"This Is Just the Beginning" & Toll Worsened by Sustained Attacks on Public Sector, Science and Regulation
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July 3, 2012
Democracy Now!
Showing posts with label censored. Show all posts
Showing posts with label censored. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
BP Oil Spill Cover Up in 2008 May Have Led To Gulf Spil
gather | April 20, 2012
Years of investigative reporting have uncovered what appears to be a trail of information showing a BP oil spill cover up on a rig off the coast of Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea in 2008.
EcoWatch reveals shocking information of a BP cover-up of a blow-out prior to the deadly Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf. Special report from the Caspian sea. for Ecowatch.org by investigative reporter Greg Palast. BP Blow-out Cover-Up - EcoWatch.org - YouTube
The bombshell aspect of this EcoWatch.org report from Greg Palast is not necessarily the cover-up, but the suggestion that the Caspian Sea blow-out on the Central Azeri platform in 2008 was due to the same cost-saving practice of using "quick-dry" cement to plug holes in well caps.
That same practice is largely believed to have been the cause, or at least a contributing factor, to the Deepwater Horizon blowout BP suffered two years ago today in the Gulf of Mexico resulting in 11 deaths, 17 injuries and untold environmental and economic damage for the Gulf Coast of the U.S. This excerpt from Palast's report on this alleged BP oil spill cover up explains the connection: "One cause of the blow-outs was the same in both cases: the use of a money-saving technique—plugging holes with "quick-dry" cement. By hiding the disastrous failure of its penny-pinching cement process in 2008, BP was able to continue to use the dangerous methods in the Gulf of Mexico—causing the worst oil spill in U.S. history."
Palast's investigation relies on confidential informants familiar with the Caspian Sea blow-out, as well as shoe-leather efforts to explore the BP oil terminal in Azerbaijan, which resulted in the arrests of Palast, his crew, and the "disappearing" of men who were willing to talk about the 2008 blow-out...
more > BP Oil Spill Cover Up in 2008 May Have Led To... | Gather
Thursday, March 22, 2012
America's Authoritarian Turn - Speaking truth becomes a crime
Speaking truth to power becomes a crime.
JOHN MINCHILLO
Ever since the rise of Occupy, corporatist authorities have been trying to figure how to squash our emerging social movement. First they tried a media blackout, but when over 700 nonviolent meme warriors were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge our Gandhian ferocity catalyzed a thousand encampments and the 1% could ignore us no more. Next elites tried the Bloomberg model of midnight paramilitary raids backed up by excessive force and sometimes-lethal munitions. That worked well to evict encampments in New York City, Oakland and nationwide … but it backfired when occupiers became diffuse, appearing at scripted events and interrupting the spectacle of corporate-funded politics with mic checks of truth. Now they are trying the new tactic of “lawfare” – using draconian laws to squash free speech in a last ditch effort to put an end to people power.
A week before the G8 Backdown, the US House of Representatives voted in near unanimous consensus in favor of an authoritarian law, H.R. 347, that makes it a federal crime to disrupt “Government business or official functions” or to enter any building where a “person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting.” In other words, to mic check Obama is now a federal crime punishable by a year in prison. And so too is the banner drop if it takes place in any building that a “protected” person might be visiting in the future, even if jammers don’t know it. And so is the anti-globalization tactic of blocking road access to a meeting of world elites, there is a special clause about that too. Obama signed the bill into law on March 9.
History shows that using authoritarian laws to silence the authentic, legitimate concerns of the people always boomerangs into a fatal loss of legitimacy. Governments derive their authority and right to exist from the people and when the people are ignored and beaten back regimes fall.
more > America's Authoritarian Turn | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Exposed: Inside the NSA’s Largest and Most Expansive Secret Domestic Spy Center in Bluffdale, Utah
Democracy Now! - A new exposé in Wired Magazine reveals details about how the National Security Agency is quietly building the largest spy center in the country in Bluffdale, Utah, as part of a secret NSA surveillance program codenamed "Stellar Wind." We speak with investigative reporter James Bamford, who says the NSA has established listening posts throughout the nation to collect and sift through billions of email messages and phone calls, whether they originate within the country or overseas. The Utah spy center will contain near-bottomless databases to store all forms of communication collected by the agency. This includes the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails — parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases and other digital "pocket litter." "The NSA has constantly denied that they’re doing things, and then it turns out they are doing these things," Bamford says in response to NSA Director General Keith Alexander’s denial yesterday that U.S. citizens’ phone calls and emails are being intercepted. "A few years ago, President Bush said before camera that the United States is not eavesdropping on anybody without a warrant, and then it turns out that we had this exposure to all the warrantless eavesdropping in the New York Times article. And so, you have this constant denial and parsing of words." [includes rush transcript]
Exposed: Inside the NSA’s Largest and Most Expansive Secret Domestic Spy Center in Bluffdale, Utah
The NSA Is Building the Country's Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)
By James Bamford
Wired.com | March 15, 2012 | Categories: Crypto, Cybersecurity, Miscellaneous, NSA, Paranoia, privacy, Surveillance
Photo: Name Withheld; Digital Manipulation: Jesse Lenz
...new pioneers have quietly begun moving into the area, secretive outsiders who say little and keep to themselves. Like the pious polygamists, they are focused on deciphering cryptic messages that only they have the power to understand. Just off Beef Hollow Road, less than a mile from brethren headquarters, thousands of hard-hatted construction workers in sweat-soaked T-shirts are laying the groundwork for the newcomers’ own temple and archive, a massive complex so large that it necessitated expanding the town’s boundaries. Once built, it will be more than five times the size of the US Capitol.
