcotics, etc., etc.

We'll hear ravings by Bill O'Reilly, a funny rebuttal by Jon Stewart, personal reflections by KD, and a short history lesson. (The only real wars against Christmas were fought by the Puritan Christians.)  We end with selections from a fine comic audio collage on the subject by Scooter.

The uncut, 30-minute version of Scooter's collage (and other interesting audio) is available from his Web site, www.aksisofevil.org



Sunday, December 8, 2013

Obamacare to Ecocide

New World Notes #301 (December 10)

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Derrick Jensen

In Brief

This time
we start with comic absurdity--a funny satire on the Obamacare rollout.

Then we move to scary absurdity--the NYPD shoots some more innocent bystanders, then blames the unarmed man they were shooting at (Glenn Broadnax) for the bystanders' bullet wounds. 

We end with global calamity, with a fine talk (from 2011) by radical ecology activist Derrick Jensen.   

Something for everybody!

 Glenn Broadnax (left)


Monday, December 2, 2013

American Food

New World Notes #300 (December 3, 2013)

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Li'l Oscar and the Wienermobile
(I saw them in person
ca. 1957.)

 In brief

'Tis the season to think of food. Not only the stuff itself but the politics, economics, and ecology of the American agricultural system. Some personal reflections by KD are interwoven with eight short commentaries by progressive populist Jim Hightower and a song.

Topics include packaging chicanery at the supermarket, declining food-safety rules for corporate meatpackers, low wages at fast-food chains, huge "agricultural" subsidies for the rich, how the drug-warriors destroyed an organic farm, and a family vegetable farmer near Hartford decides to add a few pigs and sell a little pork.

Jim Hightower's recorded commentaries are from his Web site.

Jim Hightower


Saturday, November 23, 2013

False Stories TV Tells Us

New World Notes #299 (November 26):

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Dr George Gerbner (1919-2005)

In brief

Most of what we know about how the world works comes from the stories we are told. For a few generations now, most of the stories have been created by the corporate elite and told though the corporate-owned mass media--especially television. Researcher Dr. George Gerbner discusses how American TV distorts our understanding of how the world works.

Example: TV violence does not increase real-world violence.  But it does make people more afraid of violence--and more supportive of harsh "anti-crime" measures.

Gerbner's research found that the more you watch TV, the more afraid of your environment you're likely to be.  And the more you watch, the more you are likely to believe that women are not as capable as men, that racism does not exist, that most Americans are middle-class, that most Black Americans are middle-class, that poverty is not a social problem, and that the cure for crime is more police, more jails, longer sentences, and more capital punishment.

Gerbner's career as a communications scholar included 25 years as Dean of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communication (1964-1989). He died in 2005.




Sunday, November 17, 2013

Apokaluptein Tales

New World Notes #298 (November 19):

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Occupy Wall Street, 2011

In brief:

An intriguing audio collage (from 2010) by Virtual Renderings--condensed for radio by KD. It weaves together political commentary, music, clips from the movie The Matrix, and more. It combines critical views ranging from the Left (Noam Chomsky) to the far Right (stefbot)--and music ranging from the Stones to Harry Shearer to J.S. Bach and more.

It's an engaging, intelligent critique of a U.S. corporate state that pretends to be capitalism and pretends to be democracy. Wrong on both counts!

More from Virtual Renderings:

The unedited, hour-long version of Apokaluptein Tales is available (56 MB). (Left-click to listen online; right-click and save to download the recording.)  (A low-fidelity, low bandwidth version [14 MB] also is available.)

A large archive of Virtual Renderings' audio collages is available for free listening or download from radio4all.net. You'll find this same link on the right sidebar on this page, under "Worth a Look."


Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Hollow Men

New World Notes #297 (November 12, 2013):

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Morris Berman

In Brief

KD's brief reflections on folk holidays (Halloween--good) vs. corporate holidays (Black Friday--bad) set the stage for a brilliant and witty short talk by historian Morris Berman.

Berman sees the essential hollowness of America's leaders as a reflection of the hollowness at the core of many of us--and the hollowness of The American Dream.  In its present form The American Dream is little more than a wish for more stuff.  The current political/economic system does seem to be unsustainable and collapsing--leaving Morris with decidedly mixed emotions.

Then singing comic-satirist Roy Zimmerman offers a more upbeat view of the oddness of American life.  The show ends with a few lines of T.S. Eliot's 88-year-old poem, from which we've swiped our title.

Thanks to Robin Upton and Unwelcome Guests for Berman's talk.




Sunday, November 3, 2013

Can the People Change the System?

