FUSsa-talk Mailing List: Fwd: Z Communications Update June 15, 2008 & John Pilger on Obama

[Robert Tapp (tappx001]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Robert Tapp <tappx001 [at] umn.edu>
> Date: June 15, 2008 6:15:23 PM CDT
> To: Humanist Institute Discussion List <hidisc [at] humanistinstitute.org>
> Subject: Fwd: Z Communications Update June 15, 2008 & John Pilger  
> on Obama
>
> Many humanists are Noam Chomsky fans, and all humanists should stay  
> in touch with Z-Communications that is organized around his social  
> and political ideas. If you haven't signed on, here's how:
>
> (note the excellent model that has been evolving here for getting  
> out <minority> ideas to a wide audience).
>
> Bob
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> > From: zhelp [at] zcommunications.org
> > Date: June 15, 2008 12:56:20 PM CDT
> >
> > Subject: Z Communications Update June 15, 2008 & John Pilger on Obama
> > Reply-To: zhelp [at] zcommunications.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Z Magazine Available
> >
> > June issue...
> > Special Series on the Economy
> > Herman: Lunacy
> > Military & media
> > Kwoak: Racial Profiling
> > Legalization...
> > Rasmus: Recession?
> > Financial crisis...
> > Terrall: The Flood
> > Book review...
> >
> > Featured
> > New Video
> >
> >
> >
> > Cracks in the EdificeNaomi Klein, Mahamood Mamdani, Tariq Ali, and  
> > Adam Hochschild
> > A Left Forum panel discussion on "cracks" in support for U.S.  
> > Empire-building, resulting from years of waging war in Iraq and  
> > Afghanistan; from attempts to "colonize" Africa through so-called  
> > humanitarian efforts--particularly in Dafur--and from failed neo- 
> > economic policies resulting in growing public perceptions and  
> > challenges to the class war being waged by elites.
> >
> > Filmed in March 2008.
> >
> > Run time, 1 hr, 30 min.
> >
> > Other Recent Videos
> >
> > Tabb: Financial Crisis
> > Left Forum panel
> >
> > Albert: 2008 Campaign
> > Interviews with Sargent
> >
> > Chomsky: We Own the World
> > 2007 ZMI talk.
> >
> > Clemente: Who You Calling A Bitch?
> > Race, Gender & Hip Hop
> >
> > Tokar: Revolution or Submersion
> > Global Warming
> >
> > Lenoir: Immigration
> > 2007 U.S. Social Forum Panel
> >
> > Martinez: Liberating Gender & Sexuality
> > U.S. Social Forum Plenary, 2007
> >
> > All ZVideos...
> > Become a Sustainer      
> > Z Communications Update
> > June 15, 2008
> >
> >
> > Dear  ,
> >
> > In this mailing we - report on the remarkable response to ZSchool  
> > - announce some major new innovations in ZCom - and also include a  
> > sample commentary of the sort that we mail nightly to Sustainers:  
> > John Pilger's, "Obama Is A Hawk."
> >
> > ZSchool Takes Off
> >
> > A few weeks ago we pre-announced that we were going to do a small  
> > summer session of the new ZSchool, to get up to speed with the new  
> > software, methodologies, etc. We decided to keep it simple and  
> > offer only five courses. We expected perhaps 20 or 30 people would  
> > sign up for each course. The official initial sign up day was  
> > today, June 15.
> >
> > So here is the news.
> >
> > There are already 940 people signed up in the school and it looks  
> > like each course will have well over 100 students. In October we  
> > will offer between 25 and 50 courses. You can imagine the  
> > potential of this project.
> >
> > Please note: you can still sign up for the summer session - and if  
> > you are or if you become a Sustainer, as announced previously,the  
> > summer courses are free.
> >
> > However, we must now also report that clearly the enrollment per  
> > class is going to be many times what we anticipated, and likewise  
> > the faculty workload. So, unexpectedly, we will ask, in early July  
> > and not before, for Sustainer students to consider making an  
> > optional donation for the faculty. This will be purely optional...  
