Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Beer Wars

Beer lovers eager to learn the facts about their favorite brew are invited to follow filmmaker Anat Baron as she takes an insider's look at America's highly competitive hops industry. The story gets under way as innovative, independent brewers begin challenging the corporate monoliths for a greater share of the thriving American beer market.




Brewers Sam and Rhonda, in particular, are on the front lines in the battle against established industry giants that seem determined to put smaller breweries out of business. Is it possible for independent brewers like Sam and Rhonda to maintain their integrity while resisting the temptation to sell out?

There are no embedable links for this film - click here to watch.

Click here to visit the official website.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Bigger Than Enron

On June 15, a Houston jury convicted Arthur Andersen -- the 89-year-old accounting firm once known as the gold standard of integrity in auditing -- for obstruction of justice in the government's investigation of Enron, Andersen's biggest client. With the demise of Andersen, the American business landscape was forever altered. But something else was altered as well: the scandal surrounding Enron and Andersen, together with the wave of other major accounting scandals that have come to light in recent months, has dealt America's markets an unsettling psychological blow. If we can't trust the auditors, investors wonder, whom can we trust?




The meteoric rise and stunning collapse of Enron caused many to question why the corporate oversight system that was supposed to protect investors failed to sound any alarms about the company's dubious finances. But Enron and Arthur Andersen turn out to be merely the tip of the iceberg. In the 1990s, more than 700 U.S. companies were forced to correct misleading financial statements as a result of accounting failures, lapses, or outright fraud. Together with Enron -- the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history -- these failures have cost investors an estimated $200 billion.





Enron's collapse in late 2001 galvanized Congress and brought urgent calls for reform. The House and Senate held hearings and introduced legislation to reform the accounting industry. But so far no bill has passed both chambers and been signed into law. Instead, after prolonged criticism for moving too slowly and being too soft on the accounting firms, SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt has taken the initiative, announcing on June 20 his proposal for a new Public Accountability Board. Critics, however, still say that his plans are too weak, and question whether he is genuinely prepared to cross his former clients in the accounting industry, which he represented as a top Wall Street lawyer throughout the 1990s.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Taxi to the Dark Side

With this extraordinary film director Alex Gibney makes a convincing and well researched case against the acts of torture, abuse and humiliation committed by the U.S. military against political prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.




A major sub-plot is the story of Dilawar, an Afghan taxi driver who ended up dying from injuries suffered while he was held in Bagram, a former Soviet prison coverted into a U.S. detention center for suspected terroists. However, the film explains how Dilawar was actually an innocent man turned in by an actual terroist seeking to throw investigators off his trail. One expert explains how only about 1% of the detainees are actual terroists and that the vast majority were not even arrested by the U.S. military. But rather were turned in by Pakastani and Afghani bounty hunters seeking financial compensation.

The numerous forms of abuse inflicted on these foreign detainees is depicted in gruesome detail. The methods of torture included not only water boarding but various means of sexual humiliation such as having women's panties placed on their heads, forced masturbation and female military officers caressing them while whispering "your mother is a whore" into their ears. The ultimate goal was inflicting a complete mental, physical and emotional breakdown on the prisoners. Other tactics used were sleep depravation achieved by handcuffing detainees to the ceiling for days at a time and the sort of brutal physical assaults that led to the death of the innocent Dilawar.





Of course, it was the low ranking soldiers who ended up facing punishment when these acts of illegal abuse were discovered. But the film makes it very clear that they were simply following orders handed down from the highest levels of the Bush administration. Particularly at fault were chicken hawks Cheney and Rumsfield. In fact, it was Cheney himself who gave this doc its title when he referred to how the U.S. must go over to the "dark side" in its military and intelligence methods.

Click here to visit the official website.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Standard Operating Procedure

It's impossible to talk about Standard Operating Procedure without referencing Taxi to the Dark Side. Fortunately, both documentaries are vital to any discussion about US military interrogation techniques. While Alex Gibney's Oscar winner uses the death of an Iraqi taxi driver as a framing device, director Errol Morris and writer Philip Gourevitch (We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families) examine the issue through visual evidence (they also collaborated on a book of the same name).




