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TAKE oVEr! (\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/) the UP//:-) 112 la - la - la - lap-toppling da system! (\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/) WORK SUCKS! PART TWO LIVING CHEAP - WORKING LESS p3 LAST OF THE 10 WORST CORPORATIONS OF 2001 p16 SORTED - AN AMERICAN IN LONDON ONGOING DIARY at end. U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P The UPGRADEmag (or just the "UP") is a global edutainment round-up, ‘broadcast’ weekly to =[10,435]= Alternative// Activist// Zippy// Trance// New Age folks who’ve been recommended to the Parallel YOUniversity//Megatripolis Dance Dept as "showing signs of life". Since many recipients choose to forward it to their own lists, we estimate 28,000+ recipients. Further, because of its less 'specialist' content, it's increasingly being posted on a variety of sites worldwide, making a total weekly ‘readership’ of 275,000+ U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
* * * * * * * * * * * * ASTRO ENERGY ANALYSIS MAY 1-7 * * * * * * * * * * *
UP-GEMINI IS THE STAR We begin our May roller coaster ride, featuring Gemini in all her variety. Prepare for immersion in minute-to-minute action. We want to step on the gas and the brakes at the same time. Try to be steady, cautious, and focused. Get the detail in Maya’s Daily Success Guide at www.daykeeperjournal.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * planet earth MILLION MARIJUANA MARCH Cannabis Festivals in hundreds of towns and cities worldwide. LONDON: Carnival Style March from Kennington Park at noon. Bring costume, banners, drums, skins, laughter. FREE FESTIVAL in Brockwell Park, SW9 from 1pm. Bands, dance etc etc. www.cannabiscoalition.org UP- "Why is it that when we talk to God we are said to be praying, and when God talks to us we're said to be schizophrenic?" Lily Tomlin UP- MON MAY 6 The first Monday in May each year is International Neighbourhood Day, a day to get to know your neighbours. Put a leaflet out to everyone in your street inviting them over for a cup of coffee, organising a get-together or drink in your local pub, or whatever else you can think of. 'The importance of communities is greater than ever, in a society riddled with petty crime, urban isolation and social alienation' BOOST YOUR VITAMIN T LEVELS! The day's founder, Nicholas Albery, believed that, as well as more well-known vitamins, we all need our recommended daily allowance of Vitamin T, the Tribal Vitamin. A wave to a shopkeeper, chatting to the newsagent, or dropping in on a neighbour for a cuppa tea all boost your Vitamin T levels. 'Today's the day to ask for that cup of sugar, to lean over the garden fence....' * Can you rely on your neighbour to watch your house while you're away? * Are you able to call on your neighbours when you need them? These are issues that need to be addressed, not through a government initiative or a local council scheme, but by the neighbourhood itself. THE ORGANISERS OF THE DAY, AT WWW.DOBE.ORG, ARE INVITING THE WHOLE OF THEIR STREET FOR TEA AND BISCUITS ON THE DAY ITSELF, MORNING TILL NIGHT. WHY NOT DO THE SAME? http://www.dobe.org/events/1295_122.html UP- An ABC News poll reports that nearly 50% of Americans now get some of their news over the Internet, and 35% increased their use of on-line sources after September 11. [hypatia popol] UP- washington 200,000 Protest the "War Without End" "We Are All Palestinians Today" An estimated 200,000 people marched on Washington D.C. on April 20th to demand that American foreign policy "stop the killing" of innocent civilians, end the occupation of Palestine, and pursue social justice as an animating principle. Organizers called the "unprecedented" coalition of peace, labor, and justice groups the largest in U.S. history. The first major national protest against the war on terrorism, occurring some seven months after the September 11 attack, featured a wide coalition of causes like the Israeli "slaughter" of the Palestinians, the American war on terrorism, the domestic erosion of civil liberties, corporate domination of the global economic system and mass media, racism and racial profiling, and halting military aid to Columbia. A virtual black-out exists in mass-media American reporting beyond carefully-framed polling questions, but organizers hope the rally was so large that their peace and justice message could be conveyed through mass-media news reports. "NOT IN MY NAME," and "PEACE IS PATRIOTIC" and "ALL WAR IS TERROR" were common signs at the march, as an exuberant and diverse crowd shouted a variety of anti-war chants and slogans, with seemingly hundreds of individuals distributing pamphlets and other literature. Although the march seemed made up largely of people from the east coast - New England, Washington, Philadelphia and New York - all regions of the United States appeared well represented. "I met young and old people form Illinois, Minnesota, California - Palestinians and Midwesterners alike, standing together for peace and justice. It was wonderful. Everybody was talking to everyone, you had to be there to feel the atmosphere, it was inspiring." One veteran of Vietnam-era peace marches remarked that the march was as open, community-oriented and good-natured, as he had ever seen. Mike Leon http://www.counterpunch.org/leon0420.html UP- //YOU FEEDBACK WORK SUCKS! Hello Fraser. I’m sure you struck a universal chord with this article on Work Sucks. I travel to many places around