Let the Eagle Soar!

I've been really lax in finding good music vids to post on Fridays, but this week, we've got something really special - a guy who thinks water-boarding is not torture singing about the land he loves, America. It's Nationalism at it's very best, ladies and germs! So, without further ado, I give you the one and only John Ashcroft! (please refrain from throwing any undergarments at your computer monitor).

We need more mass transit in this country, and it needs to be convenient and good. So, why not trams? There's been some success here in Portland with a tram system, but it could be both better and more extensively deployed. Here's an article from Spiegel Online - A Renaissance on Rails: France Rediscovers its Love of Trams. Some may object to this because it's about France, but we could always call them "Freedom Trams" if it makes certain fools happy.
An interview with Rem Koolhaas.
Time for a re-think.
A newly planned expansion to Le Corbusier's Notre Dame du Haut chapel at Ronchamp is stirring passionate responses from architects.

The Economist published an interesting chart on three waves of globalization from data recently released by the WTO. A look at the numbers for the period of 1974-2007 suggest that it has not been a great success.




Here's a deeply religious man saying that water-boarding is not torture. To witness him use his son's service in The Gulf as a political prophylactic only adds to the nauseam of having to observe this grotesque excuse for a human being. His son's life is worth more than that. Not even John McCain has walked down that dark path. Water-boarding is "controlled drowning". There is no other description which honestly describes the "technique". It is torture, pure and simple. How is it possible for a man who says under oath that torture is not torture to simultaneously declare his allegiance to Christ? It is beyond my comprehension. There is a sickness in the land.

Winning or Losing?

The Economist reckons with al-Qaeda.
There is a 30 year difference in average life expectancy between those in prosperous Connecticut and those in Mississippi. How twisted is that? It's stories like this that make you realize that concern for the common good has all but evaporated in this country.


Join up. Save the planet. wecansolveit.org

Cool.

House of Cards.
Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!
The US will establish diplomatic ties with Iran for the first time since 1979.

70%

Google is used for nearly 70% of all US web searches. That's a lot of market share. [tip-o'-the-hat to Daring Fireball]

Demolition, man.



Demolition, Floor by Floor [via Gizmodo]
The Cynic and Senator Obama. [tip-o'-the-hat to D'Alessandrius the Wise]
From Mao to Wow! Kurt Anderson takes a look at all the new stuff in Beijing.
The now infamous New Yorker cover illustration is no big deal. Or, as Gary Kamiya says, Rush Limbaugh Was Right. We've got enough other problems that are truly serious. Move along, people.

We Need a New Bubble

Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In.
Scott Horton of Harper's interviews Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side.

How Things Really Work

Ken Silverstein at Harper's has posted this: Sunday Times Video Catches Lobbyist Selling White House Access. Make sure to click through the link and read the original Sunday Times piece and watch the video. Nothing is free in the Capital of the Free World.

Frank Rich on The Real Life "24" of Summer 2008.
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