We'll Be Back After This Message From....

My apologies once again.

School started up last week, and it has already engulfed all of the precious free time that I had in spades over the summer to use for this website. This is just a temporary hiatus, and I'll be back either this Sunday or next with a new link.

Thank you for your patience, and I'll be seeing you soon!

Regarding late posts.

I extend my sincerest apologies for the late posting this week. I was out of town over the weekend, and I was unable to get around to doing the post in time. There may be late posts once in a while, but I will try to keep that from happening unless I absolutely cannot make it on time. Thank you for understanding.

The Independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/

A very good news organization with a lot of good feature articles and editorials. As of this posting, the United States is in the midst of a healthcare reform debacle that needs some outside perspective. The Independent has an article with simple statistics outlining pros and cons of the U.S. private health care system against the United Kingdom's public heath care system. Their feature articles often take very interesting angles as well. For instance, a recent article talks about recent college graduates being more in debt than any other generation, but many finding more friends and lasting relationships. Another was a feature about the public interest in pornography and how that has influenced new technology. A unique news organization if ever there was one!

Wake Up Walmart

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/

You might think that this is an organization that would like to see Walmart shut down. You would be wrong. Walmart is the largest private employer in the United States. They don't want to see Walmart go away. What they would like to see is Walmart not become an overwhelming monopoly in the world of department stores; but more importantly, they would like to see the workers treated better. They are fighting to see that employees get better pay and better benefits; that they are treated equally and not taken advantage of. Their mission is not to destroy Walmart, but to transform it into a company that works for the common human being and not against them.

Crooks and Liars

http://crooksandliars.com/

Crooks and Liars made it onto Time Magazine's list of Top 25 Blogs for 2009. With good reason, the blog is placed in a list along with much more widely-recognized blogs such as The Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo. Not only was the site revolutionary in video blogging when it was launched in 2004, but it has remained relevant all of these years and the quality in the writing has never declined. The blog's author is definitely liberal, but it is very obvious that he is not a defender of the Democrats anymore than he is a defender of Republicans. This is an equal opportunity blog that seeks out crooks and liars anywhere they may be found.

Fact Check

http://www.factcheck.org/

This website gained a considerable amount of notoriety during the 2008 presidential election for being very quick to correct the candidates when they got their facts wrong, exaggerated, or told out-right lies. The reports go after Democrats and Republicans alike, and more recently have focused more on Obama than anyone else. The published reports are very thorough, and the writers site all of their sources. This is still true of today, but the website has, unfortunately, cut way back in their reporting. The website averages about one report per week, but they could just as easily being doing one per day. Watch this website during the next election and you'll have a new-found appreciation for the information you'll get.

Quote #3

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

- Evelyn Beatrice Hall

The Progressive

http://www.progressive.org/

Forget the New Republic!--This is what real liberal news looks like. That is to be emphasized, though: you do not go here for balanced news. This may be the most liberal news outlet around, but that's also one of its strengths. They'll do coverage on most of the usual suspects from politics to celebrities to major world events to the economy, etc. They'll usually put their perspective on any given topic, which most of the time is the point of view you won't see any where else. One of their strongest attributes is historical perspective. They will often incorporate similar events from history into their regular coverage; which, I feel, is one of the most important things missing in mainstream media. A one-of-a-kind organization that has been going for 100 years, and hopefully does not stop any time soon. I know very well that they have been struggling to stay afloat recently, so stop on over there and give them your support and keep this uniquely American voice alive for the next century to enjoy!

Penn & Teller: Bullshit!

http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/home.do

I figure now is the best time to post this one. They kicked off their seventh season just a few weeks ago and they're still going strong.

The idea behind the show is to tackle a topic or organization and expose the truth behind it. They go after the usual suspects such as Astrology, War On Drugs, Profanity, Hypnosis, etc. However, they also go after a number of topics that are all but universally supported, such as Recycling, College, the Obesity Epidemic, etc.

