Showing posts with label Michael Parenti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Parenti. Show all posts

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Sick of War

New World Notes News
Vol. 4, No. 19 -- May 7, 2011

This week in New World Notes, radio program #166, May 10, 2011

Sick of War

In brief

Since my birth in 1950, U.S. foreign policy seems to have consisted of war, war, empire building, and more war. Is anybody else sick of this? ... or at least feeling broke from paying for it all?

Two fine thinkers (and I too) explore the problem.

(1) Michael Parenti (1990s) discusses the the functions & purposes of the American empire and why "we" invade so many countries and overthrow their governments--many of them democracies. With an update by Parenti, from 2009, on the real reasons for our bombing of the former Yugoslavia (recorded live in West Hartford by me).

(2) Bruce Gagnon--famed crusader against the militarization of space & related worthy issues--discusses the U.S.'s policy of Endless War and the related destruction of our industrial base. And he shows who profits from these events. HINT: it's not our children, who face a future of no jobs outside the armed forces. (Also recorded live in West Hartford by me, in 2010.)

Above: Bruce Gagnon in 2004.

Notes, credits, & links

Music (outro): from Pete Seeger, Bring 'Em Home

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "boiler room") 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.

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.


Kenneth Dowst


Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)



  • May 17 -- Joe Bageant
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Saturday, April 23, 2011

They Warned Us!



New World Notes News
Vol. 4, No. 17 -- April 23, 2011



This week in New World Notes, radio program #164, April 26, 2011



They Warned Us!



In brief


The country is in a mess, economically, politically, in terms of civil liberties ... you name it! Well, it's not that nobody warned us where we were heading! Three prophets of years past combine wit, humor, and insight:

(1) Comedian George Carlin (2 routines from the 1990s) discusses the exploitation by the rich of everyone else, our non-functioning democracy, the falseness of The American Dream, class warfare, "divide and conquer," and Wall Street's determination to get your Social Security money for themselves.

(2) Political scientist Michael Parenti (early 1990s) corroborates Carlin on Social Security.

(3) Parenti goes on to discuss the U.S. government's & media's (then-recent or ongoing) propaganda campaigns seeking to drum up public support for attacking Libya, Panama, and Iraq--and for overthrowing the governments of Gaddafi, Noriega, & Saddam Hussein (respectively).

(4) Spoken-word artist Jello Biafra (2008, before the election) warns that Obama is just another "business as usual" politician dedicated only to reducing civil liberties, building the empire, and advancing the financial interests of the powerful corporations. (Just look at his voting record in the Senate!)


Below: Michael Parenti


Notes, credits, & links
New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "imprimatur") 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'>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.
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.


Above: Jello Biafra


Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)



  • May 3 -- Peasant of the Dawn Very nice audiocollage by Virtual Renderings.
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Friday, February 18, 2011

Who Are the REAL Gangsters?


New World Notes News
Vol. 4, No. 8 -- February 18, 2011

This week in New World Notes, radio program #155, February 22, 2011

Who Are the REAL Gangsters?

Repentant former "economic hit-man" John Perkins, backed by a display of his celebrated Confessions . . . . (Photo by Peter Thompson for the New York Times.) Most photos: Click to enlarge.

Don's summary

No big surprise in the answer. Vinnie "the Chin" Gigante couldn't hold a candle to Lloyd "Mr. Blankfein" Blankfein, Capo de tutti capi of the Goldman Sachs Mob. But the specific examples here should entertain, amuse, and (if all goes well) p*** you off.

We feature

  1. a preposterous news story (every phrase a cliche') about how the cops have yet again broken the back of the Mafia in the Northeast. I've been reading this story since 1960. This time, 800 cops in 3 states participated in the bust, and the biggest kingpin they caught is to be charged with 2--count 'em, 2--homicides. I think our local Superintendent of Schools has more notches than that in her Smith & Wesson's backstrap.
  2. a nice essay by Michael Parenti on the Mafia (read aloud by me)
  3. one of the fine audio collages by Virtual Renderings. This one focuses on the Banksters generally and particularly on the plundering of the Third World by the World Bank and the IMF. Includes reflections by John Perkins on the role of "economic hit-men" in further enriching the rich by robbing the poor.

