Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Resources for February 5, 2014
The Louisville Courier-Journal shares this video clip: "Evolution vs. creationism | Bill Nye the Science Guy takes on Creation Museum founder"
McElwee, Sean and Abigail Salvatore. "New Atheism’s big mistake: Debating creationists solves nothing: Fundamentalism isn't really about the Bible; it's about politics. So attacking religion doesn't fix the problem." Salon (February 1, 2014)
"List of Edward Snowden's NSA Revelations." Peace Action Wisconsin (2014)
Seriously bummed to find out this was Smiley & West's last podcast, but it was a good retrospective of past shows and a great final interview with Noam Chomsky
Smells Like Human Spirit podcasts:
"Episode 122: Jenny Blake talks Life After College" - "Jenny Blake is a blogger, life coach, public speaker and author of ‘Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want’. Jenny has been featured in the Wallstreet Journal, Forbes.com, and the US News and World Report (among other places) for her work that aims to help young people ‘wake up, live big and love the journey.’ In 2011, she decided to leave her job at Google after 5 years to move to New York City and pursue her passion of being an entrepreneur full-time. In this episode of the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast, Jenny looks back on the hard work that led to her early professional success, her subsequent burnout in her mid-twenties, and ultimately the decision to leave Google and ‘go it alone’. Other topics of discussion include society’s obsession with wealth, the definition of success, and how college graduates can position themselves to pursue their true passion.
"Episode 123: The Good Fight, with Ben Wikler" - "Ben Wikler, host of ‘The Good Fight’, joins Guy Evans for Episode 123 of Smells Like Human Spirit. Ben has a long history of involvement in political activism, particularly with several very important online activist communities. Topics of discussion in this interview include his politically active upbringing, the blend of comedy and politics present in his work, and why ‘the corporation’ has become the dominant social institution of our age."
"Episode 127: John and Molly Knefel (Radio Dispatch) on Guantanamo Bay, Occupy’s Legacy, and more" - "John and Molly Knefel, the brother and sister duo that co-host Radio Dispatch, join Guy Evans for Episode 127 of the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast. Originally from Iowa, John and Molly now reside in Brooklyn, NY and aim to cover the most important and under-reported stories of the day with their show, which has gained quite an impressive following since its inception in 2010. Topics of discussion in this episode include Guantanamo Bay, Occupy’s legacy, the juvenile justice system in the U.S., and much more."
Barrett, Paul M. "Academic Fraud for College Jocks Reaches Across the Country." Business Week (January 8, 2014)
Bonanno, Mike and Andrew Boyd. "Principle: The Real Action is Your Target’s Reaction." Beautiful Trouble (2014)
Monday, February 03, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Danny Mayer for Mayor: Lexington-Fayette Urban County
[Dialogic would like to make this clear that we are simply disseminating this message from Danny Mayer in his independent campaign for LFUCG Mayor, a campaign which we support]
Lexington-Fayette Urban County,
I am a professor at Bluegrass Community and Technical College, a fourteen year resident of the northside, a former publisher of the media conglomerate North of Center, a father, and an avid hiker and paddler of area streets and waters. (I'm also a 2007 graduate of UK, where I received my PhD in American Literature.)
My campaign will focus on “the whole horse”--creating diverse and functional live/work/play communities that extend well beyond Main Street and that do not unfairly commit the city's citizenry to paying off high cost/low reward inner urban developments. My campaign will be more committed to relevant local class ideas than pay-big world class projects. How do we spur development in the neighborhoods in which we live? How might we culturally and economically connect our citizens in ways that do not require of them to travel downtown for art, culture, food, and jobs?
Here are some articles from North of Center that might highlight my thinking on some topics. I recognize that I have been depicted in media stories, incorrectly, as running a “small scale” or “limited” or “subordinate” campaign. I hope these writings show that my candidacy is a serious one and that it grows out of many years of thinking and researching and writing on this area.
Thanks,
Danny Mayer, candidate for Mayor of Fayette Urban County
What I'm for:
(1) #FreeLextran is a project that I developed and presented to the city council in September, to no response. After being turned down by one council member, I have been able to secure help from 1st District Representative Chris Ford on the project. In two weeks, we'll meet with Rocky Burke (LexTran), Jim Clark (LexArts), Jeff Fugate (Lex. DDA), and Denise Brown (one of the proposed muralists from the project) to discuss possibilities for the project's phase 1 implementation.
(2) The Free LexTran project is a newer, though smaller, extension of my interest in creating county-wide access to economic growth, healthy living, cultural activity, and public transportation. A larger-scale example would be my entry in the Mayer's Challenge, which I submitted to Jim Gray.
(3) Small-scale project: Who doesn't love a parade? "Parade County, USA"
No to Rupp:
(4) "A matter of value," written in Feb 2012, lays out why I think Rupp is a bad value in more abstract terms.
(5) "Rupp will be an expensive opportunity," written at the end of 2011, lists a number of arguments against the project that are more specific and "numbers based."
(6) "What we'd do: $2.5 million from LFUCG," lays out alternate plans for spending the city's (thus far) $2.5 million investment in the Rupp Opportunity Zone.
County observations:
(7) Here's my take on where I see city money/power going (city and horse country), and where it doesn't go (the neighborhoods where we live): "Propping up Main Street."
(8) "Austerity comes to Lexington," written in June 2011, places Jim Gray's budget discussions within the context of national and global austerity debates. I'd note that while the LFUCG budget has increased since he proposed his 2011 budget, few of the "safety net" type of city agencies have seen their budgets increase from 2011 levels.
(9) City development focus areas are intertwined with gentrification. Here's the most recent writing of mine on that: "Some paragraphs on northside gentrification."
Personal:
(10) I'm an avid paddler of area waters. Here's one of a series I helped write of Kentucky River trips: "Frankfort stinks like shit."
(11) I'm the grandson of an artist, union man, WWII vet, and orphan: "Old man gets older."