New World Notes #296 (November 5, 2013):

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It's strictly coincidence--honest!--but this installment will first be broadcast on Election Day 2013. The election here is for city council, school board, and so on--so maybe it will not be as meaningless as our Presidential elections have been.

Hope springs eternal. But Chris Hedges reminds us that hope needs to be grounded in reality.

In any case, this week Hedges returns, reflecting on American capitalism run amok--driving Americans closer to poverty and destroying the ecosystem.

And he reflects on the U.S. government, dedicated to furthering the interests of the corporate elite at the expense of the 99%.

Fears of popular rebellion against the (unsustainable) system--not terrorism--have moved the Obama administration to destroy Americans' civil liberties and spy on every citizen. But since the radical Left has been destroyed--and since the Democratic Party is as devoted to protecting the elite as the Republican Party is--change from within the system is impossible, thinks Hedges.

What to do?  Hedges sees making the elite afraid of the people--through widespread nonviolent resistance and protest--as the only strategy that has a chance of working.

A sobering but intellectually powerful and persuasive talk.  Excerpted from interviews with Paul Jay on The Real News Network (therealnews.com).  Thanks to Robin Upton, of the Unwelcome Guests radio show, for the audio, which I have edited (unwelcomeguests.net).


Sunday, October 27, 2013

War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

New World Notes #295 (October 29, 2013):

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 Chris Hedges

In Brief

Prophet and former war correspondent Chris Hedges reflects on the psychologically destructive--yet addicting--nature of war.

He focuses not on rulers and generals but on the people on the ground--civilians and enlisted soldiers and war correspondents too. This talk is based on his own experience and based on his book, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002). 

Plus some additional reflections by Hedges on PTSD among soldiers who fought in World War Two.

Audio courtesy of Robin Upton's Unwelcome Guests radio program (http://unwelcomeguests.net).

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Can Technology Save Us?

New World Notes #294 (October 22, 2013):

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In Brief

Even though you know the answer (no), you'll probably still enjoy the show, which features selections from two funny and inteligent talks.

Jello Biafra explains how the last supposedly revolutionary technological advances--cell phones and the Internet--have weakened real communities and increased alienation.

Then urban-design theorist James Howard Kunstler discusses our technology gurus' (at Google) inability to understand that technology cannot solve the problem of declining fossil fuel reserves. In a nutshell: you can make iPods out of petroleum (Dude,) but not vice versa.

This installment is a replay of NWN #58 (April 2009).

James Howard Kunstler


Sunday, October 6, 2013

The Prostitute Press, the War Machine, and Anwar al-Awlaki

Part 1: New World Notes # 292 (October 8):

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Part 2: New World Notes # 293 -- (October 15):

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In Brief

A fine talk by journalist Jeremy Scahill based in part on his recent book, Dirty Wars

He tells the story of the radicalization of U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki--who was assassinated by order of President Obama in 2011. But this is also the story of an ever-expanding national security state, of the U.S.'s ever-expanding global wars, and of Barack Obama's war against whistleblowers and press freedom.

And it's also the story of the corrupt U.S. news media, determined to serve the powerful rather than hold them to account.


In Part One, Scahill lambastes the Establishment media's Washington press corps and begins the story of Awlaki. He shows how how the Bush Administration's "Global War on Terror" transformed this American from a nonpolitical student . . . to the darling of the Washington elite . . . to a radical opponent of the U.S.'s wars in the Middle East--and a man marked for death by the Obama administration.

In Part 2, Scahill tells of Obama's secret war in Yemen, revealed by Yemeni journalist Abduleleh Haider Shaye--who was then abducted by US forces and imprisoned by Yemen's dictator at the insistence of President Obama. Scahill contrasts Haider Shaye's courage with the sycophancy of the US press corps.

Scahill tells also of the Obama administration's war against the press--and of the government-ordered assassination without trial of US citizens Anwar al-Awlaki and then his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman.

Jeremy gave this talk at the "Socialism 2013" conference, in Chicago, in June 2013.  A video is available from wearemany.org.

16-year-old American citizen Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, son of Anwar. Killed in Yemen by a U.S. drone strike two weeks after his father was killed. The President refuses to say why.




Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Palast & Pilger on Colonialism & Democracy

New World Notes #291 (October 1, 2013):

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(L to R:) Hugo Chavez (Venezuela),
Fidel Castro (Cuba), Evo Morales (Bolivia)

In brief

Two dispatches from South America show progress from (1) colonialism to (2) neocolonialism to (3) neocolonialism disguised as democracy to (4) democracy.

