Mic Check Radio

The Spark

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 10 May 2016 13:31:00 -0400

This episode takes a look at that elusive idea of defining what art is. Where does that spark of creativity come from? What drives human beings to take an idea from our mind and create something in the physical world? As a starting point for this conversation we take a look back throughout history to see what people far smarter than all of us have to say about art and the role of art within human society.

At a very basic level, any art (both good and bad) is just the product of a human being expressing something that first occurred in the mind. In fact, the majority of art is never put on display in a gallery. The society in which we live defines the value of art for us and determines what is displayed in a gallery. However, maybe the 'value' of art should be a personal definition.

We then hear from a working artist on the dilemma between making a living from art, but also being able to artistically develop and explore with that fear in the back of your mind that 'no one will buy this'. How exactly does tying commerce (capitalism) to art affect the art? And, on the other end of that question, how does it affect the definition of art in the mind of the consumer of that art?

In previous generations, art was produced and boundaries were pushed due to a societal circumstance that we no longer experience - boredom. When we have the ability to entertain ourselves 24/7, we are never bored. Without the presence of boredom, we are never forced to entertain ourselves. To create something from nothing. There is current scientific data that shows human creativity is on the decline (specifically in the USA) due to our lack of being bored. The good news is that the solution is simple and fun. We all just have to play and explore a lot more. Rhyme intended. [Click to Listen]

Song Credits:
Land of 7 Billion Dances - The Coup
Come and Check Your Head - Blue King Brown
All's Fair in Love and Dubstep - Skrillix
Vitamin C - Can
All That You Paid For - Falling Sickness
Boredom - S.T.U.N.
Brand New Colony - The Postal Service
On the Corner - Miles Davis
$o$ - Die Antwoord
Only Getting Younger - Elliphant

MCR 3.08.16

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 8 Mar 2016 17:30:00 -0500

We start off the show with some poetry:
Bulls On Parade by Rage Against the Machine

For our In The News segment on this show we take a look at the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the odd circumstances surrounding his death. We're not talking about who should replace him on the bench or if President Obama should nominate someone or just wait and let President Trump do it after the election in November...we're talking about the actual circumstances surrounding his death as reported on by the Washington Post and how this type of reporting is the breeding ground for conspiracy theories.

Next up we have a Holy Shit segment looking at a Q&A that former presidential candidate and revisionist American history author Ben Carson recently participated in at the Pat Robertson founded Regents University (formerly the Christian Broadcasting Network University). In the brief clip we play, Carson rewrites United States history and then promises to "eliminate the ban on Christianity in public schools". [Click to Listen]

MCR 2.23.16

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 13:13:00 -0500

We start off the show with some poetry:
Even When There's Little Choice, We Choose by Nicholas Gordon

For our In The News segment on this show we take our one and only looks at the Republican and Democrat primary season. We have a clip from each side that proves the two party political machine is still very much in control and knows what they are doing. If that isn't convincing enough, we also have an audio clip from Leslie Moonves, the president and CEO of CBS Corporation, explaining to shareholders how Donald Trump is great for business.

Next up we have a quick Activist Cinema segment looking at the #OscarsSoWhite "conversation" surrounding this years Academy Awards and why it's great to draw attention to the racism in the entertainment industry...but it's still and industry and the Oscars are just their Employee of the Year awards. So don't watch them. [Click to Listen]

MCR 2.09.16

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 9 Feb 2016 07:00:00 -0500

We start off the show with some poetry:
Incident by Countee Cullen

Next up we have and installment of Holy Shit where we take a look at (and listen to) the radio show Fortress of Faith and their list of questions to help figure out whether or not "Your Muslim friend is a terrorist". It would be a funnier list if it wasn't being taken so seriously by the shows host (and presumably his listeners).

For our In the News segment on this episode, we take a closer look at the family that is truly at the center of the Bureau of Land Management occupation and subsequent debacle out in Oregon...the Hammond's. Ammon Bundy and his group, Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, may have grabbed the headlines in the corporate media, but, the real victims in this case are Dwight and Steven Hammond. They were re-sentanced back in the fall of 2015 and given longer jail sentences under the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. [Click to Listen]

MCR 1.26.16

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 11:37:00 -0500

We're starting off 2016 with a new format for the show. Mic Check Radio is now a bi-weekly show.

We start off this show with some poetry:
Ballad of the Landlord by Langston Hughes

Next up is an installment of the FBI Files, as we take a look at the sad entrapment case of Emanuel L. Lutchman. You can read the Criminal Complaint against him here.

We also bid farewell to 2015 by going over the fascinating results of the Pew Research Center's '15 Striking Findings From 2015'. [Click to Listen]

Activist Cinema 2015 Part 2

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 4 Jan 2016 12:13:00 -0500

We finish up our year end wrap up of Activist Cinema from 2015 with a brief discussion of some prominent LGBTQ films (The Danish Girl, Stonewall, Freeheld, Carol and About Ray) and how they were mostly not that good...but that is okay. We also compare the narrative device used in the film Stonewall with the exact same device used in the film Suffragette and how the critics hated it in one film, but loved it in another. There were also two notable films, one produced independently (99 Homes) and one produced by Hollywood (The Big Short), that tackle the issue of the housing market collapse of 2008. Then, we move onto the Activist Film of 2015, Chi-Raq. Spike Lee has created another brilliant film (see also: Bamboozled) that captures the zeitgeist of the times in a way that few filmmakers working today are capable of doing. [Click to Listen]

Activist Cinema 2015 Part 1

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 21:04:00 -0500

We start off our annual year end wrap up with some news about the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigating the hiring practices of the major Hollywood studios. Turns out, the entertainment industry is shallow, image obsessed and sexist towards women. Hopefully this investigation will have better results than the 1969 investigation by the EEOC...or the 1983 class action law suit by the Directors Guild of America.
We also take quick look at a few of the essential documentary films of 2015.
Merchants of Doubt
Cartel Land
Best of Enemies
He Named Me Malala
[Click to Listen]

Episode III : Child Brides and Dancing Boys

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 7 Dec 2015 23:00:00 -0500

It's a really shitty time to be a kid in the world today, especially if you are one of the 250 million girls under the age of 15 who are forcibly married off by their family each year. UNICEF and Girls Not Brides are trying their best to raise awareness and combat child marriage, but on some parts of this planet a daughter is a commodity to be sold. Some daughters as young as 8. Often times to men old enough to be her father or grandfather. Unfortunately, the boys of Afghanistan don't have it any better. The centuries old practice of "bacha baazi" ("boy-play") has returned to Afghanistan, essentially making child rape a cultural norm. Boys, from 9 to 15 years old, dance for "kaatah" ("owners") in large dance hall parties before being sexually abused. How culturally normal is this practice? The occupying forces of the US Military are specifically told not to interfere. [Click to Listen].

