by cameron | Aug 13, 2008 | Iraq, Uncategorized
In the comments section to my post on the Pentagon’s propaganda, Marcelo pointed me to this post in ConsortiumNews.com about how Bush and the American media are screaming about Russia’s invasion of Georgia is pretty interesting.
Apparently, context is everything. So, the United States attacking Grenada or Nicaragua or Panama or Iraq or Serbia is justified even if the reasons sometimes don’t hold water or don’t hold up before the United Nations, The Hague or other institutions of international law.
However, when Russia attacks Georgia in a border dispute over Georgia’s determination to throttle secession movements in two semi-autonomous regions, everyone must agree that Georgia’s sovereignty is sacrosanct and Russia must be condemned.
U.S. newspapers, such as the New York Times, see nothing risible about publishing a statement from President George W. Bush declaring that “Georgia is a sovereign nation and its territorial integrity must be respected.â€
No one points out that Bush should have zero standing enunciating such a principle. Iraq also was a sovereign nation, but Bush invaded it under false pretenses, demolished its army, overthrew its government and then conducted a lengthy military occupation resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
I wasn’t aware of all of the background to the South Ossetia War but this Wikipedia article contains some interesting information.
by cameron | Aug 13, 2008 | activism, Culture Jamming, Iraq
From the Center for Media and Democracy:
Today, we struck a blow against propaganda, and for transparency and accountability.
In early 2002, the Pentagon began cultivating retired military officers who frequently serve as media commentators to help make the case for invading Iraq. The pundit program continued — promoting the Bush administration’s stance on the Guantanamo Bay detention center, warrantless wiretapping and other controversial issues — until New York Times reporter David Barstow exposed its existence in April 2008.
Thanks to Blake Hall of our IT staff and senior researcher Diane Farsetta, now you and anyone with web access can search the massive cache of military documents detailing the Pentagon’s illegal attempts to shape U.S. public opinion. The New York Times first obtained the documents. After the Times reported on the covert pundit program, the Pentagon posted the documents online in a desperate attempt at damage control. But the documents weren’t text searchable, making systematic analysis of this important information nearly impossible.
But we’ve now cracked the Pentagon’s code and made the 8,000 pages of Pentagon documents fully text searchable, posting them all on our SourceWatch website, for journalists, researchers and concerned citizens.
What’s great about this is that it is a further demonstration that the media has been compromised. We all need to understand that EVERY time we see a so-called “expert commentator” on mainstream media, the chances are they are a front for one organisation or another and CANNOT BE TRUSTED as an impartial source. This, by the way, goes for leftist commentators as well as those from the right. The system is played the same way by both camps. Our initial position on anything you see on the news or any current affairs show is “TRUST NO1” unless you are really sure of their credentials as an independent commentator.
by cameron | Aug 12, 2008 | Uncategorized
A few weeks ago I had director Matt Norman on the show. We talked about political protests at the Olympics (with reference to his Uncle Peter Norman’s protest at the 1968 Olympics). There was some debate afterward in the comments section about whether or not the Australian Government has gagged our athletes. It turns out they don’t have to – the IOC has done the dirty work for them.
Jason Slater told us how it works:
# Jason Slater Says:
Just so you are all aware, Matt Norman made a great point in an interview i’ve just heard.. The athletes are being gagged by the AOC as they have signed what he called a section 51 which states “Athletes may speak about Political issues but if they do so will not be entitled to any financial gain through winnings from Gold, Silver or Bronze medalsâ€. They are also entitled to speak their mind but not AT the Olympics and not AT the Olympic Village. They are also NOT allowed to wear any type of free tibet t-shirt or carry any banner which has any political affiliation. The facts are very clear. To protest in China you will never be a part of the Olympic team again and your views of civil and human rights issues will not be tolerated unless you do or say something about it outside the country.
I found this site which contains the clause in question. Basically any athlete that does speak out or even wear a badge signifying a political protest can be kicked out by the IOC. What an appalling state of affairs. The Olympics brings athletes from the world together but then gags them. Pretty fucking lame for an event which is supposed to be about peace and harmony.