Greg Palast reports from Ecuador (Stage 3), ruthlessly exploited by & practically a colony of the World Bank and global financial institutions.  John Pilger reports from Bolivia, which has recently and tentatively arrived at Stage 4.  The US should be so fortunate!

Notes, credits, & links

We play selections (on Bolivia) from John Pilger's film, War on Democracy, adapted to radio by Lyn Gerry for the Unwelcome Guests Collective (http://unwelcomeguests.net).  Many thanks.  KD reads passages on Ecuador from Greg Palast's book, Armed Madhouse.

Music added: Chumbawamba, "The Bad Squire"; Sam Cooke, "A Change Is Gonna Come" (Pilger film theme-song)

This is a replay of NWN #71 (July 2009).
Journalist/filmmaker John Pilger

Monday, September 23, 2013

Vermont Yankee, Farewell (Sort of)

New World Notes #290 (September 24, 2013):

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Entergy Corporation's Vermont Yankee
Nuclear Power Station (2004)

In brief:

The good news: New England's most decrepit nuclear power plant--Vermont Yankee--is ceasing operations after more than four decades.   

The bad news: All its deadly radioactive material will just sit there untouched, on the banks of the Connecticut River, for the next 60 years. 

The really odd news: For many years the public has tried and failed to shut this plant down.  For three years, the Vermont legislature has tried and failed to shut this plant down. But the owner, Entergy Corporation, defeated every attempt to close its little New England moneymaker.  Then in August 2013, Entergy Corp. itself decided to shut to shut the plant down.  Just another business decision.

Moral: The public be damned, but business is business!

We'll hear details on the closing and then selections from Dr. Helen Caldicott's memorable 2009 speech--in Brattleboro, Vermont--on why the people have to shut Vermont Yankee down (and all its brethren as well).

 Vermont Yankee, 2007 (cooling tower collapse)

 Vermont Yankee, 2004 (overly warm transformer)


Monday, September 16, 2013

US vs Syria: What the Heck is Going On?

New World Notes #289 (September 17, 2013:

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In brief:

President Obama's rationale for bombing Syria is so preposterous, so illegal--and so unpersuasive to the American public--that one has to ask, What is this warmongering really about? 

The show features some provocative answers to that question by commentators Bruce Dixon and Eric Margolis, law professor Marjorie Cohn, singer Pete Seeger, and yours, truly. One thing all agree on: chemical weapons are not the real reason.

Credits and links:

Marjorie Cohn audio is excerpted from an interview on The Michael Slate Show.  The hour-long show is available here.  Thanks to Michael Slate.

The complete, uncut text of Eric Margolis' "Syria: March to Disaster" is available on Common Dreams.

Bruce Dixon's audio commentaries may be heard at Black Agenda Report.

Marjorie Cohn



Sunday, September 1, 2013

Obey and Keep Calm

Part One: New World Notes #287 (September 3):

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Part Two: New World Notes #288 (September 10):

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 Temujin Doran (Click to enlarge)

In Brief

The propaganda barrage preceding the US attack on Syria has begun. So all the more timely is Temujin Doran's new film, Obey: How the Rise of Mass Propaganda Killed Populism. It's about the military, political, and economic crimes of the Corporate State. It features readings from from Chris Hedges' 2010 book, Death of the Liberal Class.

In Part One, we'll hear the first half of Obey and then--to cheer things up a bit--a sweet short film by Doran explaining the slogan, "Keep calm and carry on."

In Part Two, we'll have some words about our Syria war-fever, and we'll read Chidanand Rajghatta's new essay, "Why America Cannot Live Without Wars."  Then on to the second half of Obey.

Temujin Doran's Web site is http://studiocanoe.com/ .


Chris Hedges

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Radio Broadcast Schedule

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
  • Sundays, 12:30-1:00 PM, WIEC-LP, FM 102.7 (Eau Claire, WI) & http://wiecradio.org/ Repeats Mondays at noon
  • Mondays, 10:30-11 AM, WVEW-LP FM 107.7 (Brattleboro, VT) & http://wvew.org/ 
  • Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH-FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT) & http://wwuh.org/  Repeats Wednesday at 8:30 PM
  • Tuesdays,  Noon to 12:30 PM, WAPJ FM 89.9 and 105.1 (Torrington, CT) & http://wapjfm.com/ .  Same time on WJDW FM 89.7 (Somers, CT) and WWEB FM 89.9 (Wallingford, CT) 
  • Saturdays, 8-8:30 AM, WAZU-FM 90.7 (Peoria, IL) & http://www.wazufm.org/ . Repeats Mondays at 12:30 AM
  • Saturdays, 1:00-1:30 PM, KRFP-FM 90.3, Radio Free Moscow (Moscow, ID) & http://www.radiofreemoscow.com/
  • Various days and times, multiple times each week, KGIG-FM 104.9) (Modesto, CA) & http://valleymedia.org/kgig/. .  Likewise on KHCF-FM 89.9 (Gilroy, CA)
  • Any time: Listen to or download any installment: See complete listing on the right side of our Web page.
Revised 12-23-2015


