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Chip Phillips Photography
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Movie Time: Taxi To The Dark Side
From the producer of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Who Killed the Electric Car? comes a documentary that takes a critical look at the Bush administration's policy on torture by investigating the death of an Afghan taxi driver who, after being taken into the custody of American soldiers at Bagram Air Force Base, suffered fatal injuries at the hands of U.S. soldiers. In 2002, American soldiers accused an Afghan taxi driver of taking part in a deadly rocket attack. Five days after being handed over to the U.S. military for questioning, the man was found dead -- the victim of a brutal bout of torture and abuse according to the medical examiner who inspected his body. The examiner concluded that the taxi driver's hands had been bound to the ceiling, forcing him to stand for hours on end as his assailants repeatedly -- and relentlessly -- kicked him. Compelled to finally unearth the truth about the mysterious fate of the deceased taxi driver, filmmaker Alex Gibney takes viewers on an illuminating journey from a tiny Afghani village to Guantanamo Bay to Abu Ghraib, and ultimately the White House, to explore why the man who turned up in the morgue wasn't the only victim to fall prey to the Bush administration's controversial foreign policy. By examining the sad fate of the wrongly accused, the toll that the War on Terror has taken on an exhausted United States military, and Justice Department official John Yoo's internal memo concerning interrogation techniques, the filmmakers behind Taxi to the Dark Side encourage viewers to weigh out the issues for themselves, and never accept what's told to them on face value. The film won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 80th Annual Academy Awards. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Because of corporate control of media, the American left cannot reach working class Americans even as they are suffering from the right-wing excesses of the past three decades
America’s Road to Nowhere
The fact that the American Left lacks the media outreach to the public that the Right has is proving decisive as conservatives consolidate their influence in blue-collar communities that, ironically, are suffering from right-wing excesses of the past three decades, as Danny Schechter explains.
By Danny Schechter
Oil prices are rocketing. Iranian warships are moving into the Mediterranean to shadow the U.S. warships already there. Propaganda news is growing with rumors of Al Qaeda links with Iran, and, then, less speculative news about real links between the terror group and the armed opposition in Syria.
As Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi puts it, the smell of war is in the air and on the air, “You can just feel it: many of the same newspapers and TV stations we saw leading the charge in the Bush years have gone back to the attic and are dusting off their war pom-poms.”
U.S. Marines patrol street in Shah Karez in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on Feb. 10. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Robert Storm)
CLG adds: “Officials in key parts of the Obama administration are increasingly convinced that sanctions will not deter Tehran from pursuing its [alleged] nuclear program, and believe that the US will be left with no option but to launch an attack on Iran or watch Israel do so.”
The timing now seems to be for war in October, just before the next presidential election. Does that mean that the White House believes that war fever will generate more support for an embattled Commander in Chief? Orwell was right in his classic 1984: “the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact.”
Here in the “homeland,” the FBI busts a “terrorist” on his way, we are told, to blow up Congress. Turns out he was supplied with phony weapons by the FBI itself, a specialist in entrapment. The G-Men supposedly became suspicious when they heard that this young Moroccan, living illegally in Virginia, told someone who told someone that the “war on terror” was a war on Muslims. That’s probably a majority view in the Middle East, but to the FBI it was menacing and proof of evil intent.
After their puppet “suspect” was in custody, they reassured one and all that Congress was never at risk. (Nor, now, is the FBI’s next appropriation!)
What a relief! Congress has survived to fight another day in its own war — a partisan war without end. For the most part, the political logjam and stalemate continues and not just because of warring ideologies.
Unseen and only rarely commented upon by pundits who know how to cover political horse races but not political skullduggery is the role that big money plays behind the scenes. That is mostly kept out of sight and out of mind.
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship write: “Watching what’s happening to our democracy is like watching the cruise ship Costa Concordia founder and sink slowly into the sea off the coast of Italy, as the passengers, shorn of life vests, scramble for safety as best they can, while the captain trips and falls conveniently into a waiting life boat.
“We are drowning here, with gaping holes torn into the hull of the ship of state from charges detonated by the owners and manipulators of capital. Their wealth has become a demonic force in politics.
“Nothing can stop them. Not the law, which has been written to accommodate them. Not scrutiny — they have no shame. Not a decent respect for the welfare of others — the people without means, their safety net shredded, left helpless before events beyond their control.”
Yes, “we are downing here.” But is not just money per-se that is the problem, but those one percenters who are manipulating it as a weapon to drive our democracy into the dumper.