(12) I'm married and 2.5 year old daughter. "May Day Kid attends first protest"
Danny Mayer
For more info or to contact:
mayer.danny@gmail.com
Lexington-Fayette Urban County,
I am a professor at Bluegrass Community and Technical College, a fourteen year resident of the northside, a former publisher of the media conglomerate North of Center, a father, and an avid hiker and paddler of area streets and waters. (I'm also a 2007 graduate of UK, where I received my PhD in American Literature.)
My campaign will focus on “the whole horse”--creating diverse and functional live/work/play communities that extend well beyond Main Street and that do not unfairly commit the city's citizenry to paying off high cost/low reward inner urban developments. My campaign will be more committed to relevant local class ideas than pay-big world class projects. How do we spur development in the neighborhoods in which we live? How might we culturally and economically connect our citizens in ways that do not require of them to travel downtown for art, culture, food, and jobs?
Here are some articles from North of Center that might highlight my thinking on some topics. I recognize that I have been depicted in media stories, incorrectly, as running a “small scale” or “limited” or “subordinate” campaign. I hope these writings show that my candidacy is a serious one and that it grows out of many years of thinking and researching and writing on this area.
Thanks,
Danny Mayer, candidate for Mayor of Fayette Urban County
What I'm for:
(1) #FreeLextran is a project that I developed and presented to the city council in September, to no response. After being turned down by one council member, I have been able to secure help from 1st District Representative Chris Ford on the project. In two weeks, we'll meet with Rocky Burke (LexTran), Jim Clark (LexArts), Jeff Fugate (Lex. DDA), and Denise Brown (one of the proposed muralists from the project) to discuss possibilities for the project's phase 1 implementation.
(2) The Free LexTran project is a newer, though smaller, extension of my interest in creating county-wide access to economic growth, healthy living, cultural activity, and public transportation. A larger-scale example would be my entry in the Mayer's Challenge, which I submitted to Jim Gray.
(3) Small-scale project: Who doesn't love a parade? "Parade County, USA"
No to Rupp:
(4) "A matter of value," written in Feb 2012, lays out why I think Rupp is a bad value in more abstract terms.
(5) "Rupp will be an expensive opportunity," written at the end of 2011, lists a number of arguments against the project that are more specific and "numbers based."
(6) "What we'd do: $2.5 million from LFUCG," lays out alternate plans for spending the city's (thus far) $2.5 million investment in the Rupp Opportunity Zone.
County observations:
(7) Here's my take on where I see city money/power going (city and horse country), and where it doesn't go (the neighborhoods where we live): "Propping up Main Street."
(8) "Austerity comes to Lexington," written in June 2011, places Jim Gray's budget discussions within the context of national and global austerity debates. I'd note that while the LFUCG budget has increased since he proposed his 2011 budget, few of the "safety net" type of city agencies have seen their budgets increase from 2011 levels.
(9) City development focus areas are intertwined with gentrification. Here's the most recent writing of mine on that: "Some paragraphs on northside gentrification."
Personal:
(10) I'm an avid paddler of area waters. Here's one of a series I helped write of Kentucky River trips: "Frankfort stinks like shit."
(11) I'm the grandson of an artist, union man, WWII vet, and orphan: "Old man gets older."
(12) I'm married and 2.5 year old daughter. "May Day Kid attends first protest"
Danny Mayer
For more info or to contact:
mayer.danny@gmail.com
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Resources for January 28, 2014
"From Jennifer Seibel, the director of Miss Representation, comes an exploration of American masculinity"
Crowther, Alicia. "Amnesty International Campaign Shows Last Meals of Wrongly Executed" The Lived Prison (February 23, 2013)
Adam Mordecai for Upworthy: "9 Out Of 10 Americans Are Completely Wrong About This Mind-Blowing Fact: Wealth Inequality in America."
Fisher, Mark. "Exiting the Vampire Castle." The North Star (November 22, 2013)
Fakhoury, Hanni. "The U.S. Crackdown on Hackers Is Our New War on Drugs" Wired (January 23, 2014)
Wolchover, Natalie. "A New Physics Theory of Life" Quanta (January 22, 2014)
Marshall, Peter. Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism. Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2010.
Crowther, Alicia. "Amnesty International Campaign Shows Last Meals of Wrongly Executed" The Lived Prison (February 23, 2013)
Adam Mordecai for Upworthy: "9 Out Of 10 Americans Are Completely Wrong About This Mind-Blowing Fact: Wealth Inequality in America."
Fisher, Mark. "Exiting the Vampire Castle." The North Star (November 22, 2013)
Fakhoury, Hanni. "The U.S. Crackdown on Hackers Is Our New War on Drugs" Wired (January 23, 2014)
Wolchover, Natalie. "A New Physics Theory of Life" Quanta (January 22, 2014)
Marshall, Peter. Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism. Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2010.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Resources for January 27, 2014
Snag Films has a wide selection of free documentaries available to watch online
Medium Cool (USA: Haskell Wexler, 1969)
Negro, Lisa. "Service is My Art." Smells Like Human Spirit #119 (January 14, 2014) ["Lisa Nigro is founder of Inspiration Corporation, an organization that helps people who are affected by homelessness and poverty to improve their lives and increase self-sufficiency. While working as a police officer in Chicago during the late-eighties, she began began to hand out meals to people on the streets of the city’s Uptown neighborhood. Since then, the initiative has evolved to serve 3,000 individuals a year by providing a variety of services including meals, housing, employment preparation, and vocational training. In 2010, Mrs. Nigro received the Citizens Medal, one of the nation’s highest public service awards, and recently started another initiative called Transform U. "]
Khalek, Rania. "On Objectivity in Journalism, Mainstream Vs. Independent Media, the School-to-Prison Pipeline, and more." Smells Like Human Spirit #118 (January 13, 2014) ["Rania Khalek is an independent journalist living in the Washington, D.C. area whose work aims to cover the plight of the underclass and marginalized. She runs the website ‘dispatches from the Underclass’, which can be found at RaniaKhalek.com, and boasts an impressive resume of features at The Nation, Al Jazeera America, and Citizen Radio, just to name a few. In this episode ... Rania makes her case for why objectivity is not possible in journalism, examines the positive aspects and limitations of independent media, and discusses the disturbing national trend of children being ‘funneled’ from public schools to the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Other topics include Nelson Mandela, the NSA, and more.]