While Gibney concentrates on Bhagram, Morris focuses on Abu Ghraib, but his self-described "non-fiction horror film," which features a dramatic Danny Elfman score and slow-motion reenactments, runs along two tracks. First, he aims to find out what happened at the infamous institution. Along with the photographs and video footage, he speaks to the guards and the brigadier general who oversaw their operations, including former army specialist Lynndie England, who has all the charm of Aileen Wuornos (so memorably immortalized in Monster). As in his Thin Blue Line, accounts contradict other accounts.





In Morris's world, absolute truth doesn't exist; it's up to viewers to decide which subjects seem most reliable. This leads to his parallel goal, which is to question the reliability of imagery. Photography was prohibited at Abu Ghraib, so he identifies the responsible parties, the reasoning behind their rule-breaking, and the stories behind the most incendiary pictures. If less emotionally engaging than Gibney's feature, Standard Operating Procedure is just as essential--and every bit as disturbing.

Click here to visit the official site.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Inside North Korea

Is it just me, or is North Korea one of the most insane places in the world these days? Are you ready to cross into one of the world's most secretive nations, for a rare glimpse of the country and its absolute dictator Kim Jong Il. In this documentary, Lisa Ling takes us on a rare look inside North Korea - something few Americans have ever been able to do.




Posing as an undercover medical coordinator and closely guarded throughout her trip, Lisa moves inside the most isolated nation in the world, encountering a society completely dominated by government and dictatorship. Glimpse life inside North Korea as you've never seen before with personal accounts and powerful footage. Witness first-hand efforts by humanitarians and the challenges they face from the rogue regime.





North Korea offers us a vision of perhaps the most excessive personality cult in modern history. Wiki has this to say about the Kim Jong Il...

Critics maintain Kim Jong-il is the centre of an elaborate personality cult inherited from his father and founder of the DPRK, Kim Il-sung. Defectors have been quoted as saying that North Korean schools deify both father and son. He is often the centre of attention throughout ordinary life in the DPRK. His birthday is one of the most important public holidays in the country.

On his 60th birthday (based on his official date of birth), mass celebrations occurred throughout the country. One point of view is that Kim Jong Il's cult of personality is solely out of respect for Kim Il-sung or out of fear of punishment for failure to pay homage. Media and government sources from outside of North Korea generally support this view, while North Korean government sources say that it is genuine hero worship. The song No Motherland Without You, sung by the North Korean Army Choir, was created especially for Kim and is one of the most popular tunes in the country.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Control Room

Thanks to Nik for suggesting this one. Startling and powerful, Control Room is a documentary about the Arab television network Al-Jazeera's coverage of the U.S.-led Iraqi war, and conflicts that arose in managed perceptions of truth between that news media outlet and the American military.




Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim catches the frantic action at Al-Jazeera headquarters as President Bush stipulates his 48-hour, get-out-of-town warning to Saddam Hussein and sons, soon followed by the network's shocking footage of Iraqi civilians terrorized and killed by invading U.S. troops.





Al-Jazeera's determination to show images and report details outside the Pentagon's carefully controlled information flow draws the wrath of American officials, who accuse it of being an al-Qaida propagandist. Most fascinating is the way Control Room allows well-meaning, Western-educated, pro-democratic Arabs an opportunity to express views on Iraq as they see it - in an international context, and in a way most Americans never hear about.

Friday, May 29, 2009

The Myths of Pearl Harbour

Every American knows the date December 7, 1941 the morning the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a massive attack on Pearl Harbor. What most people don't know is that the first shots of the battle were fired by an American naval vessel, nearly an hour before the air attack started! The ship's target? One of Japan's four secret weapons the so-called "midget? subs two-man vessels designed to cripple U.S. ships from below, while Japanese bombers rained fire from above.




Examine the role these midget subs played in the Pearl Harbor attack, the technology and strategy behind the subs and the recent discovery of one sub sunk outside the harbor that morning. Accompany marine archaeologists on a dive as they get their first look at the sub and watch as a World War II vet gets his second look 61 years later. Forensic photo analysts use state-of-the-art technology to determine whether a controversial photo taken from a Japanese plane reveals a mysterious fifth sub firing on American ships inside Pearl Harbor that morning. Could the Americans have been warned in time to defend themselves against the Japanese attack?





