Gavin's Blog.com

Eminem sets November 16 Record release

Oscar-winning rapper Eminem will release his fourth album, to be called "Encore," on Nov. 16, his Interscope Records label said Monday:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=musicNews&storyID=6106864

The set will be the follow-up to 2002's "The Eminem Show," which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 9.2 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Interscope said its global sales stand at more than 19 million copies.

Because of Internet piracy, that album officially went on sale in the United States on a Sunday, nine days ahead of its originally scheduled street date.

The 2002 soundtrack to his hit film "8 Mile" also reached No. 1 on The Billboard 200. It spawned the hit "Lose Yourself," which spent 12 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and yielded an Oscar for Eminem and his two co-writers. Interscope said its global sales stand at almost nine million copies.

Although he released a new album with his group D-12 this spring, Eminem has kept a low profile over the past year. He recently announced plans to launch a hip-hop music channel with Sirius Satellite Radio, on which he will host shows with acts from his Shady Records imprint. The channel is expected to go live in the fall.

Reuters/Billboard

The real "Cheddar Bob"

If you have watched 8 Mile, you will remember Jimmy Rabbit’s friend in 8 Mile.
Cheddar Bob, Jimmy’s friend, is also a white aspiring emcee who gets into trouble by shooting himself into his dick during the movie.
After his accident, B. Rabbit battles his friend in a hilarious freestyle:

« cheddar, i can rip you to a shreader,
cheddar cheese, theres not a better MC then me,
im b rabbit, bitch, sting like a bee,
float like a butterfly, what am i, so what if i cut a guy,
did i s-s-studder guy,
leave you punch drunk from lunch truck to shelter,
you never felt the rag that held the skelta, melt ya,
got the belt for the welt to weight champ,
you got in with a fake stamp,
garbage bag full of clothes, still pullin hoes,
rip you from head to toe, from leg to bullet hole,
next gun pull it slow,
and aim at the freeworld before you let it go,
instead of oh, i just shot my dick head,
and yes you do gotta big head,
i can't call it, cheddar where's your wallet,
your so drunk, you can out drink the alcoholics,
make them say damn, cheddar's the man,
he needs a can surgically removed from his hand. »

Jimmy’s hilarious freestyle is also a way to teach his friend to humor the tragic event he just went through. A freestyle that suddenly gets interrupted by the Free World leaders who start making fun of both friends.

In his third and last 8 Mile battle, Jimmy also makes a refence to his friend:

« I do got a dumb friend named Cheddar Bob / Who shoots himself in the leg with his own gun . »

Cheddar Bob is described as Jimmy’s dumb friend in 8 Mile.

Did you know that 8 Mile’s character « Cheddar Bob aka Mc Bob » referred to a real person who actually lives across 8 Mile?

Who is he? His name is Robert Claus( whom I once called Mark Claus by mistake in one of my articles). Robert Claus is actually an emcee who is better known as DJ Rec.
Robert Claus is Eminem’s former friend and Marshall used to sleep over his house with other friends when Debbie kicked him out:

« I met him in '96 . . . He moved in with us, kind of like, couch surfing. »

Dj Rec has lived Eminem’s debut. He has handed out his tapes at St Andrews:

« St. Andrew's on Friday nights, that was a big thing . . . just handing out his tapes. »

They used to be intimate friends, but both men haven’t been in touch since 2000.

There was a time, Robert was too busy working and when he eventually wanted to get in touch with his former friend, Marshall’s relatives were like an obstacle between both men’s friendship:

« Right before they were shooting the "8 Mile" movie he was coming by the house, but I was at work a lot. . . . I don't know if he got offended by that, you know? . . . If I did call, these family of (ex-wife) Kim's that were at the house weren't telling him. (They were) like, "What do you want? This is my million dollars. »

The slang term « cheddar » usually refers to money. You will find a good definition of « cheddar » in the urban dictionary:

« money, riches, can also be used to express satisfaction.
Mad cheddar yo. (It will be very expensive. or I agree with you fully kind sir.) »

The real « Cheddar Bob » couldn’t be qualified as « rich », though.
« Obviously I ain't got that (money), » says Robert Claus.

There used to be a great complicity between Robert Claus and Eminem. They used to rhyme together. This is an example of a line Eminem could drop for his friend:

"Bob! You're a slob! Get a job! You live at home with your mom!"

Although he hasn’t really made a fortune out of his passion, Robert Claus is still busy DJing:

« It's slow everywhere right now. I mean I get my DJ work. I'm doing my own night at the Huddle Lounge (on 8 Mile). »

The sad thing in this story is that Eminem seems to have lost a long term friend.
D12 ‘s « How Come » is very nostalgic about Kim, but it is also about lost and broken friendships:

« How come we don't even talk no more? And you don't even call no more We don't barely keep in touch at all … »

Maybe Marshall had also his old friend in mind when he wrote this song.

Five photons linked

Quantum computing another step closer: error correction.

Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China, the University of Innsbruck in Austria, and the University of Heidelberg in Germany have entangled five photons. "Our experiment demonstrated for the first time the ability to manipulate five-particle entanglement," said Jianwei Pan, a physics professor at the University of Science and Technology of China and a fellow at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

Error correction uses mathematical codes to detect when a bit has been accidentally flipped, and is widely used in classical computing because electronic and magnetic bits occasionally switch accidentally from a 1 to a 0 or vice versa. Quantum bits are more delicate and require an error correction method to be feasible.

Quantum computers have the potential to be blazingly fast because a string of quantum bits, or qubits, that store the ones and zeros of computer information can represent all the numbers possible within that string at once. This would make it possible for a quantum computer to check every potential answer to a problem with a single set of operations.

Qubits take advantage of the quantum phenomenon of superposition. A photon can be polarized in one of two orientations, but when it is in superposition it is in a mix of both orientations at once.

The challenge in building computers to take advantage of the phenomenon is that superposition is a fragile condition, and interactions with the environment can knock a particle out of superposition and into one definite state. Interactions with the environment can also have more subtle effects that can result in the equivalent of a qubit being flipped from a 1 to a 0 or vice versa.

Being clear about present dangers

Philip Bobbitt wrote a very good criticism of the current system of terror warnings a couple of weeks back. Have a read.

PBS Frontline

The PBS program Frontline has linked to my US-EU relations category archive. I am in there with the Dissident Frogman, Iberian Notes and Almost A Diary.

I shall have to start adding more to that archive now.

Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)

This one via An Oasis. Some good tips on writing, on more of the creative side it seems. Worth a look.

Oil prices caught in a global storm of angst

This one has been sitting around waiting to be blogged for a while now. Steve A. Yetiv, professor of political science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and author of the forthcoming book "Crude Awakenings: Global Oil Security and American Foreign Policy", writes about the price of oil.

He points out:

All this brings us to market psychology, which is affected by supply and demand but is its own animal as well. Unlike in the past, oil is now traded like other commodities. When traders believe that the price of oil will rise, they go "long the market" or buy into oil, thus pushing the price higher. The more buyers, as with any traded good, the higher the price.

Part of their action is driven by the fundamentals of supply and demand, and part of it is speculation. Speculation can vary in rationality. The stock market bubble that sent U.S. Nasdaq index above 5000 was driven by irrational speculation, not real fundamentals.

Speculation is affected by many things, including fears about oil-supply disruptions in the Middle East, Russia, Venezuela and Nigeria. Today, these fears may well add 20 percent to the price of oil.

Just grin and bear it:

Such fears have always been around, but today they seem to represent a perfect storm of angst. This is despite the fact that there may well be enough supply out there to meet demand and that the Saudis could add about 1.4 million barrels per day if need be, albeit not of the most desired low-sulfur crude.

So there we have it. Yes, things look a bit grim today. But the global oil market can change quickly. In the short run, at least, we may well have to hold onto our hats, grin and bear it.

William Pfaff: When the Marines make policy, Iraq burns

Will Pfaff believes the Marines are largely to blame for current problems in Iraq, not sure I agree with him on that one, interesting point of view nonetheless.

Google, Shmoogle. The Biggest I.P.O.'s Went Unnoticed.

Randall Stross in the New York Times [Reg reqd] tells of the other IPOs this year that went unnoticed. He points out that it is only the trendy tech industry gets all the press comment while other bigger IPO's receive scant attention.

Some readers may have missed the news. Genworth's was only the biggest initial public offering so far this year, raising $2.8 billion in May. It and the second biggest - Assurant, which went public in February - did not draw nearly as much attention as A Certain Other Company's $1.67 billion offering for a simple reason: boring ZIP codes.

Companies in financial and insurance services, however well they perform, lack the cachet of the most-envied corner of the economy: tech land. No other sector, year in and year out, receives such disproportionate attention from prospective investors and the news media alike. The computer industry is good. Software is even better. A company name already familiar to nontechnical computer users is best of all. This has been the case ever since the initial public offering of Microsoft nearly two decades ago.

He asks and answers appropriately in relation to market hype:

Will Google have a halo like Microsoft's, benefiting the many other hopefuls in tech? This is a question of pure psychology, nothing more. Experience suggests that "halo" is a euphemism for "investors turning bullish en masse for no substantive reason."

Neocons have Iran in their sights: William Pfaff

Will Pfaff muses on the situation developing in Iran. There seems to be increasing media comment on a likely intervention by US forces in Iran - prompted in part by stories that Iraqi Shia militias are being armed with advanced weaponry by the Iranian government. Worries over their nuclear facilities are also making headlines, while Israel considers its position. Pfaff notes:

Israel reportedly contemplates a unilateral attack on Iran's nuclear installations. It would want America's permission, so it needs to get it while it is sure Bush is president.

The recent decision in Israel to distribute antiradiation kits to people living in areas that might be contaminated by "an accident" at its own nuclear weapons facility is aimed at American opinion. The indirect message is that Israel is preparing for an Iranian attack on Israel's nuclear weapons manufacturing installations; hence, pre-emption is necessary.

Israel's basic position is forthright and simple to understand. Iran, like Iraq before it, is a major - and hostile - neighboring Islamic state. If the danger it potentially presents can be removed without disproportionate political or military costs, Israel - under Ariel Sharon - will probably do it.

The American case against Iran is entirely different. Its rests on the neoconservative notion that every society instinctively yearns to become an American-style democracy, and would do so if its despotic leaders were removed, by force if necessary. As the world's leading democracy, the United States has an obligation to propagate democracy. Overturning despots is therefore a duty, and the result will be a better world. The argument, of course, is familiar: It is why the United States invaded Iraq.

Another piece by Martin van Creveld goes into more detail on the Israeli position.

Haughey and Dingle

Uncle Anthony with another letter in the Irish Times from last Friday:

Madam, - It is grotesque in the extreme that the organisers of Dingle Regatta continue to honour Mr Haughey for his so-called services to the town (The Irish Times, August 26th). During his self-serving career Haughey was a tax cheat; he felt that the heavy burden of funding essential services and development was for the little people.

The monies allocated by Haughey for the development of Dingle came from the pockets of hard-pressed, compliant taxpayers. It is those citizens, who did such great service to the State, who should be honoured in Dingle. - Yours etc.,

ANTHONY SHERIDAN

"Rock City"

« Rock City » is the example of a collaboration between two gifted Detroit rappers: Eminem and Royce da 5.9. « Rock City » sounds like an ode to Detroit. People who have enjoyed the song have probably also liked the « Rock City » video.

The video introduces you into a black suburb. A mom discovers the « Rock City » CD and is so shocked that the CD lands into the trash. But the angry mom is unable to escape to Eminem and Royce who will appear on her TV screen.
The song « Rock City » also refers to Detroit’s various and rich musical influences. There is also a clear allusion to the second Detroit race riots wave from the 60’s in Royce’s mouth:

« I'm takin shit back to the riots in the sixties… »

Royce shares his vision of Detroit with us. Detroit is the city of the hustle, you just can escape hustlers, they are everywhere you go, from the suburbs to the ghetto.
Hustling is a theme that has been exploited by many Detroit artists like Shane Capone, Backstab the Kingpin. It is present in Proof’s song « Boom » ( « boom » is the slang term for « hustle ») from the Promatic album.

A good definition of the term « boom » can be found in the urban dictionary:

« Street slang for hustling that originated in Detroit:

(by Alex Skov)

Detroit, the city of plants where workers get exploited. Detroit, the city of pimps, dealers and hoes.
Not only pleasant details belong to Royce’s description of a rough city that remains also a musically rich city. Some call it « Rock City ».

Eminem, who is very conscious of Detroit’s musical potential, is working hard for local emcees’ promotion:

"I remember seven, eight years ago, when Detroit was growing, it was like a seed that was growing and all I ever heard and all anybody was talking about was wanting to be the first person to blow up Detroit and the first person to get on and the first person to do this and the first person to do that. Everybody was just fighting for Detroit to have a voice," he says.
"Once I got on, I realised it wasn't about that. I knew there was so much talent in Detroit, period. There's probably 10,000 MCs in Detroit that have it in their heart to just do hip-hop and just be something and they have that drive."
"What I'm trying to do is bring the industries here, bring the record labels here and make them realize there's talent in Detroit, and to start looking."

Detroit might correspond to the description of a rather depressing city, but the talents of its numerous local emcees make it appear in an interesting light. So come on, rock with Eminem and Royce on this wonderful ode to « Rock City ».feat. Eminem
"Rock City, Royce, 5'9, Slim, Shady"
*skirt* "COME ON!!"

[Royce the 5'9"]
Can't stop the hustle, Royce nickel nine
Glock stops the tussle, nine shots'll bust you
Pine box'll stuff you, fuck you!
"Fuck you!"
I am not the tussle, niggaz don't know me
*skirt* "COME ON!!"
I'm Detroit's king nigga
*skirt* "Wow!"
Rock City's where niggaz pimp hoes and ball
Strip hoes in bars, still close the malls
"Arms, and ya city's got the.." [3x]
Titties saggin lookin like they got four arms
Gold bottles, green bottles, Cris' to the don
Niggaz get popped for sellin weed shaked with seeds
If you hate me you hate the D (*vocal scratch*) please!
I'm takin shit back, to the riots in the sixties
Think I'm lying? Visit me (Where you live?)

[Hook] + (Eminem)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock wit me" *scratches* (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (Come on the block wit me)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (And come and rock wit me)

"Rock.. city.. come on"
"Rock.. on.. city.. come on!"

[Royce the 5'9"]
Suburban and city niggaz hustle together
Long as it's money envolved, niggaz'll tussle together
Long as the hustle's a hustle, the green is green
White is white, nigga we buyin if the price is right
So (*scratch*) drop the mics
Everything's on cock, from the shots to the dice
We are not into hype
You can't say we can't work
Either we some plant workers or we some niggaz that plant work
("What") Detroit bitches is bout it
You can just ask any one of ya niggaz that visit about it
Any Seven Mile bitch know how to get rich
She'll fuck you till you sleep PLUS lie to ya bitch
PLUS she'll suck and swallow up outta ya dick
And she'll keep a sugar daddy that'll buy her some shit, come on!

[Hook] + (Eminem)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock wit me" *scratches* (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (Come on the block wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (And come and rock wit me)

"The city with the bars, where the goons with the cars,
to produce, here we are.."

[Royce the 5'9"]
New casinos, car shuffles, numbers to bet
Disrespect and get a new smile under ya neck
A city full of thug-ass niggaz, and punk-rockers
Alotta niggaz act like Pac so cops watch 'em
And shot blocks up in the black or the light Timbs
White boys, look, act, and rap like Slim ("Hi!")
Fight Music, knife users never respect it
Guns talk (*scratch*) high schools with metal detectors
A city full of Tommy Hirst thumpers
Brandt Hill roopers, Barry Sanders runners, stunners
Cal Diz but we connects like whoa!
Type of weed, no need to test like 'dro
Type of cats who got dough, they like ("So!")
You real, then you might go.. (Where?)

[Hook: 2X] + (Eminem)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock wit me" *scratches* (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (Come on the block wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (And come and rock wit me)

[Royce talking] + (Eminem)
Detroit Rock City ("Slim Shady")
Won't you come on the block with us? ("Royce the 5'9")
Won't you just come and rock with us? ("Royce the 5'9")
Next Level ("Rock City")
Royce the 5'9" ("Rock")
Slim Shady ("Rock City")
Uh uh, won't you come and rock with us? ("Rock City")
Won't you come on the block with us? ("Rock wit me")
Won't you come and rock with us? ("Rock wit-")
Rock City.. touch it... ("Fuck!")

The importance of positive thinking

Every time I feel weak or discouraged, the final words of Eminem’s song « Lose Yourself » travel through my mind like a constant encouragement not to give up: « You can do anything you set your mind to, man. »

Wonderful power of those words. Just listening to them in a silent meditation deep inside of me gives me enough force to go forward.
Whatever your dreams or your projects are, let me tell you that if you’re willing enough to through the end, you actually can and will do anything you set your mind to.
People who keep telling you that it doesn’t work or that is impossible are usually quitters and bitter persons who lacked energy in fulfilling their own dreams. You gotta avoid those persons if you really want to go forward.

Real winners never quit their fight. No matter how many storms they will have to go through, no matter how many failures they will be confronted to.
Real winners know how to use their defeats: in fact, each defeat teaches them a lesson. A lesson that they will use as an enrichment on their road to success.

Another point shouldn’t be neglected by people who are determined to succeed: surround yourself by positive people. Positive people might help you in the brainstorming of your project. They will give you all the moral help needed.

Determination, positive thinking and faith are the keys to success. All you have to do is to apply to them.

Dead couple to be married

A South African man who shot his pregnant fiancýe dead before killing himself will be posthumously married to her at the weekend:

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0002/20040827/1116494825.htm

Police Captain Mohale Ramatseba said David Masenta shot 25-year-old Mgwanini Molomo after a quarrel before turning the gun on himself. But Johannesburg's Sowetan newspaper said family and friends wanted to remember them as a happy couple destined for a happy life together.

The groom's corpse would be dressed in a cream suit and his bride's in a gown for the ceremony, at which a priest in the rural village of Ceres in Limpopo will bless the union before the two are buried, the Sowetan said.

"In African culture, there is no death -- there is merely the separation of body and soul," said cultural expert Mathole Motshekga. "It is also important because the families are married together."

"This does not mean the relationship has irretrievably broken down."

Top Russian Official: Plane Terror Likely

A top Russian official acknowledged on Thursday what many citizens already suspected - that terrorism was the most likely cause of two jetliners crashing minutes apart, a feeling reflected in a newspaper headline warning that ``Russia now has a Sept. 11'' :

http://cnn.aimtoday.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?oldflok=FF-APO-1103&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20040826%2F1629300984.htm&sc=1103&floc=NW_1-T

Just a day after officials stressed there were many possibilities besides terrorism, presidential envoy Vladimir Yakovlev told Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency that the main theory ``all the same remains terrorism.''

He said the planes' flight recorders had not provided any clues to the disaster.

Additionally, Transport Minister Igor Levitin confirmed Sibir airlines' report that its crew activated an emergency signal shortly before the plane disappeared from radar screens. Visiting the site of the crash, he said, however, that details were slim because ``no verbal confirmation from the crew was received'' saying what the problem was.

Officials previously said there was no indication of trouble from a Volga-Aviaexpress airliner that also crashed late Tuesday, although people on the ground reported hearing a series of explosions.

Russian media also raised questions about a possible link between the crashes and an explosion a few hours earlier at a bus stop on a road leading to Domodedovo airport, where the two doomed planes took off. Without citing any evidence, the reports suggested the blast, which wounded four people, might have been an effort to distract attention.

The suspicion of terrorism came after earlier warnings from officials that separatists might try to carry out attacks before an election this Sunday in Chechnya to replace the war-torn region's assassinated pro-Kremlin president. The rebels have made attacks in Moscow and other cities, hijacked planes outside Russia and allegedly staged suicide bombings.

``I am inclined to think that it is a terrorist act, because there are too many coincidences,'' said Ruben Suryaninov, an elderly retiree. ``What needs to happen so that two planes going from the same airport would bang at the same moment?''

``It's too suspicious,'' agreed Natalia Kozhelupova, a physicist who was out on a national day of mourning for the 89 people killed in the crashes. Russia's tricolor flag flew at half-staff and television canceled entertainment programs.

Despite Yakovlev's statement about terrorism, officially the government's investigation was still looking at all possibilities, including bombs, hijackers, mechanical failure, bad fuel and human error. Officials said no evidence had been found pointing to terrorism.

