Index

• An End to Democracy and Free Speech - Dangerous FCC Ruling
• Not Business as Usual - Cooperative Business Practices Overtake Corporate Interests
• Rebuilding America - Practical and Hopeful Strategies for Rebuilding America
• The Brain Garden - Holistic Nutritional Food Provider

The entries on this page are listed in chronological order with the most recent at the top. An alphabetical index is provided above to facilitate research and make it easier to locate media.

20030922mo - Rebuilding America [ Open Audio Folder | Top of Page ]

20030907su - The Brain Garden [ Listen | Top of Page ]

The Brain Garden is a natural foods provider and wellness organization that promotes healthful eating by combining super foods and making them conveniently available in a variety of flavors. They also have a pleasant, yet effective, cleansing formula, a monthly magazine, online journaling, and monthly CDs with inspirational and motivational messages about health and wellness. Although we're not affiliated with The Brain Garden, we've chosen to promote their efforts because their philosophy about nutrition and wellness closely parallels ours. Click here to access the downloadable audio files which include an introduction to The Brain Garden by Gregory Johnson, Director of Resources for Life. Also included are samples from the first in a series of monthly informational and motivational CD audio messages from The Brain Garden.

200306 - An End to Democracy and Free Speech [ Listen | Top of Page ]

The FCC recently received over 500,000 e-mail messages, phone calls, faxes, and letters protesting a ruling that would allow corporate interests to further own and control our media including the authority to censor content. Thousands of protestors were in the streets representing conservative and liberal organizations with membership in the millions. One representative of the FCC responded by saying that the FCC would pass the ruling and not respond to any public outcry against it. Many are concerned that such excessive corporate control is a threat to free speech and democracy.

We are featuring a very timely yet timeless radio interview on this subject. What are people saying about the topics covered in the Ian Masters interview with Nicholas Johnson? Conservative activist Brent Bozell (featured by ConservativeNews.org, the Conservative Communications Center, and TheRightVoice.org) had this to say at a recent meeting of liberals and conservatives:

"When you get the vice president of NOW sitting next to a 30 year anti-abortion campaigner like me, both saying the same thing, one of two things has happened: Either the earth has spun off its axis and we've all lost our minds, or there is a crisis coming toward us that we have to respond to like a natural disaster. Not like a political or ideological event, but a natural disaster. When you see that, you forget about whether my side or your side ideologically comes out ahead because there will be nothing left."

Click here to view our audio archive folder and select the file 20030601fcc.mp3

For more information about Background Briefing, the talk show by Ian Masters, go to http://www.kucr.org/ian_masters/ or www.ianmasters.org

An additional interview on June 5, 2003 was conducted by WSUI Radio in Iowa City. It is also available for download. Click here to view our audio archive folder and select the file 20030605fcc-wsui.mp3

200305 - Not Business As Usual [ Listen | Top of Page ]

Capitalism and the free marketplace offer some great opportunities for prosperity, wealth, and financial freedom. That’s something that we can all benefit from ¯ as long as people are selfless, conscientious, thoughtful, self-governing, kind, giving, generous with their employees, concerned about the environment, and wanting to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, people don’t always aspire to such altruistic goals and it seems that when we foster competition and materialism - rather than cooperation and community - these ideals are quickly eroded.

Some of the drawbacks to capitalism can be how it fosters unhealthy competition, emphasizes social status, encourages shallow materialism, and inspires people to selfish greed. It's no wonder that we've witnessed so much corruption at every level of capitalist-driven business. Today, Honda is importing more than cars to the US. Their Japanese approach to cooperative workplace culture is catching on and becoming a very popular alternative to 'business as usual.'

" From the president to the newest line worker, they all wear simple white uniforms. There are no reserve parking places. No private offices. And, managers chip in on the production lines. . . . Everyone who has a desk job, be it a vice president or clerk, works in one large open room. The desks are lined up in long rows offering no privacy and no clue about the stature of the people sitting at them. . . . Honda continues to be flooded by job seekers. When it announced an expansion of its Alabama operation late last year, it received ten times as many applicants as there are positions to fill."

Speaking of the assembly line workers, one company manager states, "I can't assemble a vehicle by myself. I need a team of 2400 to do that. Frankly, we look at it as it's their company." Cooperation, rather than competition, seems to be more effective and more profitable than traditionally run businesses. Employees are earning as much as three times more per hour than what they previously earned at other local businesses where upper management and 'fat cats' skim off the top to finance their opulent lifestyles and conspicuous consumption.

Click here to view our audio archive folder and select the file 20030407honda.mp3

Our Audio Archives are located on the web at:

http://www.resourcesforlife.com/groups/liferadio/audio/