Justice for Khalid El-Masri

This documentary [from Witness, Al-Jazeera] tells the horrific story of Khalid El-Masri, the lebanese born German citizen who was taken off the street when holidaying in Macedonia as American forces believed he was an Al Qaeda agent because his name was similar to that of an Al Qaeda suspect. He was denied any contact with his family or German authorities, locked up in appalling conditions [in a covert CIA interrogation centre in Afganistan called 'The Salt Pit'], humiliated, sodomized and tortured for 5 months. El-Masri and several other inmates went on a hunger strike which lasted for almost a month and he demanded that they either release him immediately, allow him to contact the German authorities, or have him die of starvation.
Leaked diplomatic cables from Wikileaks reveal that the US administration was angered when the German authorities put out arrest warrants for some of those implicit in the deplorable affair and put significant pressure on the German government to weigh carefully the ramifications to their bi-lateral relationship if they were to pursue the charges.
He was then dumped in the woods in a remote region of Albania in the middle of the night, and walked off believing that he was going to be shot in the back.
In May 2006 U.S. Federal District Judge T.S. Ellis, III in Washington dismissed a lawsuit El-Masri filed against the CIA and three private companies allegedly involved with his transport, explaining that a public trial would "present a grave risk of injury to national security."
He is still in the process of appeal and fighting for justice, and it is imperative that all involved in the US administration be held accountable and that this kind of perversion of justice be stopped.


For more info read this aptly titled article from the New York Times, 'Supreme Disgrace'.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/opinion/11thu1.html?_r=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_salt_pit

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/1/leaked_cable_us_warned_germany.html\

Debussy-Clare De Lune

So gorgeous.. Somehow reminds me of 2001-A Space Odyssey.

One laptop per child

One laptop per child is an initiative to provide laptops to children in remote communities where they may not have electricity, education or even adequate food. The laptops are rugged; they're waterproof, dustproof - virtually unbreakable, wifi enabled, and can be powered winding them up. Founder, Nicholas Negroponte set up the scheme as a humanitarian project to enable poor children around the world to access information, initiate their own learning and not get left behind by the rest of the world. Imagine not having the internets..




http://laptop.org/en/

O dear God...

I don't even need to say anything- this woman mocks herself and all of her supporters with her gross stupidity and vain-gloriousness.

The problem with capitalism- a diagram

Anti-Capitalistic propaganda from 1911 from The Industrial Worker, the newspaper that was the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism for the Industrial Workers of the world back when the protest and union movement was powerful.
If only it had been a bit more powerful still and was able to change the course of history and avert the colossal problems that have been manifested by capitalism over the last 100 years.
The same iniquities and problems that were apparent then have fully flowered into social, political and environmental disaster--- may we now, a hundred years on, be inspired by the revolutionary movement of our forefathers and sisters, utilize the greater transparency, access to information and strength we have now to become a powerful force for change to a system that is based on truth, freedom, justice and equity.

Our obedience to capitalism is cultured by propaganda-
Here are some forms that you ought to be aware of and see through---

Ad hominem

A Latin phrase that has come to mean attacking one's opponent, as opposed to attacking their arguments.

Ad nauseam

This argument approach uses tireless repetition of an idea. An idea, especially a simple slogan, that is repeated enough times, may begin to be taken as the truth. This approach works best when media sources are limited or controlled by the propagator.

Appeal to authority

Appeals to authority cite prominent figures to support a position, idea, argument, or course of action.

Appeal to fear

Appeals to fear and seeks to build support by instilling anxieties and panic in the general population, for example, Joseph Goebbels exploited Theodore Kaufman's Germany Must Perish! to claim that the Allies sought the extermination of the German people.

Appeal to prejudice

Using loaded or emotive terms to attach value or moral goodness to believing the proposition. Used in biased or misleading ways.

Bandwagon

Bandwagon and "inevitable-victory" appeals attempt to persuade the target audience to join in and take the course of action that "everyone else is taking".

Inevitable victory

Invites those not already on the bandwagon to join those already on the road to certain victory. Those already or at least partially on the bandwagon are reassured that staying aboard is their best course of action.

Join the crowd

This technique reinforces people's natural desire to be on the winning side. This technique is used to convince the audience that a program is an expression of an irresistible mass movement and that it is in their best interest to join.

Beautiful people

The type of propaganda that deals with famous people or depicts attractive, happy people. This makes other people think that if they buy a product or follow a certain ideology, they too will be happy or successful.

Big Lie

The repeated articulation of a complex of events that justify subsequent action. The descriptions of these events have elements of truth, and the "big lie" generalizations merge and eventually supplant the public's accurate perception of the underlying events. After World War I the German Stab in the back explanation of the cause of their defeat became a justification for Nazi re-militarization and revanchist aggression.

Black-and-white fallacy

Presenting only two choices, with the product or idea being propagated as the better choice. For example: "You're either with us, or against us...."