Rather than Bibles, prophets, and worshippers, this temple will be filled with servers, computer intelligence experts, and armed guards. And instead of listening for words flowing down from heaven, these newcomers will be secretly capturing, storing, and analyzing vast quantities of words and images hurtling through the world’s telecommunications networks. In the little town of Bluffdale, Big Love and Big Brother have become uneasy neighbors....
more > The NSA Is Building the Country's Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say) | Threat Level | Wired.com
Threat Level - Privacy, Crime and Security Online | Wired.com
NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake Prevails Against Charges in Unprecedented Obama Admin Crackdown
We speak with Thomas Drake, who was targeted after challenging waste, mismanagement and possible constitutional violations at the National Security Agency, but the case against him later collapsed. Drake was one of several sources for a Baltimore Sun article about a $1.2 billion NSA experimental program called "Trailblazer" to sift through electronic communications for national security threats. "My first day on the job was 9/11. And it was shortly after 9/11 that I was exposed to the Pandora’s box of illegality and government wrongdoing on a very significant scale," Drake says. He alleged that the program was inefficient compared to a rival program called "ThinThread" and also violated Americans’ privacy rights. As a result, he faced 35 years in prison for charges under the Espionage Act, but was not ever actually accused of spying. Instead, he was accused of holding on to classified documents in his basement that he says he did not even know were classified.
In a major embarrassment for the Department of Justice, his case ended last year in a misdemeanor plea deal. Now the former top spokesman for the Justice Department, Matthew Miller, seems to be reversing his stance on the prosecution of Drake, saying the case may have been an "ill-considered choice for prosecution."
All of this comes amidst the Obama administration’s unprecedented attack on whisteblowers. "It’s a way to create terrible precedent to go after journalists and a backdoor way to create an Official Secrets Act, which we have managed to live without in this country for more than 200 years. And I think it’s being done on the backs of whistleblowers," says Drake’s attorney, Jesselyn Radack, a former ethics adviser to the Justice Department. She is currently the director of National Security & Human Rights at the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower organization. Her new book is called "TRAITOR: The Whistleblower and the 'American Taliban.'" [includes rush transcript]
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Yes Men Fix World | Alberta Tar Sands is ... Mordor? | wikileaks, yes men & Bhopal
THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD is a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations, lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world's most outrageous pranks.
This peer-to-peer special edition features never before seen footage of the Yes Men imitating the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and has been released under a free-to-share license.
The Yes Men Fix The World, P2P Edition FULL MOVIE (2009) (w/subtitles)
The Alberta Tar Sands is ... Mordor?
A fuzzy cell phone video of an Elijah Woods sighting in Alberta, Canada. A fake Alberta Film website touting the advantages of filming at the Tars Sands. A fake production company website, a gossip video blog, an angry press release by the Tolkien family, a fake video blog by Peter Jackson himself, director of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and now The Hobbit, and of course a Facebook campaign against Jackson, calling on him to stop filming in the Tar Sands: because it was too flattering to Mordor.
The only thing missing was a sighting of evil Lord Sauron.
This complex social media campaign, which had the blogosphere abuzz speculating as to when, how and why Jackson was shooting the Mordor scenes from The Hobbit in the Alberta Tar Sands, created an opportunity to further highlight the devastation caused by the Tar Sands. The Tar Sands, which NASA scientist and climate expert James Hansen has called Canada's "carbon bomb," is the country's single largest source of climate change enhancing greenhouse gas emissions. And at a time of worsening climate crisis, Canada is expanding operations at the massive industrial site.
The campaign was developed by a troupe of Toronto activists calling themselves Black Flood, along with the Yes Lab. The stated goal of the Canadian activists—"to stir up some hot and bubbly controversy on the Alberta tar sands"—worked like a charm.
Museum of Fake Websites | Yes Lab | Yes Lab
Feb. 27, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MASSIVE LEAK REVEALS CRIMINALITY, PARANOIA AMONG CORPORATE TITANS
Dow pays "strategic intelligence" firm to spy on Yes Men and grassroots activists. Takeaway: movement is on the right track!
WikiLeaks begins to publish today over five million e-mails obtained by Anonymous from "global intelligence" company Stratfor. The emails, which reveal everything from sinister spy tactics to an insider trading scheme with Goldman Sachs (see below), also include several discussions of the Yes Men and Bhopal activists. (Bhopal activists seek redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India, that led to thousands of deaths, injuries in more than half a million people, and lasting environmental damage.)
Many of the Bhopal-related emails, addressed from Stratfor to Dow and Union Carbide public relations directors, reveal concern that, in the lead-up to the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, the Bhopal issue might be expanded into an effective systemic critique of corporate rule, and speculate at length about why this hasn't yet happened—providing a fascinating window onto what at least some corporate types fear most from activists.
"[Bhopal activists] have made a slight nod toward expanded activity, but never followed through on it—the idea of 'other Bhopals' that were the fault of Dow or others," mused Joseph de Feo, who is listed in one online source as a "Briefer" for Stratfor.
"Maybe the Yes Men were the pinnacle. They made an argument in their way on their terms—that this is a corporate problem and a part of the a [sic] larger whole," wrote Kathleen Morson, Stratfor's Director of Policy Analysis.
"With less than a month to go [until the 25th anniversary], you'd think that the major players—especially Amnesty—would have branched out from Bhopal to make a broader set of issues. I don't see any evidence of it," wrote Bart Mongoven, Stratfor's Vice President, in November 2004. "If they can't manage to use the 25th anniversary to broaden the issue, they probably won't be able to."