Somebody on Twitter called me a jerk the other day for saying the Olympics was all about money. He said “Realize we have one place in the world -right now- with everyone together.”
Oh bullshit. Ever heard of the United Nations? The whole world gets together ALL THE TIME to discuss solutions to real problems, not running around in circles and jumping up in the air. Get the hell over it people. It’s a carnival, it’s not the second coming of Jebus.
The media loves it because it’s just another chance to them to increase their advertising revenues, as if people watching the Olympics really care more about buying tampons than they do on regular days.
So the media turn up their hype-o-meters, ranting and raving about the Olympics like it’s a cure for cancer or Britney Spears turned out to be the Messiah. And you pack of salivating Pavlovian dogs run slobbering up to your TV or your paper gobbling it all up like Homer Simpson chasing a donut. It’s obscene and sickening. WAKE THE FUCK UP PEOPLE. It’s just a bunch of steroid-laden children seeing who’s got the biggest dick.
What I hate the most (not that I’m watching, but I’m recalling a distant time when I did watch 5 or 10 minutes of it) are the television commentators who call bullshit like “HE’S TAKEN THE GOLD FOR AUSTRALIA!!!”
No. Noooo, he hasn’t. He’s taken the gold for HIMSELF. HE is the one that gets the sporting goods sponsorship. HE is the one who is going to turn his sporting career into another lame television gig once he’s over the hill. HE is the one who is going to use his profile to charge $10,000 an appearance for corporate speaking fees. He’s not doing it for Australia. He’s doing it for himself.
Meanwhile…. Russia invades Georgia on the opening day of the Olympics and hopes that no-one notices.
Meanwhile…. Thailand’s ex-Prime Minister has escaped, once again, back to London instead of facing corruption charges in his own country. And the Brits let him in.
Meanwhile… the US-backed Philippines “liberate” more villages.
Meanwhile… China spends $40 Billion on hosting the Olympics and $100 million on the opening ceremony alone while 130 million Chinese live below the poverty line.
And how much press coverage of the opening ceremony did you see that even SUGGESTED it is a total waste of money? Any at all? Or were they all jerking off about it? I didn’t watch it, so I don’t know, but I can take a guess.
by cameron | Aug 11, 2008 | religion
I heard Bill Maher say he was going to make this on Larry King a while back and Russell Buckley just sent me the trailer. It looks great! I want to make shit like this!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdkyLrDpaUg&hl=en&fs=1]
I read Maher’s book “New Rules” a few years ago and I loved it! He’s brilliant.
by cameron | Aug 11, 2008 | Brisbane, Uncategorized
Over on Brisbane Norg tonight I read a post by Durx on a UK online bookstore called The Book Depository. He sez:
…a few weeks ago I came across a British website selling books, cheap and with free “world wide delivery”. I had to give them a try. So I found my way to www.bookdepository.co.uk and ordered my first title from them, How to lose friends and Alienate People, an awesome look into the life of a guy with all the opportunities and none of the motivation. I loved it. However back to the website. The books were ordered, quickly and easily. The website is very user friendly, searching and checkout also easily navigated and quick. Postage was SO quick, well packed and of course as mentioned free.
So I checked out the site and did a quick comparison, using my friend J. David Markham’s new book “The Road to St Helena: Napoleon After Waterloo” as a test subject. I compared Book Depository with Amazon UK.
It turns out I didn’t need to, as Book Depository automatically show you on their site what you would pay on Amazon! Nice work!
Book Depository Price: £12.86
Amazon Price: £13.99 (+ normal shipping: £2.75) Total: £16.74
So you’re saving at least $8.50 AUD, probably more, as that shipping amount is for the UK and not Australia.
This “free delivery” business reminds me of all of the dotcoms in the late 90s who tried it.
So who are these crazy kids? It looks like a couple of their management team are actually ex-Amazon UK and they’ve been around since 2004, which is longer than most of the 90’s dotbombs survived.
I’ve just tested it out by ordering a copy of “In Praise of Slow” by Carl Honore, something I’ve been meaning to read for ages.