Top: Friendly, neighborhood Mafia don of my boyhood, Angelo ("The Gentle Don") Bruno, head of organized crime in Greater Philadelphia, 1959-1980. According to Michael Parenti (bottom), Bruno was the model for Mario Puzo's character, Don Vito Corleone. Bruno died suddenly in 1980, apparently at the behest of the Philadelphia family's rogue consigliere, Antonio "Tony Bananas" Caponigri. Tony Bananas died, a little less suddenly, very soon afterwards.

Notes, credits, & links

www.michaelparenti.org/ . The uncut Mafia essay is here: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/20-1

Audio collage by Virtual Renderings, from "RedPill Tales: Money Changers [1]". More by V.R. here: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/contributor/2102

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "aegis") 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.

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.
 Can you name this pair of high-ranking mob bosses? Hint 1: Their thievery makes Don Angelo look like Robin Hood by comparison. Hint 2: In place of the old-school honorific, "Godfather," they preferred to be addressed as "Mister Secretary." If you slipped and called them "Mr. Paulson" (top) or "Mr. Geithner" (bottom), you'd probably escape with only a light additional robbing to remind you to show more respect next time.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut dates shown)

  • March 1 on WWUH -- Special hour-long live broadcast for the station's semiannual Fundraising Marathon (noon to 1 PM).
  • March 1-ish elsewhere -- War and Religion. Combine the State, religion, war, and propaganda, and . . . we're doomed! This early installment of New World Notes--from March 2008--has never before been heard outside Greater Hartford.
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

Why not take the House of Saud with you?


A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net

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Saturday, October 30, 2010

Haiti: The Shape of Things to Come?



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 44 -- October 30, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #139, November 2:

Haiti:
The Shape of Things to Come?

Garment factory in Haiti.

In brief

Third World people are intentionally kept poor so that our rich "investors" may become still richer. British journalist Johann Hari argues this case, using Haiti as example. Michael Parenti (from the early 1990s) concurs, with examples from Haiti and elsewhere. I suggest that the US is now being pushed down the same road as Haiti. And comedians Bob and Ray offer a comic look at a domestic company that has adopted a Third-World business model: The Great Lakes Paper Clip Company.

Top: Aristide, of Haiti (2010): Probably the only democratically elected
head of government to have been overthrown twice by the United States.
Bottom: Brit journalist/commentator Johann Hari.

Notes, credits, & links

http://www.michaelparenti.org/

Johann Hari's "Suffocating the Poor: A Modern Parable" from Common Dreams, September 19, 2010.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "very noses") 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.

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 dates shown)

  • November 9 & 16 -- JFK in 1963: Disarmament Crusader
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Friday, July 16, 2010

It's Not Character Flaws: It's Policy



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 29 -- July 17, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #124, July 20:

It's Not Character Flaws:
It's Policy

Baghdad, 2003. All this mayhem because Bush is a dry drunk, and
Dad preferred Jeb? Most photos: Click to enlarge.

In brief

Pundits like to attribute bad government policies to supposed "character flaws" in the Chief Executive.

Bush smashed Iraq because he's a "dry drunk" who feels the need to prove himself to Dad (who always preferred Jeb)--the explanation goes. Not in order to increase U.S. control over the Middle East's countries and oil.

Why did Obama let Wall Street destroy the U.S. economy and then reward it with a gift of a trillion dollars? Why did he let Big Oil destroy the Gulf and our Gulf states? According to Times pundit Frank Rich, because Obama is "too deferential" to the opinons of experts. He's "too trusting" in the advice of his own staff. Character flaws. Not because Obama is a tool and handmaiden of Big Finance and Big Oil (both of which were also Big Campaign Contributors).