The government had hoped the jetliners' flight data recorders would shed some light, but Yakovlev told state-run First Channel that experts found both boxes shut off before indicating any problems.

Yakovlev, the president's envoy for southern Russia, where one of the planes crashed, said both boxes ``turned off immediately'' - an indication ``that something happened very fast.''

The planes - a Sibir Tu-154 with 46 aboard and a Volga-Aviaexpress Tu-134 with 43 people - disappeared from radar almost simultaneously around 11 p.m. Tuesday. The Tu-134 was headed to the southern city of Volgograd and the other plane to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where President Vladimir Putin had been vacationing. They had taken off about 40 minutes apart.

A government commission appointed to investigate the crashes traveled Thursday to the site where the Tu-134 crashed about 120 miles south of Moscow. Emergency crews had already completed their work there, but other workers continued to check wreckage of the Tu-154 a few hundred miles south.

``There is still no clear-cut concept of what occurred, because the procedure of deciphering the data recorders will be conducted more than once,'' Levitin, the transport minister and head of the commission, was quoted as saying by ITAR-Tass.

Oleg Panteleyev, an independent aviation expert in Russia, said that just because no clear evidence of terrorism had been found didn't mean it that wasn't the cause.

Any other explanation ``seems to be purely impossible,'' he told The Associated Press. ``But then again absolutely incredible things can happen in life.''

There also was doubt about whether Russians could count on their government to tell the truth.

``I never trust what the authorities are saying, but in this case, I don't know - it could have been an accident or a terrorist act,'' said Yevgeny Skepner, a 37-year-old computer programmer.

Many Russians have ingrained doubts about the government's candor after the confused and contradictory reports on the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk in 2000 and the still-murky 2002 seizure of a Moscow theater by Chechen rebels.

Still, Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst who is often critical of the government, said the government would have nothing to gain in covering up a terror attack.

``For the companies, the aviation industry, society and Russia as a whole, it would be better ... because otherwise it means that things are really bad here - we have bad planes that crash to the ground one after another,'' he said. ``The fact that it is not being called a terrorist act, means they have no such evidence ... because hiding a terrorist act is impossible.''

Panteleyev disagreed. ``To miss such a major terrorist act for the security services means to acknowledge their impotence,'' he said.

A bloggin great idea

Since posts have been light, and my last few posts were deleted thanks to a server crash I wanted to try something out.

Could all the people who are currently reading this, yes you, please leave a comment. You don't have to say anything outrageous, but if you want you can put where you live and how long you have been reading, and if you are really brave, how you came acrsoss this blog in the first place. Call it market research.

This entry shall remain the first entry for the next 7 days.

Your cooperation would be greatly appreciated.

Eight essays of dangerous ideas

A summary of the essays in Foreign Policy:

“Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds” noted Albert Einstein. Ideas can be good things, but sometimes, as in Einstein’s case, good ideas can lead to the creation of destructive power. Ideas are benign things, but some ideas once applied can result in serious consequences.

Atomic weapons were developed some 60 years ago, and their development has lead to the possibility of humankind having an ability to destroy itself. But looking to the future, what ideas may effect us in the coming years, what developments that are now being made will pose a threat to the future of humanity?

The latest edition of the US periodical, Foreign Policy, features eight essays by some of the top political and scientific thinkers today. The magazine, funded by the Carnegie Endowment for International peace, asked what ideas, if they were embraced, might pose the greatest threat to the welfare of humanity in the future. The writers provide a range of answers, some more surprising and obscure than others.

Robert Wright, visiting fellow at Princeton University’s Center for Human Values and Seymour Milstein senior fellow at the New America Foundation, believes that any moral crusade on ‘evil’, or the concept of ‘evil’, maybe a significant threat in coming years. Writing from an ethical perspective he believes that George Bush’s vow to “rid the world of evil”, and declaring Iran, Iraq, North Korea and others as part of an “axis of evil”, are dangerous ideas.

In taking this idea to task, Wright asks pointed questions into the over-simplification of evil into a black and white scenario. The world is just not that simple. If, he says, you believe all terrorists to be evil, then you’ll be less inclined to fret about the civil liberties of suspected terrorists, or treating accused or even convicted terrorists decently in prison. And merely calling Iraq, Iran or North Korea “evil” says nothing about the entirely different situations in those countries. What if these policies actually increase the number of terrorists as Muslims at home and abroad feel persecuted?

Wright believes he may have a remedy – accept that evil is something at work in all of us. If this is the case then the world does not look like the Lord of the Rings, where the bad guys are hideously ugly for the sake of easy identification but is instead more ambiguous, that evil is something human and just about anybody can play host to it.

Paul Davies, professor of natural philosophy at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at Macquarie University in Sydney, has a different take on the future. He believes that some of the more dangerous ideas come from who we are, our genetics, psychology and our own free will.

The belief that we can decide our own fate, and that we are the authors of our own destiny is, he believes, something that is being thrown into doubt by an ever increasing amount of scientific data.

Modern genetics has undermined the belief that we are born with freedom to shape our destinies – evolutionary psychologists root personal qualities like altruism or aggression in our genes. Biologists like Richard Dawkins believes we are essentially slaves to the will of our genes. So too with memetics, the mental equivalent of genes – beliefs, ideas, fashions are essentially memes, and we are merely the vehicles for passing these on to other people.

And how does Davies belief these ideas can be dangerous? There is, he says, an acute risk that these ideas will be oversimplified and used to justify and anything-goes attitude to criminal activity, ethnic conflict or even genocide. If you thought eugenics was bad, imagine a world where people do not believe in free will.

Samantha Power, lecturer in public policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, is fervent in her views on the idea of the future of international peace and security. Her view is that the United Nations, since its foundation, has been continuously eroded in its power, and any further erosion set a dangerous path for the future.

Unless, she believes, the UN is reformed to more accurately reflect the present, we will see it fall into disrepair, much as happened to the previous League of Nations. The Permanent membership of the Second World War victors is anachronistic – and only reflects the views of 29 per cent of the world’s population, and entirely excludes the Muslim world. A hobbled together UN, as it presently stands, cannot face the 21st century’s deadly transnational challenges, and without a strong and reformed UN, we will endanger the peace and stability of the world.

Eric J. Hobsbawm, emeritus professor of economic and social history at Birkbeck, University of London, is scathing in his views about current efforts, such as those underway in Iraq and Afghanistan, to spread democracy throughout the world.

The idea of powerful states spreading democracy is something rather trendy at the moment. It believes that spreading standardised Western democracy and believe that it will succeed everywhere, remedy transnational dilemmas and bring peace is simply foolish.

It is not only dangerous and foolhardy to attempt it on other states, but also dangerous for the states attempting it. He believes that electoral democracy and representative assemblies really had little do with decisions to invade Iraq, it was instead decided by small groups of people in private – a dangerous precedent for Western democracies.

Francis Fukuyama, professor of international political economy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, has something of a science-fiction type scenario facing us in the future.

‘Transhumanism’ or humans that have been genetically altered, or altered using technology such as microchips could create huge problems for humanity in the future. As technology develops we will increasingly use biotechnology to make ourselves stronger, smarter, less prone to violence and maybe even live longer.

But what happens when bit by bit, a group of humans become less and less ‘human’ through the use of technology? Will the phrase “all men are created equal” still be valid? It is a dangerous prospect, since modifying what is a very complex animal can have unforeseen consequences. All kinds of ethical dilemmas will come to pass should some humans decide to ‘improve’ themselves, essentially giving rise to a whole new set of racial and social problems.

Fukuyama urges caution, prescribing humility in the face of the awesome possibilities science is giving us.

Martha Nussbaum is the Ernst Freud distinguished service professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago – and her thoughts on future dangers center on religious intolerance.

She cites various recent examples such as the killing of several hundred Muslims in India in 2002, or a worrying rise in anti-semitic attacks in Europe. These are symptoms of something that could become an immense problem in the future. Religion, she says, helps people to cope with loss and fear of death, it teaches moral principles and motivated people to abide by them. But because religions are such powerful sources of morality and community then can often manifest themselves by imposing hierarchy and indeed oppression. Clinging onto a religion one believes to be the right one, inevitably could lead to conflict, as it has in the past.

As a remedy, Nussbaum suggests greater emphasis on using rhetoric to support pluralism and toleration, much as Martin Luther King used it to help people imagine equality and see difference as a source of richness rather than fear. Our leaders must have greater respect for the plurality of religions, or a path to religious intolerance could lead to a dangerous future.

Alice M. Rivlin is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a visiting professor at Georgetown University. She was director of the Office of Management in the first Clinton administration and vice chair of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors from 1996 to 1999.

Her warning: the US needs a tighter fiscal policy, or the consequences could be devastating to the world economy. Currently the US national debt is at record levels, and the US still believes that the ordinary rules of global finance don’t apply to them.

The current problem is much worse now than it was under Reagan, who, like Bush Jnr, lowered taxes to stimulate growth while increasing public spending. Now the US is two decades closer to the baby boom generation, those born after WW2, retiring. Their retirement will cost a huge amount of money, and couple with this the US has gone from being the world’s largest creditor to the largest debtor, with a substantial portion of debt being held by Asian and European central banks.

It will be Americans that will have to pay for this debt with higher interested rates and slower growth – and this means slower growth for the rest of the world. In a worse case scenario the dollar would plunge with a migration of capital out of the US, which in turn would devastate developing countries. The fiscal policies of the next administration in the US will have huge consequences for the future.

Fareed Zakaria is the editor of Newsweek International and author of The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. The idea that worries him the most for the future is the idea of anti-Americanism.

The rise of anti-Americanism, he says, really took hold after the election of Bush in 2000. In that year, 75 per cent of Indonesians considered themselves to be pro-American. Now the figure is 80 per cent anti-American.

Increasingly anti-Americanism is becoming the way people think about their position in the world. But if anti-Americanism continues to grow and fester it could be an idea that is dangerous for humanity.

So ideas that trouble the minds of some of the world’s greatest thinkers cover a wide range of interests and viewpoints – but one thing is certain, there are many more dangerous ideas on the way, some of which we haven’t even imagined yet.

How Eminem changed Michelle's life

Eminem changes people’s lives!

Michelle is a fellow fan who came across my website. She has shared her story with me and I would like to share it (with her approval) with all of you.
Her life has been changed by Eminem positively. Like me, she doesn’t correspond to the « typical teenage Eminem fan ».

This is Michelle’s personal story:

"I am a 32 yr old mother of three. My children’s ages are 16, 12, and 7.
Yes, I said 16 and if you can do the math I was 16 when I had him. My mother raised me, but my father was not around much. He always showed up for Christmas and a phone call on my birthday, but that was pretty much it. He did always convey to me that even though we did not see a lot of each other, he loved me and would be there if I ever asked him to. My mother was very materialistic and cold. She very rarely said she loved me or gave me much one on one attention. She did work very hard, but all of her off time was spent with one boyfriend after another. She wanted to be like a big sister more than my mother. She had me when she was young and she was constantly trying to get back her youth that having me had stolen away from her. She blamed me for everything that went wrong in her life. Nothing I could do was good enough. She did not get to do many things that young people do because of me and she wanted those things for me. College, prom, parties, graduation, and all things high school, but even though I understood that she wanted a better life for me than what she had been dealt, she did not tell me why. She constantly lied to me. I was 13 before I knew her true age or when her and my father was married. Mainly because she knew I would do the math and figure everything out. I finally figured it out by looking at her driver license and I found a copy of their wedding invitation at my aunt’s house by accident. Looking back now so many things in my life was a lie. Her family acted as though they were close, but we really only saw each other on holidays. We would go to one of my aunt’s houses and pretend that everything was just fine. That everyone was as pure as the driven snow and not dare talk about anything that was going wrong in our lives. We most definitely did not show any emotion other than the facade of pure happiness. My entire childhood was this way. My feelings were silly, foolish. They did not matter because my mother was always having some other crisis that took precedent over whatever issues I was having. Living this way, I began to believe that I was not important. That everyone else’s feelings and problems were more important than my own. That I should just ignore it and focus on anything but myself and put everyone else first, mainly my mother. As I grew older, she threw more and more on me. I was not a child. I was her equal. By the age of 10, I was paying the bills with checks she left signed for me, making dinner for myself, her, and whatever boyfriend she had, cleaning the house and yard, anything and everything that the mother would usually do. She was never there for me physically or emotionally. She did always provide a roof over my head, food, and clothing. We were not poor, just middle class.
It was around this time that one of my mother’s boyfriends became a permanent live in. At first it was kind of nice, as he seemed decent enough. I got along with him and at first my mother tried to play more of the motherly role to impress him. I can’t say that I didn’t mind that. But, it all to soon faded. My mother’s new live in was a drug trafficker with many problems. It did not seem that bad at first. I was old enough to know about drugs (at least what they told us in school and TV). It started out with me being able to smell them smoking pot. Then after a few months to a year, I would find one hundred dollar bills rolled very tightly into straws lying around the house. Little did I know that the worst was yet to come. The drug problem he had really did not affect me at this point. I knew what was going on, but I just hung out with my friends and played video games. They never did it in front of me and they were getting along pretty well. He would leave for a few weeks at a time every so often. I realize now that he was trafficking. When he would come back he would always have a couple of skuzzy friends with him and many large duffle bags. They would set up shop my mom’s bedroom not to be seen again for a few days and then be gone again. After a few more months of this, my mother and him began to argue. They argued about him being gone, bringing unwanted people around, him cheating, and even the things that I was being exposed to. She did care about what was happening. She was still working very hard and when she was not there I was left alone with these people. She did not like it, however she did very little to stop it. She used but she never did become addicted to anything to the point of having to go to rehab or not being able to function properly. She had a good job and made decent money. Eventually, my mother got her way and her boyfriend supposedly saw the error in his ways. They bought a house together and we moved. For about two months everything seemed ok. He even got a normal job working with his family.

It was then about a year ago that I decided that I was going to get a tattoo of Em. I chose the picture from my visor and found an artist to do it. I had it done about six weeks ago and I cannot tell you the strength and peace it has given me. I am more self assured and happy than I have ever been. Not that all my problems are solved, but I know that I can get through it. I have even started a leg sleeve kinda in tribute to Em. My tattoos of Em make me feel empowered (ha, ha em-powered). I did not expect to have that happen, but they do. I offer no excuses or lies to anyone anymore. I dare anyone in my family of hear no evil, see no evil believers to ask why I chose to be tattooed with Eminem on my back and leg. They will find out why and when they try to act they didn’t know I will tell them FUCK YOU !!! I am tired of living the charade and Em has taught me that I do not have to if I do not want to. I blame no one for my choices or my life. I own my mistakes and have the physical and emotional scars to prove it. I no longer need validation, or permission from my mother to have feelings of any kind. I feel vindicated in the eyes of my husband and children, and their love and support is all I need (and Em’s music).
This is my story of how Eminem, Marshall Mathers, and Slim Shady have made a difference in my life. I acknowledge all sides of his persona as they have individually helped me to realize that although I am one physical person, many different people reside inside of me and believe or not that does not make me crazy… it makes me normal. I just choose to admit it and not hide behind some kind of facade of myself. Well, thanks for listening or I should say reading this. "

Thank you,

Michelle Sanchez “Chelle”

Nathan Mathers: a young man on his way to fame

To all of you who are curious to know more about Nathan Mathers’ future career as a rapper, it seems like Eminem’s brother has achieved his first rap CD.

He’s got the ambition to be a rap star like his big brother from whom he has learnt a lot and whom he is very grateful to:

« My brother Eminem is the coolest guy I know and he’s the greatest brother a guy could have. We’re really close and I’ve idolized him ever since I was a kid, way before he was famous. »

Both brothers live together and Nate enjoys staying at his brother’s home. A great complicity binds both brothers. Eminem even helps his little brother out with his music. With such a great teacher, no doubt Nathan will make some progress very fast:

« I’ve been living with Eminem a few years now and it’s the best situation in the world. I have my own room and plenty of space. No one bothers me. Eminem’s around a lot. He helps me with my music and we play on our play station, listen to music or watch movies together. »

Although Nate has also been suffering from his mom’s behavior, that he described as « nuts » a few years ago, he is in better terms with Debbie Mathers than Marshall:

« My relationship with our mom is very different to Marshall’s, he says. I’ve never seen her the way he does. They have lots of problems. I don’t get into it. She’s my mom and I love her. »

Since Eminem has been granted full custody for his daughter, Hailie also shares Nathan’s every day live. He loves his neice very much and plays a lot with her.
Nathan will confirm you how dedicated Marshall is as a daddy:

« I make time for her every day whatever she wants to do. Since she’s been living back at Eminem’s full time, we’re one big family and I love having her around. It’s sad what happened with her mom, but Eminem’s a great dad. People tend to dismiss this. »

Nathan doesn’t want to be Eminem’s rapping clone. He has the will to make something very personal and different from his brother’s style:

« I am my own person. I am not my brother. I can’t have his career. I can only put my stuff and create my own identity. People are going either dig my stuff or they won’t. »

Of course, Nathan is conscious that being Eminem’s brother will help a lot in building his future career:

« Sure being Eminem’s brother has opened all the doors, but it’s now up to me to make something of it. No one is going to invest in me if I don’t produce the results. I understand that this is a business first. If the CDs don’t sell, I’m out. »

The biggest mistake that people could make would be to compare Nathan to his brother. You ought to give him a chance: of course it won’t be perfect at the very beginning, but you can be sure that he will do his best:

« I only hope that people will give me a chance and not try to compare me to him. I’m making my own music. It is not just a carbon copy of his stuff. »

Nathan Mathers might be the next great hip hop superstar very soon. He is determined to work hard in order to surprise you positively. When his first CD will come out, why not give him a chance to prove his talent?

Cuban ships herself to U.S. in wooden crate

Really, really, really want to get out of Cuba? Do the sensible thing and Fed Ex yourself out of there, using capitalism to escape despotism, I love it.

Linked by Dan Drezner

Wohoo my first link from Dan Drezner, even if it is at the very end of a post, a few days ago, about Georgia. Still nice of him to link to my Caucasian archive.

Things have been quiet in Georgia lately, but I expect things to liven up again soon.

Believe it or not, he actually lived in the black neighborhood of Detroit

I went through an article that was published in the Detroit News recently:

http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0408/25/a02-253306.htm

I was surprised and angered at the same time by Neal Rubin’s statements about the place where Eminem used to live, because I am deeply convinced that this article totally misrepresents the truth.

First of all, people who know Eminem’s life story perfectly know that 8 Mile has never been autobiographical. It just situates the context of Eminem’s story.

Neal Rubin’s worst statement is the following one:

« Lots of people have taken it literally, though, and they’ll be surprised to learn where Marshall Mathers III grew up:
In a brick bungalow near Nine Mile. »

This statement is untrue: Eminem didn’t live permanently near 9 Mile in the little house of Warren.

He used to live between 7 and 8 Mile with his mom. You will learn it from Eminem’s mouth in an interview given to Spin Magazine in 2000:

Spin: These were mostly African-American neighborhoods where you grew up?

Eminem: Yeah, near 8 Mile Road in Detroit, which separates the suburbs from the city. Almost all the blacks are on one side, and almost all the whites are on the other, but all the families nearby are low-income. We lived on the black side. Most of the time it was relatively cool, but I would get beat up sometimes when I'd walk around the neighborhood and kids didn't know me. One day I got jumped by, like, six dudes for no reason. I also got shot at, and ended up running out of my shoes, crying. I was 15 years old and I didn't know how to handle that shit.

It is a matter of fact that Eminem used to live on the black side of Detroit. Deshaun Holton aka MC Big Proof used to live in the same street than Marshall Mathers.

The Source Magazine also tried to make a « myth » out of Eminem’s story growing up across 8 Mile, but Eminem’s former friend, Chaos Kid, confirms that Eminem has never been a 9 Mile resident. His presence in the 9 Mile area corresponds to periods where Marshall used to be kicked out by his mom:

« Marshall did not move to Warren in his early teens. He lived in the city of Detroit. The Northeast side between 7 and 8 mile which is still predominantly black. He never lived in Warren. He would, however, frequently get kicked out by his crazy mom and would sometimes spend a few nights at a time in Warren between 8 and 9 mile at Manix and Buttafingaz' house. His girlfriend also lived in that area, so I assume he would spend some nights over there as well. However, most of the time his girlfriend would spend the night at HIS house in Detroit where he had his own room. » (Chaos Kid, letter to the Source Magazine).