Classical conditioning

All vertebrates, including humans, respond to classical conditioning. That is, if object A is always present when object B is present and object B causes a negative physical reaction (e.g., disgust, pleasure) then we will when presented with object A when object B is not present, we will experience the same feelings.

Cognitive dissonance

People desire to be consistent. Suppose a pollster finds that a certain group of people hates his candidate for senator but love actor A. They use actor A's endorsement of their candidate to change people's minds because people cannot tolerate inconsistency. They are forced to either to dislike the actor or like the candidate.

Common man

The "plain folks" or "common man" approach attempts to convince the audience that the propagandist's positions reflect the common sense of the people. It is designed to win the confidence of the audience by communicating in the common manner and style of the target audience. Propagandists use ordinary language and mannerisms (and clothe their message in face-to-face and audiovisual communications) in attempting to identify their point of view with that of the average person. For example, a propaganda leaflet may make an argument on a macroeconomic issue, such as unemployment insurance benefits, using everyday terms: "Given that the country has little money during this recession, we should stop paying unemployment benefits to those who do not work, because that is like maxing out all your credit cards during a tight period, when you should be tightening your belt."

Cult of personality

A cult of personality arises when an individual uses mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. The hero personality then advocates the positions that the propagandist desires to promote. For example, modern propagandists hire popular personalities to promote their ideas and/or products.

Demonizing the enemy

Making individuals from the opposing nation, from a different ethnic group, or those who support the opposing viewpoint appear to be subhuman (e.g., the Vietnam War-era term "gooks" for National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam aka Vietcong, or "VC", soldiers), worthless, or immoral, through suggestion or false accusations. Dehumanizing is also a termed used synonymously with demonizing, the latter usually serves as an aspect of the former.

Dictat

This technique hopes to simplify the decision making process by using images and words to tell the audience exactly what actions to take, eliminating any other possible choices. Authority figures can be used to give the order, overlapping it with the Appeal to authority technique, but not necessarily. The Uncle Sam "I want you" image is an example of this technique.

Disinformation

The creation or deletion of information from public records, in the purpose of making a false record of an event or the actions of a person or organization, including outright forgery of photographs, motion pictures, broadcasts, and sound recordings as well as printed documents.

Door-in-the-face technique

Is used to increase a person's latitude of acceptance. For example, if a salesperson wants to sell an item for $100 but the public is only willing to pay $50, the salesperson first offers the item at a higher price (e.g., $200) and subsequently reduces the price to $100 to make it seem like a good deal.

Euphoria

The use of an event that generates euphoria or happiness, or using an appealing event to boost morale. Euphoria can be created by declaring a holiday, making luxury items available, or mounting a military parade with marching bands and patriotic messages.

Fear, uncertainty and doubt

An attempt to influence public perception by disseminating negative and dubious/false information designed to undermine the credibility of their beliefs.

Flag-waving

An attempt to justify an action on the grounds that doing so will make one more patriotic, or in some way benefit a country, group or idea the targeted audience supports.

Foot-in-the-door technique

Often used by recruiters and salesmen. For example, a member of the opposite sex walks up to the victim and pins a flower or gives a small gift to the victim. The victim says thanks and now they have incurred a psychological debt to the perpetrator. The person eventually asks for a larger favor (e.g., a donation or to buy something far more expensive). The unwritten social contract between the victim and perpetrator causes the victim to feel obligated to reciprocate by agreeing to do the larger favor or buy the more expensive gift.

Glittering generalities

Glittering generalities are emotionally appealing words that are applied to a product or idea, but present no concrete argument or analysis. A famous example is the campaign slogan "Ford has a better idea!" This technique has also been referred to as the PT Barnum effect.

Half-truth

A half-truth is a deceptive statement, which may come in several forms and includes some element of truth. The statement might be partly true, the statement may be totally true but only part of the whole truth, or it may utilize some deceptive element, such as improper punctuation, or double meaning, especially if the intent is to deceive, evade, blame or misrepresent the truth.

Labeling

A euphemism is used when the propagandist attempts to increase the perceived quality, credibility, or credence of a particular ideal. A Dysphemism is used when the intent of the propagandist is to discredit, diminish the perceived quality, or hurt the perceived righteousness of the Mark. By creating a "label" or "category" or "faction" of a population, it is much easier to make an example of these larger bodies, because they can uplift or defame the Mark without actually incurring legal-defamation. Example: "Liberal" is a dysphemism intended to diminish the perceived credibility of a particular Mark. By taking a displeasing argument presented by a Mark, the propagandist can quote that person, and then attack "liberals" in an attempt to both (1) create a political battle-ax of unaccountable aggression and (2) diminish the quality of the Mark. If the propagandist uses the label on too-many perceivably credible individuals, muddying up the word can be done by broadcasting bad-examples of "liberals" into the media. Labeling can be thought of as a sub-set of Guilt by association, another logical fallacy.