> > but we do hope there will be enough response from students so we  
> > can pay the faculty for their unexpectedly demanding "overtime"  
> > exertions.
> >
> > The newly activated innovations and refinements of the site, with  
> > some instructions on use for those interested, include:
> >
> > Many New ZCom Innovations and Facilities
> >
> > When we completed the initial ZCom Upgrade, after admittedly  
> > tremendous and quite debilitating delays, we promised that the new  
> > site would allow us to regularly improve and expand offerings. Of  
> > course promises are easy to make and hard to keep. But - the  
> > following innovations are not an end, but a beginning of steady  
> > enrichment... and make the case, we think, that are upgrade has  
> > indeed created platform for unending growth and innovation.
> >
> > Please note, however, that for the next week or so, we will be  
> > further tweaking these innovations and facilities, to fix bugs,  
> > correct display problems, etc. There may be some modest  
> > disruptions. Also please note, the list below is far from  
> > exhaustive, though it does include all the major changes.
> >
> > ZSchool
> >
> > This is described briefly above... please visit!
> >
> > New ZNet Top Page Display
> >
> > Many people complained, we think rightly, that the tab menu and  
> > banners and other items at the top of the ZNet top page took up  
> > too much vertical space, particularly on laptops or other small  
> > monitors. Thus, we have added a toggle option that dramatically  
> > reduces the space consumed at the top. The link is next to your  
> > name, where it says "Hello " when you are logged in. It appears  
> > near the top of nearly all pages.
> >
> > In the third column of the ZNet top page we have also added a new  
> > box so there is now one for writer blogs and one for sustainer  
> > blogs. This is because the blog system is so successful,  
> > particularly Sustainer participation in blogging, and we wanted  
> > more visibility for it.
> >
> > In the middle column, there will now be more variation, day to  
> > day, in contents.
> >
> > New ZSpace Display
> >
> > It seemed to us that the old ZSpace display while elegant and  
> > clear, wasn't optimal for ease of use. So we have redesigned both  
> > the overall ZSpace top page and each user's ZSpace page to be more  
> > like the overall ZCom design. You can toggle, however, between the  
> > old and new approach for viewing, so how things look is up to the  
> > user. Sustainers should start to make more use of their pages,  
> > putting up personal content, etc., soon, noting which they wish to  
> > feature as well. The more content sustainers upload, the more  
> > sense we think the new design makes. If you go to quite active  
> > writer's page, using the new design, and then try the left menu,  
> > we think you will see the benefits.
> >
> > New ZSpace Features
> >
> > Sustainers now have admin control over the content of the center  
> > column of their ZSpace page and can chat with friends from ZSpace,  
> > etc.
> >
> > And the left menu makes for very easy display of all the ZSpacer's  
> > content. If you visit a Z Writer's page you will see the value of  
> > the left menu. Try it.
> >
> > We added, also, an amusing element in the left menu of personal  
> > pages - you can see not only a Sustainer's immediate friends, but  
> > also additional friends of friends, etc.
> >
> > Also, Sustainers can now name their own Blog system...
> >
> > And Sustainers can create their own photo albums for display to  
> > all users via ZSpace.
> >
> > We have also made a number of changes in hopes of promoting  
> > increased networking - ZCom groups now include email tools, chat  
> > tools, the possibility of multiple folks helping admin them, and  
> > group RSS feeds, as well as the new display features.
> >
> > Commenting on Commentaries
> >
> > Every night we send a Z commentary to all sustainers by Z Writers  
> > such as the sample commentary by John Pilger below this mailing.  
> > We have added links to the email commentary inviting sustainers to  
> > comment on the nightly mailings. These links are added at the very  
> > bottom of the commentary.
> >
> > New Video Features
> >
> > Z Admin can now add flash videos to the site and we will be doing  
> > so, shortly, in two ways. Excerpts from Z Video Productions DVDs  
> > as well as other short Z produced political offerings will start  
> > to appear on the site, on the one hand, and we will also be  
> > putting up tutorials to help with use of the site, on the other  
> > hand. More uses will likely arise over time.
