How to Deal with North Korea? Try a Celebrity Surge
Monday, June 8, 2009
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PDF Kim Jong Il has named his youngest son, Kim Jong Un as his heir. Writing for The Washington Post, Blaine Harden reports that the younger Kim is a great fan of former basketball player Michael Jordan and action movie star Jean-Claude Van Damme. Like father, like son, I suppose. Kim Jong Il is known to be a movie buff himself, the Imelda Marcos of DVDs with a collection reportedly numbering some 20,000 films.
The implications of this news for U.S. policy are fairly obvious. President Obama, a fellow baller, should name Michael Jordan head of the U.S. delegation to the six-party talks. The Belgians, led by Van Damme, should take Russia?"s place in the negotiations. And if we can convince the Chinese to appoint Jackie Chan as their representative, the Kim clan will be positively giddy. We?"ll call it a ?Scelebrity surge,? and in their rush to get autographs and photographs with the stars, the Kims will quickly agree to whatever MJ asks for.
Could this really be any less effective than the six-party talks have been? Wooing Kim with Hollywood, I think, has real promise. And with celebrities leading the way, the American delegation might actually voice some real concern for human rights in North Korea. Wouldn?"t that be something?
Michael Mazza is a research assistant at the American Enterprise Institute.
How to Deal with North Korea? Try a Celebrity Surge
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
How to Deal with North Korea? Try a Celebrity Surge
[Source: Cbs News]
How to Deal with North Korea? Try a Celebrity Surge
[Source: Home News]
How to Deal with North Korea? Try a Celebrity Surge
[Source: Chocolate News]
posted by 77767 @ 10:42 PM,
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Burger Stimulus
PrintEmailPDF A source at the Five Guys Restaurant tells Politics Daily that President Obama's visit last week "has resulted in a more-than-doubling of business" and "everybody wants the 'Obama Burger.'"
The "Obama Burger" is the unofficial designation for a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, mustard, and jalapenos.
Burger Stimulus
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Burger Stimulus
[Source: Daily News Com]
posted by 77767 @ 10:34 PM,
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Dick Cheney comes out again for gay marriage: "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish."
PrintEmailPDF Last week, Ted Olson. Today, Dick Cheney:
Dick Cheney rarely takes a position that places him at a more progressive tilt than President Obama. But on Monday, the former vice president did just that, saying that he supports gay marriage as long as it is deemed legal by state and not federal government.
Speaking at the National Press Club for the Gerald R. Ford Foundation journalism awards, Cheney was asked about recent rulings and legislative action in Iowa and elsewhere that allowed for gay couples to legally wed.
"I think that freedom means freedom for everyone," replied the former V.P. "As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don't support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. ... But I don't have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that."
We hate Dick Cheney here at AMERICAblog.com. Hate him. But, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And, as Sam Stein, who wrote the article above, notes, this statement make Cheney more progressive than Obama on marriage equality. If Cheney can support marriage equality, there's really no excuse for Obama and other leading Congressional Democrats.
Cheney has been using similar language since 2004, when he broke with his boss, George Bush, over the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage:
At a campaign rally in this Mississippi River town, Cheney spoke supportively about gay relationships, saying ?Sfreedom means freedom for everyone,? when asked about his stand on gay marriage.
?SLynne and I have a gay daughter, so it?"s an issue our family is very familiar with,? Cheney told an audience that included his daughter. ?SWith the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is freedom means freedom for everyone. ... People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.
?SThe question that comes up with the issue of marriage is what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government? Historically, that?"s been a relationship that has been handled by the states. The states have made that fundamental decision of what constitutes a marriage,? he said.
And, Congress should stay out of it. But, in 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which put the federal government in a position to regulate marriages at the state level. DOMA needs to go.
And, this further confirms all the polling that shows when people know someone gay, it makes them more likely to be supportive of issues like marriage equality. Frankly, I don't think Dick with be with us absent that. But, he is -- and here's the video. Cheney almost sounds human:
Dick Cheney comes out again for gay marriage: "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish."
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Dick Cheney comes out again for gay marriage: "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish."
[Source: Newspaper]
Dick Cheney comes out again for gay marriage: "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish."
[Source: News]
posted by 77767 @ 7:14 PM,
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Arson attack in Iran leaves 5 more dead
PrintEmailPDF Second pre-election incident in border town
President seeks to pin blame on 'foreign enemies'
Iran suffered a further bout of violence in the run-up to next week's presidential elections when five people were killed and dozens more injured today in an arson attack in the border town where 25 people died last week in a mosque bombing.
State media said the incident targeted the Mehr Financial and Credit institute in Zahedan, a largely Sunni Muslim town near the eastern border with Pakistan. Iran partially closed the border.
News of the latest violence coincided with reports of arrests over last Thursday's suicide bombing of a Shia mosque in Zahedan. Both it and a small bomb found on an internal flight to Tehran at the weekend have been blamed on Iran's foreign enemies by state media. Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Iran's "supreme leader", warned yesterday of an "enemies' conspiracy ? trying to harm national unity," the Irna news agency reported.