the world, and have discovered that everywhere, work has become meaningless to people. There’s no life, no spontaneity, no enjoyment, no creativity, no originality there! No matter how hard they try with stupid books about how to have fun at the workplace, it’s more like a prison we have to bear, with liberty at the weekends. Just see how people react on Mondays, compared to Fridays!! "Yeah! free time from the cage!" There’s no life, no spontaneity. But not only that. It’s my belief that people are becoming more aware that this society we’ve built, this modern world with all its technological fancies and seductive glare; this world some are so proud to believe is the apotheosis of humankind; this is a world that’s reduced humans to the most utilitarian function… brainless consumers. not too different from chickens and beef being fed in small cages, with adulterated food, without any effort, only to be used later. It seems that many years ago someone figured that humans are so stupid that they’ll chase an illusory carrot forever, only to find there’s a bigger one ahead, and then a bigger one, and then a bigger one…. to only focus externally and forgetting the richness of focusing internally, of having a soul, of enjoying life as it is, simple and non pretentious. Thankfully, I feel the time is coming when people are getting more aware of this trap, and that the way out of that is consume less, grow inside, grow a soul !. It is cheap and it is the most enjoyable thing! Cheers from Monterrey, Mexico. Marcelo Guerra / mexico UP- Funny old thing, the UP. Sometimes I love the content, sometimes I don't. Last week I considered asking you to remove me, I thought your choice of literature was crappy and offensive to lots of people (especially me), but then this week I loved the article on stopping work, can't wait for the next installment. Also the American in London, very good. Can you re-send this weeks mag, I went to forward it to a bunch of friends, but I deleted it after printing it off!! Do you realise it is now 25 pages?! love elayne / uk UP- Hello Fraser Thanks for the continuing to la la lap topple da system! richard greaves / uk UP- again in a mess with cause and effect. people work because they over- consume. over-consumption of the wrong food for the human body, will lead to brain fog. people will be easily suggestible: vegetating while digesting meat in front of tv, body says, “problem cant digest this steak,” tv say: “solution, buy this car,” brain bypass, logic not in operation, thought becomes programmed, runs unconsciously forever. eat less. fidget less. relaxed body does it's thing, never thinks, "do,” rather, "done". pleasantly ruminating: work? why work? work? why work? etc. chigozie / japan UP- WORKING SUCKS, HOWEVER U LOOK ATTIT! PART TWO by Tim Righteous "No matter how much I hated it, I had to face up to the fact that I would have to earn some money. I was like many full bloods. I didn't want to work in an office or a factory. I thought myself too good for that, not because I was stuck up, but because any human being is too good for that kind of no-life, even white people. I trained myself to need and want as little as could be so that I wouldn't have to work except when I felt like it. That way, I got along with plenty of time to think, to ask, to learn, to listen, to count coup with the girls." - John Lame Deer Imagine being able to live on a part-time job and work only, say, 15, hours a week. Life would be like one long weekend, with a little work thrown in here and there. You could: - sleep in every day if you wanted! - go on long trips; travel the world. - take up a serious hobby or spend some time on a project you've been forced to put off - explore some of the deeper higher aspects of this thing called ‘Life’ - you fill in this space You can live this way. You can live this way. You just have to be smart, a little crafty and learn how to live very cheap. For this there are two main tactics. LIVING CHEAP: TACTIC ONE: never pay the fool price It's amazing how much more expensive things are when they’re new. It all comes back to the power of advertising and the cycle of work / spend / produce / consume. Advertising has convinced us that new is always better. It ain’t - it's just more expensive. Now you know; with a little effort you’re out of the box. Learn where to find the best used stuff. Where are the good used clothing stores, and book stores? Where can you buy a used bike? Many cities have weekly magazines devoted to want-ads. These are great: you can find almost anything, and since you’re buying from the owner, there's no sales tax. Be a cheap bastard. Tell Advertising to go fook Itself! (it will!) It's also amazing how much stuff you can get for free. Every day at the local supermarket, unbelievable masses of produce are thrown out because it’s slightly damaged, or over ripe (or past its official shelf life). Stupid White Consumers won't buy fruits or vegetables unless they look like the ones in the ads and the movies so cash in big time! Bags and bags of this ‘perfectly good’ stuff gets thrown in a dumpster behind the market. You Gotta Grab A Baggy or Two. Hey lissen, dumpster-diving is hard the first time, but it really isn't as gross as you might think. Most of it isn't smelly or anywhere near to rotting - it's all in that other huge waste of our consumer culture packaging. So grab these free treasures as you laugh at the zombies trudging off to work. If you live by one rule, make it this: never pay