My research, software, and creative output.
The mealy-mouthed self-censorship of Hollywood is legendary, particularly the Hayes code preventing anything approaching realistic depictions of a variety of adult behaviour. An entertaining description is provided by experimental filmmaker Kenneth Anger in Hollywood Bablyon. More frightening is the degree of censorship exercised by the U.S. military in controlling the depiction of U.S. military (and…
The anti-corporate Adbusters group has started an initiative to produce vegan, hemp sneakers which are produced with fair labour conditions. The shoes have a look similar to Converse (which I wear, buying them prior to them going bankrupt and being bought by the sweatshop baron Nike). Each pair purchased buys shares in the fair trading…
The Guardian has done further digging into declassified documents detailing how Bush’s grandfather Prescott Bush, established the family fortune by trading with the Nazi’s during World War II, resulting in him being charged with trading with the enemy.
Tom Engelhardt at MotherJones.com makes an excellent, thoughtful comparison of a previous U.S. colonialist adventure and Iraq now. Very well written.
The Missile Dick Chicks have begun reporting from the road on their tour of Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina and Washington. Aiming to sing and dance dubya (“W = War!”) back into office with such delightful ditties as “Shop in Name of War” and “These Bombs Were Made For Dropping”, these Patriot missile equipped ladies from…
After the release of a damning report by the Law Council of Australia condemning the trial of the Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks, the Australian Greens Party called on the two corporate funded parties to pressure the U.S. government to cancel the show trials against Hicks and Mamdouh Habib and return them to Australia for…
Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill have an article in the UK Guardian raising questions of who the kidnappers of the two Italian and two Iraqi humanitarians are. They raise several troubling indications that the kidnappers are aligned or directed by the installed interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Democracy Now! has an interview with Scahill.
I’ve held out commenting on the crisis in the Sudan to get some perspective , particularly watching the U.S government’s behaviour. Certainly the conflict is one which is not new, with one very sharp eyed journalist noting the involvement of China very early. The following excerpts of a recent AP article note the magic word…
Given the Bush administration is now struggling to justify any of the reasons to go to war with Iraq, finally settling on the blindingly obvious “Saddam was a tyrant” excuse (conveniently ignoring that the U.S.
The New York Times is reporting along with the Australian Broadcasting Commission from the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee testimony of Army Generals that “dozens to perhaps up to 100” detainees were not reported to the International Committee of the Red Cross.