Charles Pierce names and shames them in the pages of Esquire, writing about the “the undeniable fact that, over the course of a decade, a bunch of cheats, thieves, and suited mountebanks stole most of the national economy and then wrecked whatever was left of it.
“But what’s most extraordinary about the whole thing is that, after they swindled their swindles and heisted their heists, and got paid off by the rest of us for having looted our national economy, they all kept doing the same things they were doing before. These included extravagant bonuses and, of course, continued crimes of capital that ought to be capital crimes.” Wow!
On the same day I read, Joe Nocera in the New York Times saying it’s not important to punish the banks. So, clearly the liberal media is in large part in cahoots with the right-wing message points, avoiding any structural analysis, while pushing for mild “reforms” unlikely to reform anything.
One consequence of our corporate news system, according to Richard Flanders in The Atlantic, is that Americans are being steered into becoming even more conservative.
“Even with the president’s approval rating showing signs of life and the Republicans busily bashing themselves over the head — ‘one is a practicing polygamist and he’s not even the Mormon,’ retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor recently quipped about her party’s two frontrunners — America continues to track right, according to polling data released by the Gallup Organization this week,” he writes.
“Americans at this political moment are significantly more likely to identify as conservative than as liberal: conservatives outnumber liberals by nearly two to one. Forty percent identify as conservative, 36 percent as moderate, and 21 percent liberal.”
Most upsetting is that the people who suffering the most are stuck in the “Alice in Wonderland” world of conservative ideology. This study concludes: “The ongoing economic crisis only appears to have deepened America’s conservative drift – a trend which is most pronounced in its least well off, least educated, most blue collar, most economically hard-hit states.”
The public becomes dumber, in part, because our media is a dumbing-down machine. No wonder, alternative voices are brushed to the margins by our not so free press. This past week, I was interviewed by RT and AlJazeera, but none of the U.S. TV news networks that I used to work for will have me on. It’s not a personal thing: I am not alone.
Yes, MSNBC has added two progressive hosts, but in the morning, on weekends, when viewing is lowest. Fox, meanwhile, dumped Judge Napolitano and his sometime sensible and outspoken libertarian show. Can’t have that, can we?
It’s time for Occupy Wall Street to add media reform to its emerging agenda. The media war is as real as any other, and unless we fight that one, we will lose all the others. Politics is a war of ideas, of different narratives in collision. It’s not enough to chant, “We are the 99 percent.” We have to explain who rules America and how to change it.
One way to do it is educate the country about how many of the same interests that own the banks own the media. Perhaps that’s why most media outlets are not reporting that unemployment increased this month and that underemployment is up to 19 percent.
Writes Rex Nutting on Market Watch: “Everyone knows that the Great Recession has inflicted tremendous damage to the lives and fortunes of millions of Americans. But what you may not know is that most of the suffering is still to come. We’re not even halfway done with this mess.”
A mess it is, a “mistake” it isn’t. That’s why activists can’t give up
If there was ever a time for progressives to unite around some coherent ten-point plan that can be used to reach potential supporters and broaden the movement for change, this is it. The aspiration should be to build a coalition that can win, to “occupy the mainstream.”
Sadly, here as in Greece, where the economic crisis is at a boiling point, a headline in the Financial Times sums up a key obstacle to fighting back: “Greek Left Has Most Support But is Fragmented”
What say you, unions, churches, minorities, students, workers, activists, feminists and occupiers? Do we work together or lose apart? Assuming that the GOP self-destructs, do we really think that more ‘Bama can make the difference that needs making?
News Dissector Danny Schechter’s blog is now at NewsDissector.Net. Danny made the film Plunder (Plunderthecrimeofourtime) on the financial crisis as a crime story. Comments todissector@mediachannel.org .
France to EU: Stop Monsanto's Corn
France to EU: Stop Monsanto's Corn
France has asked the European regulators to suspend the authorization to plant Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) MON810 corn. France's ecology minister says the decision is based on studies showing GM crops "pose significant risks for the environment."
(SIPA/Durand Florence)Agence France-Presse reports:The request is "based on the latest scientific studies" which show that the use of the GM crops "pose significant risks for the environment," the ministry said in a statement.The ministry pointed to a recent study by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that raised concerns with another form of GM crop, BT11, that it said could also be applied to MON 810."If the European Union does not act, we can invoke the safeguard clause" which allows EU nations to independently restrict or prohibit the sales of products, it said.President Nicolas Sarkozy in November pledged to seek new legal measures after the European Court of Justice and France's top administrative court overturned a French ban on GM crops from US agriculture giant Monsanto.
