Thursday, September 23, 2010

The Somehat Lighter Side of Cell Phones


New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 39 -- September 25, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #134, September 28 & October 2:

The Somewhat Lighter Side
of Cell Phones

Senator Chuck (formerly Charles) Schumer has co-sponsored a bill
requiring all purchases of prepaid cell phones to be registered--
to keep them out of the hands of drug dealers and terrorists.

Most photos: click to enlarge.

In brief

Our third look at cell phones and related equipment is less gloomy and more amusing than the first two (NWN #127 & 133).

We'll see grandstanding U.S. Senators denouncing prepaid cell phones as tools of drug dealers, gang members, and (of course) terrorists--and calling for purchases to be registered.

In the second part of "Wireless Mind, Gullible Mind," Chellis Glendinning wittily catalogues the psychological defense mechanisms people employ to avoid recognizing that electromagnetic radiation from cells, Wi-Fi, and WiMAX is harmful to health. She also catalogues instances of citizens' (sometimes successful) resistance to cell towers, Wi-Fi hotspots, and WiMAX in their environment.

Spoken-word artist Jello Biafra comically satirizes the inadequacies of much of the new communications technologies in solving problems and in fostering human relationships (though he's in favor of making phone calls).

Finally, a selection of amusing items from this year's Beloit College Mindset List--designed to remind professors of how different entering freshmen's memories and cultural references are from their own. Some items involve communications devices. Other items don't--such as the reminder that, to students, "Fergie" is a pop singer, not a princess.

His music is an acquired taste, but Jello Biafra's political
and cultural commentary is astute and funny.

Notes, credits, & links

This week's incidental music: Glenn Miller Orchestra, Pennsylvania 6-5000.

The complete text of Chellis Glendinning's "Wireless Mind, Gullible Mind" is here.

The complete Beloit College Mindset List for the entering Class of 2014 is here.

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. New World Notes' main audio archive is at 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. 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.

Bottom: Typical Beloit College undergraduate. The college's annual
Mindset List reminds professors how different freshmen are from
themselves. For one, most freshmen don't wear wristwatches;
instead, they consult the clock on their cell phone.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)

  • October 5 -- Gulf Oil.
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Saturday, September 18, 2010

The OTHER Problem with Cell Phones



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 38 -- September 18, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #133, September 21 & 25:

The Other Problem with Cell Phones

In brief

Our previous program on cell phones (NWN #127) focused on the mineral wars in the Congo to supply the metals the phones (& other gadgets) need.

Today we focus on the bad health effects of the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from cell phones--and from cell towers, Wi-Fi hotspots, and (worse yet) WiMAX hot spots. We'll hear from psychotherapist Chellis Glendinning and the late New Zealand scientist Dr. Neil Cherry. And we'll hear about Project Pandora: the CIA's EMR studies on the unwitting staff of the US Embassy in Moscow.

Top: Chellis Glendinning. Bottom: Dr. Neil Cherry.
Most photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes, credits, & links

The complete text of Chellis Glendinning's "Wireless Mind, Gullible Mind" is here.

Neil Cherry's remarks courtesy of Maria Gilardin and TUCradio.org.

The uncut article on "Project Pandora" is here.

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. New World Notes' main audio archive is at 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. 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.

Top: The former U.S. Embassy, Moscow, 1959. The Soviets began beaming electromagnetic radiation at the building in the 1950s. The CIA discovered the irradiation in 1962, studied the bad health effects on Embassy staff (and monkeys the CIA brought in!) for more than a decade, then notified the Embassy staff of their peril in 1976.
Bottom: This and the first illustration are by David Dees.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)

  • September 28 -- The (Somewhat) Lighter Side of Cell Phones.
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Friday, September 10, 2010

Food (2): The Big Boys Muscle In



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 37 -- September 11, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #132, September 14 & 18:

Food (2):
The Big Boys Muscle In

In brief

Wall Street titans shaped global agriculture to their own liking and have been making a killing on it--too often literally. In an interview, historian William Engdahl explains how (and why) the Rockefeller brothers created today's centralized, vertically integrated, petroleum-intensive, corporate-controlled global agribusiness. He also discusses why the Rockefeller empire is pushing so hard for genetically-modified foods. No, "to better feed the world's hungry" is not the answer to either "why" question.

