Monday, July 06, 2009

Brush Up Your Mandarin

From Jenna Orkin:


HEADLINES
Emerging Markets' Global Equity Share Hits Record; China Tops $3 Trillion
What Is North Korea's Endgame?

AMERICAS
US moves into back seat
Recession on Par With Worst Year of Depression
Sarah Palin resigns as governor of Alaska
In Honduras Coup, Truth Is As Strange as Any Banana Republic Fiction

Brother Paul and the Fight for the Peruvian Rain Forest
Seven banks fail, pushing 2009 tally to 52

ENERGY
Europe Urged to Stockpile Gas
Nigeria Runs Out of Crude
The Oil Intensity of Food
"An empty cereal box delivered to the grocery store would cost about the same as a full one." Thanks to Our Fossil Fuel Addiction, We May Be Setting Ourselves Up For a Catastrophic Natural Event
Less Than Meets the Eye (from Rice Farmer)

WAR
Eager to Tap Iraq's Vast Oil Reserves, Industry Execs Suggested Invastion
Louis Freeh memoirs: FBI chief defended Saudis
The pro-Saudi bias of former FBI director Louis Freeh during the investigation of the 1996 Khobar Towers terror bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 United States airmen shut down a probe in which Osama bin Laden was clearly implicated. Had the case run its course, the US may not have been so brutally blindsided by 9/11. - Gareth Porter (Jul 3,'09)
This is the final article in a three-part report.Part 1: Al-Qaeda excluded from suspect list
Part 2: Why US officials blamed Iran
Top Judge Calls Use of Drones "Intolerable"
Hezbollah on Steroids (from Rice Farmer)

EUROPE
EU faces permanent loss of output
China to overtake UK Quarter of graduate vacancies vanish
Eye in Sky For All Bobbies on Beat
Facebook page exposed MI6 head
Pay freeze threat to all public workers
BT offers staff long holidays for 75pc cut in wages
By "long holidays," do you mean nine months?
Portugal’s economy minister resigns

We need identity cards, and soon
A conclusion that is the inevitable and perhaps not accidental outcome of ID fraud.
Climate change shrinks Scottish sheep

RUSSIA
Ten Chechen policemen gunned in deadliest attack in Russia's Caucasus
Russia May Ban Powerful Incandescent Bulbs in 2011

OSCE Passes Resolution Equating Soviet and Nazi Roles in Starting World War II

AFRICA
Fears for world poor as rich grab land
Rising demand sparks African land grab


ASIA
Uighurs riot as ethnic tensions rise in China
Mass flu infection caused by servant
DPRK Fires Four Short Range Missiles Off Coast
Chinese airline may offer cheaper fares to passengers who stand (from Rice Farmer)

ENVIRONMENT ETC.
Ants Form Global Mega-Colony
Sea Level Rise: It's Worse Than We Thought (from Rice Farmer)

Blackout (from Rice Farmer)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Doughnut
Organic Recycled Recessionista Chic

What Companies Do When They Have Nothing Else to Offer

Stripping Naked to Improve Company Morale

Top Fifteen Differences on a Naked Airlines Flight

Naked News

19 comments:

businessman said...

Thanks for your comments eyeballs and dalex. It looks like you've setup a very nice environment for yourself there, dalex!

Does anyone know of a DVD or a book that completely blows the doors off of the credibility of the mainstream media, and exposes how the news we see is only what the people who really run things want us to know about? I've seen the DVD "Orwell Rolls in His Grave" which definitely scratches the surface in this arena, and I've read Noam Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent" also. But I'm really looking for something more definitive that I can give to people that will have them saying, "Wow! Now I realize that I can't believe a single word of what the mainstream media is telling me."

Does anyone know of a DVD, book, or resource like this?

Jenna Orkin said...

businessman

try 'tainted truth' by cynthia crossen formerly of the wall st journal

Unknown said...

Neil Postman's 1984 book, 'Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business' is excellent and not in any way dated.

http://www.amazon.com/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Discourse-Business/dp/014303653X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246904391&sr=8-1


"The Corporation" in book or dvd format
http://www.thecorporation.com/

Barry Glasner's "Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things" is also fantastic.

The first few chapters of John Pilger's 'Hidden Agendas' puts the MSM's role in perspective very well.

And although Orwell
s Grave and Chomsky might seem a more studious treatment to an extent, OutFoxed is a worthy documentary especially for those who still consume a lot of television news (which bringing us back to Neil Postman's work is a central enabler of mainstream manipulation and the elimination of intelligent discourse).

Personally, I think Postman's work is the most concise and powerful and would most efficiently produce the desired,

"Wow! Now I realize that I can't believe a single word of what the mainstream media is telling me."

HTH

Michael

Paul said...