Latitudes of acceptance

If a person's message is outside the bounds of acceptance for an individual and group, most techniques will engender psychological reactance (simply hearing the argument will make the message even less acceptable). There are two techniques for increasing the bounds of acceptance. First, one can take a more even extreme position that will make more moderate positions seem more acceptable. This is similar to the Door-in-the-Face technique. Alternatively, one can moderate one's own position to the edge of the latitude of acceptance and then over time slowly move to the position that was previously.^[9]

Love bombing

Used to recruit members to a cult or ideology by having a group of individuals cut off a person from their existing social support and replace it entirely with members of the group who deliberately bombard the person with affection in an attempt to isolate the person from their prior beliefs and value system—see Milieu control.

Lying and deception

Lying and deception can be the basis of many propaganda techniques including Ad Homimen arguments, Big-Lie, Defamation, Door-in-the-Face, Half-truth, Name-calling or any other technique that is based on dishonesty or deception. For example, many politicians have been found to frequently stretch or break the truth.

Managing the news

According to Adolf Hitler's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels "The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over."^[10] This idea is consistent with the principle of classical conditioning as well as the idea of "Staying on Message."

Milieu control

An attempt to control the social environment and ideas through the use of social pressure

Name-calling

Propagandists use the name-calling technique to incite fears and arouse prejudices in their hearers in the intent that the bad names will cause hearers to construct a negative opinion about a group or set of beliefs or ideas that the propagandist wants hearers to denounce. The method is intended to provoke conclusions about a matter apart from impartial examinations of facts. Name-calling is thus a substitute for rational, fact-based arguments against the an idea or belief on its own merits.^[11]

Obfuscation, intentional vagueness, confusion

Generalities are deliberately vague so that the audience may supply its own interpretations. The intention is to move the audience by use of undefined phrases, without analyzing their validity or attempting to determine their reasonableness or application. The intent is to cause people to draw their own interpretations rather than simply being presented with an explicit idea. In trying to "figure out" the propaganda, the audience forgoes judgment of the ideas presented. Their validity, reasonableness and application may still be considered.

Obtain disapproval or Reductio ad Hitlerum

This technique is used to persuade a target audience to disapprove of an action or idea by suggesting that the idea is popular with groups hated, feared, or held in contempt by the target audience. Thus if a group that supports a certain policy is led to believe that undesirable, subversive, or contemptible people support the same policy, then the members of the group may decide to change their original position. This is a form of bad logic, where a is said to include X, and b is said to include X, therefore, a = b.

Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning involves learning through imitation. For example, watching an appealing person buy products or endorse positions teaches a person to buy the product or endorse the position. Operant conditioning is the underlying principle behind the Ad Nauseam, Slogan and other repetition public relations campaigns.

Oversimplification

Favorable generalities are used to provide simple answers to complex social, political, economic, or military problems.

Pensée unique

Enforced reduction of discussion by use of overly simplistic phrases or arguments (e.g., "There is no alternative to war.")

Quotes out of context

Selectively editing quotes to change meanings—political documentaries designed to discredit an opponent or an opposing political viewpoint often make use of this technique.

Rationalization (making excuses)

Individuals or groups may use favorable generalities to rationalize questionable acts or beliefs. Vague and pleasant phrases are often used to justify such actions or beliefs.

Red herring

Presenting data or issues that, while compelling, are irrelevant to the argument at hand, and then claiming that it validates the argument.

Repetition

This is the repeating of a certain symbol or slogan so that the audience remembers it. This could be in the form of a jingle or an image placed on nearly everything in the picture/scene.

Scapegoating

Assigning blame to an individual or group, thus alleviating feelings of guilt from responsible parties and/or distracting attention from the need to fix the problem for which blame is being assigned.

Slogans

A slogan is a brief, striking phrase that may include labeling and stereotyping. Although slogans may be enlisted to support reasoned ideas, in practice they tend to act only as emotional appeals. Opponents of the US's invasion and occupation of Iraq use the slogan "blood for oil" to suggest that the invasion and its human losses was done to access Iraq's oil riches. On the other hand, supporters who argue that the US should continue to fight in Iraq use the slogan "cut and run" to suggest withdrawal is cowardly or weak.

Stereotyping

This technique attempts to arouse prejudices in an audience by labeling the object of the propaganda campaign as something the target audience fears, hates, loathes, or finds undesirable. For instance, reporting on a foreign country or social group may focus on the stereotypical traits that the reader expects, even though they are far from being representative of the whole country or group; such reporting often focuses on the anecdotal. In graphic propaganda, including war posters, this might include portraying enemies with stereotyped racial features.

Straw man

A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position. To "attack a straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by substituting a superficially similar proposition (the "straw man"), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.