Mongoven even speculates on coordination between various activist campaigns that had nothing to do with each other. "The Chevron campaign [in Ecuador] is remarkably similar [to the Dow campaign] in its unrealistic demand. Is it a follow up or an admission that the first thrust failed? Am I missing a node of activity or a major campaign that is to come? Has the Dow campaign been more successful than I think?" It's almost as if Mongoven assumes the two campaigns were directed from the same central activist headquarters.
Just as Wall Street has at times let slip their fear of the Occupy Wall Street movement, these leaks seem to show that corporate power is most afraid of whatever reveals "the larger whole" and "broader issues," i.e. whatever brings systemic criminal behavior to light. "Systemic critique could lead to policy changes that would challenge corporate power and profits in a really major way," noted Joseph Huff-Hannon, recently-promoted Director of Policy Analysis for the Yes Lab...
> more
Thursday, February 2, 2012
"Gasland" Director Josh Fox Arrested | does your water catch on fire ??? - DOWN WITH FRACKING !!!
The Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox was handcuffed and arrested Wednesday as he attempted to film a congressional hearing on the controversial natural gas drilling technique known as fracking, which the Environmental Protection Agency recently reported caused water contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming.
Fox directed the award-winning film, "Gasland," which documents the impact of fracking on communities across the United States, and is now working on a sequel. Fox says he was arrested after Republicans refused to allow him to film because he did not have the proper credentials. "We wanted to report on what happened [at the hearing]. I was not interested in disrupting that hearing. It was not a protest action," says Fox. "I was simply trying to do my job as a journalist and go in there and show to the American people what was transpiring in that hearing, so that down the line, as we know there will be a lot of challenges mounted to that [Pavillion, Wyoming] EPA report—and frankly, to the people in Pavillion, who have been sticking up for themselves and demanding an investigation into the groundwater contamination—and to make sure that people could view that in a larger forum than usually happens." [includes rush transcript]
"Gasland" Director Josh Fox Arrested at Congressional Hearing on Natural Gas Fracking
Democracy NOW!
A daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, airing on over 900 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the United States.
does your water catch on fire ???
CAN YOU DO THIS WITH YOUR TAP WATER?
Dont drink this water
Gasland: A film by Josh Fox
GASLAND Trailer 2010
"The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of "fracking" or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a "Saudia Arabia of natural gas" just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND. Part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown."
GASLAND will be broadcast on HBO through 2012. To host a public screening in your community please click here. The DVD will be on sale in December 2010.
JOIN US IN GASLAND
We can't stop Fracking without you. Pick up the phone, send and e-mail, start an organization, show GASLAND... JUST DO SOMETHING!
The Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act (H.R. 1084), (S. 587)—was introduced to both houses of the the United States Congress on June 9, 2009, and aims to repeal the exemption for hydraulic fracturing in the Safe Drinking Water Act. It would require the energy industry to disclose the chemicals it mixes with the water and sand it pumps underground in the hydraulic fracturing process (also known as fracking), information that has largely been protected as trade secrets. Controversy surrounds the practice of hydraulic fracturing as a threat to drinking water supplies. The gas industry opposes the legislation.
The House bill was introduced by representatives Diana DeGette, D-Colo., Maurice Hinchey D-N.Y., and Jared Polis, D-Colo. The Senate version was introduced by senators Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
We can't stop Fracking without you. Pick up the phone, send and e-mail, start an organization, show GASLAND... JUST DO SOMETHING!
CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS
AND LET THEM KNOW YOU SUPPORT THE FRAC ACT
FIND OUT ABOUT LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS
IN YOUR AREA, SUPPORTING THE FRAC ACT
CHECK OUT ACTION ALERTS
IN YOUR AREA, AND SEE HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED TODAY
SHARE YOUR STORY
AND LET OTHERS KNOW ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
DO IT!
Gasland: A film by Josh Fox | TAKE ACTION
DOWN WITH FRACKING !!!
see also > what next: Endangered Critters Beware | Fracking
Monday, January 30, 2012
SOPA Opera
Plot twists evolve storyline in the great debate of online censorship
BY NICOLAS GRIZZLE
In a story Hollywood wishes were its own, the tumultuous battle surrounding SOPA and PIPA last week resulted in an inspiring, albeit brief, victory for users of the internet and the voting public at large. But at the awards party, while everyone was high-fiving and chugging Champagne, someone broke in and stole the civil liberties online users thought had been saved. Now, in our half-drunk party haze, we try to assess what just happened—and where we go from here.
Quick Plot Synopsis
Act I: After months of growing concern online and increasingly worrisome newspaper articles, Wikipedia, Reddit and dozens of other websites go "dark" Jan. 18 in protest of the antipiracy legislation they fear could "shut down the internet." This leads to national media coverage putting pressure on Capitol Hill to postpone both bills.
Act II: Literally at the same time, the U.S. government shows how this legislation would work—or, perhaps, demonstrates its redundancy—by shutting down file-transfer site Megaupload, which it deemed "responsible for massive worldwide online piracy of numerous types of copyrighted works." The Department of Justice announced the shutdown Jan. 19, and the next morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced he would postpone the vote on PIPA he was so desperately pushing for just one day prior.
Act III: This has yet to be fully written. Minutes after the Megaupload shutdown, hacker group Anonymous crashed sites of several organizations affiliated with the process, the FBI and the Department of Justice, as well as entertainment-industry groups like the MPAA and RIAA. But nobody knows what comes next. In a Lost-esque writing style, the script is given to the players with fresh ink. Maybe SOPA and PIPA will be amended to reflect public concern. Maybe they'll drop out of public eye and pass with little fanfare next month. Or maybe, with the shutdown of one of the world's largest copyright infringers, proponents and lobbyists will determine that legislation is unnecessary, garnering several upvotes and raking in karma points.