Global grain prices went through the roof in 2008--greatly increasing hunger and triggering riots worldwide. Alan Maass (read aloud) shows that this price spike was an artificial bubble inflated mostly by Goldman Sachs--just like the recent high-tech and housing bubbles. Mumia Abu-Jamal, recorded in April 2008, astutely analyzes the then-ongoing price surge.

2008 saw "food riots" in the Philippines (top); Port-au-Prince,
Haiti
(bottom); and many other places, worldwide.
Most photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes, credits, & links

This week's music: Monty Python, "Money."

I've condensed both the Maass and the Engdahl pieces for radio. Maass's complete article, "Banking on Hunger," is here. Thanks to Susan Rosenthal for sending it to me.

The Engdahl interview is by Ken MacDermotRoe, from his radio show, History Counts. The uncut installment is here.

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. New World Notes' main audio archive is at 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. 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.

Top: The Rockefeller Brothers in 1960. Standing: David. Seated, l to r:
Laurance, Winthrop, John D. 3rd, Nelson.

Bottom: Goldman Sachs CEO & Chairman Lloyd Blankfein


Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)

  • September 21 -- The Other Problem With Cell Phones
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Food-price protest in Mexico, 2008



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Friday, September 3, 2010

Labor Day Musical Special (R)

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New World Notes News
Volume 3, Number 36 -- September 3, 2009

This week in New World Notes, radio program #131, September 7:


Labor Day Musical Special

A re-run of last year's show, with updated preface. I'm taking the day off. Featuring (in order of appearance)

David Rovics, The Day the Minimum Wage Workers Went on Strike. A classic celebration of the working class and of strength in solidarity . . . with some very nice banjo picking.

Mad Agnes, Katie. A witty and sharp critique of bourgeois life from the perspective of the long-suffering--and admirable--cleaning lady.

The Foremen, Workin' on an MBA. Comic satire of the cushy life, & boundless self-pity, of the men in the gray flannel suits--set to a tune that recalls a Mississippi chain gang.

Utah Phillips, Moose Turd Pie. Spoken, w/ a little guitar. Utah recalls (with only the slightest hint of exaggeration) the worst job he ever held.

Anne Feeney, Business News / Hallelujah, I'm a Bum! A beautiful rendition of an 1890's song about unemployment (yep: that "18" is correct!); a fine homage to Simon & Garfunkel's 1965 classic, "Silent Night / 6 o'Clock News"; and a good song on its own terms.

John McCutcheon, Doing Our Job. McCutcheon applies Cal Ripken Jr.'s modest remarks upon breaking a major-league record to America's working people generally. A long-overdue celebration of the best of American working-class values.

Base (Workers & Farmers): We Work for all. . . . We feed all.
Level 2 (Corporate fatcats): We eat for you.
Level 3 (Soldiers): We shoot at you.
Level 4 (Clergy): We fool you.
Level 5 (Kings, Presidents, etc.): We Rule you.
Top (Moneybag): Capitalism. Click to enlarge.

Coming soon (dates of WWUH Tuesday broadcast shown):

  • September 14--Food (2): The Big Boys Muscle In

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Lunch: Rockefeller Center (Photo by Charles C. Ebbetts, 1932)


Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Drive to War Against Iran



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 35 -- August 28, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #130, August 31 & Sept.4:

The Drive to War Against Iran

In brief

The run-up to war on Iran sure looks a lot like the run-up to war on Iraq. For example, our government is demonizing the country's leadership, ensuring that all negotiations fail, and loudly denouncing a nuclear-weapons program that does not exist.

