It is a new season on the Invisible Web. After blatantly ripping off Torchwood’s approach of a mini-season, I return with Paul Karasik, a comic archivist, associate editor of Art Spiegelman’s RAW comic anthology, and contributor to the New Yorker and Nickelodean Magazine. In 2003, with sister Judy, he co-authored [...]
Happy Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Perchtenlauf, Requiem of the Dead, Tongzhi, Christmas, Yule or Winter Solstice. On this episode of the Invisible Web Cast, I interview the only court certified historian of the combat sports, Karl Stern once again for the first half of the show. We discuss DC vs Marvel Comics continuity, 52, Annihilation, [...]
The Invisible Web Episode 21 (0302) - Fighting 63 in Japan On this episode of the Invisible Web I interview Roxanne Modafferi, who is one of the headliners for the inaugural GCM VALKYRIE MMA show on Saturday, at Tokyo’s Differ Ariake (doors open 1:00 PM Tokyo and 2:00 is bell time). We discuss the etymological [...]
The Invisible Web Episode 20 (The Incredibly Strange Interview) [caption id=”" align=”alignnone” width=”170″ caption=”The cover of Beer Blood Cornmeal (C) ECW Press”] On this episode of the Invisible Web, I interview Bob Calhoun, also known as Count Dante of Incredibly Strange Wrestling, who released his book, B […]
Update Sat June 26: Elite XC play by play here: http://invizweb.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/elite-xc-coverage/ Combat sports galore. The RAW Draft, Triplemania, and other fun stuff. And remember to vote for Rupert the AntiChrist for President in the 2008 US Presidential election. Xanshin @ Green Destiny Flash CMLL Juicio Final results by Kris Zellner Better lat […]
On this episode of the Invisible Web I celebrate Midsummer’s Day with the odd synchronicities of the holiday. I also review two movies an episode of a legendary BBC Science fiction television series. BAD WOLF~! Gylfaginning featuring Fenrir, from Snorri’s Prose Edda. Fenrir @ Godchecker Happy St. John’s Day, from Cryptomundo Happy Solstice/ […]
An update on my so-called life, Alvarez and Meltzer merge (Melvarez?), Street Fighter IV, Metal Gear Solid IV, Friday the 13th, and more. Notes: Capcom: New Street Fighter IV Boss Character! Concept Art For New Old Characters. WELCOME TO THE NEW WRESTLINGOBSERVER.COM/FIGURE FOUR ONLINE Two good news from Art of War FC (China) Shoot Boxing Standing Vale Tudo’ […]
Cauliflower Alley Club Director Les Thatcher joins the show to talk about his illustrious career the in the Professional Wrestling. What and when is the Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion? Who was his trainer Tony Santos? Where is his Wrestling Weekly co-host Doc Young? Plus discussion of Jr Heavyweight wrestling, Michael Hayes’ suspension, [...]
While combating audio nightmares and the lack of meals, Alexandra Chica Bruce, a long-time writer for DisInformation journeys through time and space (three-time zones to be exact) to shoot on various subjects in the second part of our story on Retro UFO 3. Who is Chica Bruce? Where is she currently? How did [...]
In the first of a two part miniseries on the events to occur at the Giant Rock in Landers, California on April 26 and 27, 2008, Captain Adam GoRightly of the Starship Psychopath returns valiantly to the Invisible Web in a race against time. What is Retro UFO 3? How did Captain Adam [...]
My good associates Joe McFall, Raymond Wiley, Austin Gandy, and Joe Nolan return with a brand new episode of Disinformation the Podcast! in time for this ghoulishly funtastic season, with the return of our favorite old Country Humbler cryptid. In their own words:
California’s green initiative, the second half of our report on the Hollow Earth, and the return of the Popobawa, this week on Disinformation World News.
Doug Rushkoff wrote an insightful piece recently for arthur:
In a perfect world, the stock market would decline another 70 or 80 percent along with the shuttering of about that fraction of our nation’s banks. Yes, unemployment would rise as hundreds of thousands of formerly well-paid brokers and bankers lost their jobs; but at least they would no longer be extracting wealth at our expense. They would need to be fed, but that would be a lot cheaper than keeping them in the luxurious conditions they’re enjoying now. Even Bernie Madoff costs us less in jail than he does on Park Avenue.