But on Capitol Hill, Mr. Smith does not always go to Washington...
more > SOPA Opera | Features | North Bay Bohemian
SOPA STRIKE - Largest online protest in history
"January 18th was unreal. Tech companies and users teamed up. Geeks took to the streets. Tens of millions of people who make the internet what it is joined together to defend their freedoms. The network defended itself. Whatever you call it, we changed the politics of interfering with the internet forever--there's no going back..."
Photo credit: @craigrcannon
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Barbie Arrested | GlobaLove Think Tank | Freaking News | Mattel does right thing
Barbie Arrested !!!
first she gets in trouble and dumped by Ken for destroying rain forests in Indonesia - now Barbie is in deep in Iran, called a 'Trojan horse' by government for peddling western influences like makeup and revealing clothes
Barbie's mugshot image by DocMinor of the Democrats for Barbie
Doll picture photoshop contest | FreakingNews.com
TEHRAN, Iran - Police have closed down dozens of toy shops for selling Barbie dolls in Iran, part of a decades-long crackdown against "manifestations of Western culture," the semiofficial Mehr news agency reported Friday.
Barbie dolls are sold wearing swimsuits and miniskirts in a society where women must wear headscarves in public, and men and women are not allowed to swim together.
An Iranian shopkeeper arranges a display of dolls at her shop in Tehran, Iran, on Friday. Police have closed down dozens of toy shops for selling Barbie dolls, part of a decades-long crackdown on signs of Western culture. VAHID SALEMI/Associated Press
A ban on the sale of the Barbies, designed to look like young Western women, was imposed in the mid-1990s. In its latest report, Mehr quoted an unidentified police official as saying authorities confiscated the dolls from Tehran stores in a "new phase" of the campaign.
Crusade targets 'Trojan horse' that government claims sneaks in western influences like makeup and revealing clothes...
Iran shuts down toy stores selling Barbie dolls | Tulsa World | Associated Press | 1/21/2012
In 2008, the Iranian judiciary warned against the "destructive" cultural and social consequences and "danger" of importing Barbie dolls and other Western toys. Even so, Iranian markets have been full of them. One-third of Iran's population of 75 million is under 15. (read more)
GlobaLove Think Tank
I DREAM OF A STAR TREK WORLD. THIS THINK TANK WILL FOCUS ON CREATIVE ACTIONS DESIGNED TO INITIATE A GLOBAL PARADIGM SHIFT TOWARDS A WORLD WHERE RACISM, POVERTY AND WAR WILL BE A THING OF THE PAST.
Freaking News
Obama comes out against current SOPA and PIPA legislation, but stops short of killing it
In an election year, the President has to walk a fine line, but the bills are far from being dead. While the White House came out and said that it wouldn’t support the current drafts of the legislation, it did say that it would support revised drafts. Hollywood is not going to let this go and they are going to call out favors for political donations.
FreakingNews.com - News Photoshop Pictures Contests - home page
see also > what next: Wikipedia blackout protesting Piracy Act
trashing Indonesia's rainforests
Toying with forest destruction
Toying with forest destruction
from Greenpeace
How Mattel, Disney, Hasbro and Lego are all implicated in trashing Indonesia's rainforests, including areas that are home to some of the last tigers, orang-utans and elephants. There's more at greenpeace.org/toys
Barbie and Ken: The Breakup
Ken finds some hard truths about Barbie from Greenpeace on Vimeo.
Barbie and Ken: The Breakup | greenpeaceusa's Channel
On June 7th, following Ken's breakup with the iconic superstar, Barbie, Ken and 8 buddies staged a protest at Mattel headquarters in El Segundo, CA demanding that Mattel stop using packaging from materials produced by rainforest destroyers...
Greenpeace accuses Barbie of destroying Indonesia | Reuters
JAKARTA | Wed Jun 8, 2011 - Greenpeace said on Wednesday it had evidence that Barbie doll packaging comes from Indonesian rainforests, accusing toy manufacturers such as Mattel and Walt Disney Co of contributing to the country's rapid deforestation.
Barbie, It's Over
Barbie has a nasty deforestation habit - she is trashing rainforests in Indonesia, including areas that are home to some of the last tiger, orang-utans and elephants, just so she can wrap herself in pretty packaging.
You did it!
Mattel cuts ties with rainforest destruction.
Our campaign to get Mattel, the world’s biggest toy company, to stop doing business with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) has ended in a resounding victory. This is great news for Indonesian rainforests and the communities and wildlife that depend on them. But there’s more.
Mattel has not only instructed its suppliers to avoid wood and paper from companies involved in controversial forest destruction like APP, but also to increase the amount of recycled paper and wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in their packaging.
But our work isn't done. Here in the U.S., APP is pushing its “Paseo” brand tissue products onto store shelves across the country. To do so, they are counting on people in the dark about the dirty secret behind their tissue products. But you can help us change that.
Take action and tell major U.S. retailers like Walmart and Kmart: “don’t sell rainforest destruction – don’t sell Paseo tissue products!”
Tell Kmart: Don't Sell Rainforest Destruction
Our campaign to get US retailers to pull Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) consumer tissue products from its shelves is working.
Kroger -- the largest seller of APP products in the US -- recently put out a public statement saying it will stop sourcing from APP. This huge victory came after 50,000 activists like you contacted the company and told them to stop selling rainforest destruction in the form of throw-away tissue products.