Matthew Phillips for Business Week: "Goldman: Corporate Profits Grew Five Times Faster Than Wages in 2013"
Holland, Joshua. "Bumbling, Blame and Bankruptcy in Wake of West Virginia Chemical Spill." Moyers and Co. (January 24, 2014)
Peck, Adam. "There Has Been an Average of One School Shooting Every Other School Day so far This Year." Moyers and Co. (January 23, 2014)
Bernays, Anne. "Edward Bernays’ daughter Anne discusses life with the ‘Father of PR’." Smells Like Human Spirit #120 (January 15, 2014)
Mistich, Dave. "Appalshop's 'Chemical Valley'." West Virginia Public Broadcasting (January 24, 2014)
Medium Cool (USA: Haskell Wexler, 1969)
Negro, Lisa. "Service is My Art." Smells Like Human Spirit #119 (January 14, 2014) ["Lisa Nigro is founder of Inspiration Corporation, an organization that helps people who are affected by homelessness and poverty to improve their lives and increase self-sufficiency. While working as a police officer in Chicago during the late-eighties, she began began to hand out meals to people on the streets of the city’s Uptown neighborhood. Since then, the initiative has evolved to serve 3,000 individuals a year by providing a variety of services including meals, housing, employment preparation, and vocational training. In 2010, Mrs. Nigro received the Citizens Medal, one of the nation’s highest public service awards, and recently started another initiative called Transform U. "]
Khalek, Rania. "On Objectivity in Journalism, Mainstream Vs. Independent Media, the School-to-Prison Pipeline, and more." Smells Like Human Spirit #118 (January 13, 2014) ["Rania Khalek is an independent journalist living in the Washington, D.C. area whose work aims to cover the plight of the underclass and marginalized. She runs the website ‘dispatches from the Underclass’, which can be found at RaniaKhalek.com, and boasts an impressive resume of features at The Nation, Al Jazeera America, and Citizen Radio, just to name a few. In this episode ... Rania makes her case for why objectivity is not possible in journalism, examines the positive aspects and limitations of independent media, and discusses the disturbing national trend of children being ‘funneled’ from public schools to the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Other topics include Nelson Mandela, the NSA, and more.]
Matthew Phillips for Business Week: "Goldman: Corporate Profits Grew Five Times Faster Than Wages in 2013"
Holland, Joshua. "Bumbling, Blame and Bankruptcy in Wake of West Virginia Chemical Spill." Moyers and Co. (January 24, 2014)
Peck, Adam. "There Has Been an Average of One School Shooting Every Other School Day so far This Year." Moyers and Co. (January 23, 2014)
Bernays, Anne. "Edward Bernays’ daughter Anne discusses life with the ‘Father of PR’." Smells Like Human Spirit #120 (January 15, 2014)
Mistich, Dave. "Appalshop's 'Chemical Valley'." West Virginia Public Broadcasting (January 24, 2014)
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Resources for January 25, 2014
Bryan Merchant for Motherboard: "Maybe the Most Orwellian Text Message a Government's Ever Sent"
Unwelcome Guests podcasts:
Dave Neal, at al.: Episode #20 - "Tactics of Resistance and Repression (Discussion on non-violence and Property Destruction, Police Brutality)"
Bruderhof Radio, Chris Sturr, Michael Parenti, RNC demonstrators: Episode #21 - "Crime Pays (Profits and Social Control)"
Metanoia Films has the remastered version of Scott Noble's PsyWar online
The Power Principle: Corporate Empire and the Rise of the National Security State (Metanoia Films: Scott Noble, 2013: Part 1: Empire, 95 mins; Part II: Propaganda, 98 mins; Part III: Apocalypse, 70 mins)
Paul Waldman for The American Prospect: "Why Republicans Keep Calling Women Sluts: They just can't help themselves, and here's why."
Mill, Frederick B. "Venezuela and the Battle Against Transgenic Seeds." Revolución Alimentaria (December 7, 2013)
Mr.Death "The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter" (UK/USA: Errol Morris, 1999: 91 mins) [To watch the documentary online]
The Marriage of Maria Braun (West Germany: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979: 120 mins)
Unwelcome Guests podcasts:
Dave Neal, at al.: Episode #20 - "Tactics of Resistance and Repression (Discussion on non-violence and Property Destruction, Police Brutality)"
Bruderhof Radio, Chris Sturr, Michael Parenti, RNC demonstrators: Episode #21 - "Crime Pays (Profits and Social Control)"
Metanoia Films has the remastered version of Scott Noble's PsyWar online
The Power Principle: Corporate Empire and the Rise of the National Security State (Metanoia Films: Scott Noble, 2013: Part 1: Empire, 95 mins; Part II: Propaganda, 98 mins; Part III: Apocalypse, 70 mins)
Paul Waldman for The American Prospect: "Why Republicans Keep Calling Women Sluts: They just can't help themselves, and here's why."
Mill, Frederick B. "Venezuela and the Battle Against Transgenic Seeds." Revolución Alimentaria (December 7, 2013)
Mr.Death "The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter" (UK/USA: Errol Morris, 1999: 91 mins) [To watch the documentary online]
The Marriage of Maria Braun (West Germany: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979: 120 mins)
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Propaganda (Key Concept)
"Astroturf." Sourcewatch (May 26, 2012)
"Astroturf Blogging." Sourcewatch (December 11, 2011)
"Category: Astroturf." Sourcewatch (No Date: Ongoing Archive of Links To Reports)
Atkinson, Michael. "Archival Trouble: The fiction-free science fiction of Adam Curtis" Moving Image Source (February 16, 2012)
Ball, Norman. "The Power of Auteurs and the Last Man Standing: Adam Curtis' Documentary Nightmares." Bright Lights Film Journal #78 (November 2012)
Bender, Stephen. "Propaganda, Public Relations, and the Not So New Dark Age." LIP (Winter 2006)
Benton, Michael Dean. "Astroturf and Front Group Research: The Center for Union Facts." Dialogic Cinephilia (January 20, 2014)
---. "The Many-Headed Hydra." Politics and Culture (August 10, 2010)
---. "Monsanto (Multinational Agricultural Biotechnology Corporation): Peace and Conflict Studies Archive." Dialogic (January 25, 2014)
---. "Response to a Message About the Threat of Islamo-Fascism." Dialogic (October 1, 2008)
Bernays, Edward L. "Manipulating Public Opinion." American Journal of Sociology 33.6 (May 1928): 958-971.
