Michael Pollan is one of the nation’s leading writers and thinkers in this country on the issue of food. He is author of several books about food, including The Botany of Desire, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and his latest, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. In light of what he calls the processed food industry’s co-option of “sustainability” and its vast spending on marketing, Pollan advises to be wary of any food that’s advertised … with all this new marketing based on these ideas, my new suggestion is, simply don’t buy any food you’ve ever seen advertised. Ninety-four percent of ad budgets for food go to processed food. I mean, the broccoli growers don’t have money for ad budgets. So the real food is not being advertised. And that’s really all you need to know.

Click here to read / watch the complete interview with Michael Pollan on Democracy Now.

 

• My first short film & an official entry for the contest organized by LinkTV.org in 2008 “One Nation Many Voices : Muslims in America, Stories not Stereotypes“
• More info: Shadows : Vote for my first film 

In this episode of Trails from the East, the train journeys through India from the border of Bangladesh to the border with Sri Lanka in the south, profiling a fast-changing society trying to keep its cultural identity.
Premieres Tuesday, February 10th at 9PM Eastern/6PM Pacific

Trails from the East – New Travel Series on Link TV

Begin the journey online now – all episodes are available to watch online!

Tell Congress: Don’t bail out phone and cable companies. Build out a better Internet for everyone. Click here to send a letter to Rep. Rush Holt President-elect Barack Obama has committed billions of dollars to rebuilding America’s crumbling information infrastructure. It’s a bold part of his economic stimulus plan that will revitalize our economy and our democracy.1 But as Obama’s plan moves through Congress, it’s come under siege by phone and cable lobbyists seeking to turn our economic stimulus into their blank check — written out to corporations like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon with no strings attached.2 Only a public outcry will ensure that public tax dollars go to serving the public interest. Click Here to Send a Letter to Rep. Rush Holt: No Bailout for Phone and Cable Giants Free Press has a five-point plan3 to ensure that any public investment actually serves the public interest. Our plan makes crystal clear that any taxpayer money should support broadband that is: Universal: focused on connecting the nearly half of the country stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide. Open: committed to free speech and without corporate gatekeepers, filters or discrimination. Affordable: providing faster speeds at lower prices. Innovative: dedicated to new projects only and available to new competitors, including municipalities and nonprofits. Accountable: open to public scrutiny so we can ensure that our money isn’t being spent to prop up stock prices and support market monopolies. Building better broadband cannot be another corporate bailout. It must be a buildout for better democracy.

Satyame Maytas poster

- Gnani Sankaran; Tamil writer, Chennai.

Watching at least four English news channels surfing from one another during the last 60 hours of terror strike made me feel a terror of another kind. The terror of assaulting one’s mind and sensitivity with cameras, sound bites and non-stop blabbers. All these channels have been trying to manufacture my consent for a big lie called – Hotel Taj the icon of India.

Whose India, Whose Icon ?

It is a matter of great shame that these channels simply did not bother about the other icon that faced the first attack from terrorists – the Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station. CST is the true icon of Mumbai. It is through this railway station hundreds of Indians from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamilnadu have poured into Mumbai over the years, transforming themselves into Mumbaikars and built the Mumbai of today along with the Marathis and Kolis

Please Read this before you watch the Video !

Now that you’ve seen the video, you may feel “why is this guy running through these ruins & why do i have to spend 5 minutes to watch this video”. Well let me paint some context !

Imagine your school ! Days of those 12+ years you have spent, which you don’t even remember.. that just pop out in your mind when you see a picture of your classroom or benches (or chairs for those privileged) you sat

Kaagaz ke doh phool chunneh
Nikleh hai meheboob tere liyen ||
Unn baagon mein
Jab hum milein the pehlein |

||kaagaz ke doh phool…||

Dear friends across America,

As the barrage of negative ads intensifies, watch this new US election ad from Avaaz members calling for hope, tolerance and change. Watch the Ad now

Amidst the non-stop barrage of negative and divisive advertisements that have defined this election campaign, Avaaz members from the US and across the world have produced a positive and respectful ad before Americans head to the polls next Tuesday.

The advertisement doesn’t tell people who to vote for, but its overriding global message of unity, harmony and change is unmistakable — an antidote to the divisive ads and fear-mongering that will leave a lasting effects among Americans.

Watch the ad, and if you like it, send this email to friends or put the clip on your blog. Watch it here:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/all_of_us

As we head to the election, the world’s people are watching intensely, looking forward to the day we can turn the page on eight years of damaging Bush foreign policy — from Iraq, to climate change to the ‘war on terror’.

1. * Rule number one “You don’t ask who Chuck Norris is ?” …
2. * Rule number three “You don’t ask who Chuck Norris is ?” …
3. * There is no Rule number two in “Chuck Norris’ Dictionary ?” …
4. * Never question Chuck Norris ! NEVER !

Keep On Reading : (Or else Chuck Norris will make you read it)