But this isn’t over. There are still major retailers selling APP products in this country -- fueling deforestation in the Indonesia rainforest and threatening the land that the 400 remaining Sumatran tigers call home.
And of those, Kmart is one of the biggest offenders. That is why we are turning up the heat on the giant retailer and asking Kmart to follow Kroger’s lead.
Momentum is on our side. Now is the perfect time to keep the pressure up. That is why it is so important that you take a minute now to tell Kmart that there shouldn’t be any space for rainforest-destroying toilet paper on its store shelves.
Take action now by telling Kmart: “Don’t sell rainforest destruction – don’t sell Paseo tissue products!
Greenpeace
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Wikipedia blackout protesting Piracy Act
2012 Wikipedia blackout
The January 18 blackout page
(as proposed by User:Pretzels on January 16)
UPDATE: WIKIPEDIA IS BLACKED OUTImagine a World
Without Free Knowledge
For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more.
Contact your representatives.
• default page: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• see SOPA and PIPA - Learn more - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2012 Wikipedia blackout
The 2012 English Wikipedia blackout is a proposed blackout of the English Wikipedia for 24 hours on 18 January 2012. In place of articles, the site would show only a message opposing the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).
| TAKE ACTION The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a dangerous bill that would give the Department of Justice and big content unprecedented power to censor the Internet. There's a critical hearing this week about the bill, part of big content's effort to steamroll the bill through Congress, which means we have no time to lose. SOPA's supporters are desperate to get this bill through quickly by convincing Congress there's no real opposition to it. We know better, but we need to make our voices heard loud and clear. > Take Action | Electronic Frontier Foundation |
more > 2012 Wikipedia blackout - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Press releases/English Wikipedia to go dark - Wikimedia Foundation
San Francisco -- January 16, 2012 -- On January 18, 2012, in an unprecedented decision, the Wikipedia community has chosen to blackout the English version of Wikipedia for 24 hours, in protest against proposed legislation in the United States — the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and PROTECTIP (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate. If passed, this legislation will harm the free and open Internet and bring about new tools for censorship of international websites inside the United States.
“Today Wikipedians from around the world have spoken about their opposition to this destructive legislation," said Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia. "This is an extraordinary action for our community to take - and while we regret having to prevent the world from having access to Wikipedia for even a second, we simply cannot ignore the fact that SOPA and PIPA endanger free speech both in the United States and abroad, and set a frightening precedent of Internet censorship for the world."
> more
English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout - Wikimedia Foundation
To: English Wikipedia Readers and Community
From: Sue Gardner, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director
Date: January 16, 2012
Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States — the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate — that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.
This will be the first time the English Wikipedia has ever staged a public protest of this nature, and it’s a decision that wasn’t lightly made. Here’s how it’s been described by the three Wikipedia administrators who formally facilitated the community’s discussion. From the public statement, signed by User:NuclearWarfare, User:Risker and User:Billinghurst:
It is the opinion of the English Wikipedia community that both of these bills, if passed, would be devastating to the free and open web.
Over the course of the past 72 hours, over 1800 Wikipedians have joined together to discuss proposed actions that the community might wish to take against SOPA and PIPA. This is by far the largest level of participation in a community discussion ever seen on Wikipedia, which illustrates the level of concern that Wikipedians feel about this proposed legislation. The overwhelming majority of participants support community action to encourage greater public action in response to these two bills. Of the proposals considered by Wikipedians, those that would result in a “blackout” of the English Wikipedia, in concert with similar blackouts on other websites opposed to SOPA and PIPA, received the strongest support.
On careful review of this discussion, the closing administrators note the broad-based support for action from Wikipedians around the world, not just from within the United States. The primary objection to a global blackout came from those who preferred that the blackout be limited to readers from the United States, with the rest of the world seeing a simple banner notice instead. We also noted that roughly 55% of those supporting a blackout preferred that it be a global one, with many pointing to concerns about similar legislation in other nations.
In making this decision, Wikipedians will be criticized for seeming to abandon neutrality to take a political position. That’s a real, legitimate issue. We want people to trust Wikipedia, not worry that it is trying to propagandize them.
But although Wikipedia’s articles are neutral, its existence is not. As Wikimedia Foundation board member Kat Walsh wrote on one of our mailing lists recently,
We depend on a legal infrastructure that makes it possible for us to operate. And we depend on a legal infrastructure that also allows other sites to host user-contributed material, both information and expression. For the most part, Wikimedia projects are organizing and summarizing and collecting the world’s knowledge. We’re putting it in context, and showing people how to make to sense of it.
But that knowledge has to be published somewhere for anyone to find and use it. Where it can be censored without due process, it hurts the speaker, the public, and Wikimedia. Where you can only speak if you have sufficient resources to fight legal challenges, or if your views are pre-approved by someone who does, the same narrow set of ideas already popular will continue to be all anyone has meaningful access to.
The decision to shut down the English Wikipedia wasn’t made by me; it was made by editors, through a consensus decision-making process. But I support it.
Like Kat and the rest of the Wikimedia Foundation Board, I have increasingly begun to think of Wikipedia’s public voice, and the goodwill people have for Wikipedia, as a resource that wants to be used for the benefit of the public. Readers trust Wikipedia because they know that despite its faults, Wikipedia’s heart is in the right place. It’s not aiming to monetize their eyeballs or make them believe some particular thing, or sell them a product. Wikipedia has no hidden agenda: it just wants to be helpful.
That’s less true of other sites. Most are commercially motivated: their purpose is to make money. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a desire to make the world a better place — many do! — but it does mean that their positions and actions need to be understood in the context of conflicting interests.