Testimonial

Testimonials are quotations, in or out of context, especially cited to support or reject a given policy, action, program, or personality. The reputation or the role (expert, respected public figure, etc.) of the individual giving the statement is exploited. The testimonial places the official sanction of a respected person or authority on a propaganda message. This is done in an effort to cause the target audience to identify itself with the authority or to accept the authority's opinions and beliefs as its own.

Third party technique

Works on the principle that people are more willing to accept an argument from a seemingly independent source of information than from someone with a stake in the outcome. It is a marketing strategy commonly employed by Public Relations (PR) firms, that involves placing a premeditated message in the "mouth of the media." Third party technique can take many forms, ranging from the hiring of journalists to report the organization in a favorable light, to using scientists within the organization to present their perhaps prejudicial findings to the public. Frequently astroturf groups or front groups are used to deliver the message.

Foreign governments, particularly those that own marketable commercial products or services, often promote their interests and positions through the advertising of those goods because the target audience is not only largely unaware of the forum as vehicle for foreign messaging but also willing to receive the message while in a mental state of absorbing information from advertisements during television commercial breaks, while reading a periodical, or while passing by billboards in public spaces. A prime example of this messaging technique is advertising campaigns to promote international travel. While advertising foreign destinations and services may stem from the typical goal of increasing revenue by drawing more tourism, some travel campaigns carry the additional or alternative intended purpose of promoting good sentiments or improving existing ones among the target audience towards a given nation or region. It is common for advertising promoting foreign countries to be produced and distributed by the tourism ministries of those countries, so these ads often carry political statements and/or depictions of the foreign government's desired international public perception. Additionally, a wide range of foreign airlines and travel-related services which advertise separately from the destinations, themselves, are owned by their respective governments; examples include, though are not limited to, the Emirates airline (Dubai), Singapore Airlines (Singapore), Qatar Airways (Qatar), China Airlines (Taiwan/Republic of China), and Air China (People's Republic of China). By depicting their destinations, airlines, and other services in a favorable and pleasant light, countries market themselves to populations abroad in a manner that could mitigate prior public impressions. See: Soft Power

• See also: International Travel Advertising

Thought-terminating cliché

A commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance.

Transfer

Also known as association, this is a technique that involves projecting the positive or negative qualities of one person, entity, object, or value onto another to make the second more acceptable or to discredit it. It evokes an emotional response, which stimulates the target to identify with recognized authorities. Often highly visual, this technique often utilizes symbols (e.g. swastikas) superimposed over other visual images (e.g. logos). These symbols may be used in place of words.

Unstated assumption

This technique is used when the idea the propagandist wants to plant would seem less credible if explicitly stated. The concept is instead repeatedly assumed or implied.

Virtue words

These are words in the value system of the target audience that produce a positive image when attached to a person or issue. Peace, happiness, security, wise leadership, freedom, "The Truth", etc. are virtue words. Many see religiosity as a virtue, making associations to this quality affectively beneficial. Their use is considered of the Transfer propaganda technique.

Familliar with a few of those?

* From Wikipedia

All is full of love

Spoonbil-Framed By Funk

Spoonbill - Framed By Funk by Spoonytunes

Cats know..

Self explainatory

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Portal:Trolls

Politics, media and corruption.

A legacy documentary from around 1992 which illustrates the foundations of our current media bias, manipulation and corrupt relationship between politics and media.

Brian Eno-2 Forms Of Anger

Brian Eno continues to push the boundaries and put out interesting material. This track, 2 Forms Of Anger, comes from his latest album Small Craft On A Milk Sea.

http://warp.net/

Could luminous trees replace street lights?

Scientists in Taiwan researching into ways to create high efficiency lighting simillar to LED, though without using costly and toxic phosphorous accidentally discovered an ingenious potential alternative.

Dr. Yen-Hsun Wu found that when gold nanoparticles where implanted into the leaves of the Bacopa caroliniana plants, they were able to induce the chlorophyll in the leaves to produce a red emission. This bio-LED could sigificantly reduce electricity consumption, phosphorus and light pollution and make our streets look magical and enchanting..

                  



Read more: Gold Nanoparticles Could Transform Trees Into Street Lights | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World


http://inhabitat.com/gold-nanoparticles-could-transform-trees-into-street-lights/

Gonjasufi-Ancestors produced by Flying Lotus

Gonjasufi came to prominence with his album "A Sufi And A Killer", released in 2010 on Warp. Album works particularly well as a whole and it's combination of middle eastern and indian samples, beats, interesting production and maniacal singing rewards multiple listens. The vocal delivery of themes of self-pity, loss, and miscellaneous wrath borders on satirical and comes across as upbeat and always makes me smile.

http://warp.net/

Flying Lotus-Zodiac Shit

This sawesome track by Fly-lo has been animated by the folks at [Adult Swim], makers of bugged out and fantastic shows such as Sealab 2010, The Mighty Boosh, Robot Chicken, Space Ghost Coast to Coast and loads of others.

http://video.adultswim.com/
http://www.brainfeedersite.com/

Redesigning: waste=cool products

The concept of redesigning- redesigning industry, what we make, how we make it and how we can eliminate waste by designing things in a way that they can be broken down into their component parts and reused- is one that is being adopted by progressive, intelligent designers around the world, and will make a significant difference to the impact that we have on the planet and the way that we view "stuff"


Haul are a local company making stylish and cool bags, laptop cases, wallets, photo albums and assorted items out of recycled materials that would ordinarily become landfill such as billboard sails, truck innertubes, and number plates.
  

