Many Lines of Fire: Women at War
Making Contact (National Radio Project)
Many Americans assume that women in the U.S. military are stationed far from the fighting. While it’s true they can’t train for frontline combat positions, the changing nature of the Iraq war has placed many women at the center of the conflict. Yet the women serving and dying for the U.S. have received very little attention. Who are they, why did they join and what are their experiences and points of view?
On this edition, Sarah Olson speaks with veterans of the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines, and to one active duty soldier who served for a year as an Army journalist in Iraq. Each woman has a unique story, but all share an understanding of the power politics of the U.S. military and the price that is paid by women seeking to serve their country.
Featuring:
Anuradha Bhagwati, Former Marine Captain; Maricela Guzman, Former Information Technician in the U.S. Navy; Linsay Rousseau Burnett, Sergeant U.S. Army, first brigade combat team 101st Airborne division; Stefani Pelkey, Former Army Captain.
To Listen to the Episode
Friday, September 09, 2011
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Lorie Van Auken: Reflections on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11
Boiling Frogs #51
Lorie Van Auken joins us and shares with us her reflections ten years on about the events of 9/11 and her loss. She discusses the still- classified 28 pages of the JICI dealing with terrorist financing, the 9/11 families’ stalled lawsuit to bankrupt the terrorists and the direct interventions by the White House to protect the Saudi regime against the justice-seeking families, and the many uninvestigated questions and facts covered up by the 9/11 commission. She questions our current many-fronted wars and the senselessness of the occupation of and our military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan with Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden both dead, while our economy is crashing here at home. Ms. Van Auken talks about the three versions of the NORAD timeline, the passage of the Patriot Act as a vehicle to erode our civil liberties, NSA’s illegal wiretapping of our domestic communications under the guise of security, and more!
Lorie Van Auken, the mother of two children, lost her husband Kenneth Van Auken in the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. She is one of the “Jersey Girls” who, along with Kristen Breitweiser, Mindy Kleinberg, and Patty Casazza, fought the Bush administration for a commission to investigate the attacks. Ms. Van Auken is also a member of the September 11 Advocates.
To Listen to the Interview
Lorie Van Auken joins us and shares with us her reflections ten years on about the events of 9/11 and her loss. She discusses the still- classified 28 pages of the JICI dealing with terrorist financing, the 9/11 families’ stalled lawsuit to bankrupt the terrorists and the direct interventions by the White House to protect the Saudi regime against the justice-seeking families, and the many uninvestigated questions and facts covered up by the 9/11 commission. She questions our current many-fronted wars and the senselessness of the occupation of and our military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan with Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden both dead, while our economy is crashing here at home. Ms. Van Auken talks about the three versions of the NORAD timeline, the passage of the Patriot Act as a vehicle to erode our civil liberties, NSA’s illegal wiretapping of our domestic communications under the guise of security, and more!
Lorie Van Auken, the mother of two children, lost her husband Kenneth Van Auken in the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. She is one of the “Jersey Girls” who, along with Kristen Breitweiser, Mindy Kleinberg, and Patty Casazza, fought the Bush administration for a commission to investigate the attacks. Ms. Van Auken is also a member of the September 11 Advocates.
To Listen to the Interview
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
ENG 102: Background Materials for John Bellamy Foster's "Education and the Structural Crisis of Capital"
[ENG 102 students: background materials for Foster's "Education and the Structural Crisis of Capital"
The first question we might have while reading this essay is the "structural crisis of capital":
Capitalism: Peace and Conflict Studies Archive
British Geographer David Harvey on "The Crisis of Capitalism"
American Economist Richard D. Wolff on "The Continuing Economic Crisis"
Sociologist John Bellamy Foster, Communications scholar/Media activist Robert McChesney and sociologist R. Jamil Jonna explore in more depth some of the paradoxes of capitalism in "Monopoly and Competition in Twenty-First Century Capitalism" (this essay is the basis for Foster's outline in the second paragraph)
Singer/Songwriter Tom Chapin’s satirical song questions what is “Not on the Test” (In reference to the No Child Left Behind Act)
Project Censored’s 2009 annual report on the top censored new stories of the year, featured at #12 a story about profiteering off of the No Child Left Behind act: Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From No Child Left Behind
Conservative education advocate Diana Ravitch was originally a supporter and advocate for NCLB, but a few years later after studying the evidence she became one of its harshest critics in her book The Death and Life of the Great American School System – here is an interview with her on NPR and an excerpt from her book: Former 'No Child Left Behind' Advocate Turns Critic
Journalist Chris Hedges questions: Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System
Sociologist Michael Schwalbe situates the continuing privatization of education as part of: A Primer on Class Struggle
Law and Ethics philosopher Martha Nussbaum questions where we should be heading if we truly want to develop a new: 21st Century Enlightenment and through her answers provides a more global perspective. She also makes a case, like Ken Robinson did in “Changing Education Paradigms,” for the continuing need for the Humanities in the development engaged, critical thinking citizens.
