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The Martin Luther King You Don’t See on TV

Written by Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon
Saturday, 07 April 2007
It’s become a TV ritual: Every year on April 4, as Americans commemorate Martin Luther King’s death, we get perfunctory network news reports about “the slain civil rights leader.” The remarkable thing about these reviews of King’s life is that several years – his last years – are totally missing, as if flushed down a memory hole.
Last Updated ( Monday, 16 April 2007 )
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READING: 'The Futurist': The Hero Goes Around Spouting Drivel. It Pays the Bills.

Written by JANET MASLIN
Saturday, 31 March 2007
This is the past history of the Futurist, the terminally cynical (and paradoxically nearsighted) main character in James P. Othmer's debut novel. He used to believe that things were getting better. He thought that science had a heart and that progress had a conscience. Then came doubts, followed by questions and alarming insights. Soon this high-profile, big-ticket trend prognosticator was prophesying doom and gloom. THE FUTURIST By James P. Othmer (Non Fiction) "He began to criticize the present, and he warned of a more damaged tomorrow if we refused to change," Mr Othmer writes. "He gave heads-ups and watch-outs, supported by facts and scientifically validated forecasts and cautionary tales." But this kind of outlook left his audiences feeling troubled, which was not the desired effect. "It was suggested that he might want to put a bit more of a smile back on his work." So the Futurist, named Yates, switched gears and began telling those audiences what they wanted to hear. Those are the preliminaries for this acerbically funny book, clearly written by a refugee from corporate culture. Mr Othmer, who used to be an executive at the advertising firm Young & Rubicam, has obviously heard or delivered his share of baloney-laden lectures. He knows the protocol of the business trip, the pecking order at the creative conference and the strategic efficacy of spouting pure nonsense when the time is right.
Last Updated ( Saturday, 31 March 2007 )
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The Web Works for the Grassroots, but Political Power Still Lies with the Few

Written by Gary Younge
Saturday, 31 March 2007
At the Meet the Future lunch in Sydney last week, Tim Longhurst discussed futures for democracy. Identifying recent trends, he raised several examples of online political action committees such as GetUp! in Australia and MoveOn in the United States. With thousands of members, the organising potential is enormous. Here, Gary Younge challenges the perceived power of internet 'grass roots democracy' in the face of the established power of the Clinton and Bush 'dynasties'. Whatever happened to Tom Vilsack? Vilsack appeared on the presidential scene without trace and faded with even less commotion. Since, according to a recent survey, Americans have been paying more attention to coverage of Anna Nicole Smith than the 2008 presidential campaign, few have missed him. But on February 23 he bowed out of the Democratic primaries almost a year before the first vote was to be cast. "I have the boldest plan to get us out of Iraq and a long-term policy for energy security to keep us out of future oil wars," said Vilsack in his concession speech. This is not true. Vilsack was a fairly ordinary candidate with fairly ordinary policies. His plans were not bold. In a free and fair contest of content, charisma and character the voters would probably not go for him. The issue is that they will never get the chance. Before he could get his name on a ballot, money had the final say. "This process has become a great deal about money. A lot of money," he said. "So it is money, and only money, that is the reason why we are leaving today." That is entirely true. The dominant role of money in US politics is widely acknowledged but all too rarely interrogated. The corruption scandals that made the news last year flouted the letter of the law but did not violate its spirit. Money buys access; access begets influence. It is as close to a textbook definition of corruption as you can get - but it's still legal. "We have created a culture in which there's no distinction between what is illegal and what is unethical," says the former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.
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Obituary: Tim Onosko, 60; futurist helped refine Disney's Epcot

Written by Valerie J. Nelson
Saturday, 31 March 2007
LOS ANGELES: Within the Disney empire, Tim Onosko was known as the go-to guy for the future. By often accurately forecasting how technology would alter the entertainment landscape, he developed a reputation as a high-tech soothsayer. At Disney, he helped refine the newly opened Epcot in Florida in the 1980s by steering the theme park's designers toward cutting-edge gadgets. He also played a more ethereal role: By celebrating what technology could do, according to company executives, Onosko helped the engineers and designers known as Imagineers lose their fear of stepping into the future. Onosko, who also was a journalist and filmmaker, died March 6 at his home in Madison, Wis., after battling pancreatic cancer, said his wife, Beth Abrohams. He was 60. Walt Disney had barely sketched out plans for Epcot before his death in 1966, and the company was looking for someone to help inspire Imagineers as they wrestled with technology's ever-evolving effects on society, said Tony Baxter, senior vice president of creative development at Walt Disney Imagineering.
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Frankenstein foods: the rice with human genes

Written by Sean Poulter
Wednesday, 07 March 2007
The first GM food crop containing human genes is set to be approved for commercial production, reports the UK's Daily Mail (06 03 07). The laboratory-created rice produces some of the human proteins found in breast milk and saliva. Its U.S. developers say they could be used to treat children with diarrhoea, a major killer in the Third World. The rice is a major step in so-called Frankenstein Foods, the first mingling of human-origin genes and those from plants. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture has already signalled it plans to allow commercial cultivation. The rice's producers, California-based Ventria Bioscience, have been given preliminary approval to grow it on more than 3,000 acres in Kansas. The company plans to harvest the proteins and use them in drinks, desserts, yoghurts and muesli bars.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 March 2007 )
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