  
                                                             http://www.haul.com.au/

MF Doom with Mr. Fantastic- Anti-matter

MF Doom and Mr. Fantastic team up in this dope joint, Anti-matter, which features on MF Dooms tangential 2003 album, King Geedorah.
MF Doom exemplifies the type of creative, intelligent, playful hiphop that is where it's at for me. In sharp contrast to the 50cents of this world, who give hiphop a bad name, there is a rich and diverse grassroots culture of quality, cerebral and fresh hiphop out there.
MF has continued to put out great albums and in 2010 he released an EP- Gazzillion Ear and a LP- Expektoration.

http://www.myspace.com/mfdoom

Chet gets lost in a portrait in black and white

Chet Baker, the James Dean of jazz, renowned for his emotive interpretations of jazz standards does justice to this gorgeous, melancholy song by Jobim- Portrait in Black and White, or Zingaro.
There is a brilliant documentary about Chet, an interesting character who had an extraordinary life, called 'Let's Get Lost'. It's beautifully and artfully made and well worth checking out.

Noam Chomsky: Big Business Dictates the Presidency

Elis Regina - Aguas de Marco by Jobim

A stick, a stone, it's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump, it's a little alone
It's a sliver of glass, it is life, it's the sun
It is night, it is death, it's a trap, it's a gun
The oak when it blooms, a fox in the brush
A knot in the wood, the song of a thrush
The wood of the wind, a cliff, a fall
A scratch, a lump, it is nothing at all
It's the wind blowing free, it's the end of the slope
It's a beam it's a void, it's a hunch, it's a hope
And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the end of the strain
The joy in your heart
The foot, the ground, the flesh and the bone
The beat of the road, a slingshot's stone
A fish, a flash, a silvery glow
A fight, a bet the fange of a bow
The bed of the well, the end of the line
The dismay in the face, it's a loss, it's a find
A spear, a spike, a point, a nail
A drip, a drop, the end of the tale
A truckload of bricks in the soft morning light
The sound of a shot in the dead of the night
A mile, a must, a thrust, a bump,
It's a girl, it's a rhyme, it's a cold, it's the mumps
The plan of the house, the body in bed
And the car that got stuck, it's the mud, it's the mud
A float, a drift, a flight, a wing
A hawk, a quail, the promise of spring
And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life, it's the joy in your heart
A stick, a stone, it's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump, it's a little alone
A snake, a stick, it is John, it is Joe
It's a thorn in your hand and a cut in your toe
A point, a grain, a bee, a bite
A blink, a buzzard, a sudden stroke of night
A pin, a needle, a sting a pain
A snail, a riddle, a wasp, a stain
A pass in the mountains, a horse and a mule
In the distance the shelves rode three shadows of blue
And the river talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life in your heart
A stick, a stone, the end of the road
The rest of a stump, a lonesome road
A sliver of glass, a life, the sun
A knife, a death, the end of the run
And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the end of all strain, it's the joy in your heart

Joanna Newsom - The Sprout And The Bean

The gorgeous Joanna Newsom seems to be a mystical creature from a faraway time and place, yet is at the forefront of the contemporary neo-folk movement, has a playful, childlike quality, yet in her poetry is depth and wisdom that seems beyond her years..
A rare gem.
If you ever get the chance to see her live, I thoroughly recommend that you do. It's extraordinary how this tiny woman, dwarfed by her grand harp and a huge stage, can have such a commanding presence.

WikiRebels: The Documentary (Full)

Goat Screaming Like Usher

There is something inherently funny about goats and the "goat that yells like a man" clip on youtube manages to make me laugh til I cry. In this clip the same goat is synced with an Usher track and it fits perfectly.. Internet gold.

Martin Luther King Jr - I Have a Dream

Rap News Episode 6-Cablegate: the truth is out there

Double rainbow all the way

I can't really account for why this video is so good, but let me tell you, there's a compelling reason why it has had 21,540,032 hits on youtube and been such a widespread meme.
Long story short, this guy- hungrybear9562- is out in the mountains, presumably tripping balls, and sees a double rainbow and goes from appreciation and wonder, through to near orgiastic rapture to sobbing in the 3:30 span of the video and it makes me lose it laughing every time!!

