Log inskip to content

Archive for February, 2009

Film: The Corporation

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

Provoking, witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. Taking its status as a legal “person” to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist’s couch to ask “What kind of person is it?” The Corporation includes interviews with 40 corporate insiders and critics – including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore – plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.

Here are some film notes and questions

My Lectures on Industrialization and the Workers’ Responses

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

The Basics: The Rise of Industrial Capitalism

Crash Course on Marxism

Notes from Bruce Laurie’s book, Artisans into Workers: Labor in 19th Century America. University of Illinois Press, 1989:

Obama’s New Deal

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

The pundits were quick to evaluate Barack Obama’s election in light of African-American political traditions going back to the civil rights movement and even Reconstruction, but they have turned increasingly to lessons from the history of the New Deal.  Read on from The Nation.

Chris Abani: Telling stories of our shared humanity

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

Imprisoned three times by the Nigerian government, Chris Abani turned his experience into poems that Harold Pinter called “the most naked, harrowing expression of prison life and political torture imaginable.” His novels include GraceLand (2004) and The Virgin of Flames (2007).

Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It’s “ubuntu,” he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.

His Ted Talk remains among the best I’ve seen

Supreme Court Watch from NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

The latest news and analysis about key cases and critical arguments before the Supreme Court. The feed is updated frequently when the court is in session with interviews, background reports and updates to put key decisions in context.

These are listener friendly 5-10 minute discussions/lectures  about recent Supreme Court decisions.

Congressman, Civil Rights Icon John Lewis

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) became part of the civil-rights movement while he was a teenager. From 1963 to 1966, he chaired the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. And he became a close associate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Lewis has been a congressman since 1987.

Enjoy 30 inspiring minutes with Congressman Lewis

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

The SEP is a fine resource for those pursuing truth. From its inception, the SEP was designed so that each entry is maintained and kept up to date by an expert or group of experts in the field. All entries and substantive updates are refereed by the members of a distinguished Editorial Board before they are made public. Consequently, their dynamic reference work maintains academic standards while evolving and adapting in response to new research.

21 Ways to Serve America

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

Here is an article from Time Magazine written by Edward Kennedy and Orrin Hatch which discusses how people can give of themselves to improve America and the world. It is a call to action on their national service bill soon to be introduced to the Senate.

While you are at it, check out www.usaservice.org to see what service opportunities are in your area.

Tom Friedman on Hot, Flat and Crowded

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

Friedman brings a fresh outlook to the crises of destabilizing climate change and rising competition for energy—both of which could poison our world if we do not act quickly and collectively. His argument speaks to all of us who are concerned about the state of America in the global future.

Friedman proposes that an ambitious national strategy—which he calls “Geo-Greenism”—is not only what we need to save the planet from overheating; it is what we need to make America healthier, richer, more innovative, more productive, and more secure.

Enjoy an hour with Tom

Eric Foner On Post-Civil War Disappointments

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

Eric Foner, author of Our Lincoln, talks about the era following the Civil War in which former slaves were promised equal rights and citizenship. Foner is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University.

12 good minutes with Foner

Categories