Sundry thoughts from the cluttered mind of Peter Chen on mostly news and politics, but also music, movies, books, art, the Cubs, sports and most importantly, random internet bullshit.
What's in a Southeast Asian nation's name? Jonathan Foreman at the Corner seems to think that referring to Myanmar is de facto endorsement of the regime. Obviously, the NYT isn't actually endorsing the regime, as evidenced from their story standing sympathetically with the monks in the streets. Jon Stewart, though, makes fun of Bush here for still identifying Burma as a country. Is calling Myanmar Burma a political statement? Or a factual error? If someone called Israel Occupied Palestine, wouldn't they be in for a load of trouble?
Matt Bai talks about his book The Argument, about bloggers and the intellectually bankrupt Democratic Party, on TPMCafe's book club. He actually responds to the commenters, leading to a quite lively discussion. Worth the read. (Reviews of the book here and here. I've yet to read it, but I've read a decent amount about it.)
OK, I'm not one to defend Bill O'Reilly, but this story seems like it's being blown out of proportion. Yeah, he went to a restaurant in Harlem, and then professed his shock that black people were not all uncouth, gun-toting, profanity-spouting gangstas. The liberal blogosphere has predictably used this as a moment to laugh at Bumblin' Bill. Still, here's a guy, going to eat a meal with Al Sharpton, being taught a lesson or two in how deep his ignorance of blacks was, and immediately here comes the (mostly white, mostly upper-class, mostly male) blogosphere to pillory him. Certainly there's a cultural image projected of "blackness," which remains the only form that O'Reilly or the ruling elite actually see (despite living in Washington, D.C., the blackest city in America). If anything, Bill O'Reilly is trying to become enlightened, and we're smacking around him for it.
Long piece worth reading: Life is more than a moment. Elizabeth Eckford walked to school in Little Rock. Hazel Bryan taunted her. Elizabeth was black. Hazel was white. The moment was captured here, Labor Day 1957. What happened afterwards became a story of unlikely friendship and the hope that all of us have to change and better ourselves. It's not often that you hear a story of good rising up from the depths of hatred. This is one.
Bed-wetter nation. More response to Ahmadinejad's visit, in comparison with Khruschev in 1959.
Great, this is still a story, kept alive by CNN, the new National Enquirer. Honestly, has anyone else noticed just how lame CNN's website has become? Yeesh. See my take on "FUCK BUSH" here.
Schmidtty reminded me about DerrickComedy so I checked out the website again. They're still pretty funny, even if not quite to the extent of "Bro Rape."
9.25.2007
Discussions about the future of Internet discussion at the U.Chicago law blog, (with Instapundit!).
Congress is investigating foul mouths. Again. Why haven't they brought our troops home yet?
Did anyone else watch the Eagles game yesterday? Or more importantly, see those atrocious uniforms? (pictures courtesy of Uni Watch) The Redskins throwbacks were much nicer.
Duck Hunt! Consider at least an hour of your day gone.
Speaking of throwbacks, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the New Adolph Hitler, is speaking at Columbia University! Somebody stop him before he converts all of those liberal academic snob elites into his fold of evil... IF HE HASN'T ALREADY! But seriously, folks, I don't think Ahmadinejad is a nice guy, but come on, the whole reaction to this from the conservativepress seems rather infantile. I think the real problem is that Ahmadinejad is not an ogre; he's a politician. When people see him, they'll realize he's a person, not a monster. And that's more dangerous for the conservative base than anything else.
Yeah, so I wrote a couple reviews for IDS Weekend, but because of space, they have not yet been published. So I'm going to put them up here. I reviewed Chamillionaire's Ultimate Victory and Northern State's Can I Keep This Pen?
Don't Keep It
Northern State – Can I Keep This Pen?
It’s impossible to hear NorthernState without thinking of them as the female Beastie Boys. The three “Lon Gisland” girls, Hesta Prynn, Spero and Sprout, punch the last beat just like the Beasties (“Knock knock. Who’s there? Prynn, how you BEEN?/ Do you still have my copy of Huckleberry FINN?”). They dabble in rock and experimental production just like the Beasties. They’re white, bright and geeky just like the Beasties.
And just like the Beasties these days, they suck.
Despite critical love, NorthernState sounds like a bunch of privileged white girls play-rapping for a summer camp talent show. While they should have unique perspective in a hip hop world dominated by lewd misogynists obsessed with their own greatness, they simply cannot rap, reminding me of Blondie’s “Rapture,” with equally comical lyrics.
Take these sample rhymes from the highlight on the album, the Seussically suggestive “Things I’ll Do”: “Call me any time, I’ll manage your damage/ I’ll balance your budget then make you a sandwich.” Ugh. While the production behind them evokes a funky double-dutch, the three girls’ flabby rapping fails to illuminate their admittedly humorous, political perspective. Rhyming “2008” and “candidate” seems like the domain of local campaign staffers, not purportedly professional musicians.