Bradley Manning, American Hero

Bradley Manning, the now world famous 22 year old miltary analyst allegedly responsible for leaking the cache of classified material to Wikileaks, is still languishing in solitary confinement after four miserable months.
Being denied sunlight, mental stimulation, human contact, the ability to exercise and basic human needs would take it's toll on anyone, but that coupled with the grave concern for his outcome and whatever other tortuous methods [that the U.S. military seem to keen on] are being metted out to him amount to a very grim picture.
Understandably, the U.S. military are embarrassed and are looking for someone to blame and shift the focus onto, but they cannot escape the fact that Bradley Manning merely revealed their own wrongdoing and they are responsible for the way that there has been such an erosion of morality within their ranks.
Bradley Manning has displayed incredible moral backbone and courage for standing up for truth and justice against the Goliath of the U.S. military and administration.
But, what kind of person wouldn't do the same when seeing mass deception of war crimes and atrocities committed in a war that was waged in the name of a lie?
So, as a human, put yourself in his shoes and appreciate the bravery and honour of his actions and consider the huge debt that we all owe him now and support the campaign for his release.
Michael Moore has now joined the campaign to free Manning, along with Daniel Ellsburg and numerous others and puts it aptly in saying, "To suggest that lives were put in danger by the release of the WikiLeaks documents is the most cynical of statements," Moore said.
"Lives were put in danger the night we invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq, an act that had nothing to do with what the Bradley Mannings of this country signed up for: to defend our people from attack. It was a war based on a complete lie and lives were not only put in danger, hundreds of thousands of them were exterminated.
"For those who organised this massacre to point a finger at Bradley Manning is the ultimate example of Orwellian hypocrisy."

Assange released on bail

He still remains under mansion arrest at his friends' house. Doesn't sound so bad..
May justice continue to prevail.

Rap News with Assange cameo

The Rap News team have come up with goods again in this, their 5th episode. It is as pithy, eloquent and on-point as is true to form, and they somehow managed to get a cameo with Julian Assange. Rap News is produced by Melbourne dwellers, Giordano Nanni and Hugo Farrant. Hugo is a prominent and vocal fixture in the Melbourne music scene and is regularly seen performing around town and guesting with many popular local acts like Spoonbill, Miso, Dub The Magic Dragon, Elf Tranzporter and a multitude of others. While he is mostly seen freestyling his flows [his ability to rhyme cleverly off the top of his head is impressive and was most clearly demonstrated to me at a warehouse party in Brunswick where as a sideshow act he was rapping for $1 per minute of whichever topic or topics you chose..] it is evident that his written ability is just as strong.
It's great to see that there is a movement of people in Melbourne, and around the world, who are rally to support Wikileaks and truth in different ways.
Notably, Asher Wolf has been massively engaged and proactive and has been behind creating Wikileaks Central, an unofficial information hub.

http://wlcentral.org/

Bullion - Get Familiar

Bullion, as the name would suggest, is gold.. The sampler-delic, lush sounds manipulated and made by this UK producer at once make you want to lose it on the dancefloor and melt into your couch.

Wikileaky

You know you have achieved international recognition when you are referenced on a sanitary napkin ad in Pakistan..

Autechre- rew(1)

Since first hearing Tri Repetae, Autechre have held a special place in my heart and position in my top 10 favourites. I have followed them on their various tangents, some of which I have liked more than others, but all of which have been interesting, inspiring and exciting.

I bought Oversteps online, in blind faith, and found that each listen would reveal another side of it, and be quite a different experience. Sometimes it seemed a bit jazz-with complex harmony and rhythms, sometimes it seemed a bit noodly and random, and sometimes it seemed to work perfectly as sonic architecture.

However considering it in the context of their previous work, I did feel that Oversteps was in many ways an appropriate title.

The live show that accompanied this release in Melbourne was perplexing. In pitch darkness, all but the flickering on stage of a few LED's, a massive wall of sound descended- constantly busy, erratic beats, as though randomly generated, met with ambiences and more typical Autechre sounds, with an odd assortment of stylistic influences that seemed to emerge throughout the set [DnB, glitch, even 90's rave].

I read a review a while back where someone described it as being a room full of nodding heads desperately trying to find the one.. Quite a few people that I knew who attended grumbled about the show, and I must admit to wishing that there were more moments of spaciousness and groove and wanted to know what the hell they were doing on stage, though I quite enjoyed it.

Move of Ten [also released in 2010] seems to be the album that I was expecting- progressive yet true to form, experimental yet intricately arranged, dynamic with a range of sonic contours.. and it grooves and ticks all my boxes. Enjoy this track entitled rew(1).

The Knife - Heartbeats

The Knife.. always invoke the feeling of excitement and happiness- as though you're heading off on a roadtrip with your best friends and you've got the warm, electric glow of youth, liberty, and fun. Heartbeats is a particularly anthemic, and is the standout track on their album, Veneer.
Jose Gonzalez does a great cover of Heartbeats, which is warm, acoustic, intimate and demonstrates the strength of the song and allows the words to breathe more that the original electronic version.