Analysts suspect that whoever is behind these incidents is being exploited by supporters of the hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is being challenged in the 12 June vote by three other candidates, two of them reformers seeking improved relations with the west and blaming the incumbent for the country's current isolation.
Ahmadinejad told a rally that if he was re-elected he would continue his tough talk. "We are sorry that certain people inside the country have joined the Zionists in opposing those of us calling the Zionists liars, killers of children and murderers," he said. Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan, deputy commander of Iran's security forces, said that "a number of individuals who intended to create insecurity" in Zahedan had been detained.
Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, home to Iran's mostly Sunni ethnic Baluchis. Near Pakistan, the region sees frequent clashes between security forces and smugglers and bandits.
Three men convicted of involvement in the mosque bombing, the deadliest such incident in Iran since the eight-year war with Iraq, were publicly hanged on Saturday. A Sunni opposition group named Jundullah (God's soldiers), which Iran says is part of al-Qaida and backed by the US, claimed responsibility for the mosque bombing.
Manuchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, said Jundullah was linked to "foreign forces" in Afghanistan. Jundullah says it fights for the rights of Iran's Sunnis and has claimed responsibility for a dozen terrorist attacks in Iran.
The recent incidents are reminiscent of a similar outbreak of violence days before Iran's last presidential election, in 2005, which brought Ahmadinejad to power. Bombs then hit Tehran and the south-western city of Ahvaz, which has a sizable Arab minority, killing eight people and wounding scores more.
Israel warned meanwhile that Iran could have enough fissile material for its first nuclear bomb by the end of this year. Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, head of the research division of Israel's military intelligence, made the remarks to a foreign affairs committee of Israel's parliament.
guardian.co.uk ? Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Arson attack in Iran leaves 5 more dead
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Arson attack in Iran leaves 5 more dead
[Source: Daily News]
Arson attack in Iran leaves 5 more dead
[Source: State News]
Arson attack in Iran leaves 5 more dead
[Source: Wb News]
posted by 77767 @ 7:02 PM,
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Obama On LGBT Pride Month
PrintEmailPDF A presidential proclamation marking Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.
Available in full after the jump.
Obama On LGBT Pride Month
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Obama On LGBT Pride Month
[Source: News]
Obama On LGBT Pride Month
[Source: Cbs News]
Obama On LGBT Pride Month
[Source: Online News]
Obama On LGBT Pride Month
[Source: Advertising News]
posted by 77767 @ 5:14 PM,
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'People used to say I looked like Steve Martin. I met him once - he didn't see it'
PrintEmailPDF Michael Craig-Martin, artist
What got you started?
Discovering modern art through a schoolteacher when I was about 12. It was the 1950s, and modern art was still a secret - I thought I'd stumbled upon a magic world.
What was your big breakthrough?
Getting into Yale art school. I happened to be there at the school's golden moment, when it had some fantastically good students - Richard Serra, Brice Marden, Chuck Close.
Who or what have you sacrificed for your art?
Personal life. You can't be an artist without having an unusually irritating level of self-absorption.
Why do some people have such difficulties with conceptual art?
In order to feel really comfortable with art, you have to gain familiarity with it. People might go to Tate Modern and be sceptical in the first room or two, but by the third room they've found something that captures their imagination. And by the fourth room, they've found four things.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Just keeping going. You have to learn to persist in the times when things are not going well, in the hope that some day they will.
How does Britain's art scene compare with America's?
Britain's art world is amazingly active, considering its size. It sits in a very odd position between Europe and America, and negotiates a strange path of its own.
Complete this sentence: At heart I'm just a frustrated ...
Layabout. I'm essentially a very lazy person.
Which other living artist do you most admire?
Too many to say. Of my own generation, Bruce Nauman, Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra.
In the movie of your life, who plays you?
People used to say I looked like Steve Martin. But I met him once, and I don't think he saw any similarity.
What work of art would you most like to own?
Seurat's Bathers at Asni?res, for its wonderful combination of modesty and grandeur.
What's the worst thing anyone's ever said about your work?
One review of an early show called it a "waste of a beautiful gallery".
Is there anything about your career you regret?
No. Certainly not the years I spent teaching. Many of my students - Damien Hirst, Gary Hume - have gone on to do well. That's a very nice reward.
In short
Born: Dublin, 1941
Career: Exhibited conceptual work An Oak Tree in 1974. Taught at Goldsmiths. Currently co-curating the exhibition This Is Sculpture at Tate Liverpool (0151-702 7400).
High point: "My 2006 show Signs of Life at the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria. Everything just seemed to work."
Low point: "Feeling, at about 40, that I hadn't come close to achieving what I'd hoped to."
guardian.co.uk ? Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
'People used to say I looked like Steve Martin. I met him once - he didn't see it'
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
'People used to say I looked like Steve Martin. I met him once - he didn't see it'
[Source: Newspaper]
'People used to say I looked like Steve Martin. I met him once - he didn't see it'
[Source: 11 Alive News]
'People used to say I looked like Steve Martin. I met him once - he didn't see it'
[Source: China News]
'People used to say I looked like Steve Martin. I met him once - he didn't see it'
[Source: 11 Alive News]
posted by 77767 @ 4:43 PM,
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