On their third LP, NorthernState has produced a record that spans genres and styles from the post-punk rock-out of “Cold War” to the old school wiggles of “Sucka Mofo.” Each track begins with exciting sonic territory, but then these amateur karaoke-hour hacks sadly enter the stage. Ad-rock’s production provides the Beastie blessing on boards, and their admirers are many: they’ve toured with De La Soul, Le Tigre, and Tegan and Sara. With pedigree like that, I want to like them a lot – but just because they’re the best rapping liberal Whole Foods intellectual girl group doesn’t mean they’re any good.
Grade: D
God, they suck so much. Here's "Better Already" one of the tracks on the album where they "sing."
---------------------------------------------
Ponder like a rockstar
Chamillionaire - Ultimate Victory
After naming your album Ultimate Victory, anything less than that seems like a let-down. Chamillionaire, Houston’s latest hit-maker, should’ve solidified his position as a rap star after mainstream success in “Ridin’ (Dirty).”Alas, despite high hopes, this album stands as an admirable preachy failure.
Cham’s had enough with bling’n’bitches and tries earnestly to inject true politicization into a genre that has only dabbled occasionally and laughably in social criticism (“George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” “Vote or Die,” etc.). His sincerity even makes him swear off swear words and abstain from the N-word, staples of the hip hop world.
It’s hard not to applaud him for his attempt, but sadly, Chamillionaire’s commentary can’t sparkle like his more traditional tracks, including two great collaborations with each member of UGK: the one-hand-on-the-steering-wheel low-rider “Pimp Mode” with Bun B and the menacing bass line Southern anthem “Welcome to the South” with Pimp C.
In Cham’s solemn sermon on media bias (seriously) “The Evening News,” he commits some rhyme atrocities to fit his nonsensical observations (Does “one” rhyme with “him”?). Despite capable beats and a neat violin hook, it turns out that criminal lines like “The White House is gonna stay white/ even though we know that Obama’s black” sound terrible regardless. From 9/11 conspiracies to Flava Flav, he sounds as self-righteous as a hip-hop Art Garfunkel – “7’o Clock News/Silent Night” with a drum machine.
Other than his unfortunately popular “Hip Hop Police,” the track on the album that most epitomizes the face-plant of this audacious experiment is “Rock Star,” featuring Lil’ Wayne, the wailing guitar-crunk sound from “Party Like A Rockstar,” the thumps of “We Will Rock You” and meaningless idiotic rhymes. At once meditative and blustery, bashing materialism while basking in its spotlight glow – and rapping poorly – Cham can’t quite tie together this mixed bag, but damned if he doesn’t try.
Grade: C+
Here's Cham's aforementioned well-intentioned debacle, "Evening News." Reading other reviewsof this album, you'd think the lyrics were revelatory or "heavy" or "reflective," but really listen to them. They're just incoherent babbling.
Hopefully these appear in the Weekend soon, but I have no guarantees, since they're growing less timely by the minute.
First up, Daniel Gross goes over why drastic price-cutting spells problems for the U.S. economy. By heavily slashing prices, they're essentially forcing themselves to make more price cuts for future products (see: American automakers).
John Paul Stevens: conservative. Why does he look so liberal then? Oh, because every Supreme Court justice has been replaced by a new more conservative justice. Who appointed Stevens again? Oh, yeah. Gerry Ford. Who's his judicial hero? Oh right, Potter Stewart. Sadly, the reason he's so liberal to us is because we're more conservative than we were 30 years ago. Isn't that terrible?
Speaking of which, hey Democrats? Know what shows that you're ballsy? Being ballsy.
As many of you know, I am loath to openly Bush bash for no reason other than to Bush bash. I assail liberals and conservatives who go after the easy flubs, the mistimed jokes, the perceived stupidity. But honestly, Andrew Sullivan says what I would:
What a fucking disgrace this man and his journalistic lackeys are.
Excuse my language. But I can't take this any longer. We're at war; and he's still playing Rove's game.
Moving on to things that piss me off slightly less, have people been following the Jena Six? There was a significant protest on campus today on Dunn Meadow (as well as Jena), and a lot of ink has been spilled defending the young men on trial. Yet, it's important to note that the attempted murder charges have now been changed to a lesser charge (assault) and the one convicted suspect, Mychal Bell, has a criminal record and was only convicted of second-degree battery. In that sense, didn't the protesters already win? I mean, they're still on trial, but that's because they beat a guy up. When you beat a guy up, it's still a crime. Racism still exists, but the law has rectified its mistake. Should the white dudes have been charged for putting up the nooses? Probably, but the statute of limitations may well be past (I'm not sure). Still, what further action really needs to be taken? The charges have been reduced to something reasonable for a beat-down, and Jena now looks like the racistest town in America (not to mention, the school itself actually burned down). I'm sure that racism existed in the case, but because of all the noise surrounding the case, it's hard to get a good read on what action should be taken now.
Remember that thing about the weak dollar? 1 USD = 1 CAD. Insane.