My hope is that when Wikipedia shuts down on January 18, people will understand that we’re doing it for our readers. We support everyone’s right to freedom of thought and freedom of expression. We think everyone should have access to educational material on a wide range of subjects, even if they can’t pay for it. We believe in a free and open Internet where information can be shared without impediment. We believe that new proposed laws like SOPA and PIPA, and other similar laws under discussion inside and outside the United States — don’t advance the interests of the general public. You can read a very good list of reasons to oppose SOPA and PIPA here, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Why is this a global action, rather than US-only? And why now, if some American legislators appear to be in tactical retreat on SOPA?
The reality is that we don’t think SOPA is going away, and PIPA is still quite active. Moreover, SOPA and PIPA are just indicators of a much broader problem. All around the world, we're seeing the development of legislation intended to fight online piracy, and regulate the Internet in other ways, that hurt online freedoms. Our concern extends beyond SOPA and PIPA: they are just part of the problem. We want the Internet to remain free and open, everywhere, for everyone.
Make your voice heard!
On January 18, we hope you’ll agree with us, and will do what you can to make your own voice heard.
Sue Gardner,
Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation
Stop Online Piracy Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261 or H.R. 3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.[2] Presented to the House Judiciary Committee, it builds on the similar PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the corresponding Senate bill, the PROTECT IP Act.
> more
TAKE ACTION
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a dangerous bill that would give the Department of Justice and big content unprecedented power to censor the Internet. There's a critical hearing this week about the bill, part of big content's effort to steamroll the bill through Congress, which means we have no time to lose. SOPA's supporters are desperate to get this bill through quickly by convincing Congress there's no real opposition to it. We know better, but we need to make our voices heard loud and clear.
> Take Action | Electronic Frontier Foundation
see also
• what next: From Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales
"If everyone reading this donated $5, we would only have to fundraise for one day a year. But not everyone can or will donate. And that's fine. Each year just enough people decide to give.
"This year, please consider making a donation of $5, $20, $50 or whatever you can to protect and sustain Wikipedia."
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
NDAA foundation for targeting dissenters, activism
Iraq war veteran Sgt. Shamar Thomas leads a demonstration in New York’s Grand Central Station, Jan. 3. About a hundred Occupy Wall Street protesters rallied in New York City’s Grand Central Station to call attention to a law signed by President Barack Obama that they say represses civil liberties. Mr. Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law on New Year’s Eve. Civil rights groups have criticized provisions in the bill that they say seem to grant the military extraordinary powers to detain U.S. citizens indefinitely without trial. Photo: AP/Wide World photos
...on New Year’s Eve, December 31, Pres. Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act giving the military extraordinary sweeping powers to detain United States citizens indefinitely without trial. The law has been widely condemned by civil libertarians, activists, and American citizens who see this as further evidence of the erosion human rights, which began post 9/11 under then-President George W. Bush.
“The fact that I support this bill as a whole does not mean I agree with everything in it. In particular, I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists,” said Pres. Obama in a statement.
Ironically, when Pres. Obama issued the order to close Guantanamo Bay in 2009, he said he desired to “restore the standards of due process and the core constitutional values that have made this country great even in the midst of war, even in dealing with terrorism.” His signing the NDAA into law does exactly the opposite, and critics believe America has witnessed one of the most tragic reversals of civil liberties in its history...
more > The Final Call: National Defense Authorization Act lays foundation for targeting political dissenters, activism
see also
• what next: GlobaLove Think Tank: descent into madness
Sunday, January 8, 2012
GlobaLove Think Tank: descent into madness
descent into madness
If you don't already know, there is a controversial bill President Obama signed into law on New Year's Eve. Provisions within the NDAA allow for the indefinite detention of American citizens on US soil, without access to a trial or attorney. It's a disgrace to the founding fathers, to our nation's rule of law, and to every soldier who has given his or her life to protect our way of life. Many, even liberal Democrats, are now calling for Obama's impeachment, and the recall of Congressional leaders who crammed this bill through.
Grand Central Terminal Arrests
Two protesters mic check about the loss of freedom brought about by the passage of the NDAA and both are promptly arrested and whisked out of public sight
GlobaLove Think Tank: descent into madness
The National Defense Authorization Act is a United States federal law that has been enacted for each of the past 49 years to specify the budget and expenditures of the United States Department of Defense.
National Defense Authorization Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bill Text - 112th Congress (2011-2012) - THOMAS (Library of Congress): H.R.1540 -- National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Enrolled Bill [Final as Passed Both House and Senate] - ENR)
see also
what next: NDAA foundation for targeting dissenters, activism
Thursday, January 5, 2012
whats up: Nukespeak is a classic!
Nukespeak is the language of the nuclear mindset — the worldview or system of beliefs of nuclear developers and enthusiasts.
Nukespeak is a classic!
Award-winning investigative journalist Karl Grossman interviews Nukespeak co-author Rory O’Connor on Grossman’s nationally-aired TV program, Enviro-Close-Up. Grossman has been a journalist for more than 40 years, and is a professor of journalism at the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury. He is also the chief investigative reporter for WVVH-TV.
