Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread I would also recommend Friedman's the Earth is Flat. it's about 300 pages longer than he needed to make his point, which is: 1) Everything is one big market now. 2) America is competing with the world for capital and jobs 3) We are too complacent and will probably lose to the Chinese Enjoy!
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread Has anyone read "State of War" ?..I hear it's pretty good...but would like to see if it is worth the read from someone who has well... read it........
Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread A thread recommending political television, political film and political documentary that others should see. Hopefully this can, like the book recommendation thread, also become a sticky... ----- Banking with Hitler by Timewatch / UK History channel Swiss banks have often been accused of collaborating with the Nazis during World War II, but they were not alone. The United States Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, began investigating Nazi finances 60 years ago and found Allied banks, including many British and American high street names, who continued to do business with Hitler's Germany throughout the war... ----- Winner of 24 INTERNATIONAL AWARDS, 10 of them AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS including the AUDIENCE AWARD for DOCUMENTARY in WORLD CINEMA at the 2004 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL, THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Footage from pop culture, advertising, TV news, and corporate propaganda, illuminates the corporation's grip on our lives. Taking its legal status as a "person" to its logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person is it?" Provoking, witty, sweepingly informative, The Corporation includes forty interviews with corporate insiders and critics - including Milton Friedman, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and Michael Moore - plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change...
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread I just bought the book....I'm a little busy with school work at the moment but I'll post about it once I get time to read it.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread I understand what you're saying but his works are vital, especially on such a significant topic as Globalization...I don't think there is such a thing as uber anlyzing such a broad and complex topic. In retrospect it might sound simple but it's really more sophisticated than that. Plus, he is putting the information out there in the most basic sense which is good for just about anyone to pick up and learn about.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594200653/qid=1140386416/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-9029844-7296130?s=books&v=glance&n=283155 "Postwar : A History of Europe since 1945" by Tony Judt This is one hell of a book, I don't know if anyone posted about this before but it was in New York Time's ten best books of 2005. It's certainly the best account of post war Europe that I've read. I'm not done with the book yet but so far it's amazing. Judt covers every angle of every country in stunning detail, that must have been some research.
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread Les Carabiniers by Jean-Luc Godard The film involves two cretinous brothers, named Ulysses and Michelangelo for some reason, who live in a shack in a dump with their slatternly wives. One day two carabiniers arrive with a letter from the king: The brothers are cordially invited to attend the war. They are promised everything: They will be allowed to loot, plunder, deface, see the sights and in general have a smashing time. "Will we be able to slaughter the innocent?" asks Ulysses. "Of course," the carabinier snaps, "this is war." Delighted, the brothers enlist. What follows is a series of self-contained scenes, separated by postcards the brothers write home. The postcards are presented in longhand on the screen, an early example of Godard's affection for title cards even in talkies. One reads: "Yesterday the war entered its third spring, and therefore no longer offers the prospect of peace." Another: "We captured Santa Cruz and I saw my first movie." This title begins a hilarious scene, as Michelangelo sits in a movie house (Godard always manages to work the movies into his movies). A woman appears on screen and begins to take a bath. Enraptured, Michelangelo leaps onto the stage to look into the tub. We laugh at his delusion that a movie is real, and in laughing we demonstrate the same delusion. There are other effective scenes. A young blond woman calmly recites revolutionary slogans and poetry while standing before a firing squad, and it is a noble gesture but useless. Out of this scene comes the whole conception of "Masculine-Feminine," in which young people recite, write, distribute and memorize slogans for a whole movie without accomplishing anything. And out of that came "La Chinoise," in which they finally talked themselves into action. The last section of the film is Godard at his best. The soldiers, who were promised the world, come back with postcards. They show them to their wives in a scene nearly 10 minutes long which grows steadily more hilarious. One card after another: "The Parthenon . . . the Taj Mahal . . . the Technicolor works in Hollywood . . . the Chicago aquarium . . . Cleopatra (actually Liz Taylor) . . . forms of transportation ... little green grasshoppers." -Roger Ebert