A bunch of college graduates from various universities took a basic civics test. They sucked. A lot. Some would argue that memorizing facts and dates is irrelevant to understanding history. I would argue that facts and dates are supplementary information and that they are fixed into place by purpose, but if you don't know the facts, then you know shitty history. Take the quiz here. (Disclosure: I got 3 wrong. WTF bonds?)
Today's video is in memory of the senators who voted against the advertisement, or who, like Obama, refused to show up for a cheap political stunt denouncing a newspaper ad. This is an example of the shit they don't have to deal with when riding in their cars to the Hill, and a reminder of the danger facing our troops while they decide whether or not an advertisement was nice or not.
Anyone else here see the rate cut as a big problem rather than a boon? With the dollar crashing, shouldn't concern for inflation override the pains of those who are going to lose their homes? A recession sometimes has to happen; it's the nature of financial cycles. People keep stocking up on dollars for the foreseeable future, and no one's just going to dump them without a thought. Still, just because the Dow jumped 300 points doesn't mean a rate cut is a good thing. Besides, points ain't what they used to be.
A new neat WashPost feature: FactChecking the candidates. Should be fun. Should also be fun watching them all deny lying.
Hey, guess what old fogeys? It's not "those durn kids" who have irresponsible behavior. It's THE OLD FOGEYS, or more accurately, middle-aged men. So really, it's just "those durn kids" from 20 to 30 years ago, the tail end of boomerdom, who never stopped their risky behavior.
Guess who's running for President? It's my favorite!
Speaking of Presidential longshots, take a look at this video from WashPost about former Sen. Mike Gravel. He's never gonna win, but God, it's great to watch him try, isn't it? Everyone thinks Hillary, Obama, Edwards and whoever else are liberal, but they obviously never met this guy. Here's a man who deserves to have his message heard, but the netroots remain quiet about Gravel. Too bad really. So I'll do my part: read his issue profile here.
Video time! Normally I avoid Reddit's videos, as they tend to suck. But this was too good to pass up because of the music. They put a camera on a trolley, then watched people turn into it. I think I'm going to get a bike helmet for sure now. If people can't see a giant trolley, I'm not too confident in their ability to see me.
Ali G, I'll be honest. Now's probably not the best time to be releasing your book and accusations about irresponsible GOP government. Y'know when would've been a good time? WHILE YOU STILL RAN SOMETHING IN THE GOVERNMENT. Just like all the ex-Bushies who now throw up their hands (Powell... I'm lookin at you...), he could've done something while still in power. Now he can't. Way to go, schmuck.
More on why the war on drugs is idiotic. Guess what? Morphine isn't that expensive, but it's hard to get because of drug-war bullshit. Y'know how this could be fixed? Ending an outrageous offensive against patients in pain.
OK, boys and girls. Time for the video. Everyone, by now, has seen Britney embarrassing herself and this kid freaking out about it. If you want to watch'em go ahead, but I won't directly add to their views. Instead, I offer the best of the responses to Chris Crocker, Seth Green's rendition of "LEAVE CHRIS CROCKER ALONE!"
The first pictures of Earth from another planet (Mars Spirit Rover). (Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Texas A&M)
Due to popular demand (read: heckling from my asshole friends), I will update the blog despite being ass-busy. But here's my idea. I'll post at least 5 links a day. That way you'll all get regular posts, but I won't actually have to eat up that much time. Certainly I read at least that many articles, see that many picture posts, etc. Maybe a lil' commentary here and there, but nothin too big. Oh, and one video. We'll see how this goes.
Great, yet another reason to subscribe to the New York Times. Ugh, I just can't justify spending that much money on a newspaper I'll only read half of every day if I'm lucky. Still, I <3 Daniel Clowes. So who knows?
Hah! Bundys in Russian! An article I saw in the NYT a few days ago talked about Married... With Children in its phenomenally successful Russian incarnation. It uses basically the same scripts as the original show, but in Russian. God Bless America.
Lastly, this is for two musical giants that the world lost this year, and one of the weirdest meetings between musical giants since Neil Young played in a band with Rick James. RIP Pavarotti. RIP Brown. Pour one out for your homeys.
Okay, lots of links, so I'll keep the commentary short.
First up, I hadn't sat down to read Giuliani's piece in Foreign Affairs yet. And now that I have, uh... he's crazy. Perpetual war for perpetual peace: the Rudy Doctrine. All enemies who happen to be Muslim = Islamofascists. Peace = bowing down to American military might or being crushed. Yglesias has perhaps the most succinct thoughts ("this man is batshit insane"). Jim Henley and Dan Drezner have their own thoughts, which are fairly concurrent. (For a contrast of "Foreign Affairs" articles written by presidential candidates, try reading Edwards' vision here. He may be wrong on trade, but at least he's not a bumbling/maniacal warmonger.)
Yglesias also has this neat shout-out to a competent reporter actually questioning the boilerplate spin given by the federal government.
At least Giuliani has these guys standing with him. Oh wait...