Marshall went to Lincoln High school that is situated between the 8 Mile and the 9 Mile area, because he had some problems at the local high school he went to:

« He first went to a Detroit High School where he had some problems so for awhile he went to Lincoln High School between 8 and 9 mile in Warren. He did this by giving the school a false address within the school district. This is where he met Manix and D.J. Buttafingaz who were also attending Lincoln at the time. After awhile Lincoln High School found out that he wasn't a Warren resident however and he had to go back to Detroit schools where he attended once again for a period of time before being kicked out or dropping out (I don't remember which). All the music was recorded in Warren during this time over at Manix and Butta's house but Marshall DID live in Detroit.» (Chaos Kid, letter to the Source Magazine)Maybe some people are trying to make a myth about some facts concerning Eminem.

But most of the facts stated by Eminem about his childhood and his former life can be verified as a 100% true.

Mr Neal Rubin , please keep your facts about Marshall Mathers straight.

Foreign Policy Sep/Oct 2004 edition

Just when I am making progress in my reading, Foreign Policy pops through the letter box, and this edition includes essays headlined as the 'World's Most Dangerous Ideas'.

The essays are by Paul Davies, Frank Fukuyama, Eric Hobsbawm, Martha Nussbaum, Samantha Power, Alice Rivlin, Robert Wright and Fareed Zakaria.

It also has an essay by Javier Solana, urging the US to learn from the mistakes of Iraq and champion the cause of "muscular multilateralism". Should be interesting. Oh and an essay by Craig Barrett (CEO, Intel) on outsourcing.

I shall try and blog the best bits.

Dan Drezner on Georgia

Dan Drezner ads his two cents, and believes that Saakashvili is a good leader.

Screw Bush or Kerry -- why can't someone like Mikheil Saakashvili run for president in the United States? As someone who witnessed first-hand the Soviet-style traffic police in action when living in Ukraine, I could only weep with joy after reading C.J. Chivers' account in the New York Times of Saakashvili's police reforms.

Nice to see this region mentioned on one of the bigger blogs.

Why I don't like sugarcoated singers

Many people like sugarcoated and sweet pop singers. I don’t.

You might be curious to know why. You might argue with me that sugarcoated artists generally have a sweet sounding voice, sweet looks and soft lyrics…

That’s right. But to me, those artists are totally fake, most of the time. They do sell an image, they don’t expose themselves. The only thing they fully expose is their fine bodies and their fake smiles.
If you take Britney Spears’ example, I wouldn’t grant her any musical talent. The main reason why she is so successful is her beautiful face and body.
She sounds so sweet. But the image of herself she exposes to her public is made of lies. Britney Spears is supposed to be a role model for little teenage girls, and what does she offer to them? Lies, only lies!
She lied about her virginity:

http://www.starswelove.com/scriptsphp/news.php?newsid=3202

What else does she offer to her public? A fake wedding with Jason Alexander:

http://www.starswelove.com/scriptsphp/news.php?newsid=4139

But Britney Spears is not the only pop artist to act like this. There are numerous equivalent behaviors from other pop artists.

Moreover, the sugarcoated seem to make people believe that we live in a world of sweetness and perfection, which is an illusion, particularly for naïve kids: the world in which we live isn’t made of pink lollipops and sweet people.
Unfortunately, our world is also made of dramas, violence and messed up childhoods and artists shouldn’t only show the too much perfect side of their world vision.

I have immense respect for artists who have the courage to expose the truth and the ugly reality.

The sugarcoated artists I dislike most are the moralists. Religious freaks allow themselves to judge other people. More dangerous, they think they are invested by God in their task and would love to shut down anybody who disagrees with their vision of the world. Why don’t they start to show love first, instead of whining about the lack of love in this world? Groups like the « Black Eyed Peas » have shown much more hypocrisy through their songs than real feelings and emotions.

There are too many fake notions and concepts attached to the sugarcoated. Too many fake images that misrepresent their true personality are displayed in the media and it mainly explains my disgust of such pop stars.

Don’t misinterpret me: anybody has the right to like the music he or she wants. I’m just adding my two cents.

Wordpress testing

My Wordpress testing continues with a new (if pilfered) stylesheet. I do like how there is no rebuilding involved whatsoever.

Blog outage

Well the hard drives on my server in Nottingham crashed today, so my blog has gone back in time to the last available backup.

Fuck The Planet

One reason why I really like Eminem is his poetic way of telling the world to fuckoff. I am also amused because I am trying to imagine some angered people’s reaction: « What?! He dared speaking like that? »

What is even greater: Eminem doesn’t give a fuck about people’s anger when he spits his words with his usual dexterity.
One of his freestyles, « Fuck The Planet », that has been inserted in the lyrics of « Hellbound », Eminem’s collaboration with Master Ace, has captivated my attention.

It begins like this:

« Yo.. Slim Shady!
Yo.. I'll fuckin.. I'll..
I'll puke, eat it, and freak you (eww)
Battle? I'm too weeded to speak to
The only key that I see to defeat you… »

This time, Eminem impersonates a cannibal. He’s too high to dialogue with you, but he’s determined to make you lose the battle against him, as always.
Slim Shady, offensive as ever, angry against the whole planet will shoot his words like the fastest bullets. His words are worst than the strongest pistol, because his adversary will be verbally ripped off and eaten.

« I ain't tryin to shoot you,
I'm tryin to chop you into pieces and eat you
Wrap you in rope and plastic, stab you with broken glass
and have you with open gashes strapped to a soakin mattress
Coke and acid, black magic, cloaks and daggers (ahhh!)
Fuck the planet, until it spins on a broken axis… »

The description of the multiple tortures aimed at his enemies give make the beauty of Eminem’s wicked rhymes.

Dark humor lovers will probably enjoy the sentence that made me smile:

« Fuck the planet, until it spins on a broken axis… »

As Eminem concludes his freestyle, no doubt that he will leave his adversary speechless:

« I'm so bananas I'm showin up to your open casket
to fill it full of explosive gasses
and close it back with a lit match in it
while I sit back and just hope it catches
Blow you to fragments
Laugh, roll you and smoke the ashes. »

The offensiveness of those words are here to make you feel the exaggeration of his speech. The listener perfectly knows that Eminem wouldn’t act like that in real life- unless he believes the rapper is an addict of cannibalism.

Enjoy the beauty and the madness of « Fuck The Planet » as Slim Shady spits his words on the mic.

"Fuck The Planet"

[Eminem]

Yo.. Slim Shady!
Yo.. I'll fuckin.. I'll..
I'll puke, eat it, and freak you (eww)
Battle? I'm too weeded to speak to
The only key that I see to defeat you
would be for me to remove these two Adidas and beat you
and force feed you 'em both, and on each feet is a cleat shoe
I'll lift you off your feet so fast with a roundhouse
you'll think I pulled the fuckin ground out from underneath you
(Bitch!) I ain't no fuckin G, I'm a cannibal
I ain't tryin to shoot you,
I'm tryin to chop you into pieces and eat you
Wrap you in rope and plastic, stab you with broken glass
and have you with open gashes strapped to a soakin mattress
Coke and acid, black magic, cloaks and daggers (ahhh!)
Fuck the planet, until it spins on a broken axis
I'm so bananas I'm showin up to your open casket
to fill it full of explosive gasses
and close it back with a lit match in it
while I sit back and just hope it catches
Blow you to fragments
Laugh, roll you and smoke the ashes

Eminem and Dr Dre denied dinner at Orlando restaurant

World Entertainment News Network
Posted August 20 2004

Hip-hop superstar Eminem was reportedly denied dinner at a Florida restaurant, because he was "rude and obnoxious":

http://www.southflorida.com/news/sfl-rgsuscm4aug20,0,6912227.story?coll=sfe-news-wire

The rapper spent time at theme park Walt Disney World's Ritz-Carlton Orlando with his 8-year-old daughter Hailie and mentor Dr Dre recently, but what should have been a relaxing break reportedly turned into a trip full of conflict.

Sources say that because of their alleged bad behavior, they were denied dinner at the Ritz restaurant.

A source tells Us Weekly, "Their bodyguards threw one of the waiters into a plant, causing him to fall on the floor. We said we didn't need their business. Plus, they were dressed terribly!"

Lingerie blog

A women's knickers blog. RTE's Gerry Ryan would have a field day.

Georgia starts S Ossetia pullout

Georgia has begun withdrawing troops from the conflict zone in South Ossetia a day after it claimed to have captured key strategic positions in the area. It is handing over control to a joint peacekeeping force composed of Russian, Ossetian and Georgian soldiers.

Events move fast.

Post September 11th 2001 Journalism

An Oasis points to an interesting piece of media analysis.

I also came across this good media weblog today.

How good are Ireland's schools?

Dick O'Brien and William Sjostrom have been duking it out on the free vs fee debate in regard to Ireland's schools.

Is William not relying on an entirely anecdotal example? I am not sure that one story such as that would put me off public schools, well in fact it wouldn't. I went through the public system and I turned out fine. Whoops. That's my anecdote.

Surely the stats Dick quotes are a more reliable source than anecdotes?

Or why not just do the two, go through a public school, and send 'em off to a Leaving Cert crash course for the last year?

Are most of the new students starting in UCC this September really that badly educated?

Global warming to devastate Europe first

According to a new study:

European winters will disappear by 2080 and extreme weather will become more common unless global warming across the continent is slowed, warns a major new report.

Europe is warming more quickly than the rest of the world with potentially devastating consequences, including more frequent heatwaves, flooding, rising sea levels and melting glaciers, says the European Environment Agency (EEA) document, launched on Wednesday.

The changes are happening at such a pace that Europeans must put in place strategies to adapt to an unfamiliar climate, the researchers write, although they stress the importance of the Kyoto Protocol in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

How could it be so localised that higher emissions in one region would results in a warmer clime? Is meteorology and climate science not a bit more complicated? Do clouds respect borders?

How 'bout some editing?

Over at Irish Eagle some bad fact checking is reported, in the Independent no less. Conor Cruise O'Brien noted:

The present Governor of California George Kazantsakis, was elected in 2002 with the active support of President Bush, who campaigned for him in the State, and toured the State with the new Governor immediately after his election. The new Governor pledged his support for the re-election of President Bush immediately after his own election as Governor. He has recently renewed his pledge of support for the re-election of the President.

Err no. That would be Arnie. In 2003. And who the hell is George Kazantsakis?

Grokster Wins in Appeals Court

An important decision has been reached.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that Grokster (along with other vendors of decentralized P2P systems) is not liable for the copyright infringement of its users. Today's decision upholds a lower court decision, which had been appealed by a group of music and movie companies.

The Court largely accepted Grokster's arguments, finding that although the vast majority of Grokster users are infringers, Grokster itself cannot be held liable for that infringement.

The Court found Grokster not liable for contributory infringement, because Grokster did not have the necessary knowledge of specific infringement. In light of the Supreme Court's 1984 Sony Betamax decision, as elaborated in this appeals court's Napster decision, the court first determined that Grokster's software has substantial commercially significant uses other than infringment. As a result, contributory infringement would have required that Grokster have knowledge of specific acts of infringement, at a time when Grokster could take action to stop those acts. But Grokster simply distributes its product to consumers, and has no knowledge of how any particular customer uses the product later. If copyright owners tell Grokster about an act of infringement, after that act has already happened, that is not actionable knowledge because it is too late to stop the infringment.

The court also held Grokster not liable for vicarious infringement, because Grokster does not have the right and ability to control its customers' infringing activity. Grokster has no practical way to kick users off the system or to police the system's use. The court also ruled that Grokster cannot be required to redesign its software and force its customers to update to the redesigned version.

And a quote from the actual judgement:

As to the issue at hand, the district court's grant of partial summary judgment ... is clearly dictated by applicable precedent. The Copyright Owners urge a re-examination of the law in light of what they believe to be proper public policy, expanding exponentially the reach of the doctrines of contributory and vicarious copyright infringement. Not only would such a renovation conflict with binding precedent, it would be unwise. Doubtless, taking that step would satisfy the Copyright Owners' immediate economic aims. However, it would also alter general copyright law in profound ways with unknown ultimate consequences outside the present context.

Further, as we have observed, we live in a quicksilver technological environment with courts ill-suited to fix the flow of internet innovation. The introduction of new technology is always disruptive to old markets, and particularly to those copyright owners whose works are sold through well-established distribution mechanisms. Yet, history has shown that time and market forces often provide equilibrium in balancing interests, whether the new technology be a player piano, a copier, a tape recorder, a video recorder, a personal computer, a karaoke machine, or an MP3 player. Thus, it is prudent for courts to exercise caution before restructuring liability theories for the purpose of addressing specific market abuses, despite their apparent present magnitude.

As Slashdot notes: It is a very strong decision, basically bringing the Sony-Betamax decision into the modern age.

Language may shape human thought

New Scientist reporting a curious study:

Hunter-gatherers from the Pirahã tribe, whose language only contains words for the numbers one and two, were unable to reliably tell the difference between four objects placed in a row and five in the same configuration, revealed the study.

Experts agree that the startling result provides the strongest support yet for the controversial hypothesis that the language available to humans defines our thoughts. So-called “linguistic determinism” was first proposed in 1950 but has been hotly debated ever since.

“It is a very surprising and very important result,” says Lisa Feigenson, a developmental psychologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, US, who has tested babies’ abilities to distinguish between different numerical quantities. “Whether language actually allows you to have new thoughts is a very controversial issue.”

Indeed it is surprising.

Yahoo have a blog

I'm impressed. Jeff Weiner, Senior Vice President, Search and Marketplace for Yahoo now has a blog. And it's no ordinary PR blog either. In fact its quite good.

Yahoo's blog is called http://www.ysearchblog.com/.

This follows Google, www.google.com/googleblog

Spirit Hints at Past Water, Opportunity Hits Rock Bottom

Those two Rovers are at it again. No, not that. They are finding more and more evident of a history of liquid water on Mars. Fascinating stuff.

"I would say that this is the most powerful evidence [of water] in the rocks at Gusev Crater," said Steven Squyres, the rovers' principal investigator from Cornell University. "We had evidence…that a little bit of water percolated through the plains there."

Ireland raises growth forecasts

Good news for the Irish economy. How does it happen that it's good PR to tell a country's citizens that the government has succeeded in taking more money off them than it expected, and that the citizens think thats a good thing?

Surely we should be up in arms that the government is getting all these taxes? Hehe.

Teleportation goes long distance

The BBC is reporting that physicists have carried out successful teleportation with particles of light over a distance of 600m across the River Danube. Here's kind of how it works:

Researchers from the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Science used an 800m-long optical fibre fed through a public sewer system tunnel to connect labs on opposite sides of the River Danube.

The link establishes a channel between the labs, dubbed Alice and Bob. This enables the properties, or "quantum states", of light particles to be transferred between the sender (Alice) and the receiver (Bob).

In the computers of tomorrow, this information would form the qubits (the quantum form of the digital bits 1 and 0) of data processing through the machines.

The Austrian team encoded their qubits using a property of light particles, also called photons, known as polarisation. This property describes the direction in which they oscillate.

Quantum teleportation relies on an aspect of physics known as "entanglement"; whereby the properties of two particles can be tied together even when they are far apart. Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance".

So now you know.

Georgia offers S Ossetia pull-out

Looks like Georgia may be getting cold feet, as the prospect of more conflict looms. But it appears that this might not be the end of things:

Mr Saakashvili called his offer "the last chance for peace" in South Ossetia. A ceasefire deal reached last Friday has now been violated for five nights in a row, as pro-Russian South Ossetian separatists battle Georgian troops.

The report continues with a quote from Saakashvili:

"We are ready to hand over control of these positions to the tripartite peacekeeping contingent, which also includes Georgians, and leave 500 of our select fighters under our peacekeeping force quota to protect Georgian villages against attacks and possible acts of provocation," he said.

"We are also ready to withdraw from all other positions and redeploy our forces outside the conflict zone in Gori."

Mr Saakashvili said Georgia had sent extra troops to South Ossetia to combat smuggling, and this had "prompted vicious attacks on this contingent".

The Georgian authorities say their troops killed eight South Ossetian fighters in the latest overnight fighting. The claim has not been confirmed.

Mr Saakashvili has said the international community should play an active role in peace talks. He called on world leaders to hold a conference on the future of South Ossetia and send Western peacekeepers to the region.

As readers may know the town of Gori is the home of a man that went by the name of Stalin. Saakashvili is playing a dangerous game here, the situation is becoming more and more fragile. Georgian troops on Ossetian land, even under the tripartite agreement could further enrage Ossetians. All of this comes on the back of reported heaving shelling in and around Tskhinvali last night.

Big names in the blogosphere: Theodore Dalrymple

Samizdata have the story: Theodore Dalrymple, sometime writer in the Spectator, is now blogging over at the Social Affairs Unit Weblog. The blog is another Perry De Havilland production. Nice work Perry.

Dalrymple blogs under his real name, Dr Anthony Daniels.

We're All Journalists Now

I missed this article by Dan Gillmor on Wired.com. As always Dan knows exactly what he is talking about here. A good interview and sounds like a good book.

Happy blogiversary to Eric Zorn

Dan Drezner congratulates Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn on his 1 year blog anniversary. I never even realised the Chicago Tribune did blogs, so there you go. However Zorn's blog appears not to have permalinks, which really annoys me.

Zorn writes a column [Reg reqd] about his one year as a blogger, showing how blogging can benefit a writer.

Oh yeah my blog was two years old in July, and I forgot to blog about it. Happy birthday to me.

Backlog

Lots of stuff to catch up on here guys, so hold onto your hats.

Kim Mathers' detention time in Macomb County jail

The Star Magazine recently published an article informing the public about Kim Mathers’ detention time in jail.
After two months of detention, Kim is feeling down. She’s been deprived of Marshall and Hailie’s visits. She feels abandoned and all alone.

According to a close source to the Mathers family, « Kim's really bummed out that Marshall and especially Hailie, hasn't visited … »

Some people may wonder why. But people who perfectly know Marshall also know how much protective he is towards Hailie.
According to Todd Nelson, Eminem thinks that his daughter could be traumatized if she saw her mom behind bars, which is understandable:

« Marshall feels it would traumatize Hailie to see her mother behind bars, having to talk to her through a window and not being able to even touch her mommy."

Marshall could have visited Kim alone. Then why hasn’t he done it? Maybe because there is a little bit resentment inside of him. After all, Kim has made his life a living hell for months, she has disappeared without thinking about the consequences.
Kim didn’t even care about what could happen to her daughters and to Alaina, her twin sister’s daughter who’s been adopted by Marshall.
Kim has shown a lot of irresponsibility in her behavior and no wonder if her ex husband is mad at her.
But Kim’s behavior is the behavior of an addicted woman, who loses herself in the world of drugs instead of facing her problem. The publics’ eye has no mercy for a woman, whose personal life is constantly exposed: Kim is going through bad times like anybody of us has been through. It is just that our mistakes are not exposed publicly.
Kim run away several times since she was facing cocaine charges. Her whereabouts explain a wish to escape to the real world and they are certainly a strong SOS call towards her entourage.
Kim wants some attention, especially from Marshall.

It looks like this time she will have to prove her good will to Marshall.

According to the same friend of the Mathers’ family, Eminem’s ex wife is now conscious of her mistakes and that she has hurt a lot of people through her irresponsible behavior:

« She realizes she's let a lot of people down by her behavior. »

She also expressed the wish to accept the help she need, which sounds rather encouraging:

"She's vowed to straighten herself out and stay clean. She's eager to stick to a rehab program and get the help she needs."

Will Kim clean up her act? Time will tell.

Saakashvili is heading down the wrong path: Eugene Mazo

Yet another piece in the IHT on the Georgian situation. Eugene's advice to Saakashvili:

For reunification to happen, Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have to be guaranteed utmost autonomy within the new Georgia, without it actually crossing the line to sovereignty. And Saakashvili will have to give up some of his ambitions temporarily in order to please Russia. For example, he has openly and repeatedly said he wants to join NATO. This deeply offends the Russians - and it sounds hypocritical to them when, in the same breath, Saakashvili insists that no foreign military power should have the right to station its bases, or its troops, on Georgian soil. Russia still maintains two bases in Georgia, and it is unlikely to remove them if it knows that NATO might put a base of its own in their place.