Episode II : Finem Puer Abusum

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 07:25:00 -0500

It's a really shitty time to be a kid in the world today, especially if your family is religious. Specifically if your family is Catholic and poor. In this episode we take a look at the abuse of children by degenerate priests, bishops, cardinals...basically white males in positions of power within the Catholic church. From the 2002 stories published by the Boston Globe Spotlight team to the wonderful work that survivors of abuse are doing to help each other try and heal, the Internet has played a very significant role in exposing the centuries long cover-up by this powerful, worldwide religious organization. [Click to Listen]

Episode I : The Lost Children of Hamelin

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 13:35:00 -0500

It's a really shitty time to be a kid in the world today. Over 2 million of them will go thru the well oiled machine that is the international sex slave market. On this episode we look at how a human trafficking bust in New Jersey was a catalyst for Peter Landesman, a journalist, to travel the world and expose the system that keeps this market thriving (Click for Article). And the humans sold in this market are getting younger and younger. [Click to Listen]

We Are Being Programmed (Part 7): The World We Live In

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 13:31:00 -0400

Propaganda (1928): Part 5

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 09:00:00 -0400

In this fifth and final episode of the Mic Check Radio Book Club series we conclude with the final chapters of the audio book, Propaganda by Edward L Burnays, published in 1928. Noam Chomsky has called this book "the main manual of the public relations industry". It may be 87 years old, but the ideas and concepts are still used (and successful) today. This book explores the psychology of manipulating the masses in order to influence consumerism, politics, social change and gender dynamics. On this episode we will hear Chapter 8: Propaganda for Education, Chapter 9: Propaganda in Social Service, Chapter 10: Art and Science and Chapter 11: The Mechanics of Propaganda. [Click to Listen]

We Are Being Programmed (Part 6): 1984 in the 1960's

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 11:42:00 -0400

We are all affected by it...call it advertising, propaganda, programming, social engineering, psychological operations, or whatever other term could be applied. The act of a force outside of your mind trying to convince you to do something. In this installment we take a look at a perfect storm that developed starting in the 1950's. After WWII, there was a mass exodus of white citizens leaving the major cities of America and settling in the newly created suburbs. This is the birth of the 'cute' little suburban home with the white picket fence and 2.5 kids. We look specifically at a place called Levittown as well as just how powerful "car culture" became, economically speaking. Once everyone is sectioned off in their suburban homes...along comes TV. Literally, a box of bright, flashing, blinking images set to audio is sold to the American public - and we all wanted one. What better device than this to sell the idea of the "American Dream". The TV was specifically used as a psychological weapon to target Women. There was a concentrated effort to get Women into the kitchen, to stay put in the home and be grateful to have found a man to provide everything. I suggest standing up for the last few minutes of this show as we will be playing audio from advertisements trying to sell consumer goods to women and the sexism will make you want to pace and curse. [Click to Listen]

[Rebroadcast] The Manipulation of Our Fear

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 6 Jul 2015 01:50:00 -0400

As we work thru some serious computer issues, here is a rebroadcast from the archives. It dovetails perfectly with the upcoming Episode 6 in our We Are Being Programmed series.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Way back in 1987 a government funded study, Perception of Risk, was published in the journal Science. While the study is officially a look at how the general public evaluates and perceives risk, it also reads as a manual for the manipulation of the public's fear and the unrealistic desire to live in a "zero risk society". [Click to Listen]

Propaganda (1928): Part 4

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 8 Jun 2015 06:54:00 -0400

In this fourth episode of the Mic Check Radio Book Club series we continue with the audio book of Propaganda by Edward L Burnays, published in 1928. Noam Chomsky has called this book "the main manual of the public relations industry". It may be 87 years old, but the ideas and concepts are still used (and successful) today. This book explores the psychology of manipulating the masses in order to influence consumerism, politics, social change and gender dynamics. On this episode we will hear Chapter 6: Propaganda and Political Leadership & Chapter 7: Women's Activities and Propaganda. [Click to Listen]

We Are Being Programmed (Part 5): CIA Takes Over

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 18 May 2015 06:07:00 -0400

Propaganda (1928): Part 3

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 4 May 2015 09:26:00 -0400

In this third episode of the Mic Check Radio Book Club series we continue with the audio book of Propaganda by Edward L Burnays, published in 1928. Noam Chomsky has called this book "the main manual of the public relations industry". It may be 87 years old, but the ideas and concepts are still used (and successful) today. This book explores the psychology of manipulating the masses in order to influence consumerism, politics, social change and gender dynamics. On this episode we will hear Chapter 5:Business and the Public. [Click to Listen]

We Are Being Programmed (Part 4): The Golden Age of Propaganda

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 14:28:00 -0400

Propaganda (1928): Part 2

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 6 Apr 2015 10:41:00 -0400

In this second episode of the Mic Check Radio Book Club series we continue with the audio book of Propaganda by Edward L Burnays, published in 1928. Noam Chomsky has called this book "the main manual of the public relations industry". It may be 87 years old, but the ideas and concepts are still used (and successful) today. This book explores the psychology of manipulating the masses in order to influence consumerism, politics, social change and gender dynamics. On this episode we will hear Chapter 3: The New Propagandists and Chapter 4: The Psychology of Public Relations. [Click to Listen]

We Are Being Programmed (Part 3): The Lab

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 23:09:00 -0400

We are all affected by it...call it advertising, propaganda, programming, social engineering, psychological operations, or whatever other term could be applied. The act of a force outside of your mind trying to convince you to do something. In the third episode we play a couple of clips of commercial radio from the 1940's, then we enter 'The Lab'. Once sound film is perfected (more or less), Hollywood productions are now the great laboratory of for propagandists experimentation. Any good propagandist would look at the sheer numbers, up to 90 million moviegoers each week, and start drooling at the possibilities. One homogenized audio/video message seen in just one week by 90 million people?! This had never been an option in all of human history before motion pictures with sound were invented. Brave new world. American politics took notice of the potential for reaching so many people with one homogenized message and took action. Those white men in power in Washington D.C. started hanging out with those other white men in power in Hollywood...a lot. This is the moment when American politics had to first, and evermore, deal with what they will look like to the public. People in politics/industry quickly figured out how to sell the image needed to get citizens/consumers to choose their product. Oh, and then WWII started and the Golden Age of Propaganda was about to begin. [Click to Listen]

Propaganda (1928): Part 1

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 9 Mar 2015 08:24:00 -0400

On this supplemental episode we kick off a series of the Mic Check Radio Book Club. It's the audio book of Propaganda by Edward L Burnays, published in 1928. Noam Chomsky has called this book "the main manual of the public relations industry". It may be 87 years old, but the ideas and concepts are still used (and successful) today. This book explores the psychology of manipulating the masses in order to influence consumerism, politics, social change and gender dynamics. On this episode we will hear Chapter 1: Organizing Chaos and Chapter 2: The New Propagandists. [Click to Listen]

We Are Being Programmed (Part 2): The Switch

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 2 Mar 2015 01:52:00 -0500

We are all affected by it...call it advertising, propaganda, programming, social engineering, psychological operations, or whatever other term could be applied. The act of a force outside of your mind trying to convince you to do something. In the second episode of this series we take a look at the early, early days of advertising...before cars took people to stores miles from their house. Back in this time period, the merits of a consumer good or service were believed to be enough to sell the item. At the turn of the century (1900) we were still considered 'citizens' by those in positions of power (government and industry), but this was all about to change. After the success of the Committee on Public Information, a WWI organization in charge of swaying public opinion to support the war, the same techniques used to sell the war to the citizens of the US were adapted by big business to more effectively sell their goods and services. Edward Burnays was a member of the CPI and the leading proponent of switching the citizenry into consumers in the post WWI years. In the mid 1920's, he successfully combined the philosophy of Wilfred Trotter (and his idea of "herd instinct") with the writings of his uncle, Sigmund Freud. The successful techniques pioneered by Burnays are still being used to sell us consumer goods today; press release, celebrity endorsement, testimonials, sex, product placement and the idea that buying a consumer good that we don't need will fill that empty hole in our lives. [Click to Listen]

We Are Being Programmed (Part 1)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 13:30:00 -0500

FBI Arrests Ohio Man for Legal Activites

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 2 Feb 2015 12:47:00 -0500

Here's the initial news headline that caught my attention "FBI Arrest Ohio Man in ISIS Inspired Attack on US Capitol Building". This headline caught my eye for a number of reasons; I live in Ohio, the FBI has a track record of coaxing isolated individuals into "plots" like this and the idea of attacking the US Capitol sounds terrifying. So, in this episode was track down the publicly available paperwork the FBI filed on Christopher Lee Cornell to see what the reality is behind this kind of headline. [Click to Listen]

Reasonable Expectations of Privacy

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 20:48:00 -0500

More details on Police State tactics of surveillance. The FBI (and the court system) has determined that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy once a citizen has left his or her home. So, if you are outside of your house, you will be monitored. How? Two of the new surveillance weapons used by the United States Intelligence Community are the DRT Box and the StingRay. They both work in similar ways. They are "cell-site simulators" or "ISMI catchers".

