Archive

Something very wrong with Microsoft’s propaganda unit

A little something to make you laugh. I’ve seen some cringe-inducing videos from Microsoft over the years but this one, promoting their Professional Developers Conference, may take the cake. (via Daring Fireball)

Surely they have highly paid propagandists who said, no, bad idea? Maybe their cringe-loving CEO, Steve Ballmer, thought it would be a good idea.

NZ election now about trust

No Right Turn:

Espiner agrees that the election is now all about trust, but he characterises it as trust in economic management. I’d characterise it differently. Recessions aren’t about poor macroeconomic statistics, but about people - people who are going to lose their jobs, and need to fall back on the state in their time of need. The question then is who do we trust to care for the victims (remembering that any of us could end up as one of them), minimise the damage, and ensure they can get on with their lives when the economy picks up again? The people who slashed welfare benefits? Or the people who have maintained them? The people who slashed health spending? Or the people who have expanded it? The people who don’t care about the poor? Or the people who do?

Chomsky on Latin America and the Carribean

Chomsky speaking at the Social Summit in Venezuela a couple of weeks ago.


I have a theory about climate change deniers

How many anti-capitalist climate change deniers do you know? Do they even exist? I presume there are at least some out there but the only deniers I personally know are also ardent advocates of market economics. Go through a list of prominent sceptics and you also invariably find within it a little club of market economy advocates.

Maybe they subconsciously realise what many don’t want to talk about; that climate change has happened under the market economy’s watch.

U.S. spending $100 million a year on propaganda in Iraq

Washington Post:

U.S. to Fund Pro-American Publicity in Iraqi Media

The Defense Department will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to “engage and inspire” the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government.

I love how they refer to it as “Pro-American Publicity.”