New World Notes - Fat-Free Snake Oil

This week on New World Notes: radio program #275, June 11, 2013, from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m., host Kenneth Dowst examines two critical views of the American economic system--one trivial, one profound.

First, product marketing run amok. K.D. discusses the 40 different varieties of Colgate toothpaste at the supermarket.* Then we explore why spray cooking oil--which is 99% fat--is sold as "fat-free spray oil."

Then Noam Chomsky discusses Big Business's expensive campaign to accelerate global climate change regardless of its threat to all life on the planet. This recent talk is titled, Wrecking Nature for Short-Term Profit.

Of particular interest: Chomsky explains that the Magna Carta (signed 1215) had TWO sections. The section establishing political liberties (the Charter of Liberties) has been largely scrapped by the Bush II and Obama administrations. The section they never told you about (the Charter of Forests) established the people's rights to free use of the natural resources they needed to live. This part was scrapped a couple of centuries back, in the early days of capitalism.

* (Full disclosure: Stop & Shop in Manchester, CT had only 29 varieties. Anyone desperately needing "Colgate Total Zx Pro-Shield Plus Sensitivity" is just going to have to settle for "Colgate MaxFresh with Mini Breath Strips--Crystal Mint.")

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "What, me worry?") of WWUH-FM, a community service of the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both A-Infos Radio Project and (from #90 onwards) the Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chronological listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page; each page has links to the recorded audio; and a handy table of contents will quickly find the installment you want.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want--and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern): Note the new time on WHUS!

Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT)

Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WAPJ FM 89.9 and 105.1 (Torrington, CT)

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Any time: Listen to or download any installment. Just go to New World Notes and click a link to the audio at the top of the page. (Every installment has a page on the Web site, and every page has links to the audio.)