In an interview with Canadian host Brandon Stone, Richmond (Virginia) activist Phil Wilayto lucidly describes and explains the U.S. geopolitical, diplomatic, and military strategies concerning Iran. Also discussed: the real reason the U.S. is determined to crush Iran . . . the insanity of a military strike . . .and the need for peace activists to organize.

Of particular interest is Wilayto's discussion of how the U.S. play-acts at negotiating a diplomatic settlement--while ensuring no settlement is reached and destroying settlements negotiated by third parties (e.g., the Brazil-Turkey deal to enrich Iran's reactor rods). The object of the charade is to persuade people that military attack is the only remaining option. Sounds like a Conspiracy Theory, but Dennis Ross, Obama's chief advisor on Iran, has described this policy in writing.

Top: Phil Wilayto. Bottom: Veteran diplomat Dennis Ross--
a neoconservative, a Zionist, and a longtime advocate for Israel--
is chief White House advisor on Iran. Most photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes, credits, & links

Thanks to Brandon Stone, co-host of the program "Unusual Sources" on station CFMU-FM in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

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.

Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.
Free weekly NWN email newsletter on request.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. New World Notes' main audio archive is at 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. 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 date shown)

  • September 7 -- Labor Day Musical Special
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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Food, Hunger, and Globalized Corporate Agriculture (1)

New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 34 -- August 21, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #129, August 24 & 28:

Food, Hunger, and Globalized
Corporate Agriculture (1)

In brief

The price of food spiked in 2007-2008, greatly increasing hunger--and triggering food riots--worldwide. The riots drew attention to the bizarre system now in place, in which a handful of huge, vertically integrated corporations control food production and distribution globally. They are aided by corrupt transnational institutions such as the World Bank and corrupt national governments.

And financial speculators know that food bubbles can be just as profitable as high-tech bubbles and housing bubbles--even if they involve starving a few dozen million additional people.

This installment features a lively discussion of such matters by food-and-agriculture experts Katarina Wahlberg and Raj Patel (recorded in 2008) and a reading of Paul Craig Roberts' recent essay, "Chelsea's Wedding: Let Them Eat Cake."

Top: Church soup kitchen in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.
Bottom: Somewhere in Africa. Most photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes, credits, & links

This installment on agriculture is the first of a series. We'll have the next installment (insh'allah) in three weeks.

Thanks to the weekly radio program "Building Bridges," and to producers Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg, for the Wahlberg-Patel dialogue.

I have condensed Paul Craig Roberts' essay. The original is printed here. Thanks to Roberts and to counterpunch.org .

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.
Free weekly NWN email newsletter on request.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. New World Notes' main audio archive is at 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. 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.

Bottom: In the background stands the Kansas National Guard Agribusiness
Development Team, shortly before being packed off to Afghanistan. What
the heck?? By now you know I'm not clever enough to make stuff like
this up. Check out the Official Story.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)

  • August 31 -- The U.S. War Against Iran, featuring Phil Wilayto.
Catch New World Notes(all times Eastern):



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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Class, Health, & Health Care



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 33 -- August 14, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #128, August 17 & 21:

Class, Health, & Health Care

In brief

In this installment, Canadian health-care activist Susan Rosenthal, MD, discusses

  • the horrors of working-class life in England during the Industrial Revolution (ca. 1845)
  • the problems with Canada's "single-payer" health-care system
  • how the profit motive and computers have brought us "assembly-line medicine" and
  • the successful health-care reforms established in Chile, under Allende, in the 1970s

From our telephone conversation of July 2.

Susan Rosenthal and her new book. The "read it now" link doesn't work
here. Try the links at susanrosenthal.com. Most photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes, credits, & links

Susan Rosenthal's new book--Sick and Sicker: Essays on Class, Health and Health Care--is available in paperback (from her) or as a "Kindle" electronic book from Amazon.com. http://susanrosenthal.com/ .

Part 1 of our conversation, program installment #123, remains available.

