Saturday, May 26, 2007
Cuba II: Electric Boogaloo
I've gotta admit, I pretty much had Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez pencilled in the "good guy" category--or at least the "lovable rogue" category. Democratically elected, supposed champion of the poor and Bush hates his guts? That's pretty close to the trifecta for a third world leader, right there.
The thing about the "democratically elected" part of that, though--you can't have much of a democracy without a free press, can you?
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's top court on Friday ordered the Defense Ministry to take control of installations of an opposition television station amid a show of military force before the station's controversial closure.
President Hugo Chavez's decision to close the RCTV television channel, which he accuses of backing a 2002 coup against him, has prompted international condemnation and several demonstrations.
So long, "good guy" column. Welcome to the "Dude, what the fuck? That is not cool" column, Hugo.
[via dust my broom]
Extra-super-secret irony bonus: Watching right-wing US blogs like Badger Blogger rabidly defend RCTV's right to advocate the violent overthrow of a democratically elected goverment--then Googling their archives for times when they call Alec Baldwin or Jane Fonda traitors. It's like Alanis Morisette, only on-key.
Posted by arto at 4:13 PM 0 comments
Labels: chavez-now-sucks, free-press, free-speech, hugo-chavez, politics, venezuela
Sunday, May 20, 2007
A convienient untruth
Struck by a burning need to refute global warming in the national media? It's a pretty simple process, really:
1. Get some juicy quotes from top climate scientists, and some hard data from NASA.
2. Quote out of context--or better yet, lie completely.
3. ???? Call the National Post.
4. Profit!
"The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments."
-- Friedrich Neitschze
Posted by arto at 5:41 PM 0 comments
Labels: al-gore, eco, global-warming, journalism, politics, truthiness
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Swim, Gollum, Swim
[via mefi]
Posted by arto at 6:16 PM 0 comments
Labels: fanvids, funny, johnny-cash, lotr, mashups, tolkein, videos, youtube
Thursday, May 3, 2007
The truth is out there
A petition to the House of Commons, signed by almost 500 of [Conservative MP Mike] Lake's constituents in Edmonton and due for debate next week, asks the government "to establish immediate, comprehensive legislation to effect immediate protection of Bigfoot."
You know, some people might actually go so low as to mock this as some sort of evidence the current Government is out-to-lunch, but I can see the wisdom in it. Not only will moving the Tory environmental policy into the realm of the wholly imaginary mean good things for the economy, but Stompin' Tom might finally get his wristwatch back.
Posted by arto at 1:12 PM 0 comments
Labels: canada, cryptozoology, funny, politics, stupid, stupid-parliament-tricks, wtf
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Elvis has definitely left the building
"Heartbreak Hotel", featuring John Cale, Shawn Colvin, Richard Thompson and David Sanborn. Eerie, transcendent.
Posted by arto at 10:30 PM 0 comments
Labels: cover-versions, elvis, john-cale, music, richard-thompson, shawn-colvin, velvet-underground, video, youtube