Daedelus - Make It So

I love Daedelus.. I love his prolific output and proficiency on so many instruments. I love his project with his lovely wife, Laura- The Long Lost, and just wanna go "Aw.." at how sweet and in love they are. I love hearing him interviewed and go on such lucid, eloquent, interesting, passionate, philosophic tangents.. I love that he plays dungeons and dragons.. [I discovered this watching some of the extras in the "Secondhand Shotshots" film made by Dub Lab that features him and 3 other tasty L.A. producers-if you haven't seen it, it's well worth seeking out] I love his dapper, old-school schtick. Nuff said.




https://dublab.com/category/secondhand-sureshots/

‎"There are Some Things Money Can't Buy. For Everything Else, there's HTTP Error 408 Request Timeout" #payback #wikileaks #priceless

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/web20-attack-anonymous/
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/pro-wikileaks-vigilantes-down-visa-com/#seealsoaff033736dd3e21e1f35daab3a12f8f9
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2374023,00.asp

Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus, great nephew of Alice and John Coltrane and the producer that is lauded as being the Jimi Hendrix of Hiphop, again delivers the gold with this offering form his album, Cosmagramma. He stands out in the wave of exciting new music coming from L.A. Clearly with impeccable taste and excellent connections, he has started the Brainfeeder label which has been attracting other great producers and is well worthy of your digging.

http://au.myspace.com/flyinglotus
http://www.brainfeedersite.com/
http://flying-lotus.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Lotus

Here lies Liam O'Connell, like some kind of primitive mouth organ.. [an in-joke that is completely random out of context]

This is a promo shot I took for Liam for the promotion of his various musical exploits. Monstrously talented and an exemplary human being to boot, he has scaled a mountain of life changing events and come out on top and deserves every bit of the praise, recognition and goodness that's coming to him.
You can check him out here---

http://www.myspace.com/liamoconnellandmineymoe
http://www.myspace.com/3oclockbogey
http://www.myspace.com/agencydubcollective
http://www.myspace.com/udlband
http://undergrowth.org/universal_inna_by_organic_intelekt
http://www.myspace.com/alannasoldhatties
http://www.sweetlowdowns.com.au/about.htm
http://www.myspace.com/dancehallracketeers

Goat

A shot I took for Melbourne band Goat, fronted by the talented Chris Scott. You can check them out here---

http://www.myspace.com/goataustralia

Tokimonsta - The World Is Ours

The rad and ever-so lush Tokimonsta- another awesome artist associated with the Brainfeeder label. Kudos to her for her tastiness and for posting the sweet google translate beatboxing clip on her blog..

http://blog.tokimonsta.com/
http://www.brainfeedersite.com/

Google Demo Slam: Translate Beat Box

Washed Out- Feel it all around

 Washed Out, a.k.a. Ernest Greene has cooked up the sound of summer in his bedroom and people with open ears the world over are now lapping up his sweet, viscous, coma-pop creations. I was massively cut to have missed his recently show at the Toff in Melbourne, but the blow was softened by the fact that I missed it as I was playing at a benefit for Pakistan Flood victims at Wesley Anne with my band White Minus Red and hanging with some of my most favourite of peoples.

Stephen Colbert Nuclear Explosion-Gold!!

Collateral Murder - Wikileaks - Iraq

Collateral Murder

And America waged an illegal war against Iraq on the flimsy premise of finding weapons of mass destruction and bringing freedom and democracy to Iraqi's and this is what they're really up to??!!
I'm appalled and this kind of barbarism makes me sick to the stomach. "You're either with us or against us"....Ffffffffff!! The American administration is a morally reprehensible, double-speaking, fascist regime who don't deserve our leaders' blind obedience. I say we should cut our ties with them, set our own agendas about the kind of world we live in and leave them to their inevitable collapse..



Julian Assange, of Wikileaks who released this video along with the host of other classified material did so out of moral outrage and out of social responsibility. The fact that he has now been jailed under false pretenses without charge due to American political pressure [when there is no law that he is known to be in violation of] is further evidence of America's moral culpability and illegality. They do not deserve the power that they have assumed in the world and it is now time for the people to take it from them and hold them accountable.

Question

And the fool responsible for introducing the tax cuts for the ultra-rich..

Lion Cash!!

Bernie Sanders sticks it to the man.