For now, the best solution for Saakashvili is to pursue the path of democracy. If the young president can ensure continued free and fair elections, curb corruption and improve his people's standard of living, Western institutions will invite his country to join them - not the other way around - and foreign aid will find its way to his doorstep.

When that moment comes, Abkhazia and South Ossetia may still refuse to reunite with Georgia - only this time, the loss will be theirs.

Bloggin'

Just a little wrecked today, so not too much posting going on.

Scary teenage fans

When I became a fan of Eminem, three years ago, I never thought I could get some hate from other fans. I didn’t realize at this time how many scary teenage female fans Marshall Mathers actually has.

When I opened my mailbox yesterday, I got a message entitled « go eat your mama ». I first thought that it came from some Eminem hater, as it often happened to me. My first intention was to immediately delete this mail, but I had the curiosity to read the message. I must say that a little girl named Colleen gave me a real good laugh. The message was written in those terms:

« Shitface. Eminem is mine. You soon gonna read in the news that Colleen has married Eminem. Go eat your mama. »

Ok, Colleen, dream on. Good luck.

Can you believe that such psychos take themselves seriously? I was first amused, but it also made me feel uncomfortable. Not for me, but for Eminem.

I realized how many fans who talk and act like Colleen can make Marshall’s life a real nightmare. I wish such people could stop being that mad.

Don’t misinterpret my words: it is not against teenage Eminem fans. I am in touch with many teenage fans that I do respect a lot. But I despise the scary ones who think that Eminem is their property and that they are going to « marry » him.

To those little girls who went by accident through my website, let me remind you this: I am a freelance music journalist whose passion is to discuss Eminem’s music and if you don’t like it, at least stop making total fools of yourselves.
And by the way, what about getting a life?

Georgian leader walks a separatist tightrope

CJ Chivers with his take on current events in Georgia. Like most people, he believes in Russian interference, but is also wary of how the Georgian President has heightened tensions by insisting on the return of the two renegede provinces to Tblisi control.

The stakes are unmistakably high. Russia and the United States have competing interests in the region, a strategic intersection of Asia and Europe, and Russia has been openly supporting the separatists. One Russian newspaper has compared Saakashvili to Fidel Castro, a leader of a tiny nation who has been giving larger powers sleepless nights.

Why Saakashvili risked inflaming tensions with references to violence remains an open question. But now that he has everyone paying attention again, a simple question surrounds him: What will he do next? Saakashvili, for his part, speaks with the air of destiny. In a meeting with journalists and analysts on Aug. 10, he said it was inevitable that the republics would return to Georgia.

He noted that because both are within Georgia's internationally recognized borders, no other outcome can be acceptable.

"It's not only about Georgia," he said. "It's about world order."

And in relation to recent events reported by the BBC, it seems that they may be not reporting some things that the local TV channel, Rustavi-2 are. Georgians have informed me that 4 soldiers and 8 civilans were killed on the Georgian side, whether that's true or not has yet to be verified.

Frontline Voices

A curious referral today from an internal blog listing, or so it appears. It comes from a PBS program. It's looking at international coverage of the US election, the actual referral comes from here.

Yup not accessible, but hey interesting nonetheless.

An original interpretation of "'97 Bonnie and Clyde"

An original interpretation of « ’97 Bonnie And Clyde »

In 2001, a female artist, Tori Amos decides to work on Eminem’s well known track « ‘97 Bonnie And Clyde ». Kim has been inspirational to her. Not Kim Mathers, but the victim of the fictional murder by Slim Shady…
I have listened to her track. Tori Amos hasn’t changed any word from Eminem’s lyrics. She has sung the song with a female voice, leaving a scary atmosphere behind her. Interpreted this way, the song becomes very emotional from the victim’s side:

"When you talk about killing your wife, you don't get to control whom she becomes friends with after she's dead." — Tori Amos

It is fascinating how Tori Amos makes a fictional story look real. Maybe because she obviously ignores the reality of the context of the song:

- a father (Eminem) was obviously being manipulated by his baby’s mom (Kim) who wouldn’t let him see his daughter, as Mike Mazur, Eminem’s former boss confirms it:

« He would come in to work and worry and say, 'The bitch took my daughter and won't let me see her. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know what I'm going to do. »

Before despising Eminem, whose song is nothing else but artistic expression, the public should be aware of Kim’s manipulative side towards Marshall:

« Whenever we fight she takes Hailie away and uses her as a weapon against me. » (Eminem)

To record « ‘97 Bonnie And Clyde », Marshall had to lie to Kim:

" I lied to Kim and told her I was taking her to Chuck E. Cheese that day. But I took her to the studio. When she found out I used our daughter to write a song about killer her, she fucking blew. We had just got back together for a couple of weeks. Then I played her the song, and she bugged the fuck out."P

People shouldn’t ignore Marshall’s reconciliation attempt. The existence of « ‘97 Bonnie And Clyde » expresses Eminem’s pain about Kim’s behavior. The main reason why this song was created was his reconciliation attempt. It worked: in a couple of weeks Marshall and Kim were back together.

Tori Amos’ work is a beautiful peace of work. I am not convinced she understood Eminem’s motivations, when you look at the way she describes the original song:

« I've always found it fascinating how men say things and how women hear them. Words can wound and words can heal, and both are included on the album. When she first heard "97' Bonnie & Clyde, the scariest thing was ... the realization that people are getting into the music and grooving along to a song about a man who is butchering his wife." (Tori Amos)

Tori Amos also missed that important point: usually people who are getting into Eminem’s music have a sense of humor. They are perfectly conscious of the fictional character of a song like « ‘97 Bonnie And Clyde ». Knowing the context of the song, you could barely take Slim Shady seriously when he « murders » Kim, who -by the way- is still alive since her double fictional « murder ».

Chávez claims victory in Venezuela vote

Chavez has claimed victory...what now for Venezuela?

HOW BIG IS WADI-US-SALAAM CEMETERY?....

Kevin Drum wonders how big the cemetery is, I have wondered myself, it seem to figure quite prominently in reporting of fighting in Najaf. Does it really hold 5 million people?

Breakthrough Nanotechnology Will Bring 100 Terabyte 3.5-inch Digital Data Storage Disks

A 100 terabyte 3.5inch disk? Yes, and in the forseeable future...And the technology it uses:

The small size of ferroelectric transparent structures makes it possible to fabricate nano-optical devices, such as volume holographic storage, having both positive and negative index of refraction that will allow molecular particles of an atomic size to be modified, controlled, and changed to perform a specific function, desired task, used for low cost accurate chemical / biological matter detection, and reprogrammed to accept new non-volatile data and molecular functions.

And the storage:

One 10 terabyte to 100 terabyte 3.5 in FEdisk would be EQUAL to a 10,000 to 100,000 Gigabyte disk drive. That's greater 1,000 times any State of the Art hard disk technology with 100 Gigabytes on one disk. 2 EXABYTES of NEW data is generated every year world wide, and growing.

Posted by Gavin Sheridan at 10:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wordpress

Because my server keeps timing out on 500 errors, I am considering moving software from MT to Wordpress. I have installed a copy of Wordpress on my blog, and have started messing around with it. On first impressions it is quite good, and amazingly it requires no rebuilding as MT does. Lately my 1400-odd entries on MT have been to groan, rebuilding frequently does not finish and this poses problems for comment spam and assorted other problems.

Blogroll

I have added a new weblog to El Blogroll.

Steve Clemons is Executive Vice President of the New America Foundationand, in my spare time, serve as Director of the Japan Policy Research Institute. His bio is here.

Interesting essay by Fukuyama causing a bit of a stir. Matthew Yglesias adds his thoughts too.

Fighting rages in South Ossetia

Things seem to be descending into chaos in and around South Ossetia.

Heavy fighting has broken out in Georgia's South Ossetia region, shattering a two-day ceasefire. Two Georgian soldiers died as their base in the village of Eredvi came under attack from South Ossetian separatist forces early on Monday. The ceasefire was agreed on Friday between Tbilisi and South Ossetia, which wants to join Russia. Georgian Interior Minister Irakli Okruashvili said there would be no more talks following the recent attacks.

This sounds like a powderkeg just waiting to go off. The Ossetians are brave only because they have the backing of Russia. Warning to the international community: this could have huge consquences, perhaps even more so given the oil pipline being built through Georgia.

Assessing blame for post-war Iraq

Phil Carter, former operational planner in the 4th Infantry Division, isn't very impressed with Tommy Franks.[Via Kevin Drum]

Carter believes that General Franks was not as concerned as he should have been about Phase IV. He also should have been more forceful in his views with the Whitehouse and Pentagon.

Carter notes:

Wow... the "group think" is so thick in this briefing that you can taste it. Heads nodding... eyes indicating assent without question... this is not an OPLAN briefing, this is a love-fest. Seriously, one can start adding up all of the implicit assumptions in these statements by Gen. Franks, and figure out exactly why the Phase IV plan went so poorly. For starters, there's no discussion of initial security needs, or initial needs for law and order. Second, there's no discussion of institutional responsibility for the key reconstruction projects described as being so essential — something we know now well in the crack between State/USAID and Defense. Third, we have an incredibly optimistic troop redeployment estimate by Gen. Franks that reflects the best case scenario for post-war stability and reconstruction efforts. I don't know whether less optimistic scenarios were presented to the President or not, but it's clear from Franks' book that he certainly didn't give him any. And so, President Bush decided to go to war on the basis of this best case scenario, without the expectation that we could get bogged down in Phase IV. Of course, I blame the President for making that flawed decision and his top advisers (like Secretary Rumsfeld) for pushing it. But a certain amount of blame also belongs to Gen. Franks, for not highlighting the strategic and operational risks of this plan and pushing for their resolution before execution.

McGreevy and his lover

Crooked Timber points out that Jeff Jarvies is pointing out that NJ media may have known about the sexuality of the Governer McGreevy, and the apparent appointment of his lover to a State job should have prompted them to report. It is illegal is it not?

It’s great that McGreevey came right out and told the world that he was gay without apologizing for it. But if the charges about cronyism for his lover are true, they’re much more serious than Jack Ryan’s trips to sex clubs.

Fans and non fans: be prepared for the return of Slim Shady

Fans and non fans: be prepared for Slim Shady’s return.

Will the autumn see the return of Slim Shady, more offensive than ever? Many Eminem fans hope so. Now that its has been rumored that Eminem’s album is nearly finished (www.D12world.com), we might expect its release around October/ November 2004.

If some tracks wouldn’t have been stolen and put on bid on ebay, Marshall would probably have finished his album earlier. Among those songs « Bully » that is aimed at Benzino and at Ja Rule’s crew, his wonderful love ballad for Kim « Love You More » that needs to be read under the lines to get the deep feelings that are expressed through the whole song, « We As Americans ».
Of course, it is always a great pleasure for us fans to download exclusive Eminem songs, but I do realize how much inconvienence it caused to Eminem, who had to work even longer and harder on the impatiently awaited album:

"I was about six to eight songs deep. Now I'm about three to four. It's so painful to have them things go; it's all a work in progress. Choruses can be changed, lines can be changed, there are certain lines on the shit that I feel like I can hit better. Those [leaked songs] were a day in the studio, making a song, and you go home at night with it and that's what you live with until you're ready to mix it down. The mix from the rough version is like night and day." (Eminem)

No doubt 50 Cent is telling the truth when he says about the upcoming album:

"Nothing is safe when that time comes around. Em is dropping a bomb."

We also learn from 50 Cent that Eminem has « gone another direction », which means that we should better expect something very much different from « The Eminem Show »

Dr Dre promises us a still crazy and offensive Slim Shady, to our greatest delight:

"I really like Slim Shady. I like him talking shit and pissing people off. That's where he's gonna go next, talking shit and raising eyebrows."

Eminem fans don’t doubt it, but Paul Rosenberg confirms it: we won’t be disappointed by Marshall Mathers:

"Eminem fans will not be disappointed. He's gonna have a lot of responses to everything that's going on. No stones will be left unturned."

Three different titles have also been rumored for the upcoming album: « To Be Determined », « The Return Of Slim Shady » and « The Return Of The Slim Shady Show».
Hopefully the real Slim Shady will confirm his choice for the title of his album soon.

It has been confirmed that the album will feature guest appearances of D12 and G Unit. Dr Dre will produce Eminem’s fourth album.

I am pretty sure the album will be incisive, as usual. People who think Eminem has lost his edge usually don’t get that Eminem is still offensive. Only his targets change.

Trust Eminem: the album promises to be shady. A lyrical bomb will be dropped in hip hop’s world in a few months.

Astounding Benefit of Believing in Hell

Believe in hell and you'll get rich? Well, that's close:

http://cnn.aimtoday.cnn.com/news/package.jsp?name=fte/believeinhell/believeinhell

Countries whose citizens believe in hell are not only less corrupt, but also more prosperous. That's the word from economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, who were trying to figure out why some nations are so much richer than others.

In addition to looking at productivity and investment factors, they examined some unconventional ideas to explain differences in national prosperity, reports Reuters. It turned out that belief in hell was very telling.

Drawing on the research from several outside economists, the St. Louis Fed studied 35 countries, including the United States, European nations, Japan, India, and Turkey and realized that religion was a powerful economic force. "In countries where large percentages of the population believe in hell, there seems to be less corruption and a higher standard of living," the St. Louis Fed wrote in a recent quarterly review.

In the United States, a whopping 71 percent of the population believes in hell. Perhaps it's no coincidence that it also has the world's highest per capita income.

Don't believe it? Look at Ireland. As Reuters says, the Irish have a healthy fear of the nether world with 53 percent of the population acknowledging hell's existence, and the country is not far behind the United States in terms of income.

Held at gunpoint in Nablus: Orla Guerin

Irish hack Orla Guerin writes about her recent experience with being held by IDF forces.

...But before we found him, Israeli troops found us, forcing us at gunpoint into a disused room on the upper storey - first the cameraman, then the producer, then me. There we saw Rana, trapped in a chair in the corner, a white headscarf on her silver hair. She was neatly dressed, and alert, flanked protectively by the doctor and a Palestinian paramedic. Soldiers seized our phones, confiscated our camera tape and when we tried to leave forced us back, at the barrel of a gun.

She continues:

As the minutes stretched into hours, he asked how long we would be kept there. "You'll be here until we kill someone," a soldier replied, in perfect English. "We're being held illegally," I said. The soldiers nodded in agreement, but still refused to let us go. "You could compromise our operation," one said, "by revealing our location."

More seriously she notes:

Later a few threats were murmured in my direction. "She'll get out of here in a body bag," one soldier said in Hebrew, assuming incorrectly, that we would not understand.

Crazy behaviour by any armed force, is it not?

Georgia wants Russian troops out

Yet more news from Georgia:

Georgia's parliament has called for the withdrawal of Russian peacekeeping troops from the breakaway region of South Ossetia. The number of clashes has increased in recent days, including an attack on Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania.

The Prime Minister's convoy came under fire while he was doing a tour of villages neighbouring South Ossetia. This could be the work of Ossestian seperatists or even Russian soldiers, I wouldn't be surprised.

I think Georgia is right to ask for the removal of Russian 'peacekeepers'. They are hardly neutral in the affairs of Georgia and its provinces.

King Gordy's video "Nightmares"

Among the music videos I have watched recently, King Gordy’s « Nightmares » has impressed me. Of course, the Detroit rapper’s video is not aimed at an oversensitive audience, because it might shock some people.

King Gordy impersonates the master of the darkness. In other words, the devil.
Watching King Gordy’s new video is like reading an Edgar Allan Poe tale: be prepared for a succession of horror.
King Gordy takes you for a ride into what he calls his « neighborhood of nightmares. »
As he drives in his car with his evil and devilish disguise, you can feel the dark athmosphere of the streets of Detroit…the city of crime and violence.
King Gordy invites you into the « House Of Fun », which should rather be called a hellhole. A hellhole where horrible monster dolls will welcome you.
« The House Of Fun » also symbolizes King Gordy’s ill mind.
King Gordy is the master of his dolls. He also controls his human prisoners who yell « Gordy, Gordy » and whorship him. Among these dark worshippers, you will find Obie Trice, Swifty, Bizarre, Salam Wreck who are condemned to stay in their prison full of nighmares.

You can watch King Gordy’s video on yahoo launch. Be that courageous and explore the Entity’s dark world.

Kobe victim intented to seduce Eminem

August 11, 2004 -- A former college pal of Kobe Bryant's accuser is defending the NBA star on the Internet, where she's posted sordid allegations about his alleged victim's past, including what she claims was a plot to have sex with the rapper Eminem:

http://www.shadybase.com/index.php?page=news_archive

In a phone interview with The Post, Laie Weatherwax, who has been informed she'll be called to testify for the defense at Bryant's trial, said yesterday: "I am doing this because it is right."

The self-described former wild child, who partied with the accuser for eight months while the two attended the University of Northern Colorado nearly two years ago, said, "There is no motive here [for me]. I think that it is the right thing to do."

The alleged victim's attorneys have accused the defense of wrongly portraying her as a wildly promiscuous woman.

The accuser's attorney, Lin Wood, said last week on MSNBC: "This girl is not a monster or a slut that she's made out to be by the defense in the case. She's a fairly typical teen and she made a mistake [by going to Bryant's room on the night of the alleged rape]."

Citing a gag order, Wood declined to comment on Weatherwax's allegations.

But a source close to the accuser said, "This young girl [Weatherwax] has an agenda to use the victim to advance a desire for 15 minutes of fame with her false accusations."

Weatherwax, however, has plenty to say, much of which can be seen on the Web site Fratpack.com.

She says her former friend had once dreamed of luring rap artist Eminem into sex while he visited Vail, Colo.

"He was a big celebrity to us," Weatherwax said of the rapper. "We had his CDs, knew his songs by heart, talked about how his wife did not deserve him and about nailing [having sex with] him.

"In December of 2002, the accuser discovered Eminem was to be in Vail over New Year's. She wanted me to drive her up there. I said no. To me it seemed out of whack to drive six hours to get with a guy who has women falling all over him. But she really wanted to go.

"She called a friend at his hotel, found out what room he was in and where he'd sing. There was a plan to seduce him to his room, the pool or hot tub; to be in position to score one."

She said the accuser never went ahead with the plan. Weatherwax revealed more allegations about the accuser, including:

* She slept with dozens of men during her time in Colorado.

* She slept with different men over a short period of time.

* She partied like a star and collected lovers like a wild frat boy.

Weatherwax has testified behind closed doors during one of several rape-shield hearings connected to the case after defense-team investigators located her.

She told The Post she knew very little about the case — or its connection to her former college pal — until investigators showed up several months ago. Court rulings have limited the scope of testimony on the accuser's sexual history.

Boy George thinks that Eminem is gay, but he is totally wrong

It is sometimes funny to see how gay artists make some assumptions when they come to talk about Eminem. Most of their assertions are based on Eminem’s false gay-bashing reputation.

Moby pushed things that far to say that Eminem was attracted to him:

« I’ve figured it out. He has a crush on me. And at some point he found out that I was straight and he’s so upset and hurt the fact that he has this unrequited crush on me, that’s why he’s so upset. I'm just waiting for Eminem to come out of the closet. »

Get over it, Moby: Eminem openly stated his aversion for you as a person and as an artist.

In 2002, Boy George - who is also gay- attended the Music Of Black Origins Awards in London with a T shirt containing the inscription « Eminem screws gays ». His action was supposed to be a protest against Eminem’s (misunderstood) lyrics.

As long as people will take Eminem’s lyrics litterally, there will some confusion about the actual meaning of the word « faggot » in his songs. Boy George should have listened to Eminem’s interviews, which would have helped him to figure out he is not gay bashing at all:

« I'm not gay bashing. People just don't understand where I come from. "Faggot" to me doesn't necessarily mean gay people. "Faggot" to me just means... taking away your manhood. You're a sissy. You're a coward. Just like you might sit around in your living room and say, "Dude, stop, you're being a fag, dude. » (Eminem)

Of course, Eminem’s lyrics are complex, full of sarcasm and his listeners need to be weaponed with a solid sense of dark humor. They also need to understand the context of the Detroit ghetto:

« I come from Detroit where it's rough and I'm not a smooth talker. I am who I am and I say what I think. I'm not putting a face on for the record. When I started saying "faggot" on record, I started getting people going, "You have something against gay people," and I thought it was funny. Because I don't; I really don't. I have something against assholes, but I'm not into gay bashing. A lot of people are too stupid to understand it. » (Eminem)

Because he thinks he is a « closet fag », Boy George makes rapid conclusions about Eminem’s sexuality:

"I think it's time that pretty-boy Eminem stopped rattling on about gay issues because it's a subject he has no experience of -- or is there something he's not telling us?"

