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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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.

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):




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Thursday, July 15, 2010

BP's Disaster in Our Gulf


Click and drag the slider for leak rates above USGS's/PBS's
lowball estimate. On June 2--when I first posted the Leak
Meter--USGS's estimate was only 540,000 gallons/day. USGS
(United States Geological Survey) is an agency of the United
States Government.

Update, June 18: The USGS estimate has been replaced
by a DoE estimate nearly twice as high. June 22: Now nearly
three times as high. Did I forget to mention that the USGS is
a sister agency to the Minerals Management Service? Both
are part of the Department of the Interior.


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Friday, July 9, 2010

Susan Rosenthal. M.D.: Curing Our Sick Health-Care System

In case of a problem with the links, above, try this link to our other archive:
List all installments archived on radio4all.net or archive.org.


New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 28 -- July 11, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #123, July 13:

Susan Rosenthal, M.D.:
Curing Our Sick
Health-Care System


In brief

Dr. Susan Rosenthal is a health-care-reform activist and a practicing physician, based in Ontario. Yep! even Canada is in need of radical health-care reform--to say nothing of us poor slobs south of the border, who can't even get "single-payer."

In a long phone conversation with me on July 2, Susan discussed North America's bad public health, bad heath-care systems, the cause of both, and what we can do to improve things.

Her new book on these subjects is Sick and Sicker: Essays on Class, Health and Health Care.

So that the suspense doesn't get unbearable (and further damage our health), I'll reveal that, in Susan's analysis, the cause of our bad health and bad health care is capitalism. Before you dismiss the idea as socialist propaganda, please listen to Susan's brilliant and cogent argument about why this is the case and how it works.

In this first of two installments we discuss the root cause of much disease--social inequality--the practice of psychiatry, why depression and other disorders are so common (and so poorly treated), and why, each year, for-profit medicine kills 23 times as many Americans as criminal use of firearms.

Top: Dr. Susan Rosenthal. Bottom: This illustration and the next by
David Dees. Dees is so right-wing, he's practically left-wing, if that
makes any sense to you. Most photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes, credits, & links

This week's music: David Rovics, Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Susan's Sick and Sicker: Essays on Class, Health and Health Care is available in paperback (from her) or as a "Kindle" electronic book from Amazon. For more information, please see http://www.susanrosenthal.com/ .

The second installment based on our interview will probably appear in August.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "table") 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 (archive.org). 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

  • July 20 -- Character Flaws. Don't believe the propaganda that attributes destructive national policies to supposed weakneses or other character flaws of the Chief Executive. Bush didn't invade Iraq because he's a dry drunk who's competing with Dad. Obama isn't letting Big Finance and Big Oil get away with murder because he's "too deferential, too trusting of the advice of experts," as Frank Rich would have you believe. Bad policies are enacted because they profit the powerful. Michael Parenti and I elaborate.

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):



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Thursday, July 1, 2010

The Culture of Celebrity: A Second Look


New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 26 -- July 3, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #122, July 6:

The Culture of Celebrity:
A Second Look

In brief

The corporate media enthusiastically promote "the culture of celebrity." This culture does worse than yield trivial entertainment. It make people more passive and powerless, more inclined to blame only themselves for their misfortunes, less able to organize and fight back against The System. Celebrity Culture is a tool used to pacify the masses. Or so argues journalist-prophet Chris Hedges.

We'll hear more of Hedges' October 14 talk in Winnipeg. This week Hedges focuses on Michael Jackson's career and especially on his funeral-- "a variety show with a coffin." (Other parts of this talk are in New World Notes #115.) I'll add additional specific examples--a few dozen headlines from a popular news-and-entertainment Web site--and some commentary.

Top: American Idol, 2010, Lee DeWyze.
Bottom: Miley Cyrus.
Most photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes, Credits, & Links

This week's music: I read a few dozen celebrity-culture headlines over a "bed" of hit instrumentals by The Ventures. They are, in order: Wipe Out; Pipeline; Walk, Don't Run; and Out of Limits.

Hedges' speech was recorded on October 14, 2009, by Ethan Osland, of Black Mask Winnipeg. Thanks to Ethan and Black Mask for permission to rebroadcast.

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

New World Notes is archived at both radio4all.net and 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.

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut date shown:

  • July 13 -- Interview with health-care activist Susan Rosenthal, M.D., on her new book, Sick and Sicker: Essays on Class, Health and Health Care

Top: Michael Jackson. Bottom: Chris Hedges.

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):



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