The strongest advocates for a strong “public” education system that would develop passionate, engaged, critical citizens has usually been teachers; thus, they have become targets for those that seek to privatize and standardize the education system (as have their unions which give them a sense of solidarity and strength in a vast bureaucratic system governed by party politics):
Comic/Satirist Jon Stewart on the Daily Show mocks the propaganda behind the continuing attack on education: For Richer and Poorer: Teachers and Wall Street
The Center for Media and Democracy, as reported by PR Watch, produced a report that analyzed how the Billionaire Koch Brothers have been funding and promoting politicians like Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and encouraging them to attack public employee unions (like teachers): The Republican Governors Association and the Kochs' Investment in Scott Walker
When Wisconsin citizens, with the support of people from around the world (during the Egyptian revolution young Egyptians were photographed carrying posters supporting Wisconsin public employee unions in their protests), joined together to occupy the state house in protest of Governor Walker’s attack on teachers, Walker stated that he would call out the national guard to forcefully arrest the people protesting. In response, students from every level, everyday citizens, the Green Bay Packers, police and firefighters, joined them in their protests at the state capitol. This became one of the largest American popular protests (still ongoing) of the 21st Century. Here is a video that documents the passion and hope of the people involved in the protests – the video while not directly stating this as its purpose, no doubt was made to counteract Governor Walker’s claim that the protestors were outsiders and troublemakers: Wisconsin "Budget Repair Bill" Protest
The first question we might have while reading this essay is the "structural crisis of capital":
Capitalism: Peace and Conflict Studies Archive
British Geographer David Harvey on "The Crisis of Capitalism"
American Economist Richard D. Wolff on "The Continuing Economic Crisis"
Sociologist John Bellamy Foster, Communications scholar/Media activist Robert McChesney and sociologist R. Jamil Jonna explore in more depth some of the paradoxes of capitalism in "Monopoly and Competition in Twenty-First Century Capitalism" (this essay is the basis for Foster's outline in the second paragraph)
Singer/Songwriter Tom Chapin’s satirical song questions what is “Not on the Test” (In reference to the No Child Left Behind Act)
Project Censored’s 2009 annual report on the top censored new stories of the year, featured at #12 a story about profiteering off of the No Child Left Behind act: Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From No Child Left Behind
Conservative education advocate Diana Ravitch was originally a supporter and advocate for NCLB, but a few years later after studying the evidence she became one of its harshest critics in her book The Death and Life of the Great American School System – here is an interview with her on NPR and an excerpt from her book: Former 'No Child Left Behind' Advocate Turns Critic
Journalist Chris Hedges questions: Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System
Sociologist Michael Schwalbe situates the continuing privatization of education as part of: A Primer on Class Struggle
Law and Ethics philosopher Martha Nussbaum questions where we should be heading if we truly want to develop a new: 21st Century Enlightenment and through her answers provides a more global perspective. She also makes a case, like Ken Robinson did in “Changing Education Paradigms,” for the continuing need for the Humanities in the development engaged, critical thinking citizens.
The strongest advocates for a strong “public” education system that would develop passionate, engaged, critical citizens has usually been teachers; thus, they have become targets for those that seek to privatize and standardize the education system (as have their unions which give them a sense of solidarity and strength in a vast bureaucratic system governed by party politics):
Comic/Satirist Jon Stewart on the Daily Show mocks the propaganda behind the continuing attack on education: For Richer and Poorer: Teachers and Wall Street
The Center for Media and Democracy, as reported by PR Watch, produced a report that analyzed how the Billionaire Koch Brothers have been funding and promoting politicians like Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and encouraging them to attack public employee unions (like teachers): The Republican Governors Association and the Kochs' Investment in Scott Walker
When Wisconsin citizens, with the support of people from around the world (during the Egyptian revolution young Egyptians were photographed carrying posters supporting Wisconsin public employee unions in their protests), joined together to occupy the state house in protest of Governor Walker’s attack on teachers, Walker stated that he would call out the national guard to forcefully arrest the people protesting. In response, students from every level, everyday citizens, the Green Bay Packers, police and firefighters, joined them in their protests at the state capitol. This became one of the largest American popular protests (still ongoing) of the 21st Century. Here is a video that documents the passion and hope of the people involved in the protests – the video while not directly stating this as its purpose, no doubt was made to counteract Governor Walker’s claim that the protestors were outsiders and troublemakers: Wisconsin "Budget Repair Bill" Protest
Boiling Frogs: James Bamford discusses the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program
Boiling Frogs
James Bamford discusses the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program, the ties between NSA and the nation’s telecommunications companies including the Israeli companies involved in intercepting highly sensitive communications for the U.S. government, the agency’s failings pre-9/11 and the relevant information blackout by the 9/11 Commission, the US mainstream media, President Obama’s ‘no change’ so far, and more.