> >
> > New Chat Facility
> >
> > While for now we don't offer audio options, we have added online  
> > chat facilities in this overhaul. We have both chat rooms and  
> > chatting with ZSpace friends, including indications if they are  
> > online or not. Using these facilities is similar to all chat  
> > facilities...and shouldn't present problems.
> >
> > New Calendar Facility
> >
> > We have added an elaborate calendar facility for entering events,  
> > talks, etc. We are still working a bit on how to link it  
> > throughout the site... Soon these will appear with information  
> > included.
> >
> > New Polling Facilities
> >
> > We have added two polling tools. The first polling facility allows  
> > simple one question polls or surveys. Sustainers will be able to  
> > use this to put simple polls of their own design on their ZSpace  
> > pages, blogs, articles, etc. Z Admin can use it, likewise, to put  
> > simple one question polls on the top page of the site, or  
> > elsewhere. The second polling facility lets Z Admin put major  
> > multi-question polls online. Instances will appear soon!
> >
> > New Wikis
> >
> > We have added a wiki system to the site. To be honest we are not  
> > yet entirely sure how we are going to use this...but we are  
> > thinking about, among other options, having sustainers create a  
> > kind of left encyclopedia.
> >
> > EMail notifications and messaging
> >
> > It has been hard to know, up until now, when you have a message,  
> > or when a group you are in - in ZSpace has new content, or a  
> > forum, etc., etc. We have added and are still bringing to  
> > fruition, multiple new email update features. For example, group  
> > members in ZSpace can write to all others in the group. If someone  
> > wants to be your friend, in ZSpace, you get a notice with a link  
> > to go assess the request, if you want. If you get comments, etc.,  
> > again you get an email update. And so on...
> >
> > General Display
> >
> > There are numerous minor improvements in display, for example, of  
> > quotations, lyrics, etc. Also we have added a cumulative display  
> > of comments.
> >
> > Here now is the sample commentary by John Pilger...
> >
> > In The Great Tradition, Obama Is A Hawk by John Pilger
> >
> > In 1941, the editor Edward Dowling wrote: "The two greatest  
> > obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first, the  
> > widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and  
> > second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it." What  
> > has changed? The terror of the rich is greater than ever, and the  
> > poor have passed on their delusion to those who believe that when  
> > George W Bush finally steps down next January, his numerous  
> > threats to the rest of humanity will diminish.
> >
> > The foregone nomination of Barack Obama, which, according to one  
> > breathless commentator, "marks a truly exciting and historic  
> > moment in US history", is a product of the new delusion. Actually,  
> > it just seems new. Truly exciting and historic moments have been  
> > fabricated around US presidential campaigns for as long as I can  
> > recall, generating what can only be described as bullshit on a  
> > grand scale. Race, gender, appearance, body language, rictal  
> > spouses and offspring, even bursts of tragic grandeur, are all  
> > subsumed by marketing and "image-making", now magnified by  
> > "virtual" technology. Thanks to an undemocratic electoral college  
> > system (or, in Bush's case, tampered voting machines) only those  
> > who both control and obey the system can win. This has been the  
> > case since the truly historic and exciting victory of Harry  
> > Truman, the liberal Democrat said to be a humble man of the  
> > people, who went on to show how tough he was by obliterating two  
> > cities with the atomic bomb.
> >
> > Understanding Obama as a likely president of the United States is  
> > not possible without understanding the demands of an essentially  
> > unchanged system of power: in effect a great media game. For  
> > example, since I compared Obama with Robert Kennedy in these  
> > pages, he has made two important statements, the implications of  
> > which have not been allowed to intrude on the celebrations. The  
> > first was at the conference of the American Israel Public Affairs  
> > Committee (Aipac), the Zionist lobby, which, as Ian Williams has  
> > pointed out, "will get you accused of anti-Semitism if you quote  
> > its own website about its power". Obama had already offered his  
> > genuflection, but on 4 June went further. He promised to support  
> > an "undivided Jerusalem" as Israel's capital. Not a single  
> > government on earth supports the Israeli annexation of all of  
> > Jerusalem, including the Bush regime, which recognises the UN  
> > resolution designating Jerusalem an international city.
