contributions

Yesterday, NPR’s PR flack was haranguing me on the phone about how NPR had nothing to do with getting Lisa Simeone fired from an independent program called Soundprint. This was despite NPR having gone public with its concerns over Simeone’s "unethical" participation in democracy, and Soundprint’s referencing of NPR’s "ethics" rules in firing Simeone. It was also despite NPR’s clear intention to get Simeone removed from our airwaves.
I have no evidence that NPR contacted Soundprint, but (…)

A dear (political-junky) elder emails me to say that, since there wasn’t anything political on this weekend, she watched a PBS show on Chernobyl. She wrote, "but in a weird twist the wolves, other wildlife and perhaps 120 species of birds are thriving." It made her happy - well, relative to the scope of the disaster anyway. I didn’t mention that birds have really tiny brains or that, all things being equal, it doesn’t seem unusual that wolves - no longer hunted to extinction (due to being in (…)

In the last decade Australian universities have made a big effort to recruit students from India but their efforts have become unstuck because of (1) violence against Indian university students in Melbourne and Sydney, (2) the abrupt cancellation of student visas that had enabled many overseas students to gain residence in Australia (this harming many people who had already spent large sums to do courses in Australia) and (3) the increase in the value of the Australian dollar associated (…)

In theory all commerce, business and economy is based on the concept of trade. Wikipedia defines trade as “ the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another.” . As we can see, the concept of trade applies to both corporations as well as to individuals.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the production of goods has always involved the labor, or services, of people. There may be tools, or animal labor involved, but the person was essential. And even (…)

Humanity and the Biosphere are acutely threatened by anthropogenic global warming (AGW) and in particular by the massive and increasing exploitation of natural gas from coal seams (coal seam gas) as an energy source. Gas is dirty energy and set out below are 3 major reasons why we must stop coal seam gas (CSG) exploitation.
There is a gas rush worldwide as fossil fuel corporations seek to exploit natural gas as a source of energy. Notwithstanding the endless false claims that “gas is (…)

US troops are on their way to Uganda. More go soon to South Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. John Pilger tells the real story behind Obama’s latest extension of the ’war on terror’.
On 14 October, President Barack Obama announced he was sending United States special forces troops to Uganda to join the civil war there.
In the next few months, US combat troops will be sent to South Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. They will only "engage" for "self-defence", says Obama, (…)

The killing of Muammar Gadaffi in Sirte has been marked by a round of celebration by western governments over their intervention in Libya.
As with the capture of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, it will be described as a turning point and a further victory in the seemingly endless ’war on terror’.
There is little reason for the triumphalism. Nato’s war on Libya was not a ’humanitarian intervention’ but a war for regime (…)

The Australian National University (ANU) has disinvested in coal seam gas (CSG) development after student opposition to such investment (see “ANU removes itself from coal seam gas operations”, Woroni, 12 October 2011: ) .
Key quotes from report: “The Australian National University will sell its shares in Metgasco, a company involved in coal seam gas extraction in Northern NSW, following student opposition to the investment… The ANU currently holds a 1% share in Metgasco, worth around $1 (…)

The occupation of Freedom Plaza in Washington DC was planned for several months to begin on the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan War. It was planned prior to and quickly endorsed and supported the planning for Occupy Wall St. In numerous blog posts through the summer I described it as an occupation. Here is a video of me demanding an occupation of DC and George Galloway demanding an occupation of London. This is from June: (…)