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Sparky! Politics at dgiVista.orgQuick, sparky political digs, crabs, and short bursts of sometimes thunderous applause.Please contact me at the email address below if you too would like to have each new blog entry emailed to you. For free, even. Archives are at the bottom. The email icon at the end of each post allows you to forward each entry to someone else. Go to town! Archives2004.04 2004.05 2004.06 2004.07 2004.09 2004.10 2004.11 2004.12 2005.01 2005.04 2005.05 2005.06 2005.07 Thursday, May 13, 2004Dasani Tap Water and Advertisements of Quality
I like water. A lot. I mean I really really like it. It tastes good. It keeps me alive. It's, dare I say, a human right, not to be commercialized or commodified so only those who earn enough money can buy it, not like the 3 billion or so people who live on less than a dollar a day.
This is why I don't like Dasani water. In part I don't like it because Coca-Cola owns it. But I also don't like it for the essence of it: privatized water. I'm not a fan. ![]() Across the street is a bus stop with a large Dasani ad plastered on it. There's a delicious looking huge bottle of Dasani on the ad with some text, which includes this: "It takes 14,000 years to filter water. (Who's got time for that?)" Thankfully, Dasani does. They serve us. They provide us with water, the building block of life. Unless, of course, you lived in England a few months ago. The following comes from an Alternet.org story from March 22, 2004, referencing another story in the Independent newspaper. "The story begins with the debut of Dasani bottled water in the U.K. two weeks ago, accompanied by a massive Coke PR push labeling it "as pure as bottled water gets." Shortly thereafter, it was revealed that Coke's southeast London bottling plant was using tap water already renowned for its purity and marking up the price by some 300,000 percent." Apparently, Dasani really doesn't seem to have the time to wait 14,000 years or long enough to do whatever magic they do to their water to justify selling it at a premium. And I know the England tap water incident is likely an anomaly, but seeing the bus ad just made me a bit sick. Questions, comments, feedback, gripes, thunderous applause? Email me...use the address at the bottom of the page. Archives are below these 5 most recent posts. Wednesday, May 12, 2004Beheadings
Right now, proportional responses aside [because they don't seem to fit much anymore when dealing with w.Caesar's regime], my only question is why would revenge killings just stop at one?
I suspect one act of revenge will not be the end of it. Rumsfeld's dismissive, insulting, condescending minimization of his knowledge of American torture games while testifying before the Senate only fuels the will to vengeance. Questions, comments, feedback, gripes, thunderous applause? Email me...use the address at the bottom of the page. Archives are below these 5 most recent posts. Monday, May 10, 2004The Saudis, oil, and re-electing w.Caesar
Saudis urge OPEC to hike oil output: Oil minister seeks 1.5-million-barrel-a-day rise
So I saw Bob Woodward talking with Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes a few weeks ago. Of the many astounding things they discussed about w.Caesar, one stuck in my mind: how w.Caesar's buddy, Saudi ambassador to the USA, Prince Bandar [good friend of the Bush family for 3 decades], would ensure the Saudis increased the daily output of oil in time to reduce gas prices to spur the economy leading up to the US presidential election in November 2004. It will be fascinating to watch the state of gas prices over the next 6 months, especially if the 1.5+ million barrels/day increase happens. God bless America, and their Saudi financiers. What 9/11 hijackers? Huh? [[[addendum 05.11.04: this Tom Toles cartoon: ![]() Questions, comments, feedback, gripes, thunderous applause? Email me...use the address at the bottom of the page. Archives are below these 5 most recent posts. Saturday, May 08, 2004George Monbiot's Career Advice for Idealistic Journalists and Those Who Want to Shake the World
Monbiot's pretty astounding.
As I was developing the whole Politics vein of dgiVista.org, I came across this Monbiot piece about how to be idealistic, free and really really useful in the world. When unsure about the direction I've been taking with this [whole] site [actually], I serendipitously read this piece. The result? What you see here. And what you'll see in the future. Questions, comments, feedback, gripes, thunderous applause? Email me...use the address at the bottom of the page. Archives are below these 5 most recent posts. Thursday, May 06, 2004Michael Moore and Disney: a Symbiotic Relationship?