the fool price!! LIVING CHEAP: TACTIC two: cooperate with a large group Share, buy together with a large group of friends, say six to twelve people. Large groups spend less money per person than single people living alone. Economists call it "economy of scale." For instance, one big apartment is usually cheaper than a bunch of little apartments. It's also less expensive to buy food as a group. You can buy economy-size packages of food or shop at cooperative supermarkets or bulk-discount stores. Living in groups is cheap because you can share resources. Let's say one of your group finds a well-paid part-time job. She can pitch in extra money for rent. Another might work at a restaurant that doesn't pay well, but allows her to bring home food. A third might have a car the group can use. A fourth is good at organising parties, another with dealing with authorities, or an inspiring poet or whatever. Not everyone will contribute the same resources, but if everyone pitches in what they can, it can even out ‘effortlessly’ in the end. One advantage to actually living in a group is security. This is probably the most important reason to live with a tribe of friends. Money constitutes most people’s security - if they get sick or lose their job. Working less means less money and less savings, so it's good to know you have friends who can support you in such circumstances. "All for One / One for All" and “To Each According to his Needs / From Each According to her Abilities” spirit is the best part of living in a good low-work tribe. (Of course you could also work at changing your country’s social system to a more welfare one, which tends to solve a lot of these issues to a smaller or larger extent). So pass this pamphlet around your friends, see if anyone’s interested. You could attempt a combination of the two tactics by someone agreeing to play the tipster diver who gets paid a little for cycling it round the other more squeamish or ad-influenced ‘members’. If you can't find a lot of people at first, don't worry. Just 3 or 4 people can live for less than one person alone. And sooner or later, as they see how much fun you’re having or as the daily grind wears their spirits and bodies down, other friends will want to join. When you feel you have your group, sit down together with some beers or whatever and discuss your plans, what you expect from each other. Living or cooperating with other people isn't always easy. Sharing things, particularly money, can be tough. Be sure to sit down (with more whatever) every few weeks and talk things through. Be flexible and cool-headed and you should be able to work out any problems that arise. If things get really heavy, maybe the tribe wasn't meant to be. You can always break up and start over in new groups. No shame in that. MORE FREE TIPS FOR A LOW-WORK LIFESTYLE In addition to the two main tactics (never paying the fool price and cooperating in groups), here are a few more tips you will want to keep in mind: a) Go vegetarian. Meat’s disgusting, unhealthy and evil... and it’s really expensive. Meat-eaters spend nearly three times as much on food as vegetarians. The more you cook and eat vegetarian, the more low-work your lifestyle can become. A cookbook is listed at the end that can help you get started. b) Don't get yourself, or anyone pregnant. Like meat, children are expensive. And, though they’re the opposite of evil, they’re also time-consuming. Full-time working mothers spend 45 hours a week caring for their children and 40 hours working to pay the bills. Cheap or free birth control from, say, Planned Parenthood is available, check your local yellow pages. If you really want kids in your life, have one you can spend 18 years pampering and spoiling while still affording to work less. With each extra child the harder it gets to live cheap. Of course, if you do have a child, it becomes even more important to share with a big group. Living in groups cuts housework - another good reason to live with any group. Cooking for ten people takes just a little bit longer than cooking for one or two. Among 7 friends, each is ‘dining out’ 6 days a week!. Ditto for the house cleaning and (most importantly) the child care! Without group cooperation, it’s difficult for families to live cheaply enough to be able to work less. c) Forget everything you learned in high school. SKOOLL SUCKS! The classes are too big and the teachers are burned-out and under-paid. With 30-40 kids in a class there's no way teachers could ever actually teach. The best they can do is train you to be a good worker - be on time, be quiet, speak when spoken to, do what you're told. Teachers act like bosses and you learn to be a robot - obedient and dull. Forget it. FORGET IT ALL. d) Don’t go to college. Almost nobody can afford to pay for college these days, so most people take out loans. College used to be about getting a high-paying job after graduation. Well, there ain’t that many high-paying jobs left, and most college graduates end up waiting tables with the rest of us. But, unlike those who skipped college, these poor graduates have loans coming out their asses! If you already ‘graduated’ with a degree in unpaid loans, your best bet is to start living cheap now, but keep working full-time till you’ve paid them off because it's almost impossible to live cheap and work less with school loans weighing you down. Consider waiting a while after high school, see what happens. Will you really want to be a dentist ten years from now? Maybe you’ll