Things to do in the Philippines when you're imprisoned

• 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.

• Could this slippery and/or incompetent and/or evil huckster lose his job already? Please?

• 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.

• A cool photo essay on life under Antarctic ice. Those penguins are awesome.

• Why The Simpsons is mankind's greatest achievement. Thanks, AV Club. The movie's a B+, by the way.

• GM is mysteriously making money again. Alas, this means their UAW negotiations can't go anywhere but south.

• 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.

• My Super Sweet 16 (or My Super Sweet 2) India-style.

• There are only 12 types of ads in the world. Seth Stevenson details them all.

• NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! FUCK!

• Also, in NOOOOO! FUCK! news, Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni die one day apart? A tragic loss.

• 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.

TOONCES LOOK OUT!

• 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.

• Firefox 3 preview. Bag o’ dimes.

• 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.

Belated blogiversary

• 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!

• The FDA is a ham-handed, ineffective piece of government bureaucracy. At least now everyone knows it.

• 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.

• Rating squirt guns on Slate. No Oozinator, though.

• A new Smoove B column!

• If you saw this xkcd comic a while back, you’ll love these photos. Chess on a rollercoaster!

• Art Brut meets Harry Potter. ‘Nuff said.

• Should we watch movies with actors in drag?

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.

An update for Glen

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…

• While Conrad Black awaits his hearing on his flight risk, Chris Hitchens gloats about it here. It’s worth the read if only because there’s nothing more fun than reading Hitch tear someone to shreds.

• 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.

• Hah, American software firm punks Iran.

• So, while Drudge today trumpeted DOW 14K from its front page, David Leonhardt at the IHT reminds everybody that 14,000 ain’t quite what it seems like, thanks to inflation.

• 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.

• Learning to like like. Like, totally. A linguist’s view at a linguistic quirk.

• When your ex-employer pisses you off, sometimes you have to destroy their property with a tank.

• The end of paper? Scripps closes down Cincinnati and Covinton, KY papers, while BusinessWeek wonders how long to keep the presses running. At some point, isn’t a major paper going to have to axe its print product? And if it doesn’t survive, will that spell the end of newspapers in general?

• Real men dig The Fifth Element. Oh, Ruby Rhod.

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.