First I and then political scientist Michael Parenti argue that Presidents push bad policies in order to further benefit the ruling elite at the expense of the rest of us. I focus on Obama and include a reading from Frank Rich's preposterous op-ed, mentioned above. Parenti (speaking in January 2008) touches on G.W. Bush's economic policies, Iraq war, and ethnic cleansing of New Orleans. He argues that all were deliberate policies--ruthlessly executed and largely successful--not unfortunate results of character flaws.

Goldman Sachs and BP get away with murder because Barack Obama (top,
with Rahm Emanuel) is too deferential, too trusting of the advice of experts.
Or so pontificates New York Times columnist Frank Rich (bottom). The photo
of Obama appears to be the basis of the famous "Hope" campaign poster.


Notes, credits, & links

This week's music: Utah Phillips, NPR Talking Blues; and David Rovics, Before the Oil Wells Ran Dry

Michael Parenti's remarks--recorded January 22, 2008--courtesy of Maria Gilardin and TUC Radio.

Frank Rich's balderdash was from the New York Times "Week in Review" section, Sunday, June 6, 2010, p. 10.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "thumb") 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. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio.

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.

Did FEMA "mismanage" the New Orleans disaster (bottom) owing to
"incompetence"? Michael Parenti has a contrary notion: letting the
poor neighborhoods of New Orleans drown was a ruthless act of
ethnic cleansing, gentrification, urban redevelopment, and
political realignment.

Coming soon (Tuesday broadcast debut dates shown)

  • July 27 and August 3 -- War Made Easy. A 2-part radio adaptation of this video documentary from 2007. Shows the techniques with which our government and our media drum up public support for war in a well-planned campaign of propaganda and lies. The same techniques are used each time. Features commentary by Norman Solomon and Sean Penn, plus much TV footage from the 1960s through 2007.

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Michael Parenti vs. God and His Demons

Part Two is now available! See link, above.

New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 17 & 18 -- April 25, 2010

This Fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #112 & 113, April 27 & May 4:

Michael Parenti
vs. God and His Demons

Good guy, in Parenti's book:
unorthodox thinker & monk Giordano Bruno
(burned at the stake by the Inquisition in 1600)

In brief:

In a telephone interview with me of April 6, political scientist Michael Parenti discusses his new book, about Organized Religion, God and His Demons (Prometheus Books). We'll replay the conversation over two installments of the radio program.

In the first part (NWN #112), 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 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 the second part (#113), 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 if and when martial law is imposed; ... 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.

Bad guys, in Parenti's book: Televangelist Robert Tilton, Cardinal
William Levada. For his services in protecting pedophile priests as
Archbishop of Portland (Oregon, 1986-1995) and then Archbishop
of San Francisco (1995-2005)--and in bankrupting the Archdiocese
of Portland--Levada was promoted to Cardinal and given a very
high church office in Rome--Head of the Inquisition. Sorry: "Prefect
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith."
As for Tilton, that "giant sucking sound" you hear is money being
removed from the wallets of the poor and desperate.


Notes and credits

http://www.michaelparenti.org/
http://www.prometheusbooks.com/

This week's song: Roy Zimmerman, Creation Science 101
Next week's: Roy Zimmerman, Jerry Falwell's God

New World Notes installments from #10 are archived at A-Infos Radio Project/radio4all.net. Installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments.

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

Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com. Free weekly NWN email newsletter (which much resembles the weekly blog entry) on request.

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 debut date shown:

  • May 11 -- Suppressed by The Press. The top 10 vitally important stories (2000-2009) that commercial journalism didn't want you to worry your pretty little head about. With contributions by Robert Freeman and Robert Parry.
  • May 18 -- Chris Hedges on the Empire of Illusion

Parenti & dust jacket

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Friday, March 19, 2010

Airport Security and Related Scams



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 12 -- March 19, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #107, March 23:

Airport Security and Related Scams

Precursor and spiritual ancestor of the Transportation Security Administration
(TSA): Mack Sennett's The Keystone Kops. Most graphics: Click to enlarge.