James Bamford is one of the country’s leading writers on intelligence and national security issues. His books include “The Puzzle Palace,” “Body of Secrets,” “A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq and the Abuse of America’s Intelligence Agencies,” and most recently “ The Shadow Factory”. Mr. Bamford coproduced NOVA’s “The Spy Factory”, which was based on his latest book. He has written for many magazines, including investigative cover stories for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine and The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and is a contributing writer for Rolling Stone. His 2005 Rolling Stone article “The Man Who Sold the War” won a National Magazine Award for reporting. He also spent a decade as the Washington investigative producer for the ABC News program, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, and taught at the University of California, Berkeley, as a distinguished visiting professor.
To Listen to the Episode
More resources:
NOVA: The Spy Factory - Examine the high-tech eavesdropping carried out by the National Security Agency (PBS Video)
James Bamford: The Man Who Sold the War (Rolling Stone Magazine)
James Bamford discusses the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program, the ties between NSA and the nation’s telecommunications companies including the Israeli companies involved in intercepting highly sensitive communications for the U.S. government, the agency’s failings pre-9/11 and the relevant information blackout by the 9/11 Commission, the US mainstream media, President Obama’s ‘no change’ so far, and more.
James Bamford is one of the country’s leading writers on intelligence and national security issues. His books include “The Puzzle Palace,” “Body of Secrets,” “A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq and the Abuse of America’s Intelligence Agencies,” and most recently “ The Shadow Factory”. Mr. Bamford coproduced NOVA’s “The Spy Factory”, which was based on his latest book. He has written for many magazines, including investigative cover stories for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine and The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and is a contributing writer for Rolling Stone. His 2005 Rolling Stone article “The Man Who Sold the War” won a National Magazine Award for reporting. He also spent a decade as the Washington investigative producer for the ABC News program, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, and taught at the University of California, Berkeley, as a distinguished visiting professor.
To Listen to the Episode
More resources:
NOVA: The Spy Factory - Examine the high-tech eavesdropping carried out by the National Security Agency (PBS Video)
Watch the full episode. See more NOVA.
Watch the full episode. See more NOVA.
Watch the full episode. See more NOVA.
Watch the full episode. See more NOVA.
Watch the full episode. See more NOVA.
James Bamford: The Man Who Sold the War (Rolling Stone Magazine)
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Writers Talking: Jules Boykoff & Kristian Williams
[I read Kristian William's American Methods: Torture and the Logic of Domination last year and I'm currently reading Jules Boykoff's Beyond Bullets: The Suppression of Dissent in America -- both are recommended and this podcast is also recommended as a good introduction to their research.]
Writers Talking: Jules Boykoff & Kristian Williams
Multnomah County Library (Oregon)
Kristian Williams, a journalist and a member of Rose City Copwatch, is the author of Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America and American Methods: Torture and the Logic of Domination. Jules Boykoff teaches political science at Pacific University in Forest Grove and is the author of Beyond Bullets: The Suppression of Dissent in the United States. The authors discuss their books and answer questions from the audience.
To Listen to the Talks
Writers Talking: Jules Boykoff & Kristian Williams
Multnomah County Library (Oregon)
Kristian Williams, a journalist and a member of Rose City Copwatch, is the author of Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America and American Methods: Torture and the Logic of Domination. Jules Boykoff teaches political science at Pacific University in Forest Grove and is the author of Beyond Bullets: The Suppression of Dissent in the United States. The authors discuss their books and answer questions from the audience.
To Listen to the Talks
Monday, September 05, 2011
Martha Nussbaum: 21st Century Enlightenment
Matthew Taylor and Martha Nussbaum discuss ways in which the attitudes, values and practices of 21st Century enlightenment could help more of us lead the good life in the good society.
