Fall of Eagles: Absolute Beginners (6 of 13) (BBC)

Heaven is for Real 2014: A Review

By Gene Ogorodov

When I watched the movie Heaven is for Real my expectations were low. The overtly predatory nature of American religion, especially Evangelical Protestantism, suggested that this film existed for the sole purpose of manipulation and extortion. Yet, even with already jaded perspective Heaven is for Real stooped below my lowest expectations.

Silly, sappy, and dishonest are adjectives which come far to readily to mind when describing this film. The genre of Evangelical testimonial which forms the basic structure of the plot discredits the validity of the story out of hand. Cherry picking past events to construct a plausible support for supernatural intervention is the complete opposite of an unbiased and objective history. Also, using the biased overly spiritualized formulations of the average Testimony a less than creative writer could make Joseph Stalin appear to be one of the most pious Evangelicals of the Twentieth Century. What could possibly be a more radial spiritual transformation than going from a gangster to founding a State Church?

Fall of Eagles: The Last Tsar (5 of 13) (BBC)

In Defense of RT

By Gene Ogorodov

Several days ago Secretary of State John Kerry lashed out against the quality reporting found at RT.  I do not work for RT. (The turkeys wouldn't give me a job; I'm too much of Marxist-Leninist for their tastes.) However, let me set the record strait. 

In researching current events one cannot depend solely upon one news outlet. One needs to read reports from the area in interest. For example, if one wants to know what the people of Crimea think you need read Crimean news. If there is a clear impetus for partisan bias it is necessary to read both sides and try to piece together an objective opinion. I'm a news junkie, and I have done due diligence on the Crisis in the Ukraine, and RT is the only major news source that I have found to represent the opinions of the Ukrainian and Crimean people and accurately represent the facts on the ground. 

Fall of Eagles: Requiem For A Crown Prince (4 of 13) (BBC)

Fall of Eagles: The Honest Broker (3 of 13) (BBC)

Fall of Eagles: The English Princess (2 of 13) (BBC)

Fall of Eagles: Death Waltz (1 of 13) (BBC)

The Harmony of History.

By Gene Ogorodov

For the next several weeks The Boston Pine Flag shall be showing the BBC miniseries Fall of Eagles. You might ask--what does this have to do with politics and current events? Plenty. A century ago the world was plunged into a suicidal war that wiped away a thousand years from the map of Europe and killed untold millions of people--mostly working men. What sirens song lured the crowned heads of Europe into that mass lunacy? Super Profits. Today our leading madmen have been beguiled by the same illusive prise into measure their swords and threatening to drag the whole world into a Thermonuclear war. The names of most of our countries and the titles of their rules changed during the 20th Century, but the insatiable, predatory appetite of the bourgeoisie has not abated at all. We cannot understand our own era without understanding how the ruling class played its part in the past. Furthermore, the struggle of the working class a century ago is the struggle of the working class today. Their lessons should be our lessons, and we can hope that as the storm clouds gather, as they did a century ago, a new dawn for the Revolution is not far behind. 

И вновь продолжается бой. (The battle continues.)

Chris Hedges "Our Only Hope Will Come Through Rebellion."

Are Any Plastics Safe? Industry Tries to Hide Scary New Evidence on BPA-Free Containers (Democracy Now!)

Part Two included below.

The Fifteenth Anniversary of the End of the Soviet Union: Recollections and Perspectives. (Woodrow Wilson Center)

Six Degrees Could Change the World. (National Geographic)

David MacKay "Sustainable Energy--Without the Hot Air"

Ralph Nader "I Told You So."

Bill Gates "On the Future of Energy." (WSJ)