by cameron | May 2, 2009 | geopolitics
On a recent show, Jon Stewart said that he thought Harry Truman should have been tried as a war criminal for authorizing dropping nuclear bombs on the civilian population of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He backed it up with some justification as to why the acts were just plain wrong. I cheered when I heard it because it’s very rarely that I hear Americans recognize the fact that the bombings were completely unjustified and a war crime of huge proportions. Even my American friends who are pro-justice and anti-war find it extremely hard to say “Yes, the bombings were wrong”. They justify it anyway they can.
Then, on last night’s show, he started by apologizing, saying he was wrong, and completely backing down!
You have to wonder what happened behind the scenes? I totally don’t believe his whole “Oh I knew it was wrong when I said it” shtick. The powers-that-be obviously came down on him HARD. But which powers? The Comedy Central powers? MTV? Viacom? And why? It’s not like Stewart doesn’t say lots of things that the elite don’t like on a nightly basis. Why this one statement?
If anyone can help me understand it, I’d appreciate it. Here’s Stewart talking about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:
Here’s the segment where he backs down:
by cameron | Apr 29, 2009 | capitalism
TAX TIME: Just in time for April 15, the folks at the
Institute for Policy Studies have released a report that
documents the stunning generation-long reversal of progressive tax
policies and offers seven concrete proposals for restoring basic
fairness to the IRS’s methods–and hundreds of billions in lost revenue
to the Treasury. Their report, Tax Day 2009, notes that America’s
most affluent 1 percent–taxpayers who averaged $1.3 million in income
in 2006–saw a federal income tax rate of 22.8 percent. In 1986 that
same cohort averaged $507,520 in inflation-adjusted income and paid 33.1
percent of it in taxes. Over the past twenty years, this elite 1 per-
cent saw their share of the nation’s income double, from 11.3 percent to
22.1 percent, but their tax burden shrank by about one-third. |
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A fascinating article in The Nation about how the wealthy elite in the US have been getting richer while reducing their taxation over the last 20 years. The top 1 percent of Americans earn 22.1 percent of the nation’s income. 22 PERCENT!!!! Over a fifth of the incomes is earned by 1 percent of the people. Why aren’t people taking to the streets and rioting? My guess – because the media has turned them into pacified sheep. We’ve been taught not to cause trouble, not to try to change things outside of voting inside of a corrupt system controlled by the wealthy elite.BTW, I heard this quote in a terrific recent podcast by Bill Moyers where he interviews David Simon, creator of THE WIRE, probably the smartest television drama ever produced. It’s a commentary on the state of ‘the system’ in America (and we’re not that different). You should listen to this show:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04172009/profile.html
And, of course, if you haven’t seen The Wire, make it a priority. It’s truly brilliant, insightful drama.
by cameron | Apr 22, 2009 | Culture Jamming, Melbourne, Podcast
Every now and again I get to chat with someone who has been an inspiration to me for many years – Noam Chomsky, Ray Kurzweil, Doc Searls, Leo Sayer, John Romero, Vint Cerf – and this is another of those episodes.
Kalle Lasn is the founder of Adbusters magazine and author of the books Culture Jam and Design Anarchy. He is the CEO of the Blackspot Anticorporation. For 20 years, Kalle has been trying to buy space on TV networks around the world to show Adbusters’ anti-consumerism commercials such as these:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQbW31Fa4SM&list=PLLWWwP1Ombs3_EB0kIm6KdmVrsbAS4anA&index=1]
He is continually rejected by the networks who refuse to take his money and show his ads on the ground that it will offend their larger advertisers. So Kalle has been fighting them in the courts to try to get equal access to the airwaves and, after 20 years of the cases being dismissed by the courts, he’s finally had a win. He joined me recently to talk about it.
Follow Adbusters on Twitter!
Adbusters are the folks behind “Buy Nothing Day”. I shot some video of folks promoting BND in Melbourne back in 2006:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8kHXrcG1E4&hl=en&fs=1]
by cameron | Apr 16, 2009 | Podcast
On G’Day World Live this week my guest was Fi Bendall from Bendalls Group. Fi is one of Australia’s best known digital strategists who has worked with clients from MTV to Amnesty. She came on to chat about how social media is challenging corporate cultures in Australia and what needs to happen before those companies will be ready to embrace things like Twitter. You can follow Fi on Twitter.
G’Day World Live broadcasts every Tuesday evening, 8pm AEST. Join in the fun! Lately it’s been running for about four hours – I play guitar and we talk about all the things you’re not supposed to talk about in polite company – from politics to religion, sex, social media and single malt whisky.
And finally, please support TPN’s April drive! We need your support!
If you want to keep TPN on the air, please show your support. If just the listeners of this show contributed $20 a month, I could fund TPN indefinitely! Is the information and entertainment you get from TPN worth a bottle of cheap wine?
http://widget.chipin.com/widget/id/d3b7a44909380763
by cameron | Apr 15, 2009 | Cuba
Business Week has an article about the Cuban embargo that contains the following line:
“Castro has been able to spin the embargo as evidence of “cruel” U.S. policies that use human suffering as a means of political pressure.”
Spin it? Nice work with the biased reporting there Business Week.
There’s no spin involved. The UN has voted with an overwhelming majority that the US should end the embargo for 17 years straight. Why? Because it’s inhumane, immoral and cruel.
But Business Week, another tool of the ruling elite in the US, neglected to mention that fact in its article. It chose to suggest that Castro “spins” the embargo to try to win sympathy.
Just one more example of how the US media can’t be trusted to report impartially on subjects that effect US corporate interests.