Betsy McLean: The Hidden History of the Economic Crisis
RSA
Award-winning investigative journalist Bethany McLean, who exposed the Enron scandal, shows that the crisis wasn't about finance at all - it was about human nature.
Award-winning investigative journalist Bethany McLean, who exposed the Enron scandal, shows that the crisis wasn't about finance at all - it was about human nature.
Janet Patton: Lockheed layoffs come while it's in line for Kentucky tax incentives
[Thivai: I guess journalistic objectivity prevents them from calling out the predatory moves of Lockheed against its workers (layoff of loyal workers, then force them to interview in competition with other workers -- a heartless method for undercutting prevailing wages of loyal workers) while glorifying (losing their mythical objectivity) in their role as cheerleaders for the empire's hunting down of enemies.]
Janet Patton: Lockheed layoffs come while it's in line for Kentucky tax incentives
Janet Patton: Lockheed layoffs come while it's in line for Kentucky tax incentives
Washington Monthly: A Different Kind of College Ranking
Introduction: A Different Kind of College Ranking
By the Editors
Washington Monthly
A few months ago, the Obama administration completed a remarkably successful run of sticking it to large corporations that make a profit in higher education. First, as part of the omnibus legislation that produced the Affordable Care Act in 2010, Obama pushed through a wholesale reform of the student loan industry, taking away tens of billions of dollars in subsidies to private banks and using the money to increase financial aid for low-income students. Then, in 2011, Obama stamped down on the excesses of for-profit colleges that have been raking in billions of dollars from federal financial aid programs while leaving students with low-value degrees and crushing debt. Under the administration’s controversial “gainful employment” rules, finalized in June, colleges whose graduates don’t earn enough money in the job market to pay back their loans will lose federal aid, a penalty that will effectively shut those colleges down.
These are exactly the kind of progressive, pro-student reforms Obama was elected to enact. But they also lead to a question: What’s next? In his first address to Congress, the president set a bold goal of regaining the international lead in college graduation by 2020. But only 10 percent of students attend for-profit colleges, and Obama’s loan reforms, while admirable, aren’t going to have a significant effect on the number of people who ultimately earn a college degree. Meanwhile, the latest research suggests that many students in traditional colleges aren’t learning very much, even as tuition is rising out of sight.
For a Democratic president, battling big business is the easy part. If Obama’s 2020 goal is going to become more than an empty slogan, he’s going to have to do something considerably harder: take on the entrenched interests in the traditional public and nonprofit higher education sector and get them to do more on behalf of students and the public. That means defining what, exactly, a public-minded college should do.
We believe that the Washington Monthly college rankings provide an excellent answer to that question. Conventional rankings like those published by U.S. News & World Report are designed to show what colleges can do for you. Since 2005, our rankings have posed a different question: What are colleges doing for the country? Higher education, after all, isn’t just important for undergraduates. We all benefit when colleges produce groundbreaking research that drives economic growth, when they offer students from low-income families the path to a better life, and when they shape the character of future leaders. And we all pay for it, through hundreds of billions of dollars in public subsidies. Everyone has a stake in how that money is spent.
That’s why one-third of each college’s score on our rankings is based on social mobility: How committed are they to enrolling low-income students and helping them earn degrees? Our second category looks at research production and success at sending undergraduates on to PhDs. Finally, we give great weight to service. It’s not enough to help students look out for themselves. The best colleges encourage students to give something back.
... It turns out that ranking colleges by social mobility, research, and service produces some surprising results. Well-known colleges that are routinely lauded by U.S. News fare much worse when ranked according to what they do for the country. On the other hand, colleges that are routinely lost in the bottom tiers of the U.S. News rankings are top performers on our list.
To Read the Rest of the Introduction and To Access the Lists
By the Editors
Washington Monthly
A few months ago, the Obama administration completed a remarkably successful run of sticking it to large corporations that make a profit in higher education. First, as part of the omnibus legislation that produced the Affordable Care Act in 2010, Obama pushed through a wholesale reform of the student loan industry, taking away tens of billions of dollars in subsidies to private banks and using the money to increase financial aid for low-income students. Then, in 2011, Obama stamped down on the excesses of for-profit colleges that have been raking in billions of dollars from federal financial aid programs while leaving students with low-value degrees and crushing debt. Under the administration’s controversial “gainful employment” rules, finalized in June, colleges whose graduates don’t earn enough money in the job market to pay back their loans will lose federal aid, a penalty that will effectively shut those colleges down.
