Archived material from historical editions of The Generator
Scroogle is a screen-scraping proxy for the Google search engine that circumvents Google’s tracking of user activity via cookies. The site also allows users to perform Google searches without receiving Google advertisements. A Yahoo scraper is included. There is support for 28 languages, and Mozilla offers a Scroogle plugin for the Firefox search bar. Scroogle Continue Reading →
By Dave Edwards
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-05/23edwards.cfm
In Part 1 of this alert we showed how the mainstream media have been united in depicting Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez as an extreme, absurd and threatening figure. In essence, the public has been urged to consider Chavez beyond the pale of respectable politics.
As John Pilger has observed, British media attacks "resemble uncannily those of the privately owned Venezuelan television and press, which called for the elected government to be overthrown". (Pilger, ‘Chávez is a threat because he offers the alternative of a decent society,’ The Guardian, May 13, 2006; http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1773908,00.html)
We focused mainly on news reports, skipping many of the more madcap comment pieces. Aleksander Boyd, for example, wrote in the Times of how: "The Venezuelan President aligns himself with dictators, human rights abusers and notorious narcoterrorists." (Boyd, ‘Guess who’s coming to dinner with Red Ken?,’ The Times, May 9, 2006)
No surprise, then, to learn that in thrall to this monster: "Venezuela has ceased to be a real democracy: it now exists instead in the murky twilight world between democracy and dictatorship, where there is still a free press and a nod to holding elections." (Ibid)
By Dave Edwards
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-05/20edwards.cfm
Controlling what we think is not solely about controlling what we know – it is also about controlling who we respect and who we find ridiculous.
Thus we find that Western leaders are typically reported without adjectives preceding their names. George Bush is simply "US president George Bush". Condoleeza Rice is "the American secretary of state Condoleeza Rice". Tony Blair is just "the British prime minister".
The leader of Venezuela, by contrast, is "controversial left-wing president Hugo Chavez" for the main BBC TV news. (12:00, May 14, 2006). He is as an "extreme left-winger," while Bolivian president Evo Morales is "a radical socialist", according to Jonathan Charles on BBC Radio 4. (6 O’Clock News, May 12, 2006)
Imagine the BBC introducing the US leader as "controversial right-wing president George Bush", or as an "extreme right-winger". Is Bush – the man who illegally invaded Iraq on utterly fraudulent pretexts – +less+ controversial than Chavez? Is Bush less far to the right of the political spectrum than Chavez is to the left?
Our energy use is equivalent to 40 slaves working for us in shifts, doing what slaves used to do – produce our food, transport us, wash our clothes, entertain us, fan us when we are hot and so on, suggested lan Lowe, Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society at Griffith University and president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, in The Courier Mail (1 June 2006, p.30).
Policy vacuum: He said energy is also used to ease other shortages. Cities without water process seawater – using energy. "But we still have no overall energy policy, for Queensland or nationally, to plan the transitions from cheap oil and large-scale coal use."
Bigger bowser shocks coming: Professor Lowe said petroleum fuels are becoming more expensive as increasing demand faces slowing production. Prices are now about $1.20 a litre – less than we pay for milk, orange juice, beer or cask wine. We could be paying $2 by the end of the year and $5 by 2010. That will have a dramatic impact.
How should we respond? The response should include both supply options – other transport fuels – as well as the demand side of the equation: how can we reduce our need for oil products?
Alternatives are there: Some alternative transport fuels have been known and used for decades: alcohol from sugar cane and synthetic liquid fuel from gas. There are also new forms of transport energy on the horizon; hydrogen produced from water by renewable energy is the most likely to be sustainable.
We must look more to renewables: As a specific example, the world’s energy use for a year is only about double the solar energy hitting Australia in one summer day. "We should get much more of our energy from sun, wind and other renewable sources. It will cost a bit more than burning coal, but it won’t impose the large and growing costs of climate change."
The Courier Mail, 1/6/2006, p. 30
Source: Erisk Net
A videogame simulating an invasion of Venezuela is supposed to hit the shelves next year, but it’s already raising the ire of lawmakers loyal to President Hugo Chavez, reported The Daily Telegraph (31/5/2006, p.11). Congressman fears game part of US psyops: Chavez supporters in Venezuela’s National Assembly suspect the makers of ‘Mercenaries 2: World in Continue Reading →
New US video game designed to demonize both President Hugo Chavez and the innocent people of Venezuela. Read about the game