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- Evening conversations on (re-)reading the Bible
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Politics
Do you want Lockheed Martin to run the next UK Census in 2011?
The next UK Census will be in 2011. It might be run by an American arms manufacturer. Maybe that's not a good thing.
The Green Party have put together a video explaining the potential significance of the UK government putting the running of the 2011 census out to contract by private companies.
Iraq Conspiracy
Don't know whether anyone saw this programme, which I think was broadcast on Sky Two here in the UK about a year ago, but I've just discovered it on YouTube.
The beginning of the programme is an insightful assessment of conspiracy theories on the underlying reasons for the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The second half, though, constructs an alternative picture of the motives for the invasion that is less conspiracy theory and more a theory of conspiracies - US hunger for oil 1, the petrodollar2 3 and the American need to reassert US global economic, military and political dominance.
Make sure you watch to the end to get the full exposition of the theory of conspiracies.
- 5% of the world's population consuming 25% of the world's oil, as they state in the programme.
- A petrodollar is a dollar earned by a country through the sale of petroleum. The term was coined by Ibrahim Oweiss, a professor of economics at Georgetown University, in 1973. Oweiss felt there was a need for a word to describe the situation which was occurring in the OPEC countries, balance of trade is largely offset by its role as a reserve currency. On the other hand, the demand for petrodollars is a significant factor in increasing the U.S. trade deficit in the first place, and it also increases inflation. Given the general tendency for crude oil prices to rise and become more volatile in recent years, it may even be argued that crude oil trading may, in the long term, be a significant liability for the stability of the currency in which the trade is conducted.
Source: Wikipedia: Petrodollar - See also The Rise of the Petroeuro, an excellent article in The Republic that articulates the relationship between the American dollar, oil, and American imperial hegemony, and the threat posed by the Euro as oil trade currency.
Schools' Song for Peace - No Wars Will Stop Us Singing
This year, to celebrate International Peace Day (September 21, every year), up and down the UK children in schools, choirs and youth groups have been learning a specially commissioned Song for Peace. Children across the country will sing the song No Wars Will Stop Us Singing on 21 September 2006.
The song was originally written for Youth Music's Singbook by award-winning duo Debbie Wiseman and Don Black. It is promoted by BBC Radio 2 presenter Aled Jones, and the NASUWT teachers' union and the charity Youth Music are leading the celebrations.
UN World Peace Day 2006
In 1999, British filmmaker Jeremy Gilley launched a new film project called Peace One Day. In September 2001, Peace One Day achieved one of it's key objectives when a United Nations General Assembly resolution (A/Res/55/282), put forward by the UK and Costa Rican governments, was unanimously adopted by all UN member states, formally establishing an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on the UN International Day of Peace, fixed in the global calendar on 21 September - Peace Day.
Google Video: Peace One Day trailer:
God Spoke...
… and Al Franken followed. And God looked and said 'It is good.'
I know it's another trailer, but I love films and this looks like it's going to be another good one. Ok, so it's about US politics, but over here we love looking in from the outside and laughing at how messed up y'all got it over there!
Al Franken: God Spoke is a film out of the same school yard as Farenheit: 9/11 - a comic takes on the politicians and lambasts their best attempts to persuade us all that they're right by showing exactly why they're wrong. In Al Franken's case, the premise is simple: they're liars.
Here's the YouTube.com trailer...
Check out the official site: www.godspokefilm.com.
The Ground Truth movie
I watched the trailer for the forthcoming film 'The Ground Truth' on Apple Trailers today - seems like a pretty profound and powerful movie about the reality of life in the modern armed forces.
The blurb on Apple.com's The Ground Truth trailer page says … 'The filmmaker’s subjects are patriotic young Americans - ordinary men and women who heeded the call for military service in Iraq - as they experience recruitment and training, combat, homecoming, and the struggle to reintegrate with families and communities.'
Here's the YouTube.com trailer:
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