want to be an anthropologist. Or a marine biologist. You can always go to college later, and mature students, with some knowledge of the world, find studying much easier. If you insist, local community colleges are much cheaper than state or private colleges. If you’re motivated, you can get just as good an education there at a fraction of the cost (remember: never pay the fool price). e) Never accept a management job. Even if it’s supposed to be part-time, you’ll end up working more. Giving a part-time worker an assistant manager's job is a sneaky way to get that worker to go full-time. Besides, who wants to be a dick-headed assistant manager anyway? f) Don't buy a car. They’re so expensive and, in larger conurbations, close to useless. On top of the purchase cost, there are finance charges, registration, gas, repairs and the big one, insurance. Get on yer bike, walk more, get a dog, use public transport, travel less, but don't buy a car. With a group, of course, a car for road trips and shopping is easily affordable. g) The Blitz. People who work less, or part-time, can often end up with the worst jobs that don't pay well. Some clever low-workers evade this problem by working short stints at full- time jobs. Such "Blitzers" (or Zippies) work a few months at a well-paying full-time job while living cheap and saving money, then quit - and live for as long as possible on the money they’ve saved, by, say, moving to Cambodia. “I did that for twenty years of my life.” Fraser. "The Blitz" is a very smart way of reaping the benefits of full-time working while still achieving a low-work lifestyle. h. Relax. This might come as a surprise, but low-work can be stressful at first. Living without a regular wage can mess with your head. Don't try to make the change alone. Talk things over with your under-employed friends. Lean on them. Friends rule! If you find you need another full-time work fix to find your balance, it's no failure. Just quit your job again when you feel ‘mature’ enuff :) "A worker is a part-time slave." - Bob Black NEXT WEEK: GOING ALL THE WAY: ZERO WORK UP- While seeking out information on-line, people looked beyond traditional sources. For example the Drudge Report was the 20th-most popular destination for a week following the terrorist attacks. [hypatia popol] UP- 'When we tug at a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world. Each time we grab hold of a thing by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe' John Muir UP- Ojai, California SAT MAY 4-5 2nd Annual Beltane Circus In the mountains above Ojai. Camping. Beltane Ritual. Live Music and Spinning. Drumming. Maypole. Dance and more. dannyinojai@earthlink.net UP- Fraser, It didn't surprise me to hear that Colin Powell said he saw no evidence of a massacre in Jenin. As those familiar with America's war in Viet Nam will recall, Powell couldn’t find any evidence of the U.S. massacre of civilians in My Lai either. In fact, the rumor over here is that the reason he didn't run against Bill Clinton in 1996 was that Powell was afraid the evidence of his participation in the attempted cover-up of My Lai would come out during the campaign. People shouldn't trust Powell's word on anything. He's just a shill for the ruling elite, who see him as their black servant. Pax, Lorenzo / los angeles UP- venezuela DID U.S. BANKROLL THE CHAVEZ COUP? OF COURSE! THE UP EVEN PREDICTED IT, BUT CAN ANYBODY PROVE IT? Over the year before the coup, the US channeled hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to American and Venezuelan groups opposed to President Hugo Chávez, including the labor group whose protests led to his brief ouster. While the endowment's expressed goal is to promote democracy around the world, the State Department's human rights bureau is currently examining whether any recipients of the money may have been actively plotting that country’s elected leader. The bureau has put a $1 million grant to the endowment on hold pending that review. "We wanted to make certain that U.S. government resources were not going to underwrite the unconstitutional overthrow of the government of Venezuela," said an official, asking not to be identified. The deputy spokesman for the State Department, Philip Reeker, said he was unaware of the proposed grant. Of particular concern is $154,377 given to the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, the international arm of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., to assist the main Venezuelan labor union in advancing labor rights. The Confederation of Venezuelan Workers led the work stoppages that galvanized the opposition to Mr. Chávez. The union's leader, Carlos Ortega, worked closely with Pedro Carmona Estanga, the businessman who briefly took over from Mr. Chávez, in challenging the government. The endowment also significantly resourced the foreign policy wings of the Republican and Democratic parties which sponsored trips to Washington by Chávez critics. The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs got $210,500 to promote the accountability of local government. The International Republican Institute got $339,998 for political party building - the day of the takeover it hailed Mr. Chávez's ouster thus: "The Venezuelan people rose up to defend democracy in their country... Venezuelans were provoked into action as a result of systematic repression by the government of Hugo Chávez." The institute has close ties to the Bush administration, which also publicly embraced the