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A look at the US through China's eyes. The US has been critical of China's human rights practices for decades. In retaliation, China examines the US, and finds it comes up short in many ways. Instead of indulging itself in publishing the "human rights country report" to censure other countries unreasonably, the United States should reflect on its erroneous behavior on human rights and take its own human rights problems seriously. Summarized text in NYT
posted by crunchland at 9:20 PM PST - 53 comments

Blogging it Live from outside SCOTUS and MGM vs. Grokster, it's NickD.
posted by malaprohibita at 7:36 PM PST - 16 comments

New Chemical Brothers video. (Flash/WMV/Real). With great power comes better special effects.
posted by jeremias at 6:46 PM PST - 47 comments

Joash Woodrow. An artist who's story is not unlike that of Henry Darger - a recluse who's lifetime of work has only recently been discovered. But unlike Darger, Woodrow was British, and a trained artist who studied alongside Frank Auerbach and Peter Blake. And he's still alive. Now this pensioner, who's lifetime of painting, drawing and sculpture was discovered by accident while his family were halfway through incinerating it, is being called "one of the great British artists of the 20th Century" and the price of his paintings, which call to mind Picasso, Soutine and Rouault, are skyrocketing. Aged 77, and confined to a nursing home, he is unwilling to ever paint again or discuss his art, and it is unclear if he is enjoying the benefits of his belated success.
posted by fire&wings at 5:35 PM PST - 19 comments

Sails to harness Vox Populi winds : "Technology is changing politics" [ not to mention journalism ] intones the well connected Personal Democracy Forum, and everybody's leaping into the "Blogging vs. Journalism" fray. Dan Gillmor, author of We the Media, has quit his job after receiving seed money from Mitch Kapor and from Omidyar Networks, to found the for-profit "Grassroots Media Inc." : Gillmor's got a hand, as well, in the noble and name studded OurMedia.org : "We'll host your media forever — for free.....Video blogs, photo albums, home movies, podcasting, digital art, documentary journalism, home-brew political ads"

Meanwhile, SusanG - in her most recent recently released investigative piece into the Jeff Gannon/fake journalism scandal notes her research group's effort "now encompasses so much more than Gannon" and announces future stories will post under the organizational name of ePluribus Media

"We're the People ! No you're not, we're the People ! No way ! We're the...."
posted by troutfishing at 5:24 PM PST - 110 comments

Integrated Planning Guidance, Fiscal Years 2005-2011 --a Dept. of Homeland Security document outlining groups to watch out for in the coming years completely omits rightwing and militia groups and individuals as a threat. Clearly listed in the document? ELF and ALF--leftwing groups that destroy property, but have never murdered, unlike Timothy McVeigh and Eric Rudolph and the many others who have arsenals and plenty of hatred, and have already proven themselves killers.
posted by amberglow at 5:11 PM PST - 15 comments

e-file ... FREE-file. Yes, TurboTax too. via Tom Martino's radio show
posted by WolfDaddy at 5:00 PM PST - 15 comments

The Bible as sentencing device If the Constitution sanctions such direct reliance on religious sources when imposing criminal sentences, then there is nothing to stop prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers from regularly citing religious sources like the Bible, the Talmud, or the Koran to justify their respective positions on punishment.
posted by docpops at 4:25 PM PST - 46 comments

360°, semi-panormaic, bullet-time, mega-wicked light graffiti. That is all. [via]
posted by panoptican at 3:38 PM PST - 17 comments

From her perspective, it was just opening fire by a tank. Giuliana Sgrena, the freed Italian journalist who was shot at by American troops upon her release, sets the record straight: there was no checkpoint, she was on a secure VIP road that runs directly from the Green Zone to the Baghdad airport, and her car was shot at from behind. Transcript, audio, and video of an interview with Naomi Klein, who talked to Sgrena in Rome.
posted by muckster at 3:33 PM PST - 40 comments