Businessman

Have you seen any of John Pilger's excellent documentaries?

I can't think of one that deals with the MSM as such, but they are damning of the mainstream media by the very fact that none of this stuff gets exposed.

Two I'd recommend are

Palestine Is Still The Issue (2002)

Breaking The Silence - Truth And Lies In The War On Terror(2003)

Your mileage may differ - and I realise these may have a political slant which you may not be looking for in your original request.

John Kelty said...

slightly off topic...

What ever happened to Collapse, the film that was supposed to accompany Mike's newest book? Maybe I missed some announcement, but I thought that video was going to be released already.

agape wins said...

Is this a step backward, sideways, or just a shuffle?
In the long run it means nothing but moving money from one pocket
to another- again, & again!

At least The Casper paper gets credit on this one!


Gas storage could add value to wind

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2009/07/06/news/wyoming/ba0307961221ecba872575ea00738cb2.txt

Amae

Ruhh said...

just want to poke my head in and say thanks for all these great links being posted here regularly. I send many of these links along to family and friends to try and get their heads out of the sand.

cheers
r.

PeakedOut said...

Businessman et al,

I wish there was a single or even a small collection of books or videos that would wake people from their slumber. There is no way to break people from their own denial. As we here all know, once you accept any of the concepts we explore, all the pieces begin to fit together. The facade dissolves and you can begin to read and follow the map.

It is a painful experience. One fraught with fear, anxiety, panic, depression, etc, etc. I've been warning friends for 6 years now. Explained how things were going to go down hill. Spoke at length about the housing crisis long before it hit. I kept telling myself, when the pain starts to hit home with these people, they will start to listen. Well, quite a few of them are in bankruptcy or foreclosure now and they still choose not to hear or see. I've heard that when the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear.

Be ready to be the teacher. Be ready to be disappointed if you seek out before you are asked.

As for Cynthia McKinney, she is a brave and intelligent person. Why she chooses to join a hopeless fight far from home when there are so many things that need her attention here is beyond my comprehension. I salute her efforts, but I am spread far to thin to lend a hand.

I'm curious, have any of you begun to face decisions regarding who you can help and who you can't? Dwindling resources are becoming a local reality, though right now it is only money that is getting scarce. Some decisions are heart breaking.....

KimB said...

A quote from Mike, about changing the way money works, or changing nothing, has always resonated very strongly with me. But there was also something in me that wanted to take it to the next level, a relic of the unforgettable time I spent at Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, and getting a taste of something I couldn't quite articulate - the taste of an energy that had/has almost been extinguished from this World. My ancestral heritage from the Grandmothers . . . Anyway, my latest post on money and sex might be of interest (7th July 2009), "Women's Business/Men's Business"

http://www.kimspages.org/blogspot.htm#7th_July_2009

Sebastian Ernst Ronin said...

businessman (and anyone else for that matter), re some of your concerns around possible relocation:

If you pull up the Canadian MLS site and search for properties between $25K-$50K Cdn. in the Maritimes, you'll get over 1,000 results, the vast majority rural. One to two acres are plentiful. It stands to reason that many of these properties are fixer-uppers, so being handy with a saw and hammer is a bonus. Growing season is short allowing for only one crop. It being the Maritimes, there's wind, wind, wind (perfect for an on-site mill). A home-based business helps while going through the stages of self-sufficiency.

Here's a sample of the type of property that exists:

http://www.mls.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=7392957

There's no hard asset like land. At these prices and with the type of social dislocation that is pending, the Maritimes stand to be a Post-Peak Oil mecca.

Now ask me if I have an agenda in mind for Novacadia. =;-D

sunrnr said...

Just a couple of quick comments ...

First of all, I just read a book about a youth in Nazi Germany who was executed for listening to the BBC on an "illegal" radio and trying to use the information to educate his fellow citizens on the lies being perpertrated by the Hitler's regime. The parallels to what's going on in America today,especially the control of information and information sources are truely terrifying.

An educated and aware public is a real threat, thus the dumbing down of America continues ....

Secondly, a person has to feel the need to change before they can embrace the change. The majority of people have yet to feel the need although they feel "something ain't right" with the world.

They're all waiting for someone else to make things the way they were because after all "it ain't my fault things are the way they are ..."

Lastly, I've given up trying to convince people of the pending cleansing and trying to help them along the path to preparedness and enlightenment. Those who are aware will do what's necessary and embrace the opportunities in the coming age.

Best of luck to you all .....

namaste

Velobwoy said...

From J.S. Kim:

Goldman Sachs: Thoughts on the Developing Stolen Trade Secrets Scandal
http://seekingalpha.com/article/147260-goldman-sachs-thoughts-on-the-developing-stolen-trade-secrets-scandal

God forbid someone ELSE would manipulate the markets.

