Mic Check Radio

Activists Cinema Episode 2 - The Miami Model (2003) is a documentary about the community resistance to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas meeting in Miami in 2003 and the massive and brutal police response. [Click to Listen]

On this episode we take a look at what it means to have a national identity.  Is national pride even a logical emotion to have?  And, why stop at national pride?  Why not planet pride?  Where should we drawn the line for having pride in where you are from...or should there even be a line? [Click to Listen]

On this episode we take a look at the top Corporate tax dodgers for the year 2012.  Just let your jaw hang open starting now. [Click to Listen]

Four recent news stories present wildly different definitions of terrorism.  Assata Shakur becomes the first woman on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist list (after almost 30 years in exile) - the Boston Marathon Bombings and the ensuing terrorizing of the local population - two bills going thru the Oregon Senate that seek to redefine Eco terrorism - the recent Ag Gag bills turn a woman with a camera in a public place into a potential terrorist. [Click to Listen]

The inaugural episode of a new series here at Mic Check Radio that focuses on the political, social and educational value of different films from throughout the 100+ years of the medium.  This episode focuses on THE political propaganda film of all time (so far) and the contradictions it causes by watching the film within today's political environment. [Click to Listen]

If Corporations are people, then what kind of a person are they?  On this episode we take a look at the Exxon Mobile Pipeline 'Pegasus' that burst in Arkansas at the end of March.  How did this "person" know as Exxon Mobile deal with the situation? [Click to Listen]

In August of 1971, Lewis F. Powell Jr. was about to be sworn in as an Associate Supreme Court Justice after previously turning down the same offer from President Nixon in 1969.  Before being sworn in, he wrote a memo entitled, "Attack on American Free Enterprise System" (to become known as 'The Powell Memo') to Eugene B. Syndor Jr. at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  The memo called upon Corporate America to aggressively shape politics, media, education and the court system of this country.  Over 40 years later, almost everything Powell wrote about has happened. [Click to Listen]

In another attempt at knowing what the opposition is up to, we spy on a key advocate for the Keystone XL Pipeline -  The Center for Industrial Progress.  By spying, it means we play some audio selections from their YouTube channel.  And then yell into a microphone. [Click to Listen]

In the debate about the Keystone XL Pipeline there are the voices of reason (the activists) and insanity (the corporate shills).  In this episode we take a look at the philosophies of two groups who represent these two sides; Anarcho-Primitivism and and the Center for Industrial Progress. [Click to Listen]

Rebroadcast: A look at the tactics used by the FBI's COunter INTELligence PROgram (COINTELPRO) against activist groups in the United States (with some readings from Dan Berger's book: Outlaws in America).  The program officially ended in 1971, but the tactics are clearly still being practiced today against Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement in general. [Click to Listen]

A quick recap/wrap-up of some recent episodes about the Corporate Police State, the Intelligence Community and the surveillance state in general.  Plus, the Supreme Court rules in favor of spying on US citizens without their knowledge. [Click to Listen]

In November of 2012, the University of California at Irvine and Slate.com teamed up to conduct and then publish the findings of a very telling social experiment...how do we (human beings) remember news stories?  Over 5,000 people participated in the study and the results provide quite an insight as to how news stories can be manufactured, presented and accepted as true. [Click to Listen]

Continuing down the Corporate Security State rabbit hole of public information, we take a look at some on the record statements from both government officials and private security contractors.  This week we check in with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Booz Allen Hamilton Vice Chairman (and former head of the NSA) Mick McConnell.  They both say the Cyber War is coming any day. [Click to Listen]

From push notifications, corporate news channel tickers, billboards, newspaper headlines, blog titles, Facebook updates and twitter posts - the depth of our information diet is getting smaller and less diverse.  In this episode we take a look at alternative ways to expand the mind with in depth information.  From concerts and films to just plain old up all night passionate conversations with friends and family, there is no need to limit ourselves when it comes to the amount and type of information we are putting in our brains. [Click to Listen]

The Peoples Library was started within days of the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park.  As OWS spread throughout the country and the world, so did the ideas of the Peoples Library, with most encampments hosting a version of this free access to information.  In this episode we take a look at how a traditional library (the San Diego County Library) teamed up with Housing Opportunities Collaborative to offer free foreclosure clinics, one of the central focal points of the Occupy Movement.

In December 2012 the FBI confirmed what longtime activists knew, that the corporate state and the intelligence community are in bed together.  Now it is time to take a look at who is doing the domestic spying on not just OWS , but activists and citizens all over this country.  An article over at Defense News and a video report from This Week in Defense News reveal that the CIA has its own venture capital firm (In-Q-Tel) to get in with social media companies and Twitter sells a product call "the full Twitter firehose" to the intelligence community and to private multinational companies.  What does the CIA, FBI, NSA, DIA, OICI, I&A, INR, INSCOM, Boeing, Northrop Grummand, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin do with all this information? [Click to Listen]

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is best known for his "I Have a Dream" speech, but his "Beyond Vietnam" speech from April 4th, 1967 is my personal favorite.  He was killed exactly a year to the day after delivering this speech. [Click to Listen]

Just before Christmas, the FBI finally granted a Freedom of Information Act request by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund on the role of the FBI in monitoring, infiltrating and spying on Occupy Wall Street protests.  Although heavily redacted, there are some interesting pieces of information contained in the documents.  Among them, the role of the Domestic Security Alliance Council, a group started by the FBI that "facilitates information sharing and cooperation between the FBI and over 200 of the largest American companies, which altogether account for over one third of the gross domestic product of the United States".  Yes, corporations are working hand in hand with the police state. [Click to Listen]

Thanks to politically motivated redistricting, Congressman Dennis Kucinich is no longer in Washington.  On today's show we say a quick goodbye to the vegan representative who tried to; impeach a sitting president (Bush), impeach a sitting vice president (Cheney), keep space from being weaponized, repeal the PATRIOT Act, create a Department of Peace, nationalize the Federal Reserve, legislate against factory farms and end all foreign occupations.  He was also a vocal supporter of Occupy Wall Street and visited Occupy Cleveland. [Click to Listen]

A look at some of the major banking scandals of 2012.  Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Barclay's, Nomura, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Knight Capital, ING, Capital One, Peregrine Financial Group and LIBOR are all discussed. [Click to Listen]