---. "Molding Public Opinion." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (May 1935): 82-87.
---. Propaganda. NY: Horace Liveright, 1928.
The Century of the Self (BBC Documentary: Adam Curtis, 2002)
Cho, Violet. "Thauk gya paw hee thwi deh thwi (Blood’s Oath to Beautiful Flower) — drama of insurgency in a Burmese Pwo Karen Film." Jump Cut #55 (Fall 2013)
Chomsky, Noam. Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda." NY: Seven Stories Press, 1997. [Excerpts from key sections of the 2nd Edition]
---. Powers and Prospects: Reflections on Human Nature and the Social Order. London: Pluto Press, 1996.
---. "Propaganda American Style." Propaganda Review (Winter 1987/1988)
Chomsky, Noam and Edward Herman. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. NY: Pantheon Books, 2002.
Cull, Nicholas J., David Culbert and David Welch. Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia 1500 - Present. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2003.
"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 1)." Smells Like Human Spirit #60 (April 12, 2013)
"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 2)." Smells Like Human Spirit #63 (April 20, 2013)
"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 3)." Smells Like Human Spirit #64 (April 26, 2013)
"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 4)." Smells Like Human Spirit #67 (May 3, 2013)
"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 5)." Smells Like Human Spirit #70 (May 10, 2013)
Dyer, Gwynne, Mark Crispin Miller and David Robb. "Producing Killers and Selling Wars (Why Any Mother's Son will Do)" Unwelcome Guests #513 (August 21, 2010)
Foster, John Bellamy and Robert McChesney. "The Internet’s Unholy Marriage to Capitalism." Monthly Review 62.10 (March 2011)
Graeber, David. Debt: The First 5,000 Years." NY: Melville House, 2011.
Graeber, David and Richard Wolff. "The Vast Machine to Perpetuate Hopelessness (Marxian Class Analysis 1)." Unwelcome Guests #624 (October 6, 2012)
Greenwald, Glenn. "AP believes it found evidence of Iran's work on nuclear weapons: A primitive graph provided by 'a country critical of Iran's atomic program' indicts the news outlet more than Tehran." The Guardian (November 28, 2012)
---. "How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations." Intercept (February 24, 2014)
Human Resources: Social Engineering in the 20th Century. (Metanoia Films: Scott Noble, 2010: 119 mins)
Lippmann, Walter. Public Opinion. NY: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1922.
McChesney, Robert W. and John Nichols. "The Bull Market: Political Advertising." Monthly Review (April 1, 2012)
Miller, Mark Crispin. "Propaganda 101: How Do You Manufacture Consent?" History Counts (July 4, 2010)
Mirrlees, Tanner. "How to Read Iron Man: The Economics, Geopolitics and Ideology of an Imperial Film Commodity." Cineaction #92 (2014)
Pilger, John. "Power, Illusion, and America's Last Taboo." Dandelion Salad (September 2, 2009)
---. The War You Don't See. (UK: 2010, 97 mins)
Popova, Maria. "Obey: How the Rise of Mass Propaganda Killed Populism." Brain Pickings (February 6, 2013)
The Power Principle: Corporate Empire and the Rise of the National Security State (Metanoia Films: Scott Noble, 2013: Part 1: Empire, 95 mins; Part II: Propaganda, 98 mins; Part III: Apocalypse, 70 mins)
PsyWar (Metanoia Films: Scott Noble, 2010: 98 mins)
Rampton, Sheldon. "Books on Propaganda." PR Watch (July 7, 2009)
"Resources for Studying Propaganda." Sourcewatch(ongoing archive)
Ritter, Scott, John Stauber, Pepi Leistyna, Loretta Alper, and Tom Scott. "Stupefying the Group Mind (Managing the Class War with PR and TV)." Unwelcome Guests #301 (April 8, 2006)
Roos, Jerome. "Venezuela: it’s the opposition that’s anti-democratic." ROAR (February 21, 2014)
Roszak, Theodore. "Politics of Information and the Fate of the Earth." Progressive Librarian (Winter/Spring 1993): 3-14.
Rushkoff, Douglas. "They Say." Coercion: Why We Listen to What "They" Say (Penguin, 1999)
Trotter, Wilfred. Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War. 2nd Edition. London: T.F. Unwin Ltd., 1922.
Wall, Richard. "Who's Afraid of Noam Chomsky?" Lew Rockwell (2004)
Wilson, Michael S. "Noam Chomsky — ‘Everyday Anarchist’: The Modern Success Interview" Modern Success (August 20, 2013)
"Astroturf Blogging." Sourcewatch (December 11, 2011)
"Category: Astroturf." Sourcewatch (No Date: Ongoing Archive of Links To Reports)
Atkinson, Michael. "Archival Trouble: The fiction-free science fiction of Adam Curtis" Moving Image Source (February 16, 2012)
Ball, Norman. "The Power of Auteurs and the Last Man Standing: Adam Curtis' Documentary Nightmares." Bright Lights Film Journal #78 (November 2012)
Bender, Stephen. "Propaganda, Public Relations, and the Not So New Dark Age." LIP (Winter 2006)
Benton, Michael Dean. "Astroturf and Front Group Research: The Center for Union Facts." Dialogic Cinephilia (January 20, 2014)
---. "The Many-Headed Hydra." Politics and Culture (August 10, 2010)
---. "Monsanto (Multinational Agricultural Biotechnology Corporation): Peace and Conflict Studies Archive." Dialogic (January 25, 2014)
---. "Response to a Message About the Threat of Islamo-Fascism." Dialogic (October 1, 2008)
Bernays, Edward L. "Manipulating Public Opinion." American Journal of Sociology 33.6 (May 1928): 958-971.
