VISUALS

Censorship. Click here for a side-by-side comparison of eight Time magazine cover photos. Notice that the editions marketed in Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific portray serious issues of global concern, while the edition marketed in the U.S. portrays smaller, more intellectually lightweight issues. Are the editors afraid that the American public can't think? Or might it be that global issues are being intentionally kept from us, precisely because we can think, and thought might lead to a deeper questioning of the media and political-economic establishments? As Arsenio Hall used to say, "Makes you think 'hmmmmm'."

Along the same lines, check out the video What They Won't Tell You About the National Debt. This won't be news to anyone who has followed this forum for any length of time. Since 1980, the national debt has tended to soar under Republican presidents, and to fall under Democratic presidents. This is because the G.O.P has been in lockstep with plutocratic Reaganomics for the past thirty years. It is a horrendously failed ideology, one which concentrates more and more wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer individuals. It's also because Republicans favor big-ticket spending like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Democrats favor more affordable human service programs. The video tells the story in four brief minutes.

Still on a visual theme, I was delighted to discover an article and accompanying artwork in the newsfeed of one of my Facebook friends ~ entitled What Children's Drawings Would Look Like If Painted Realistically. One word ~ wow.

In another visual realm entirely, here's a three minute video called Perpetual Ocean, showing global ocean surface currents from June 2005 through December 2007. Anyone with even a passing understanding of oceanography will recognize formations like the Gulf Stream, the Humboldt Current, and the formidable hemispheric gyres and prevailing currents of the world ocean. Earth's defining trait, the water that covers 70 percent of the planet's surface, is in constant, ever-shifting motion ~ just like the ocean of air that covers 100 percent of the surface.

Finally, I would be remiss if I failed to note that today marks the 70th anniversary of one of the defining events of the 20th century ~ the Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It marked America's military entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters, which ultimately turned the tide of war against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. Here is a slide show of images taken on the day of the attack. Each image is accompanied by a caption relating what you're seeing.