The Costs of Imperialism

Part 1: New World Notes #285 (August 20):

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Part 2: New World Notes #286 (August 27):

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In brief 

A brilliant, witty speech by Progressive political scientist Michael Parenti, delivered in 1994.  First in a New World Notes series of classic talks by Parenti.

In Part 1, Parenti argues that the U.S. is an imperial power.  However, the goal of this empire is not national glory but rather increasing the profits of the Fortune 500.  He shows how "neoimperialism" has replaced "direct-rule" imperialism, how empires cannibalize the republics from which they sprang, and how imperialism is a matter of class politics more than national politics.

In Part 2, Parenti develops his point that empires are about class and wealth, not nationalism. Empires are ruinously expensive, but the expense is paid by [what we would now call] the 99% in order to make the 1% even richer. The costs include not only dollars but also environmental damage, the gutting of the civilian economy, loss of liberty, degradation of politics and public discourse, increasing poverty, many deaths and injuries of our soldiers, and many others.

The gloomy picture is enlivened by Parenti's trademark wit and humor.
With many examples from recent U.S. history.  Introduction by K.D.

Note: In Part 1, Parenti and I each discuss the U.S.'s glorious military victory over the island nation of Grenada. This year marks our great triumph's 30th anniversary!


Michael Parenti

  
 

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Surveillance Then and Now

New World Notes #284 (August 13)

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View of the National Security Agency campus, 
Fort Meade, Maryland. (Click to enlarge.)

In brief

The National Security Agency and its predecessors have been spying on Americans for 95 years. This program features selections from a witty lecture on NSA history by James Bamford. Plus relevant music by Roy Zimmerman and Anne Feeney.

Question: If NSA sometimes ignores orders from the President, who do they report to?

With a new introduction (August 2013).  Originally broadcast as New World Notes #18 (June, 2008). Bamford segment courtesy of Mike McCormick & his Mind Over Matters radio program.



Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Dog Day Afternoon at the Movies

New World Notes #283 (August 6):

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In brief

Three short documentary films on fossil fuels, pollution, and the environment:
  • 300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds by the Post Carbon Institute (Richard Heinberg)
  • The Story of Cap & Trade by Annie Leonard
  • The Story of Electronics by Annie Leonard
This is a rerun of NWN #178 (August 2, 2011).

Photo: Still from The Last Picture Show (Click to enlarge.)


Tuesday, July 30, 2013

MORE Things Fall Apart

New World Notes #282 (July 30):

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In brief

KD reflects on still more appliances that are self-destructing everywhere he turns. Somehow his ailing washing machine becomes a metaphor for all that's wrong with the U.S. government and economic system. With a comic-satiric song by Roy Zimmerman and a new video by the Progressive economists, ECON4.


Monday, July 22, 2013

Michael Parenti vs God & His Demons

Part One -- New World Notes #280 (July 16):

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Part Two -- New World Notes #281 (July 23):

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In brief

In a telephone interview with me on April 6, 2010, Left-leaning political scientist Michael Parenti discusses his book, God and His Demons (Prometheus Books)--a survey of the woes caused in the name of, and by, Organized Religion.

In Part One, Parenti talks about rampant child sexual abuse by the Christian (and other) clergy and the coverup thereof--and now, at the Vatican, the coverup of the coverup. He talks about the venality of the Protestant televangelists and the oppressive Buddhist theocracy in Tibet before the Chinese Communists took over. He talks about our society's ignoring some sins frequently denounced in the Bible--e.g., charging high interest rates ("usury")--while we piously condemn "sins" the Bible never mentions (gay marriage, abortion). And he rebuts creationism, "Intelligent Design," . . . and some of the conclusions of Charles Darwin.

In Part Two, Parenti discusses the unholy alliance of the Church, the nation-state, and economic power; ... FEMA's enlistment of the clergy to preach obedience to authority; ... and the Christian Right's takeover of the Air Force Academy. He ends with praise for 2 unorthodox 16th-century Christians--Montaigne and Giordano Bruno--and explaining why, despite everything, he's not an atheist.

