Crisis of Capitalism

Today’s list features an amazing animation on the crisis of capitalism, a dispatch from a Gulf Coast media felon and a debate on the ownership of breasts.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.

David Harvey: The crisis of capitalism

It’s not just BP’s oil in the Gulf that threatens world’s oceans A sobering new report warns that the oceans face a “fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation” not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major currents that could alter global weather.

Obama Derangement Syndrome grips conservative media once again In recent weeks, conservative media have been consumed by “Obama Derangement Syndrome,” accusing President Obama of being insane, of colluding with Russian spies, of trying to create a civil war and implement one world government, among other things, while also claiming that his administration is trying to control everything under the sun, including the Internet and, inexplicably, your toilet.

Facing the Future as a Media Felon on the Gulf Coast The United States Coast Guard considers me a felon now, because I “willfully” want to obtain more photos like these to show you the utter devastation occurring in Barataria Bay, Louisiana as a result of the BP oil catastrophe.

Democrats Forced to Cheat to Fund War The Democratic leadership in the House had to resort to an unusual and underhanded tactic to pass war funding Thursday night.

Dept of Duh: House, Grey’s Anatomy Violate Codes of Conduct Researchers analyzing episodes of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and Fox’s “House” determine the hospital dramas are “rife” with incidents that violate professional codes of conduct.

Does a lover really have first claim on breasts? Women’s bodies have become so associated with sex that now a mothers’ magazine has called breast-feeding “creepy.” Rowan Pelling is appalled.

How The Declaration Of Independence Created American Prose One of the most amazing thoughts in that most amazing of documents, the Declaration of Independence, comes in the second half of the second paragraph.