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King Corn 2007 PBS Independent Lens

Category: Documentary
Description:
King Corn 2007 PBS Independent Lens 703 mb/ 90 mins/ Behind America’s dollar hamburgers and 72-ounce sodas is a key ingredient that quietly fuels our fast-food nation: corn. In KING CORN , recent college graduates Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis leave the east coast for rural Iowa, where they decide to grow an acre of the nation’s most powerful crop. Alarmed by signs of America’s bulging waistlines, the filmmakers arrive in the Midwest enthusiastic about their new endeavor. For their farm-to-be, they choose a tiny town in Floyd, County, Iowa—a place that, coincidentally, both Ian and Curt’s great-grandfathers called home three generations ago. They lease an acre of land from a skeptical landlord, fill out a pile of paperwork to sign up for subsidies and discover the U.S. government will pay them 28 dollars for their acre. Ian and Curt start the spring by injecting ammonia fertilizer, which promises to increase crop production four-fold. Then it’s planting time. With a rented high-tech tractor, they set 31,000 seeds in the ground in just 18 minutes. Their corn has also been genetically modified for another yield-increasing characteristic: herbicide resistance. When the seedlings sprout from Iowa’s black dirt, Ian and Curt apply a powerful herbicide to ensure that only their corn will thrive on their acre. "The apple juices and the grape juices that are canned and they say 'sweetened,' that’s going to be a high-fructose corn syrup. And then you look down the meats—beefs, porks, chickens. You feed them corn and that gets turned into their biomass that we consume." By summer, their modern farm is thriving, and the Corn Belt is moving toward a record harvest of 11 billion bushels of corn. But where will all that corn go? With their crop growing head-high, Ian and Curt leave the farm to see where America’s abundance of corn ends up. As they enter America’s industrial kitchen, they are forced to confront the realities of their crop’s future. In Brooklyn, it sweetens the sodas of a diabetes-plagued neighborhood. In Colorado, it fattens the feed trough of a 100,000-head cattle feedlot. Ian and Curt are increasingly troubled by how the abundance of corn is helping to make fast food cheap and consumers sick, driving animals into confinement and farmers off the land. Animal nutritionists confirm that corn feeding can make cows sick and beef fatty, but it also lets consumers have fast food at low prices. As feedlot operator Bob Bledsoe says in KING CORN, “America wants and demands cheap food.” But that ignores the billions in subsidies that agri-corporations receive. As Ian and Curt discover, almost everything Americans eat contains corn. High-fructose corn syrup, corn-fed meat, and corn-based processed foods are the staples of the modern diet. America’s record harvests of corn are supported by a government subsidy system that promotes corn production beyond all market demand. As Ian and Curt return to Iowa to watch their 10,000-pound harvest fill the combine’s hopper and make its way into America’s food, they realize their acre of land shouldn’t be planted in corn again—if they can help it. .edit http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/kingcorn/film.ht Watch preview:http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/kingcorn/film.html : Other shunster posts at:http://www.bt-chat.com/browse.php?category=11
Seeders: 18
Leeches: 6

PBS Wide Angle- Once Upon a Coup 2009 08 26

Category: Documentary
Description:
PBS Wide Angle- Once Upon a Coup 2009 08 26 465 MiB/ 56mn 24s 818ms A failed coup attempt…a British mercenary in a notorious African prison…a dictator suspicious of Western powers…and beneath it all, a spectacular underwater oil reserve that the world’s major powers would love to get their hands on. It may sound like the latest John LeCarré bestseller, but in fact it’s the real-life intrigue of Once Upon a Coup, WIDE ANGLE’s penetrating look at the mysterious goings-on in Equatorial Guinea, a tiny West African nation newly rich with oil and infamous for corruption. The story begins in 2004, when a group of mercenaries, including a British ex-special forces officer named Simon Mann, is arrested in Zimbabwe. Equatorial Guinea’s president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, accuses them of plotting a coup against him. When Mann is sentenced to 34 years in Equatorial Guinea’s notorious Black Beach prison, he claims to be only one piece of an international plot to control the country’s vast oil resources. Once Upon a Coup travels the globe to unravel that plot, which stretches from Africa to the U.K., from a prime minister’s son to Zimbabwean arms dealers, from South Africa to Spain. But as this all plays out, another actor is bidding for a share of the oil: China. The Chinese government has showered the country with glittering new buildings and a new administrative capital. If President Obiang has grown skeptical of Western intentions, he has welcomed China as a new business partner. Starting with a small West African nation and stretching around the globe, Once Upon a Coup sheds light on the uncomfortable realities of oil politics in the 21st century. Source: http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/2047730/1417645/ Other shunster posts at:http://www.bt-chat.com/browse.php?category=11 Support your local PBS Station by making a contribution or by purchasing their DVDs. Enjoy! Ekolb
Seeders: 15
Leeches: 11