This post is coming with a disclaimer, though. I don't always agree with them or support their stance on certain topics. It is considered a documentary show, but it is by no means unbiased. They take a certain stance on a topic and tend to make the other side look deliberately bad to either support their stance or just for comedic effect. So the show is always to be taken with a grain of salt. What this show does do, though, is give you the side of the story that you're not likely to hear. This is a show to not be taken totally on face value, but to give you a unique perspective on a number of topics, and allow it to serve as a jumping-off point into the topic if you do want to learn more about it.

I have to be fair. You're not getting that much out of this week's link. You'll be able to watch some brief video clips, and usually the most recent episode, but other than that, this link is really just meant to make you aware of a quality show that fits in here. The first six seasons are out on DVD, or you can download them from iTunes.

Prison Radio

http://www.prisonradio.org/

A good and unique organization, but seemingly disorganized. It is part of a larger organization started by environmental activist Judi Bari in 1994. It'd be hard for me to tell you a whole lot about what the organization does, because the website does not keep up regular updates on the various things it claims it is involved in. The main aim of the group seems to be, as they put it, to "help shift public opinion toward a more humane view of prisoners." That is done through giving prisoners a voice "into the public dialogue on crime and punishment." I'm not sure how all they do this, but their main way (and the sole reason this website made it onto The Noise Network) is through weekly recordings from Mumia Abu-Jamal. You may know him as the man put on death row over two decades ago for the alleged murder of a police officer, who is most likely innocent of any crime. He does a weekly recording about current events, done with his unique insight and historical perspective included (which you can also subscribe to as a podcast on iTunes).

Columbia Journalism Review

http://www.cjr.org/

It's about time we had another news posting, I say. Keep this in mind: if you're reading something that is classified as a peer-reviewed journal, there's a good chance that it's a reliable source on the topic. It appears they want to make it very clear that you are reading exactly that. I bumped into this publication's site by accident one day and was quite impressed with the quality of the reporting and the writing. From what I've found across the net, the publication seems to be universally respected by journalists. Besides being an excellent news source, they have other features that I've started checking out more and more often. The one that introduced me to the site was the "Who Owns What" resource, that lists major corporations and all of the companies that they own, and it's quite fascinating. Besides that, they've got several sections of the website dedicated to various topics from the economy, to information overload, to transparency, and so much more.

The Autonomie Project

http://www.autonomieproject.com/index.html

We've done things focused on television for the last couple of weeks, so I figured I'd go a different direction this week. I'm happy to post a link to a company dedicated to following high ethical standards. They offer shirts, shoes, flip-flops, handbags, and more. All of their products are Fair Trade certified, vegan, and made from organic cotton and other eco-friendly materials. They also keep a blog with links to other websites and products that follow their ethical standards. Go check out what they have to say and what they have to offer!

News Hounds

http://www.newshounds.us/

This is one of the websites that inspired me to start my own, so it was bound to make it into own of my early postings.

Here's the lowdown: they watch Fox News all day every day. Not only that, but they also keep constant watch on the Fox News website. They are a watchdog group that monitors when and how Fox spins the news to reflect conservative ideas. They do multiple blog postings every day, seven days a week. This is not the website where you go to get balanced news by any means, but you can go here to find out what many conservative citizens and politicians are thinking and feeling.

The Daily Show/The Colbert Report

http://www.thedailyshow.com/

http://www.colbertnation.com/home

Blow these shows off if you want as being for (as Bill O'Reilly put it) "stoned slackers," but for nearly a decade now, the people behind these shows have gone above and beyond being mere political satire. They have been instrumental in exposing some of the ludicrous actions of the major news networks, the lies of the Bush Administration, the failures of Congress, and have had some of the best guests with some of the most interesting debates I've ever seen on national television. I won't tag this is as a news posting, but what these shows really are are infotainment, which can be one of the most powerful tools in the spread of information. They can take news segments from the day or the week and spit it back at you as funny and hard-hitting as Dr. Strangelove. Of course, always take these shows with a grain of salt. They're not news, so they're certainly biased. They are both left leaning in their philosophies, but they happened to also be owned by Viacom (one of the big media corporations).