Michael Moore announced yesterday that Disney will not allow its Miramax production arm to release Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" film:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2004-05-04 Today, the New York Times editorial page took Moore's side: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2004-05-06 This is no big surprise. Big corporate interests owning big media and censoring big criticism. Moore's books have gained from viral marketing, particularly when Stupid White Men was "held up" by its publisher. Disney's move is, from a cynical market perspective, merely good for business: for Moore and ultimately Disney itself...creating a kind of symbiotic relationship between Moore and Disney [if you want to be that cynical]. Moore's comments at the end of The Corporation indicate that he knows full well that big media only releases his books and movies for their bottom line, completely regardless of the fact that the core theme of Moore's work has been the corruption and danger of corporate pillage. One thing that is quite odd about this move, though, is that much of what Moore's film documents has already been reported in North American media. The Bush family links to Saudi billionaires and bin Ladens, the evacuation of the bin Laden family out of the USA in the days after 9/11 with permission from the Oval Office: these have been reported enough that actually, I'm wondering just what new information will actually be in Moore's film. And the beat goes on. Questions, comments, feedback, gripes, thunderous applause? Email me...use the address at the bottom of the page. Archives are below these 5 most recent posts. Why we should REALLY fear the United States of America
May 6, 2004
editor@adbusters.org Dear Editor, Tess Rheinhardt's analysis of why the unilateralist USA abhors the multilateralist International Criminal Court in Issue #53 is quite poignant. But the "legality of their [the USA's] rampage through history" would not actually be on trial at the ICC because this international court does not have retroactive jurisdiction. No retroactive jurisdiction is designed in part to encourage past pariah states to reform and commit to good global behaviour in the future. So what is even more terrifying than what Rheinhardt brings up is that in rejecting the ICC, the United States of America is intentionally not pledging to cease war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in the future. Further, though actually signing the Rome Statute to create the ICC, under w.Caesar, the USA went so far as to declare their unsigning of that document in an effort to assert immunity from the ICC. The USA has also enacted legislation asserting their right to retrieve nationals from the ICC, with military force if necessary. This "Hague Invasion Act"--as it is being called--is a unwaveringly bold assertion of how little esteem the USA holds for the rest of the world. peace, stephen buckley. [See the July/August 2004 Adbusters issue for this letter.] Questions, comments, feedback, gripes, thunderous applause? Email me...use the address at the bottom of the page. Archives are below these 5 most recent posts. Wednesday, May 05, 2004Rumsfeld Apologizes for Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners...No Wait, He Doesn't
God forbid Donald Rumsfeld actually apologizes for US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners. Jim Garamone from the American Forces Press Service certainly interpreted Rumsfeld's comments as an apology.
Then Garamone sent out an email with the press release declaring a major moral statement from the US Secretary of War. The beginning of that email is below. Then 4 hours and 18 minutes later, Garamone sends an amended press release, eradicating the apology. The beginning of that email is also below. The amended press release is the only one archived on the Pentagon's website. Email me if you would like to see the entire original email. Rumsfeld was not apologizing. He was only saying that seeing the photos of those abuses would make any American apologetic. I guess just not him though. ===== The first email, with the Rumsfeld apology begins like this: Rumsfeld Apologizes to Iraqi Victims of Prison Abuse By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, May 5, 2004 - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld apologized today to Iraqis abused by American prison guards in Abu Ghraib. "Any American who sees the photographs that we've seen has to feel apologetic to the Iraqi people who were abused and recognize that that is something that is unacceptable and certainly un-American," Rumsfeld said on ABC's "Good Morning America." The secretary left open the door that compensation could be paid to the abuse victims. ===== The second email, without a direct apology begins like this: Prison Abuse 'Unacceptable, Un-American', Rumsfeld Says By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, May 5, 2004 - "Any American who sees the photographs that we've seen has to feel apologetic to the Iraqi people who were abused and recognize that that is something that is unacceptable and certainly un-American," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today. Rumsfeld discussed the alleged abuse of Iraqi detainees by American guards at Abu Ghraib prison on ABC TV's "Good Morning America." The secretary left open the door that compensation could be paid to the abuse victims. Questions, comments, feedback, gripes, thunderous applause? Email me...use the address at the bottom of the page. Archives are below these 5 most recent posts. Archives2004.04 2004.05 2004.06 2004.07 2004.09 2004.10 2004.11 2004.12 2005.01 2005.04 2005.05 2005.06 2005.07 |
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