Grossman said he was happy to be talking about the 30th anniversary updated edition of Nukespeak: “Of the books written about nuclear technology through the years, Nukespeak is a classic. The new edition of Nukespeak has been updated — with four new chapters — and added to its title is: The Selling of Nuclear Technology from the Manhattan Project to Fukushima. It tells how nuclear promoters have been — and continue — using Orwellian language to try to hide the truth about the deadly dangers of nuclear technology.”
more > whats up: Nukespeak is a classic! | Karl Grossman
EnviroVideo presents Enviro Close-UP with Karl Grossman on blip.tv
A EnviroVideo produces environmental and social justice programs for television - including interview and news shows, specials, and documentaries. The underlying premise of EnviroVideo is that there are critical environmental issues at hand that can best be communicated to large numbers of people through the media most favored for news and information - television and the Internet. And if there is broad public awareness, pressing environmental matters can be dealt with and action taken to truly resolve them.
see also
whats up: China Syndrome | No cold shutdown possible at Fukushima
“I just checked in to see what condition my condition is in.”
One of the truly scary but perversely enjoyable characteristics of nuclear developers is their penchant for making it up as they go along – and then creating new Nukespeak words and concepts to describe what they’re up to as they do.
The latest example concerns the situation at Japan’s still-dangerous Fukushima Daiichi plant...
whats up: Unthinking the Thinkable | Nukespeak | Marginalized Media
whats up: Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 | Downwinders | Nuclear Law
NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW
whats up: RC'S NUCLEAR BLOG
Monday, December 26, 2011
Yip Harburg Tribute | Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz
His name might not be familiar to many, but his songs are sung by millions around the world. Today, we take a journey through the life and work of Yip Harburg, the Broadway lyricist who wrote such hits as "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" and who put the music into The Wizard of Oz. Born into poverty on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Yip always included a strong social and political component to his work, fighting racism and poverty. A lifelong socialist, Yip was blacklisted and hounded throughout much of his life. We speak with Yip’s son, Ernie Harburg, about the music and politics of his father. Then we take an in-depth look at The Wizard of Oz, and hear a medley of Yip Harburg’s Broadway songs and the politics of the times in which they were created. [includes rush transcript]
A Tribute to Yip Harburg: The Man Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz
Democracy Now!
A daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, airing on over 900 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the United States.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
FELA
Fela Anikulapo Kuti (15 October 1938 — 2 August 1997), or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.
Nigeria - African Music Legends -
Fela Kuti in Concert 1 - YouTube
...In 1984, Muhammadu Buhari's government, of which Kuti was a vocal opponent, jailed him on a charge of currency smuggling which Amnesty International and others denounced as politically motivated. His case was taken up by several human-rights groups, and after 20 months, he was released from prison by General Ibrahim Babangida. On his release he divorced his twelve remaining wives, saying that "marriage brings jealousy and selfishness." Once again, Fela continued to release albums with Egypt '80, made a number of successful tours of the United States and Europe and also continued to be politically active. In 1986, Fela performed in Giants Stadium in New Jersey as part of the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope concert, sharing the bill with Bono, Carlos Santana, and The Neville Brothers. In 1989, Fela and Egypt '80 released the anti-apartheid Beasts of No Nation album that depicts on its cover U.S. President Ronald Reagan, UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and South African Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha...
...His album output slowed in the 1990s, and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. In 1993 he and four members of the Afrika '70 organization were arrested for murder. The battle against military corruption in Nigeria was taking its toll, especially during the rise of dictator Sani Abacha. Rumors were also spreading that he was suffering from an illness for which he was refusing treatment. On 3 August 1997, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, already a prominent AIDS activist and former Minister of Health, stunned the nation by announcing his younger brother's death a day earlier from Kaposi's sarcoma which was brought on by AIDS. More than a million people attended Fela's funeral at the site of the old Shrine compound. A new Africa Shrine has opened since Fela's death in a different section of Lagos under the supervision of his son Femi Kuti...
more > Fela Kuti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
see also
AFRICAN MUSIC & DANCE PLAYLIST on robertcherwink's Channel
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Project Censored | Censored 2012
"The News That Didn’t Make the News"
Project Censored
The mission of Project Censored is to teach students and the public about the role of a free press in a free society – and to tell the News That Didn’t Make the News and Why
WHAT IS MODERN CENSORSHIP?
At Project Censored, we examine the coverage of news and information important to the maintenance of a healthy and functioning democracy. We define Modern Censorship as the subtle yet constant and sophisticated manipulation of reality in our mass media outlets. On a daily basis, censorship refers to the intentional non-inclusion of a news story – or piece of a news story – based on anything other than a desire to tell the truth. Such manipulation can take the form of political pressure (from government officials and powerful individuals), economic pressure (from advertisers and funders), and legal pressure (the threat of lawsuits from deep-pocket individuals, corporations, and institutions).
CENSORED 2012 –
In this volume, there are 500 pages of real news you can use, plus ample analysis that eradicates civil paralysis, and antidotes to our current Truth Emergency that will strengthen societal media literacy.
WHAT IS MEDIA ACCOUNTABILITY?
In our view, the only valid justification for declining a news story is that in a medium limited by time and space, another news story was simply more important to the people of the community, whether local, national or international. While admittedly a subjective process, it is nonetheless, a process to be undertaken by the news people themselves (the investigative journalists and editors), NOT by the managers and CEOs of their “parent company.” No professional journalist or researcher should ever have to face the destruction of his or her career (or life) simply because they wanted to tell the truth. While no two people will always agree on what story is more important than another, a system where the working reporters and editors run the newsroom would at least provide a fertile environment for debate, dissent and critical thinking.
The growth of independent media and journalism in recent years shows that people throughout the world yearn to hold not only their leaders accountable, but their media sources as well. For that reason, the Project Censored research program continues, in its small way, to support and highlight those who tell the truth about the powerful (no matter the consequences) and are relentless in their quest to hold Big Media accountable for their decisions.