short-lived takeover; Lorne Craner, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, is a former president of the organization. Making no secret of its disdain for Mr. Chávez and his warm relations with nations like Cuba and Iraq the Bush admin has turned to the endowment to help the opposition to Mr. Chávez. With an annual budget of $33 million, the endowment disburses hundreds of grants each year to “pro-democracy” groups from Africa to Asia. Advocates say the agency's independent status enables the United States to support democratic actors in nations where American government aid might be cumbersome or unwelcome. But critics say recipients of endowment aid do not have the same accountability that government programs legally require, which opens the door for rogue activities, freelancing and worse. The agency overreached, those critics say, in Chile in 1988 and in Nicaragua in 1989, when endowment funds were used to sway the outcomes of elections. Barbara Conry, an analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, said the organizing philosophy behind the endowment was flawed. "You ended up with the worst of both worlds. Everybody knew it was directly funded by Washington. That didn't fool too many people. But it wasn't really accountable." (Christopher Marquis re-mix) UP- A 2000 Pew Charitable Trusts poll found that more than one-third of Americans under 30 now get their news primarily from late-night comedians and 79 percent of this age group say they sometimes or regularly get political information from comedy programs such as Saturday Night Live. [hypatia popol] UP- london SEX’NDRUG’S’N A SOLAR PARK BENCH! A solar-powered bench in Richmond Park, which plays songs by late pop star Ian Dury, has been switched on as a memorial to the Blockheads singer. It was one of the performer's favourite places. In Poet's Corner, in the park's Pembroke Lodge, the bench was created by Yugoslav product designer Mil Strichevic and lets visitors plug in a set of headphones to hear eight of his songs, as well as an interview. Which songs, one wonders. Might the good citizens of Richmond Park be alarmed at tales of 'arseholes, bastards, fucking cunts and pricks'? At promises to 'caress you clitoris as we reach the toilet'? Or, as the man said, 'a seasoned-up hyena could not be more obscener'. [thanks to merrick] http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/music/newsid_1958000/1958039.stm UP- Dear Fraser, I am really fed up with the way the media is going on about FARC and Colombia & drugs. I agree its wrong that Farc have kidnapped people, I hold no truck with them. But I've been on Amnesty International's Urgent Action Network for ages & the majority of cases of murder, 'disappearance' & displacement of people's due to intimidation has been by right wing paramilitaries, aided & abetted by government armed forces. Disappearances especially of trade unionists, student leaders, environmentalists, human rights observers and community leaders & farmers, this appears to be by these paramilitaries, & backed by Pastrana. I believe the US trains the Colombian army people.I have loads of appeals on this, but the media never says 'such & such' human rights, or trades unionist was kidnapped by right wing paramilitaries, backed by government helicopters... By the way, lots of people in Colombia are getting chucked off their land- there’s oil there....Love Loppy / liverpool UP- london SAT MAY 11 MAIN ROOM: PSYCHEDELIC TECHNO TRANCE - E-303 (ANTIWORLD), YOUNG (ITALY- UK), SYNTHETIC (LIVE ON STAGE), DEEDRAH ( LIVE ON STAGE), ALIENNEWS, G.M.S (LIVE ON STAGE), T.I.P WORLD RECS-SPIRIT ZONE- -SPAIN-IBIZA-, PAUL TAYLOR-IBIZA-MEXICO- ANTIWORLD VS ACID PARK ROOM: GEORGE (MILK), MAD THEO (RE-BIRTH), FABRY ( ANTIWORLD-UNDERTOW), BEAMISH (MESH RECORDS) ANIMATEK VS PAT.TRIX ( ANTIWORLD-ACID PARK) CHILL OUT ROOM - Dave Arci, Ed Carrot, Tom Fu, Lelement THE FAIRY BALCONY - SpiralArt 'n' spaceman sam, stalls, Card Readings, Happy Vibes, Body Painting, Lasers, Live Video Mix By Nuroptic, Inflatables, Decors by Wild Frogz, Clockwork Prism, Star Fish etc. @ The Stratford Rex from 10pm- 6am, £15. 361-375 STRATFORD HIGH ST, E15, (Stratford by Central & Jubilee Lines, & all Main Rail Services. www.antiworlddjs.co.uk UP- THE EX-PRESIDENTS' CLUB Oliver Burkeman and Julian Borger in The Guardian The Carlyle Group’s offices are on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, midway between the White House and the Capitol building, and within a stone's throw of the FBI headquarters and many government departments. It’s hard to imagine an address closer to the heart of American power. The address reflects Carlyle's central position in the Washington establishment, but few have so far paid it much attention. Elsewhere, few have even heard of it. Which is exactly how Carlyle likes it. For 14 years now, with almost no publicity, the company has been signing up an impressive list of former politicians - including the first Bush and his secretary of state, James Baker; John Major; one-time World Bank treasurer Afsaneh Masheyekhi and several south-east Asian powerbrokers - and using their contacts and influence to promote the group. Among the companies Carlyle owns are equipment, vehicles and munitions manufacturers for the US military, and its celebrity employees have long served the ingenious dual purpose of helping encourage investments from the very wealthy while also smoothing the path for Carlyle's defense firms. But since the start of the "war on