In other campaign news, Hillary: The Play! Next up, Hillary on ice! (Hilariously, Priscilla Barnes plays Hillary. Yeah, that's right, Terri from Three's Company)
Picking a major in high school: good or bad? I'd lean towards bad, just because I've been gleefully listless since whenever, but I bet it'd be good for a lot of kids to stay involved in their studies. Still, picking your job at age 13 seems like a stretch for ending systemic school failure.
WashPost has an excellent look at the underbelly of pro wrestling. And here I thought it was all underbelly.
America gives Israel $30,000,000,000 in military aid (a 25% increase). At this point, does Israel really need aid? I don't think Israel is existentially threatened any longer. Sure, it was in 1973, but these days, I think they can manage with their booming defense contracting industry. (not to mention, you know, their nuclear bomb).
A ridiculous picture and video of a crowded wave pool in Tokyo. Yes, there is water in that pool somewhere.
A long but worthwhile essay from Glenn Loury on why America has become an incarceration nation and its long-term effects. Bottom line: upper- and middle-class America benefit from state violence in the punitive justice system, but society on the whole suffers. At what point, then, are we culpable?
SomethingAwfulites will have already seen this, but I just saw it on Reddit today, so sucks to your asmar. It's a 435-foot slip-n-slide.
German physicists claim to have violated special relativity. I'm skeptical. But if they've really broken the speed of light, then Alpha Centauri or bust!
A great series of movies on the making of the Muppet Show. Damn, that's complicated. Oh, how I love the Muppet Show.
Freakonomics author Steven Levitt wonders in his new NYTimes blog how to best attack America. Homeland Security begins its surveillance.
OK, video time. That Muppet Show thing reminded me of how much I love those wacky Muppets. It's one of the Great Summits in American pop cultural history and two of my favorite performers: Johnny Cash meets Miss Piggy.
Wayne Barrett takes down Giuliani with no mercy in this Village Voice piece. Incendiary.
Jack Balkin refuses the Administration's spin of the FISA bill. Of the anti-authoritarian bloggers, Balkin has been most closely following the tricky legal grounds of the law. His other posts on the subject are definitely worth reading.
James Fallows has some perceptive takes on China's largely incompetent attempts at censorship. Here's the umbrella post that has interior links to the others. It helps put an article like this in perspective.
People in Jordan and Guam can expect a longer life than Americans. I suspect both our girth and crappy infant health.
This kinda thing irritates me to no end. Once they're ex-employees, they criticize to no end, but where are they when this stuff is actually going down? Where's the outrage when they're still on payroll? Colin Powell, I'm looking at you.
To begin, I am more angry at the Democrats now than I was at the Republicans. Because, face it, I pretty much expected the Republican Congress to blindly enable the Bush Administration with shameless kowtowing to the unconstitutional expansion of executive power. They've been loving that since Nixon. But before I lament the spinelessness of the feckless Democrats (notice how the words applied to the Democrats are -less words? Powerless, careless, worthless. Less, less, less.), let me go over the surveillance law a bit.
It's important to note that the activities allowed by the law basically already happened, but had been ruled illegal by the FISA court (see previous post). Also, the law's ostensible intent is reasonable. After all, with the routing of most international calls through the great fiber-optic switches in the USA, it makes sense to listen in on calls within the country, as long as the two parties who make the call are non-citizens and out of the country. This law is nothing of the sort.
Reasons why this law blows:
1.) It EXPANDS the Attorney General's power. Yeah, that's right. This guy. Rather than leaving the surveillance oversight in the hands of an external court (the FISA court), the attorney general and director of national intelligence get to approve spying.
2.) This law permits wiretapping as long as the party being investigated is out of the country at the time. That is to say, if an American citizen went overseas and called back to another American citizen in the United States, that call could be monitored, violating both of their Fourth Amendment rights.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
3.) The Democrats and Bush's National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell had already struck a deal for wiretapping that closed the loophole without giving all the oversight to the most dysfunctional Cabinet Department ever. Bush nixed the idea and with more fearmongering, bent enough Democrats to get what he wanted.
It's disgusting to see the Democrats submit to pressure, since they're afraid of being viewed as "weak on terror." Guess what? Something tells me that the Republicans will STILL call every Democrat they can "weak on terror." You know what else makes you look weak? Doing everything the President tells you too, because you're so scared. Want to show you have guts? How about doing something you believe in every once in a while? How many non-binding resolutions must the American people endure before this Congress takes real action? ARGH.
More broken promises from the Army Corps of Engineers. Looks like the 17th Street Canal, supposedly built to withstand a storm surge of 13.9 feet, can't even take a 6.3 foot storm surge. It turns out that if you have a levee which can withstand a high storm surge at almost all points except one, the storm surge still busts the levee. (More about Army Corps incompetence in this long Time magazine feature.)
Imagine my surprise that flooding Iraq with weapons in an attempt to spark the ragtag security forces turned out to be a bad idea. Still, 190,000 firearms? Sweet zombie Jesus. Hey, it goes with the NRA position here... guns don't kill people, after all. Guns defend people from people with smaller guns.