From the ACLU website:

"Stingrays, also known as "cell site simulators" or "IMSI catchers," are invasive cell phone surveillance devices that mimic cell phone towers and send out signals to trick cell phones in the area into transmitting their locations and identifying information. When used to track a suspects cell phone, they also gather information about the phones of countless bystanders who happen to be nearby.Law enforcement agencies all over the country possess Stingrays, though their use is often shrouded in secrecy. The ACLU has uncovered evidence that federal and local law enforcement agencies are actively trying to conceal their use from public scrutiny, and we are continuing to push for transparency and reform."

The DRT Boxes are now being used in the air (plane, drone, helicopter, etc.) to sweep up even more information from cell phone users. It doesn't seem like there is even an expectation of privacy within the walls of your home anymore.

[Click to Listen]

Activist Cinema 2014

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 5 Jan 2015 14:36:00 -0500

A look at some of the great examples of Activist Cinema from 2014, and a little bit of behind the scenes information about the 'Sony Hack'.
No No: A Dockumentary,
The Internet's Own Boy,
The Unknown Known,
Citizenfour,
Night Moves,
Selma.
[Click to Listen]

The Violence Inherent in the System

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 00:38:00 -0500

Eric Garner, killed by a cop in Staten Island, NY. John Crawford, killed by a cop in Bevercreek, OH. Michael Brown, killed by a cop in Ferguson, MO. Tamir Rice, killed by a cop in Cleveland, OH. Is there some sort of racist-cop trend that has cropped up recently around the country or is there a larger issue here? If we have a half-asses compulsory school system in this country that barely educates the masses, then what happens when a certain portion of those masses become cops? In this episode we look closely at a recent Department of Justice investigation into the Cleveland Police Departments' 'use of force policies' over the past few years and how the findings within that report apply to most police departments across the country. What happens when poorly educated, poorly trained people are armed and given military weapon hand-me-downs and told to go police the streets of America? [Click to Listen]

The Flow of Information (Rebroadcast)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 8 Dec 2014 04:50:00 -0500

[Rebroadcast: Episode from February 9th, 2013]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]

Search: FBI - Spying - US Citizens

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 23 Nov 2014 23:39:00 -0500

FBI - Spying - US Citizen's. It's a simple set of search terms. If you search it every six weeks or so you will find no shortage of reasons to be pissed off. This weeks tale includes an internationally know non-profit organization that is funded by "donations" from the top corporations in the world and how they hosted the current head of the FBI and his speech - Going Dark: Are Technology, Privacy and Public Safety on a Collision Course? [Hint: it's a trick question] This from a guy who oversees a system called the Digital Collection System Network, which is connected directly into the switches for virtually all of the major network providers. What does it say about our society when the second reason to monitor everyone, second only to terrorism, is consumerism? Market research, in order to figure out how to more effectively sell us shit we don't need. [Click to Listen]

Occupy Unmasked (2012)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 9 Nov 2014 13:57:00 -0500

Activist Cinema 11: We're trying something new with this episode of Activist Cinema...we're discussing a film that I hate. The term 'Citizen's United' is very familiar to most activists these days, but it's mainly due to the infamous Supreme Court case.
In the case the court decided:
"that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by a nonprofit corporation. The principles articulated by the Supreme Court in the case have also been extended to for-profit corporations, labor unions and other associations."
It's a landmark piece of law that has ruined the electoral process in the United States. However, Citizen's United is more than just a court case, it is a production company for political documentaries. In 2012, director Stephen K. Bannon teamed up with Andrew Breitbart (two darlings of the Corporate version of the Tea Party) and put together this documentary.
From the films website:
"The Occupy movement is sinister, violent, and organized with the purpose of destroying the American government. The film also discusses allegations of rape, drug use, and property destruction at the Occupy encampments."
I would suggest refreshing your memory by reading the brief Timeline of Occupy Wall Street over at Wikipedia (click here) before watching this film as the filmmakers go into quite a bit of detail about some of the events that may have faded from your memory. Then get ready to yell at your TV...a lot. [Click to Listen]

Coalition of the Willing: Take 2

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 09:17:00 -0400

Here we (U.S.A.) go again. Remember during Gulf War II, George W. Bush famously used the term Coalition of the Willing when it came to the invasion and occupation of Iraq? According to W's administration, these 48 countries were essential partners in this illegal war. However, countries like Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau and the Solomon Islands didn't (and still don't) have standing armies to help out in the war effort. Now, Barack Obama has gathered his own Coalition of the Willing II, this time with the war directed at ISIL. But what exactly are the new coalition members doing in this vague, new chapter in the War on Terror? [Click to Listen]

At the Forefront of Fracking

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 23:12:00 -0400

Anastasia Pantsios published a fantastic article at EcoWatch about Ohio's shameful role at the forefront of the fracking industry. The article is based in part on the U.S. Government Accountability Office report, Drinking Water: Characterization of Injected Fluids Associated with Oil and Gas Production (also known as GAO-14-957R) that examined the fracking industry in seven states. The good news is that the report documents the horrific conditions now present in Ohio due to the booming fracking industry. The bad news is that there is 0 chance that the politicians in Ohio will do anything about this issue. Why is that? Because the American Legislative Exchange Council has helped the oil and gas industry pass laws in Ohio that will need repealed before any action can be taken. One law in Ohio classified solution injected into the Earth as a 'trade secret', so no one knows exactly what is seeping into the groundwater. [Click to Listen]

The Miseducation of the Masses (Part 3): The System is Born

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 14:37:00 -0400

In part 3 of our series on the education system in the United States of America, we take a look at the continued influence of Foundations - mainly the ones started and funded by the Carnegie and Rockefeller. We also discuss the Columbia Teachers College and their project, the Lincoln Experimental School. Then we look at the effects of the Progressive Education Associations "Eight-Year Study" and how it started the concept of the segmented school curriculum. And let's not forget the power of uniform textbooks - and how Harold Rugg (through the Columbia Teachers College) was so well funded that 5 million of his textbooks were distributed nationwide. Eventually, in 1952, the Reece Committee started investigating Foundations and their influence on public life. When their report was published in 1954, it was summarily ignored. Why was it ignored? Because, a scathing indictment of the power of capitalists in the United States and how they were (and are) warping the public education system for their own benefit wasn't a report those capitalists wanted anyone to know about. Sound familiar? [Click to Listen]

ISIS Terror Threat Comedy Hour

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 14:12:00 -0400

In this clip show, we take a look at how the Corporate Media (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, etc.) have used ISIS (or ISIL or IS) as the new international 'boogie man' in order to amp up the feelings of terror on the public and justify more military action in the Middle East. The result is eerily similar to the build up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The rhetoric used in these clip would be hilarious, if the end result wasn't death and destruction. [Click to Listen]

The Miseducation of the Masses (Part 2): Rise of the Foundations!

