Guess who was in Venezuela today: Yup, Ollanta was in the house today. He met with vice-president Elías Jaua in this video, and gave a short press conference in which he expressed a wish to visit Chavecito, to see him “as a friend”, and to talk at length about the “common past and common future” […]
Continue readingAuthor: Sabina Becker
The Herrera case: Negative results in the first round of testing
One chapter ends and another begins in the ongoing mystery of baby-theft and illicit adoptions in Argentina. This one, unfortunately, offers no easy answers for the time being: The DNA tests recently performed on the Noble Herrera siblings, the adopted children of the president of the Clarín media group, Ernestina Herrera de Noble, did not […]
Continue readingEconomics for Dummies: Happy Bastille Day!
Sing the choirs of cacophony: And like the good band says: La Guillotine will claim her bloody prize… A new survey from Insite Security and IBOPE Zogby International of those with liquid assets of $1 million or more found that 94% of respondents are concerned about the global unrest around the world today. Fully 90% […]
Continue readingPee Tee Eff Ess Emm!
Yes, that IS a colander on his head. And yes, that is a real, official Austrian driver’s licence. Praise the Flying Spaghetti Monster! For lo, he hath touched a man with his Noodly Appendage… An Austrian atheist has won the right to be shown on his driving-licence photo wearing a pasta strainer as “religious headgear”. […]
Continue readingShort ‘n’ Stubby: The manipulation of Noam Chomsky
The Manx just let out a really plaintive, piercing yowl at me, and I don’t think it’s just because of this god-awful desert-like heat we’ve been having lately, either. I think she wants me to stop sitting on something, and just haul it out into the light of day for you. And sure enough, there’s […]
Continue readingMamachas del Ring: A new documentary
Mamachas del Ring -Trailer – English from Betty Park on Vimeo. A glimpse of Betty Park’s documentary on the Fighting Cholitas of La Paz, Bolivia. These women are much more than just pro wrestlers in traditional, colorful Aymara dress; they are also fighters against machismo and sexism. And even as their popular success turns them […]
Continue readingEconomics for Dummies: How the IMF ate Greece
An excellent, succinct interview with Michael Hudson, who explains how the European common market helped to tank the Greek economy, and then sold it out to the IMF. One jarring moment is when he says that all the historical assets of Greece, that used to require whole armies to steal, are now being taken by […]
Continue readingThe case for gun control…
…made in just under a minute, by a hair-triggered guy who’s not as quick on the draw as he thought he was.
Watch the slo-mo replay; you’ll see he blows out a pant leg. Best YouTube comment: “He missed his balls. His genes are …
Wankers of the Week: Hack Attack edition
Crappy weekend, everybody! Anybody know if your phone was hacked? Because if it was, I have a sneaking suspicion who done it. He’s listed below…along with a few OTHER hackers (or wannabes), and a lot of people that I just can’t hack the sight of anymore… 1. Whoever the fuck is behind the tweet-rumor of […]
Continue readingQuotable: Eduardo Galeano on what matters and what does not
The Uruguayan writer, recently interviewed during demonstrations in Barcelona, Spain, where he joined young Spanish revolutionaries in the streets. In his gentle way he rips the guts out of capitalism and corruption, and gets to the heart of matters in the only way he can, which is roundabout and fun-loving. It’s his simplicity and humility, […]
Continue readingShort ‘n’ Stubby: “A fantastic day for Britain”
I was just reading a whole bunch of stuff about the News of the World phone-hack scandal when a certain stumpy-tailed cat started meowing at me. That can only mean one thing: Ms. Manx has some goodies for us! Lead on, MacStump… First off, Ms. Manx thinks that the Nation asks some damn good questions […]
Continue readingFestive Left Friday Blogging: A killer “Thriller” for free quality education
Chilean high school and university students got zombified and staged this brilliant protest against privatization and fee hikes that will put higher education out of reach for the non-rich majority of Chileans. This took place in the northern port city of Antofagasta. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Chile, this happened: A smoochathon! This lovely demo, in La […]
Continue readingHeroes for Today: Hugh Grant, actually.
Who’d of thunk that an actor who once became notorious for his run-in with a streetwalker would end up turning the tables on the paparazzi who made his private life virtually nonexistent thereafter? Or that he’d become a hero to all the people victimized by Rupert Murdoch’s junk-journalism empire in the process? Certainly it never […]
Continue readingAugusto Pinochet…marijuanero?
Pothead? For some odd reason, this article in Patria Grande makes me giggle uncontrollably: A marijuana plantation has been found in a sector of a hacienda where lie the ashes of the ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet, a property currently under legal sanction for illicit enrichment. Lucía Pinochet Hirart, the oldest daughter of the former dictator, told […]
Continue readingQuotable: Simón Rodríguez on the importance of questioning everything
“Enseñe los niños a ser preguntones, para que, pidiendo el por qué, de lo que se les mande hacer, se acostumbren a obedecer… a la razón, no a la autoridad, como los limitados, ni a la costumbre, como los estúpidos.” –Simón Rodríguez (Teach children to ask lots of questions, so that, in asking the reason […]
Continue readingEvo talks with TELAM
Video en español. Part 1 of a two-part interview with the TELAM news service of Argentina. Covers a wide range of subjects, but Evo’s quiet intelligence and wicked sense of humor are the real highlights. So’s this key sentence: “We are living a revolutionary change, which has come for the first time in 500 years […]
Continue readingChavecito’s BACK!!!
¡Qué tubazo! Look who’s ba-ack in Venezuela, right in time for his country’s bicentennial independence day celebrations tomorrow: Chavecito converses with VTV reporter Ernesto Villegas on his return from Cuba, where he’s had surgery and other medical treatments for a pelvic abscess and tumor. He’s now on a strict diet (doctor’s orders), which might explain […]
Continue readingThe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
A Canadian documentary that starts with the CIA’s failed, lame attempt to develop LSD as a truth serum/mind-control agent. Instead, it became the catalyst for thousands of old beatniks and young hippies, formerly staid scientists and political activists to all come together in a radical questioning of authority. Isn’t it funny how as soon as […]
Continue readingMore Music for a Sunday: An actor out alone
In memory of Jim Morrison, who died 40 years ago today:
My favorite Doors song (yes, even above “Light My Fire”!)
Gotta love your man.
Music for a Sunday: Quiquiribu, mandinga…
“I’m so in love with Black Tomasa that when she leaves the house, oh how sad I get…”
Of course, it’s impossible to be sad for long when you hear the late Compay Segundo and his band. Even Cuban songs about sadness have a …