flatwhite.net » Politics

The Unbelievable State of America

Matt — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:57:01 +0000

An understandably vitriolic Special Comment from Keith Olbermann on the recent 'Supreme' court decision to allow uncapped corporate spending on political campaigns in the United States.

Howard Zinn on American Empire

Matt — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:46:24 +0000

The linked clip is an adaptation from Zinn's book on American Empire and is worth eight and a half minutes of your day. Zinn died a week ago and in a recent interview said he'd like to be remembered for "getting more people to realize that the power which rests so far in the hands of people with wealth and guns, that the power ultimately rests in people themselves and that they can use it."

Farewell Curious George

Matt — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:20:41 +0000

Watched Fahrenheit 9/11 again the other day. I must say I find Moore’s documentaries pretty one-sided and a bit too emotive (though he does a good job of providing fact back-up here), but it was a timely reminder of the fuck up that has been the Bush administration. A brief clip below to stir the memory of Bush’s inauguration in 2001 - might be interesting to compare it to Obama’s next week.

We are the Kooks of America

Matt — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:23:17 +0000

Happy New Year! Trust you had a grand old time. I had the fortune to be whisked away to New Zealand for a fortnight of fun in the sun which was sheer bliss. Ahh... Has made it a wee bit tough to slide back into the chillier climes of Oxford, but there was a splash of blue sky on Wednesday which was lovely indeed. And, hey, spring is just around the corner, right? Right??

One of the quiver of my New Year resolutions was to throw a few more words up on FlatWhite in 2008, so perhaps you might begin to see some sort of regularity (gasp!) in the coming months. Thought I'd chip off the New Year with a few vids though. Words spoke by kooks that that have been simmering in my mind of late, care of the interweb.

Believe it or Not

Matt — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 09:25:52 +0000

Where documentaries such as Undercover Mosque are concerned that is a damned good thing. There is enough fear between Muslims and non-Muslims in the UK already without adding to that with shoddy reporting. I'm certainly not inferring there was shoddiness in this case - we'll have to wait and see what the result of the Ofcom investigation says - but if it was there it will be important to root it out.

Get Your Raid Out

Matt — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 01:12:41 +0000

The US Military - via the DoD - is currently investigating the potential use of moths as the frontline in stealth surveillance. The idea is to plant "micro-mechanical systems inside the insects during the early stages of metamorphisis" so that they become, essentially, remote-controlled. Recording devices would then be implanted and some lucky chap in a darkened room somewhere secret in the festy bowels of the US military would fly the poor bugger into...I dunno...caves in Afghanistan I guess...

What would Jesus do?

Matt — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:12:31 +0000

Now I know Jesus wasn't all peachy - after all, he was the guy who promised eternal damnation to anyone who didn't accept his teachings (and eternity is a really fucking long time) - but he was, generally, a pretty stand-up guy. Which is why whenever someone preaches prejudice, intolerance or hate at you all you gotta do is say, "C'mon man, what would Jesus do?"

Not-So-Tough Guys

Matt — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 18:39:43 +0000

For me, one of the starkest messages to contextualise the Iraq War was the juxtaposition of two images in an Adbusters issue last year. They placed, side-by-side, two photos. One was of a couple of bikini-clad girls taking in funnels of beer at Spring Break, surrounded by a tanned, cheering crowd. The other was of a group of American soliders street-side in Iraq, suffering an attack from an unidentified bomber, dwarfed by a fiery explosion.

War Games and a Flat White Hunt

Matt — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:58:19 +0000

The attacks came in multiple forms - overloaded web servers, published images of Soviet soldiers on government pages and a hacked fake message on the ruling party's website seeking forgiveness for the statue fiasco - all of which would seem to suggest there was at least Russian motivation if not government involvement. The Kremlin has denied such dastardliness however, and the Estonian government has since lowered that nervous finger. Inherent in such online crime though is the hiding and faking of tracks and Estonia may never know - or at least be able to prove - who exactly is to blame, despite the contextual inference that may suggest otherwise.

God Hates Fags

Matt — Wed, 16 May 2007 22:04:04 +0000

Jerry Falwell, founder of the rather unhelpful Moral Majority is dead. His legacy will live on through the twisted prejudice of spittling rednecks and the conservative wedge of the American middle-class whom he seeded and nourished during his years in prominence as a hate-monger.