terrorism", the firm - unofficially valued at $13.5bn - has taken on an added significance. Carlyle has become the thread which links American military policy in Afghanistan to the personal financial fortunes of its celebrity employees, not least the president's father. And, until earlier this month, Carlyle provided another curious link to the Afghan crisis: among the firm's multi-million-dollar investors were members of the family of Osama bin Laden. Since it was founded in 1987 by David Rubenstein, a policy assistant in Jimmy Carter's administration, and two lawyer friends, the firm has been dispatching an array of former world leaders on a series of strategic networking trips. - last year, George Bush Sr and John Major traveled to Riyadh to talk with senior Saudi businessmen. - in September 2000, Carlyle hired Colin Powell and AOL Time Warner chair Steve Case to address an extravagant party at Washington's Monarch Hotel. - months later, Major joined James Baker for a function at the Lanesborough Hotel in London, to ‘explain’ the Florida election controversy to the wealthy attendees. Among the defence firms which benefit from Carlyle's success is United Defense, a Virginia-based contractor which makes vertical missile launch systems currently on board US Navy ships in the Arabian sea, as well as a range of other weapons delivery systems and combat vehicles. Carlyle's other holdings span an improbable range, taking in the French newspaper Le Figaro and the company which bottles Dr Pepper. "They are big, and they are quiet," says David Mulholland, business editor of Jane's Defense Weekly. "They're not easy to get information out of, but United Defense are going to do well [in the current conflict]." United also owns Bofors, a Swedish munitions manufacturer. "It should be a deep cause for concern that a closely held company like Carlyle can simultaneously have directors and advisers that are doing business and making money and also advising the president of the United States," says Peter Eisner, managing director of the Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit-making Washington think-tank. "The problem comes when private business and public policy blend together. What hat is former president Bush wearing when he tells Crown Prince Abdullah not to worry about US policy in the Middle East? What hat does he use when he deals with South Korea, and causes policy changes there? Or when James Baker helps argue the presidential election in the younger Bush's favor? It's a kitchen-cabinet situation, and the informality involved is precisely a mark of Carlyle's success. "The world of private equity is an inherently secretive one. Firms like Carlyle make most of their money buying firms which are not publicly traded, overhauling them and selling them at a profit, so the process by which likely targets are evaluated is much more confidential than on the open market. “ Steven Bell, chief economist at Deutsche Asset Management says: "These firms certainly don't go out of their way to get into the headlines. They'd rather make a splash in Institutional Pensions Week. The aim is to realize very high returns for your investors while exerting a high degree of control over the company. You don't want to get into the headlines when you force the management to fire a director." But what sets Carlyle apart is the way it has exploited its political contacts. When Carlucci arrived there in 1989, he brought with him a phalanx of former subordinates from the CIA and the Pentagon, and an awareness of the scale of business a company like Carlyle could do in the corridors and steak-houses of Washington. In a decade and a half, it’s realised a 34% rate of return on its investments, and now claims to be the largest private equity firm in the world. The Carlyle Group doesn’t employ anyone at its Washington headquarters to deal with the press. Inquiries about the links with the Binladins (as most of the family choose to spell their name) are referred to someone outside the company, who says: "I can confirm that any Binladin Group investment in Carlyle has been terminated or is being terminated. I think there was a sense that there were questions being raised and some controversy. it was something we wanted to put behind us. It was just a business decision." But if the Binladins' connection to the Carlyle Group lasted no more than six years, the current President Bush's own links to the firm go far deeper. In 1990, he was appointed to the board of one of Carlyle's first purchases, an airline food business called Caterair, which they eventually sold at a loss. He left the board in 1992, later to become Governor of Texas. Shortly thereafter, he was responsible for appointing several members of the board which controlled the investment of Texas teachers' pension funds. A few years later, the board decided to invest $100m of public money in the Carlyle Group. The firm's magic touch was already bringing results. Today, it is proving as fruitful as ever. UP- IT'S WEB CAST BLACKOUT DAY! The upcoming U.S. Copyright Office ruling on royalty rates will dismantle Internet radio. If this proposal becomes law, it will bankrupt most Internet radio stations. It will mean the end of internet simulcasts of college radio stations. It will mean the end of most free audio archives. Nobody but the record labels themselves will be able to afford to participate. To find out what you can do to help, please go to http://www.saveinternetradio.org/ For more details about the mess the