France tv info writes that six countries in the EU also ban the cultivation of genetically modified corn: Germany, Hungary, Greece, Luxembourg, Austria et Bulgaria.
* * *
Last week a French court found Monsanto legally responsible for the 2004 poisoning of a farmer with one of its herbicides.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin punches preacher who accuses him of faking moon landing.
This video never gets old.
Buzz walked on the moon. The most that bottom-feeder will ever accomplish is getting punched by Buzz Aldrin. TheGreatWhirlyBird
"Every four years, the U.S. holds a presidential election, and every four years, musicians ask Republican candidates to stop playing their songs at rallies."
Every four years, the U.S. holds a presidential election, and every four years, musicians ask Republican candidates to stop playing their songs at rallies. This year, so far, Newt Gingrich has been asked by Survivor to stop playing “Eye of the Tiger” and Somali-born musician K’naan has asked Mitt Romney to stop playing “Wavin’ Flag.” In 2011, Tom Petty had Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., stop playing “American Girl.”
In campaigns past, David Byrne had Gov. Charlie Crist stop using “Road to Nowhere” in his attacks on Marco Rubio, Jackson Browne had Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and the Ohio Republican Party stop using “Running on Empty” to attack then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. The singers from Heart stopped then-Gov. Sarah Palin from using “Barracuda.” In 2000, Sting asked George W. Bush to stop playing “Brand New Day.”
The good news for Democrats is that they usually don’t have such problems, since so many entertainment industry figures are Democrats. (Don’t Stop Thinkin’ About Tomorrow, anyone?) President Obama’s re-election campaign even has an official soundtrack, it was announced today, to be featured at campaign events across the country in the months ahead. An Obama aide said the tunes would energize the crowd before a presidential appearance and keep everyone excited while Obama works ropelines and mingles with fans after delivering remarks.
The playlist is also being streamed on Spotify, the online streaming music service, for supporters to listen and share from home.
“After taking staff and volunteer recommendations, this music is a beginning list for supporters to share with their social networks,” a campaign official said.
Some observations on the full list (at the bottom):
- Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” is of course the song which Obama sang the opening lines to at the Apollo Theater fundraiser last month (Green also performed live). Obama singing them has also become a ringtone. It’s an interesting pick given that it seems to acknowledge that not every Obama supporter has been delighted 100 percent of the time – but hey, let’s stay together whether times are good or bad, if you’re happy or sad.
- Darius Rucker is still around!
- Bruce Springsteen’s ” We Take Care of Our Own” is the first cut off his brand new album, “Wrecking Ball,” which has yet to be released. The populist/working class themes sound like they were written to be the soundtrack of Obama’s campaign – not to mention they take a swipe at the Bush administration (for its response to Hurricane Katrina: “From the shotgun shack to the Superdome/We yelled ‘help’ but the cavalry stayed home.”)
- Several musicians on the list have Chicago ties, including native Jennifer Hudson (who performed at Obama’s 50th birthday bash) and Chicago-based Wilco and The Impressions.
- What’s NOT on the list? Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours!” which has played at several recent Obama events and did famously after his 2008 South Carolina victory speech. Same for U2′s “The City of Blinding Lights” and Aretha Franklin’s “Think.”
Full track list for the “Obama Album”:
- Different People – No Doubt
- Got to Get You in My Life – Earth, Wind & Fire
- Green Onions- Booker T & The MG’s
- I Got You – Wilco
- Keep on Pushing – The Impressions
- Keep Reachin’ Up – Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators
- Love You I Do – Jennifer Hudson
- No Nostalgia – AgesAndAges
- Raise Up – Ledisi
- Stand Up – Sugarland
- This – Darius Rucker
- We Used To Wait – Arcade Fire
- You’ve Got the Love – Florence and the Machine
- Your Smiling Face – James Taylor
- Roll with the Changes – REO Speedwagon
- Everyday America – Sugarland
- Learn to Live – Darius Rucker
- Let’s Stay Together – Al Green
- Mr. Blue Sky – Electric Light Orchestra
- My Town – Montgomery Gentry
- The best thing about me is you – Ricky Martin ft. Joss Stone
- You are the Best Thing – Ray Lamontagne
- Keep Marchin’ – Raphael Saadiq
- Tonight’s The Kind of Night – Noah and the Whale
- We Take Care of our Own – Bruce Springsteen
- Keep Me In Mind – Zac Brown Band
- The Weight – Aretha Franklin
- Even Better Than The Real Thing – U2
- Home – Dierks Bentley
-Jake Tapper and Devin Dwyer
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