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 9 Sep 2014 15:58:00 -0400

In part 2 of our series on the education system in the United States of America, we take a look at how compulsory schooling was legislated into existence and then financed. From 1889 to 1906 William Torrey Harris was the Commissioner of Education for the United States of America. That is an uninterrupted, 17 year stretch in which he shaped the teaching philosophy and legislation of an entire nation. During his tenure there was an average of one high school opened per day. That is a massive education boom. But, what was his philosophy of education? And, who was helping to subsidize this massive infrastructure of new buildings, textbooks and teacher training? The noted humanitarians (sarcasm) John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, to name just the two main wealthy white guys we take a look at in this episode. We wrap up part 2 with some choice quotes from a 1913 Special Commission appointed by the 62nd Congress to investigate the entity know as a "Foundation", both as a business model and the power it wields within society. Hint: It's not good and it hasn't gotten any better in the 101 years since this report. [Click to Listen]

The Miseducation of the Masses (Part 1)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 14:13:00 -0400

In the kick off episode for a series on the education system in the United States of America, we take a look at the Prussian education system that was established after that country's devastating defeat at the hands of Napoleon's military in 1806. Decades after that system was up and running, Prussia was a serious force to be reckoned with in Europe. The notoriety of their education system had piqued the interest of an American, elite, Protestant, politician named Horace Mann. So much so, that Mann went to Prussia in 1843 to see how this "Three Tiered System" worked. Upon his return, Mann (who was Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education at the time) pushed very hard to implement what he had seen in Prussia. The effects of which are still alive and well in today's compulsory public school system. [Click to Play]

Double Feature: The Weather Underground (2002) / Pickaxe (1999)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 09:42:00 -0400

Activist Cinema 10 - It's a double feature today as we take a look at two documentary films that compliment each other quite well. The Weather Underground (2002) uses archival footage and interviews to look at the actions taken by the Weather Underground in the late 1960's and early 1970's. A hardcore group of activists committed to the violent overthrow of the US government. The second film is Pickaxe (1999), an on the ground look at the activists who took a stand to protect an old growth forest from logging at Warner Creek in the Willamette National Forest of Oregon, blockading the logging road and repelling the State Police. A hardcore group of activists committed to non-violent resistance of US government policy. [Click to Listen]

World Cup 2014: Capitalism, Corruption and Protest (Part 3)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 8 Jul 2014 23:20:00 -0400

In our third and final episode in the World Cup 2014: Capitalism, Corruption and Protest series we address the lack of protests in Brazil during the World Cup. We also take an extensive look at the police state tactics of Brazil and what it means for a country to host a "mega event" such as the World Cup or the Olympic Games (for Brazil, this will be in 2016). Surprise, surprise, United States private contractor extraordinaire Academi (formerly Xe and before that Blackwater) helped out with anti-terror training and Israeli security (NICE) firms help install and program an all seeing all spying system called "The Situator". There is also the matter of how sovereign nations change their laws to suit the profit motives of this massive, massive non-profit known as FIFA. [Click to Listen]

World Cup 2014: Capitalism, Corruption and Protest (Part 2)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 15:37:00 -0400

In part II of our World Cup 2014 series we take a look at the initial proposal the government of Brazil presented to FIFA and how the reality has shaped up all these years later...here a hint, the budget more than quadrupled. We specifically take a look at the construction at three of the 12 stadiums and the pit corruption, extortion and over billing they have all become. We also touch on similar stadium projects from the World Cup 2010 in South Africa and the preparations for the upcoming World Cup 2022 in Qatar (which has already killed hundreds of workers). [Click to Listen]

World Cup 2014: Capitalism, Corruption and Protest (Part 1)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 10:55:00 -0400

Our introductory episode covering the most watched (and most corrupt) sporting event in the entire world, the FIFA World Cup. We start off looking at why soccer can and is an important sport, especially on the world stage. Then we move into a brief overview of what has been going on in Brazil - both in the streets and within the halls of the Brazilian government at the request of FIFA officials - in the lead up to the World Cup of 2014, focusing on the Confederations Cup of 2013 and the corruption and protests that occurred during that event. [Click to Listen]

Collapse (2009)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 1 Jun 2014 09:30:00 -0400

Activist Cinema Episode 9 - Collapse (2009) was directed by Chris Smith and is essentially a monologue film. There haven't been too many of these kinds of film made, but within this small sub-genre of films, Collapse is one of the best. We choose this film as a nice end cap to the We're So Fucked series of episodes as most of the ideas and sentiments from that series are well represented in this documentary about the late, great Michael C. Ruppert. [Click to Listen]

We're So F**ked 4: Do Anything

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 19 May 2014 10:10:00 -0400

The fourth and final in episode in our We're So Fucked series (We're So Fucked - We're So Fucked 2: Bringing Down the System - We're So Fucked 3: Don't Do Anything) ends on a happy note, sort of...We start the discussion with the idea that there are no easy fixes for all of the worlds problems and how personal a choice it is to actually get up everyday, take in air and keep trying to function as a human being on a fucked planet. What do you spend you time working towards? Everybody's answer is different, so we attempt to discuss the big picture issue that can apply to everyone...the potential of the human brain and the wonderful, creative, artistic impulses that reside inside of us all. Especially the youngest human beings among us, kids. Before their brains are taught all that social baggage we adults carry around in our brains, they are (or can be) free to explore, create, question and express themselves in the most spectacular ways imaginable. It might not save all of us humans, but it will help create a fantastic generation to keep the human species experiment going after the collapse of civilization as we know it...that's the 'sort of' happy ending we like here at Mic Check Radio.[Click to Listen]

How the State Will Kill Activists

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 4 May 2014 13:57:00 -0400

On this episode we discuss the four steps the State has already set up that allow them to kill activists. Step 1: Redefine and/or blur the lines of definitions (ex. Terrorism, Domestic Terrorism, Eco-Terrorism)[Link].
Step 2: Create a precedent for killing US civilians [Link].
Step 3: Federal authorities are already cool with targeting activists [Link 1] [Link 2].
Step 4: Get pundits on corporate news shows to tell us why this is a great idea.
[Click to Listen]

FBI...Still Creating Terrorists

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 09:37:00 -0400

On May 26th, 2013 we put out an episode called The FBI Creates Terrorists - which was, itself, a follow up to What is Terrorism ? - and just about one year later...not a single thing seems to have changed. On this weeks episode we take a look at a few specific cases. Farooque Ahmed, Liberty City Seven, James Cromitie, Derrick Shareef and Nicolas Michael Teausant. [Click to Listen]

Hijacking Social Movements

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 7 Apr 2014 13:23:00 -0400

The wonderful folks over at CrimetInc have posted a superb article about how the current Ukrainian Revolution is/was hijacked by the Fascist and Nationalist of that particular country. The example used in this article is specific to Ukraine, but the details will sound familiar to anyone who has read a news story in the past three years about similar uprisings in Spain, Turkey, Tunisia, USA, Venezuela, Brazil, Egypt, etc. If you don't get off the couch and into the street, your ideas will not be heard - and you never know what ideas will be presented in your absence. [Click to Listen]

NDAA 2014

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 9 Mar 2014 23:18:00 -0400

It's that time of year again...the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was re-uped for another year. What devious items were snuck in this year? In the last two years, indefinite military detention of United States citizens (NDAA 2012) and overturning the 63 year old Smith-Mundt Act which prohibited domestic dissemination of government propaganda (NDAA 2013) were just two of the highlights. This year, the war rhetoric is amped up to get the Department of Defense ready for the coming (or currently raging) cyber war by not only creating another government database for storing digital information, but laying out the rules for selling and exchanging that information with other governments and individuals all over the world. [Click to Listen]

We're So F**ked 3: Don't Do Anything

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 3 Mar 2014 00:05:00 -0500

This episode follows We're So Fucked and We're So Fucked 2: Bringing Down the System. On today's installment of this sporadic series we look at one of the two options that are laid out before us: Do Something or Don't Do Anything. The later is the focus for this episode. Doing nothing has never been easier or more entertaining (assuming you live in a so-called First World Country). Thousands of TV channels, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Google Play, iTunes, pornography, Soundcloud, YouTube, drugs (both legal and illegal), video games, social media, food and consumer electronics gadgetry that allow for the access of most of the above at the touch of a finger. Why the fuck would a First World human being want to do anything more than passively move thru their life, enjoying the entirety of human created entertainment that is available on small computer that fits in a pocket? [Click to Listen]

The Square (2013)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 22:30:00 -0500

Activist Cinema Episode 8 - The Square (2013) is an excellent example of a journalistic documentary. It covers the protests in Egypt's Tahrir Square that started in 2011 and stays with several citizens (protestors, activists and lawyers) over a two year period. The ups and downs of seeing two presidents removed from power, violent military crackdowns and counter protests in a very short period of time. It ends with the current (as of fall 2013) 'transitional period' in which the citizens are under military rule and all their victories are now under threat. [Click to Listen]

Activist Music - Punk Rock 1

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 09:10:00 -0500

As a tangent series to the Activist Cinema episodes we've been doing for awhile now, here is short playlist of fantastic Activist Music - The Punk Rock Edition Vol.1.