Further on, he declares:

« He's very pretty. Maybe that's why he's so paranoid. Any man that's kind of attractive is going to be paranoid about his sexuality. »

« Pretty » is a term that doesn ‘t sound very masculine and he probably used it on purpose.

But what should we think about the fantasms Boy George revealed in a former interview:

« You know what? I am coming over and fuck Eminem to sort him out. He probably has a small dick. I'd like to fuck him anyway. Tie him up. Fuck him and hear him moan: "Fag, do it again/Fag, do it again/Yo, Eminem." I am going to use that line. You will hear it soon. »

Boy George seems to be oversensitive when he comes to talk about Eminem. He probably takes his lyrics as a personal attack.
If he had taken time to go deeper into those lyrics, he’d probably figured out that it was total sarcasm.

Boy George thinks that Marshall Mathers is gay. Matter of fact: Marshall has only been seen dating women. With the numerous papparazzi that are constantly tracking him, the public would have known if he was gay.

Don’t misinterpret the intentions of my article: I am not trying to be gay bashing nor to demean Boy George. I respect him as an artist, but, frankly I think that he totally lacks humor.

I would like to add that I have nothing against gay people. To me, they are normal people with a different sexual orientation.

But I just wish some gay artists would be less sensitive about Eminem. I wish they’d make the effort to understand Eminem’s parody of a rotten society and also to realize that he is not the first nor the last rapper to use « faggot » in his lyrics.

I am deeply convinced that Boy George is totally wrong when he states that Eminem is gay. But even if he was, it wouldn’t alter my deep respect and admiration for him in any case.

New Statesman XML

Congrats to the New Statesman, they have added XML feeds!

http://www.newstatesman.co.uk/nscontents.xml
http://www.newstatesman.com/nsfronthalf.xml
http://www.newstatesman.com/nsfreetoview.xml
http://www.newstatesman.com/nsbackhalf.xml

Man I love Sharpreader.

Georgia reports deaths in clash

More strange goings-on in Georgia and South Ossetia. The question is who do we believe. I tend to believe the Georgians when they say things like

"external forces [planning] to drag Georgia into a large-scale armed conflict on its own territory".

Or Russia to you and me.

The Ossetians are blaming Georgia for:

28 people had been injured, and a hospital and a kindergarten in Tskhinvali had been damaged by shelling along with 50 Ossetian homes."All night they were firing from all types of weapons - mortars, artillery, everything was engaged," one South Ossetian fighter told Russia's Channel One Television.

You have to believe two things here. One, An Ossetian fighters claims, and two, a heavily Russian State-controlled TV station. And for State-controlled read Putin-controlled. And you also have to believe that the Georgians would start shelling and then just happen to hit a kindergarten and a hospital. Somewhat emotive targets don't you think?

So do I believe Georgia when it says:

At least three Georgian villages were hit: Tamarasheni, Kurta and Achabeti. Speaking at a meeting of the Georgian Security Council, President Saakashvili confirmed that three Georgian peacekeepers had been killed.

That sounds much more believable to me. This could get ugly. Followers of Caucasian politics may also be interested to know that ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky visited the other breakaway region, Abkhazia. The BBC reported:

Accompanied by about 40 fellow MPs, Mr Zhirinovsky, a deputy speaker in the Russian parliament, arrived in the region's capital, Sukhumi, for what he described as a holiday.

You have to like the Russians, they certainly have balls. A holiday my arse. As Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said, it was intended to provoke. Not only did Zhirinovsky and his pals visit Sukhumi, but they also decided to do so by ship, just a week after Georgian patrol boats fired on an Abkazian ship, while claiming jurisdiction over the waters off Abkazia.

Georgian coastguards initially impounded the boat in which he was travelling as it neared Abkhazia. It was later released, in what the Georgian authorities described as a gesture of goodwill.

Well what else could the Georgians do?

This all gets more and more intriguing

The three 8 Mile battles

Three battles at the end of the 8 Mile movie made Jimmy Smith aka B. Rabbit a reputation in the rap arena. A real challenge for Jimmy Smith who was left with no voice at the beginning of the movie: a typical case of stage fright.

People who are not very much into hip hop need to realize the importance of a rap battle; rap battles can be compared to battles we have to face in real life. Words used in a freestyle or a rap battle are like a sword, they expose your opponent in a total nudity. When you get verbally ripped off, it is your turn to show your teeth and to use your verbal weapons in order to weaken your adversary. It’s a matter of honor, you have to expose and verbally annihilate your enemy in order to make him look bad or ridiculous in front of the crowd that expects your answer with impatience. You can feel this kind of fever in 8 Mile when the crowd shouts : « What? What? » which means that it is your turn to respond.

Eminem perfectly knows the importance of a battle:

“ That's one thing that I want this movie to get across, is that people who live in this world of hip-hop -- how seriously we take this, how seriously we take our music and battling and the sport of it and the competition and everything.”

Losing a battle is terrible in an aspiring rapper’s mind. Since the time he was unable to spit any word on stage, Jimmy Smith had been humiliated by Alex who had cheated on him with Wink. He had been knocked out by the Free World leaders in real life.

He had to take his lyrical revenge and prove his skills - also in order to keep his honor safe.

Three battles will help Jimmy to build his reputation.

Lickety Split battles B Rabbit on the « whiteness » of his music. He enumerates numerous white artists like Vanilla Ice and Elvis. He wants to prove that Jimmy’s music is bad rap or even worse, no rap at all. The reference to Willie Nelson who -by the way- makes country music is intented to ridicule Jimmy. The only reference to a black artist is Tina Turner in a weak position, when she gets beaten up by her husband. He also points out his mistakes and the mistakes of his friend like Cheddar Bob!

« Yo, this guys a choke-artist
Ya catch a bad one
Ya better off shootin ya-self wit Popa Doc's handgun
Climbin up this mountain, ya weak
I leave ya lost witout a paddle, floatin shit's creek
You ain't Detroit, I'm the D
You tha new kid on the block, bout to get smacked back to the
boone-docks
F**kin Nazi, this crowd ain't ya type
Take some real advice
And form a group with Vanilla Ice
And what I tell ya
Ya better use it
This guy's a hillbilly this ain't Willie Nelson music
Trailer trash
I choke ya till ya last breath
And have ya lookin foolish like Cheddar Bob when he shot
his-self
Silly Rabbit, I know why they call you that
Cuz you follow Future, like he got carrots up his asscrack
And when you act it up, that's when you got jacked up
And left stupid like Tina Turner when she got smacked up
I crack ya shoulderblade
You'll get dropped so hard that Elvis will start turnin in his
grave
I don't know why they left you out in the dark
Ya need to take your white ass back across 8 Mile to the trailer
Park. »

In the first battle, Bunny Rabbit battles his opponent on his sugarcoated music style that questions his masculinity and his music style that looks like it was aimed at a 100% female audience. The first sentence is hilarious:

« This guy raps like his parents jerked him… »

The great majority of a hip hop battle audience is usually composed of men:

« He sounds like Eric Sermon
The generic version
This whole crowd looks suspicious
It's all dudes in here
Except for these bitches… »

He goes on making fun of the Free World leaders:

« That's ok, you look like a fuckin worm with braids
These leaders of the Free World rookies
Lookie, how can 6 dicks be pussies… »

He also makes himself look in a positive light, he enforces his role as a fighter and shoots at his enemy in a funny way. Lickety is too slow to follow Rabbit’s rapid flow:

« Ya they call me Rabbit
This is a turtle race
He can't get wit me spittin this shit
Wickedy Lickety shot
Spicious spickety split Lickety
So I'ma turn around wit a great smile
And walk my white ass back across 8 Mile… »

Bunny Rabbit conquered the crowd. But he had to battle Lotto.
Second round. Second fight.

Like his fellow Lickety Split, Lotto comes with a strong racial argument, which appears to be a bad strategy:

« Huhhh huhhh
I'll spit a racial slur honkey sue me
This shit is a horror flick
But a black guy doesn't die in this movie
Fuckin wit Lotto dog you gotta be kiddin
That makes me believe, you really don't have an interest in livin
You think these niggas gone feel the shit you say? »

His hatred of Jimmy as a white man clearly appears in his whole speech. Jimmy fully counters his attack in the second part of his verse:

« Matta fact dog, here's a pencil
Go home, write some shit, make it suspenseful
And don't come back until somethin dope hits you
Fuck it
You can take the Mic home wich you
Lookin like a cyclone hit you
Tanktop screamin, "Lotto I don't fit you"
You see how far them white jokes get you
Boys like, how Vanilla Ice gone diss you?
My motto:
Fuck Lotto
I get the 7 digits from ya mother for a dollar tomorrow… »

Bunny Rabbit makes the battle become more lyrical as he criticizes Lotto’s writing ability:

« Matta fact dog, here's a pencil
Go home, write some shit, make it suspenseful
And don't come back until somethin dope hits you
Fuck it
You can take the Mic home wich you
Lookin like a cyclone hit you
Tanktop screamin, "Lotto I don't fit you »

He also definitely shuts his mouth about the « white jokes ».

Third and final round: Bunny Rabbit vs. Papa Doc.

Bunny Rabbit has managed to get rid of two of his enemies. He feels better about himself and has gained some confidence.

He now rallies the crowd from the 313:

« Now everybody from the 3-1-3
Put ya muthafuckin hands up and follow me
Everybody from the 3-1-3
Put ya muthafuckin hands up
Look look… »

People from the Detroit ghetto are proud to belong to the 313 area calling code. People from the 313 are supposed to be cool unlike the people from the 810 area.

Jimmy’s strategy is intelligently worked out. He perfectly knows his worst enemy, who-by the way- doesn’t raise his hand:

« Now while he stands tough
Notice that this man did not have his hands up
This Free World's got ya gased up
Now who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf… »

He knows that he’s a gangsta wannabe. There is nothing « ghetto » nor « gangsta » in him :

« 1, 2, 3 and to the 4
1pac, 2pac, 3pac, 4
4pac, 3pac, 2pac's, 1
Your Pac, he's Pac, No Pac's, None… »

But Bunny Rabbit’s best strategy is his huge honesty and it will pay off in the end. He doesn’t hide what he is nor his mistakes:

« I am white
I am a fuckin bum
I do live in the trailer wit my mom
My boy future is an Uncle Tom
I do got a dumb friend named Cheddar Bob who shoots himself in his leg with his own gun
I did get jumped
By all 6 of you chumps
And Wink did fuck my girl
I'm still standin here screamin fuck the Free World! »

Then Rabbit reveals Papa Doc’s intimate and hidden secrets to the crowd:

« But I know somethin about you
You went to Cranbrook, that's a private school
What's the matter dog you embarrassed?
This guys a gangster? His real name's Clarence
And Clarence lives at home with both parents
And Clarence parents have a real good marriage
This guy don't wanna battle, he's shook
Cuz ain't no such things as Half Way Crooks!
He's scared to death
He's scared to look
At his fuckin yearbook
Fuck Cranbook…»Jimmy’s great force lies in his total honesty. He is not ashamed of living in a trailer park and even proud to be « white trash »:

« Fuck a beat, I go acapella
Fuck a Popa Doc, fuck a clock, fuck a trailer fuck everybody
Fuck yall if you doubt me, I'ma piece of fuckin white trash I say it proudly
And fuck this battle I don't wanna win, I'm outtie
Here, tell these people somethin they don't know about me… »

Papa Doc is left totally unweaponed and speechless. Happy end for Rabbit who eventually wins his fight for recognition.

These 3 rap battles from 8 Mile also teach us a lesson about real life: don’t try to play yourself. Be honest, accept yourself with your imperfections, your failures, your mistakes, but always be yourself.

New video shows CIA man 'beheaded'

Yet another video, it may or may not be a hoax. And it may or may not be a CIA man. Will have to wait and see how this one plays out.

Colin Powell on the Beatles and knowing Elvis

Another good exerpt from the interview.

P. J. O'ROURKE: Ok, well, this is the key one. Which is your favorite Beatle? I actually asked Bill Clinton that. When he was running for President, I interviewed him and I said, "Which one's your favorite Beatle?" And he looked quite surprised because he thought only policy questions would be asked. And it was Paul, wouldn't you know?

SECRETARY POWELL: That's what I would say. Because I know Paul. Paul's a bud of mine.

P. J. O'ROURKE: I'm sure he's a great guy and all, but I would have thought anybody in their right mind would pick Ringo. He wanted the act to last just long enough so he would have enough money to open a chain of hairdressing shops. And, by God, he did.

SECRETARY POWELL: And Paul ended up with the most money.

P. J. O'ROURKE: He did. And he is alive.

SECRETARY POWELL: You know what I like about him, he is so normal.

P. J. O'ROURKE: Yes, so I understand.

Clinton also liked the skinny Elvis stamp, which I thought showed a lack of self-confidence.

SECRETARY POWELL: I knew Elvis.

P. J. O'ROURKE: Really?

SECRETARY POWELL: I met him when he was in the Army. I was a lieutenant; he was a sergeant. He was in the neighboring regiment—or combat command, as we called it—in the Third Armored Division in Germany.

We were in the training area one day and I was driving my jeep around and suddenly came upon this unit from the other outfit and there he was. And so I went over and shook hands.

He was a good soldier. You never would have thought he was anything but a soldier. He had a pimple on his face and everything else. He was not a big star. He was just another soldier.

P. J. O'ROURKE: I'll be darned. Well, good for him.

A Conversation With Colin Powell

PJ O'Rourke interviews Colin Powell.

Here's a good sample:

P. J. O'ROURKE: The powers that are on our side, why aren't they pulling on their oars? I mean, the EU has as big an economy and as big a population as we do.

SECRETARY POWELL: First of all, I do think they're on our side. I think we had a big hiccup on Iraq, and we lost some of them. But that'll swing back. The pendulum will come back our way because we do have more common interests than disagreements: terrorism, the world trading system, so many other things. Now, the reason we have to spend so much more is that there is no German navy preserving peace in the Pacific, there are no British troops standing guard in Korea, there is no need for any of our European Union friends to have the ability to project an army in a week or two from wherever they are to a place like Afghanistan.

P. J. O'ROURKE: But, why not?

SECRETARY POWELL: Because they have never felt that that was their destiny or their obligation. The United States entered into partnerships and believes it has these worldwide obligations. Nobody can move things like we can. They have never invested in it. Now, with the EU up to twenty-five nations, they're looking at whether or not this is where they should be putting their investment. And I think they should. But their domestic constituencies will not permit the kind of spending on defense that our domestic constituency permits. The Germans are dropping their defense spending and reducing the size of their armed forces. Whereas we've held steady for some years, and now Congress is passing laws to increase the size of our army.

The American people have always been more willing to shoulder this burden than our European friends, particularly now when the Cold War is over. There is no Iron Curtain, there is no Soviet Union, and the average European citizen looking around sees some of these out-of-the-way places like Afghanistan and the Balkans and Iraq. They're willing to do a little there, but they're not willing to put up to three or four percent of their GDP into defense spending the way we are.

P. J. O'ROURKE: I was shocked when I was in the Balkans in the early '90s that this was going on so close to the EU, essentially the same distance as from here to Jersey City, and they were letting it. They had the power to stop it.

SECRETARY POWELL: They had the power, but they are a union that does not have a predominant leader. NATO had a predominant leader in the United States. The European Union has a lot of pretenders and contenders for that position, but they don't have it yet, as evidenced by the debates they had over the constitution last week.

But our great strength is the image we still convey to the rest of the world. Notwithstanding all you read about anti-Americanism, people are still standing in line to come here, to get visas and come across our borders.

Nasa to save Hubble telescope

NASA has finally seen sense:

The US space agency has given the go-ahead for a robotic mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, Nasa officials have announced. Nasa chief Sean O'Keefe has asked for a firm mission proposal to be worked up in a year, after which a decision whether to proceed will be made.

"Everybody says: 'We want to save the Hubble'. Well, let's go save the Hubble," Mr O'Keefe said.

Hopefully we shall see another few years of Hubble images.

New CIA director/Sep 11

I do like a good conspiracy theory. And I have spent the last few nights lurking around several sites like memoryhole.org or cooperativeresearch.org.

Low and behold an interesting twist in the tale of new CIA head, Porter Goss.

On the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, in a room on the House side of the Capitol, Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., and Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla. -- the chairmen of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, respectively -- met for breakfast. Also at the meeting were Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., and some other members of the House Intelligence Committee.

They were meeting with the Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., Maleeha Lodhi, and the director of Pakistani intelligence, Lt. Gen. Mahmud Ahmed. They were talking about the late-August trip Goss, Graham, and Kyl had made to Pakistan.

Mahmood [different spelling from that used in quote above] is the subject of a number of allegations on the part of theorists. He was sacked on October 7 2001, apparently for being too close to the Taliban.

But theorists believe he was sacked for other reasons. They believe that while head of the ISI Mahmood ordered an aide to wire transfer $100,000 to one Mohammed Atta.

And who makes the wire transfer at Mahmood's direction? Ahmad Umar Sheik, the lead suspect in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

I love it, be it true or not. And by the way I will be blogging the most interesting theories that I find, for my own records, so if you don't like conspiracy theories then please ignore.

Xzibit, another gifted player in the gangsta rap game

Xzibit is one of the most influential hip hop artists in the rap game. He has collaborated with the greatest artists such as Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Nate Dogg.

Xzibit aka Alvin Nathaniel Joiner was born in Detroit. His mom died when he was only 9.
Xzibit’s passion for rap started early. He started writing his own rhymes at 10.

He spent some time in New Mexico and in Arizona with his dad and step mom and then moved to California during his teenage years. Trying to get a deal in the music industry in California, Xzibit became a member of the Likwit Crew composed of Tha Alkaholics and King Tee. In 1995, he gained some notoriety and went on tour with them.

Xzibit’s musical style is an interesting mixture of Westcoast gangsta rap and of the typical raw Detroit sound.

In 1996, he released his debut album « At The Speed Of Life ». The name of his first album has its story:

« I named the album "At The Speed Of Life" because there's a whole lot of shit that niggas go through. I know more niggas that is off-the-wall and crazy, runnin' guns and shit than I know regular Joes that all they want to do is feed their kids. That's their speed. But it's weird how everything is coinciding together, and at the same time is moving in all kinds of different directions. » (Xzibit)

The offensiveness of his lyrics helps Xzibit to get rid of his negative emotions and to control his anger, as he points it out:

« I express a lot of anger through writing, because I've already been through where I put my hands on niggas and taking it there in a negative fashion," he explains. "Instead of doing that, I just take out my hostility in my thoughts and put it down in a rhyme. And going into a studio and releasing that shit makes it all worthwhile. Instead of having a long-ass police record, I go a record on LOUD."

« At A Speed Of Life » was followed by « 40 Dayz & 40 Nightz » in 1998.

Xzibit’s third solo album « Restless » was released in 2000. His collaboration with Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg , featuring the song « Bitch Please II » gave Alvin Joiner his big break.

If you have watched 8 Mile, you know that rapper Xzibit played a minor role in the movie where he was opposed to Miz Corona and Eminem, starring as Jimmy Smith.

In 2002, Xzibit’s fourth album « Man Vs Machine » was released. The title of the album represents all kind of battles we may have to face:

« Man versus Machine, man… I thought it was fitting because I feel as though its all type of shit we up against. It’s a corporate world, corporate machine we got to battle. It’s a social machine we got to battle. It’s all type of shit. »

In 2003, Xzibit has worked a lot on doing mixtapes. He also went to the Anger Management Tour 2003 in Paris, where I had the great pleasure to watch him performing on stage, introducing the concert.

Xzibit is planning to release his fifth album, 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'
around the end of 2004. You can be sure it’s gonna be a bomb: Xzibit is a respected and gifted artist in gangsta rap.

Moore's documentary allies keep up fire

Lots of new films coming out. I wonder which ones I will go see.

Tis hard goin

Ouch my blogging has not been up to scratch lately. Blame it on the new books.