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread The Battle of Algiers The Criterion DVD is a politics course in and of itself: SPECIAL EDITION THREE-DISC SET FEATURES: DISC 1: THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS New high-definition digital transfer, enhanced for widescreen televisions Production gallery Theatrical and re-release trailers New and improved English subtitle translation DISC 2: PONTECORVO AND THE FILM Gillo Pontecorvo: The Dictatorship of Truth (1992): a 37-minute documentary, narrated by literary critic Edward Said Exclusive 51-minute documentary on the making of The Battle of Algiers, featuring new interviews with the director, cinematographer, composer, editor, actors, and film historians Five Directors (17 mins., 2004): Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Julian Schnabel, Steven Soderbergh, and Oliver Stone on the film’s influence, style, and importance DISC 3: THE FILM AND HISTORY Remembering History (69 mins., 2004): an exclusive documentary that reconstructs the Algerian experience of the battle for independence, featuring interviews with historians and revolutionaries, including military leader Saadi Yacef “États d’armes” (2002): a 28-minute documentary excerpt featuring senior French military officers recalling the use of torture and execution to combat the rebellion The Battle of Algiers: A Case Study (25 mins., 2004): Richard A. Clarke, former national counterterrorism coordinator and author of Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror, discusses the film’s relevance with Michael A. Sheehan, former State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, in a conversation moderated by Christopher E. Isham, chief of investigative projects for ABC News Gillo Pontecorvo’s Return to Algiers (58 mins., 1992): the filmmaker revisits the Algerian people after three decades of independence PLUS: a 56-page book featuring excerpts from Saadi Yacef’s original account of his arrest, a reprinted excerpt from the film’s screenplay, a reprinted interview with co-writer Franco Solinas, a new essay by film scholar Peter Matthews, and biographical sketches on key figures in the French-Algerian War
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread Readings from Voices of a People's History of the United States edited by historian Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. It is the companion volume to Zinn’s legendary People’s History of the United States – which has sold over a million copies. The link above allows you to hear dramatic readings of speeches, letters, poems, songs, petitions, and manifestos. These are the voices of people throughout U.S. history who struggled against slavery, racism, and war, against oppression and exploitation, and who articulated a vision for a better world. Performances include Danny Glover as Frederick Douglass, Marisa Tomei as Cindy Sheehan, Floyd Red Crow Westerman as Tecumseh and Chief Joseph, Sandra Oh as Emma Goldman and Yuri Kochiyama, and Viggo Mortensen as Bartolomeo de Las Casas and Mark Twain...
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread The Power of Nightmares - BBC Television ...the Power of Nightmares explores how the idea that we are threatened by a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion. It is a myth that has spread unquestioned through politics, the security services and the international media. At the heart of the story are two groups: the American neo-conservatives and the radical Islamists. Both were idealists who were born out of the failure of the liberal dream to build a better world. These two groups have changed the world but not in the way either intended... Producer Adam Curtis: ...The use of fear in contemporary politics is not the result of a conspiracy, the politicians have stumbled on it. In a populist, consumerist age where they found their authority and legitimacy declining dramatically they have simply discovered in the "war on terror" a way of restoring their authority by promising to protect us from something that only they can see... Watch it now, if you like (Real Player): Part One Part Two Part Three
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread Good Kurds, Bad Kurds A war of national liberation or war against terrorism? Filmmaker and acclaimed freelance journalist Kevin McKiernan poses this question at the outset of this stirring, provocative film shot in part by legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler. It's all in how you define "good"and "bad". "Good Kurds" are those in Iraq: they are Saddam Hussein's victims, whom we want to help. "Bad Kurds" are those waging an armed insurrection against Turkey, an American ally: they are the receiving end of US weaponry. During the first Gulf War, McKiernan went to northern Iraq to cover the uprising against Saddam Hussein. Just a few miles away no one was covering the hidden war in Turkey. McKiernan determined he would report the story independently. http://www.kevinmckiernan.com/doc.html# I saw it at a film festival a few years back and the director was there. The place went bananas afterwards with Turks yelling at the director, Armenians yelling at the Turks, etc. Any documentary that nearly causes a fistfight after the screening is worth watching in my opinion.