This long piece on one family's experience in open adoption in the LATimes really touched an emotional chord with me. I hope you all take the time to read it. I guess in the age of open adoption, the birth parents can suddenly decide to play a much bigger role, but the strain it puts on a child seems extraordinary.
A great piece in the Sunday Trib about the mighty 7-Elevens in Taiwan. If Taiwan had a true national symbol, it would be a 7-Eleven. Or more accurately, it would be an unending row of 7-Elevens down the entire street.
Apparently, getting rid of a pheromone sensor turns female mice into raunchy dudes, "complete with mounting, pelvic thrusts, and the ultrasound calls that males use to attract a mate." Good-bye sewing circle, hello Foxy Boxing.
Jimmy Wales refuses to submit Wikipedia to the censorship in China that Google has undergone (and downright complicity in repression in which Yahoo has participated). It's a tough line to toe, but I think Wales can do it. Long live Wikipedia!
More on the issue of the social contagion of obesity. Here's the original article in the New England Journal of Medicine, with some interpretive riffs in Time. The general idea is, as one person got fat, the chance of his/her friends increased significantly. Therefore, obesity can be 'spread' through social networks. There is, however, a dissent coming from children's health advocates like Dr. Neil Izenberg, whose letter in the NYTimes describes the problems of 'quarantining' fat people. I agree that attaching an additional stigma to being fat can aggravate rather than improve the situation, but it's hard to argue against the fact that friends and family strongly influence eating/exercise patterns. Here's Izenberg's interview in Alternet.
Final note before the video, Lee Hazlewood, great American musician, died over the weekend. While there are a few tributes here and there, the best tribute I could find was this NYTimes article (Select only, folks) from January of this year. Priceless.
Ok, video time. This is terrible. Awful. Horrible. Maybe the worst commercial I've ever seen. Talking sandwiches, saying Filet o' Fish. In different accents. For a whole minute. It's godawful and had me staring in dumb disbelief that such an abomination was ever made. And that's why you should watch it.
So, it turns out that a FISA court overturned part of the Bush surveillance plan as illegal, which is why the Bushies are scrambling to expand surveillance. Wait, but why didn't we find out about it until now? Oh, that's right, like all things dealing with this hilarious Administration, it's a SECRET. You know, like this guy's job description. At least, it's only a secret until the Senate Minority Leader reveals it all on Fox News. Then it's not a leaked secret, just a sincere cry to fix our intelligence gaps. Right. In any case, the Post spends a lot of time talking up the potential Boehner leak, but to be honest, what's most disturbing here is the attempt to circumvent FISA through even broader legislation. Overreaching, Big Brother surveillance, and sneaky media manipulation? Check, check and check. Just another day in the life for this farce of a White House.
Not that Congress is much better. Here are the sober lawmakers having a raucous spat over whether the Democrats counted the votes wrong. Or something. I mean it could be worse... but not much. At least the public approves! I hate to say it, but I liked Congress better when it was Republican. Then at least my hate for it could be uncomplicated. With this Congress, I have to accept that my own party may be lamer than I ever imagined. Sheesh.
The other failed invasion/occupation. Ethiopia in Somalia and the destabilization that it has brought. (Free registration required)
Commander Obama toughens his stance, while everyone and theirmomma chews him out. I don't necessarily see hypocrisy in wanting to talk to North Korea, Venezuela, and Iran, while wanting to attack camps inside Pakistan. If you can't control what's going on within your own borders, and those people have directly threatened the United States, why not invade? Obama's "wrong war, wrong place, wrong time" shtick on Iraq only makes sense if there is a right war at the right place at the right time. Yet, in the context of the failed Iraq war and the ailing efforts in Afghanistan, we would do better to exercise caution than fling ourselves into a country teetering on the edge of serious civil unrest. I find this to be another troubling example of an Obama campaign more fixed on shrewd political maneuvers than on speaking uncomfortable truths about American policy and bringing about sweeping change. I'm still backing the Barackmobile, but I'm skeptical as ever. Regardless, everybody should seriously consider the remarks by Obama in his sweeping foreign policy speech (Read it in full here). The question of how we construct a substantive foreign policy out of the Iraq debacles must be brought to the forefront. No one but Obama and Paul (in his ultimate isolationism) has proposed anything of the sort.
It turns out that taming the Yangtze doesn't mean taming flooding. Ten percent of China's population (120 million people) were affected by this year's floods, anyways.
Is this creepy to anyone else? I mean, I understand that we want to market things younger and younger. Also, I know that everyone knocked TV and radio and comic books for kids because it was lurid and whatnot. But isn't social networking for kids a little (a lot) dangerous? Despite assurances that strangers can't get on these sites, come on, it's not that hard to be anonymous online. I dunno, call me old-fashioned, but I think there are enough dangers in the world without adding virtual ones, and the parental units are always so behind the times that online dangers may be the most difficult to detect.