Pearl Harbor was one of the greatest sea and air battles of the history. For many years, it's been said that the Japanese soldiers attacked first and that they were guilty of the deaths. However, many historians have doubts about this and they believe that the American soldiers overreacted against a simple exploration mission, provoking the Japanese troops to attack. With the help of experts and pictures taken during the battle, this documentary will try to determine what really happened that day.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Busted - The Citizens Guide to Surviving Police Encounters

Most people don't know their basic constitutional rights, and those who do usually waive them in the face of police intimidation. Worse, police rely on people's fear and ignorance of the law to trick them into waiving their rights, which often lands them in jail. That's why Flex Your Rights (FyR) -- a Washington, DC-based educational group -- created BUSTED: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters.




This fun 45-minute educational film realistically depicts three common police scenarios -- traffic stop, street stop, and home entry. Narrator Ira Glasser, a former ACLU executive director, shows you how to avoid cops gotcha games as they try to trick you into waiving your rights; how to be courteous but not intimidated by police tactics; and how phrases such as I don't consent to any searches can keep you out of jail.





BUSTED was made for anyone who's afraid that their looks or lifestyle makes them a target for law enforcement. This includes skaters, smokers, rockers, and freedom-loving people of all sorts.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Inside Hamas

What is the reality of daily life in Gaza under Hamas and can a militant religious organisation move from international pariah to meaningful political player? David Rosenberg explores the issues. ‘A man once jumped from the top floor of a burning building in which many members of his family had already perished. He managed to save his life; but as he was falling he hit a person standing down below and broke that person's legs and arms. The jumping man had no choice; yet to the man with the broken limbs he was the cause of his misfortune... The injured man blames the other for his misery and swears to make him pay for it.




The other, afraid of the crippled man's revenge, insults him, kicks him and beats him up whenever they meet.’ The Polish Jewish writer, Isaac Deutscher, used this analogy to illustrate the tragedy of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the basis on which it would endure. Deutscher doesn’t state the nationality, ethnicity or religion of the man who jumped or of the passer-by. There were enough conflicts throughout the 20th century to show that no community or nation has a monopoly either of doing harm or of being victims. Every group is capable of trampling on the rights of another.





While the creation of Israel in 1948 promised a secure future for Jewish refugees who had survived the Holocaust, it inflicted a permanent injustice on the Palestinian people, most of whom were dispossessed and turned into refugees. The Palestinians call this the Nakba (catastrophe). They fled mainly to neighbouring Arab states and some later reached Europe and America. In further wars (1956 and 1967), Israel gained more territory – Gaza from the Egyptians and the West Bank from Jordan – and annexed East Jerusalem. Today around half the Palestinians in the world live under military occupation in the West Bank, or under Israeli rule in East Jerusalem, or confined in Gaza – a narrow strip of land 40km by 5km along the Mediterranean, home to 1.5 million people, which Israel has evacuated while keeping the population there dependent on it for essential supplies.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Betrayed

Fergal Keane investigates how a terrible slaughter, three quarters of a century ago, has returned to haunt the relationship between Turkey and its western allies. For decades the Armenian people have campaigned to have the killings of hundreds of thousands of their forefathers in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 recognised as genocide.




But there has been an equally determined campaign by Turkey to deny genocide with threats of reprisals against any country which uses the word to describe the slaughter. Now as the United States steps up its efforts to win Ankara's support in any conflict with Iraq Correspondent reveals new Turkish pressures. Threats to withdraw military bases have forced the American Congress to abandon legislation which would have used the all important term, "genocide".





The programme also discloses how President George W Bush and his predecessor Bill Clinton both broke promises to the Armenian community that they would recognise genocide. Talking to Armenian survivors, Turkish officials and key political figures in the United States Correspondent investigates a story of terrible slaughter, political intrigue and a people betrayed.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Biography - Barrack Obama

When he called himself "a skinny kid with a funny name" at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, his political star was already on the rise. By the time he decimated the competition in 2004 race for the Illinois Senate, he was the bona fide golden child of a Democratic party desperately in need of a winner. In many ways, the story of Barack Obama is a uniquely American tale of the 21st century, where racial lines are blurry and the most interesting chapter is just beginning.




This prophetic biography about the life of Illinois senator Barack Obama was made before he began campaigning to be the Democratic party's candidate for the 2008 presidential race. Still, the program suggests Obama has one or another kind of profound, Anerican destiny as a mixed-race activist who never comfortably fit into one or another group, and had to look deep into his own roots to understand his identity. The son of a white American mother and black Kenyan father, Obama was abandoned by the latter when he returned to his native country to work for its improvement.