---. "Molding Public Opinion." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (May 1935): 82-87.
---. Propaganda. NY: Horace Liveright, 1928.
The Century of the Self (BBC Documentary: Adam Curtis, 2002)
Cho, Violet. "Thauk gya paw hee thwi deh thwi (Blood’s Oath to Beautiful Flower) — drama of insurgency in a Burmese Pwo Karen Film." Jump Cut #55 (Fall 2013)
Chomsky, Noam. Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda." NY: Seven Stories Press, 1997. [Excerpts from key sections of the 2nd Edition]
---. Powers and Prospects: Reflections on Human Nature and the Social Order. London: Pluto Press, 1996.
---. "Propaganda American Style." Propaganda Review (Winter 1987/1988)
Chomsky, Noam and Edward Herman. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. NY: Pantheon Books, 2002.
Cull, Nicholas J., David Culbert and David Welch. Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia 1500 - Present. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2003.
"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 1)." Smells Like Human Spirit #60 (April 12, 2013)
"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 2)." Smells Like Human Spirit #63 (April 20, 2013)
"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 3)." Smells Like Human Spirit #64 (April 26, 2013)
"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 4)." Smells Like Human Spirit #67 (May 3, 2013)
"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 5)." Smells Like Human Spirit #70 (May 10, 2013)
Dyer, Gwynne, Mark Crispin Miller and David Robb. "Producing Killers and Selling Wars (Why Any Mother's Son will Do)" Unwelcome Guests #513 (August 21, 2010)
Foster, John Bellamy and Robert McChesney. "The Internet’s Unholy Marriage to Capitalism." Monthly Review 62.10 (March 2011)
Graeber, David. Debt: The First 5,000 Years." NY: Melville House, 2011.
Graeber, David and Richard Wolff. "The Vast Machine to Perpetuate Hopelessness (Marxian Class Analysis 1)." Unwelcome Guests #624 (October 6, 2012)
Greenwald, Glenn. "AP believes it found evidence of Iran's work on nuclear weapons: A primitive graph provided by 'a country critical of Iran's atomic program' indicts the news outlet more than Tehran." The Guardian (November 28, 2012)
---. "How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations." Intercept (February 24, 2014)
Human Resources: Social Engineering in the 20th Century. (Metanoia Films: Scott Noble, 2010: 119 mins)
Lippmann, Walter. Public Opinion. NY: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1922.
McChesney, Robert W. and John Nichols. "The Bull Market: Political Advertising." Monthly Review (April 1, 2012)
Miller, Mark Crispin. "Propaganda 101: How Do You Manufacture Consent?" History Counts (July 4, 2010)
Mirrlees, Tanner. "How to Read Iron Man: The Economics, Geopolitics and Ideology of an Imperial Film Commodity." Cineaction #92 (2014)
Pilger, John. "Power, Illusion, and America's Last Taboo." Dandelion Salad (September 2, 2009)
---. The War You Don't See. (UK: 2010, 97 mins)
Popova, Maria. "Obey: How the Rise of Mass Propaganda Killed Populism." Brain Pickings (February 6, 2013)
The Power Principle: Corporate Empire and the Rise of the National Security State (Metanoia Films: Scott Noble, 2013: Part 1: Empire, 95 mins; Part II: Propaganda, 98 mins; Part III: Apocalypse, 70 mins)
PsyWar (Metanoia Films: Scott Noble, 2010: 98 mins)
Rampton, Sheldon. "Books on Propaganda." PR Watch (July 7, 2009)
"Resources for Studying Propaganda." Sourcewatch(ongoing archive)
Ritter, Scott, John Stauber, Pepi Leistyna, Loretta Alper, and Tom Scott. "Stupefying the Group Mind (Managing the Class War with PR and TV)." Unwelcome Guests #301 (April 8, 2006)
Roos, Jerome. "Venezuela: it’s the opposition that’s anti-democratic." ROAR (February 21, 2014)
Roszak, Theodore. "Politics of Information and the Fate of the Earth." Progressive Librarian (Winter/Spring 1993): 3-14.
Rushkoff, Douglas. "They Say." Coercion: Why We Listen to What "They" Say (Penguin, 1999)
Trotter, Wilfred. Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War. 2nd Edition. London: T.F. Unwin Ltd., 1922.
Wall, Richard. "Who's Afraid of Noam Chomsky?" Lew Rockwell (2004)
Wilson, Michael S. "Noam Chomsky — ‘Everyday Anarchist’: The Modern Success Interview" Modern Success (August 20, 2013)
Monday, October 14, 2013
Monday, October 07, 2013
Shaun Walker: Russia to monitor 'all communications' at Winter Olympics in Sochi
Russia to monitor 'all communications' at Winter Olympics in Sochi
by Shaun Walker
The Guardian
Exclusive: Investigation uncovers FSB surveillance system – branded 'Prism on steroids' – to listen to all athletes and visitors
Athletes and spectators attending the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February will face some of the most invasive and systematic spying and surveillance in the history of the Games, documents shared with the Guardian show.
Russia's powerful FSB security service plans to ensure that no communication by competitors or spectators goes unmonitored during the event, according to a dossier compiled by a team of Russian investigative journalists looking into preparations for the 2014 Games.
In a ceremony on Red Square on Sunday afternoon, the president, Vladimir Putin, held the Olympic flame aloft and sent it on its epic journey around the country, saying Russia and its people had always been imbued with the qualities of "openness and friendship", making Sochi the perfect destination for the Olympics.
But government procurement documents and tenders from Russian communication companies indicate that newly installed telephone and internet spying capabilities will give the FSB free rein to intercept any telephony or data traffic and even track the use of sensitive words or phrases mentioned in emails, webchats and on social media.