Uh, how is this not bigger news? Reporter has affair with Mayor of Los Angeles... who she is reporting on while the affair takes place. I'm pretty sure the Los Angeles case even worse than this. Maybe I just haven't been watching the news enough to see more of it.
I'm fairly certain that this is sorcery. (I know, I know, I always blame wizards, but it's the only reasonable explanation)
See, this is the part where the NAACP says, "No, we don't want the PR nightmare of publicly defending a coddled athlete who probably hosted vicious dogfights in his home. We learned from the Duke rape case that jumping to the defense of the black person in the situation just because he or she is black, is probably a bad idea." Wait, they're defending him because they're bowing to community pressure rather than doing what's right and staying out of it? Oh, well scratch that last part then. I swear, Chappelle wasn't entirely wrong.
Are there too many heroes? A worthwhile point; we worship people for just doing what they're supposed to do.
God Bless America. A story of the most glorious shit in the history of the world.
After Internet 2.0, are we just going to have Bubble 2.0? It certainly seems reasonable. After all, the hype about social networks and user-generated content are outpacing any actual business these people do. Isn't it? Doesn't this sound familiar?
Hey, maybe we just execute people because we really like executing people. No amount of forensic technology improvements can hide the fact that prosecutors, police, and citizens all want to see suspects arrested, tried, sentenced to death and killed.
Speaking of murder, here's a disturbing piece in the New Yorker about how a U.S. Attorney wanted to solve the murder of one of his subordinates and ended up axed by the Bush Administration, while the killer of Tom Wales is still at large. It's long and covers the rather unseemly trail of murder, but the worst part is its open-ended ending.
J-Pod reviews the Simpsons Movie for the Weekly Standard. A strange, if not entirely wrong-minded review. Probably the best negative review of the movie I've yet seen.
Another long piece, available without subscription temporarily from the Atlantic archives, about why Americans hate the press. Come to think of it, Fallows has some pretty good reasons: The media is out of touch with America, largely accepts the powers-that-be spoonfeeding them, and is so eager to talk about itself with meta-reporting that real issues get avoided. "Bias" isn't why people distrust the media. Laziness is.
Say it ain't so! Roy Pearson, the judge of the famous dry cleaning pants case, is going to lose his job. Poor Roy; those malicious Asiatic dry cleaners ruined his pants, his reputation, and his job!
You may notice there's nothing here about the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Frankly, there's enough out there that you can find it on your own, but here's a video anyways.
AT&T may be run by Satan, but this Blue Room Lollapalooza live webcast should be pretty neat.. Bookmark it for the weekend here.
Oh, also, the Cubs are in a rather unbelievable first place, but I don't think it's gonna last too long with a three-game set against the Mets. Hope Big Z is lights out today. Otherwise, it's gonna be a long series. Let's see some power. Where da HR's at?
iPwnd. Apple must change its design for its iPhone battery or get class-action lawsuited.
Video o the day. It's CHROMEO TIME! The pimpest pizza deliveryman ever chills with Chromeo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o.
First up and the must-read: Glenn Greenwald demolishes the O'Hanlon/Pollack NYT Op-Ed (read it here). Really, though, what Greenwald demonstrates here is that neo-conservatism is essentially the active, vigorous foreign policy of liberalism. No wonder the Pollacks and O'Hanlons of the world gleefully continue to cheer the war. This is, in many ways, exactly the war liberals wanted to fight. Let's not forget that mainstream liberal luminaries like Paul Berman and George Packer supported the war, and that the likes of Pollack, O'Hanlon, and Hitchens continue to support the war. It was Bill Clinton who signed off on military action in 1998 and pushed the Congressional "regime change" Iraqi Liberation Act. Greenwald strikes down any notion that liberals can be "Administration critics," simply based on their credentials as "liberals." I would say that I'm shocked, shocked to find out that the media is irresponsibly reporting bullshit, but then, no, I'm not surprised at all.
Speaking of Iraq, it looks like the Brits are so super-confident in the Bush surge's efficacy that they are planning to pull troops out regardless of what happens. Strange that amidst the brouhaha over the Bush/Brown summit, few news agencies ran with this seemingly significant story. Fake "results" or no "results," the Coalition of the Willing looks like it'll just be us and Estonia. (Also, looks like Iraq's parliament is going on vacation anyways!)
OK, I agree mostly with this op-ed piece espousing containment as opposed to war, but how did a ragtag band of criminals become the necessary target of a whole new Cold War? Osama bin Laden is probably dead, and the damage these guys do is not crippling in the least. The global economy is chugging along regardless, and terrorism in the West has become more "aspirational" than anything. Compare the London car bombs to the subway bombings just a few years ago. I'm just wondering whether these criminals deserve a whole new Cold War, and I wonder how a Cold War against terrorists would even work. Anyways, count me a skeptic.
Looks like colleges have found a way to stop file-sharing without banning it. Just make it really, really slow.
Zimbabwe, please, just stop. 100,000 percent inflation?!?! How do states fail? Someday we'll look at Zimbabwe as a textbook example.
