Saturday, December 29, 2012

Crime Potpourri

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 52 -- December 29, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #252, January 1, 2013

Crime Potpourri


We look at crime at several levels: retail (the Newtown murders), wholesale (the entertainment industry), bigger wholesale (the financial system), and factory-direct (the Federal Government).

Segments include
  • KD's reflections on the Newtown murders and why the proposed new gun-control laws have zero relevance
  • a new David Rovics song on the Entertainment Biz
  • a short movie by Econ4 on the government-assisted crimes of Wall Street
  • a good essay by Paul Craig Roberts on Hugo Chavez vs. the Washington DC gang
Above: Paul Craig Roberts. Below: David Rovics.

Notes, credits, & links

* Note to broadcast stations: UNbleeped version of the show's audio includes the song lyric, "It's the rich who line their pockets while the rest of us get screwed." The BLEEPed version bleeps out "screwed."

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.

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.

Above: Top Citicorp directors at work. Below: Scene from the Nuremberg II Trials. Social anthropologist Elliott Leyton correctly notes that--while "retail" mass-murderers get all the publicity--the biggest mass-murderers are national governments.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • January 8 -- TBA
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, December 22, 2012

Comic Satire for Christmas

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 51 -- December 22, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #251, December 25, 2012

Comic Satire for Christmas


Some brief commentary by me, five seasonal songs, and one satiric imitation Broadway "big production number." All take a comic but critical view of American hypocrisies, religiosity, commercialism, 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 excellent even by today's standards; the production is rich and sophisticated; the script is witty; and the message (alas) is still relevant.

Even its "dated" references are fun. All those cigarette ads Freberg parodies! One forgets (or one is too young to remember) how ads for cigarettes dominated the media. I have trouble remembering important names and dates, but I can rattle off 50 cigarette advertising slogans and jingles from 1960. Remember how great cigarettes used to taste? Luckies still do. And I never even smoked the damned things!

Anyway, "Comic Satire for Christmas" sounds good -- like a radio show should. And it is mild!

Hot presents this Xmas: the perfect gifts for adults (above)
and for lower-class female children (below).

Notes, credits, & links

Playlist:
  • Hugh Blumenfeld, "Long-Haired Radical Socialist Jew"
  • Simon and Garfunkel, "Silent Night / Six O'Clock News"*
  • Anne Feeney, "Brave New Christmas"
  • David Rovics, "Pirate Santa"
  • Stan Freberg, "Green Chri$tma$"
  • Tom Lehrer, "A Christmas Carol"
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.

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.

* Christmas Trivia: In fact it's not the six o'clock news. It's the seven o'clock news. Listen closely at the end.


Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • January 1 -- New Year's Potpourri
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, December 15, 2012

Michael Ruppert on Peak Oil

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 50 -- December 15, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #250, December 18, 2012

Michael Ruppert on Peak Oil


A lucid and interesting explanation of "peak oil" and its consequences. Michael Ruppert convincingly argues that the problem exists, how large the problem is ( = very), and why we can't swap some other source of energy for the cheap, plentiful petroleum that used to be available.

Ruppert also shows some of the geopolitical results of peak oil--Cheney's top-secret energy panel, our war on Iraq, etc. But he ends on an optimistic note--sort of.

From Chris Smith's 2009 film, Collapse.

All graphics: Click to enlarge.

Notes, credits, & links

Personal grumble: Ruppert's brief critique of nuclear energy is negative (as it should be)--but not nearly negative enough, for my tastes. He could have mentioned 20 additional reasons nuclear power is a terrible idea.

Especially good is his discussion of the insanity of our (petroleum-intensive) globalized corporate agribusiness.

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

Click to enlarge. (It's worth the trouble.)
Finding and pumping deep-sea oil is extremely expensive--and prone to environmental disasters. Saudi Arabia is now drilling at sea. Ruppert asks: What does that tell us about the Saudis' oil reserves on land?