The journalists, Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, who are experts on the Russian security services, collated dozens of open source technical documents published on the Zakupki government procurement agency website, as well as public records of government oversight agencies. They found that major amendments have been made to telephone and Wi-Fi networks in the Black Sea resort to ensure extensive and all-permeating monitoring and filtering of all traffic, using Sorm, Russia's system for intercepting phone and internet communications.
To Read the Rest
by Shaun Walker
The Guardian
Exclusive: Investigation uncovers FSB surveillance system – branded 'Prism on steroids' – to listen to all athletes and visitors
Athletes and spectators attending the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February will face some of the most invasive and systematic spying and surveillance in the history of the Games, documents shared with the Guardian show.
Russia's powerful FSB security service plans to ensure that no communication by competitors or spectators goes unmonitored during the event, according to a dossier compiled by a team of Russian investigative journalists looking into preparations for the 2014 Games.
In a ceremony on Red Square on Sunday afternoon, the president, Vladimir Putin, held the Olympic flame aloft and sent it on its epic journey around the country, saying Russia and its people had always been imbued with the qualities of "openness and friendship", making Sochi the perfect destination for the Olympics.
But government procurement documents and tenders from Russian communication companies indicate that newly installed telephone and internet spying capabilities will give the FSB free rein to intercept any telephony or data traffic and even track the use of sensitive words or phrases mentioned in emails, webchats and on social media.
The journalists, Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, who are experts on the Russian security services, collated dozens of open source technical documents published on the Zakupki government procurement agency website, as well as public records of government oversight agencies. They found that major amendments have been made to telephone and Wi-Fi networks in the Black Sea resort to ensure extensive and all-permeating monitoring and filtering of all traffic, using Sorm, Russia's system for intercepting phone and internet communications.
To Read the Rest
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
Democracy Now: Tea Party Forces Government Shutdown With Obamacare Revolt; How Will it Impact Ordinary Americans?
Tea Party Forces Government Shutdown With Obamacare Revolt; How Will it Impact Ordinary Americans?
Democracy Now
The U.S. government has begun a partial shutdown for the first time in 17 years after Congress failed to break a partisan deadlock by a midnight deadline. Some 800,000 federal workers are to be furloughed and more than a million others will be asked to work without pay. The shutdown was spearheaded by Tea Party Republicans who backed a House bill tying continued government funding to a one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of a tax to pay for it. In addition to the furloughs, the shutdown will halt dozens of services provided by government agencies. We discuss the impact of a cut back in government services with Mother Jones reporter Tim Murphy, whose latest article is "48 Ways a Government Shutdown Will Screw You Over."
Tim Murphy, A reporter at Mother Jones. His most recent article is called "48 Ways a Government Shutdown Will Screw You Over.”
To Watch the Episode
Democracy Now
The U.S. government has begun a partial shutdown for the first time in 17 years after Congress failed to break a partisan deadlock by a midnight deadline. Some 800,000 federal workers are to be furloughed and more than a million others will be asked to work without pay. The shutdown was spearheaded by Tea Party Republicans who backed a House bill tying continued government funding to a one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of a tax to pay for it. In addition to the furloughs, the shutdown will halt dozens of services provided by government agencies. We discuss the impact of a cut back in government services with Mother Jones reporter Tim Murphy, whose latest article is "48 Ways a Government Shutdown Will Screw You Over."
Tim Murphy, A reporter at Mother Jones. His most recent article is called "48 Ways a Government Shutdown Will Screw You Over.”
To Watch the Episode
Monday, September 30, 2013
Sunday, September 29, 2013
On the Media - Sarah Abdurrahman: My Detainment Story or: How I learned to Stop Feeling Safe in My Own Country and Hate Border Agents
My Detainment Story or: How I learned to Stop Feeling Safe in My Own Country and Hate Border Agents*
On the Media
Earlier this month, On the Media producer Sarah Abdurrahman, her family, and her friends were detained for hours by US Customs and Border Protection on their way home from Canada. Everyone being held was a US citizen, and no one received an explanation. Sarah tells the story of their detainment, and her difficulty getting any answers from one of the least transparent agencies in the country.
To Listen to the Episode
On the Media
Earlier this month, On the Media producer Sarah Abdurrahman, her family, and her friends were detained for hours by US Customs and Border Protection on their way home from Canada. Everyone being held was a US citizen, and no one received an explanation. Sarah tells the story of their detainment, and her difficulty getting any answers from one of the least transparent agencies in the country.
To Listen to the Episode
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Matt Taibbi: Looting the Pension Funds
Looting the Pension Funds: All across America, Wall Street is grabbing money meant for public workers
By Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone
In the final months of 2011, almost two years before the city of Detroit would shock America by declaring bankruptcy in the face of what it claimed were insurmountable pension costs, the state of Rhode Island took bold action to avert what it called its own looming pension crisis. Led by its newly elected treasurer, Gina Raimondo – an ostentatiously ambitious 42-year-old Rhodes scholar and former venture capitalist – the state declared war on public pensions, ramming through an ingenious new law slashing benefits of state employees with a speed and ferocity seldom before seen by any local government.
Called the Rhode Island Retirement Security Act of 2011, her plan would later be hailed as the most comprehensive pension reform ever implemented. The rap was so convincing at first that the overwhelmed local burghers of her little petri-dish state didn't even know how to react. "She's Yale, Harvard, Oxford – she worked on Wall Street," says Paul Doughty, the current president of the Providence firefighters union. "Nobody wanted to be the first to raise his hand and admit he didn't know what the fuck she was talking about."
Soon she was being talked about as a probable candidate for Rhode Island's 2014 gubernatorial race. By 2013, Raimondo had raised more than $2 million, a staggering sum for a still-undeclared candidate in a thimble-size state. Donors from Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital and JPMorgan Chase showered her with money, with more than $247,000 coming from New York contributors alone. A shadowy organization called EngageRI, a public-advocacy group of the 501(c)4 type whose donors were shielded from public scrutiny by the infamous Citizens United decision, spent $740,000 promoting Raimondo's ideas. Within Rhode Island, there began to be whispers that Raimondo had her sights on the presidency. Even former Obama right hand and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel pointed to Rhode Island as an example to be followed in curing pension woes.