OK, this is from Drudge, so a caveat applies. Also, I don't know how "big" this phenomenon is. If this is like that choking game idiocy last year, it's nothing that's been overblown by media. Right, so vegans are refusing to have sex with meat-eaters. I guess if you saw it as a defining moral issue, you couldn't do it any other way.
I never saw the documentary The Bridge, and had almost entirely forgotten it. Then, this LATimes article reminded me about the Golden Gate suicide debate. I'd say the numbers need to be publicized so they can build a barrier. For San Francisco, nanny-state of all nanny-states, to say that they can't build a public safety barrier for "aesthetic" reasons, then cover up the suicides, is quite ridiculous.
Remember the AFI re-100? Take a look at the Internet film community's top 100. Yeah... I'd rather have the AFI's, thanks very much. As Schmidtty has noted before, the Internet's top 100 is just a testosterone-loaded, younger AFI100 with its Die Hard (#30) and Spielberg action (Raiders and Jaws in the top 10). I suppose it makes sense, but it's unfortunate that the online film community is so... what is the word? dorky.
My meta note of the day is on America's incarceration crisis. We've got a country which incarcerates a higher percentage of its citizenry than any country but North Korea, with some states' prisons are so over-crowded that they're now sending them across state lines. Meanwhile, it turns out that after getting out of jail, you're not really out of jail, whether it's through sexual offender databases or pot-smokers being prevented from voting. The result of "tough on crime" for years has just ended in prisons crammed with non-violent drug offenders, and no end in sight. We'll commute Lewis Libby's sentence, but mercy for Texas criminals who don't have ties to the President? Eh, screw it (TimesSelect). I'm just a bleeding-heart liberal crazy. Can we get rid of mandatory minimums, please? I wonder what polling information would reveal about the public's view of the prison population.
OK, it was hard to pick a winner for today's video, so I'll include the two other links I would've put on. First, the internet phenomenon of the Filipino prison "Thriller"... so I guess there's something you can do with prison overpopulation. So You Think You Can Dance: Prison Edition! Second, this remarkable video of a man asking a pertinent question for anti-abortionites... so if abortion should be illegal, what should women who abort their fetuses get as punishment? Uh, turns out, no one's been thinking about it. Huh. How 'bout that? Pro-lifers not thinking things through. Whodathunkit? But the winner today is an older video, Nina Gordon singing "Straight Outta Compton." Even better than Ben Folds' "Bitches Ain't Shit." The incongruity is even greater.
First up, the must-see of the day is a documentary by a Guardian embedded photographer named Sean Smith who follows a group of American soldiers. It’s short, graphic, and a tiny glimpse into the challenges facing our troops (and really, any troops in a war). If you’ve read the quote about challenging the President and members of Congress to sit with a company of soldiers for 15 months, it comes from this video. Every American should watch this video, then look at the now-faded “Support Our Troops” ribbon on the back of their cars, and then think about what that phrase even means.
Pakistan, our most important ‘ally’ in the War on Terror, seems to be well on its way to hell-in-a-handbasket (BTW, my spell check informs me that “handbasket” is not a word). If Musharraf no longer has control of the military and intelligence services, he’s not going to have control of his country much longer. The suicide attacks and the recent Red Mosque shootout dovetail with this story on the ‘disappeared’ under the Musharraf regime, and demonstrate the bizarre dynamics of a war as poorly conceived as the ‘War on Terror.’ Who exactly are we fighting? Who should we be fighting?
Tasers: now in pink! Quote from one of the makers: ‘The brothers, inspired by “Star Wars” and “Star Trek,” thought to themselves, “Why can’t we make a phaser,” Mr. Smith said.’ Great.
Eating beef is less green than driving. Eat a steak, raise earth’s temperature. It’s notable how the global warming problem is changing our ethical worldview. Really though, it’s not that different than traditional morality: we have to give up some personal pleasure in order to promote a greater good. Yet, in the climate of selfishness imbued by the roots of capitalism (I’m not going all proletarian here, just stating the fact of the matter), it’s tough to convince people to give up their hard-earned monetary and material gains (like a tasty Big Kahuna burger) for something as abstract as ‘the planet.’
If the White House thinks that you have “a significant risk of committing an act of violence” (whatever “significant” means), they can take away your stuff. I don’t think it’s nearly as dire as redditors are making it seem, but it is just another example of Bush overreaching to expand his own executive power. What seems like a judicial tool to freeze assets is actually a dangerous move that suggests that anyone who tries to “destabilize” the world doesn’t deserve to hold property.
I think Petraeus is a fine soldier, but when you appear on Hugh Hewitt’s show for a big interview, I think your words lose credibility. If he had given this interview on, say, 60 Minutes or 20/20, this would be front-page news. As it stands now, he’s just another puppet of the right-wing propaganda machine.
So Trix is too sugary to market to kids any more, but Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs... that's still cool. Seriously, could this be any more disingenuous? If you're making a cereal with a cartoon rabbit as its mascot and a motto like "Trix are for kids!" I don't think stopping a few commercials is going to change your target audience.
