Occupy Wall Street - Good Evening American!

This week marked the slow waking up of American Civil Society from a long slumber. Good morning - or should we say "evening" - American!

READ THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM NAOMI KLEIN

Learn more about marches on earth here

Gaddafi flees - who's next to fall in the Arab world?

First Mubarak abdicated and now the People have brought him to trial. Then, after a long hard slog, Gaddafi has been driven from power and is on the run - sure to be caught or killed. What's next for the Arab spring? Many commentators look to Iraq where Saddam is hanging on tenuously to power, violently putting down peaceful protests.

BREAKING NEWS ---

Shiite protesters blockade roads against Saddam.

Sunnis join in solidarity with Shiites, forming a "Democratic Parliament in Opposition" (DPO)

Several generals in the Iraqi army have joined the DPO

Saddam declares that he will crush the DPO traitors

Protesters have swollen the streets of Baghdad. All services have been shut down.

High ranking ambassadors from Iraq to the United Nations resign from the Iraqi government

Rebels have cut Iraqi pipelines, depriving Saddam of his much needed cash

Saddam claims the protesters are Western agents and swears to crush them

The Iraqi army turns on Saddam, surrounding him at his presidential palace

After a three day standoff between the Iraqi army and Saddam's palace guards, Saddam arrested.

The DPO is recognized by Western and Arab countries

Saddam placed on trial

Sunnis, Arabs and Kurds form new government

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Too bad Bush, Rumsfield and all the other neo-cons deprived the Iraqi people of their Arab spring (year). And let's not forget all the American soldiers who were needlessly sacrificed, the bloody civil war that was sparked, and the economic ruin that has resulted from this war. Here

New off shore Shell Oil Leak

"Oil giant Shell is struggling to contain the worst North Sea spill in a decade amid criticism over how honest the company is being with the public" off the coast of Scotland. Learn more here

And take a guess: Who isn't covering the story? Yup: CNN doesn't have it listed today under its "top world story" nor is it on the front page. It comes up if you search it. So, why isn't this news worth elevating to the top? Who wants to keep it down? Who's pressing for more off shore drilling? Come on CNN show some guts!


Learn more about the environment on Earth here

The Real Threat of the USA Credit Downgrade

Most questions in the popular media concerning the threat of Standard and Poor's downgrade of the USA credit rating (from AAA to AA+) has focused on what it means to consumers. In other words, will interest rates go up? However, here are a couple points often missed:

1. The downgrade may negatively affect USA soft power - its ability to persuade the world that it is both unique among nations and rightfully the world's leader.

2. The downgrade may convince highly skilled immigrants to think twice about immigrating to the USA. As is a well known fact, much of the USA economy hinges on the energy and drive that immigrants bring to the USA.

3. We predict a growing number of global players will begin discussing how to replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency. If this were to happen, the dollar would probably go into free fall for some time and capital would likely shift. (see the Chatham House report: "Beyond the Dollar..." here

4. Unfortunately for the Green Movement, less available capital in the future would mean a slowing down of investments in the "green economy" (although this would be offset by a reduction in consumption and the dangers that the "throw away economy" poses to the environment).

If any of these three possibilities were to emerge, the downgrade could prove more threatening to the current position of the USA than is currently being discussed in public.

ALEC The Real Threat Behind the Tea Party

As the U.S. gets downgraded from its AAA rating, the question is: "what is the real threat to the country and how do we get out of it?"

From a progressive point of view, the immediate threat seems to be that zombies have attacked and taken President Obama hostage. The Zombie tea party was successful in staring down Obama and ensuring that domestic spending will be wiped out. And yes, the media focused on the zombies. However, lurking behind the zombie tea party is a far more sinister group - ALEC.

Learn more about ALEC here.


Learn about corporations on earth here

Consider the role of corporations on Pandora here

Cave of Forgotten Dreams - an albino crocodile's perspective

If you're like me, you probably took an art appreciation class in college and were taught that... well... there really isn't much to appreciate about cave art other than it's interesting that humans made some early attempts at painting. Wrong. Herzog's latest film not only dazzles, it upends many of our preconceptions about paleolithic art and the depth of culture early humans had. A second tantalizing aspect of the film is the artistic lens Herzog creates, born of German Romanticism, to view the art. We are plunged not only into the world of objectivity, but we explore the inner subjective world of ourselves some 35,000 years ago. The scientists he interviews, like himself, are unafraid to leave the dry facts behind and venture into the unknown where play and imagination serve to light the way before us.

Watching the film one becomes aware of the many animals (lions, rhinos, horses) that roamed the area. In geological time it was not that long ago. Yet outside of the cave the forests are barren. Not one critter even creep by. The unstated backstory is actually of the mass extinction playing out on earth.

The film ends with a view of nuclear power plants, some 20 miles away "as the crow flies," filling the area (which was once think with glaciers) with steam. Crocodiles are now imported. We are left gazing at the albino mutant crocodile, wondering if Herzog has attempted to show us our own misplaced soul caught in an artificial world of our own making.