Transmission - S.T.U.N.
Punk Rock Song - Bad Religion
Controlled Opposition - Anti Flag
Suburban Home - Descendents
Lady Liberty - Rancid
Jerk of All Trades - Lunachicks
Dwindle - Falling Sickness
Boredom - S.T.U.N.

Russian Federation Homophobia and the Sochi Winter Olympic

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 9 Feb 2014 22:21:00 -0500

On this episode we take a closer look at the so called 'Russian Anti-Gay Laws' with the help of a very insightful white paper - Russian Federation Anti Gay Laws: An Analysis and Deconstruction by Brian M. Heiss. Why are these laws getting so much corporate media coverage? Is it all just to remind people to tune into the Winter Olympics and by Coke and Nike products? Is it possibly a distraction story so no one investigates the most expensive and corrupt Winter Olympics in history? After we discuss these cynical questions, we take a quick look around the Middle East and Africa to see if there are any other countries whose anti-gay laws could stand some scrutiny by our oh-so-concerned corporate media. And while we're looking into anti-gay laws and anti-gay hate crime statistics, it's always a good idea to check in here at home and see how the United States is faring. (Hint: it's no better than Russia. In fact, it's a lot worse in some areas). [Click to Listen]

We're So F**ked 2: Bringing Down the System

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 2 Feb 2014 20:15:00 -0500

It's story time on Mic Check Radio this week. While this is a follow up to the We're So Fucked episode from two weeks ago, the bulk of this show is a reading which diagnoses just how fucked we human beings are by the industrial-technological system that we human beings have created...and what some potential options are for dealing with this system. [Click to Listen]

Local Sports, Fantasy Leagues and Lingerie Football

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 15:03:00 -0500

As the sports world gears up for the bread and circus spectacle of Super Bowl XLVIII, we take a look at the benefits and importance of sports on a local level-where, unlike the NFL, it isn't ruled by money and corporate sponsorships. Then we take a quick look at what sports fans could be doing with their time, brains and energy instead of "playing" fantasy sports. And finally, at the end of the show, we play some audio from a "news report" on the Legends Football League (aka Lingerie Football League) and how the corporate media once again asks all the wrong questions. [Click to Listen]

We're So F**ked

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 23:20:00 -0500

We (human beings) are quite literally fucked in numerous ways...on this episode we take a look at just a few of the main reasons. Financial collapse, poor food quality, weather, climate, consumerism, garbage, diseases, air pollution, water pollution, industrialization, population growth, and just plain good old fashioned war (traditional, biological, nuclear, etc.). Oh, and solar flares, asteroids, earthquakes and volcanoes. [Click to Listen]

2013 Activist Cinema

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 01:19:00 -0500

A look at some of the great examples of Activist Cinema from 2013:
No,
99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film,
Fruitvale Station,
Free Angela and All Political Prisoners,
A Fierce Green Fire,
The East,
GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling,
Dallas Buyers Club,
Let the Fire Burn,
The Ghosts in Our Machine,
GMO OMG,
A Place at the Table
[Click to Listen]

Affluenza: Adulthood (Part 2)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 29 Dec 2013 12:07:00 -0500

Our final installment in the Affluenza series. On this weeks show we finish taking a look at the history of Affluenza [Defined by Wikipedia as "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more"]. We start with the explosion of TV in the post-WWII economy and work our way thru the introduction of credit cards, presidential campaigns that employ advertisers (1952), the philosophy of retail shopping, the hippie movement, Jimmy Carter's stunning anti-consumerism speech, the deregulation of the Reagan era and how Microsoft convinced millions of consumers to install active cameras and microphones in living rooms across the country. [Click to Listen]

Affluenza: Adulthood (Part 1)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 13:54:00 -0500

So, our part II of this series turned out to run so long that we broke it up into two parts. On this weeks show we take a look at the history of Affluenza [Defined by Wikipedia as "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more"], starting in 1870 with the appearance of the first luxury department stores and end with the madness of the post-WWII economic boom. Are we, as human beings, natural consumers or have we just been programmed to be obedient shopping slaves? Trick question; it's the latter. [Click to Listen]

Affluenza: Children

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 20:46:00 -0500

In part I of a two part series, we take a look at the disease know as "affluenza". Defined by Wikipedia affluenza is "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more". On this episode, we take a look at the way affluenza harms the youngest among us - children. Before they can form a coherent thought or utter a coherent word, advertisers (working with child psychologists) try their hardest to get inside children's heads and make them mindless consumers for life. [Click to Listen]

Black Friday Buying Options

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 8 Dec 2013 23:32:00 -0500

Consumers in the United States just spent nearly 60 billion dollars (mostly with credit cards) over the Black Friday weekend on products made with slave labor (in countries with little to no environmental regulations) that will eventually fill up landfills and ruin this planet a little faster. What else could we have spent that money on? [Click to Listen]

How to Manufacture News Stories (Rebroadcast)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 1 Dec 2013 14:26:00 -0500

This episode was released on March 16th, 2013:
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]

What Would Jesus Buy? (2007)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 00:09:00 -0500

Activist Cinema Episode 6 - What Would Jesus Buy? (2007) is a documentary that follows Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping on their North American tour in the month leading up to Christmas 2005. As we head into the capitalist orgy of Black Friday and the holiday shopping season, this film works as a great antidote to the consumer frenzy that is about to be unleashed. Also, it is available free on YouTube (as of this posting). Rev. Billy and Nehemiah are both currently (11.24.13) facing a year in prison. Please follow this link to sign a petition for their charges to be dropped. [Click to Listen]

Activist Music - Hip Hop

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 01:38:00 -0500

As a tangent series to the Activist Cinema episodes we've been doing for a few months, here is short playlist of fantastic Activist Music - The Hip Hop Edition.

Introduction - Boots Riley (The Coup)
Public Enemy - Fight the Power
LMFAO - Shots
The Coup - Laugh, Love, Fuck
Tha Truth - Power to the People
Dead Prez - Police State
Immortal Technique - Rich Man's World
Street Sweeper Social Club - Fight Smash Win

[Click to Listen]

Kill Your TV

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 22:54:00 -0500

On the heels of our 5 part series on the Corporate Media, we tryout the Zen TV Experiment. Instead of passively watching TV, try this:
-Watch 15 minutes of a scripted sitcom without the sound.
-Watch 15 minutes of a news program without the sound.
-Watch the TV for 30 minutes while it is turned off.
It only takes 1 hour and we promise, it will be a more memorable 1 hour than anything on the TV you would normally be watching. The places your mind will go and the thoughts you will come up with in that 30 minute period may just surprise you. [Click to Listen]

Corporate Media (Part 5)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 3 Nov 2013 14:13:00 -0500

We have come to the end (for now) of our Corporate Media series. On this episode we take a look at several examples of the corporate/government hijacking of the public airwaves that have been exposed. After that...the numbers don't lie! Alternative media outlets are growing in numbers and listeners. We examine the Pew Research Centers 2013 State of the Media report and the many reasons it gives us to celebrate. Mainly the low, low, low viewership of the Corporate Media's flagship "news programs". [Click to Listen]

