HEROINE- It's Not Just for Breakfast Anymore....
Afghan Poppy Production Reaches Highest Levels In Country's History-
Despite all of Bush and Rumsfeld's repeated proclamations that eveything is just fine and dandy over in Afghanistan now that they have their "democratic" government, it appears that all hell is STILL breaking loose. Afghanistan has always been a world leader in poppy production, and they are at an all-time high. Evidently the market is so over-saturated that it has caused the price for the narcotic to drop and average of 65% across Afghanistan. This means cheap heroine for everyone! Yay! (eyeroll..."sarcastic font")
As Afghanistan's interim President, Karzai had made decree outlawing the production and harvest of Poppies. Unfortunately, there was no strong-arm to back this up. Why not just use pesticides you ask? Spraying the crops isn't an option- nobody wants another paraquat incident like Mexico/America had on their hands.
America may have ousted the Taliban regime, but they never ousted the warlords who, much like Columbian druglords, have the real control over the farmers in this impoverished country.
Needless to say, this year's record-breaking poppy harvest has Europe and the UN up in arms.
Since Karzai's election in October, he has promised to crack down on narcotics production. We'll see about that.
The most fearsome 527 has a bark much worse than its bite....
This is an interesting article by Timothy Noah. The so called "Christian/Conservative" right is one of the major funders of the Bush regime. They funnel money to the campaigns of Republican candidates that they deem "true" Republican (ie- anti-abortion, etc) to try and beat out other republican candidates that they deem "gypsy moths"- or Republican moderates. The Club for Growth is described as such:
"Since its inception in 1999, the Club for Growth has maintained a reputation for ruthlessness unmatched by other political action committees and soft-money 527 advocacy groups. (The Club for Growth is both.) The Philadelphia Inquirer has called it a "fund-raising pit bull of the conservative right." Grrr!
At the moment Sen. Arlen Specter, R.-Pa is on their shit list. He's a pro choice Republican "deviant". I like deviants (heehee). To read Mr. Noah's informative article go here
Infinity Broadcasting Says FUCK YOU To Promoters Paid By Record Labels
This is great news! Infinity Broadcasting is one of the biggest radio chains in the country. It is owned by Viacom. They don't own any stations here in Springfield, but they own WXRT in Chicago. Those guys play everything from Wilco and David Byrne, to Camper Van Beethoven and the Pretenders. There are a couple of other broadcasting companies who have already flipped promoters the bird: Clear Channel Communications (who own WCVS & WFMB) and Cox Radio. So... hopefully other chains will follow their lead. Maybe this will level the playing board for some of you Indie artists out there. For those of you who are clueless as to what I'm so excited about, this is the deal....
Basically, big recod labels with Big A$$ bank accounts can spend enormous amounts of $$$ to promote their artists new songs / albums. Part of this budget includes "promoters" who basically pay (read: bribe) radio stations to obtain copies of their stations playlists. The amount of $$$ the radio stations get is generally in direct proprtion to how many of the promoter's songs are on said list. In this way, these "promoters" and the record companies they work for have been able to duck around a federal statute that says that radio stations can't take bribe money to play songs without disclosing this info to the public.
Here is the link to the article in the NY Times: Radio Chain to Cut Ties to Promoters Paid by Labels
The Vatican's Sexy Pinup Calendar....
Evidently the Vatican is trying to revamp it's image and drum up some new recruits with a calendar full of robed and chiseled hotties. Will it work? I don't know, but God I love a man in uniform! (Wait...was that blasphemy...heehee.)
Colin Powell Calls It Quits...
And other political curiosities...
...Read about the Powell movement here . Unfortunate, but he should have done it in 2002. It would have saved him from the humiliating hypocrisy of making that UN address...
..."Nation's Poor Win Election For Nation's Rich" I Love The Onion
...So, um evidently we have GOD to blame for Bush's re-election. Why can't he just stay out of politics?
...You own the books, now you can own the video footage!!! Bushisms the DVD is finally here!
...So you lied to your friends and family about voting for Kerry and it's eating you up inside. Need to get it off you chest? How about a group hug and you can just let it all out...
Saw Pixies Last Night. Exhausted. Plan To Doolittle....
So I saw the Pixies in Chicago at the Aragon last night. I went with my good friend Tara who LOVES them (she has had Pixies 7 on her plate for about as long as she could drive...). It's funny- last time I saw the Pixies I was in college. It was the Trompe Le Monde tour. Tara was 12 then. She didn't even know about the Pixies until about 2 years after they broke up. Poor child. Sooo, last night was a big deal for her and I'm glad I got to be there for it.
It was a good show- not one of the best I've ever seen, but good- I had fun. The show started out kind of slow, though. Frank's voice was surprisingly strong. Kim Deal spent most of the first half of the show with her back to me, standing between the drums and her amp. Probably because they were mostly songs that just Frank sang. That was a bit disappointing, but in the second half she stood up front. She had a big cheesy grin on her face too...it was cute. It always amazes me that that sweet little voice comes out of her. It's just not what you'd expect... like when Beefy the bulldog snored in "Little Nicky"...La-La, La, La, Laaa-la....
The second half of the show is when they played most of their "hits". There was a lot of crowd interaction in this set. It was lovely hearing thousands of voices singing a long with the band. They looked like they were genuinely having a great time on stage. (It was actually quite comforting... The breakup had been devastating for me as a fan and I was concerned as to how they would all get along on this tour. Just fine, evidently- which was truly a beautiful thing to see). They even did a little encore ending with "good nights" amongst themselves just like the Walton's... "Good night Kim"..."Good night Joey"..."Good night Frank"..."Good night David"...
I bought the 2-disc recording of last night's show. I listened to some of it in the car on the way to work this morning. Whomever came up with the business of selling recordings of the show YOU JUST SAW after the show is a mad genius.
I am positively exhausted. Yesterday was a loooooonnnnnggg day. Today's gonna drag- I truly plan to doolittle . I'll have to take a nap so I don't miss Veronica Mars ...
Evidently the world's most recognised clown doesn't capture the consumer market the Japanese are looking to attract. Check out this article from Adrants....
It appears McDonald's Japan has retired age-old Ronald McDonaldand hired McHotties for its new ad campaign. Promoting its Tomato McGrande, McDonald's Japan has enlisted two far younger versions of Ronald McDonald and dressed them in stylish, new Ronald McDuds. It's unclear whether the campaign will make its way to the States mainly because The Ronald McDonald House would then have to be referred to as The Hottie McDonald's House. View the female McHottie here and the male McHottie here.
I'm Still Sore....
about the tiff that Chris and I got into, but I think I can risk posting a couple of links.
First off is a big fat website dedicated to apologizing to the world at large for Bush being re-elected. I checked it out on Nov 4th and there was only one page- I think it's up to 400+ now. It's truly a thing to behold.... sorry everybody
The next link is kind of bizarre. Evidently the EPA is using poor children as test-monkeys. I checked it out and evidently it's legit. Here's the email.Weird...
Dear Friend,
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced plans to launch an outrageous new study in which participating low income families will have their children exposed to toxic pesticides over the course of two years. For taking part in these studies, each family will receive $970, a free video camera, a T-shirt, and a framed certificate of appreciation. The study entitled CHEERS (Children’s Environmental Exposure Research Study) will look at how chemicals can be ingested, inhaled or absorbed by children ranging from babies to 3 years old.
Please take a moment to join tens of thousands of citizens in petitioning the EPA to terminate this study prior to its proposed launch in early 2005.
More information and petition here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/epa-alert.htm
Sound like an urban myth??? Here it is on the EPA's website:
http://www.epa.gov/cheers/
Please also forward this message...