What few people knew at the time was that Raimondo's "tool kit" wasn't just meant for local consumption. The dynamic young Rhodes scholar was allowing her state to be used as a test case for the rest of the country, at the behest of powerful out-of-state financiers with dreams of pushing pension reform down the throats of taxpayers and public workers from coast to coast. One of her key supporters was billionaire former Enron executive John Arnold – a dickishly ubiquitous young right-wing kingmaker with clear designs on becoming the next generation's Koch brothers, and who for years had been funding a nationwide campaign to slash benefits for public workers.
Nor did anyone know that part of Raimondo's strategy for saving money involved handing more than $1 billion – 14 percent of the state fund – to hedge funds, including a trio of well-known New York-based funds: Dan Loeb's Third Point Capital was given $66 million, Ken Garschina's Mason Capital got $64 million and $70 million went to Paul Singer's Elliott Management. The funds now stood collectively to be paid tens of millions in fees every single year by the already overburdened taxpayers of her ostensibly flat-broke state. Felicitously, Loeb, Garschina and Singer serve on the board of the Manhattan Institute, a prominent conservative think tank with a history of supporting benefit-slashing reforms. The institute named Raimondo its 2011 "Urban Innovator" of the year.
The state's workers, in other words, were being forced to subsidize their own political disenfranchisement, coughing up at least $200 million to members of a group that had supported anti-labor laws. Later, when Edward Siedle, a former SEC lawyer, asked Raimondo in a column for Forbes.com how much the state was paying in fees to these hedge funds, she first claimed she didn't know. Raimondo later told the Providence Journal she was contractually obliged to defer to hedge funds on the release of "proprietary" information, which immediately prompted a letter in protest from a series of freaked-out interest groups. Under pressure, the state later released some fee information, but the information was originally kept hidden, even from the workers themselves. "When I asked, I was basically hammered," says Marcia Reback, a former sixth-grade schoolteacher and retired Providence Teachers Union president who serves as the lone union rep on Rhode Island's nine-member State Investment Commission. "I couldn't get any information about the actual costs."
This is the third act in an improbable triple-fucking of ordinary people that Wall Street is seeking to pull off as a shocker epilogue to the crisis era. Five years ago this fall, an epidemic of fraud and thievery in the financial-services industry triggered the collapse of our economy. The resultant loss of tax revenue plunged states everywhere into spiraling fiscal crises, and local governments suffered huge losses in their retirement portfolios – remember, these public pension funds were some of the most frequently targeted suckers upon whom Wall Street dumped its fraud-riddled mortgage-backed securities in the pre-crash years.
Today, the same Wall Street crowd that caused the crash is not merely rolling in money again but aggressively counterattacking on the public-relations front. The battle increasingly centers around public funds like state and municipal pensions. This war isn't just about money. Crucially, in ways invisible to most Americans, it's also about blame. In state after state, politicians are following the Rhode Island playbook, using scare tactics and lavishly funded PR campaigns to cast teachers, firefighters and cops – not bankers – as the budget-devouring boogeymen responsible for the mounting fiscal problems of America's states and cities.
Not only did these middle-class workers already lose huge chunks of retirement money to huckster financiers in the crash, and not only are they now being asked to take the long-term hit for those years of greed and speculative excess, but in many cases they're also being forced to sit by and watch helplessly as Gordon Gekko wanna-be's like Loeb or scorched-earth takeover artists like Bain Capital are put in charge of their retirement savings.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
By Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone
In the final months of 2011, almost two years before the city of Detroit would shock America by declaring bankruptcy in the face of what it claimed were insurmountable pension costs, the state of Rhode Island took bold action to avert what it called its own looming pension crisis. Led by its newly elected treasurer, Gina Raimondo – an ostentatiously ambitious 42-year-old Rhodes scholar and former venture capitalist – the state declared war on public pensions, ramming through an ingenious new law slashing benefits of state employees with a speed and ferocity seldom before seen by any local government.
Called the Rhode Island Retirement Security Act of 2011, her plan would later be hailed as the most comprehensive pension reform ever implemented. The rap was so convincing at first that the overwhelmed local burghers of her little petri-dish state didn't even know how to react. "She's Yale, Harvard, Oxford – she worked on Wall Street," says Paul Doughty, the current president of the Providence firefighters union. "Nobody wanted to be the first to raise his hand and admit he didn't know what the fuck she was talking about."
Soon she was being talked about as a probable candidate for Rhode Island's 2014 gubernatorial race. By 2013, Raimondo had raised more than $2 million, a staggering sum for a still-undeclared candidate in a thimble-size state. Donors from Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital and JPMorgan Chase showered her with money, with more than $247,000 coming from New York contributors alone. A shadowy organization called EngageRI, a public-advocacy group of the 501(c)4 type whose donors were shielded from public scrutiny by the infamous Citizens United decision, spent $740,000 promoting Raimondo's ideas. Within Rhode Island, there began to be whispers that Raimondo had her sights on the presidency. Even former Obama right hand and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel pointed to Rhode Island as an example to be followed in curing pension woes.
What few people knew at the time was that Raimondo's "tool kit" wasn't just meant for local consumption. The dynamic young Rhodes scholar was allowing her state to be used as a test case for the rest of the country, at the behest of powerful out-of-state financiers with dreams of pushing pension reform down the throats of taxpayers and public workers from coast to coast. One of her key supporters was billionaire former Enron executive John Arnold – a dickishly ubiquitous young right-wing kingmaker with clear designs on becoming the next generation's Koch brothers, and who for years had been funding a nationwide campaign to slash benefits for public workers.