The next logical step in living wills
posted by Asparagirl at 2:46 PM PST - 20 comments

• Things which we will rock:
- you

• Songs in list form:
- the best thing ever to come from LiveJournal
- Amazingly addictive
- via waxy.org
posted by me3dia at 2:44 PM PST - 86 comments

The narrative strategies of Genesis, according to EL Doctorow.
posted by semmi at 2:38 PM PST - 8 comments

As long as we're on the subject of Lovecraft, did you know that his works had inspired a role-playing game, a cute plush toy, a breakfast cereal, and a number of blasphemously bad films (flash, sound)? The best, though, is the unspeakably evil musical.
posted by gurple at 1:57 PM PST - 26 comments

Mustache March is a silly little idea/project where every guy at a company grows a mustache during March, they take photos, then at the end of the month a BBQ fundraiser is thrown with proceeds going to a charity. A side benefit is that the month of ridiculous facial hair leads to questions from strangers which leads to awareness of the charity. I only wish I had heard of this in February.
posted by mathowie at 1:47 PM PST - 30 comments

Happy Dingus Day! The little known day-after-Easter holiday originally celebrated in Poland involves men dumping water on women and women chasing men around with sticks or pussywillows.
posted by tsarfan at 11:19 AM PST - 28 comments

The Liner. "The entire graduating class of Hamline University, 1925, in drawings of varying quality made semi-nightly in about one hour each." (Appears to be by our very own interrobang.)
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 10:52 AM PST - 44 comments

On this day in 1963 Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" was released into the world, causing us to forever tread lightly around pigeons. Anyone wanna lend me $18,950 so I can celebrate?
posted by shoppingforsanity at 10:38 AM PST - 21 comments

Strange dolls
posted by madamjujujive at 10:08 AM PST - 29 comments

Conceived in 2003 and modeled after West Point, The National Military Academy of Afghanistan began its academic year last week, welcoming its first class of soldiers to pass basic training, after which they'll complete a four-year Academy degree and become commissioned officers. Back in February, a US officer passed on photos of the Academy's opening. "We had kids walk into the Academy with nothing but the clothes they were wearing and open sandals, (no socks). These are good cadets."
posted by jenleigh at 9:13 AM PST - 36 comments

Magnitude 8.2 earthquake off Indonesia Tsunami warning bulletins are posted here.
posted by Mwongozi at 9:06 AM PST - 75 comments

The results are in for the Best of Photojournalism 2005 . From sports to nature, from sorrow to celebration, photojournalists around the world continue to document humanity’s highs and lows 24-7.
posted by TheGoldenOne at 8:42 AM PST - 8 comments

A Living Saint.
Audrey causes a frenzy with her blessings.
Her mother clears the corners
and opens the doors, ringing in the constituency
and clicking the number-cruncher as they come.
posted by grabbingsand at 7:49 AM PST - 13 comments

Condi's plan for Iraq: cut and run. Conservative columnist Robert Novak -- the same guy who hung Valerie Plame out to dry -- launches the media campaign to prepare the US electorate for withdrawal even if, as he puts it with exquisite understatement, "what is left behind does not constitute perfection." (I'll say.) US commander Gen. George Casey seems to be on the same page.
posted by digaman at 7:40 AM PST - 64 comments

Human beings have a gift for fantasy which shows itself at a very early age and then continues to make all sorts of contributions to our intellectual and emotional life throughout the life span.
posted by dfowler at 7:33 AM PST - 8 comments

The Happy Poster Project : because Nothing is Unpossible.
posted by whatnot at 7:07 AM PST - 18 comments

All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us? Brought peace? Oh. Peace? Shut up!
posted by gimonca at 5:56 AM PST - 15 comments

Cell phone art is here. Not to be confused with art by or about cellphones, Wooster Collective is offering art for your cellphone. The project is designed to raise money for young artists, "in much the same way that a songwriter can earn money from radio play."
posted by grapefruitmoon at 5:31 AM PST - 1 comments