Raised by his mother--whom Obama credits with teaching him many of his values--and his grandmother, Obama lived in Hawaii as a child but moved to Indonesia for a few years when his mom remarried. There, Obama saw cyclical poverty and the underlying factors that perpetuate it before returning to Hawaii. Interviews with childhood friends and his sister describe Obama's restlessness before attending Harvard law school and propelling himself into a life of public service and community activism. Often accused of lacking enough political experience to qualify him for the White House, Obama comes across in this show as a visionary and experienced consensus-builder who can reach across opposing points of view.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Biometrics

In an increasing fear-driven world (which the establishment media helps drive) , the NWO keep pushing for less civil rights in the name of ‘the war on terror’ . These can come into effect of RFID tagging, biometrics in school and work places. The original purpose of biometrics would to be easier ID and security, and that such a thing. But wouldn’t it be bad if laws were passed to make it mandatory to have very tight biometric-like ID systems?




This is a documentary about how advances in technology are providing more innovative methods of personal identification - describing the pros & cons. It depicts technologies like scans of our fingerprints, retinas, veins in our hands & facial recognition.


PART ONE




PART TWO




Through interviews with researchers ,manufacturers and promoters of biometric techniques, this French documentary examines the various uses of biometrics (border control, building access security, workplace checks) and the way biometrics is implemented to serve political, military and technological interests in various parts of the world.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Nukes in Space

Boasting material that was recently declassified, this documentary presents some startling material about how the United States detonated a number of atomic bombs in space during a top-secret cold war weapons program. The history of military rockets is detailed, beginning with the Nazi V2 rockets that attacked England late in World War II.




The problems encountered in the America's cold war rocketry program is dramatically illustrated with a film montage of U.S. missiles spectacularly blowing up on their launch pads. After the Soviets launched Sputnik, America's resolve to be able to wage war in space stiffened, and test detonations of atomic weapons in space began. The effects of these little-known tests were bizarre and included electromagnetic disturbances that blew fuses in Hawaii while creating beautiful, if dangerous, artificial auroras that gave the tests the nickname of the "Rainbow Bombs."



Of particular interest in this documentary are tapes of White House meetings at which President John F. Kennedy and his top science and military advisers discussed the atomic tests in space. The bomb detonations caused radiation problems in space, damaging fledgling communications satellites, and the government eventually called an end to the program. This is an entertaining and very informative look at a piece of cold war history that seems like vintage science fiction, yet it's all real.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

The War On Democracy

Set both in Latin America and the United States, the film explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. Pilger claims that the film "...tells a universal story... analysing and revealing, through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called "war on terror". According to Pilger, the film’s message is that the greed and power of empire is not invincible and that people power is always the "seed beneath the snow".




Pilger interviews several ex-CIA agents who purportedly took part in secret campaigns against democratic countries and who he claims are profiting from the war in Iraq. He investigates the School of the Americas in the U.S. state of Georgia, where General Pinochet’s torture squads were reportedly trained along with tyrants and death-squad leaders in Haiti, El Salvador, Brazil and Argentina.





The film uses archive footage to support its claim that democracy has been wiped out in country after country in Latin America since the 1950s. Testimonies from those who fought for democracy in Chile and Bolivia are also used.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

In Debt We Trust

In America's earliest days, there were barn-raising parties in which neighbors helped each other build up their farms. Today, in some churches, there are debt liquidation revivals in which parishioners chip in to free each other from growing credit card debts that are driving American families to bankruptcy and desperation.




While many Americans may be "maxing out" on credit cards, there is a deeper story: power is shifting into fewer hands.....with frightening consequences.




In Debt We Trust shows how the mall replaced the factory as America's dominant economic engine and how big banks and credit card companies buy our Congress and drive us into what a former major bank economist calls modern serfdom. Americans and our government owe trillions in consumer debt and the national debt, a large amount of it to big banks and billions to Communist China.

Click here to visit the official website.

Owning the Weather

Back in 1995, a document titled "Owning the Weather in 2025" was submitted to the director of the United States Air Force, under a disguised notion that it was a fictional report and was not intended to be applied to real-life scenarios. The document was a detailed research analysis paper which described the potential of developing aerospace technologies, and more importantly, how they might best be used to harness, control and manipulate the natural forces of weather on this planet.