Nor did anyone know that part of Raimondo's strategy for saving money involved handing more than $1 billion – 14 percent of the state fund – to hedge funds, including a trio of well-known New York-based funds: Dan Loeb's Third Point Capital was given $66 million, Ken Garschina's Mason Capital got $64 million and $70 million went to Paul Singer's Elliott Management. The funds now stood collectively to be paid tens of millions in fees every single year by the already overburdened taxpayers of her ostensibly flat-broke state. Felicitously, Loeb, Garschina and Singer serve on the board of the Manhattan Institute, a prominent conservative think tank with a history of supporting benefit-slashing reforms. The institute named Raimondo its 2011 "Urban Innovator" of the year.
The state's workers, in other words, were being forced to subsidize their own political disenfranchisement, coughing up at least $200 million to members of a group that had supported anti-labor laws. Later, when Edward Siedle, a former SEC lawyer, asked Raimondo in a column for Forbes.com how much the state was paying in fees to these hedge funds, she first claimed she didn't know. Raimondo later told the Providence Journal she was contractually obliged to defer to hedge funds on the release of "proprietary" information, which immediately prompted a letter in protest from a series of freaked-out interest groups. Under pressure, the state later released some fee information, but the information was originally kept hidden, even from the workers themselves. "When I asked, I was basically hammered," says Marcia Reback, a former sixth-grade schoolteacher and retired Providence Teachers Union president who serves as the lone union rep on Rhode Island's nine-member State Investment Commission. "I couldn't get any information about the actual costs."
This is the third act in an improbable triple-fucking of ordinary people that Wall Street is seeking to pull off as a shocker epilogue to the crisis era. Five years ago this fall, an epidemic of fraud and thievery in the financial-services industry triggered the collapse of our economy. The resultant loss of tax revenue plunged states everywhere into spiraling fiscal crises, and local governments suffered huge losses in their retirement portfolios – remember, these public pension funds were some of the most frequently targeted suckers upon whom Wall Street dumped its fraud-riddled mortgage-backed securities in the pre-crash years.
Today, the same Wall Street crowd that caused the crash is not merely rolling in money again but aggressively counterattacking on the public-relations front. The battle increasingly centers around public funds like state and municipal pensions. This war isn't just about money. Crucially, in ways invisible to most Americans, it's also about blame. In state after state, politicians are following the Rhode Island playbook, using scare tactics and lavishly funded PR campaigns to cast teachers, firefighters and cops – not bankers – as the budget-devouring boogeymen responsible for the mounting fiscal problems of America's states and cities.
Not only did these middle-class workers already lose huge chunks of retirement money to huckster financiers in the crash, and not only are they now being asked to take the long-term hit for those years of greed and speculative excess, but in many cases they're also being forced to sit by and watch helplessly as Gordon Gekko wanna-be's like Loeb or scorched-earth takeover artists like Bain Capital are put in charge of their retirement savings.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
Democracy Now: Matt Taibbi on How Wall Street Hedge Funds Are Looting the Pension Funds of Public Workers
Matt Taibbi on How Wall Street Hedge Funds Are Looting the Pension Funds of Public Workers
Democracy Now
In his latest article for Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi reports that Wall Street firms are now making millions in profits off of public pension funds nationwide. "Essentially it is a wealth transfer from teachers, cops and firemen to billionaire hedge funders," Taibbi says. "Pension funds are one of the last great, unguarded piles of money in this country and there are going to be all sort of operators that are trying to get their hands on that money."
To Watch the Episode
Democracy Now
In his latest article for Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi reports that Wall Street firms are now making millions in profits off of public pension funds nationwide. "Essentially it is a wealth transfer from teachers, cops and firemen to billionaire hedge funders," Taibbi says. "Pension funds are one of the last great, unguarded piles of money in this country and there are going to be all sort of operators that are trying to get their hands on that money."
To Watch the Episode
Democracy Now: 40 Years After Secret U.S. War in Laos Ended, Millions of Unexploded Bomblets Keep Killing Laotians
40 Years After Secret U.S. War in Laos Ended, Millions of Unexploded Bomblets Keep Killing Laotians
Democracy Now
Forty years ago, on March 29, 1973, the "secret" U.S. bombing that devastated Laos came to an end. By that point, the United States had dropped at least two million tons of bombs on Laos. That is the equivalent of one planeload every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years — more than on Germany and Japan during World War II. The deadly legacy of the Vietnam War lives on today in the form of unexploded cluster bombs. Experts estimate Laos is littered with as many as 80 million "bombies" — or baseball-size bombs found inside cluster bombs. Since the bombing stopped four decades ago, as many as 20,000 people have been injured or killed as a result. To mark International Day of Mine Awareness, we speak to a Laotian bomb survivor and a leader of an all-women bomb clearance team in Laos. Thoummy Silamphan and Manixia Thor are speaking at the United Nations ... and are currently in the United States on a tour organized by Legacies of War.
GUESTS
Thoummy Silamphan, bomb accident survivor and victim assistance advocate in Laos.
Manixia Thor, leads an all-women bomb clearance team in Laos.
Channapha Khamvongsa, founder and executive director and founder of Legacies of War.
To Listen to This Episode
Democracy Now
Forty years ago, on March 29, 1973, the "secret" U.S. bombing that devastated Laos came to an end. By that point, the United States had dropped at least two million tons of bombs on Laos. That is the equivalent of one planeload every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years — more than on Germany and Japan during World War II. The deadly legacy of the Vietnam War lives on today in the form of unexploded cluster bombs. Experts estimate Laos is littered with as many as 80 million "bombies" — or baseball-size bombs found inside cluster bombs. Since the bombing stopped four decades ago, as many as 20,000 people have been injured or killed as a result. To mark International Day of Mine Awareness, we speak to a Laotian bomb survivor and a leader of an all-women bomb clearance team in Laos. Thoummy Silamphan and Manixia Thor are speaking at the United Nations ... and are currently in the United States on a tour organized by Legacies of War.
GUESTS
Thoummy Silamphan, bomb accident survivor and victim assistance advocate in Laos.
Manixia Thor, leads an all-women bomb clearance team in Laos.
Channapha Khamvongsa, founder and executive director and founder of Legacies of War.
To Listen to This Episode
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
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