webcasters (and listeners!) are in, you can read my summary of the current and future rules: http://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/webcasting.html UP- AND FINALLY THE LAST OF THE 10 WORST CORPORATIONS OF 2001 <a penny gray remix of original text from Multinational Monitor, Dec 2001> WAL-MART: For value-free profiteering at home and abroad Why the hell was Wal-Mart ever a darling of the socially responsible investment community?! Thankfully, this distasteful romance appears to be over. This February, the Domini 400 Social Index - perhaps the leading index of supposedly socially responsible firms - ejected it from its list. It pointed up Wal-Mart's hawking of sweatshop-made clothing, handbags and other products, and its refusal to take steps to ensure its contractors were sweatshop free. Following reports from the National Labor Committee, Business Week, the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility and others, the index reviewed Wal-Mart's vendor contracting policies and practices. Wal-Mart came up woefully short. "The company's code of conduct for vendors does not stipulate that its vendors permit workers to bargain collectively, nor does it require them to pay laborers a sustainable living wages... The company does not issue any public reports on the working conditions at its vendors' factories. Other companies that have been similarly exposed to sweatshop and Burma-buying controversies, including The Gap, Liz Claiborne, Nike, Timberland and Reebok, have taken steps to improve their records on these issues. In contrast, Wal-Mart's progress has been minimal." The Wal-Mart line on sweatshops? "Wal-Mart strives to do business only with factories run legally and ethically. We continue to commit extensive resources to making the Wal-Mart system one of the very best. We require suppliers to ensure that every factory conforms to local workplace laws and that there is no illegal child labor or forced labor. Wal-Mart also works with independent monitoring firms to randomly inspect these factories to help ensure compliance. In fact, we conduct more than 200 factory inspections each week to ensure these facilities are being run legally and ethically." In announcing that it was dumping Wal-Mart from the Domini 400, KLD emphasized that it preferred to negotiate with companies rather than remove them from the list. "However, Wal-Mart's sub-par vendor contracting policies and practices and its unresponsiveness to calls for change, amplified by its role as the retail industry's market leader," convinced the socially responsible investment firm that further dialogue with the company offered few prospects for achieving change. Of course, one does not need to look overseas to find fault with Wal-Mart (though sadly, as the company increasingly opens outlets in foreign markets, soon to include the UK) the harms it has caused in the United States are increasingly being replicated in other countries). It has certainly innovated an effective distribution and sales system. But its untrammeled expansion is leading to the homogenization of culture, the obliteration of small business competitors, and contributing to the sprawl that is a blight on the U.S. landscape, while undermining the quality of life of millions. And Wal-Mart's tolerance of sweatshops abroad is matched by its vicious anti-unionism in its home country. The largest employer in the United States, Wal-Mart is completely union free. That doesn’t come just from the company's warm relations with its "associates." "It is a pattern of contempt for this nation's labor laws that shows how low Wal-Mart will stoop to keep its workers from exercising their right to have a union," says UFCW Executive Vice President Michael Leonard. Leonard says Wal-Mart follows a two-track approach to block unionization efforts. First is a "velvet glove" meeting with the workers to unlawfully try to find out why they want a union. Then representatives from the company's Arkansas headquarters try to explain why workers should oppose a union. If that approach is unsuccessful, he says, management resorts to the "iron fist." The company identifies leaders in the organizing drive and seeks to bribe them with pay raises or promotions, or moves to fire them. UP- UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP //YOU LITERATURE SECTION UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP AN AMERICAN IN LONDON Sorted “Sorted” is a particularly British statement that has multiple meanings, depending on context. There's a movie out by this title, which gives a certain picture of London club life. Not exactly the counter-culture I'm becoming immersed in, but related. Check it out. Then get yourself sorted, in a proper sort of way :) Details, Phil, Details In my attempt to keep this thematic, and not just a colorful regurgitation of events, I’ve glossed over some of the gory details. So, let me paint a picture of my two favorite London events so far. Then there's the internationalism. Every other person you meet seems to have an accent and is from some other place. I've noticed a preponderance of French people here, perhaps escaping more rigid social mores. Remember what the French guy said in the last Log: in London, people accept you no matter where you are from - and that's especially true in underground scenes. Male-female interactions are also more relaxed. An unknown guy can talk to a woman without sensing the "hit-on" defense shields going up. The second event was even more