These installments were originally broadcast, as NWN #112 & 113, in April-May 2010.

Music added: satiric songs by Roy Zimmerman.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Naomi Klein on CIA Project MK-ULTRA

New World Notes #279, for Tuesday, July 9 (WWUH)

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In brief

For two decades or more, the CIA conducted secret experiments in torture and mind-control as Project MK-ULTRA. As subjects they used American and Canadian citizens who were unaware of what was happening to them.

Naomi Klein tells the story of Gail Kastner, who discovered decades later that the CIA (via her psychiatrist) had permanently damaged her mind with drugs, sensory deprivation, and electroshock.

Klein reads from her book, The Shock Doctrine.

This installment is a rerun of New World Notes #64 (May 2009). The profusely illustrated blog page for the original broadcast is well worth a look.

 

Monday, July 1, 2013

Imperialism at Home and Abroad

New World Notes #278, for Tuesday, July 2 (WWUH)

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In brief

Includes the final part of Glen Ford's talk (begun in NWN #276 & 277) plus a short commentary by Ford and a song by David Rovics.

This week, Ford's focus is the US's current attempt (by means of AFRICOM) to control Africa's resources and trade by controlling Africa's militaries. And relatedly, Ford addresses the US government's war against civil liberties at home.

Rovics' song, Meanwhile in Afghanistan, gives another view of military attacks overseas and attacks on the Bill of Rights at home.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Imperialism, Wall Street, and War

Listen to or download Part One now (Good quality 64 kbps--13 MB)
Listen to or download Part Two now (Broadcast qlty. 192 kbps--40 MB)
Listen to or download Part Two now (Good quality 64 kbps--13 MB)

To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.

New World Notes News
Vol. 6, Nos. 24-25 -- June 16, 2013


This fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #276-277, June 18 & 25

Glen Ford on
Imperialism, Wall Street, and War

(in 2+ parts)


In brief

A fine talk Glen Ford gave at Trinity College, in Hartford, on April 6.

Ford shows that much of American foreign policy--including military interventions in the Third World--is all about containing China.

The US cannot compete with China economically because Wall Street sold off our manufacturing assets to inflate its own profits. To protect corporate profits, the US's only remaining source of power is its huge military--which the government is now wielding globally with blatant disregard of national sovereignty and international law.

Ford speaking in Hartford, April 6, 2013

Notes, credits, & links

Ford's talk was recorded on video by The Struggle (www.thestruggle.org). Many thanks to them. I have lightly edited the audio, removing stumbles and hesitations.

For more by Glen Ford, see www.blackagendareport.com/

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "Yum-Yum tree") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview:
Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.


Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Fat-Free Snake Oil

To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.

New World Notes News
Vol. 6, No. 23 -- June 11, 2013


This week in New World Notes, radio program #275, June 11, 2013

Fat-Free Snake Oil


In brief

Two critical views of the American economic system--one trivial, one profound.

First, product marketing run amok. K.D. discusses the 40 different varieties of Colgate toothpaste at the supermarket.* Then we explore why spray cooking oil--which is 99% fat--is sold as "fat-free spray oil."

Then Noam Chomsky discusses Big Business's expensive campaign to accelerate global climate change regardless of its threat to all life on the planet. This recent talk is titled, Wrecking Nature for Short-Term Profit.

* Full disclosure: Stop & Shop in Manchester had only 29 varieties. Anyone desperately needing Colgate Total Zx Pro-Shield Plus Sensitivity is just going to have to settle for Colgate MaxFresh with Mini Breath Strips--Crystal Mint.

The state-socialist economic system of the Soviet Union resulted in plentiful arctic ice but frequent shortages of consumer products.  The capitalist economic system of the United States has resulted in 40 different varieties of Colgate toothpaste alone--to say nothing of "fat-free" spray oil--but a bit of a shortage of arctic ice.  This proves that the obviously superior economic system is ... er ... give me another minute ... 

Notes, credits, & links

Of particular interest: Chomsky explains that the Magna Carta (signed in 1215) had two sections. The section establishing political liberties (the Charter of Liberties--the part you've heard of) has been largely scrapped by the Bush II and Obama administrations. The section they never told you about, the Charter of Forests,established the people's rights to free use of the natural resources they needed to live. This part was scrapped a couple of centuries back, in the early days of capitalism.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "What, me worry?") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview:
Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.


Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • June 18 -- Glen Ford, speaking in Hartford (part 1)
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
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