Taking Liberties is a shocking but hilarious polemic documentary that charts the destruction of all our basic liberties under 10 Years of New Labour. The film follows the stories of normal people whose lives have been turned upside down by injustice – from being arrested for holding a placard outside parliament to being tortured in Guantanamo Bay.

Irreverent but revelatory, outrageous but true, Taking Liberties combines real stories of liberty loss with never-seen-before footage, cheeky stunts and comment from leading politicians, celebrities, human rights organisations, academics and lawyers.

Scary then angry… But a must see!

Also some great animation in the begining to look out for… (ahhh the designer in me)

Tony – you entertainer, spin doctor, bastard.

Freedom of speech – Silencing the people will just lead to anger that will build up to boiling point and spill over.

> Listen to the Audio

Some wonderful photos of a young Barak Obama by photographer Lisa Jack. She must be well pleased with herself.

Barack Obama, Occidental College, No. 5
1980
silver gelatin print

After watching Persepolis i realise what great riches Tehran has from writes, artists, journalists, architects, poets…..

The country has so much potential and frustration has been building up for years and has not got to boiling point.

Images are hard to come by outside the country as there is a crackdown on even civilians taking pictures or video on they phones. LArge images can be seen at Boston.com

Cabein loves TED long time…

SOCIALISM: You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbour. 

COMMUNISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk. 

FASCISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk. 

NAZISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you. 

BUREAUCRATISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away. 

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and invest it to retire on the income, only to find the government has taken it all in taxes. 

SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons. 

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow has dropped dead. 

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND VENTURE CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States , leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public then buys your bull, and gives you 4 more cows, you take 3 cows as a personal bonus for being useless at figures. 

> More

A brilliantly edited documentary/movie. Which at the end reminded me of ‘Eyes Only‘ from Dark Angel. But dont let that deter you..definitely worth watching

Covering religion, 9/11, money, greed, war…. humanity

These days there’s a call for an overhaul of the way banks and the treasury operate but at the end of the day greed will always be present, front and center.

“The earth has enough for man’s need but not for man’s greed.”
 Mahatma Gandhi

> Man’s Need V/s Man’s Greed

A little delayed i know. 

The first day of the G20 sumit there were protests all round London. I ended up working with the TV on BBC news 24 for most the day. The RBS building seemed liked the focus point of most the afternoons news. With the reporters not really telling us much but reapeating everything over and over agian. Many people were out to protest for different causes from the Iraq war, animal testing, Fred Goodwin pension…

Some journalists interviewed people in the crowds outside the RBS building and many of the people they spoke to seemed just angry and wanted to simply cause distraction, which amounts to nothing. 

It would have been a good idea to get people to wear different colour t-shirt to represent each cause. It would be interesting to see the range of people/causes that were attending the protests all over London. At least then they would stand out from those bent on anarchy 

Also found it interesting the way the protesters used Twitter and Facebook to avoid the police…
CNN article >
More pics >

Great photos by Terry Richardson

And today is that day.

Another, lovely poster by Obey.

Also a sharp ad campaign from Ikea US