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Wednesday, June 04, 2003 An early sabbatical Thousands of apologies to my adoring fans, but I'll be gone for awhile. I'll be attending a conference in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, sponsored by Z Magazine where I'll be learning all kinds of stuff about political activism, media activism, grassroots organizing and other left-wing propaganda techniques. I should come roaring back into town with a vengence round about June 16th or so. Til then, check out some of the links to the right. It's all good stuff. Thanks to Dan and all those others who made this possible. I'll let you know all about it when I get back. And extra special thanks to Lindsey, who supported me on this little trip, even though it happened to fall on our one year anniversary. posted by chris at 11:16 PM   It WAS about the oil Oil was the main reason for military action against Iraq, a leading White House hawk has claimed, confirming the worst fears of those opposed to the US-led war. The US deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz - who has already undermined Tony Blair's position over weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by describing them as a "bureaucratic" excuse for war - has now gone further by claiming the real motive was that Iraq is "swimming" in oil. Full article here. Update: okay, sorry, so that's not exactly what he said: "Look, the primarily difference -- to put it a little too simply -- between North Korea and Iraq is that we had virtually no economic options with Iraq because the country floats on a sea of oil. In the case of North Korea, the country is teetering on the edge of economic collapse and that I believe is a major point of leverage whereas the military picture with North Korea is very different from that with Iraq. The problems in both cases have some similarities but the solutions have got to be tailored to the circumstances which are very different." Thanks to Tom Tomorrow for the clarification. posted by chris at 7:21 PM   ------------------ Tuesday, June 03, 2003 Get 'em while they're young The Washington Post reports on a growing trend of corporate-sponsored field trips, where classrooms of impressionable young children are taken, not to the zoo or a museum, but to Petco, The Sports Authority or Toys R Us. Now I know all about Channel One's vile tactics and the exclusive contracts school boards establish with Coke and Pepsi. And I understand that schools are facing budget crises (a whole other rant . . .), but the public school system is supposed to be a place of learning about the world, not learning about the newest product release of a kid-friendly corporation. Kids' buying power is the most sought-after source of money in the advertising business and what this does is give companies yet another avenue to reach that income. This is nothing more than school-sponsored "branding", the process of inculucating a brand into consumers' consciousness. Kids need to be kids. They don't need to be branded by corporations whose only goal is to create the next generation of consumers. But like the article says, "That's where the kids are," said Tom Harris, vice president of sales and marketing for the National Theatre for Children, whose productions bring corporate-sponsored messages into elementary and middle schools. "It's a captive audience and in a world of where kids are torn between the Internet, IM [instant messaging], sports, TV and radio, school is the place where marketers can find them in an uncluttered environment." posted by chris at 10:27 PM   Regime change begins at home Don Hazen, writing for Alternet.org, lays down a 12-step program for regime change here in the US come next election. It's a long article but worth reading if you're interested in changing the direction of the country. posted by chris at 9:52 PM   More questions than answers The Center for Cooperative Research has spent it's life savings documenting, thru meticulous research of various media reports, what exactly happened on Sept. 11, 2001. It's fascinating reading - a lot of information that I had never heard. You can check it out here. posted by chris at 5:40 PM   ------------------ Monday, June 02, 2003 Yay, us!! With a record-setting 2 million people locked up in American jails and prisons, the United States has overtaken Russia and has a higher percentage of its citizens behind bars than any other country. Those are the latest dreary milestones resulting from a two-decade imprisonment boom that experts say has probably helped reduce crime but has also created ballooning costs and stark racial inequities. -clip- When he discusses crime and punishment with foreign colleagues, Coyle (director of the International Centre for Prison Studies at the University of London) says, the United States is such an anomaly that it must often be left out of the discussion. "People say, 'Well, that's the United States.' They see the U.S. as standing entirely on its own," he says. 702 prisoners per 100,000 population posted by chris at 8:19 PM   I just don't get it Tom Tomorrow makes a great point about the recent arrest of Eric Rudolph - that some of the people who were hellbent for war on the terrorists that bombed the WTC are actually sympathetic with Rudolph, who, uh, bombed Americans. posted by chris at 8:03 PM   The lies come bubbling to the surface The case the US made for attacking Iraq is falling further and further apart. US News & World Report features an article about how the "intelligence" used by the Bush admininstration was collected. "It now appears that American intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs was sometimes sketchy, occasionally politicized, and frequently the subject of passionate disputes inside the government." And the Gurdian reports that both Colin Powell and Jack Straw were skeptical of the evidence as well. It's too late for the Iraqi people, but we should all remember this for the next time the administration tries to convince us to wreck another country in the name of democracy and fighting terrorism. posted by chris at 4:28 PM   Big Media just got bigger Federal regulators relaxed decades-old rules restricting media ownership Monday, permitting companies to buy more television stations and own a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in the same city. The FCC said a single company can now own TV stations that reach 45 percent of U.S. households instead of 35 percent. The major networks wanted the cap eliminated, while smaller broadcasters said a higher cap would allow the networks to gobble up stations and take away local control of programming. The FCC largely ended a ban on joint ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same city. The provision lifts all "cross-ownership" restrictions in markets with nine or more TV stations. Smaller markets would face some limits and cross-ownership would be banned in markets with three or fewer TV stations. The agency also eased rules governing local TV ownership so one company can own two television stations in more markets and three stations in the largest cities such as New York and Los Angeles. The rest of the bad newshere. Plus, the future of TV news? posted by chris at 3:25 PM   ------------------

    

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