> >
> > His second statement, largely ignored, was made in Miami on 23  
> > May. Speaking to the expatriate Cuban community - which over the  
> > years has faithfully produced terrorists, assassins and drug  
> > runners for US administrations - Obama promised to continue a 47- 
> > year crippling embargo on Cuba that has been declared illegal by  
> > the UN year after year.
> >
> >  Again, Obama went further than Bush. He said the United States  
> > had "lost Latin America". He described the democratically elected  
> > governments in Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua as a "vacuum" to  
> > be filled. He raised the nonsense of Iranian influence in Latin  
> > America, and he endorsed Colombia's "right to strike terrorists  
> > who seek safe-havens across its borders". Translated, this means  
> > the "right" of a regime, whose president and leading politicians  
> > are linked to death squads, to invade its neighbours on behalf of  
> > Washington. He also endorsed the so-called Merida Initiative,  
> > which Amnesty International and others have condemned as the US  
> > bringing the "Colombian solution" to Mexico. He did not stop  
> > there. "We must press further south as well," he said. Not even  
> > Bush has said that.
> >
> > It is time the wishful-thinkers grew up politically and debated  
> > the world of great power as it is, not as they hope it will be.  
> > Like all serious presidential candidates, past and present, Obama  
> > is a hawk and an expansionist. He comes from an unbroken  
> > Democratic tradition, as the war-making of presidents Truman,  
> > Kennedy, Johnson, Carter and Clinton demonstrates. Obama's  
> > difference may be that he feels an even greater need to show how  
> > tough he is. However much the colour of his skin draws out both  
> > racists and supporters, it is otherwise irrelevant to the great  
> > power game. The "truly exciting and historic moment in US history"  
> > will only occur when the game itself is challenged.
> >
> > Sustainers can comment on this commentary here:http://www.zmag.org/ 
> > zspace/commentaries/3524
> >
> >
> >
> > Join Up Info
> >
> > If you haven't already done so, please Sign Up as a Sustainer.
> >
> > Sustainers see all content free, receive nightly update mailings,  
> > and also get access to diverse facilities and features depending  
> > on their donation level. We offer commenting throughout the site,  
> > forums and blogging, rss feeds, ZMag online, discounts on subs and  
> > on videos, and much more - with still more, such as chat,  
> > calendars, and polls coming soon. Find out the options or join via  
> > our link to Sign Up
> >
> > Shortly we will be putting various polls online. We hope you will  
> > register your preferences.
> >
> >
> > Sustainers
> > Commentaries
> >
> > Sustainers get commentaries sent each night directly to their  
> > email. Here are author and titles of some commentaries we have  
> > recently sent...
> >
> > Pilger: Obama Is A Hawk
> >
> > Prashad: Roof the World
> >
> > Abu-Jamal: Obama's Victory?
> >
> > Jensen: Masculine or Feminine
> >
> > Nevins: Apartheid's Global Face
> >
> > Gordon: Land Not People
> >
> > Glick: Renewable Energy!
> >
> > Landau: This Mess
> >
> > Hoodbhoy: Ten Years Later
> >
> > All Commentaries
> >
> > And Sustainers can also have online friends including chatting,  
> > uploading of rss feeds, uploading their own articles, poems,  
> > quotes, book and site preferences, etc., plus, among other  
> > benefits, having their own blogs.
> > Become a Sustainer
> >
> >
> > Blogs
> >
> > Here are some recent blog authors and titles:
> >
> > Albert: Ideology
> >
> > Street: Systemic Flaws
> >
> > Evans: Setting-up PPS-UK
> >
> > Majavu: Xenophobic Violence
> >
> > Young: Good, Bad Vets
> >
> > Majavu: Arming Africa
> >
> > All Blogs