John Howard: not, not... responsible

Midnight Oil, if I've unintentionally messed with your copyright to "Forgotten Years", please excuse me as it is in a noble cause!

Original Post at 'Labor View from Broome'

Media Matter

American Liberalism #2



GoLeft TV sounds very radical but seems to fit comfortably into the American liberal tradition. This online service has regular news reports and a range of videos channels such as documentaries, the labour movement, consumerism and the environment. Like the Huffington Post, it is worth a visit to see what our American friends think about their President and issues which often get superficial coverage, at best, in our mass media.

In fact some of the videos explore what has happened to the ownership of the mass media, which has been concentrated in fewer and fewer grubby hands. If anything is globalised it is the control of the media empires. We live in a media hegemony which was unthinkable forty years ago. During the early '70s the Australia Party and to some extent the ALP fought against unfettered foreign ownership of Australia's economy and the concentration of media ownership. Both those battles were lost in the '80s. There is little debate now about the former because of the victory of the latter.

Hence the need for alternative media sources and networks which use them effectively. A form of internationalisation that the web does so well and also so badly at times.

More at: Labor View from Broome

Turbulence

Iraq

Whenever someone writes a memoir in the States these days they dump on George Bush. Alan Greenspan is no exception. He joins Brendan Nelson in admitting that oil was a reason for the Iraq invasion. To quote from Greenspan's book, The Age of Turbulence:

I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.

For more visit the New York Times analysis.

Polls

Latest Newspoll gets us back to reality. The ALP will not get more than 53% in the final two party preferred count and it has always been a close thing. The election will still be won one seat, one candidate at a time. Back to the fight!

More at: Labor View from Broome