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.

Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.
Free weekly NWN email newsletter on request.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. New World Notes' main audio archive is at 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. 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.

Salvador Allende's government introduced sweeping reforms to the
health-care system in Chile in the 1970s--much to the displeasure of
the Chilean Medical Association. What the Chileans did we could do.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)

  • August 24 -- Food, Hunger, and Globalized Agriculture.
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Saturday, August 7, 2010

Cell Phones



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 32 -- August 7, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #127, August 10 & 13:

Cell Phones

In brief

Trying to lighten up a bit, I look at consumer electronics, especially cell phones--and find myself in the midst of a bloodbath in Congo. There rival factions rape, mutilate, and slaughter the citizens, attempting to control the mines that produce minerals our gadgets require--tungsten, tin, tantalum, gold, and coltan. 5+ million have died. Consumers are pressuring electronics manufacturers to monitor their supply chains and to avoid purchasing Congolese "conflict minerals."

Contributors to this installment include Lisa F. Jackson, Nicholas Kristof, John Prendergast, Mac vs. PC, and Janis Joplin.

Top: Soldier or militiaman in Congo, 2008.
Bottom: human-rights crusader John Prendergast. (Yes,
the resemblance is striking.)
Most photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes, credits, & links

Clarification: Coltan is the ore from which the metal tantalum is refined. I didn't understand this when I recorded the program.

www.raisehopeforcongo.org

Passage by Lisa F. Jackson courtesy of Mike McCormick's program, Mind Over Matters. Nicholas Kristof's, "Death by Gadget" appeared in the New York Times "Week in Review" section, June 27, 2010, p. 11.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "counter") 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. New World Notes' main audio archive is at 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. 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.

Top: Children, reported to be slaves, mine coltan in Congo.
Bottom: Cell-phone recycling center.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)

  • August 17 -- Dr. Susan Rosenthal, on the causes and cures of North America's bad health-care systems (Part 2).
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):




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Friday, July 23, 2010

War Made Easy

List all installments archived on radio4all.net or archive.org

New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 30-31 -- July 24, 2010

This fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #125-126, July 27 & August 3:

War Made Easy


In brief

A fine documentary film from 2007--slightly condensed and adapted for radio by yours, truly.

The film shows how lies and propaganda from the government and the media persuade Americans to support an endless succession of unnecessary wars abroad. It features commentary by Norman Solomon and Sean Penn plus much TV footage from the 1960s through 2007.

The very same propaganda techniques used to get us and keep us mired in the Vietnam War are being used today to support the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan--and to build support for near-future war with Iran.

Part One examines the lies & the propaganda techniques they use to get us into war. Part Two focuses on the propaganda techniques used to maintain public support for an ongoing war . . . and finally to keep the war going long after public opinion has turned against it.

Top: (Clockwise from top:) Master liar and war propagandist Lyndon B.
Johnson; commentator Norman Solomon; famed newscaster Walter
Cronkite, on location, promoting the war in Vietnam.

Bottom: Belgrade, 1999, bombarded by US/NATO air forces. Americans
were told this was in order to protect the Muslims in Bosnia from the
ethnic Serbs in Bosnia. Senior U.S. official Strobe Talbott later admitted
that the real reason was to punish Serbia for attempting to chart an
independent economic course. Serbia had refused to join the World
Trade Organization and the European Union.
Most photos: Click to enlarge.


Notes, credits, & links

The video War Made Easy was produced by the Media Education Foundation. It is online at the Web site of the U.K. organization, Make Wars History.

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.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. New World Notes' main audio archive is at 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. 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.

Bottom: Secretary of State Colin Powell, attempting to convince the
world that Iraq was awash in "weapons of mass destruction." The
foreign news media were skeptical, noting that Powell had presented
almost no real evidence for his claims. The U.S. media were practically
unanimous in praising Powell's "irrefutable," "masterful" presentation.
Remember?

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)

  • August 10 -- Cell Phones

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