More facts about Obie Trice

Obie Trice is a Detroit child. He was raised and grew up in Detroit City:

« I grew up on the Westside of Detroit. »

You will learn a lot about Detroit from Obie’s mouth. He defines the legendary infamous 7 Mile Road:

« 7 Mile is like an Ave. Back in the days it was poppin' in the summer time. We are the motor city so you would jump in your car, ride down 7 Mile and fuck with the bitches. Ride down and when you get to one end turn around and come back. A lot of motherfuckers got killed on 7 Mile, a lot of shit go on, on 7 Mile It's like an Ave. where everybody be at. »

Life in the Detroit hood isn’t always simple and Obie recalls some facts about his younger years in Detroit:

"I went and stayed with my girlfriend for a bit. My chick was with this older nigger. He came to the crib one day when me and my girl were laying in bed. He just walked into the house and started picking a scrap with me. I was 15 years old; this motherfucker's 38. So I'm dodging the blows when her bigger brother grabs him in a choke-hold and says, 'What you doin'? That's a little boy.' I called my homie and got him to bring a gun over, and he brings a pistol through. So I'm about to shoot this nigger, and everyone's saying to shoot him and nobody would know. But thanks to the grace of God, something was on my shoulders that stopped me. I almost killed him that night. Who knows, I might have got away with it. He could still be there, dead… »

A lot of people may probably ask themselves how Obie Trice has met Eminem. In fact, Bizarre introduced Obie to Eminem:

« D12 heard the shit and hooked up with me. I did a song with Bizarre. I sat down and kicked it with them and Bizarre called me one day like I'm with Em come spit for Em. I got in the Regal and shot up there and spit for him. He was in a rush, so I spit from the passenger window. He took my CD and was like I got to go. Next thing I know they was in a truck in London and they was playing Em's song,. This was when the Marshall Mathers LP was out and after they played the song my man played my sh*t. They came home, I had dinner with Paul Rosenberg (Manager and President of Shady Records) and we just hooked up with Em and it was smiles and handshakes from then on. »

If it is true that Dr Dre literally saved Eminem by signing him to Aftermath Records, Eminem played the same role in Obie’s life. Obie’s encounter with Marshall Mathers was also the start of a new friendship between both Detroit emcees. Obie wasn’t used to white people, but in real friendships, skin color doesn’t matter:

« Yeah that's my man, we got a real good relationship. At the time I wasn't really familiar with Caucasians and he got me up out of that 'cause they regular people just like everybody else. That's my nigga now. »

Obie’s new fame hasn’t altered his simplicity nor his relation to people he knew in the hood:

« All the people I grew up with, I'm still cool with," he says. Ain't nothin' changed. I ain't no snooty, arrogant type of motherfucker. I never turn my back on my people. I know that my people have been with me all the way. »

Obie Trice has collaborated with numerous artists in Detroit like the Fat Killaz, for instance. Although Shady Records is like a second family to him, he is not only « the guy who raps for Mr Mathers ». Obie Trice is a skilled rapper on his way to success.

How They Could Steal the Election This Time

Ronnie Dugger on the problems with e-Voting.

New books

Some new books arrived this week, I am buying lots but not reading near as much as I should. Peter was complaining that I am still reading Rubicon - I am just spending too much time online folks.

Charles Kupchan, The End of the American Era, Knopf 2003.
Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, Black Swan, 2004.
David Ray Griffin, The New Pearl Harbour, Arris, 2004.
Timothy Garton Ash, Free World, Penguin, 2004.

Bloggin hiatus

Been a slow weekend, perhaps more blogging tomorrow.

"Cock And Squeeze" D12

D12’s former « Cock and Squeeze » song from the D12 underground EP will give you a full opportunity to appreciate Bugz.
Bugz starts the hostility in D12’s war of words. Welcome to the « weed house ». Watch Bugz start tripping while smoking his blunt and follow his clever wordplays aimed at weak rappers:

« battle me i keep you mad
put you in a sleeper, drag your ass to the reaper's pad
either _
or feel the wrath of my heater that
lyric punches makin meters blast on your speaker rack
crib, club or anywhere where theres people at
they love my tape they couldnt care where they leaves yours at
your girl's a rat
tell that ho im not gonna beep her back
dont need her black
got too many other needer-rats
who heater fat
i bet your gal aint fuckin with my gat
im holdin lyrics sendin vocals at you locals cat
gone black
your more whack
than a gold sack
you shown dat
when you flowed
that's a known fact
clone rap
suck a MC broad
need to pick another field, go out and find you a job
or either go out and rob… »

Kon Artis has got a lot of venom to spit, too. His colorful way of telling his offensive message will make you fully enjoy the sharpness of his lyrics lyrics:

« I should tie you up and keep cuttin u wit a knife
and sit you in the alcohol bath for the night
and watch you strugglin strainin squeal for your life
dump a radio bumpin your demo when your bad for da life
thats what i take from you
meet u in fake humble
attack your foundation until it crumble
its me and my dog be on stumble… »

Whack rappers should better watch their mouth, because the D12 won’t let them play with them. That’s why they’s better listen to the refrain:

« Cock And, Squeeze, Bust
Dirty Dozen dont fuck wit us

Detroit niggaz roll deep
hold heat and talk slick
yea yea bitch
stay off my dick… »

Proof’s fighting skills won’t leave you indifferent. Ready to knock you out of the rap game, his words spread like a storm into your ears:

« I turn a hard nigga yellow
and make his ass faster than a cheetah
don't blaze no blunts
but i blaze them thangs
amaze ya gang
wit bullets i rattle your frame
whos that_
stay suburban tusslin'
playin dat 3 digits
before cusslin
bustin twin glocks
on your block
yellin my name loud puttin rhymes inside your mailbox… »

The war on words is declared and the chances to win against Proof are little:

« You need to Hoop Up
Soup Up
for battlin war
that on the more
i spattle ur horse
got battle dates on your tour
show up on you… »

Extraordinary freestyler and word player, Proof will annihilate the hater players in no time, putting fear in the game and making them look so lame:

« my crew mugshot D12 uglier than the green goblin
i bring fear too
horror, near u
a fact why nobody wanna hear u
your whack bitch!
what the fuck you thought would happen
when bullets start collapsin your frame
maintain or bring pain »

« Cock And Squeeze » takes you into a living rap game. Three gifted soldiers have started a war of words. Offensive and colorful words aimed at their adversaries spread like bullets, ready to hit them in no time.
A song that will show no mercy to their enemies will make you travel into D12’s world. It is a matter of fact the D12 Runyan Ave soldiers have already conquered the streets of Detroit.Lyrics

[Bugz]
Gimme some hash
and when i trip nigga gimme ya mask
then after that lend me your mack and gimme your cash
that precious thing you call a life ill put an end to fast
get in your ass if you want have to leave and eagle mack (??)
you want a see-through class
dont take much to read you class
bitch
you broke as fuck and on the bus cuz your Regal smashed
this shit is lethal _
battle me i keep you mad
put you in a sleeper,drag your ass to the reaper's pad
either _
or feel the wrath of my heater that
lyric punches makin meters blast on your speaker rack
crib, club or anywhere where theres people at
they love my tape they couldnt care where they leaves yours at
your girl's a rat
tell that ho im not gonna beep her back
dont need her black
got too many other needer-rats
who heater fat (??)
i bet your gal aint fuckin with my gat
im holdin lyrics sendin vocals at you locals cat
gone black
your more whack
than a gold sack
you shown dat
when you flowed
that's a known fact
clone rap
suck a MC broad
need to pick another field, go out and find you a job
or either go out and rob
because
rappin' aint to function
you out of place,
like a 2 of heart and 2 of diamond in a game of spades
while my innovative ways
set your lyrics to a blaze
put a grimace on ur grave
im in the Guiness on a page
of history
puttin sucka niggaz out they misery
its not a mystery
my victories are bodacious
it wouldn't matter if the judge is racist
and i was battling your aces in your bitches bassment
im un-fuckwitible
thats literal
face it, the general
with senses of a senitle
holdin on my genitals
right before i send tha fo's (fools)
down the earth like minerals
even after centerfolds
in videos, my ego goes
in cagnito hoes
from mosquito rolls
mean and biter
i hope you niggaz catch a case of arthrita
you aint no writer
it still dont even have a spider
Idea when you need me, we gonna worst turn into fighters
yea yea bitch
ya muthaphukkin biter

Cock And, Squeeze, Bust
Dirty Dozen dont fuck wit us

Detroit niggaz roll deep
hold heat and talk slick
yea yea bitch
stay off my dick

[Kon Artis]
i should tie you up and keep cuttin u wit a knife
and sit you in the alcohol bath for the night
and watch you strugglin strainin squeal for your life
dump a radio bumpin your demo when your bad for da life
thats what i take from you
meet u in fake humble
attack your foundation until it crumble
its me and my dog be on stumble (??)
go _but stayin in tha right mind
just to blaze a track
to _or fake individuals that rap
screamin up your bootleg like they scared and shit
knowin that tha Kon Artis come prepared with clips
fuller then male scriptures
you watch u take pictures
notes and write down quotes and how i rap and get witcha
told u niggaz before we got much to gain
nothin to lose, curuptin the lives of all rules
tie em' up and put him in situations to hurt him
tie him up to trees and shoot poisonous darts at him
with venom in it to murder him
servin' him right
D.P. Kon Artis, swervin tonite
we rock from state to state
and city to city
you make a siss like a faggot tryin on silicon tities
and nobody wanna size D bra
_die wit side shit give it to y'all glit caught raw (??)
raw raw raw raw raw

Cock And, Squeeze, Bust
Dirty Dozen dont fuck wit us

Detroit niggaz roll deep
hold heat and talk slick
yea yea bitch
stay off my dick

[Proof]
I turn a hard nigga yellow
and make his ass faster than a cheetah
don't blaze no blunts
but i blaze them thangs
amaze ya gang
wit bullets i rattle your frame
whos that_
stay suburban tusslin'
playin dat 3 digits
before cusslin (??)
bustin twin glocks
on your block
yellin my name loud puttin rhymes inside your mailbox
infared dots
BLAHW
caught your dreadlocks
waitin for tha cops
and tell him that ur ass had beef wit Biggie and 2pac
hot lead to flesh
shot, bled to death
like Red and Meth
You need to Hoop Up
Soup Up
for battlin war
that on the more
i spattle ur horse
got battle dates on your tour
show up on you
battle on ur encore
_ wit dis shit
on ur mic grip, you might slip
hang it up
hit like Sonny _
peace to _
rock til the early morn'
this shit is on
i got da problem fiend fiend problems
my crew mugshot D12 uglier than the green goblin
i bring fear too
horror, near u
a fact why nobody wanna hear u
your whack bitch!
what the fuck you thought would happen?
when bullets start collapsin your frame
maintain or bring pain
freestyle fanatic named Pete
fresh off the paper this one turn ur autovapor meat
MC the extrordinair
steppin on ur bunyan
screamin 7 mile bitch eastside come from Runyan
hold down your fort
snort like cocaine
Richard Pryor
i clap more clips than a liver squire (??)

yea yea bitch what the fuck you thought
y'all niggaz get caught like saught im incredible like the hulk
why settle for _nigga
P-R the letter "O"
my sex is hetero
cash checks like federal
yo hedero bitch!

Arrests highlight al Qaeda's info flow

CNN) -- Recent arrests have exposed an intricate web of al Qaeda contacts in which the terror network's operational information flowed among Pakistan, Britain and the United States:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/08/05/terror.info.flow/index.html

Pakistani intelligence sources said the information flow centered around four key al Qaeda operatives, three of whom are now in custody. Those suspects have been identified as:

Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan: A suspected al Qaeda computer expert who was apprehended in mid-July in Pakistan. Within al Qaeda, the sources said, he was known by the name Abu Talha.

Esa al-Hindi: Arrested in Britain earlier this week in a roundup of suspected al Qaeda suspects, he is believed to be a senior leader of al Qaeda. U.S. government officials have described him as a "major player" who moved operational information between key components.

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani: A Tanzanian arrested in Pakistan last week who was on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list with a $5 million bounty for his alleged role in the bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998. (Full story)

Abu Hamza: Pakistani government officials believe Hamza, an Egyptian who uses at least eight aliases, is one of the main al Qaeda organizers in Pakistan. He escaped arrest last week in Punjab when Ghailani was apprehended, the officials said. (This is a different Abu Hamza from the fiery British cleric who CNN has reported on in the past.)

These four men worked closely together on different projects and Hamza was a close associate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who masterminded the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Pakistani sources said.

The four men held a meeting in Lahore, Pakistan, just three months ago, according to the sources.

They said photographs of London's Heathrow Airport were found on Ghailani's computer as a potential terror target and that al Qaeda was planning to hit airports in Nairobi, Kenya, and Katmandu, Nepal -- both of which have heavy tourism traffic.

These sources said Ghailani also was a computer expert and that intelligence officials found a long list of words used by him and Khan as code words.

In addition, al Qaeda counted on Ghailani to forge passports, the sources said. Authorities have found more than 50 scanned Pakistani national ID cards on his computer, they said.

This is the first time authorities have provided such detail on Ghailani.

Previously, authorities described Khan as a computer expert whose arrest led to the elevated terror threat level around key financial institutions in three U.S. cities.

A computer seized from Khan contained hundreds of images, including photographs, drawings and layouts of various potential U.S. targets, a senior U.S. military official told CNN.

Some images showed underground garages, leading to the conclusion these areas had been under surveillance. But the information did not include details of any specific plot.

Al-Qaeda group 'beheads US man': Benjamin Vanderford?

Militants loyal to top al-Qaeda suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have released a video which apparently shows a US citizen being beheaded in Iraq.
The man in the video - which appeared on an Islamist website - says he is from San Francisco.

Zarqawi's militants have previously released footage of hostage beheadings.

But doubts have been expressed about the footage, which appears to have been heavily edited and may show a dead body being decapitated.

It is unclear if and when the man was taken hostage.

"I am from San Francisco, California," says the young man in the video, who was dressed in a plain beige T-shirt as he sat on a chair in a dark room with his hands behind his back.

This seems like it will go on and on, no doubt the video and pictures will appear on many websites soon. I think watching one such video is more than enough. There is talk that one of the videos circulating may be a hoax. I have linked to it below.

For those of you who are interested you can watch the Benjamin Vanderford video here.

And if you are feeling particularly brave, watch the Murat Yuce video here.

It’s a long way from Infinite to the 8 Mile soundtrack

Eminem’s evolution as an artist since his pre-rapping time is impressing.
Eminem’s musical evolution goes along with his personal evolution.

While listening to the Infinite LP, we can feel a young man who is in search for love and recognition. We can also feel his hard struggle for fame. He already got verbal skills (if you doubt it, just check out the lyrically rich song « Infinite »), but he lacked experience in the music industry and the marketing of his product which explains the flop of his first album.
When Eminem speaks about his former Infinite album, he describes it as a kind of « demo »:

"Infinite was me trying to figure out how I wanted my rap style to be, how I wanted to sound on the mic and present myself. It was a growing stage. I felt like Infinite was like a demo that just got pressed up." - (Eminem)

When Eminem felt like everything was lost, the Bass Brothers came up with the brilliant concept of a « shock rapper ». The Infinite album was too soft, maybe too common to attract numerous people. In fact, Eminem’s long term collaborators, the Bass Brothers, had just offered Marshall Mathers the first key to success:

« We came up with the idea of shock rap. When we went to Interscope [Eminem's parent record company] we worked him as the Marilyn Manson of rap. Marshall was about 24 at this time, things were going a little berserk in his life, we were getting turned away by labels that didn't want a white rapper and some of the anger started coming out of him. We said, 'You've got to let this out and ride with it.' »(Jeff and Marky Bass)

The idea of shock rap had just matured into their heads. But this concept needed to become reality. A reality that would be personified by Slim Shady, Eminem’s alter ego.
And this is how the entity Slim Shady became Eminem’s creation:

« I was takin' a shit. I swear to God. And the fuckin' name just popped into my head. Then I started thinkin' of twenty million things that rhymed with it. »

Slim Shady’s introduction to the world appears in Eminem’s offensive and creative production, the Slim Shady EP. A production that was good enough to impress Dr Dre, who signed Eminem to his Aftermath label after listening to his demo.

The 10 tracks EP clearly reveals Eminem’s talent and widespread imagination. « Low, Down, Dirty » and « Murder, Murder » will make you appreciate Eminem’s narrative skills.

The Slim Shady EP is a masterpiece of work that will be followed by the Slim Shady LP. The provocative Slim Shady LP will open the doors to Eminem’s success. The Slim Shady LP will intelligently combine Eminem and Dr Dre’s talent.

The Slim Shady LP is Eminem’s first reality show: it exposes his frustrations, his harsh childhood, his crazy mom’s behavior, his drug addictions, his every day life and his constant struggle to become famous. Songs like « Rock Bottom » and « If I Had » can be pictured as a philosophical reflexion about life and the human condition.

The offensiveness, the sadness and the provocative content make the beauty of Eminem’s first successful album.

The Marshall Mathers LP will accentuate Eminem’s provocative’s side; it will also add some enemies to his list.
The Marshall Mathers LP is also the mirror of Eminem’s personal mistakes and exposes his time of trouble and his legal battles with his mom, who was unable to face the truth exposed to the public’s eye.
The « misogynistic » and « homophobic » content of Eminem’s lyrics in his second album- which by the way is typical to hip hop culture- has offended gay and lesbian activists from the GLAAD, who didn’t hesitate to misquote Eminem in order to prove his « homophobia »…
Lyrics like the lyrics of the song « Criminal » were published in the form of exerpts on the GLAAD’s wesbite:

http://www.glaad.org/media/archive_detail.php?id=65

« My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge
That'll stab you in the head
whether you're a fag or lez
Or the homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-vest
Pants or dress - hate fags? The answer's 'yes'»

Of course, the following line was completely ignored:

« C'mon!-- Relax guy, I like gay men… »

In no time, Eminem had become the « icon for homophobia and misogyny ». Ridiculous? Certainly.
Because bad publicity is better than no publicity at all in the pop world, even those activists helped Eminem to increase his records’ sales.

The Marshall Mathers LP is hard work from a brilliant mind. It is full of dark humor and poetry. It reveals great writing skills and verbal dexterity. Songs like « Stan », « Drug Ballad » and « The Way I Am » are poetry. Marshall Mathers exactly knows how to put words and syllables together. His words, his syllables, his sentences are put into the right place to make you feel the sensations that are expressed at the very moment you are listening to the song.

The Eminem Show is more politically oriented. It offers much more criticism against the Bush administration. It is also influenced by the drama of September the 11th.
The Eminem Show offers us the work of a matured man who has learnt from his former mistakes.
Some people thought that Eminem had lost his edge when the Eminem Show was released in 2002. I think that his edge has just to be found elsewhere: in his political engagement against the Bush policy for instance.

In the meantime, Eminem has also shown to the world his ability to act with the release of his movie,8 Mile. The 8 Mile soundtracks features great songs like « Lose Yourself » and « 8 Mile Road » that will spread a great message of hope. It can be summarized in three words: « Follow your dreams. »

Since 1996, Eminem has fulfilled his greatest dreams. He has even released his own cartoon. Slim Shady lovers will enjoy the « Slim Shady Show ».
Since 2001, he has introduced his group, D12, to the world with the release of Devil’s Night that has been followed by « D12 World » in 2004.
The talented rapper has also proven to be a successful businessman with the release of his own clothing line, Shady Limited.

It’s been a long way for Marshall Mathers since the release of the Infinite album. A way to success that hasn’t been without struggles, controversy and a lot of pain, but that’s exactly what makes Eminem’s greatness. He is an example for anybody of us never to give up our dreams.

Detroit's Fat Killaz

Ever heard about the Detroit Fat Killaz? If you haven’t, you have probably heard about underground rapper King Gordy who played « Big O » in Eminem’s « 8 Mile » movie.

He is one of the four emcees from the local scene group. His three less known fellows are Fatt Father, MarvWon, Shim-E Bango. Maybe less known in the world, but they already managed to impress the Detroit local scene and they are even successful nationwide.

In a society that counts calories, being fat is beautiful and sexy in the Fat
Killaz’ eyes:

« We want to be looked at as big sex symbols, with the ability to entertain and amaze crowds,” (Fatt Father)

“We love being fat. I think being fat is being sexy. We want to be the next fat phenomenon. ” (Shim E Bango)

This is how the concept of four fat artists’ collaboration came out:

"The idea for a concept about fat rappers came out of conversatio
ns after open mics. We thought about what we could do ,it was four different personalities. It's a mixture. . . . When we get together it's like one big meal." (Fatt Father)

King Gordy clearly expressed it: the Fat Killaz are Detroit’s new menace in hip hop: their ambition is to « annihilate the rap game ».
The quartett has collaborated with the greatest Detroit artists, including D12 and Obie Trice.