An introduction to Atheism

Category: Documentary
Description:
+Audio:- Carl Sagan - The Demon Haunted World- Julia Sweeney - Letting go of God+Books:- 10 myths and 10 Truths About Atheism Sam Harris- 50 Things You\'re Not Supposed To Know- Alvin Plantinga - Theism, Atheism, Rationality- Arthur D\'Adamo - Science Without Bounds- Atheist Quotes 1- Atheist Quotes 2- Bart D. Ehrman - God\'s Problem- Bart D. Ehrman - Misquoting Jesus- Bertrand Russell - Why I am Not a Christian- Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything- Carl Sagan - Billions & Billions- Carl Sagan - The Burden of Skepticism- Charles Darwin - Origin of Species- Charles Darwin - The Descendent of Man- Christopher Hitchens - God is not Great- Daniel Dennett - Breaking the Spell- Daniel Dennett - Darwin\'s Dangerous Idea- David Mills - Atheist Universe- Draper John - History Of The Conflict Between Religion And Science- Jostein Gaarder - Sophie\'s World- Karen Armstrong - A History of God- Karl Popper - Logic of Scientific Discovery- Michael Onfray - In Defense of Atheism- Niall Shanks - God, the Devil, and Darwin- Nick Trakakis - The God Beyond Belief- Raymond Converse - Atheism As A Positive Social Force- Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion- Richard Dawkins - A Devil\'s Chaplain- Richard Dawkins - Good & Bad Reasons for Believing- Richard Dawkins - The Ancestor\'s Tale- Richard Dawkins - The Blind Watchmaker- Richard Dawkins - The Extended Phenotype- Richard Dawkins - The Selfish Gene- Richard Dawkins - Unweaving The Rainbow- Ronald De Sousa - Why Think \'The Evolution of the Rational Mind\'- Salman Rushdie - The Satanic Verses- Sam Harris - Letter To A Christian Nation- Sam Harris - The End of Faith- Sam Harris on the Reality of Islam- Sam Harris Who Are the Moderate Muslims- Stephen Hawking - A Brief History Of Time- Stephen Jay Gould - Evolution as Fact and Theory- Stuart Sim - Empires of Belief- The Cambridge Companion to Atheism- The Harmony Between Christian Faith And Physical Science- The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion- Victor Stenger - God \'The Failed Hypothesis\'+Videos+The Enemies of Reason- The Enemies Of Reason - Part 1 - Slaves to Superstition- The Enemies Of Reason - Part 2 - The Irrational Health Service- BBC - The Big Bang Machine- Christopher Hitchens - Politics Prose- Christopher Hitchens Debates Al Sharpton - New York Public Library- Christopher Hitchens Debates Alister McGrath- Georgetown University- Christopher Hitchens Debates David Wolpe - Temple Emanu-El- Cristopher Hitchens Authors@Google- God The Universe And Everything Else- IQ2 Debate 4 - St James Ethics Center- Obsession - Radical Islam\'s War Against The West- Richard Dawkins Debates Alister McGrath- Sam Harris - Believing Reason - Aspen Ideas Festival- Sam Harris Debates David Wolpe - Jewis TV Network- Susan Jacoby - The Age of American Unreason - Booksmith- The Four Horsemen - Part 1- The Four Horsemen - Part 2
Seeders: 16
Leeches: 70

Subcomandante Marcos - Our Word Is Our Weapon: Subcomandante Marcos Reading His Work in English (2005)