Hah, Leahy sends his questions to Gonzales beforehand so he can’t forget the answers. I’ll bet he still refuses to answer, can’t remember, doesn’t know, and keeps his job.
A visual representation of every girl this guy’s hooked up with for the last 27 years. The best part is the cryptic little graphic in the stop sign that indicates why they broke up.
40 Years of Eric Carle: Watch the audio slideshow. If you don’t like Eric Carle, go sit in the corner.
Today's video selection is an oldie-but-goodie from the SNL archives. Actually, did I say goodie? I meant terrible. Still, Toonces makes me laugh every time.
Happy Blogiversary! Yeah, I’m late to the party, but anyhoo, Ross Douthat has some thoughts on the blogosphere being ten years young. I agree with the first half of Douthat’s post that blogging is good for punditry, but I’m not sure that it’s necessarily bad for deeper writing. Yes, editorializing is probably not a great way to start writing novels or even long-form news analysis. For example, take a look at Glenn Greenwald’s new book (excerpts here and here). It reads (surprise, surprise) a lot like his blog, and yes, many of his prose tendencies show up in droves (too many block quotes in a row, long, convoluted sentences, and a bit too much eye-rolling). Regardless, it is a book and has long-form prose that works. Sure, it ain’t Anna Karenina, but why should it be? I would venture that very few bloggers are actually looking to write philosophical treatises and novels. Or more importantly, to counter Douthat, that very few people looking to write philosophical treatises and novels are out there writing blogs.
Something I’ve been curious about… what ever happened to the war czar? It was such a big deal maybe three weeks ago, and now, Gen. Lute is nowhere to be found. It’s all Petraeus this and Pace that. Lute appears to be meeting with lawmakers, but he’s nowhere in the public eye. A search on GoogleNews registers 33 stories for “war czar” but over 9,000 for “Petraeus.” Wasn’t Lute supposed to be the point man on the war on terror? How strange that he’s an invisible media figure…My theory? He’s a mild skeptic of the surge, and therefore unfit as a non-true-believer to be displayed before the media, lest he give his actual informed opinion.
That ‘new’ bin Laden tape that everyone was crowing about? Turns out it’s not so new. In fact, looks like it’s five years old. Wroops!
Watch Barnaby Philips’ report on Turkish Kurds here. It’s just a hint of how hard it could be to simply retreat to “Kurdistan” in Iraq (the preferred strategy of Andy Sullivan).
A weird LATimes story that was inexplicably at the top of their e-mail newsletter, with an intriguing title that should please everyone: ‘Nudity, explosives, and art’.
Duke Cunningham talks bitches and hos with the FBI from inside the joint. Scroll down to the bullet points for the true hilarity. It’s a riot.
OK, so you know how I love well-told stories. Well, here's one that I watched a while back that's definitely worth watching if you haven't yet. The punchlines are incredible.
OK, I’m back in America and should seriously start updating again now that I have nothing but time on my hands. I’ve decided to write the updates in an open Word document all day and then just copy and paste them into Blogger whenever I feel the posts are long enough. So here goes with today assorted internet stuff.
Apparently, it’s a good thing that guys don’t do all that communicating. When chicks do it too much, it gets ‘em down. Grunting and muttering about sports is enough for us, thanks. Quote: “Getting people with issues together doesn't always make things better.” I’m looking at you, LiveJournal…
Steve Brodner explains Bush foreign policy in cartoon form. Explanation only slightly less convincing than Bush’s own National Intelligence Estimate. So, we’re supposed to believe that our strong offensive against terrorism is working, even though we’re also told that al-Qaeda is as strong if not stronger than ever?
Speaking of Iraq, the Democrats are pulling their all-nighter Senate slumber party to kick-start the Iraq war debate, but I don’t think the GOP is biting. These guys drive me crazy. Like Arlen Specter on the Judiciary committee, these guys moan and groan about how shitty the Bush Administration policy is, then do nothing to change it. Not that the Democrats are any less worthless. Still, complaining that the event is a mere stunt has been soundly rebutted here by Dick Durbin. Watch the whole video if you can. The transcript is unreliable at best.
I just attended the Pitchfork Music Festival this weekend, and it kicked eight kinds of ass. Despite minor quibbles about sound cut-outs and a tad bit of overcrowding (the Chicago Fire Department shut down Girl Talk’s set early), the music, atmosphere and price ($50 for 3 days?!) were just right. Good recaps here and here. Best sets of the weekend: Clipse, Battles, Of Montreal, Jamie Lidell, De La Soul, Menomena, and Sonic Youth performing Daydream Nation.
Vote for the best sports mustache of all time. If you didn’t vote for Rollie Fingers (or write in Rod Beck) then you’re not a true American.
In honor of both the Clipse and the old-school Transformers movie, here's an amateur music video of Wamp Wamp with clips (pow!) from the movie. It's not particularly well done, but to see the chorus is worth it.