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread Ernest Goes to Africa D. Ken Loach S. Jim Varney (in six roles), Coris Leachman, David Thewlis Ernest finds himself in the deepest jungles of Africa . . . and Africa will never be the same! Hilarity and thought provocation ensue when the hapless everyman Ernest (Jim Varney) prepares to propose to his fiance Emily (Dame Edna) and accidentally mixes up a cubic zirconium stone he bought from the Home Shopping Network with the Desert Rose, a rare and valuable diamond stolen from a museum for sale on the black market overseas. One thing leads to another, and Ernest finds himself on the plains of Sierra Leone, hunting for a diamond as alluring and exotic as the Desert Rose--but not before a tense and light-hearted encounter with a corrupt government official, an HIV-infected prostitute, and a young, angry, and armed rebel. (Summoning the spirit of Peter Sellers, Varney plays all four roles!) It's time to high-tail it out of there to catch up with Emily, who is doing Peace Corps work in Darfur. After mixups with a confused tourist (Roger Moore, in a cameo), a mummy, and a truck full of Zulu warriors trying to find a Dairy Queen, Ernest finally arrives in Sudan . . . only to find that Emily has been kidnapped by King Onyekwujule ("On-yek woo you WHOO?"), leader of the janjaweed. Muhammed (David Thewlis) then appears to Ernest in a dream, explaining how peace can be brokered if only we all learned to believe in ourselves. When Ernest proposes this solution to the King, it's clear that the king "knows what he means."
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread OK, so it's a romantic comedy. A date movie. Nothing of substance. But the speech given by "President Shepherd" at the end of "The American President" gives me goosebumps every time I think of it. Just imagine anyone on the left having the stones to say some of this:
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread Generational Income Mobility in North America and Europe Edited by Miles Corak Labour markets in North America and Europe have changed tremendously in the face of increased globalization and technical progress, raising important challenges for policy makers concerned with equality of opportunity. This book examines the influence of both changes in income inequality and of social policies on the degree to which economic advantage is passed on between parents and children in the rich countries. Standard theoretical models of generational dynamics are extended to examine generational income and earnings mobility over time and across space. Twenty contributors from North America and Europe offer comparable estimates of the degree of mobility, how it has changed through time, and the impact of government policy. In so doing, they extend the analytical tool kit used in the study of generational mobility, and offer insights for not only the conduct of future research but also directions for policies dealing with equality of opportunity and child poverty. • Goes to the heart of current debates about the strengths and weaknesses of North American social rules compared to Europe • Some surprising conclusions challenge received wisdom about degree of social mobility in North America • Prestigious authors from North America and Europe tackle this massively important topic
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread Harold Pinter – Art, Truth and Politics Winner of 'The Nobel Prize in Literature 2005'. Pinter's excellent lecture sets the record straight regarding America's sordid past of imperial devastation...
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread Eugene Jarecki – Why We Fight What are the forces that shape and propel American militarism? This award-winning film provides an inside look at the anatomy of the American war machine. Is American foreign policy dominated by the idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in American life? Jarecki's shrewd & intelligent polemic would seem to give an affirmative answer to each of these questions...
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread War Corporatism: The New Fascism A video by Simon Robson aka. Knife Party and friend, Barry McNamara. It's an animated look at the dogs of War Corporatism unleashed upon the world by Bush and the PNAC as stated in the September 2000 document Rebuilding America's Defenses...
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread INDEPENDENT MEDIA IN A TIME OF WAR Part scathing critique, part call to action, "Independent Media In A Time Of War" is a hard-hitting new documentary by the Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center (www.hm.indymedia.org, along with Joe Public Films and Tom Jackson contributing footage from "Greetings From Missile Street"). This film is composed of language from Amy Goodman illustrated by clips of mainstream media juxtaposed with rare footage from independent reporters in Iraq. The documentary argues that dialogue is vital to a healthy democracy...
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread Warning: you will feel physically ill, after viewing this (outstanding) documentary. How did we let this happen? Is it possible for our society to become any more sociopathic?
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread Any of you interested in getting the "new" documantary channel? I think it is new to dishnetwork.
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread The History Channel – Hollywood and the Pentagon Documentary about the American army's involvement with Hollywood and filmmaking. The head of the Film Liaison Office makes no secret of his goals: flattering the US Army, winning support for its actions on the battlefield, and encouraging more soldiers to sign up. In short: pure propaganda. Scripts are cut and watered down; characters are changed; the historical truth is fudged...
Re: Politics Board TV/Film/Documentary Recommendation Thread BBC 3 Investigates – Thatcher and the Coup that Failed This film uncovers the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, meeting the key players and dishing the dirt that no-one else knows. It tells the inside story of international power play, oil-fuelled greed, men with guns and the son of the former British Prime Minister...
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread Finished reading an old one, but i thought it was interesting: From Beirut toJerusalem by Thomas Friedman.... If one reads it with an open mind, it probably could have been written yesterday, and still make a lot of sense.....