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Japanese students raise money to help starving Afghans install satellite TV, so they can watch World Cup soccer. I'm not sure if this is a burning issue in Afghanistan. Maybe it's a Japanese plot to trick the scary Hooligans into going to Kabul. (via FG)
posted by curiousg at 11:45 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

When my brother-in-law and a few of his friends started playing a game they called Extreme Croquet, they thought they were the only people doing it. Wrong. Very wrong. This particular brand of craziness has been going on for a long time. I have to admit, though, it is fun.
posted by yhbc at 7:20 PM PST - 19 comments

Was the Venezuela coup another Chile 1973? Two months ago, Narco News called attention to the striking similarities between the situation in Venezuela and CIA plots against leftist Chilean president Salvador Allende in the early 1970s. The CIA's own version of what happened in Chile discusses its "sustained propaganda efforts, including financial support for major news media, against Allende and other Marxists." Hmm. Chavez shut down five private TV stations after they repeatedly aired what he called misleading footage of the protest deaths last week, after months of relentless attacks against his government. Sure makes you wonder.

On another note, did eyewitness accounts widely disseminated over the Web help doom the White House spin that "government supporters, on orders from the Chavez government, fired on unarmed, peaceful protestors"? If the Web didn't exist, would the final word have come from articles like this now out-of-date, pro-business analysis in yesterday's Washington Post?
posted by mediareport at 12:52 PM PST - 47 comments

Right-Wing Bullies Caught in Crossfire "No doubt all of the above qualities irritate the conservatives who follow party instructions to shun Crossfire. What has shocked them is that the new hosts don’t quite fit TV’s stereotypical 97-pound liberal, ready to be worked over like a talking speedbag. Mr. Carville is a tall, rangy Marine veteran, sports fanatic and jock; Mr. Begala is a born-and-bred Texan who grew up with guns and still likes to hunt. Both have expressed their powerful distaste for the Democratic tendency to wilt under attack."
posted by owillis at 10:15 AM PST - 46 comments

NetMaster 10baseT
[boom chicka wap wap widget widget widget]
I be jackin'. I be crimpin'.
I be tracin'. I be pingin'.
I be routin' yo packets like a Cisco...
I'm gonna grease yo cables with Crisco...
posted by quonsar at 9:53 AM PST - 14 comments

Catholic church plays hardball in the courts. [NYTimes link, login metafi/metafi] "The dioceses have on the whole acted little differently from commercial institutions confronted by explosive litigation risks. They have tried aggressively to limit exposure to claims by setting up parishes as individual corporations, invoked the statute of limitations, subjected plaintiffs to days of grueling depositions and settled claims in secret." Should the church be behaving just like any private company? What would Jesus do?
posted by boltman at 8:35 AM PST - 16 comments

Why Europeans And Arabs Hate America And Israel: In this brash, provocative essay for The Weekly Standard, good old David Brooks blames what he calls bourgeoisophobia. He may have gone too far in his desire to make his point, but there's something in what he says. Is it envy? Is it anti-semitism? Is it hypocrisy pure and simple? There's definitely a ressurgence of the pushy, garish, ostentatious and arrogant "ugly American" stereotype after September 11. Apart from the conservative Daily Telegraph and Spectator, it's becoming more and more difficult for Atlanticists such as myself to avoid ritual America-bashing in the European mainstream press. What in the hell is going on? My feeling is that Americans themselves are going out of their way to reaffirm their way of life and reinforce those prejudices. It's as if you vont to be alone. Or is it, as I suspect, just us? [More inside]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:30 AM PST - 84 comments

Interesting online magazines. Not as popular or commercial as say Salon but interesting reads from a less mainstream perspective. With so many options and so much variety, it’s difficult to stake your claim. What are some of your favorite online magazines?
posted by lostbyanecho at 8:09 AM PST - 19 comments

Rekha Malhotra is a New Yorker of South Indian heritage who can be given credit for popularizing Bhangra and promoting the UK Punjabi dub and beat sounds in NYC. She says this about an event she hosts regularly: "Basement Bhangra is very urban. It's Bhangra with a hip-hop sensibility. It's raw and percussive, unadulterated. It's got a lot of meat to it and demands that you dance. It's not head-nodding music—it's body-moving music." More. More. More.
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:52 AM PST - 10 comments

Forget about Palestine, Afghanistan and Venuzuela, Britts are praying for Beckham's foot and Uri Geller is set to help. Meanwhile, Argentines forget their economic woes, but the Financial Times fears this could kick start a second Falklands War. Is sport this important in your country?
posted by Geo at 2:33 AM PST - 18 comments