BBC News iPod fans ‘shunning iTunes store’
Wow what a shock, owners of iPods actually prefer to put music they already own on CD onto it rather than pay for new downloads. I’m the same I hardly ever buy downloaded tracks as I much prefer to buy the CD just so that I have a kind of hard copy backup.
Leninology has posted on YouTube a number of short videos showing pupils protesting at their school, Quintin Kynaston in St John’s Wood, North London on the occasion of a visit by Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Blair Protest Footage 1
Blair Protest 2
Blair Protest 3
Blair Protest 4
Blair Protest 5
Blair Protest 6
Newt Gingrich argues in today’s Guardian that attacking Iran is not a long-term solution. He does however believe that a regime change in Iran is needed in order to stabilise the Middle East and maintain the security of the US and the rest of the world.
Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear program in defiance of the United Nations has led some to call for military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities to prevent the terror-sponsoring regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon. While I agree that a military option to replace the regime must be left on the table, I worry that some believe a military strike on Iran’s nuclear installations is a viable long-term solution to stopping the Iranian regime’s pursuit of greater power in the region.
In truth, until the Iranian regime itself is replaced with one that does not sponsor terrorism and does not seek a nuclear program, then the threat will remain and grow.
I agree with his assessment that military strikes are not the most sensible option. Such strikes would undoubtedly have to come from the US and its allies all of whom are currently overstretched as it is and even at full capacity those military forces would face a massive challenge to neutralise Iran.
But I disagree on his other points. Gingrich states that Iran must be stopped not because of its weapons and its pursuit of nuclear weapons but because of its evil intent. I believe it is the characterisation of Iran as evil by the US that is to some extent to blame for this situation.
It is because of the disengagement from Iran by the US that it suffers from significant gaps’ in intelligence, which would undermine any attempts to force Iran to comply with UN directives. I don’t believe that I’m an expert on Iran but even I can see that President Ahmadinejad’s commitment to seeing Israel “wiped off the map” is empty rhetoric to gain public support in a country where such statements can be heard everyday on the streets of Tehran.
I too believe regime change must occur in Iran but I believe it will come from within in fact I believe that it must come from within for it to hold fast. The population of Iran is a young one and the old guard will fall under the liberalising westernised attitudes of that youth. But as Iran is a country with a long history of being manipulated and oppressed by western powers the regime change must be initiated from within or else it will be rejected as yet another intervention from outside powers for the pursuit of their own ends.
It can be seen from the examples of Iraq and the current crisis within the Labour party that forcing regime change ends badly with unforseen long term repurcussions and no one comes out of it smelling of roses.
Ze Frank recalls what he was doing five years ago on September 11th. Sombre yet still with that Ze Frank tinge of wry humour.
Meanwhile the ABC production The Path to 9/11 which stars Harvey Keitel will screen this Sunday and Monday on BBC Two. Rumour has it that the blame for the attacks that day are laid at the feet of the administration of President Clinton who apparently were so caught up in the Lewinsky affair that dropped the ball and failed to stop Bin Laden when they had the chance.
Wow, have I woken up in some bizarre parallel universe where things are very similar to my own but oh so slightly different. Was it not Bush who was the POTUS at that point and had been for several months and whose administration being informed of the threat that Al Qaeda posed instead chose to focus their attention on giving tax cuts, establishing a New American Century and planning regime change in Iraq.
In any case I expect that it and the many other documentaries and news reports over the next few days will do Bin Laden’s job for him by plunging the populations of the US and UK into a state of terror yet again. Who needs to blow up planes and buildings when the public can be forced into a state of terror by a box of flashing lights in the corner of their living rooms?
BBC News: Human heads dumped in Mexico bar
Armed, masked men have burst into a bar in Mexico and flung five human heads onto a crowded dance floor, in an apparent warning to a rival drug gang.
Bloody hell! Truth really is stranger than fiction.
The Montgomery Advertiser reports that gigantic Yellowjacket nests have started to appear across the southern two-thirds of the US state of Alabama.
Specialists say it could be the result of a mild winter and drought conditions, or multiple queens forcing worker yellow jackets to enlarge their quarters so the queens will be in separate areas. But experts haven’t determined exactly what’s behind the surprisingly large nests.
Auburn University entomologists, who say they’ve never seen the nests so large, have been fielding calls about the huge nests from property owners from Dothan up to Sylacauga and over into west-central Alabama’s Black Belt.
One of the larger nests to have been discovered is one that has engulfed the interior of an abandoned 1955 Chevrolet.
It’s like the start of an awful B-Movie come to life in which animals act outside of their usual behaviour and become a threat to humans. Where’s Samuel L. Jackson when you need him?
Real wild Squirrels with real vintage cameras.
No computer editing on any of the shots.
Bizarre but fantastic.
Barley Squirrel Lines Up A Shot
Originally uploaded by SQUIRREL400.
“Weird Al” Yankovic amazingly catchy new tune about file-sharing is titled Don’t download this song
It doesn’t matter if you’re a grandma
Or a seven year old girl
They’ll treat you like the evil hard-bitten scum that you are.
See the video at Yahoo music or download the song. *wry smile*
The ever-changing accent of Peter Sellers as he travels round London and the British Isles transitioning from one to another. [via]