Author Archive | ralph

Happy Saturnalia To All!

By on December 24, 2012 in News 12

SaturnaliaA celebration dear to the hearts of the Disinformation team at this time of year is Saturnalia, one of the most popular Roman festivals. It was marked by tomfoolery and reversal of social roles, in which slaves and masters ostensibly switched places, with expectantly humorous results. Saturnalia was introduced around 217 BC to raise citizen morale after a crushing military defeat. Originally celebrated for a day, on December 17th, its popularity saw it grow until it became a week-long extravaganza, ending on the 23rd.

Our favorite exposition of Saturnalia has long been the Electric Sheep comic strip, no longer easily available on the web, but we dug in the crates and are pleased to bring it to you. We did find it here and in a video created from the original website posted to Funny or Die:

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Fats Domino Has A Really Awesome Couch

By on November 8, 2012 in News 8

As reported:

Fats Domino was an important influence on the music of the 1960s and 1970s and acknowledged as such by some of the top artists of that era. Paul McCartney reportedly wrote The Beatles song “Lady Madonna” in an emulation of Domino’s style, combining it with a nod to Humphrey Lyttelton’s 1956 hit “Bad Penny Blues,” a record Joe Meek engineered Domino did manage to return to the “Hot 100″ charts one final time in 1968—with his own recording of “Lady Madonna”… Domino lived in a mansion in a predominantly working-class Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, where he was a familiar sight in his bright pink Cadillac automobile. He makes yearly appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and other local events. Domino was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. Domino’s last tour was a three week European Tour in 1995. In 1998, President Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Arts.

… Read the rest

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You Are Still Being Lied To: Howard Zinn’s “Columbus and Western Civilization”

By on October 8, 2012 in News 27

The following is an excerpt of “Columbus and Western Civilization” written by Howard Zinn that appears in the Disinformation anthology You Are Still Being Lied To edited by Russ Kick.

Author’s Note: In the year 1992, the celebration of Columbus Day was different from previous ones in two ways. First, this was the quincentennial, 500 years after Columbus’ landing in this hemisphere. Second, it was a celebration challenged all over the country by people—many of them native Americans but also others—who had “discovered” a Columbus not worth celebrating, and who were rethinking the traditional glorification of “Western civilization.” I gave this talk at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in October 1991. It was published the following year by the Open Magazine Pamphlet Series with the title “Christopher Columbus & the Myth of Human Progress.”

George Orwell, who was a very wise man, wrote: “Who controls the past controls the future. And who controls the present controls the past.” In other words, those who dominate our society are in a position to write our histories. And if they can do that, they can decide our futures. That is why the telling of the Columbus story is important.

Let me make a confession. I knew very little about Columbus until about twelve years ago, when I began writing my book A People’s History of the United States. I had a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University—that is, I had the proper training of a historian, and what I knew about Columbus was pretty much what I had learned in elementary school.

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Put The Gun In Your Own Mouth

By on July 23, 2012 in News 45

I can’t say this enough. Do NOT dye your hair red. Do not study neuroscience. Before going into a movie which I enjoyed, stick the gun in your own mouth.

The Joker would agree.

I don’t care if you have had problems.

You are destroying our FAILED news media right now.

I do not want to spend tax dollars on you.

Kill yourself.

NOW.

The opinion expressed above is solely that of the author and The Disinformation Company does not necessarily agree with or endorse his opinion.… Read the rest

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How Microsoft and Yahoo Are Selling Politicians Access to You

By on June 13, 2012 in News 0

Writes Lois Beckett on ProPublica:

Microsoft and Yahoo are selling political campaigns the ability to target voters online with tailored ads using names, Zip codes and other registration information that users provide when they sign up for free email and other services.

The Web giants provide users no notification that their information is being used for political targeting.

In one sense, campaigns are doing a more sophisticated version of what they’ve always done through the post office 2014 sending political fliers to selected households. But the Internet allows for more subtle targeting. It relies not on email but on advertisements that surfers may not realize have been customized for them.

Campaigns use voters records to assemble lists of people they’re trying to reach 2014 for instance, “registered Republicans that have made a donation,” Yahoo’s director of sales Andy Cotten told ProPublica. Microsoft and Yahoo help campaigns find these people online and then send them tailored ads.… Read the rest

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A Meet With The Elite At the “University For A Night”

By on June 13, 2012 in News 1

Bill Clinton with Nelson Mandela in 1993.

Having just finished producing an investigative TV series on “Who Rules America?”, inspired, in part, by the argument that sociologist C. Wright Mills made 50 years ago about how a small group of the rich and powerful run things, I was wondering how I would feel spending a night with the 1 percent of the 1 percent

An Indonesian friend had invited me to join her at an annual event called “University for a Night” sponsored by an NGO named Synergos created twenty five years ago by Peggy Dulaney, the daughter of David Rockefeller, the now 97-year-old patriarch of what was once the richest and most powerful family in America.

This event concludes with dinner discussions that bring participants together with invited faculty — experts from around the world — for an exchange of ideas on specific topics. The organizers say they want “to provide opportunities for networking, brainstorming and inspiration.”

Rockefeller Sr., one-time head of the Chase Bank was there, in a wheel chair now, beaming as an award in his name for bridging and leadership was presented to former President Bill Clinton, who runs a foundation of his own, as well as a “global initiative.”

Clinton was also effusive in praising Peggy and her dad for the good works they do as philanthropists and problem solvers.… Read the rest

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Peter Thiel Will Pay You $100,000 To Drop Out Of College (If You Have An Idea He Likes)

By on June 8, 2012 in News 0

Considering student loan debt is now a trillion-dollar industry, maybe this PayPal co-founder is on to something. Via 60 Minutes:

One of the wealthiest, best-educated American entrepreneurs, Peter Thiel, isn’t convinced college is worth the cost. With only half of recent U.S. college graduates in full-time jobs, and student loans now at $1 trillion, Thiel has come up with his own small-scale solution: pay a couple dozen of the nation’s most promising students $100,000 to walk away from college and pursue their passions. Morley Safer takes a look at Thiel’s critique of college.

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Ralph Nader: President Obama, Where Are Your Lawyers? (Re: ‘Kill List’ Meetings)

By on June 1, 2012 in News 34
Ralph Nader

Photo: Ragesoss (CC)

It’s been widely reported that President Obama’s top political adviser, David Axelrod, attended the Obama adminstration’s “kill list” meetings. Imagine if the names in this recent news report instead were President George W. Bush and Karl Rove … Ralph Nader writes on Nader.org:

The rule of law is rapidly breaking down at the top levels of our government. As officers of the court, we have sworn to “support the Constitution,” which clearly implies an affirmative commitment on our part.

Take the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The conservative American Bar Association sent three white papers to President Bush describing his continual unconstitutional policies. Then and now civil liberties groups and a few law professors, such as the stalwart David Cole of Georgetown University and Jonathan Turley of George Washington University, have distinguished themselves in calling out both presidents for such violations and the necessity for enforcing the rule of law.

… Read the rest

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