underground, though organized. Called Clockwork Prism, it travels to temporary venues on a somewhat regular basis. This one spreads through word-of-mouth, with the venue announced on a call-in number on the night of the event. The one I attended was in an old school building and cost £5. Jimmy Bond The first is an ex-Special Forces James Bond type who was partying down with his girlfriend. Apparently his brothers and sisters run the party. He told me more about Koreans than I had realized previously. His first point: Koreans are individualists, every single one is a totally unique individual. He also made the claim, after relating stories of how incredibly tough Koreans are, that they are the Brits of Asia. I’d always thought they were the Mediterraneans of Asia. He had less glowing things to say about the Chinese and Japanese, just to point out that he had perspective. No Transgression, No Problem His t-shirt read: San Francisco, 49 square miles surrounded by reality. He had lived there for a while. The bond we forged that night was amazing, and, true to form, I heard wonderfully creative ideas pouring from his mouth all night. One of the first things he said to me was: “NTNP, No Transgression, No Problem”. It was a brand, a moniker for just about anything. He said I could use it any way I wanted, it was all mine. Several hours later he declared: “It's an operating system!” So about the coat-check. At 8am I thought about getting my leather jacket from the coat-check. No coat-check person. Someone coming out of the room said I’d better find my own coat. Instantly I had that pang of: WHAT WAS IN MY COAT - KEYS, ANYTHING ELSE, HOW DO I GET HOME, ETC. Yeah, after years of going to cool parties in SF, that was my reaction (and I shouldn't attend squat parties with an expensive jacket). With a sense of impending doom, I began to look around the room. There was a small rack with an assortment of empty hangers and a few coats, and, strewn in different piles around the floor, were groupings of coats and belongings. And then, there it was, my nice, shiny, lambskin leather jacket, with my claim tag carefully placed on top. More on Money There's another new friend who’s helped hone a lot of my observations on the differences between America and England. Something of a legend round here (for his parties Megatripolis and The Warp Experience, his online Parallel YOUniversity, and I don’t know what else) Fraser Clark is an older Scottish gentleman who has applied a distinctly intellectual bent to alternative culture. Some of the commentary in the next three sections is partly the result of a long conversation I had with him the other night. A Matter of Race Here, you can look different, you can sound different, but it doesn't much matter. Really. I have one piece of empirical proof for this observation. I've noticed in America - east coast, west coast and the Midwest - that people do react to my appearance with a kind of subtle distancing. It's like they see an Asian person and wonder if I'm foreign. It's not usually rude, but it's there a lot of the time. Then, when I start talking, they realize I'm not foreign and treat me like anyone else. About the most effective way to counteract this was to have a white girlfriend. On top of this, there's the fact that the Old World sensibility is part of my genes. An Island and a Continent This phenomenon of internationalism can be reduced to a simple fact: in a geographical area roughly the size of America, there are so many nationalities in Europe. Fraser is big on this. Driving the equivalent of northern to southern California, you can pass through completely different cultures. The Eurostar, which offers a 3-hour train ride between Paris and London, has made that diversity even more abrupt. the landscape changed, from the relatively open vistas of northern France to the more densely wooded look of southern England. France seemed a lot more like Italy this time, and both were pretty different from England. So there is a difference between the Continent and the UK. Life seems a bit faster, a bit more dense in England. And London is like some global magnet that draws in all nationalities. That's why they say: When you're tired of London you're tired of life. So given how England is a relatively small set of islands, it's ironic that it seems so international and worldly compared to America, which is most of a continent. It's odd, but I feel like I've just stepped off an island, with its relatively uniform culture (again, the lowest common denominator) and huge economy. I've spent time in Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, California and Texas, and I never got the feeling I get in London after six weeks. Americans are swimming in a big swimming pool, which is heated and indoors and chlorinated. Maybe I should have called this, Wake Up and Smell the Chlorine. Phil Inje Chang / london / san francisco NEXT: DRIVING IN LONDON, THE COUNTRYSIDE IN THE CITY, AND MORE UP- U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P the UP//:-) la - la - la - lap-toppling da system! TEXT JOCKEY // TJ PHRASER (fraser clark) cyberslut // TJ PHRASER & THE MEDIA EVOLUTION MIXING THE TRACTS LIVE ON THE KEYBOARD @ A MEDIA-MEME RATE OF 160 IPP * * Ideas Per Paragraph U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P FEATURING exclusive rewrites re-takes & re-productions of da freshest deepest hacks ancient and modern, SAMPLES from media & mentalities all over, & bubbling up from da public DNA herself! |