Corporate Media (Part 4)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 23:17:00 -0400

This week, in our continuing series taking a look at the multiple corporate and government influences on our media, we focus on public relations firms. In this episode we focus on Ketchum, Qorvis and Edelman and their use of video news releases, sponsored content, native ads and paid content slipped right into news programs. [Click to Listen]

Corporate Media (Part 3)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 14:43:00 -0400

In part three of our Corporate Media series we take a look at the known influence of the CIA's Operation Mockingbird on the media. The New York Times, Time/Life, CBS, NBC, Newsweek, the AP, UPI, Reuters and even all the way down the publishing hierarchy to The Louisville Courier-Journal were actively working with the CIA. And just when you thought it was safe to say that all of this CIA influence of the corporate media was in the past, we have the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 (NDAA) which allows the use of government produced propaganda on the US public (previously made illegal-at least on paper-by the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948). [Click to Listen]

Corporate Media (Part 2)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 02:19:00 -0400

After World War II, the proven power of propaganda and the TV boom coincided so beautifully that the CIA invented an infrastructure to exploit/manipulate/guide/control the media, and by extension the public. And Operation Mockingbird is just one program that we know about. From just one of the government agencies who are spying on us all. Who knows what craziness lurks in the classified archives at the National Clandestine Service offices? [Click to Listen]

Corporate Media (Part 1)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 7 Oct 2013 09:19:00 -0400

In the first part of our Corporate Media series we take a quick look at the history of US government's attempts to regulate (and eventually deregulate)the media over the past hundred years. What is the end result of all of these bills and laws that have been passed? The greatest consolidation of corporate media power (also known as: propaganda) the world has ever seen. [Click to Listen]

Network (1976)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 00:11:00 -0400

Activist Cinema Episode 5 - Network (1976) is simply one of the best American films. Period. It also happens to be a satire that ended up being so prophetic that the satire has fallen away in the decades since it was initially produced. Giant, international corporations buying up the TV airwaves and forcing the News Divisions to turn a profit by mixing in more and more entertainment at the expense of the public service they were originally intended to serve. Sound familiar to anyone? This film predicted media consolidation, the rise of reality TV, corrupt news broadcasts and so much more. [Click to Listen]

Economic Collapse II: The Sequel

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 09:56:00 -0400

Five years after the 2008 economic collapse, how are we as a civilization doing? All of those new Wall Street regulations are keeping the banks in line. All of the 'too big to fail' banks have been broken up. Community banking has taken over as the dominant banking system. The nationwide moratorium on home foreclosures kept millions of families off the streets. The SEC has been bringing law suits of major banks and investment firms by the hundreds to the court system. Bankers have been going to jail in record numbers and paying appropriately high fines for their criminal acts. It's exactly the world that President Hope and Change promised the voters five years ago. [Click to Listen]

Occupy Wall Street Year Two

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 14:04:00 -0400

It's been a long, long two years since OWS started up in the heart of the financial district in NYC. The ripple effects of this movement are too diverse and too numbered to fully catalog in a short podcast. Instead we take a look at the arithmetic of protests attendance. The corporate media dismisses protests and movements (like the coverage of OWS Year One) when they say the numbers are too low, but what do these numbers actually represent? At what point are the assemble more powerful than the elected? This episode ends with a reading of the Declaration of Occupation. [Click to Listen]

The Shadow of the Past Holds the Future Hostage

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 9 Sep 2013 08:07:00 -0400

On this anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 attacks, we take a look at the events of the day from a different point of view. The wonderful folks over at CrimethInc have a poster titled "The Shadow of the Past Holds the Future Hostage". This is a "Story Time with Mic Check Radio" episode where we read this thought provoking analysis in full. [Click to Listen]

Climate Change Apocalypse

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 6 Sep 2013 14:02:00 -0400

This is it! The one and only episode where we take a look at the climate change "debate". It's caused by humans, it's not caused by humans, it's getting hotter, it's getting colder...it's enough to keep us humans busy yelling at each other and not addressing the facts behind all of these accusations. Earth's climate is changing and it doesn't care if humans survive. So start prepping people! The governments of the world aren't going to help. [Click to Listen]

The Future of Drones

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 02:02:00 -0400

Who says that drones have to fly thru the air? Why not float? Why not drive? Why not walk? Or better yet run! Or how about little tiny drones the size of a cricket? Maybe we could put a small camera and microphone on one? Maybe put some weapons on another? The possibilities are nearly endless...what will this police state look like in 10 years? [Click to Listen]

How to Survive a Plague (2012)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 08:35:00 -0400

Activist Cinema Episode 4 - How to Survive a Plague (2012) is a time capsule documentary that uses archival footage and interviews to take the viewer back to the late 1980's and early 1990's when ACT UP took to the streets (including Wall Street) to protest the insanely slow response from the Government, pharmaceutical companies and the medical community to the AIDS/HIV epidemic. [Click to Listen]

The Manipulation of Our Fear

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 09:57:00 -0400

Reasons to Not Protest

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 5 Aug 2013 02:25:00 -0400

Mickey Z has written a fine column over at World News Trust in which he asks “With the stakes never higher than they are now, why aren't activists ramping up the pressure and looking beyond tactics that are allowed by those in power?”. He answers that question with 5 fantastic observations about protests in the United States. [Click to Listen]

We Are Being Monitored (Rebroadcast)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 21:18:00 -0400

This episode was released on January 25th, 2013:
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]

Femen

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 19:16:00 -0400

In this episode we take a look at FEMEN, a feminist activist group that started in Kiev, Ukraine and has made headlines throughout the world. [Click to Listen]

Ice Climbing The Shard

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 10:13:00 -0400

1 Skyscraper. 6 Women. No permission. What would you do to save the Arctic? [Click to Listen]

The Most Dangerous Man in America (2009)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 8 Jul 2013 08:42:00 -0400

Activist Cinema Episode 3 - The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009) is a documentary told in Mr. Ellsberg's own words that traces the events leading up to and after the release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. [Click to Listen]

Activism in the Wings (Part 2)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:25:00 -0400

In part 2 (of 2), we take a look at activist groups that have a "left-wing" political ideology. In doing so we also take a look at how the corporate media portrays the political ideology of activist groups in the so called "wings" and what catalyzing events push those groups to take direct action (both violent and non-violent) against their declared enemies. [Click to Listen]

Activism in the Wings (Part 1)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 09:25:00 -0400

In part 1 (of 2), we take a look at activist groups that have a "right-wing" political ideology. In doing so we also take a look at how the corporate media portrays the political ideology of activist groups in the so called "wings" and what catalyzing events push those groups to take direct action (both violent and non-violent) against their declared enemies. [Click to Listen]

Stop G8 and the Carnival Against Capitalism

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:31:00 -0400

As this years G8 (Gang of 8) meeting takes place in Northern Ireland, we take a look at the Stop G8 network and the Carnival Against Capitalism that has been organized in London's West End. [Click to Listen]

The Miami Model (2003)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 7 Jun 2013 10:48:00 -0400

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]

National Identity Crisis

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 31 May 2013 14:37:00 -0400

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]

FBI Creates Terrorists

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 26 May 2013 13:04:00 -0400

In a follow up the the What is Terrorism? episode from two weeks ago, we take a look at several cases where the FBI found, coached, armed and then arrested "terrorists". [Click to Listen]

Top Corporate Tax Dodgers for 2012

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:59:00 -0400

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]

What is Terrorism?