These are exactly the kind of progressive, pro-student reforms Obama was elected to enact. But they also lead to a question: What’s next? In his first address to Congress, the president set a bold goal of regaining the international lead in college graduation by 2020. But only 10 percent of students attend for-profit colleges, and Obama’s loan reforms, while admirable, aren’t going to have a significant effect on the number of people who ultimately earn a college degree. Meanwhile, the latest research suggests that many students in traditional colleges aren’t learning very much, even as tuition is rising out of sight.
For a Democratic president, battling big business is the easy part. If Obama’s 2020 goal is going to become more than an empty slogan, he’s going to have to do something considerably harder: take on the entrenched interests in the traditional public and nonprofit higher education sector and get them to do more on behalf of students and the public. That means defining what, exactly, a public-minded college should do.
We believe that the Washington Monthly college rankings provide an excellent answer to that question. Conventional rankings like those published by U.S. News & World Report are designed to show what colleges can do for you. Since 2005, our rankings have posed a different question: What are colleges doing for the country? Higher education, after all, isn’t just important for undergraduates. We all benefit when colleges produce groundbreaking research that drives economic growth, when they offer students from low-income families the path to a better life, and when they shape the character of future leaders. And we all pay for it, through hundreds of billions of dollars in public subsidies. Everyone has a stake in how that money is spent.
That’s why one-third of each college’s score on our rankings is based on social mobility: How committed are they to enrolling low-income students and helping them earn degrees? Our second category looks at research production and success at sending undergraduates on to PhDs. Finally, we give great weight to service. It’s not enough to help students look out for themselves. The best colleges encourage students to give something back.
... It turns out that ranking colleges by social mobility, research, and service produces some surprising results. Well-known colleges that are routinely lauded by U.S. News fare much worse when ranked according to what they do for the country. On the other hand, colleges that are routinely lost in the bottom tiers of the U.S. News rankings are top performers on our list.
To Read the Rest of the Introduction and To Access the Lists
Saturday, September 03, 2011
Jacques Ranciere: Political Dissensus
Political dissensus is not a discussion between speaking people who would confront their interests and values. It is a conflict about who speaks and who does not speak, about what has to be heard as the voice of pain and what has to be heard as an argument on justice. And this is also what 'class war' means: not the conflict between groups which have opposite economic interests, but the conflict about what an 'interest' is, the struggle between those who set themselves as able to manage social interests and those who are supposed to be only able to reproduce their life. (2)
Ranciere, Jacques. "The Thinking of Dissensus." Reading Ranciere. ed. Paul Bowman and Richard Stamp. NY: Continuum, 2011: 1-17.
Electric Sheep Magazine: Kosmos – Polish and Russian Sci-Fi cinema
Kosmos – Polish and Russian Sci-Fi cinema
Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast (Resonance FM: United Kingdom)
Electric Sheep Magazine editor Virginie Sélavy talks to Russian scholar Sergei Kapterev (Institute of Cinema Art in Moscow) about Soviet science fiction and the connection between SF cinema and politics, the impact of the space race and the Cold War period, and Roger Corman’s re-edits of popular Soviet SF films.
Plus, in a Q and A recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON, April, 2010, Alex Fitch talks to Polish poster designer Andrzej Klimowski and SF writer / journalist Wojciech Orlinski about cinematic adaptations of the work of Stanislaw Lem from Steven Soderbergh and Andrei Tarkovsky’s adaptations of Solaris to more offbeat films such as Edward Zebrowski’s The Hospital of Transfiguration.
To Listen to the Interviews
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Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast (Resonance FM: United Kingdom)
Electric Sheep Magazine editor Virginie Sélavy talks to Russian scholar Sergei Kapterev (Institute of Cinema Art in Moscow) about Soviet science fiction and the connection between SF cinema and politics, the impact of the space race and the Cold War period, and Roger Corman’s re-edits of popular Soviet SF films.
Plus, in a Q and A recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON, April, 2010, Alex Fitch talks to Polish poster designer Andrzej Klimowski and SF writer / journalist Wojciech Orlinski about cinematic adaptations of the work of Stanislaw Lem from Steven Soderbergh and Andrei Tarkovsky’s adaptations of Solaris to more offbeat films such as Edward Zebrowski’s The Hospital of Transfiguration.
