[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9GH-yvPHSY[/youtube]
Author: MB Page 60 of 227
Under, for a bit longer:
Oh, look who’s concerned about privacy and the collection of information by the government.
(Nevermind, in fact, that this story turns on an item that isn’t about any such thing.)
While I find myself frequently disagreeing with him, I’ve got a lot of respect for Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.). Unlike his Democratic colleague Mark Warner, Jim Webb appears to be willing to stand on principles and decency, the popularity of it be damned:
Jim Webb, a Democratic senator from Virginia, arrived in Burma this afternoon, days after the country’s junta sentenced the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, to 18 months’ house arrest.
Webb, who served in the Reagan administration but is now considered a close ally of Barack Obama, is expected to meet the country’s leader, Senior General Than Shwe, in the country’s remote capital Naypyidaw, tomorrow.
The outcome of his visit – part of a five-nation tour of Asia – is expected to influence the White House as it considers new approaches to the problem of Burma’s appalling record on human rights.
Good luck, Sen. Webb. And good luck, Burma.
Brazilian authorities say drug dealers and other hoodlums were dying to get on Wallace Souza’s TV program. Literally.
Souza, a state legislator and former host of a police TV show called “Canal Livre,” also was a drug trafficker, officials say. And to get rid of the competition — and drive up ratings — he would order that criminal rivals be killed and then would have his camera crews arrive first on the scene, authorities say.“In truth, they went as far as creating acts,” said Thomas Augusto Vasconcelos, intelligence secretary for Amazonas state. “It’s been determined that the crimes were committed in order to generate news for the program.”
This is the natural end of all that reality television so many people lap up. Don’t feed the beast.
(I also take this as an opportunity to recommend Ian MacDonald’s Brasyl.)
Spiderbait’s Black Betty does it right. Video isn’t original (because Universal Music Group hates its customers), but give it a play:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K0wfgGElo0[/youtube]
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From Richard Metzger:
Titled Harry Patch (In Memory Of), [the new Radiohead] song is a tribute to the oldest surviving Tommy who fought in World War I. Harry Patch was 111 years old when he died on July 25th, 2009. He fought in one of the grimmest battles of the war, the Battle of Passchendaele, where over 325,000 Allied casualties occurred and over, 260,000 Germans. The 99 day battle from July 31st 1917 to November 6th 1917, saw an average of 3,000 British troops killed, wounded, or captured daily. (By contrast, in Iraq, 3,650 US troops have died and approximately 26,000 have been wounded).
“Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims”.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vztj_TnUQyY[/youtube]
You can buy the track here. All proceeds go to the Royal British Legion. Please consider.
(Found via Xeni Jardin)
I’d rather have slow justice than a swift railroading, but good lord does it feel like this was a very long time in coming:
Former Rep. William Jefferson — the Louisiana Democrat in whose freezer the FBI found $90,000 during a 2005 raid — has been found guilty on 11 out of 16 federal charges.