In honour of the great Che Guevara’s 80th birthday (officially the 14th June), here’s a documentary on his life for those of you who have only heard the CIA propaganda and lies.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puQOzDb3He0&hl=en]
So much for being “The Land Of The Free”: Human Rights Watch has just posted up the latest stats which show the USA incarcerates nearly 7 times the number of it’s citizens are other democracies such as the UK and Canada.
Statistics released today by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, a branch of the US Department of Justice, show that as of June 30, 2007, approximately 2.3 million persons were incarcerated in US prisons and jails, an all-time high. This represents an incarceration rate of 762 per 100,000 US residents, the highest such rate in the world. By contrast, the United Kingdom’s incarceration rate is 152 per 100,000 residents; the rate in Canada is 108; and in France it is 91.
“The new incarceration figures confirm the United States as the world’s leading jailer,†said David Fathi, US program director at Human Rights Watch. “Americans should ask why the US locks up so many more people than do Canada, Britain, and other democracies.â€
He goes on to say even though the majority of drug users in America are white, the majority of people imprisoned on drug charges are black.
“The ‘war on drugs’ has become a war on black Americans.â€
So let’s see:
The question in my mind is: Is America the most violent country in the world? And why, when they have it so good?
I had the pleasure once again today to catch up with Dr Peter Ellyard, Australia’s leading futurist, one of our most popular public speakers and, of course, author of the historic first book published by TPNTXT:
“Designing 2050: Pathways to sustainable prosperity on spaceship earth”.
The auction for two signed proof copies of the book can be found here. The auction ends 15-Jun-08Â 22:11:27 AEST.
You can buy a new copy of “Designing 2050”, either in paperback or ebook format, here.
Watch the video interview:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_iRu1uOx8A&hl=en&fs=1]
You won’t hear this talked about on TV:
The hoax of Peak Oil – namely the argument that the oil production has hit the point where more than half all reserves have been used and the world is on the downslope of oil at cheap price and abundant quantity – has enabled this costly fraud to continue since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 with the help of key banks, oil traders and big oil majors. Washington is trying to shift blame, as always, to Arab OPEC producers. The problem is not a lack of crude oil supply. In fact the world is in over-supply now. Yet the price climbs relentlessly higher. Why? The answer lies in what are clearly deliberate US government policies that permit the unbridled oil price manipulations.
(link)
Scott McClellan, Former White House Press Secretary, has written a scathing memoir about his time as the spokesperson for the Bush White House (from July 2003 to April 2006). The book, he says, discusses “the story of how the presidency of George W. Bush veered terribly off course.â€
Apparently McClellan positions himself as the poor innocent guy who was fed lies by the White House and ended up looking like an idiot. Personally I don’t buy it. This is the same lame story all of the American leaders have been giving during Senate and Congressional hearings over the last few years:
“Well, shucks, if I’d known then what I know now, I wouldn’t have said/done those things.”
It’s the standard “get out of jail” card and it smells of bullshit to me. It was obvious to everybody with a slender grasp of the facts that the Bush White House was bullshitting about Saddam. There were plenty of people arguing against their case. If you’re going to stand up in front of the world and put a story out there, like McClellan did every day for three years, then you had better be sure that story is true and correct. As someone in the comments on the Politico site said, he should have put his country (and the truth) first, and his obsequious toadying to Bush last.
I just finished reading Tim Weiner’s book “Legacy Of Ashes: The History Of the CIA” and thought I should talk more about it. I think this is one of the most important books that have come out in the last decade. Why? Listen to the show to find out. I start by reading out a list of countries that the CIA has committed acts of terrorism and violence in, either directly or indirectly, over the last 60 years. It’s a long, long list.
Please buy and read the book.
The music on today’s show is “Echoplex” from the new Nine Inch Nails album “THE SLIP“, which is licensed under a creative commons attribution non-commercial share alike license.
NIN encourage you to
remix it
share it with your friends,
post it on your blog,
play it on your podcast,
give it to strangers,
etc..
ROCK ON TRENT REZNOR!
