"Game of Thrones" Airs Visual of Decapitated GW Bush Head, HBO Apologizes

The wilders over at Game of Thrones don't have a ton of taboos—incest!, etc—but it seems they finally ran into something that displeased their overlords at HBO. Namely: defacing the image of former President George W. Bush, which no one would have noticed, except the show creators had to go and brag about it in the DVD commentary. Sci fi site io9:

If you keep your eyes peeled when King Joffrey takes Sansa Stark to gaze upon the spiked head of her dead father around 12 minutes in, you'll notice that one of the heads looks slightly familiar. Show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss explained in their DVD commentary (from Season 1, episode 10) that the decapitated head is actually George Bush. This was discovered by redditor SidIncognito.     Read more

By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd | AlterNet

Obama Trade Document Leaked, Revealing New Corporate Powers And Broken Campaign Promises

From the Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON -- A critical document from President Barack Obama's free trade negotiations with eight Pacific nations was leaked online early Wednesday morning, revealing that the administration intends to bestow radical new political powers upon multinational corporations, contradicting prior promises.

The leaked document has been posted on the website of Public Citizen, a long-time critic of the administration's trade objectives. The new leak follows substantial controversy surrounding the secrecy of the talks, in which some members of Congress have complained they are not being given the same access to trade documents that corporate officials receive.
"The outrageous stuff in this leaked text may well be why U.S. trade officials have been so extremely secretive about these past two years of [trade] negotiations," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch in a written statement.

Click on the Huffington Post link above to read the whole article.

Something about Malcolm

There was always something about this guy's facile pronouncements about culture that got under my skin.  Now I know why.  This article is by Yasha Levine from exiledOnline.

Is Malcolm Gladwell America's Most Successful Propagandist and Corporate Shill?

Propaganda works best when it is not perceived as propaganda, but works more subtly. The master of this nuanced approach is Malcolm Gladwell.

 "I'm necessarily parasitic in a way. I have done well as a parasite. But I'm still a parasite." --  Malcolm Gladwell

In the vast ecosystem of corporate shills, which one is the most effective? Propaganda works best when it is not perceived as propaganda: nuance, obfuscation, distraction, suggestion, the subtle introduction of doubt—these are more effective in the long run than shotgun blasts of lies. The master of this approach is Malcolm Gladwell.  Read the rest here.