MarWon describes himself as the « incomparable Marvin »:

« Yo, this is the incredible, incomparable Marvin Wonderful. F. K. til the death day ya know what I’m sayin. I’m the phenom of the group, ya know I’m the phenom of the group. I been rhymin bout 4 years.. I’m lyrically top 5 in the country ya know what I’m sayin.. With the other three niggas bein in my group and maybe Em... Ya know, we make up the top 5. Killahz ya know what I’m sayin... We everything right now. »

You will be able to admire Marvwon from the Fat Killaz aka Marvin O’ Neil’s performance in the bonus footage of the 8 Mile DVD.
MarvWon who battled about 140 other rappers, had the chance to battle Eminem, who was not supposed not respond because he started having some problems with his voice. But Eminem decided that it was worth to challenge his adversary.

Marvin recalls the event:

« It was a shot where I was spinning it and Eminem was supposed to just pantomime his response. But he clicked on his mic and spun it back. He must have thought what I said was worthy enough to respond... He's the best out there, there's none better… »

What summarizes better Detroit’s Fat Killaz? The answer is clearly their love for Detroit City:

« First of all, we love the city of Detroit. We love our city, we love the response we gettin, we love our fans for those of you who are our fans. We love our label. No Tyze Entertainment, put it in the air... Uhh fuck all you haters, death to you. » (Fatt Father

Turning a blind eye to nukes: Will Saudi Arabia have nukes next?

Jonathan Power asks if Saudia Arabia will be the next country to declare it has nuclear weapons, and the ability to deploy them at long range. They bought Chinese CSS-2 rockets back in the 80's.

With elections to be held in Saudi in November, the first since 1932, are we seeing attempts to liberalise the regime, in a possible lead up to Saudi becoming a regional nuclear state, together with Israel, India and Pakistan?

Power believes that the US may be turning a blind eye to a Saudi nuclear program. Perhaps this in return for a slight, or more than slight, liberalising of the regime.

Is Graham Watson MP a neocon?

Graham Watson has come down on the side of myself and Reggie Dale, and decided that opening up the arms trade to China again would be a bad idea. He puts it very well:

The guiding logic of the ban is ethical: It is a statement of revulsion. The pressure to lift it is commercial, pure and simple. Arms manufacturers have succeeded in passing on to their governments a degree of detachment that has no place in the EU's relationship with China.

Those who argue that trade with China encourages an economic development that will ultimately force political change are badly mistaken. Sell them butter; guns are different. China's booming economy may eventually provoke political change, but for now it acts more to conceal the extent to which China's political culture remains rooted in repression and political violence.

We will not hurry the arrival of democracy in China by selling guns to those who would repress it. Until the respect for human rights and civil and political freedoms in China advances by a quantum leap, the position of the EU should be unequivocal. The Dutch presidency of the European Council, when asked to consider the lifting of the EU-China arms ban, must resist sending any other message.

Does this mean Watson is a necon too? Or am I a Liberal?

Solar system may be exception not rule

Is our-type solar system a common one?

Beer and his colleagues are now arguing that the alien systems might not have formed in the same way as our solar system. It is possible that the hot-Jupiter systems might have come about when the dusty discs around stars became unstable and suddenly fragmented, with the individual fragments collapsing under their own weight to form planets. This process naturally creates more elliptical orbits and would be unlikely to form Earth-like planets, they say.

But...

"It will be another five years or so before we know whether the solar system is truly different," says Beer. "But if it is, we may have to revise our theories of planet formation, since the existing theories are largely based on information gathered in the solar system." There might be more than one way to make a world.

North Korean hybrid missiles 'could threaten US'

New Scientist is reporting that North Korea may be developing sea-based nuclear weapons:

Ballistic missiles capable of striking the US mainland are being developed by North Korea from decommissioned Soviet hardware, according to a UK military journal.

The report in Jane's Defence Weekly suggests North Korea has modified technology used in old Soviet submarines to construct both land and sea-based ballistic missile systems capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

A sea-based missile system would enable North Korea to threaten mainland US for the first time. It would also place the nation alongside the US, UK, France, China and Russia in having such a strategic threat.

This news does not bode well for the US. What actions should be taken to stop North Korea?

NIB scandal

Anthony Sheridan with another letter in the Irish Times today, oh and it appeared in the Irish Examiner today too.

Madam, - The powerful American billionaire Martha Stewart was recently sentenced to five months' imprisonment for lying to government investigators about alleged insider trading in late 2001. From crime to jail sentence took less than three years.

Compare this with our latest banking scandal. The National Irish Bank investigation took more than six years. Bank personnel lied to and obstructed government investigators for at least a year. The bank was found to have stolen from its customers and the State. If prosecutions are taken - and judging from past experience this is highly unlikely - it will be many more years before justice is seen to be done.

It is also depressing to note that our so-called financial regulatory authorities have never, in their entire history, exposed wrongdoing in the Irish financial sector. Even the much lauded Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) did not go public with the recent AIB scandal until a whistle-blower also informed RTÉ's Charlie Bird.

Nor is there any reason to feel confident that the culture of corruption in the banking sector is being taken seriously by politicians. Legislators have allowed only a maximum fine of €5 million to be imposed for any future breaches of regulations. A typical Irish bank would consider such a fine as a minor blip in its petty cash account. The future is indeed bleak. - Yours etc.,

Russia warns Georgia after threat

In other Georgian news:

Moscow has reacted angrily to a Georgian threat to open fire on ships which "illegally" enter the waters of its breakaway province of Abkhazia. Russia, which has close ties to the Black Sea province, said it would respond to any attack on its citizens with "the necessary rebuff".

The situation over Abkazia seems much more volatile than Ossetia, despite recent reported skirmishes between Georgian soldiers and South Ossetians. This is more to do with Russian interference, even though Russia is involved in both regions. Abkazia has some valuable Soviet-era airbases, besides all the beach resorts.

With regard to any problems in these regions, suspect Putin/Russian involvement in all cases.

Kakha Bendukidze

Is this man the godsend of Libertarians and free-market lovers everywhere? Could Georgia be the model for future economies? Or will it end up plunging into war with Russia?

None of my readers know it, but one of my pet subjects is Caucasian politics. I read about it regularly, and discuss it with some very nice Georgian people. I have picked up the odd bit of Russian and Georgian. Ravakha Bijou. [loose phonetics].

Here are some choice quotes for people that I know will like this guy, namely Frank.

He says that Georgia should be ready to sell “everything that can be sold, except its conscience”.

Next year—if not sooner—he will cut the rate of income tax from 20% to 12%, payroll taxes from 33% to 20%, value-added tax from 20% to 18%, and abolish 12 kinds of tax altogether. He wants to let leading foreign banks and insurers open branches freely. He wants to abolish laws on legal tender, so that investors can use whatever currency they want. He hates foreign aid—it “destroys your ability to do things for yourself,” he says—though he concedes that political realities will oblige him to accept it for at least the next three years or so.

As to where investors should put their money, “I don't know and I don't care,” he says, and continues: “I have shut down the department of industrial policy. I am shutting down the national investment agency. I don't want the national innovation agency.” Oh yes, and he plans to shut down the country's anti-monopoly agency too. “If somebody thinks his rights are being infringed he can go to the courts, not to the ministry.” He plans, as his crowning achievement, to abolish his own ministry in 2007. “In a normal country, you don't need a ministry of the economy,” he says. “And in three years we can make the backbone of a normal country.”

The lesson he drew from the Russian experience, he says, is to change the method of privatisation, not the principle of it. He promises public sales to the highest bidder, and cash only: “no conditions, no promises, no beauty contests”.

Big improvements in business conditions are needed in order to offset big political risks and to keep investors coming. “Other governments make budgets,” he says. “We are making a nation.”

Ferguson sounding like De Botton

In a way, if you are the imperial power you have to accept that people are going to hate you however you go about spreading your influence. One of the problems Americans have is this desire to be loved. Legitimacy isn't necessarily based on affection. It's based on credibility. And I think what we're seeing in Iraq is just the latest in a series of tests of American resolve and credibility. It's not the hatred one should worry about, it's the contempt. The legitimacy that the United States will achieve if it makes a success of Iraq will outweigh the inevitable resentment. You need to be respected. And the United States has a long way to go before it attains that respect, most obviously in the Middle East.

Ferguson on the human cost of empire

First, remember that people may kill one another even more in the absence of empire—see sub-Saharan Africa. Second, if we don't extend our civilization, an even worse empire may emerge—see the Cold War. It is the habitual fantasy of many Americans that if the U.S. would just stop intervening abroad everybody in the world would enact the lyrics of John Lennon's "Imagine." History suggests otherwise.

Ferguson on whether America is an empire

It's [America] an empire that has all the functions of military empire, if you like. It has the capacity to project itself in terms of force over vast geographical distances. It's an empire that is remarkably adept at spreading its culture globally. In that sense, it's an empire with almost unrivaled military and cultural power. But when it comes to what might be called imperial governance, it is an empire which, precisely because it doesn't recognize its own existence, consistently underperforms.

De Botton on modern life

Look at advertising: its sole function is to make us feel that certain things are missing from our lives. So today it's possible for someone to feel poor if they don't have air-conditioning or a flat-screen TV in a way that they wouldn't have fifty or even ten years ago. Our sense of what it is to be reasonably well-off keeps changing, keeps rising—even though all of us are much better off than people were hundreds of years ago. But no one compares themselves to someone who lived three-hundred years ago or to someone in sub-Saharan Africa. We take our points of reference from those around us: our friends, our family. These are the people who determine our feelings of success. Which is why Rousseau wrote that the best way to become rich is not by trying to make more money, but by separating yourself from anyone around you who has had the bad taste to become more successful than you. It's a facetious point, but it's also a serious one. Feelings of wealth are relative.

De Botton on everything being ok

I also rather enjoy mocking the modern spirit of optimism. We're often told that the best way to make someone feel good about their life is to tell them something cheerful. I'm more attracted to an alternative line, which is to argue that people are most cheered up by despairing thoughts about life. If you're feeling a bit down, the last thing you want to read is a book telling you that everything will be well. You really should turn to Schopenhauer or Kirkegaard who will tell you that unhappiness is intrinsic to the human condition.

De Botton on productivity versus lunch breaks

When you think of a productive economy you're thinking of an anxious economy. You're looking at many, many people who are afraid about hanging on to their places. You can either lead a simple life—the Jeffersonian ideal of the independent farmer with his simple log cabin. Or you can lead a city life. It's your choice. I guess a Marxist would say that in the ideal future we would have a noble feudal community and high technology at the same time. But on the whole I think it's perceived as a choice. Productivity and GNP are linked to the anxieties of many, many individual workers. An economy like that of France—a so-called "unproductive economy"—is in a way a more relaxed economy. Any given country will be successful at some things and unsuccessful at others. France may be somewhat unsuccessful economically, but it's successful in its long lunch break. There's that choice.

D12 might plan two movies

D12 are planning two movies, according to press reports:

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=113081432&p=yy3x8zy38

The Eminem-backed rap collective are planning on putting together two projects, Devil’s Night and Runyon Cash, MTV news reports.

The first is said to be a horror movie, with the second being named after a street familiar with the rappers.

D12 are on tour in September, and will play a show at Dublin’s Ambassador Theatre on Saturday, September 25.

Tickets for The Ambassador date go on sale at 9am this Saturday, August 7.

Tickets from €30.50 (including booking fee) will be on sale from Ticketmaster and usual outlets nationwide.

Her love for Eminem's music has banned her from the UK

Her love for Eminem’s music has cost her a ban from England and Wales. Sharon Mc Loughlin used to play Eminem’s « Stan » at a loud level:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/tm_objectid=14493170&method=full&siteid=50143&headline=reclaim-our-streets--stan-and-deliver-name_page.html

Which made her neighbors’ every day life to a nightmare. Not everybody likes Eminem, particularly played at a loud level.

Her behavior has lead to her neighbor’s depression:

"My settee moves across the living room, my 15-month-old son's cot moves across the floor and the constant music has me permanently on edge. My GP has prescribed me anti-depression tablets to cope."

The British 33 years old woman’s story is a precedent: she’s the first person to be banned from the UK for such reasons.

Having experienced loud neighbors 5 years ago, I know how disturbing such behavior can be, but still, I am questioning myself about the measuring of decibels in this story. There seems to be something wrong with it.

First, the article from the UK Mirror states:

« Environmental health officers monitored it at 65 decibels - as loud as a passing train »

65 decibels don’t seem to be that loud and they certainly can’t be compared to a passing train that reaches around 100 decibels, as the following website tends to prove it:

http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/wondernetdisplay.html?DOC=wondernet%5Cactivities%5Csound%5Csalt.html

If it is true that 65 decibels appreciatively correspond to a normal conversation or to laughter, then there are big chances that either the music was louder than that, either there is a manipulation behind the whole story.

Sharon Mc Loughlin completely denies have reached the highest sound levels and accuses her 3 children to be responsible of most of the noise.

Second, whether there is some exaggeration in the neighbor’s statements when she claims that Sharon's music was louder than a plane, whether Sharon Mc Loughlin was much louder than 65 decibels, knowing that a plane taking off reaches around 130 decibels:

"We live near the airport and under the flight path but the planes aren't nearly as noisy as her music."

Maybe Sharon Mc Loughlin should have been more careful while playing her music.
There are several intelligent ways to avoid those problems while enjoying your music at the level you want to like to safe voice your appartment (of course, this solution might be costful), but why not simply use a stereo cask ?

Maybe there should have been more dialogue and mutual comprehension between Sharon and her neighbors, which could have avoided her eviction and also, one of Eminem fans’ worst nighmare: being deprived of his music.

Nixon on the Irish

In this months Atlantic monthly some interesting exerpts from the latest tranche of Nixon tapes released this year. This is what Nixon had to say about the Irish, after Bloody Sunday, and just after the British Embassy in Dublin was burned down on February 2, 1972.

Speaking to William Rogers (Secretary of State)

'Cause you know, and let's face it, the Irish are—these people, the Irish, are pretty goddam bad here. They're the Kennedy type, out raising hell, blowing up the place, burning down the embassy and all that.

Promatic album review

Let the dynamic Detroit duo Proof and Dogmatic introduce you into their crazy world. Journey through the streets of Detroit: mushrooms, hoes, lesbians and alcohol are part of your dangerous virtual trip to the 313.
Promatic is the example of a successful collaboration between two gifted emcees. Dogmatic, who is still underground, gives a particular dimension to the album.

« Take No Shorts » shows the offensiveness of a crew of rappers who won’t compromise their style for anybody.
The song « Ecstasy » is an ode to the well known illegal substance. Dogmatic and Proof describe their addictiveness in funny terms and bring Bizarre’s talent into the scene.
The Promatic album will give you an authentic taste of 313 underground real hip hop. The hilarious and rebellious « What I Do » will make you enjoy Proof’s world.
Proof and Dogmatic’s work is definitely something different:

« Even though the album is hard and it's got some definite street content, we didn't want to just come out like that. We just wanted to show the people something different first. » (Dogmatic)

Promatic’s main goal is also to make people discover more about Detroit:

"The world has never really got a taste of what Detroit is really about. They looked at the East Coast and then the West and then the South, but we're in the middle. We got influences from all of that shit When we do our music, that's just what it comes up as. There's so many different aspects of music that we listen to in Detroit."

As Dogmatic also points it out, Promatic is representative of Detroit City in its whole craziness and battling world:

"Everybody wants to know what Detroit really sounds like. Promatic, this is it. It's niggas spitting, all the craziness. This is what Detroit is. It's what conformed out of all that."

Promatic is also a clever collaboration of the Detroit underground scene. The song « Life » features rap phenomenon King Gordy. « Take No Shorts » will allow you to discover less known talents such as Bakarac and Jus Bounce.

Promatic is musically rich of different styles. « Feels Good » distinguishes itself from the other songs and has even a little bit of the « Barry White style ».

A dope album for mushroom graduates: grab the songs one by one and check it out.

Bill O'Reilly versus Michael Moore

I managed to miss this earlier, but here is the transcript. You can watch it on video too if you click the video link.

New blogs

Always nice to see a blog that was started about the same time as my own, and looks pretty much the same. Stefan Geen's blog is an interesting read.

Is Mark Steyn a girlie-man?

Mark Steyn concludes his latest article in the Spectator with the following:

The President has to be a terminator: he has to terminate regimes and structures that support Islamist terrorism. And, if every bigshot associated with the cause winds up like Uday and Qusay, the ideology will become a lot less fashionable. All these girlie-man options sound so reasonable, but they’re a fool’s evasion, an excuse to put off indefinitely the fights that have to be fought — in Iran, North Korea and elsewhere.

Girlie men are ‘men without chests’ — in the C.S. Lewis sense, rather than the Schwarzenegger one. I didn’t come up with this choice, nor did Arnold. The enemy did. As I wrote back in 2001, the Islamists have made a bet — that we’re too soft and decadent to see this through to the finish. This November, one way or another, they’ll get their answer.

The crux of his argument is that Democratic nominee John Kerry is no ‘terminator’; he is a ‘girlie-man’. But according to the second last paragraph, the President “has to terminate regimes and structures that support Islamist terrorism”.

What regimes would these be? Let’s add it all up, Afghanistan supported terror camps, and was invaded by the US under Bush. It allied itself with war lords and overthrew the Taleban regime. Now Steyn argues that had Kerry been President on September 11 that:

Saddam would still be in power, and so would the Taleban, and no doubt in the latter case, under an agreement brokered by Kerry special envoy Jimmy Carter, Washington would be bankrolling the regime in return for ‘pledges’ to ‘phase out’ the terrorist training camps. The senator gives no indication that he’s up to the challenges of the age.

Perhaps Steyn is being his usual facetious self, but I find the idea that any President after September 11 would not have invaded Afghanistan to be a ridiculous presumption. So too is the assumption that the invasion of Afghanistan was an entirely successful affair.

Lest we forget that Osama bin Laden was not captured, that large numbers of al-Qaeda fighters still roam freely in eastern Agfhanistan and inside Pakistan. And why did this happen? Was it ineptitude on the part of US forces? Under-deployment of resources? Underestimating the enemy? Whatever it was the facts speak for themselves, the number of troops deployed in the original home of al-Qaeda was and is too small. Perhaps it was Rumsfeld’s notions of small effective elite units, but whatever it was, Bush was unsuccessful in large parts of the campaign in Afghanistan, so was he really a terminator at all?

And if the President “has to terminate regimes and structures that support Islamist terrorism”, whither the terminator in Saudi Arabia? The home of most of the Sep 11 hijackers, the home of a large amount of militant Islamism. But no, in his efforts to terminate regimes that support Islamist terrorism he instead turned his attention to Iraq. Now some say, like Cheney, that Iraq did lots to help terrorism, that Saddam helped al-Qaeda. But as the Sep 11 Commission put it, this is not credible. Iraq had little or no support for Islamist terrorism, and almost certainly supported it less than many in Saudi Arabia, be it through financial or spiritual assistance, such as Wahabi schools or support through inaction.

So exactly how many regimes has Bush terminated? Well not many.

Take the UAE, a long time supporter of the Taleban regime, one of the only to recognise its governance of Afghanistan. It has barely figured in the war on terror, and yet it tacitly supported al-Qaeda and the Taleban, facilitating gold and cash transfers, arms shipments for al-Qaeda purportedly went through Sharjah airport near Dubai. The Zayed family have been relatively quiet on Bin Laden, and yet it is a regime that while known to facilitate terrorism, also facilitates hundreds of Western companies.

Steyn also seems the be under the impression that if you kill ‘bigshots’ like Uday and Qusay Hussein that Islamist ideology will become ‘a lot less fashionable’. What a curious remark. This neglects the fact that neither Uday or Qusay were Islamists of any real standing, or that killing ‘bigshots’ rather than making Islamists scared, actually might make them more determined or even a bit angry.

He notes:

All these girlie-man options sound so reasonable, but they’re a fool’s evasion, an excuse to put off indefinitely the fights that have to be fought — in Iran, North Korea and elsewhere.