Alas, I’m not being sarcastic. If you had spent the last decade, as I have, reviewing the way a centralized economic plan ravaged the real world over the past 500 years, you would appreciate the current financial meltdown for what it is: a comeuppance. This is the sound of the other shoe dropping; it’s what happens when the chickens come home to roost; it’s justice, equilibrium reasserting itself, and ultimately a good thing.
I started writing a book three years ago through which I hoped to help people see the artificial and ultimately dehumanizing landscape of corporatism on which we conduct so much of our lives. It’s not just that I saw the downturn coming—it’s that I feared it wouldn’t come quickly or clearly enough to help us wake up from the self-destructive fantasy of an eternally expanding economic frontier. The planet, and its people, were being taxed beyond their capacity to produce. Try arguing that to a banker whose livelihood is based on perpetuating that illusion, or to people whose retirement incomes depend on just one more generation falling for the scam. It’s like arguing to Brooklyn’s latest crop of brownstone buyers that they’ve invested in real estate at the very moment the whole market is about to tank. (I did; it wasn’t pretty.)
..Santelli’s reversal resulted from the controversy surrounding a Playboy article by journalists Mark Ames and Yasha Levine. The article, which was later taken down from Playboy’s site after possible libel claims, exposed the connection between the right-wing group FreedomWorks and the online Tea Party organizers, and suggested that Santelli’s tirade was a “carefully planned trigger” for the Tea Parties.
In addition to his public statement on CNBC, Santelli suffered the ignominy of canceling an appearance on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show this week, and further revelations and accusations are flying between Ames and Levine’s ExiledOnline Web magazine and the New York Times and Atlantic Monthly blog, among others.
In a statement on the controversy, sent to me in the afternoon on March 3, Ames and Levine write:
“There has been a lot of speculation as to why Playboy removed our original article from its site. Let us put it this way: When you look at the fallout from our article — FreedomWorks admits its role in the teaparty, Santelli issues a giant lawyer-penned opus about how he loves Obama, and CNBC (whose parent company is the megaconglomerate General Electric) frightens a bunch of Astroturfing Web sites into dropping Santelli’s name and into revealing their own PAC sponsors — then it’s clear we hit the bull’s-eye and stirred up the wrath of a very scary monster.
“Given all of this, it would not be unreasonable for one to consider the possibility (as many have) that the multigazilliondollar megabeast GE threatened the much smaller independent media company Playboy with a terrifying and expensive lawsuit, which, given the current financial crisis, is not something anyone but another GE-sized megabeast could cope with. ‘Nuf said on that.”
An excerpt from the Court Transcripts for the Case of CORETTA SCOTT KING, et al, VS LOYD JOWERS, et al, Case No. 97242.
THE COURT: All right, ladies and gentlemen. I understand you reached a verdict. Is that correct?
THE JURY: Yes (In unison).
THE COURT: May I have that verdict.
(Verdict form passed to the Court.)
THE COURT: I have authorized this gentleman here to take one picture of you which I’m going to have developed and make copies and send to you as I promised. Okay. All right, ladies and gentlemen. Let me ask you, do all of you agree with this verdict?
THE JURY: Yes (In unison).
THE COURT: In answer to the question did Loyd Jowers participate in a conspiracy to do harm to Dr. Martin Luther King, your answer is yes. Do you also find that others, including governmental agencies, were parties to this conspiracy as alleged by the defendant? Your answer to that one is also yes. And the total amount of damages you find for the plaintiffs entitled to is one hundred dollars. Is that your verdict?
THE JURY: Yes (In unison).
THE COURT: All right. I want to thank you ladies and gentlemen for your participation. It lasted a lot longer than we had originally predicted. In spite of that, you hung in there and you took your notes and you were alert all during the trial. And we appreciate it. We want you to note that our courts cannot function if we don’t have jurors who accept their responsibility such as you have.