To Listen to the Interviews
Energy: Peace and Conflict Studies Archive
Ayukawa, Yurika. "Japan Facing Biggest Catastrophe Since Dawn of Nuclear Age." Democracy Now (March 14, 2011)
Barker, Holly, et al. "The Secret, Silent Poisoning (Nuclear Victims in Peace and War)." Unwelcome Guests #616 (August 11, 2012)
Boardman, William. " 14 Things You Need to Know About the Horrifying Arkansas Oil Spill: The situation remains fluid, as it were, with potential impacts possible from local to global." AlterNet (April 8, 2013)
Bruggers, James. "Natural gas liquids pipeline planned for Kentucky." Louisville Courier-Journal (May 22, 2013)
"Chernobyl 25 Years On." Eurozine (April 22, 2011: Archive of Essays)
Connor, Kevin and Justin Elliott. "Energy Nominee Ernest Moniz Criticized for Backing Fracking & Nuclear Power; Ties to BP, GE, Saudis." Democracy Now (March 26, 2013)
Crum, Travis. Marchers scale Blair Mountain: Protesters rally at Labor's 'Gettysburg,' vow mountaintop-removal fight." West Virginia Gazette-Mail (June 11, 2011)
Dorr, Gary, et al. "Cowboy Indian Alliance Protests Keystone XL Pipeline in D.C. After Latest Obama Admin Delay." Democracy Now (April 28, 2014)
The Editorial Board. "The Koch Attack on Solar Energy." The New York Times (April 27, 2014)
Goodman, Amy, et al. "Poisoned Water, Fossil Fuels." Making Contact (May 22, 2012)
Haney, Bill and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. "The Fight over Coal Mining is a “Fight About Democracy”: New Documentary with Robert Kennedy, Jr. Chronicles Campaign to Halt Mountaintop Removal." Democracy Now (May 23, 2011)
Horn, Steve. "MSNBC's (GE's) Dylan Ratigan Show "Firewater?" Series: Natural Gas Industry-Media Complex Exposed." PR Watch
Hounsell, Steve. "Biodiversity Primer." Alternatives (November 24, 2010)
Into Eternity Making Contact (March 18, 2014) ["Our world is generating more and more nuclear waste, but have no permanent place to dispose of it. But the nation of Finland has a plan. They’re building an underground cave, to hold thousands of tones of nuclear waste, for at least 100 thousand years. On this edition, we hear excerpts of the film, “Into Eternity”, which explores the logistical and philosophical quandaries around the construction of something that if it works, might very well outlast the entire human race."]
Landman, Anne. "What Happened to Media Coverage of Fukushima?" Common Dreams (June 24, 2011)
Merchant, Brian. "93 Harvard Faculty Members Call on the University to Divest from Fossil Fuels." Motherboard (April 10, 2014)
---. "A Drone's Eye View of the Latest Oil Train Explosion." Motherboard (May 1, 2014)
"Mountain Mobilization shuts down largest mountaintop removal mine." RAMPS Media (July 28, 2012)
Peterson, Erica. "Law Firm Says Inbreeding Skews Data Linking Mountaintop Removal to Birth Defects." WFPL (July 11, 2011)
Potter, Will. "From Tim DeChristopher to Tar Sands Protests, the Environmental Movement Steps Up Civil Disobedience." Green is the New Red (September 2, 2011)
Sharber, Dan. "World on Fire: Capitalism, the Environment, and Our Future." We Are Many (October 24, 2012)
Sigal, Clancy. "Blair Mountain and labor's living history." The Guardian (November 11, 2011)
Ward, Chip. "How the ‘peaceful atom’ became a serial killer." Grist (March 27, 2011)
Barker, Holly, et al. "The Secret, Silent Poisoning (Nuclear Victims in Peace and War)." Unwelcome Guests #616 (August 11, 2012)
Boardman, William. " 14 Things You Need to Know About the Horrifying Arkansas Oil Spill: The situation remains fluid, as it were, with potential impacts possible from local to global." AlterNet (April 8, 2013)
Bruggers, James. "Natural gas liquids pipeline planned for Kentucky." Louisville Courier-Journal (May 22, 2013)
"Chernobyl 25 Years On." Eurozine (April 22, 2011: Archive of Essays)
Connor, Kevin and Justin Elliott. "Energy Nominee Ernest Moniz Criticized for Backing Fracking & Nuclear Power; Ties to BP, GE, Saudis." Democracy Now (March 26, 2013)
Crum, Travis. Marchers scale Blair Mountain: Protesters rally at Labor's 'Gettysburg,' vow mountaintop-removal fight." West Virginia Gazette-Mail (June 11, 2011)
Dorr, Gary, et al. "Cowboy Indian Alliance Protests Keystone XL Pipeline in D.C. After Latest Obama Admin Delay." Democracy Now (April 28, 2014)
The Editorial Board. "The Koch Attack on Solar Energy." The New York Times (April 27, 2014)
