Comic Satire for Christmas

New World Notes #564, 27:14 (December 25)
Broadcast quality MP3 (37 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (13 MB)

An NWN Xmas tradition. Brief commentary by me, five satiric seasonal songs, and one 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 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.

This installment has previously been broadcast from time to time. Files downloaded from the links, above, are identified as NWN #355.

Scooter's War on Christmas Kickstarter

New World Notes #563, 28:33 (December 18)
Broadcast quality MP3 (39 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (13 MB)

The Church fights back

A fine audio collage on Christmas and America produced by Scooter. A blend of social satire, inspired nonsense, improbable music, serious debate, standup comedy, right-wing craziness, & great fun.

This collage weaves together a debate on religion by the late Christopher Hitchens (atheist) and Catholic spokesman Bill Donahue, a parody musical-comedy Christmas movie, a parody war movie (climaxing in the death of all three Chipmunks), ravings by Bill O'Reilly and a few televangelists, heavy-metal Christmas carols, standup comedy by Lewis Black and Sam Kinison, and more.

Once again we present Scooter's tour-de-force almost uncut ... almost uncensored ... and almost unabridged!

This installment was previously broadcst--most recently in December 2016. The "broadcast quality" version has an extra bleep, making it all the more suitable for airplay.

Scooter, in a reflective moment

Scooter produces "The innerSide" radio program at KPFT-FM, Houston. Find more of his work at http://aksisofevil.org.

Plundering the Workers for Fun and Profit

New World Notes #562, 28:19 (December 11)
Broadcast quality MP3 (39 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (13 MB)

Richard Wolff (2016)

With typical verve and wit, economist Richard Wolff shows how and why the corporate elite made themselves even richer and more powerful by plundering the American working class--and misleading them about what was happening to them. He also shows why the scam cannot go on much longer.

An especially interesting theme runs theough the talk: The very people who falsely claim to champion "family values" are the ones who themselves destroyed the traditional family--in order to preserve corporate profits.

With a brief introduction by KD.

Wolff spoke at the 2018 Left Forum in New York. This installment's title is my own. Wolff audio courtesy of unwelcomeguests.net.