In an epic rant totalling 8.5 hours, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders has filibusted his way into the history books and hearts and minds of common people.
Astoundingly foregoing the need to pee, he spoke red-faced, enraged and articulate, about the economic and social insanity of the proposed bill to extend major tax cuts for the mega rich in a bid to prevent it.
In a time of global financial crisis caused by the recklessness of the banks and Wall st. brokers who were bailed out to the tune of $11.6 trillion [which the tax payer and working people will have to pay for], it is definitely a bit rich that the richest .3 of 1% of the worlds wealthiest people should be getting tax breaks.
The cost of these tax breaks will again be shouldered by the people, and it would be health, education and social services that would be cut to fund it.
Bernie Sanders has my deepest respect and admiration for standing up for truth and justice- a shining and rare example of such amid a rotten core of corruption and self-interest.
Major Props..

http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-us-domestic-credit-market-debt-gdp-2010-12?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29

Sen Bernie Sanders Amazing Speech!

Laneway Garden Action

In a tiny laneway near the corner of Swanston and Bourke streets, smack-bang in the middle of the city some anonymous peoples have created this mini-urban garden. Suspended nasturtium plants growing in recycled cardboard bases adorn and enliven this grimy alley and are an inspirational example of the kind of actions that will see us transform the current mess that we are living in to a sustainable future. May many others take their lead, get creative and find ways to make life beautiful.
 

Ho, ho, ho.. Merry Christmas mother#@*!%#s

Christmas is again upon us, compelling people to flock to the city in droves to participate in the annual consumer frenzy that it is. The supposed virgin birth of the mythical son of God doesn't mean much to me personally, though I do really appreciate spending time with the family. I just don't see that spending exorbitant amounts of money on unnecessary stuff is the way to express love for your loved ones. Instead of feeling obliged to submit yourself [and the planet] to financial and emotional stress and creating colossal waste, I invite you to think about how this money, time and sentiment can be better spent..

Infinite Growth

Bike Sharing in Melbourne.. Niiice.

In a progressive move by the Melbourne City Council, a bike share system has been installed in the Melbourne CBD enabling people to pick up and drop off bikes to and from around 50 locations. It's suprisingly reasonably priced- you pay $2.50 per day, $8.00 per week, or $50 per year to have unlimited access to a bike 24hrs a day.
There is a deal running at participating 7/11 stores where you can buy a helmet for $5 and either keep it or return it and get a $3 refund.

http://www.melbournebikeshare.com.au/

Joy.. found in the most unexpected places.

The Truth is...

Assange Rally Melbourne-10/12/2010

A couple of days after spokesperson for Wikileaks, Julian Assange was arrested over farcical rape charges Melbournites gathered in support of him, and for truth, free speech, government transparency and justice.
Unfortunately 2 separate rallies were held on consecutive days, which resulted in an inaccurate representation of the number of people who showed their support, but nevertheless hundreds gathered each day to express their outrage over his unlawful treatment and the truth of the rotten and corrupt core of world politics that the Wikileaks cables irrefutably revealed.
The Wikileaked diplomatic cables reveal many truths about what is going on that have been veiled in government lies that the major news channels have been complicit in representing. I truly hope that these revelations will precipitate a mass movement of people standing up for truth, accountability and global justice and that will no longer be possible for governments to get away with mass deception and acting against the good of the people for the interests of the few.

Peace

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/10/3090312.htm?site=newcastle

But why?

BDS, Palestine and Pizza.

In conjunction with a conference that was recently held in Melbourne for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel movement was this concert for Palestine- at which Jafra, [the Arabic band I have been playing with along with Yousef, Liam and Amal] had our first performance.
For those unfamiliar with the BDS movement, it is essentially a campaign to employ similar pressure on Israel as was used in South Africa to end apartheid- a peaceful means of applying pressure to bring justice where all other methods have failed.
Since their illegal occupation began, Israel have encroached further and further into Palestinian lands and stripped Palestinian people of their freedoms and basic human needs and have created a grand scale humanitarian crisis of horrific proportions- all aided, abetted and funded by the US government.
It's a glaring example of the hypocrisy of the American governments' foreign policy- that they not only turn a blind eye to Israels' terrorism of the Palestinian people and illegal settlement in their lands, but also that they turn a blind eye to Israels nuclear program [and their own for that matter..] and now want to target Iran.
And now as America holds peace talks with the Palestinian and Israeli leaders [irony of ironies..] Israel has increased it's rate of illegal Israeli settlement in Palestinian lands by 30%. As my friend Yousef said, it's like there being two people in dispute about pizza and one of them quickly gobbling as much pizza as they can while they talk..
It is such a huge and complicated situation that it's really impossible for me to sufficiently cover it here- I implore you to read up on it as much as you can as  it is a matter of global consequence.
Yousef has a particularly interesting and informative radio show called 'Palestine Remembered' on 3CR at 8:30-9:00am wednesday mornings which covers issues relating to the plight of Palestinian people.

http://www.3cr.org.au/palestine



Also performing at the Concert for Palestine, as well as speaking at the conference was the passionate, articulate and on-point Palestinian refugee, activist and performance poet Rafeef Ziadah. Check her out. Maximum respect..