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • December 25 -- Comic Satire for Christmas
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, December 8, 2012

Surviving the Collapse

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 49 -- December 8, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #249, December 11, 2012

Surviving the Collapse


Secular prophet Michael Ruppert has been quirky, controversial ... and very often right. In this interesting monologue, he explains why Western industrial civilization is unsustainable and beginning to collapse--and what Americans can do to weather the transition. Surprisingly, he ends on a note of optimism.

From Chris Smith's 2009 film, Collapse.

Above: Michael Ruppert, from the film.
Below: An office of the National Bank of Detroit

Notes, credits, & links

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.

Above: One of many urban organic gardens in Cuba. A catastrophic oil shortage led to more-sustainable agriculture and more-healthful food.
Below: "Underwater mortgages" in New Orleans.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • December 18 -- Michael Ruppert on Peak Oil
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Monday, December 3, 2012

The Censored News

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 48 -- December 3, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #248, December 4, 2012

The Censored News


Mickey Huff, Director of Project Censored, gives an impassioned speech about how the media support Established Power--by producing news stories that are biased, censored, and full of omissions and false assumptions. And by suppressing news stories that would call official policies into question.

Complementing Huff's talk, we'll read selections from Project Censored's top stories of 2011-2012--seemingly-important stories unreported by the corporate media. One example: fallout from Fukishima caused 14,000 deaths in the U.S.

Plus introductory coments (and a very recent eample of censored news) by K.D.


Above: Historian, media critic, and Director of Project Censored, Mickey Huff

Notes, credits, & links

Huff spoke in September 2012. I have shortened his speech for this radio broadcast. A video of the entire speech is available at www.projectcensored.org. Summaries of the Top 25 Censored Stories of the year are available there too.

In my introduction I discuss a very recent censored story about child casualties in Afghanistan--recently brought to light by independent journalist Dave Lindorff. His article is here: http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/18/children-under-attack-in-pakistan-and-afghanistan/

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.


Back in September 2011, the news media did their best to ignore Occupy Wall Street. Afterwards, they disparaged it. Finally, they were forced to take it seriously.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • December 11 -- Michael Ruppert on Surviving the Collapse
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, November 17, 2012

Class, Health, and Health Care

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 46-47 -- November 17, 2012

This fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #246-247, November 20 & 27

Susan Rosenthal on
Class, Health, and Health Care

In brief

In a phone interview with me, health care activist Susan Rosenthal, M.D., discusses the causes and cures of North Americans' bad health and (relatedly) bad health-care systems.

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

In Part One she discusses the root cause of much disease--social inequality--the practice of psychiatry, why depression is so common (and so poorly treated), and why, each year, for-profit medicine kills 23 times as many Americans as criminal use of firearms.

In Part Two (available by November 25) she discusses working-class life in England during the Industrial Revolution (ca. 1845), the problems with Canada's single-payer healthcare system (though it's still better than the U.S. system), how the profit motive and computers have brought us "assembly-line medicine," and the health-care reforms established in Chile, under Allende, in the 1970s.

We originally broadcast these two instalments in July-August 2010.

Notes, credits, & links

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 on the book--and for more by Susan--please see http://www.susanrosenthal.com/

See also the Web site of the International Health Workers for People Over Profit. 

Music in Part One: David Rovics, Oppositional Defiant Disorder

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. 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)
  • December 4 -- The Censored News
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, November 10, 2012

Noam Chomsky: Three Short Talks

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 45 -- November 10, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #245, November 13, 2012

Noam Chomsky:
Three Short Talks


Most of Noam Chomsky's public speeches are brilliant, erudite, judicious, intricately constructed ... and long. Each resists excerpting, and it resists being heard in installments. You really have to listen to it all at once, in one sitting.

Chomsky admirers with half-hour radio programs are usually out of luck.

But in March 2011, in London, Chomsky agreed to answer questions on current affairs submitted by six notable writers. He responded to each question with a spontaneous, unrehearsed mini-lecture. Each of these six talks is fairly brief--no more than 10 minutes--but otherwise classical Chomsky.

We heard one a few months back (on the "Arab Spring"), and this week we'll hear three more. Chomsky discusses
  • how intellectuals almost always support Established Power
  • how the U.S. got into our current economic mess
  • what are the best solutions to the crisis of Palestine
If you're new to Chomsky, these three talks make a good introduction to one of America's best political thinkers. And if you're not new to him ... here's a nice treat.