Category: Talks, Debates, Interviews
Description:
Subcomandante Marcos - Our Word Is Our Weapon: Subcomandante Marcos Reading His Work in English (2005) 1. Opening Remarks at the First Intercontinental Encuentro for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism 14:00 2. To Plant The Tree of Tomorrow 11:32 3. Why We Use the Weapon of Resistance 22:40 4. The Word and the Silence 1:58 Including the bonus video track, Comunique On Independent Media, 31January 1997. ----------------------------------------- Related Material: Zapatista.1999.NTSC.DVDR can be found here: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3628320/Zapatista.1999.NTSC.DVDR --------------------------------------- Quote: Comunique On Independent Media 31 January 1997 A message from Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos to "Free Media" Teach-In, New York City: We're in the mountains of Southeast Mexico in the Lacandon Jungle of Chiapas, and we want to use this medium, with the help of the National Commission for Democracy in Mexico, to send a greeting to the "Free Media" Conference that is taking place in New York, where there are brothers and sisters of the independent communications media from the United States and Canada. At the Intercontinental Encuentro for Humanity and against Neoliberalism we said: A global decomposition is taking place -- we call it the Fourth World War -- through neoliberalism, the global economic process to eliminate that multitude of people who are not useful to Power, the groups called "minorities" in the mathematics of power, but who happen to be the majority population in the world. We find ourselves in a world system of globalization willing to sacrifice millions of human beigns. The giant communication media -- the great monsters of the television industry, the communication satellites, magazines and newspapers -- seem determined to present a virtual world, created in the image of what the globalization process requires. In this sense, the world of contemporay news is a world that exists for the VIP's -- the very important people, the major movie stars and big politicians. Their everyday lives are what is important: if they get married, if they divorce, if they eat, what clothes they wear and what clothes they take off. But common people only figure in the news for a moment -- when they kill someone, or when they die. For the communication giants and the neoliberal powers, the others, the excluded, only exist when they are dead, or when they are in jail or court. This can't go on. Sooner or later this virtual world clashes with the real world. And that is actually happening: this clash results in rebellion and war throughout the entire world, or what is left of the world to even have war. We have a choice. We can have a cynical attitude in the face of the media and say nothing can be done about the dollar power that creates itself in images, words, digital communication, and computer systems that invade not just with an invasion of power but with a way of seeing that world, of how they think the world should look. We could say, Well, "that is the way it is," and do nothing. Or we can simply assume incredulity. We can say that any communication by the media monopolies is a total lie. We can ignore it and go about our lives. But there is a third option that is neither conformity, nor skepticism, nor distrust. It's the opption to construct a different way: to show the world what is really happening, to have a critical worldview, to become interested in the truth of what happens to the people who inhabit every corner of this world. The work of independent media is to tell the history of social struggle in the world. Here in Norrth America –The United States, Canada, and Mexico- independent media has, on ocassion, been able to open spaces even within the mass media monopolies, to force them to acknowledge news of social movements. The problem is not only to know what is occurring in the world, but to understand it and derive lessons from it, just as if we were studying, not of the past but of what is happening at any given moment in whateever part of the world. This is the way to learn who we are, what is what we want, who we can be, and what we can do or not do. By not having to answer to the monster media monopolies, the independent media has a life's work, a political project, and a purpose: to let the truth be known. This is increasingly more important in the globalization process. Truth becomes a knot of resistance against the lie. Our only possibility is to save the truth, to maintain it, and distribute it, little by little, in the same way that the books were saved in Fahrenheit 451; a group of people dedicated themselves to memorize books, to save them from being destroyed, so that the ideas would not be lost. In the same way, independent media tries to save history -- today's history -- tries to save it and tries to share it so it will not disappear. Moreover, it tries to distribute it to other places, so that this history is not limited to one country, to one region, to one city or social group. It is neccesary not only for independent voices to exchange information and to broaden the channels, but to resist the monopolies' spreading lies. The truth that we build in our groups, our cities, our regions, our countries, will reach full potential if we join with other truths and realize that what is occurring in other parts of the world also is part of human history. In August 1996 we called for the creation of a network of independent media, a network of information. We mean a network to resist the power of the lie that sells us this war that we call World War IV. We need this network not only as a tool for our social movements but for our lives: this is a project for life, for a humanity that has a right to critical and truthful information. We greet all of you, recognizing the work you have done so that the struggle of indigenous people is known, and the other struggles are known, so that the great events of this world are seen in a critical form. We hope your meeting is a success and that it results in concrete plans for this network, these exchanges, this mutual support that should exist between cultural workers and independent media makers. We hope that one day we can personally attend your meeting, or perhaps that one day you can have your conference in our territory, so we can listen to your words and you can hear ours in person. For now, well, we take advantage of the help of the National Commission for Democracy in Mexico to use this video to send a greeting. [This section in English] I don't know if my English is okay, but good luck and so long. More related material: http://thepiratebay.org/user/BhangWalla
Seeders: 1
Leeches: 0

RFK Must Die (Shane O'Sullivan)

