An overview of Earthwork Music and a discussion with Seth Bernard.

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When branding is successful, a product transcends its own reality as a mere consumer good becoming something more—an icon. A symbol which represents a complex array of memories and emotions when its visage is invoked. In the case of the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company, over one-hundred years of marketing have transformed a simple carbonated concoction of caramel-colored syrup into a globally recognizable representation of the American way. Now operating in more than two-hundred countries and spending $7 million per day on advertising, Coke has become emblematic of the very essence of American life. The Coca-Cola Company’s CEO, Neville Isdell, claims the fundamental nature of the Coke brand is it “is a decent thing, honestly made.” Unfortunately, much like American culture, a glimpse beneath the glamour of glossy PR reveals an underbelly of seedy business practices that fly in the face of common conceptions. Today, allegations of human rights violations in Columbia and egregious environmental practices in India are tarnishing this nostalgic American icon. […]

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It wasn’t as if domination was their manifest purpose. They claimed they were there to help. And some of them believed it. The objects of their assistance were underprivileged and backwards, nobly trying to grasp the concepts of a new era but disastrously unable to do so. What they needed was the golden touch - the magnanimous muscle of giants born into privilege.

I speak, of course, of foreign aid. Or maybe old world colonialism. The similarity between the two is a theme woven throughout a groundbreaking narrative by experienced aid worker Michael Maren entitled, The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity.

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A congressional plague is reaching critical mass.

“I don’t think we’ve had something of this scope, arrogance and sheer venality in our lifetimes,” writes Norman J. Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank. “It is building to an explosion, one that could create immense collateral damage within Congress and in coming elections.”

Patient Zero of this plague is Washington K-Street lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Patient Zero of this plague is Washington K-Street lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Plame case might grab the headlines, but Abramoff is regarded as the sharpest stake pressed against the heart of the Republican Party. He will become a household name in 2006.

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From her vantage point, she can see a timeless world unfolding its secrets. Endless hues of color wrestle for attention as she gazes over the terrain spreading out from the mountain spire. Her perch in this panoply of life. […]

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