The main reason I post the links to their websites is that you can watch nearly every single thing they've ever aired--updated daily--and some things that weren't aired including longer, unedited interviews and extra segments.

Quote #2

"Silence is consent."

-Unknown

Workers Rights Consortium

http://www.workersrights.org/

If you've never heard of this organization, and especially if you are currently attending a college or university, now is as good a time as ever to get familiar with this group. This is a non-profit, independent organization that monitors labor practices in foreign countries for clothing companies. Especially those who produce collegiate apparel. I am proud to say that I (as of 2009) attend a college that is a member of the WRC. Their code of conduct includes bans on forced overtime, child labor, and discrimination; while upholding living wages, safe working conditions, and collective bargaining. They have done investigations into some major companies including Wal-Mart, Levi, and Nike. They do not warn the factories ahead of time of their arrival and they publicly report their findings. Right now their main bread & butter is in collegiate apparel, but I read somewhere that they are trying to move into the mainstream clothing market and the related companies. Here's hoping.

Global Exchange

http://www.globalexchange.org/

An organization that is 21 years and going strong worldwide. They are dedicated to education and action on issues such as sweatshops, war, human rights, environment, and have become one of the strongest supporters of Fair Trade products.

What is Fair Trade?--Essentially, it is making sure that the people who harvest crops, grow coffee, and make shoes/clothing are getting paid a wage (considering exchange rates) comparable to a wage of someone who lives in an industrialized nation, along with receiving vacation pay, sick days, and clean working conditions. The core idea of Fair Trade is to treat the workers of these other countries as our equals, with the hope that we can improve their lives and economies.

I strongly encourage you to get involved with this organization any way that you can; or if nothing else, support this organization and check out their Fair Trade store.

Alternative Tentacles

http://www.alternativetentacles.com/

It is an absolute must that I post this website here. This would probably not usually fit my normal criteria, but this has many reasons for being an exception. This is one of the longest-running independent music labels in the world. It features punk rock, hardcore, spoken word, and so much more!

The main reason that I must post this website here is that Jello Biafra, the founder of the label, was one of the main inspirations for this website. It is important to note that the name for this website came from the name of one of his spoken word pieces, "Wake Up And Smell The Noise." Through his music, activism, and spoken word albums, he brought it home to me that if I feel as passionately as I do on so many issues that I should no longer be silent, but speak out and get as loud as I can about it. For the last 20+ years, he's been saying those oh-so-important words, "Don't hate the media, become the media." It's the work of those who did become the media and those who became, as Ghandi put it "the change" they wanted to see in the world, that I am really trying to support with this website.

To this website I owe a debt of gratitude, if nothing else, for the inspiration for this website. At the Alternative Tentacles page you can hear many samples of his spoken word and musical works for free, as well as the work of many other artists who've had releases on the label including Howard Zinn, Nomeansno, Greg Palast, Pansy Division, Noam Chomsky, Wesley Willis, and Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Consistently one of the best, most informative, non-biased, and reliable news sources in the whole world. I'm happy to begin the network with a news source that is respected the world over, but has yet to truly break through here in America as a news source to pay attention to. Maybe it's because they've remained a non-profit company all of these years, and that would never fly with the corporations that own all of the news outlets in this country if The Guardian ever tried to get American circulation.

This phenomenal news source deserves your attention and support.

Genesis

My hope for this website is ambitious, but by no means unobtainable.

The plan for this website has always been to be an archive, or a hub, of sorts. The original idea was to be a place where people could find alternative sources for news, but the idea has since happily expanded into covering any alternative sources of information that I feel are appropriate for this hub.

There are a lot of issues that I feel passionately about and that I feel are most certainly worth fighting for. Reliable news, government corruption, poverty, hunger/thirst, globalization, corporate power, class war, racism, oil consumption, war, and so on. There is information to be found about all of these issues and more, but it can be very hard to sift through the millions of websites that are out there to be able to find what you're looking for or even to find what is reliable.

This site is where you can make sense of all the noise and start finding the resources that you want. Check back every Sunday for a new link.

Welcome to The Noise Network.

Quote #1

"Don't hate the media, become the media."

-Jello Biafra