April 6th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
A message from PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. This video includes an introduction by Congressman Dennis Kucinich and excerpts from Newkirk’s speech at the International Nonviolence Conference in Bethlehem. Parts 2-4 are available below the fold.
March 28th, 2008 by evmonk
I wasn’t fully aware of Phil Donahue back in the day when he was dominating daytime talk, but I vividly remember his short-lived show on MSNBC in 2002-03. As a college sophomore watching this country mindlessly head to war, Donahue was literally the only person I remember on mainstream television who consistently challenged the rationale for war. Night after night, he pleaded with Americans to pay attention and debate the disastrous course we were on. Here was a host unafraid to feature topics like the PATRIOT Act, the drug war, and Israel-Palestine, and provide a national platform for guests like Ralph Nader, Barbara Ehrenreich, and mothers of 9/11 victims who opposed war (any war) in their name. He’d run around his studio with a microphone, inviting his audience to engage in the discussion. I even remember at least one show where he was taking live calls in the studio, and I was so excited that someone on cable news was telling the truth that I did something I’d never done before and called (though I didn’t make it on air).
And then on February 25, 2003, less than a month before the Iraq war began, Donahue - then the most watched show on MSNBC - was canceled. An internal memo at NBC spoke of executives’ fears that Phil would be “a difficult public face for NBC in a time of war.” The memo continued, “He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration’s motives,” and went on to describe how the Donahue show could become “a home for the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity.”
Everyone knows what’s happened in the world since Phil Donahue was booted out of our living rooms, but what about him? He made a brief cable news cameo in 2005 to belittle and embarrass Bill O’Reilly, and now he’s back with a feature-length documentary on the war that Manila highlighted earlier this week. Good thing there are non-corporate media outlets like The Real News and Democracy Now! who aren’t afraid to put Donahue back on-screen where he belongs.
(See this excerpt from Jeff Cohen’s book for a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of the challenges the Donahue show faced at MSNBC. Cohen was a senior producer of the show, and is the founder of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.)
March 26th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
Body of War, directed by Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue, is a documentary which tells the story of Tomas Young, a paralyzed Iraq War veteran and anti-war activist coming to terms with his disability. On Tomas’ fifth day in Iraq his unit came under fire in Baghdad. He was paralyzed, released from medical care three months later, and returned home where he became an active member in Iraq Veterans Against the War. The National Board of Review named Body of War Best Documentary of 2007. Previous winners include An Inconvenient Truth, March of the Penguins, Born Into Brothels, The Fog of War, and Bowling for Columbine.
February 13th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
As my fellow baby-eating pinko readers know, I often post favorably about the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. On Monday, we expanded our vision of South America by delving into an analysis of Bolivia’s revolution with Pepe Escobar. Now ladies and gentlemen, I present you with a documentary from almighty investigative journalist Greg Palast regarding Ecuador’s struggle against The Man.
Palast interviews an indigenous tribe which is suing Chevron for $12 billion for destroying large areas of the Amazon rainforest. Apparently, they got that figure from Doctor Evil, but I sure as hell hope they get every penny. You can’t put a high enough price tag on the Amazon. In fact, there’s a certain paradox I just made up which states that the exact amount of money required to purchase the Amazon would require the Amazon itself to be cut down to provide enough lumber for the paper money. Okay, enough of this jibba jabba. Watch the videos.
In part 2, Palast interviews Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa regarding the lawsuit against Chevron, foreign debt, and his relationship with the US and Venezuela. After marinating in the plastic rhetoric of Obama and Clinton for so long, hearing Correa speak is almost like coming into contact with an alien (the outer space kind you racist bastards). If you want to observe a real liberal in office, you’ll have to look south. We ran out of those in this country decades ago.
February 6th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
The ever-elusive Banksy is one of my favorite artists. Unless you’re completely lame, he should be one of yours too.
January 23rd, 2008 by evmonk
Last month I mentioned a site I’ve been working with, Glassbooth.org, which focuses on that critical element of any functioning democracy: information. It’s a fun and intuitive resource for finding out more about the ‘08 presidential candidates, so you should check it out if you haven’t already.
Last week, Current TV started airing a short doc I produced/directed on the young founders of the website. If you’re interested in a quick look at how the site was built, why, and by who, then watch it and let me know what you think.
January 1st, 2008 by J. Milton
The League of Noble Peers has released Steal This Movie II just before the dawn of 2008! For those who have not seen the original Steal This Film, it was an excellent documentary on intellectual property and the Swedish pirate culture. Part two doesn’t really focus on piracy. It is more of a retrospective on the role that information-sharing has played in human culture, as well as a study on the motives of those who try to control that flow of information. You can download the film for free from their website using Bittorrent, or watch it on Google Video. There are some subtitles that get compressed on Google Video, so if you really want the full experience you should download it.
And don’t forget about Part one, also available for download via Bittorrent!
December 29th, 2007 by Manila Ryce
This is the last half of a short 20 minute movie titled The Secret Evil of 9/11. I’m not sure how secret that evil has ever been, but this video does remind us how and why we are where we are today. Like Afghanistan, Iraq is also becoming a forgotten war due to the media focusing our attention on their presidential soap opera of Barack vs Hillary and Britney Spears’ sister getting knocked up.
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