National News section is about a specific, but amazing cancer drug
success. Check it out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/research/23trial.html?ref=us
=
From: bigraccoon
Subject: So Air America "just" failed....with a lot of help
ABC memo reveals Air America advertiser blacklist
October 31, 2006
An internal ABC Radio Networks memo
http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/hp-aa-20061031-sm.jpg
obtained by Media Matters for America, originally from a listener to The
Peter Collins Show, indicates that near 100 ABC advertisers insisted
that their commercials be blacked out on Air America Radio affiliates.
According to the memo, the advertisers insist that "NONE of their
commercials air during AIR AMERICA programming." Among the
advertisers listed are Bank of America, Exxon Mobil, Federal Express,
General Electric, McDonald's, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and the U.S. Navy.
***
www.zcommunications.org/the-hottest-decade-by-saul-landau
The Hottest Decade
By Saul Landau
Landau's ZSpace: February 18, 2010
"The decade ending in 2009 was the warmest on record, new surface
temperature figures released Thursday by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration show…. 2009 was the second warmest year since 1880, when
modern temperature measurement began. The warmest year was 2005. The other
hottest recorded years have all occurred since 1998, NASA said."
Global temperatures varied because of changes in ocean heating and cooling
cycles. `When we average temperature over 5 or 10 years to minimize that
variability,' said Dr. James E. Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute
for Space Studies, one of the world's leading climatologists, `we find
global warming is continuing unabated.'" John M. Broder NY Times Jan. 21
In the documentary "The Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore -remember him? - warned
that greenhouse gasses and other sources of hydro carbons would increase,
and threaten future planetary life. After issuing this filmic challenge,
Gore advised citizens to recycle and buy gas-efficient cars.
Inconvenient? How about shutting down most of the factories belching smoke
around the world, which contribute little to global health? Or abandoning
the high rise office buildings that require heating and cooling 24/7?
Traffic jams have become ever more inconvenient. How about doing away with
them by closing auto and truck plants in China, Brazil, India as well as
those in the West and Japan? How about thinking of exhaust pipes as shotguns
loaded with deadly vapors and aimed at the common atmosphere?
Convenient American suburbia with individual family dwellings, involves
daily commuting, two car or more garages and fireplaces! How comfy! What
would Hollywood, TV and advertisers do without these "happy" people to use
as models to sell entertainment products, all of which require pollution as
part of their production process? Think how inconvenient life would become
if we had no more McDonald's Burger King, Carl's Junior or any fast food
chains! Instead, think of no more farting (methane) cows bunched together
like four-legged sardines in open air pens. Oops, I'm getting nauseated.
The foundations and routines of modern industrial life -- the context for
the fabled American dream - assume perpetual consumption; more and
technologically improved commodities as symbols of prosperity and even
identity. The United States has exported this "dream" throughout much of the
world in its films and TV programs. But these "entertainment" products don't
contain warning signs, similar to those on cigarette packages: this product
will cause serious environmental damage; future generations will suffer from
an unsustainable environment.
Most political leaders face a challenge they refuse to acknowledge: To gain
control of runaway climate change - alongside of melting ice sheets
releasing more hydro carbon gasses. T accomplish this Herculean task, they
must abandon convenience, the unchallenged assumptions that place the
corporation as means and ends of policies.
When the now-retired Fidel Castro reflected on this situation or Bolivia's
President Evo Morales spoke about it, the NY Times and equivalents in the
major capitals give scant or no coverage. Not convenient material? Castro
said (author's interview) last September that the greatest crime of the
right wing exiles "was the theft of the 2000 election because it set back
the environmental movement by 10 years." He referred to votes cast by non
US citizens in Miami and to intimidation by goon squads who threatened vote
counters in certain south Florida precincts.
After recovering from his failed presidential bid, Gore, using his access to
mass media, delivered a first alarm message. Last December, German
Chancellor Angela Merkel flayed doubters of global warming. She said: In our
knowledge, however, there has never been so rapid an increase in
temperatures as predicted by science today. Previously, she noted, "plants
and animals had the opportunity to adapt to changes over thousands of years.
Not anymore. She expressed concern over people in coastal areas who "are
most vulnerable to global warming with rapidly rising sea levels." She
pleaded for "a sensible use of valuable and limited resources such as
natural gas and oil." She reminded the public that "in 2050, nine billion
people will live on the earth. It won't work without conservative use of
resources." December 16, 2009 Bild am Sonntag
President Obama's State of the Union speech to Congress avoided truly
inconvenient truths. Their voters (consumers not citizens) might not want to
curtail production and consumption, the twin life bloods of the world's
economies. Instead, Obama boasted of how he and Congress bailed out the
job-and pollution-producing auto industries. It's convenient to piously
refer to "green technology," but the least gas guzzling vehicles still emit
polluting compounds.
In 2009, the powerful convened in Copenhagen to demonstrate pathetic if not
criminal timidity. Only the demonstrators showed they understood the stakes;
few of their concerns reached front pages or lead TV stories. Rather,
headlines emphasized violence and chaos - appeal to consumers' base tastes.
Who wants to face the "inconvenient" challenge humans face about their
future on the planet? Hey, this Sunday it's Super Bowl time and we can put
aside those trivial concerns about resources and climate and root for our
team!
Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow. His films on dvd are
available from roundworldproductions@gmail.com. Counterpunch published his A
BUSH AND BOTOX WORLD.
From: Z Net - The Spirit Of Resistance Lives
Commentaries: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/
Comment: http://www.zcommunications.org/the-hottest-decade-by-saul-landau
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