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:37:00 -0400

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]

Activist Cinema 1

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:21:00 -0400

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]

Corporations Are Psychopaths

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 13:50:00 -0400

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]

The Powell Memo

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:13:00 -0400

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]

C.I.P. Exposed! (Center for Industrial Progress)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 2 Apr 2013 01:42:00 -0400

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]

Anti Civ vs. Center for Industrial Progress

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:50:00 -0400

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]

How to Manufacture News Stories

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:42:00 -0400

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]

Supreme Court Approves of Spying

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:32:00 -0400

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]

CoIntelPro Tactics

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:20:00 -0500

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]

The Coming Cyber War

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:12:00 -0500

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]

The Flow of Information

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sat, 9 Feb 2013 00:04:00 -0500

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]

OWS and Libraries

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 4 Feb 2013 14:43:00 -0500

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.

We Are Being Monitored

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:10:00 -0500

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]

MLK Beyond Vietnam

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 01:27:00 -0500

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]

The Corporate Police State

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 10:27:00 -0500

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]

Goodbye Dennis!

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 10:31:00 -0500

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]

Banking Scandals of 2012

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 7 Jan 2013 10:22:00 -0500

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]

Banks and Drugs II

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 21:16:00 -0500

Do you need any more reasons to be pissed off at banks, part 2? Previously, we discussed their decades long cozy relationship with drug cartels and the CIA? The Golden Triangle, Iran-Contra Affair, Mena, Arkansas, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela National Guard, etc.
This time we take a look at the recent "settlement" for the third largest bank in the world and their decades long relationship with Mexican and Columbian drug cartels.
[Click to Listen]

Police Violence in Cleveland

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:15:00 -0500

After a quick discussion of the role of the national corporate media in shaping our day to day reality of the world around us, we get into the horrific story of 13 Cleveland Police officers shooting 137 rounds at two unarmed citizens after a 20+ minutes car chase - killing both of them. [Click to Listen]

Cooper Union Occupation

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sat, 8 Dec 2012 14:38:00 -0500

Students are taking matters into their own hands at Cooper Union in NYC. 12 students are occupying the "clock tower" in order to keep the tuition free and oust the current president of the university. [Click to Listen]

F**k Keystone XL Pipeline

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 3 Dec 2012 14:13:00 -0500

As I type this, there are activists sitting in tress stands in Texas trying the best to hold off construction on the Keystone XL pipeline. Keep up with their actions at the Tar Sands Blockade website. Also, we take a look at their 10 reasons to oppose the pipeline. [Click to Listen]

Cleveland 5 Update

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 14:44:00 -0500

Three of the five people arrested in Cleveland this past spring find out how long they will be spending in jail. The presiding judge in this case keeps a relatively cool head in the face of the US Attorney's office pushing for upwards of 30 years for some of the defendants. "It doesn't make any sense whatsoever," the judges said in an interview. He went on to call the tough sentencing sought by the prosecution as "grotesque". [Click to Listen]

Banks and Drugs

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 11:41:00 -0500

Do you need any more reasons to be pissed off at banks? How about their decades long cozy relationship with drug cartels and the CIA? The Golden Triangle, Iran-Contra Affair, Mena, Arkansas, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela National Guard (to name just a few from a Wikipedia page). [Click to Listen]

Occupy Sandy and Rolling Jubilee

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 13:01:00 -0500

The Occupy movement in NYC has two fascinating off shoots that we take a look at today. The first is Rolling Jubilee and The Debt Resistors Operation Manual. Actual financial help for those in need! The second is the OWS response to Superstorm Sandy, Occupy Sandy, and how organizers are being more effective in their own neighborhood than the Red Cross could ever hope to be. The show ends with an audio clip from Naomi Klein discussing how Occupy Sandy relates to her ideas on disaster capitalism. [Click to Listen]

Occupy Elections - Post Mortem

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:46:00 -0500

A quick post mortem of the 2012 cluster fuck of an election. A total of $6 billion spent to elect a corporate candidate. How Bernie Sanders ran an actual re-election campaign with no TV, radio or direct mail ads. A possible backlash against Super PAC's and the ridiculous idea of voting being either patriotic or a civic duty. [Click to Listen]

Occupy Elections - F**k Voting (Part II)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sat, 3 Nov 2012 11:31:00 -0400

Let's say you have picked a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. After all the primary debates, campaign stops, stump speeches, conventions, ads, mailings, robo-calls, PAC's, Super PAC's, canvassing, the debates (including third party debates), yard signs, billboards and get out the vote campaigns - you have finally chosen someone to vote for. Great! But, guess what? There is a growing chance that your vote just won't count. I this episode, we take a look at information from a few different sources that expose the problems with using machines to count our votes. Books by Mark Crispin Miller and Greg Palast as well as the fantastic citizen reporting from Bev Harris at Black Box Voting. It's all enough to make you say "F**k Voting!". [Click to Listen]

Occupy Elections - F**k Voting (Part I)

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Thu, 1 Nov 2012 13:47:00 -0400

In part I, we take a look at who actually votes. With all the corporate media hype about how important every election cycle is, why are almost half of registered voters staying home on (S)election day? Also, we get into who works the polls on (S)election day and how there will be no one to work the polls in a few years. [Click to Listen]

Occupy Elections - Third Party Voting

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:09:00 -0400

A brief history of some recent third party candidates as well as some Gallup poll data which indicates that almost half of the country identifies as "Independent" in their political ideology. Seems like the perfect environment for a massive switch towards a new political paradigm. The question then should be 'why vote for one of the two corporate candidates?' and not 'why vote third party?'. [Click to Listen]

Occupy Elections - Super Duper PACS

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 09:45:00 -0400

A brief history of 7 court cases that have shaped the current landscape of campaign financing. Emily's List vs FEC, Citizen's United vs FEC, SpeechNOW.org vs FEC, Club for Growth, Commonsense Ten and National Defense PAC. [Click to Listen]

Occupy Elections - Debates

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 14:41:00 -0400

A look into the Commission on Presidential Debates and how they hijacked the presidential debates from the League of Women Voters and turned the whole circus into, well a more boring form of a circus. [Click to Listen]

Occupy Kids

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 08:53:00 -0400

Just because you are older than a kid, doesn't mean you can't learn from them. The innocent point of view of kids is unvarnished by corporate media (to a point) and social pressure as well as the natural curiosity about anything and everything. [Click to Listen]

The System is Broken

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 20:52:00 -0400

The inconsistencies of law enforcement illustrate how broken the system really is. Corporations pollute and poison with impunity while activists are arrested for wearing masks in public or sitting in trees. [Click to Listen]

Malcolm X Voting Advice

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Thu, 4 Oct 2012 07:38:00 -0400

Malcolm X was addressing the upcoming election of 1964 in this clip, but he may as well have been talking about our current situation. It's depressing how politics never changes. [Click to Listen]

Next Housing Crisis

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 2 Oct 2012 19:40:00 -0400

Trying to predict the future by looking at the rising trends in unemployment and underemployment and the growing number of foreclosure filings by the major banks since the February 2012 "settlement" over the Robo-Signing scandal. [Click to Listen]

Europe is Burning

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:39:00 -0400

Greece, Spain and Portugal are (once again) fighting back against austerity measures. [Click to Listen]

Wedge Issues

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:19:00 -0400

The down side of Occupy Wall Street changing the political conversation, it may become a wedge issue. Also, some words of wisdom from the late, great George Carlin. [Click to Listen]

Occupy Wall Street Year One

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:08:00 -0400

A reading of the Declaration of the Occupation of New York City (Sept. 29, 2011) as well as one of the biggest accomplishments of the Occupy Movement so far. [Click to Listen]

Chicago Teachers Strike

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 11:40:00 -0400

The big picture of education reform in this country is on display in Chicago as the Chicago Teachers Union continues to strike. Good luck Chicago! [Click to Listen]

