ADBUSTERS and 163 interventions

Man, the people at Adbusters are always blowing my mind, with their striking combination of art and commentary, which has sometimes seemed over the top to some of my friends, but has given me some clarity in our world of consumerism, globalization, capitalism, and daily life struggles. The magazine is an experience, and I've often found myself saying repeatedly "WOW, i've never heard it put that way."

Check out the Adbusters site for some amazing features and campaigns, including True Cost Economics, Media Carta, Corporate Spotlight, TV Turnoff Day, etc. But for a must-read -- the latest issue of the magazine, the May/June issue (issue no. 53), is dedicated to the history of the United States, the core values we were founded upon and how they've been manipulated through the times, and numerous military interventions that we've started. I'm still reading it, so I'll share more as I read more.

Thankfully, there's a great summary of our history of military interventions on a flash link off of the adbusters site. It's a great read, though it only starts at 1801, which is after where the magazine starts. For example, the magazine starts off with our first military intervention -- Columbus and the settlers' domination of Native Americans and the crazy things we did to wipe them out (some of this is from Howard Zinn's "A Peoples' History of the United States," in which our first biological weapon was used -- that of blankets infected with smallpox and distributed to Native Americans, back in the Columbus days).

Sometimes I really wish we were educated about these horrid facts back when we were learning about Columbus in elementary school. My kids are going to come home from kindergarten and first grade praising Columbus and if I'm successful, they'll get a re-education and they'll re-educate their teachers...if I'm not successful, they'll stop communicating with "crazy mommy."