Goodman, Amy, et al. "Poisoned Water, Fossil Fuels." Making Contact (May 22, 2012)
Haney, Bill and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. "The Fight over Coal Mining is a “Fight About Democracy”: New Documentary with Robert Kennedy, Jr. Chronicles Campaign to Halt Mountaintop Removal." Democracy Now (May 23, 2011)
Horn, Steve. "MSNBC's (GE's) Dylan Ratigan Show "Firewater?" Series: Natural Gas Industry-Media Complex Exposed." PR Watch
Hounsell, Steve. "Biodiversity Primer." Alternatives (November 24, 2010)
Into Eternity Making Contact (March 18, 2014) ["Our world is generating more and more nuclear waste, but have no permanent place to dispose of it. But the nation of Finland has a plan. They’re building an underground cave, to hold thousands of tones of nuclear waste, for at least 100 thousand years. On this edition, we hear excerpts of the film, “Into Eternity”, which explores the logistical and philosophical quandaries around the construction of something that if it works, might very well outlast the entire human race."]
Landman, Anne. "What Happened to Media Coverage of Fukushima?" Common Dreams (June 24, 2011)
Merchant, Brian. "93 Harvard Faculty Members Call on the University to Divest from Fossil Fuels." Motherboard (April 10, 2014)
---. "A Drone's Eye View of the Latest Oil Train Explosion." Motherboard (May 1, 2014)
"Mountain Mobilization shuts down largest mountaintop removal mine." RAMPS Media (July 28, 2012)
Peterson, Erica. "Law Firm Says Inbreeding Skews Data Linking Mountaintop Removal to Birth Defects." WFPL (July 11, 2011)
Potter, Will. "From Tim DeChristopher to Tar Sands Protests, the Environmental Movement Steps Up Civil Disobedience." Green is the New Red (September 2, 2011)
Sharber, Dan. "World on Fire: Capitalism, the Environment, and Our Future." We Are Many (October 24, 2012)
Sigal, Clancy. "Blair Mountain and labor's living history." The Guardian (November 11, 2011)
Ward, Chip. "How the ‘peaceful atom’ became a serial killer." Grist (March 27, 2011)
Will Potter: From Tim DeChristopher to Tar Sands Protests, the Environmental Movement Steps Up Civil Disobedience
From Tim DeChristopher to Tar Sands Protests, the Environmental Movement Steps Up Civil Disobedience
by Will Potter
Green is the New Red
One month ago, environmental activist Tim DeChristopher was sentenced to two years in prison for non-violent disobedience. The sentence was harsher than those handed down to people who burned churches and threatened black leaders. It was a sentence intended — like so many disproportionate sentences against activists — to send a message. But what message?
Environmental activists could have responded to this case in the way that corporations and politicians (who called DeChristopher an “eco-terrorist”) had intended. They could have scaled back their organizing to only milquetoast tactics that are 100% “safe”; they could have responded with fear.
Instead, we’re seeing something quite different as attention has shifted to the creation of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would draw oil from that tar sands of Canada to East Texas (this NPR story has a good overview). Already, more than 800 people been arrested for non-violent civil disobedience in Washington, D.C. Some of the arrests that have made headlines have included a top NASA climate scientist, Jim Hansen.
What has been even more inspirational is the response of young people who have been radicalized by both the sentencing of Tim DeChristopher and the Obama administration’s deference to corporate interests. A letter from student groups and youth leaders at the Tar Sands Action said in part:
To Read the Rest of the Post and to Access Hyperlinked Resources
by Will Potter
Green is the New Red
One month ago, environmental activist Tim DeChristopher was sentenced to two years in prison for non-violent disobedience. The sentence was harsher than those handed down to people who burned churches and threatened black leaders. It was a sentence intended — like so many disproportionate sentences against activists — to send a message. But what message?
Environmental activists could have responded to this case in the way that corporations and politicians (who called DeChristopher an “eco-terrorist”) had intended. They could have scaled back their organizing to only milquetoast tactics that are 100% “safe”; they could have responded with fear.