This is the final verdict on the bottom of the page. Read more here.
The Wild Hunt Blog reports on an attack by sanctimonious FOX News on a friend of the site and previous guest Margot Adler (my interview with Margot is here):
“It seems that Graham’s biggest problem with Adler is that she isn’t a conservative Christian, that an atheist was hanging around when she recorded the report, and that she didn’t talk to some conservative Christians. Oh, and she didn’t find a (Christian or conservative) protester to talk to in a completely unrelated story.”
“A pagan priestess runs into the president of the atheists in a phone booth in New York. No, it’s not a joke — it’s the start of a controversial report from National Public Radio — and your tax dollars may have paid for it. New York City officials this fall launched an art project called “Public Prayer Booth” … To cover the story, NPR sent reporter Margot Adler, a Wiccan priestess and author of two books on paganism. Lo and behold, she happened upon the president of the New York City Atheists, Ken Bronstein, an outspoken opponent of public religious displays.”
“There’s no bias in this story and to imply that there is because of a reporter’s religious beliefs is absurd,” said Anna Christopher, an NPR spokeswoman. “[Adler] spoke with several different people with several different viewpoints on the booth.”
“Less than two percent [of NPR's budget] comes from competitive grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts,”
As for Adler running into the president of the New York City Atheists, it seems far more likely in New York where the “unaffiliated” outnumber the “evangelicals” by 5%. But I suppose the notion of coincidence is unthinkable for Fox News, especially when it involves a prominent Pagan running into a prominent atheist. Maybe they would have accepted it if a Catholic reporter ran into an evangelical pastor? Imagine that happening on the “government dime”!
In the first episode of Disinformation: World News, Raymond and Joe report on the results of the recent elections in the United States, including an election exclusive that you won’t find anywhere else! In military news, the capture and imprisonment of “spy pigeons” in the vicinity of Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities has raised eyebrows in intelligence circles throughout the world. Finally, occult expert Austin Gandy returns with a new edition of “The Invisible College.” Cast a vote or cast a spell, this week on Disinformation: World News.
We have the chance to help President-elect Obama reclaim democracy and restore the rule of law in our country, which he can do on his first day in office. By shutting down the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison facility, Obama can take a major step toward redeeming our nation’s moral leadership in the world. And by ending unconstitutional military commissions and banning torture, he can cut ties with the highly controversial Bush era of national security.
We must seize this critical moment to end the abuses that the Bush administration has perpetrated for the past eight years. That’s why we partnered with the ACLU to bring to you our newest video.
Watch the video:
This is the first in a series of videos underscoring the urgent need to close GITMO and end unconstitutional military commissions. We urge you to sign the petition and ensure that the human rights violations at GITMO never occur again. Then send this video to your friends and ask them to sign up as well.
The ACLU is taking this campaign even further by hosting an open Town Hall Meeting tonight at 8pm ET, when people from all across the country will gather via teleconference to discuss the state of civil liberties in our country. Take part in this important conversation, and help President-elect Obama take decisive action to close GITMO.
Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Foundation team
This is a truly amazing moment in our nation, and we couldn’t be more delighted to share it with you. Just marvel at the historic change occurring right now — change that seemed like a dream only a year ago — and you helped make it happen. You saw the explosion of grassroots activism around the country and recognized the importance of participating in democracy by spreading our videos, signing our petitions, and supporting our various campaigns.
When the corporate press wasn’t doing its job to portray John McCain accurately, you took it upon yourselves to spread The REAL McCain videos like John McCain’s YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare, which has received a whopping 8 million views! And when it became clear that FOX News would stop at nothing to smear and slander Barack Obama, you made sure millions more could see the truth by spreading our FOX Attacks Obama series. All told, over 25 million people watched these videos — all achieved with people-powered persuasion.
Tonight is a beginning. We look forward with excitement and anticipation to the opportunities ahead to fight for social justice. We are already at work on efforts that will provide positive change for our country.
Thank you,
The Brave New Films team
probably not the expression on her face right now.