Infiltrating Occupy and CTU Strikes

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 09:33:00 -0400

Occupy Austin members are facing felony charges due to the provocation of at least one undercover officer. Luckily, the police poorly documented their illegal actions, so the case may be thrown out of court. Meanwhile, the Chicago Teachers Union kicks off a massive strike, the likes of which we haven't seen in over 25 years. [Click to Listen]

DNC Protests

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 7 Sep 2012 15:32:00 -0400

The coronations (Conventions) are finally over with! We start off this episode looking at some of the social justice groups that were in the streets protesting President Obama and the Democratic National Convention. A jealous "news" agency is upset that protesters are getting political and having fun at the same time. A list of some reasons why Occupy activists are targeting Charlotte as Wall Street South and a couple of delegates who are also Occupy sympathizers. [Click to Listen]

RNC Protests 2

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 4 Sep 2012 13:25:00 -0400

Wrap up coverage of the Republican National Convention and the protests in Tampa. Plus, two mystery quotes from establishment politicians that might surprise you as well as my daughter "mic checking" me as I wrap up the show. [Click to Listen]

Code Pink Kicks A**

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 10:40:00 -0400

A quick history of Code Pink actions, including their interruption of Mitt Romney's coronation at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. [Click to Listen]

RNC Protests 1

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:50:00 -0400

We're back! With some major computer and financial situation solved (I hope), we're back on the airwaves (Internet). Tampa is gearing up for the RNC, or rather, the protests at the RNC. We've got strippers, bricks and graffiti, leaked police state memos, Department of Homeland Security warns of Anarchist using Improvised Explosive Devices (no joke), trained sanitation workers spying on citizens, jails emptied in anticipation of scores of arrested citizens, and oh yea, the Tampa Police Department (TPD) has a TANK! Meanwhile, protester respond with the usual creativity, including a Google Map of all the CCTV cameras that will be scanning out faces as we march, a declaration to the TPD, and a local businessman who has given Occupy Tampa a home base for months and months. Check out March on the RNC for protests plans throughout the week. See you in the streets! [Click to Listen].

SF Commune & Religion

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 1 Jun 2012 13:13:00 -0400

On this show we take a look at N+1 magazines gazette series called Occupy!, specifically the articles by Susie Cagle and Nathan Schneider on the San Francisco's Commune and the role Religion should be playing within the movement.

COINTELPRO

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:13:00 -0400

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.

The NATO 3 & Cleveland 5

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:42:00 -0400

Activists are arrested as the NATO protests begin, clouding the Corporate Media's coverage just as the Cleveland arrests did for the May Day Rally's nation wide. The violent demonization of the Occupy Movement by the State and all of its cohorts is starting to look suspiciously like Operation Backfire and the FBI crackdown on ELF and ALF.

Chicago 1968

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:43:00 -0400

A little history lesson from the archives of Pacifica Radio. The Democratic Convention of 1968 and the heavy handed tactics of the Chicago Police Department thru the fantastic reporting of Phil Watson.

The Activists Backpack

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:45:00 -0400

Some thoughts on how to prepare for modern protests within the current police state, specifically in Chicago for the NATO/G8 protests. The Black Cross Health Collective in Portland, Oregon has some great resources available here.

May Day via Corporate Media

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 7 May 2012 13:37:00 -0400

After sifting through way too much Corporate Media coverage of May Day 2012, here are some of the choicest clips from Neil Cavuto, Shepard Smith, HLN Special Report and Anderson Cooper. Prepare to yell at your speakers!

Live (sort of) May Day Coverage

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Wed, 2 May 2012 11:52:00 -0400

Recorded Live (sort of) on May Day, a rambling narrative of news events as they happened.
Mission Police substation hit with paint balls, New York City activists residences raided by NYPD on April 30th, Risk Control Strategies helps the State monitor protest plans, over 50 picket lines in NYC, New York Times reports on envelopes with notes and white powder sent to Mayor Bloomberg and 6 others, 5 arrested in Cleveland for plotting, Occupy Oakland harassed and gassed by cops, Occupy Chicago shuts down banks, Guitarmy draws huge crowds, the San Francisco Commune is re-Occupied, Obama pops up in Afghanistan and created a Corporate Media distraction, London is re-occupied, Wall Street is blocked off so OWS protesters head to the Vietnam War Memorial and end the night in Liberty Square.

How to Occupy Your College

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 10:48:00 -0400

Want to Occupy your college or university? Here are some lessons learned from the 1968 Columbia student occupation.

F**k Fracking!

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:24:00 -0400

Taking a look at Fracking and other Environmental issues within the OWS protests via an article in EcoWatch Journal by Rep. Bob Hagan (D-Youngstown).

From Port Huron to OWS

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:43:00 -0400

Tom Hayden and his thoughts (published over at The Nation) having been there at the start of the Students for a Democratic Society and the authoring of the Port Huron Statement, up through the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here is his interview with Democracy Now.

Co-Opting and The 99% Spring

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:45:00 -0400

Taking a look at MoveOn.org's 99% Spring initiative thru a few articles. Charles Lenchner's post at the NYC General Assembly site discusses his experience in the Training for Trainers program. Allison Kilkenny surveys the reactions of Occupiers to the 99% Spring initiative over at The Nation. And then a couple of after the fact reports from Counter Punch that spend a bit too much time and energy ripping the whole initiative to shreds, anonymously.

The Police State is Here

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Thu, 5 Apr 2012 15:00:00 -0400

Police State or no Police State, there is no longer a question here at Mic Check Radio. It's here. For example from the NYPD: spying on activists and Muslims, Stop & Frisk, DNA database, Retna scans, Commissioner Kelly telling 60 Minutes they can take down a plane with their firepower. On a National level: Warrantless Wire Taping, PATRIOT Act, NDAA on NYE, Enemy Belligerent Interrogation Detention Prosecution Act of 2010, Military Commissions Act of 2006, HR 347 (Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011) and a brand new NSA facility to store all of the data from our phones/e-mails/texts/tweets/status updates and podcasts.

OWS and Corporate Media

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 23:36:00 -0400

OWS and the Corporate Media...should there be a relationship there? An article published in Tidal (Issue 2), Media As Direct Action by Katie Davison proposes and interesting way to look at the media.

The G8 Retreats

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Thu, 8 Mar 2012 13:46:00 -0500

The G8 retreats back to Camp David! An argument for this move as a victory for the Occupy Movement, a victory based on just the threat of a protest. But in reality, probably because this movement is so heavily under surveillance that the State knows exactly how big the scene is going to be...also, during an election year the President wants to be nowhere near a demonstration as big as Chicago.

MCR 03.05.12

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Mon, 5 Mar 2012 13:31:00 -0500

Book review time here at Mic Check Radio...in the day and age of e-publishing, there are already several Occupy Wall Street books available. In this episode, we take a look at Occupy Wall Street: Romance to Reality by David Hodgson Dennis.

MCR 02.19.12

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:03:00 -0500

A discussion of the topics raised by looking at the "Signs" of the Occupy Movement.

MCR 02.17.12

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:46:00 -0500

If we all teach our children to take turns, don't lie and share with others...then when do they unlearn this and become "money hoarding, screw everyone else investment bankers working for Goldman Sachs"?

MCR 02.15.12

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:18:00 -0500

A look at the overuse of the word Revolution; in advertising, movies, in the news and especially within the Occupy Movement.

MCR 02.07.12

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Tue, 7 Feb 2012 08:03:00 -0500

A clip from Ward Churchill's spoken word album, Pacifism as Pathology: Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America, as well as some more reflections on the January 28th action that Occupy Oakland undertook.

MCR 02.05.12

miccheckradio@hotmail.com (Occupy the Media Collective) — Sun, 5 Feb 2012 14:48:00 -0500

An interview with Kalle Lasn, publisher of Adbusters, on the Canadian Business website gives us some hints as to what might be in the works for the Occupy Movement.