Executive summary

Twenty years ago, airports and commercial aircraft were scenes of Orwellian mind-control (hear George Carlin in this installment). And those were the good old days! After 9/11, the police state--fortunately run by the Keystone Kops--seized our airports (hear Jimmy Tingle, Michael Parenti). As we lead up to the preposterous Underwear Bomber scam of last Christmas (hear me, Jim Hightower, & Jon Stewart), we hear from student Nicholas George, busted for trying to carry "learn Arabic" flash cards onto a plane. It is to laugh--and the show does (between screams of outrage).

Notes and Credits

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. Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.

http://www.jimmytingle.com/
http://www.michaelparenti.org/

Bottom: Maidenform bra ad, apparently from 1963. Somehow, the
extremely long-running "I Dreamed ..." ad campaign never tried, "I
dreamed I blew up an airliner with PETN explosives in my Maidenform
bra ... and panties." A pity.

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut dates shown:

  • March 30 -- False-Flag Operations: An Intruduction
  • April 6 -- False-Flag Operations, Part 2

Terrorist suspect Nicholas George, here cleverly disguised as a harmless
backpacker and college student. The TSA, Philadelphia Police, and FBI
were too smart to fall for that old trick. George was busted for trying to
carry basic-Arabic-vocabulary "flash cards" onto a commercial flight.
Why do you think they call them "flash" cards, eh?! Good work, officers!
Mack Sennett would be proud.

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

Populist commentator Jim Hightower. The former Texas state
official (State Agriculture Commissioner) can recognize a scam--
such as full-body scanners in airports--when he smells one.


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Saturday, February 27, 2010

Hannibal Lecter To Replace Dodd in Senate


New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 9 -- February 27, 2010

This Week on New World Notes: Radio pgm. #104, March 2:

Hannibal Lecter To Replace
Dodd in Senate,
or:
Psychopaths: An Introduction

The Ford Pinto, 1971-1980 (1979 model shown)
All photos: Click to enlarge.

Executioner's summary:

Psychopaths are quite common. Most are not hands-on killers. They differ from us in their lack of conscience, inability to imagine others' pain, and total lack of remorse for harm they cause. With these advantages, they rise to the top of hierarchies; and hierarchies become top-heavy with psychopaths. Which explains a good deal of U.S. domestic and foreign policy. Drs. Susan Rosenthal, Michael Parenti, K. Dowst--& redneck social commentator Joe Bageant--explore the implications.

Pinto gas tanks would explode from a 28-mph bump on the rear, jamming
the doors and incinerating the occupants. Ford designed a fix that would
prevent this at a cost of $6 per car. Then Ford did the numbers, calculated
it would be cheaper to settle with the deceased's next-of-kin, and decided
not to employ the fix. Susan Rosenthal tells more, in this installment.
(Photo: skoblin, photobucket.com)

This week's song

  • James McMurtry, Dancin' in the Ruins of the Realm

Notes and credits

The passage by Dr. Susan Rosenthal is read by Lyn Gerry, rebroadcast from an installment of her Unwelcome Guests radio program (see link under "Worth a Look," in the gray sidebar; the URL is below). Thanks to Lyn & the Unwelcome Guests Collective.

The passage is from Chapter 2 of Rosenthal's 2006 book, Power and Powerlessness. The book is available--in some cases without charge--in 3 ways: (1) printed & bound, (2) by Internet download, (3) read aloud over several installments of "Unwelcome Guests."

http://www.susanrosenthal.com/

http://www.unwelcomeguests.org/

Joe Bageant's "Bass Boats and Queer Marriage" is here: http://www.counterpunch.org/bageant01152010.html

The hour-long "Corbett Report" podcast has a couple of interesting installments on the same subject: #90 ("Our Leaders Are Psychopaths") & #113 ("Meet George Soros").