So what exactly has Bush done about North Korea since he took office? Has he put it off indefinitely or has he confronted and ‘terminated’ that regime? What exactly has Bush done about Iran and its attempts to attain plutonium? Has this regime been terminated? And does Steyn honestly believe that with the US military stretched as much as it is that US forces could feasibly terminate either of these regimes? Does he believe the US can and should go it alone and terminate these regimes? Does he believe Bush is just waiting to send the troops in during his next term of office, or does he realise that the US can neither afford nor stomach 'terminating' North Korea or Iran.

Steyn continues with some other odd remarks.

With every year, the demographic changes in Europe render America’s old alliances more and more obsolescent.

So because Europe’s demographics are changing, older population, more immigrant workers including Muslims, and perhaps a looming pensions crisis, this means that the US-EU alliance is no longer worth anything? Surely the most pragmatic approach is not to abandon allies who’s Western Muslim populations are growing, but instead to engage with your allies? Would that not make more sense? Isolating would only lead to a further fracturing of not only US-EU trade, but in the future would lead to a fracturing of relations with what will be a very large Islamic population – especially with the entry of Turkey into the EU.

Yet more odd remarks from Steyn:

The Airbus 380 is a classic Eurostatist money pit, German law enforcement has been a huge flop against al-Qa’eda, and as for all the other fashionable projections of soft power, where are they? Europe wanted Kyoto: it’s dead. It wanted Saddam in office: he’s in jail. Right now cowboy Bush is leaving Sudan to the metrosexuals and what have they got to show for their projection of ‘soft power’? Tens of thousands of corpses that no amount of cologne will hide the smell of.

Airbus passed out Boeing in 2003 to become the world's biggest commercial-aircraft maker. The A380 model has been ordered by several airlines, namely Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, Qatar Airways and Malaysia Airlines, and is doing rather better than the Boeing 7E7. And as for 'Statist', who buys all those Boeing planes? The US government. As for 'money-pit':

EADS said net profits for the first half of 2004 came in at 387m euros ($466m ; £251m), up from a 66m euro loss in the same period last year. The figure comfortably outstripped the 319m euros pencilled in by forecasters. Sales were also higher, climbing to 14.5 billion euros from 13 billion last year, an increase of 12%.

The 'Kyoto Protocol is dead'. Well perhaps it is to the US administration, or indeed to Mr. Steyn. But a quick look at the signatories (PDF), the numbers of governments that are attempting to implement the Protocol, I would say that calling it dead is stretching it just a bit too far. 189 countries ratified the Kyoto agreement. But then of course without the US involved it must be 'dead'.

Europe wanted Saddam in office is like saying they wanted Bush in office. No they didn't. I guess Europe just didn't want countries invading other countries on the basis of not very much, and with some amount of scepticism that the US might be invading Iraq in order to restore the human rights of its citizens. I think their scepticism proved right, especially about WMD.

Right now cowboy Bush is leaving Sudan to the metrosexuals and what have they got to show for their projection of ‘soft power’? Tens of thousands of corpses that no amount of cologne will hide the smell of.

Does this passage lend weight to an opposing view of Steyn more than it does to Steyn's own view? Firstly I am not so sure that Bush is leaving Sudan to the Europeans. Secondly it does not follow that 50,000 deaths in Sudan is the fault of Europeans more than it is the fault of the US or indeed the international community. And surely Bush 'leaving Sudan to the metrosexuals' is tantamount to being worse than using 'soft power', but actually doing nothing.

Vernon Blake

Vernon Blake got the sack, apparently for doing his job. He was pissed off with his boss always playing solitaire and not doing any work. So he installed win-spy, software that secretly takes screenshots of users activity. Low and behold his boss was playing solitaire all the time - so Blake went to management and told them. As a result he got sacked, but his boss got off with a verbal warning.

His site is here, including screenshots of his bosses computer. Slashdot cover it here.

Bomb blasts rock Iraqi churches

It seems a new tactic is being used in Iraq, attack the 600,000 strong Christian population.

That uranium thing

Josh Marshall details a look into the Niger-Italian-Iraq uranium story. Have a read. Yglesias discusses it here.

Dinner with Bill Gates

A Microsoft intern describes visiting Bill Gates' home in Seattle, and having dinner with him and some fellow interns. Fascinating insight. Via AnOasis.

Ahern's staff knew of NIB 11 years ago

So Ahern might have known about the whole thing 11 years ago but did nothing about it. Why does that not surprise me. Wholescale theft of customers, outright robbery, and what's done about it? Or what will be done about it....nothing I would predict.

And as for the 'class act' Flynn:

The Inspectors' Report includes a "checklist" document signed by Beverley Cooper Flynn for an offshore investment of £160,000 in which the question is asked: Is the money declared?

The answer in her hand on the document is "yes and no" - leaving the clear message that both she and the bank were aware that it was "hot".

But she is on holidays right now and is unavailable for comment. How convenient. Is anyone bothered that no executives are likely to be seen to be taken out of premises with handcuffs on? If this were any other country would the law not have to be seen to be enforced, with suspected thieves being arrested and charged?

Oil, Sudan, Darfur, China and genocide

Kevin Drum points to the cover of the Economist.

This has hardly been the UN's finest moment, and China and supposed-American-ally Pakistan abstained on even the milquetoast resolution that the United States eventually compromised on. But I suppose it's a start.

But I am left wondering why those two countries abstained. CNN reports that

Zhang Yishan, the deputy Chinese ambassador to the U.N. told the Security Council "these measures are not helpful" and "may further complicate the situation in Sudan."

Is there not more to it than that? Does China not have major interests in the Darfur region? Take a look at this map and see who has the rights to area 6, or Southern Darfur. Yup, the Chinese government operating as the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation.(CNPC)

Is that just coincidental? Or is the 800,000,000 - 1, 200,000,000 barrels of oil in Sudan anything to do with it?

For more read the Human Rights Watch report.

"We the Media" published

Dan's book has finally been published, and the trolls even followed him to Amazon. Sad people.

Europe's economic woes: Oversold?

Will Europe's economy stand up to its old population and spiraling pensions costs? It might, or at least according to this article. Also mentioned is Chirac's likely successor, Nicolas Sarkozy.

In office, Sarkozy has steered a complicated course of talking of reform, including efforts to increase working hours in France, while also pushing through a state bailout of Alstom, the large engineering firm, and blasting German companies that have threatened to move operations out of Europe if workers did not agree to longer hours.

His popularity does not appear to have fallen, and Chirac now seems to be trying to force Sarkozy to leave the government.

The writer is optimistic about Europes looming worker deficit:

European economies are on track to grow reasonably well this year, even if they are trailing the United States and much of Asia. European productivity growth has trailed that of the United States, but the gap narrows substantially when expressed in terms of hours worked. It can be argued that the difference reflects a quite reasonable preference for leisure over additional income. No doubt that is true for some, but many of the persistently unemployed in Europe would no doubt prefer less leisure and more income.

The demographic horror story - in which the structure crumbles because there are too few workers being forced to pay taxes to support too many retirees - may be oversold. There is an ample supply of extra workers available via immigration, and while there is great reluctance to let them in, and more than a little discrimination against hiring those that are already in Europe, that can be seen as an untapped resource.

He continues:

And while it is true that European growth has lagged in recent years, in one important measure it has done reasonably well. Paul Krikorian of Bridgewater Associates, an American investment firm, calculates that since 1999 the United States' market share of world exports has fallen by 4.4 percentage points.

Most of that went to China, but some of those lost exports were replaced by exports from European countries, whose share fell in 2000 but has since rebounded. Europe is running current account surpluses even as the United States runs record deficits.

So maybe we should look on the bright side:

It is true that Western European countries have huge debts looming over them in the form of promised but unfunded pension benefits for aging populations, and it is not at all clear how that issue will be resolved. But owing a lot to one's own citizens - under laws that the government can change - may not be worse than owing real money to foreigners who have a right to repayment, the position the United States Treasury finds itself in.

Paul Krugman: Networks prefer puff over policy

Paul Krugman complains of US media's near obsession with puff rather than hard policy facts. He also points out some interesting differences in how some politicians are represented differently, usually along party lines. Kevin Drum also talks about it, and gives more links to related stories.

Well, I've been reading 60 days' worth of transcripts from the places four out of five Americans cite as where they usually get their news: the major cable and broadcast television networks. Never mind the details - I couldn't even find a clear statement that Kerry wants to roll back recent high-income tax cuts and use the money to cover most of the uninsured. When reports mentioned the Kerry plan at all, it was usually horse race analysis - how it's playing, not what's in it.

The same things seems to play out on this side of the Atlantic. Always about how its playing rather than what is playing. Having read a large amount of transcripts Krugman made some discoveries, such as:

On the other hand, everyone knows that Teresa Heinz Kerry told someone to "shove it," though even there, the context was missing. Except for a brief reference on MSNBC, none of the transcripts I've read mention that the target of her ire works for Richard Mellon Scaife, a billionaire who financed smear campaigns against the Clintons - including accusations of murder. (CNN did mention Scaife on its Web site, but described him only as a donor to "conservative causes.") And viewers learned nothing about Scaife's long vendetta against Heinz Kerry herself.

And points out amusingly:

Somewhere along the line, television news stopped reporting on candidates' policies, and turned instead to trivia that supposedly reveal their personalities. We hear about Kerry's haircuts, not his health care proposals. We hear about President George W. Bush's brush-cutting, not his environmental policies.

Or this:

A Columbia Journalism Review Web site called campaigndesk.org says its analysis "reveals a press prone to needlessly introduce Senators Kerry and Edwards and Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, as millionaires or billionaires, without similar labels for President Bush or Vice President Cheney."

As the site points out, the Bush campaign has been "hammering away with talking points casting Kerry as out of the mainstream because of his wealth, hoping to influence press coverage." The campaign isn't claiming that Kerry's policies favor the rich - they manifestly don't, while Bush's manifestly do. Instead, we're supposed to dislike Kerry simply because he's wealthy (and not notice that his opponent is, too). Republicans, of all people, are practicing the politics of envy, and the media obediently go along.

Krugman leaves us with some juicy post scripts:

Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida, insists that electronic voting machines are perfectly reliable, but The St. Petersburg Times says the Republican Party of Florida has sent out a flier urging supporters to use absentee ballots because the machines lack a paper trail and cannot "verify your vote."

Ah e-voting, my favorite subject. Of course they are 'perfectly reliable' as Bush says. And monkeys might fly out of his ass. And the second PS:

Three weeks ago, The New Republic reported that the Bush administration was pressuring Pakistan to announce a major terrorist capture during the Democratic convention. Hours before Kerry's acceptance speech, Pakistan announced, several days after the fact, that it had apprehended an important Qaeda operative.

What a coincidence.

China's 'steel mouse' is still roaring - warily

A good story from the IHT on what its like to express personal views in today's China. We need more people like Liu.

Even so, Liu has resumed writing. Several months ago, she signed an online petition calling for the release of Du Daobin, another online Internet essayist. Du, in fact, had been jailed after calling for her release.

Asked why she still takes such risks, she said, "It's the right thing for me to do, so I'm going to keep doing it."

Where has all the oil money gone?

Paul Krugman asks a fair question, where has all the oil money gone? And why has so little money been spent? He asks:

Last month we learned that the United States, while it has spent vast sums on the war in Iraq, has so far provided almost no aid. Of $18.4 billion in reconstruction funds approved by Congress, only $400 million has been disbursed.

Almost all of the money spent by the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq until late June, came from Iraqi sources, mainly oil revenues. This revelation helps explain one puzzle: the sluggish pace of reconstruction, which has yet to restore many essential services to prewar levels.

But it creates another puzzle: Given that the authority was spending Iraq's money, why wasn't it more careful in its accounting?

He continues with some more staggering points:

Every important official with responsibility for Iraqi finances was a Bush administration loyalist. The occupying authority dragged its feet on an international audit, which didn't even begin until April 2004.

When KPMG auditors hired by an international advisory board finally got to work, they found that no effort had been made to keep an accurate record of oil sales, and that accounting for the $20 billion Development Fund for Iraq consisted of "spreadsheets and pivot tables maintained by a single accountant."

The auditors also faced a lack of cooperation. They were denied access to Iraqi ministries, which were reputed to be the locus of epic corruption on the part of Iraqis with connections to the occupiers. They were also denied access to reports concerning what they delicately describe as "sole-source contracts."

Translation: They were stonewalled when they tried to find out what Halliburton did with $1.4 billion. By obstructing international auditors, by the way, the United States wasn't just fueling suspicion about the misappropriation of Iraqi oil money - it was also breaking its word. After Saddam's fall, the United Nations gave the United States the right to disburse Iraqi oil-for-food revenues, but only on the condition that this be accompanied by international auditing and oversight.

And here even more curious:

On the day the United States raided Chalabi's offices, a British associate of Chalabi who had been promising to come out with a devastating report told London's Daily Telegraph that a remarkably effective hacker attack had destroyed all his computer files, including the backup copies. After the United States' falling-out with Chalabi, the oil-for-food investigation was taken out of the hands of Chalabi's allies. But the new head of the investigation was assassinated on July 1.

Very strange indeed.

Richard A. Clarke: 9/11 report is honorable but incomplete

The former head of counterterrorism at the National Security Council Richard A. Clarke, believe that the September 11 report is somewhat lacking. He proposes how the war on terrorism should really be fought:

We need to expose the Islamic world to values that are more attractive than those of the jihadists. This means aiding economic development and political openness in Muslim countries, and efforts to stabilize places like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Restarting the Israel-Palestinian peace process is also vital.

Also, we can't do this alone. In addition to "hearts and minds' television and radio programming by the U.S. government, we would be greatly helped by a pan-Islamic council of respected spiritual and secular leaders to coordinate (without U.S. involvement) the Islamic world's own ideological effort against the new Qaeda.

Unfortunately, because of America's low standing in the Islamic world, we are now at a great disadvantage in the battle of ideas. This is primarily because of the unnecessary and counterproductive invasion of Iraq. In pulling its bipartisan punches, the commission failed to admit the obvious: we are less capable of defeating the jihadists because of the Iraq war.

Unanimity has its value, but so do debate and dissent in a democracy facing a crisis. To fully realize the potential of the commission's report, we must see it not as the end of the discussion but as a partial blueprint for victory. The jihadist enemy has learned how to spread hate and how to kill - and it is still doing both very effectively almost three years after 9/11.

No doubt Steyn would call such tactics the tactis of a girlie-man.

What about the Saudis who flew off on 9/13?

Gerald Posner of the NYT asks the question, also posed by Unger and Moore.

The report makes no mention that one of the Saudis on the flight that left Kentucky for Saudi Arabia was Prince Ahmed bin Salman. The nephew to King Fahd, Prince Ahmed was later mentioned to American interrogators in March 2002 by none other than Abu Zubaydah, a top Qaeda official captured that same month. The connection, if any, between a top operative of Al Qaeda and a leading member of the royal family has remained unresolved despite Saudi denials. Prince Ahmed cannot be asked: He died in 2002, at the age of 43, from complications from stomach surgery in a Riyadh hospital.

Not only does the 9/11 report fail to resolve the matter of whether Zubaydah - who featured prominently in the now infamous Presidential Daily Briefing of Aug. 6, 2001 - was telling the truth when he named Prince Ahmed and several other princes as his contacts, but they do not even mention the prince in the entire report. The report does have seven references to Zubaydah's interrogations, yet not a single one is from March, the month of his capture, and the time he made his startling and still unproven accusations about high-ranking Saudi royals.

Of course, none of these matters undermine the report's central conclusions about what went wrong inside the United States leading up to 9/11. And satisfying answers to questions about the relationship between the Saudis and Al Qaeda might not be available yet. But the commission could have at least asked them. By failing to address adequately how Saudi leaders helped Al Qaeda flourish, the commission has risked damaging its otherwise good work.

Is it just me or is the September 11th Commission looking increasingly like the Warren Commission?

The Workplace: Blowing whistles and the EU: Marta Andreasen

Marta Andreasen blew the whistle on dodgy practices inside the European Union, she now resides in limbo.

The saga dates to May 2002, when she started alerting her bosses and then ultimately their bosses that the government computer software was vulnerable to error and fraud just five months after she started her job.

"It was not as though I was asking them to build a cathedral or send a man to the moon," said Andreasen, who is still on the payroll. "Had they followed my advice, today there would be effective measures in place, and the funds would be protected. Instead, I was suspended, and the EC said they already knew about the problems."

Today the commission is hard pressed to explain precisely why disciplinary proceedings against Andreasen have lingered. A commission official, who asked to remain anonymous, said authorities had moved slowly to "make sure that justice is done." It took time, he added, because the author of a report about the matter held another full-time job.

The accusations against Andreasen are also a little complicated. She was not suspended because of her withering criticism, which gained support from, among others, Jules Muis, the commission's former internal auditor.

He observed in a blunt internal memo that Andreasen's concerns appeared "factually substantive and correct."

In reality, she was suspended for violating Articles 12 and 21 of staff regulations: failure to show sufficient loyalty and respect. She had ignored the established hierarchy by expressing her concerns directly in letters to the commission's president and 10 legislators.

Sufficient loyalty and respect? Are these guys crazy?

"What I Do", a Proof-Dogmatic collaboration

Although Mc Big Proof is Eminem's best friend, he really needed to take some distance with Shady Records and release his own work with different record labels. Thats' why Promatic is a Koch Records production from the Contra Music Label and "I Miss the Hip Hop Shop" was released at Iron First Records.

The Proof-Dogmatic song and video is an amusing comedy that won't leave you indifferent.
As well as while watching or listening to Eminem, the video will require from you a solid sense of humor. Some parents might be shocked by Proof and Dogmatic’s numerous references to drugs, and particularly while Proof is sniffing some glue. Before getting mad at Proof and Dogmatic who -by the way- have manage to pervert a whole class and make drug addicts of them, take the video for what it is: a hilarious comedy.

The two friends who seem to be to old to be high school pupils show up in the middle of a classroom. The song is rebellious against parents and that’s exactly what makes it so funny. Listen to Kevin (Dogmatic):

« Oh, that's just my dad, when I talk shit he gets mad (arrgh)
I took his .44 mag, I put that mag in my bag
Took it to school, so I can blast all you faggots (arcade shot)
I think my teacher's on rag, cause when I'm in class
All that bitch do is just nag
Kevin do that, Kevin do this
I do what I wanna do, slut suck my dick!
I can school skip
I can put weed to my lips
I can pop E and take trips
I can flip scripts
Smack all the girls on they hips
Dress like a blood and yell, CRIP!
Steal daddy's Remy and take sips
Drink on the back of the porch and break shit
Break all the windows in dad's car and dip
Fuck stealing keys, ignitions get ripped … »

While Kevin talks against his father, Deshaun will bag on his mom:

"What am I grounded for?
Tell me one good reason
Moms is a dirty whore
Twice she been caught cheatin'
Why should I go to school?
You never went to school
Beating me with a broom
Just coz I bent the rules
I hate mom and dad, making me so sad
(Tshawn, clean up your room now!) No fag
No batch, so sad thinkin I'll mind you
Wanna kill you and hide you
Where nobody can find you
Time to curse you, for giving me curfew
Every time that you beat me
'Till my body purple
No, I won't listen mom
Why don't you shut your mouth?
School I've been missing out
Kids trying to punk me out
What I learn manners for?
Maybe you raised me wrong
All kids that graze me wrong
Get crazy play this song
Then can I have some friends
Make me come in to play
Dad always touch my skin
Now I'ma run away …

The dialogue between Dogmatic and Proof is a never ending circle: none of them will listen to each other…
If you haven’t bought the Promatic album yet, you will be able to watch the video here:

http://www.promaticworld.com/plot/video.shtml

Proof and Dogmatic clearly show their likes and dislikes. You guessed it: both are fond of weed and mushrooms. And if you don’t like it, both emcees will tell you to fuckoff.

Parents, relax a little bit if your kid is fond of the Promatic video: this won’t make a bad substance user of your kid. My 9 years old son is crazy over the « What I Do » video. He even understood that the use of glue was to make Proof « get high ». He also understood that this example is, of course, not to follow. Trust your kids. They are cleverer than you think.

The « What I Do » video is incredibly good and original work based on an excellent duo collaboration. Dogmatic and his fellow Proof have introduced you in a true Detroit underground sound. Enjoy your stay while watching their great video.