Notes, credits, & links

The audio is taken from a 45-minute video. I have gently edited the passages I selected (mostly removing hesitations and stumbles). The complete video is available from The Internet Archive. 

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. 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)
  • November 20 & 27 -- Susan Rosenthal on Class, Health, and Health Care
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, November 3, 2012

The Firesign Theatre

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 44 -- November 3, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #244, November 6, 2012

The Firesign Theatre


Clockwise from top left: Philip Austin, Philip Proctor, David Ossman, Peter Bergman. 42 years later, it finally dawns on me: the mammals represent the artists' astrological signs (all "fire" signs)--Aries, Leo, and 2 Saggitarius. I'm still working on the fish.

In brief

We belatedly mark the death (March 9) of Peter Bergman--a founding member of The Firesign Theatre--by playing a large portion of the group's 1970 classic LP, Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers.

Masters of irony, parody, travesty, and sound effects, Firesign created surrealistic radio dramas. They consistently satirized a nation unable to tell reality from the nonsense on TV--nonsense concocted by prostitute politicians and corporate greedheads. The perfect program for Election Day 2012!

Notes, credits, & links

Here's the plot (such as it is): Flipping TV channels late at night, retired actor George Leroy Tirebiter finds dreck galore plus two old movies starring him, playing simultaneously on two different channels. These are Parallel Hell (a war movie set in Korea) and High School Madness (featuring all-American teenagers Porgy and Mudhead)....

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. 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.

40th Anniversary photo (ca. 2006): Proctor, Bergman, Osman, Austin

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • November 13 -- Noam Chomsky: Three Short Talks
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Sunday, October 28, 2012

The Surprising Power of the People

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 43 -- October 28, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #243, October 30, 2012

The Surprising Power of the People

Copenhagen, 2011

In brief

Feeling powerless to change The System? Howard Zinn (1992), Chris Hedges (2012), and singer David Rovics discuss several examples of how large-scale nonviolent popular resistance surprisingly appeared and forced major changes in--or overthrew--bad systems.

From the Civil Rights movement in the South (1950s) to the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe (1980s) to the Arab Spring (2011-), citizens, nonviolently, often have produced major change.

Is "Occupy" the beginning of something big?

Civil-rights marches, 1963. Above: Oak Park, Illinois.
Below: Washington, D.C.

Notes, credits, & links

Zinn's remarks are excerpted from an hour-long talk, "Virtual Optimism," which he gave in Berkeley, California, in 1992. Recording courtesy of the Pacifica Radio Archives.

I have slightly condensed Chris Hedges' brief address to the Left Forum, in New York, March 18, 2012.

Music added: David Rovics, Tunisia 2011.

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. 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.

Above: Poster by Christiaan Briggs. Below: Howard Zinn

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • November 6 -- The Firesign Theater
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Sunday, October 21, 2012

Dave Zirin on American Football

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 42 -- October 21, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #240, October 23, 2012

Dave Zirin on American Football

Harvard player Ben Ticknor, 1930

In brief

I'm no sports fan, but commentator Dave Zirin is. And I am a fan of Zirin's thoughtful, Progressive commentaries on sports in America.

Here he's discussing professional football. He tells of the upper-class origins of football, its connections with "muscular Christanity" and with 19th century U.S. imperial adventures abroad.

The game has always been violent and has caused countless player injuries and deaths--in its early years even more than today. But after describing the havoc, Zirin argues against those who would ban the sport. To Zirin, NFL football is a job, and its problems are best fixed the same way as in any other job: support the workers in their struggle to control workplace rules and working conditions.

Even if you don't like football ... or even if you do ... I think you'll find this an informative, witty, and very interesting talk.

Above: Dave Zirin. Below: University of Pennsylvania team, 1901

Notes, credits, & links

I've condensed Dave Zirin's talk, which he gave at the Socialism 2012 conference, near Chicago, in September 2012.

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.

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.

The definitive sociological analysis of college football: Horse Feathers, 1932

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • October 30 -- The Surprising Power of the People
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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