Category: Documentary
Description:
http://www.amazon.com/RFK-Must-Die-Assassination-Kennedy/dp/B000UX6TH0 Shane O'Sullivan Review After all these years, you would think that someone would have noticed these things... and done something about them. --CIA operative David Rabern Product Description On June 5, 1968, shortly after winning the hotly-contested California primary, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was slain in the pantry of the Los Angeles Ambassador hotel. Charged with the assassination is Sirhan Sirhan, a 24 year-old Palestinian whose notebooks repeatedly declare RFK MUST DIE! While Sirhan Sirhan recants his confession, investigatory oversights leave many questions unanswered: Why was RFK rerouted from his original destination in the hotel straight into the path of an assassin s bullet? Who was the girl in the polka dot dress seen fleeing the hotel screaming We shot him, we shot him ? Why was there a CIA presence at the hotel that night? Why were additional bullets recovered but never entered into evidence? Writer-director Shane O Sullivan, highly skeptical of the official report, conducted his own exhaustive investigation. Through exclusive interviews with eyewitnesses and investigators, as well as rare archival footage and a wealth of expert testimony, this disturbing documentary sheds new light on the murder of one of America's most beloved politicians.
Seeders: 27
Leeches: 3

Noam.Chomsky.Rebel.Without.A.Pause.DvDRip.XviD.-c0h

Category: Chomsky
Description:
Called "the most important intellectual alive" by The New York Times, and "a rebel without a pause" by rock-star Bono, Noam Chomsky is one of the greatest minds of the 20th Century and the world's leading voice of dissent. In a post 9-11 world, Noam Chomsky speaks openly about the U.S. war on terrorism, media manipulation, and social activism to intimate seminar groups and crowded venues. Chomsky analyzes the roots of anti-American sentiment, defines terrorism in the new millennium, and examines the after-effects of 9-11 in honest and forthright terms, providing a critical voice that many audiences feel is missing in the world today. Featuring candid interviews with his wife and tour manager, Carol Chomsky, as well as activists, fans, and critics REBEL WITHOUT A PAUSE is a timely, must-see film that offers an alternative voice and explores the truths and myths about the most important intellectual of our time. The world's greatest intellectual voice of dissent gets another fine showcase in Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without a Pause. Chomsky is no stranger to video and DVD, with several titles (including Manufacturing Consent) comprising a growing library of essential viewing for anyone with an open mind and a healthy skepticism toward powerful politicians. In this 75-minute documentary (plus 40 minutes of additional footage), filmed primarily during his lectures at Ontario's McMaster University during the build-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Chomsky holds forth on a wide variety of topics, mostly related to the state of world affairs in a post-9/11 context. Speaking in intimate conversational settings, classrooms, and sold-out lecture halls, Chomsky (who readily admits his lack of charisma as a speaker, explaining "it's the issues that people find interesting") is lucidly sensible and deeply informed about media manipulation, the self-interest of those in power, the roots of anti-American sentiment, and the need for social activism to maintain a balanced and genuine democracy. Behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Chomsky's wife and tour manager, Carol, offer an additional layer of depth and humanity to this hard-working thinker, while other colleagues and scholars express their supportive opinions of Chomsky and the very real fear that his outspokenness could result in his physical harm or even assassination. While any Chomsky-related material is timely by nature, the content of this film will remain relevant for years to come, whether it's being viewed as cautionary warning or prescient prophesy. Please help by seeding
Seeders: 0
Leeches: 9

[audiobook] Hegemony or Survival - America's Quest for Global Dominance by Professor Noam Chomsky & Brian Jones

Category: eBooks, Magazines, Audio Books
Description:
Editorial Reviews Amazon.com Noam Chomsky is considered the father of modern linguistics. In this richly detailed criticism of American foreign policy, he seeks to redefine many of the terms commonly used in the ongoing American war on terrorism. Surveying U.S. actions in Cuba, Nicaragua, Turkey, the Far East and elsewhere over the past half a century along with the modern American war in Iraq, Chomsky indicates that America is just as much a terrorist state as any other government or rogue organization. George W. Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq drew worldwide criticism, in part because it seemed to present a new philosophy of pre-emptive war and an appearance of global empire building. But according to Chomsky, such has been the operating philosophy of American foreign policy for decades. Opponents of the Bush administration's tactics consistently point out how the American government supported Saddam Hussein for many years prior to the 1990 invasion of Kuwait (pictures of Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand are easy to come by) as a means of pointing out how the United States is happy to fund despots when it's in American interests. But Chomsky, armed with extensive historical notation, takes this notion further, arguing how the repression of other nations' citizenry is, in fact, the very reason Americans support certain foreign leaders. The charges made throughout the book are severe, as are the dire consequences he posits if current trends are not reversed, and Chomsky is no more likely to make friends or gain supporters from the mainstream now than he's ever been. But Hegemony or Survival is relatively dispassionate. Instead of relying on camp or shock value or personal attacks as some of his contemporaries have done, Chomsky drives his well-supported points steadily forward in an earnest and highly readable style. --John Moe From Publishers Weekly In this highly readable, heavily footnoted critique of American foreign policy from the late 1950s to the present, Chomsky (whose 9-11 was a bestseller last year) argues that current U.S. policies in Afghanistan and Iraq are not a specific response to September 11, but simply the continuation of a consistent half-century of foreign policy-an "imperial grand strategy"-in which the United States has attempted to "maintain its hegemony through the threat or use of military force." Such an analysis is bound to be met with skepticism or antagonism in post-September 11 America, but Chomsky builds his arguments carefully, substantiates claims with appropriate documentation and answers expected counterclaims. Chomsky is also deeply critical of inconsistency in making the charge of "terrorism." Using the official U.S. legal code definition of terrorism, he argues that it is an exact description of U.S. foreign policy (especially regarding Cuba, Central America, Vietnam and much of the Middle East), although the term is rarely used in this way in the U.S. media, he notes, even when the World Court in 1986 condemned Washington for "unlawful use of force" ("international terrorism, in lay terms" Chomsky argues) in Nicaragua. Claiming that the U.S. is a rogue nation in its foreign policies and its "contempt for international law," Chomsky brings together many themes he has mined in the past, making this cogent and provocative book an important addition to an ongoing public discussion about U.S. policy. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Seeders: 15
Leeches: 5