Between 700 and 1000 stories are submitted to Project Censored each year from journalists, scholars, librarians, and concerned citizens around the world.
With the help of more than 200 Sonoma State University faculty, students, and community members, Project Censored reviews the story submissions for coverage, content, reliability of sources and national significance. The university community selects 25 stories to submit to the Project Censored panel of judges who then rank them in order of importance. Current or previous national judges include: Noam Chomsky, Susan Faludi, George Gerbner, Sut Jhally, Frances Moore Lappe, Michael Parenti, Herbert I. Schiller, Barbara Seaman, Erna Smith, Mike Wallace and Howard Zinn. All 25 stories are featured in the yearbook, Censored: The News That Didn’t Make the News.
see > Top 25 Of 2012 ("Censored 2012: Stories of 2010-2011")
and STORE: Censored 2012
The Sourcebook for the Media Revolution, The Top Censored Stories and Media Analysis of 2010-2011 by Mickey Huff and Project Censored.
In this volume, there are 500 pages of real news you can use, plus ample analysis that eradicates civil paralysis, and antidotes to our current Truth Emergency that will strengthen societal media literacy.
Project Censored is administered through the SSU Sociology Department with financial support from the SSU Instructionally Related Activity Fund, School of Social Science, Media Freedom Foundation Inc. and donations from thousands of supporters around the country.
see also > Top 25 Archive
Independent News Sources
Featured Articles
Censored Notebook
see also > what next: Human Costs of War & Violence — Censored News
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
If I Had A Hammer | Pete Seeger
If I Had A Hammer - Pete Seeger: Live in Australia, 1963, as part of his world tour
It's the bell of freedom
It's the song about love
The song "If I Had a Hammer" was a Civil Rights anthem of the American Civil Rights movement. Wikileaks has chosen it as their "Wikileaks song".
IF I HAD A HAMMER (The Hammer Song)
words and music by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger
If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land
I'd hammer out danger
I'd hammer out a warning
I'd hammer out love between
between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
If I had a bell
I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening
All over this land
I'd ring out danger
I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between
between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
If I had a song
I'd sing it in the morning
I'd sing it in the evening
All over this land
I'd sing out danger
I'd sing out a warning
I'd sing out love between
between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
Well I've got a hammer
And I've got a bell
And I've got a song to sing
All over this land
It's the hammer of justice
It's the bell of freedom
It's the song about love
between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
©1958, 1962 (renewed), 1986 (renewed)
TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI)
"If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" is a song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays. It was written in 1949 in support of the progressive movement, and was first recorded by The Weavers, a folk music quartet composed of Seeger, Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman, and then by Peter, Paul and Mary...
If I Had a Hammer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pete Seeger at age 88
photographed on 6-16-07 at the Clearwater Festival 2007 by Anthony Pepitone
Peter "Pete" Seeger (born May 3, 1919) is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene", which topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. Members of The Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era. In the 1960s, he re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, and environmental causes.
Pete Seeger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Exposing the One Percent: Freeport McMoRan Exploits Workers and the Environment | Project Censored
As the Occupy Movement emerges across the US and around the world, a prime example of greed and exploitation is occurring with very little coverage in the global corporate media. Members of the global top one percent are killing striking workers and using raw military power to protect their billions of dollors of annual profits. And the highest levels of US Government encourage and protect the exploiters...
more > Exposing the One Percent: Freeport McMoRan Exploits Workers and the Environment | Project Censored
by Peter Phillips and Kimberly Soeiro
Censored Notebook • Project Censored
ABOUT | Project Censored
ABOUT
The mission of Project Censored is to teach students and the public about the role of a free press in a free society – and to tell the News That Didn’t Make the News and Why
WHAT IS MODERN CENSORSHIP?
At Project Censored, we examine the coverage of news and information important to the maintenance of a healthy and functioning democracy. We define Modern Censorship as the subtle yet constant and sophisticated manipulation of reality in our mass media outlets. On a daily basis, censorship refers to the intentional non-inclusion of a news story – or piece of a news story – based on anything other than a desire to tell the truth. Such manipulation can take the form of political pressure (from government officials and powerful individuals), economic pressure (from advertisers and funders), and legal pressure (the threat of lawsuits from deep-pocket individuals, corporations, and institutions)
WHAT IS MEDIA ACCOUNTABILITY?
In our view, the only valid justification for declining a news story is that in a medium limited by time and space, another news story was simply more important to the people of the community, whether local, national or international. While admittedly a subjective process, it is nonetheless, a process to be undertaken by the news people themselves (the investigative journalists and editors), NOT by the managers and CEOs of their “parent company.” No professional journalist or researcher should ever have to face the destruction of his or her career (or life) simply because they wanted to tell the truth. While no two people will always agree on what story is more important than another, a system where the working reporters and editors run the newsroom would at least provide a fertile environment for debate, dissent and critical thinking.
The growth of independent media and journalism in recent years shows that people throughout the world yearn to hold not only their leaders accountable, but their media sources as well. For that reason, the Project Censored research program continues, in its small way, to support and highlight those who tell the truth about the powerful (no matter the consequences) and are relentless in their quest to hold Big Media accountable for their decisions.
see also
The Daily Censored News Blog
Independent News Sources | Project Censored
Other Feeds, Project Censored's Independent News Feed
About The Media Freedom Foundation, Project Censored's Independent News Feed
The Media Freedom Foundation (MFF) is a nonprofit 501-C-3 corporation established in 2000 to support First Amendment organizations and investigative research.
The MFF raises funds for and works closely with Project Censored, and countless other investigative research and media related organizations.
Project Censored
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