The technologies and capabilities described in this report have now become a reality, and have been documented all over the world. The "Space Preservation Act of 2001" was introduced on the floor of the House of Representatives by Dennis Kucinich and was an attempt to legislate the use of certain types of advanced weaponry, and not surprisingly, did not pass. Although Kucinich is just another gear in the NWO mechanism, the first-draft edition of this bill contains some very startling admissions to the types of weaponry the United States Air Force has been developing since the end of WWII, including such categories of weaponry as "biological", "electromagnetic", "tectonic", and most disturbingly, "chemtrails."





This film attempts to show that chemtrails are not a hoax, they are real, and they are part of an international conspiracy aimed not only at controlling the elements, but also at ascribing this new technology immediately to war-fighting applications.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Right America - Feeling Wronged

On the day Barack Obama was elected the 44th President, more than 58 million voters cast their ballots for John McCain. In the months leading up to this historic election, filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi took a road trip to meet some of the conservative Americans who waited in line for hours to support the GOP ticket, and saw their hopes and dreams evaporate in the wake of that Democratic victory. These voters share their feelings about the changing America in which they live.




For her fifth HBO project, Pelosi visited 28 states and spoke about the fight for the soul of the country with mostly conservative Americans, who feel underrepresented by the mainstream media. From the Pulpit Freedom Day in Bethlehem, Ga. to the NASCAR circuit, RIGHT AMERICA: FEELING WRONGED shows a country at war with itself over the religious and cultural identities that define America.





Many interviewees were particularly incensed by what they saw as a lack of any meaningful media attention given to their message during the election campaign - including their views on such hotly contested issues as gun control, abortion rights, religion and gay rights - and by a perceived media bias against McCain and running mate Sarah Palin.

Astrospies

Thanks to Simon for suggesting this documentary.

Millions remember the countdowns, launchings, splashdowns, and parades as the U.S. raced the USSR to the moon in the 1960s. But few know that both countries also ran parallel space programs, whose covert goal was to launch military astronauts on spying missions. In this program, NOVA delves into the untold story of this top-secret space race, which might easily have turned into a shooting war in orbit.




Coproduced by investigative journalist James Bamford, acclaimed best-selling author of The Puzzle Palace and Emmy Award-winning producer Scott Willis, "Astrospies" uncovers new clues about the tensest period of the Cold War, when the U.S. and USSR were on the verge of war and desperate for intelligence on each other's nuclear capabilities.




In the U.S., the Air Force-run program was given the cover name Manned Orbiting Laboratory. The public was informed only that the project involved placing military astronauts in space to conduct scientific research. But in reality, as the MOL pilots themselves tell NOVA, their actual mission was far different—although even they were kept in the dark at first.

Click here to visit the official website.

This film cannot be embedded, click here to watch this documentary.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Global Warming Doomsday Called Off

I would like to point out for the record that I do not agree with the premise of a global warming swindle. I earnestly belive that global warming is real and that humanity needs to act before it is too late.




This documentary claims to be about the real cause of global warming. It discusses the idea that CO2 is not cause of global warming. This documentary discusses many topics that are not covered in the Global Warming Swindle such as the hockey stick graph, from the viewpoint of Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas.





I find it amazing the lengths that 'flat-worlders' will go to when trying to prove their illogical arguments. Are these people visionaries or just nut-jobs...you decide!

Looking for the Revolution

THIS DOCUMENTARY IS IN JAPANESE ONLY...ENGLISH LINK WILL BE POSTED SOON!

Che Guevara died in Southern Bolivia while trying to ignite the sparks of revolution throughout South America. His death at the hands of Bolivian Rangers trained and financed by the US Government, marked the beginning of the cocaine era in Bolivia. Forty years later and under pressure from the masses who gave him a clear mandate, the first indigenous President Evo Morales (an ex-coca leaf farmer) is promising to continue the revolution.




He has nationalised the oil industry and passed laws on Agrarian reform. Despite the revolutionary-sounding election speeches and campaign iconography that accompanied his landslide victory, on closer inspection it emerges that the old system is pretty much alive inside the new one. Corruption, nepotism and old-fashioned populism are at the core of this movement.




The more Morales does to create employment, the more the landowners conspire against him and paralyse Bolivia’s economy. As a result, no jobs are created and the pressure from the poor increases. The cycle of tension threatens to crush both the country and the indigenous revolution. Looking for the Revolution is about the dynamics of that tension as witnessed by the characters of the film - the struggle for power between landowners and the indigenous movement, and the continuation of a revolution Morales-style, started so long ago.