For more fun, see LA Weekly online's "12 Consumer Products That Should Not Have Exploded But Did: Recall-a-rama" (April 1, 2009). Of course they include the Pinto, a.k.a. "the barbecue that seats four."

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "Freedom of Information Act") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford. Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.

Free weekly NWN email newsletter on request.

Top and bottom: New Orleans rooftops, 2005. The authorities knew the
flood was coming, did nothing to prevent it, and took no steps to evacuate
the (mostly poor and black) citizens. Somebody explain why ethnic
cleansing isn't the best term for what happened. Michael Parenti has
more to say on it, in this installment.

Did I mention that--for the first time in 32 years--New Orleans now will have
a white mayor? Scion of the statewide ruling-elite Landrieu family? Son of the
city's last white Mayor (Moon) and brother of a U.S. Senator (Mary)? Mitch
takes office on May 3, 2010, God willing.

Coming Soon

  • March 9 -- Psychopaths With Occam's Razor. The Official Explanations of, say, why the U.S. is invading Afghanistan ... or of what happened on 9-11-2001 ... are of baroque complexity. The principle of "Occam's Razor" suggests that simpler explanations are more likely than Rube Goldberg fantasies to be true. Could "psychopathocracy" be part of a simpler & better explanation?
  • March 16 -- The Second Coming (in American consciousness & popular culture)

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

    Semantics 101: In a disaster, white folks scavenge for food. Black folks
    loot. No officials were available to help evacuate the city's poor & infirm.
    Few were available to rescue the stranded; feed, clothe, & shelter the
    victims; or provide medical care to the injured or ill. Plenty of officials
    were available to protect property (already flood-damaged!) from
    "looters." Incompetence? Or     Heckuva job, Brownie! ?

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Saturday, December 5, 2009

Michael Parenti on "Political Liberties and Economic Democracy"


Bread line, Louisville, Kentucky, 1937. Photo by Margaret
Bourke-White. All Graphics: click to enlarge.


New World Notes News
Vol. 2 No. 48 -- December 8, 2009

This week in New World Notes, radio program #92, Tuesday, December 8:

Michael Parenti on
"Political Liberties and
Economic Democracy"

Workers' Summary

The best parts of Parenti's lecture and Q&A at the University of Hartford on November 4 are here. Parenti argues that improvements in public policy--and in living conditions for the non-rich--resulted from struggle from "below," not from the goodness of the governing elites' hearts. Average citizens fought for greater political liberties as tools to compel concrete improvements in their lives.

This program includes fine parts on airport security, Saddam Hussein, the Maine anti-gay-marriage referendum, and Parenti's forthcoming book on organized religion, God and His Demons.

Egypt, 21st Century

Notes

www.michaelparenti.org

The first 20 or so minutes of Parenti's lecture--on the dislike of democracy by the Framers of our Constitution--with parallels drawn to the Classical world--are not included in this installment of NWN. This omitted segment is intellectually substantial and well worth hearing when you're in the mood for some serious history & political science. Some later parts are snipped as well. I've made a complete, uncut, unedited recording of the entire presentation and Q&A (1h, 12m) available for anyone who cares to hear same. The introduction is by University of Hartford President Walter Harrison.

Recorded live by moi.

Free subscription to weekly New World Notes email newsletter upon request. (Subscribers list is totally confidential.) The newsletter essentially duplicates the weekly blog entry--but some people like the weekly reminder.

Dr. Michael Parenti (plaid shirt)

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut dates on WWUH shown:

  • December 15 -- Afghanistan: Won't Get Fooled Again!
  • December 22 -- Christmas Special ... including reflections on the sack of Fallujah (5th anniversary) and the sack of Gaza (1st anniversary)

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

"Freedom of Speech" by Norman Rockwell. No comment.



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