Discover more about the unique planet we call Earth by linking here

Michael Jackson, the Earth and Independence Day

July 4 - Independence Day. Well, the nation celebrates independence from the Brits and yet moves ever closer to the brink of complete disaster. When you look across the pond and Great Britain, it doesn't seem today to have been such a cataclysmic event in gaining independence. After all, the USA and the other British Commonwealth countries, such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, have more in common that not.

Perhaps the 4th of July should be set aside as a celebration for the future. A True and authentic Independence Day would be one in which the USA is independent from its current masters - the petroleum industry.

If Avatar is the film for this century, then Michael Jackson's Earth Song, released in the early 90's, remains the anthem of choice as we begin to face the return of our deeds against the Earth.

Learn more about the song at HuffPost here or visit Joe Vogel's site here.

Learn about the environment on earth here.

Consider the environment on Pandora here

Climate to Wreak Havoc on World Food Supply

Meanwhile - back on earth:

New report that we can expect in the very near future to see millions more facing starvation - here

We also learned this week that, despite the global recession, emissions have jumped even more, making the goal of holding the globe's temp below 2 degrees impossible given the current global political environment.

To learn more about the depressing environment on earth click here

To consider the environment on Pandora click here

Obama: US will Seek Oil in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico

Need one say more?

Teaching Polanski's "Ghost Writer"

The new (2010) Roman Polanski film "Ghostwriter," has strong potential for use in the classroom. At the box office the film, unsurprisingly, did better on the foreign market than domestically. Ghost Writer is intended for adult, thinking audiences, and the film is carried along by plot and character development. So, it might be difficult for our modern ADHD audience to sit through without the normal cognitive crutches of CGI, 90% seat time fighting, f*****g, cars crashing, etc. But for those who still remember when movies were not under the shadow of video games, this is a film to watch.

The other group that will no doubt suffer through the film belongs to those who support the Global War on Terror, invasion/occupation of Iraq, torture, etc. For example, the New York times review (and they did support the invasion of Iraq) tried to divert the attention from the context of the film and focus our attention on Polanski's private life (here). Certainly, there are interesting parallels. During the making of the film Polanski was under indictment and the threat of extradition (here)as is Prime Minister Lang. Both are in exile, attempting to escape justice. But by focusing on this (art as personal confession), the NY Times attempts to take our eye off the story (art as engagement with the cosmos).

"Ghost Writer" courageously raises the issue of the fact that those in the West who sanctioned and ordered torture, such as Cheney, have not been prosecuted. The argument that Cheney and his ilk make is that torture is justified because it works. The old ticking time bomb argument.

However,the recent killing of Bin Laden clearly illustrates just how misguided Cheney & Ilk are. The facts speak for themselves:

* Bin Laden lived in his compound for 5 years, plenty of time to find him, and plenty of time for many within the Al Qaeda network to know where he was (in fact, over 100 USA military advisors in 2008 lived just minutes from Bin Laden!)
* We don't know how many hundreds of people were tortured, but not one person divulged his location
* The CIA eventually (almost a decade later) found Bin Laden by tracking a phone call (and not waterboarding or using the rack)

Of course, there is reason to be relieved that Bin Laden is gone. But we will not have closure until those who perpetrated illegal acts of torture are brought to justice.

Perhaps it is time that we dug out a DVD of "Ghost Writer" and asked our citizenry (the oldest democracy in the world), if our political leaders should be held accountable for their actions? The standard answer from either wing is - "that would tear the country apart". Well - isn't democracy a messy business? Don't well functioning democracies hold their politicians accountable? Here's a list of countries that have prosecuted or pursued former leaders:

Peru - here

Pakistan issues arrest warrant for Musharraf- here and here and here

Taiwan - here

Philippines - here

France - here and here

Italy - here

In addition to "Ghost Writer", instructors may want to have their students watch:

Fair Game

Frost/Nixon

Time to Bring the 9/11 Era to a Close - Trial of Bush and Cheney

After eight seasons, the show 24 finally came to close. When you wrap up a show, there shouldn't be any cliff hangers. We should know what happened to the main characters. What about in the bigger "Truman Show" that we all live in? Here is how the script should go. But, instead of paralleling the 8 seasons of 24, we'll need to add 1 final season before we move on:

Season 1: "Attack on America"
Season 2: "Striking Back - The Invasion of Afghanistan"
Season 3: "The Treasure Hunt - The Invasion and Occupation of Iraq"
Season 4: "Weapons of Mass Destruction Exposed"
Season 5: "The Strangling of Civil Society and the Attack on Civil Liberties"
Season 6: "The Torture Chronicles"
Season 7: "Yes We Can - Hope out of Darkness"
Season 8: "The Killing of Bin Laden"
Season 9: "Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld on Trial at the ICC"