Instead, we’re seeing something quite different as attention has shifted to the creation of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would draw oil from that tar sands of Canada to East Texas (this NPR story has a good overview). Already, more than 800 people been arrested for non-violent civil disobedience in Washington, D.C. Some of the arrests that have made headlines have included a top NASA climate scientist, Jim Hansen.
What has been even more inspirational is the response of young people who have been radicalized by both the sentencing of Tim DeChristopher and the Obama administration’s deference to corporate interests. A letter from student groups and youth leaders at the Tar Sands Action said in part:
Big corporations are using their financial influence to corrupt our democracy and deepen their pockets at the expense of Americans. And it’s not just related to energy and the environment; they are threatening the very foundations of our democracy, working to disenfranchise voters, attack workers’ rights and the middle class…The Keystone XL decision is a significant test of President Obama’s commitment to our generation, but it’s not the only one.
To Read the Rest of the Post and to Access Hyperlinked Resources
Marisa Novara: On Pedestrians and Democracy
On Pedestrians and Democracy
by Marisa Novara
Metro Planning
I’ve been thinking a lot about democracy lately (and its not because of debates between Republican presidential candidates). It’s a different take on democracy, and it’s courtesy of Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia. He used the word liberally in his remarks to the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Pedestrian Safety on August 17th. While he was in town that day to help MPC unveil its Bus Rapid Transit study and recommendations for a 10-route network, we couldn’t pass up the chance to arrange for him to address Alderman Margaret Laurino’s (39th Ward) committee. Although ‘address’ may be too passive a word – it’s more accurate to say that he regaled, cajoled, preached, implored - whichever word you choose, the man is passionate about the importance of democratic transportation decision-making to support the many ways people get around. A sampling of his thoughts:
“Quality sidewalks and protected bicycle paths are not cute architectural features; they are a right, unless we believe that only those with access to a car have the right to safe individual mobility.”
“A protected bicycle way is a symbol of democracy. It shows that a citizen on a $30 bicycle is equally important as one in a $30,000 car.”
“Parking is not a constitutional right.”
As mayor, Peñalosa added miles of bicycle and pedestrian highways, replaced parking spaces with pedestrian sidewalks, and spearheaded a voter-approved referendum that established the first Thursday of every February as a city-wide car-free day. His efforts not only made Bogota more pedestrian-friendly, but as he put it, more democratic.
Bogotá is not the only city to take a stand for pedestrians and cyclists. Shanghai and Paris also converted roads into pedestrian-only destinations. In 2000, Shanghai transformed a one-mile stretch of Nanjing Road, a declining retail destination, into a pedestrian thoroughfare by renovating more than 40 buildings, landscaping and improving the streetscape. As a result of these transformations, Nanjing Road is now the busiest commercial district in Shanghai, a major tourist destination, and home to more than 600 businesses.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
by Marisa Novara
Metro Planning
I’ve been thinking a lot about democracy lately (and its not because of debates between Republican presidential candidates). It’s a different take on democracy, and it’s courtesy of Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia. He used the word liberally in his remarks to the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Pedestrian Safety on August 17th. While he was in town that day to help MPC unveil its Bus Rapid Transit study and recommendations for a 10-route network, we couldn’t pass up the chance to arrange for him to address Alderman Margaret Laurino’s (39th Ward) committee. Although ‘address’ may be too passive a word – it’s more accurate to say that he regaled, cajoled, preached, implored - whichever word you choose, the man is passionate about the importance of democratic transportation decision-making to support the many ways people get around. A sampling of his thoughts:
“Quality sidewalks and protected bicycle paths are not cute architectural features; they are a right, unless we believe that only those with access to a car have the right to safe individual mobility.”
“A protected bicycle way is a symbol of democracy. It shows that a citizen on a $30 bicycle is equally important as one in a $30,000 car.”
“Parking is not a constitutional right.”
As mayor, Peñalosa added miles of bicycle and pedestrian highways, replaced parking spaces with pedestrian sidewalks, and spearheaded a voter-approved referendum that established the first Thursday of every February as a city-wide car-free day. His efforts not only made Bogota more pedestrian-friendly, but as he put it, more democratic.
Bogotá is not the only city to take a stand for pedestrians and cyclists. Shanghai and Paris also converted roads into pedestrian-only destinations. In 2000, Shanghai transformed a one-mile stretch of Nanjing Road, a declining retail destination, into a pedestrian thoroughfare by renovating more than 40 buildings, landscaping and improving the streetscape. As a result of these transformations, Nanjing Road is now the busiest commercial district in Shanghai, a major tourist destination, and home to more than 600 businesses.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
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