Democracy Now! Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Category: News & Current Affairs
Description:
Today's Headlines Palestinians Flood Egypt for Supplies After Militants Destroy Border Wall Congo Conflict Killing 45,000 Each Month Padilla Given 17-Year Prison Sentence Study Counts Admin’s False Statements Preceding Iraq War Bush, Dems Meet for Economic Stimulus Talks Thompson Drops Out of GOP Race Study: Rich Nations Causing More than $1.8 Trillion in Environmental Damage in Third World Poll: Americans Oppose Bush Admin on Surveillance Bill Blackwater Protesters Challenge Conviction for North Carolina Demonstration Economics Journalist Robert Kuttner on the "Most Serious Financial Crisis Since the Great Depression": "This is the Result of Rightwing Ideology and the Political Power of Wall Street" Amid growing fears of a worldwide recession, the Federal Reserve slashed a key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point on Tuesday, the biggest single cut in nearly a quarter of a century. Meanwhile, President Bush and congressional leaders pledged to work together on a stimulus measure that would inject about $150 billion in additional money into the economy. But many economists are skeptical over whether any measures can turn around a severe slump in the housing market and the subprime mortgage crisis, signs of growing unemployment and weakening consumer spending and the added blow of record high oil prices. We speak to veteran economics journalist Robert Kuttner and Robert Weissman, co-director of the corporate accountability group Essential Action and editor of Multinational Monitor magazine. [includes rush transcript] Corporations Reaping Millions As Congo Suffers Deadliest Conflict Since World War II A new mortality report from the International Rescue Committee says that as many as 5.4 million people have died from war-related causes in the Congo since 1998. A staggering 45,000 people continue to die each month both from the conflict and the related humanitarian crisis. Amidst the deadliest conflict since World War II, hundreds of international corporations have reaped enormous profits from extracting and processing Congolese minerals. We speak to Maurice Carney of Friends of the Congo and Nita Evele of Congo Global Action.
Seeders: 3
Leeches: 1

Amy Goodman: Confronting Wartime Media

Category: News & Current Affairs
Description:
Amy Goodman: Confronting Wartime Media Category: News & Current Affairs Regions: North America Topics: Human Rights, Media, Political Institutions / Systems Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, delivers a thundering speech in this recording of her keynote address at 2007’s SolFest in Hopland, California. Goodman says that U.S. journalists have abdicated their role as skeptics and critics, cozying up to power rather than challenging it. She touches on subjects as diverse as the American Psychological Association’s weak stance towards psychologists aiding the military in using torture, President Bush’s use of signing statements, Carlos Arredondo’s moving acts of protest, and the importance of hope through activism. LEARN MORE: Democracy Now! Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)
Seeders: 0
Leeches: 0

Noam Chomsky - Rebel Without A Pause (2003)

Category: Documentary
Description:
The world's greatest intellectual voice of dissent gets another fine showcase in Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without a Pause. Chomsky is no stranger to video and DVD, with several titles (including Manufacturing Consent) comprising a growing library of essential viewing for anyone with an open mind and a healthy skepticism toward powerful politicians. In this 75-minute documentary (plus 40 minutes of additional footage), filmed primarily during his lectures at Ontario's McMaster University. . .
Seeders: 0
Leeches: 0