I own stock in Chevron. Not cool Corporate America.
YouTube Description: "This open letter to the American people, from the communities in Ecuador devastated by oil giant Chevron's contamination, is being released at the same time a delegation of Ecuadorians are traveling to the US to meet with reporters, lawmakers, institutional investors, shareholders, activist allies, supporters, ahead of Chevron's annual shareholders meeting on May 25th.
To sign the petition in solidarity with the communities in Ecuador, [click here.]"
[UPDATE] 2011.05.20 11:24 PM EST: Click here to check out the NPR article "Obama: We Stand With Those 'Who Are Reaching For Their Rights'."
Open Letter to the United States from the Ecuadorian Amazon
Lil Wayne - Swag surfin' (off his No Ceilings mixtape, which I'm sure is to be found somewhere around here).
"Katrina wiped the city out, but couldn't fuck wit Holly Grove / lost some real niggas I knew from a long time ago / but Heaven or Hell, I'm hopin' that they be where I'm-a go / take a nigga gale and make her come give me a private show / still long hair, don't care, like a Navajo / [...]" - Weezy (Please-Don't-Forget-The) F. Baby
Short Dawg The Native - Sometimes off The Black Sheep. Shouts to Alycia Steele Ista Zizi.
A personal narrative describing one (Cree) Native American's experience in the boarding school the United States government forced him to go to. What if you were beaten on the first day of school (and every day afterward until you stopped, simply) for speaking the language you learned at home?
Our Spirits Don't Speak English: Indian Boarding School.
And as far as U.S. government injustice goes . . .
Nine-year-old Brisenia Flores was murdered in her home in Arivaca, Arizona in May 2009. She pleaded, "Please don't shoot me," right before she was shot -- point blank, in the face -- by a member of the Minutemen American Defense Corps (MAD).
Brisenia's story has been largely ignored in the mainstream media, but her life has galvanized people around the country to speak out against hate violence towards Latinos. We at Presente designed a poster to honor Brisenia's memory, and to send a statement that we want justice.
So Gizmodo got their hands on the newest version of the iPhone before its release (as you may have heard - click here if not), but what an irritated Steve Jobs answered Gizmodo contributor Ryan Tate inquiry about the "revolutionary" nature of the iPad, well . . .
I didn't plan to pick a fight with Steve Jobs last night. It just sort of happened: An iPad advertisement ticked me off; I sent the Apple CEO an angry email; he told me about "freedom from porn."
The war between Google and Apple continues to heat up: The Wall Street Journal reports that Google will launch a music service tied to its search engine later this year and that it will follow this with a subscription music service in 2011. Details are vague, and Google has not yet announced deals with any record labels, but the Journal says the first step will be an online store that will show up when users search Google for a song or artist. The long-term goal is a cloud-based subscription service that will work with Google’s Android mobile phones; such a service would allow users to play music on their phones without storing it there.
...To be fair this is a free Google blog and I use Gmail...and I found most of these images using Google Image Search...and I use Google Wave...and have used/at least looked at a Google Calendar and Google Notebook...and my brother has an Android-based phone...and I want one...and I have an iGoogle page...and my cousin uses Google Voice...not to mention Google Chrome (browser; see below) and Google Chrome (the forthcoming operating system), among other things...
Cool Chrome Brower ad. . .
"Google Chrome Speed Tests."
Oh, have you heard about Google's illegal Wi-Fi snooping?
Google's misadventures in Wi-Fi data collection continue, as attorneys general from about 30 states are weighing a large-scale investigation of the company over their use of Street View cars to illicitly gather Wi-Fi network information. This could get ugly.
Have you heard about Google Internet-tizing printed books? (Click here for Google's side/forum) and
as for Rupert Murdoch's (I have to admit things like this make me take a shining to Google; he's pissed about Google aggregating news - power to the people?) side:
"We are seeking justice and fair compensation for visual artists whose work appears in the twelve million books and other publications Google has illegally scanned to date," ASMP General Counsel Victor Perlman said in a statement. "In doing so, we are giving voice to thousands of disenfranchised creators of visual artworks whose rights we hope to enforce through this class action."
Hell, despite it's indiscretions -which I no way condone, justify or excuse- Google might be the only corporation I don't hate on. Hell, I mean they even took on the Commies for U.S. ...
Google China has been in the news due to its rocky relationship with China for some time, and today those issues have culminated into a major move.
You might also be interested in checking out China's censored search engine, "Goojje" -
The way the name works is this: Jie Jie (Goojje) is mandarin for sister, while "ge ge" (Google) means big brother (er, shouldn't that be the other way round?) The Web Monster (ie, the real one) is being exhorted to stay by its sino-doppelganger, with a message on Goojje that reads, "Sister was very happy when brother gave up the thought of leaving and stayed for sister."
+ Pac-Man is so named because "pac pac pac" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for eating.
+ "All that I know about my life, it seems, I have learned in books." - Jean-Paul Sartre (Too bad my French isn't good enough to be really highbrow/uppity and quote it in the original.)
So, what am I forgetting to mention? Google Earth? Google Moon? Google Mars (and Easter Eggs?!?!) . . . Google Maps? What else?
And so as not to be accused of only hating on Apple (though I do actively dislike their Hipper-Than-Thou marketing/aura/aesthetic), I'll re-up on my Hatorade and send some negative vibes Microsoft's way as well (click here to check out a mad nice Microsoft subvertising/busted ad graphic).
You can check out some of the crazy shit that individuals/communities are doing (like changing the name of "Topeka," Kansas to "Google" - see below) here.
"Rep. Barton Apologizes To BP For Escrow Fund (For Hit By BP Oil Spill)" from CSPAN (Via The Daily Beast).
Also, check out the Gorillaz video for "Melancholy Hill" here (you're supposed to have to pay for it, so check it out quick before they take it down. The Smoking Section had it for a little while as well.)
If you want you can click here to sign a petition saying you're with President Obama/against Representative Barton's sentiments (petition text below).
No Apologies
Congressman Joe Barton, the top Republican on the committee overseeing the oil spill and its aftermath, delivered a personal apology to BP, saying the $20 billion fund that President Obama directed BP to establish to provide relief to the victims of the oil disaster was a "tragedy in the first proportion."
Other Republicans are echoing his call. Rep. Michele Bachmann said that BP shouldn't agree to be "fleeced." The Republican Study Committee, with its 114 members in the House, called it a "shakedown."
Rep. Barton and Republicans like him don't understand that the real tragedy is what's happening to the people in the Gulf Coast. They're the ones who deserve his apology — not BP.
You don't have to like President Obama - or even agree with holding BP accountable . . . I don't guess - but what I really find exciting about this whole thing is the way that the Internet allows the crazy things that politicians do and say to be so easily disseminated. The age of accountability is here! (Oh and click here to see how it just so happens that Barton's top corporate donor is partnered with BP on the Deepwater Horizon...) And whatchu know about Wikileaks?
Barton Apologizes for Apology to BP
Do they cancel each other out? Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) has apologized for apologizing to BP for what he called President Obama's $20 billion "shakedown." "I apologize for using the term 'shakedown' with regard to yesterday's actions at the White House this morning, and I retract my apology to BP," Barton said in a statement issued by House Minority Leader John Boehner, who presumably came down hard on him. Earlier at the hearing, Barton had said “I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, in this case a $20 billion shakedown … I apologize.”