Paul said...

Oil prices: is there a spike on the horizon?

quote

does this mean that we are now laying the foundations for another inflationary oil price spike that could derail the global economy just as it is starting to recover?

Jeroen van der Veer, the recently-retired chief executive of Shell, certainly thinks so. In his valedictory tour last month, he warned that the next oil price spike may already be in the making. He said that the recent steep slide in prices was "only a dent in a graph that goes up all the time".

unquote

Sorry - preaching to the already converted I know - but from an interesting source, I thought.

RanD said...

July 4, 2009.
Although I daily keep up with, skim through, select and read FTW's current posts & comments, I've just this afternoon gotten back to and finished the last segment of FTW's June 30, 2009 Front Page post, titled (in red) "Intelligence". Having assimilated the information therein and combining it with the rest of what is regular fare produced of the FTW family's efforts, I cannot but conclude that there should no longer be any doubt amongst us that where the USA's citizenry and the rest of the world's citizenry -- which we do well to acknowledge the USA's "leadership" continues playing "its" stubborn role in trying to indoctrinate to parrot "it's" agenda -- are entering utter & irreversible terra incognita. And thus -- IMHO -- Sebastian's poignant query "what is to be done?" along with Agape wins' "Who are WE?" are the exact sort of questions that need both be asked and answered by those with requisite desire and knowledge of how to get from where we're at to where we might "collectively" want & need to be. And to that end RanD is moved to ask our FTW family this question: "Are we yet ready to comfortably accept each other for who we really are in accord with what each one of us has to offer in terms of how we as individuals are moved to express ourselves?" If not, then until we do we're going to have to travel an ever bumpier & messier path into the future than it has need of being. Meaning: "Just how open are our minds to each other, today?" All of this, again: IMHO, of course.

*****

July 7, 2009
Thankyou, KimB, for your indispensible contributions to this blog. I share your perspective, and find it an asset that my being without would leave me hopelessly impoverished. I also think and feel it very unfortunate that there is not more of your gender here these recent days, expressing themselves as they did in the past, helping show us our way with more uniquely female-embodied light.

And thankyou, businessman, Rice Farmer, Sebastian, cj, diaspora, Agape wins, and eyeballs. I likewise in principle share where you're at, thus walk in your shoes, breathe your air, see the same things, know your world, share your visions -- if not necessarily always in exact same detail and simultaneity. As we know or should realize, many such matters as differentiate us are merely of personal taste and circumstance, not principle.

And I equally thank all the rest of my FTW family members for being here helping me, and happily borrow businessman's wise words when saying: "...if I thanked every one of you individually along the way, we'd have more thank yous than solid Blog posts in here."

A peon said...

AIG loses big round in lawsuit against Greenberg

A peon said...

Federal Web sites knocked out by cyber attack

Wayno said...

On the Movie Collapse, I've waited for some news of the release before I wrote about it but I can't hold back. On June 3rd Mike Called me to ask if I had the original issue of FTW which I didn't but did have some of the first year issues. I gave those to Mike the next day and he gave me the honor of being the first person he shared a prerelease version of the film with. It is INCREDIBLE! I promssed Mike not to share what is said in it but trust me, it is INCREDIBLE! The message and presentation is so well done and will excite you like no other documentary. Mike told me that it will be released when it is ready and I hope that is soon, we need it right away. It will save lives.

Wayno

Unknown said...

Rice Farmer

Your article, Hezbollah on Steroids, contained this dread news:

“Hezbollah has tripled its inventory of rockets and missiles, now possessing upwards of 30,000 guided and unguided weapons. They’ve also been teaching the Syrians and Iranians lessons from battling the Israelis.”

At the top of this DoD Buzz article was a banner reading:

“Unifying systems to dominate the seas. At every level.” Northrop Grumman

As long as U.S. and Israeli arms dealers pedal “full spectrum dominance”, those who do not want to be dominated will continue to arm against it. I’m not a big fan of Hezbollah by any means, but the Mideast has been deliberately managed to produce, not to mitigate this kind of development. The Palestinian situation, the Iraq war and the escalation into Pakistan all indicate policy which deliberately promotes the weaponization of these regions. When “rebuilding” contracts and “soft power” aid are factored into these war zones, business is, indeed, very good.

In fact, the war machine seems to be the chief remaining pillar of the American economy. It may be that Wall Street literally cannot afford peace. American manufacturing is gone, American consumption is gone, the rising middle class of BRIC depends on first world consumption and is not going to be able to replace that with domestic consumption. Until a new economic model emerges, Hezbollah on Steroids offers the last great hope for Western Industrial Capitalism.

businessman said...

Thanks for all the resources Jenna, Mike, Paul, and Sebastian Ronin!