I would be proud of this record too!

Since he began work as a journalist, Johann has been attacked by the National Review, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail, John Pilger, Daniel ‘007’ Craig, Peter Mandelson, Peter Oborne, Private Eye, the Socialist Worker, Cristina Odone, Jon Gaunt, the Spectator, Andrew Neil, Mark Steyn, the British National Party, Medialens, al Muhajaroun and Richard Littlejohn. ‘Prince’ Turki Al-Faisal, the Saudi Ambassador to Britain, has accused Johann of “waging a private jihad against the House of Saud”. (He’s right). Johann has been called ‘Maoist’ by Nick Cohen, ‘Horrible Hari’ by Niall Ferguson, “an uppity little queer” by Bruce Anderson, ‘a drug addict’ by George Galloway, “fat” by the Dalai Lama and “a cunt” by Busted.

The Magnetic Fields, “The Desperate Things You Made Me Do”.

Once again, I await the tidal wave of e-mails, blog posts, and comments from hardworking, self-made people who earn $250,000 a year but don’t feel financially secure and don’t consider themselves rich, especially compared with the venture capitalist next door. Having spent my entire adult life in and around Washington, Boston, and New York, I feel your pain. I’m eager to listen and empathize. Tell me all about how insanely expensive housing is in any area with good public schools. Tell me about how many seemingly undeserving neighbors make so much more than you do. Tell me about how you want an income tax system that accounts for geographic differences in the cost of living (the Alternative Yuppie Tax?). Just don’t tell me you’re not rich.

R.E.M., “Harborcoat” (live).

Joe Jackson Band, “One More Time”.

We’re terrified when a terror attack happens, and we’re also terrified when it’s thwarted. We’re terrified when we give terrorists trials, and we’re terrified when we warehouse them at Guantanamo without trials. If a terrorist cooperates without being tortured we complain about how much more he would have cooperated if he hadn’t been read his rights. No matter how tough we’ve been on terror, we will never feel safe enough to ask for fewer safeguards.

Terrorism is a political tool. Its purpose is to force a more powerful political adversary to act more in the way you want it to by causing fear. Responding, as seemingly all Republicans and too many Democrats are, with mindless cowardice only moves the terrorist’s goals forward. It’s as simple as that.

[I]f the Fifth Amendment’s explicit guarantee — that one shall not be deprived of life without due process — does not prohibit the U.S. Government from assassinating you without any process, what exactly does it prohibit?

It’s amazing how a constitutional scholar(!!) is so willing to publicly abandon the very principles he swore to uphold. (Not “protect the nation” or any of that stuff, but to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.)

She can’t reconcile anything because what she says makes no sense to anyone with even a partially-functional brain. (Of course no one in the Maine media would dare go even so far as Mrs. Alan Greenspan did today.)

GOOD.is | Taking the Train

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith are plain cool. Their body of work feels massive, even though they’ve really only released four albums as a group since 1982. Songs from the Big Chair (1985) and The Seeds of Love (1989) gave them the star power they needed to be remembered 20 years later, but it’s their 1983 debut – The Hurting – that’s really their best work.

The Hurting is a masterpiece. (Other bands included in this part: Talking Heads, Talk Talk.)

thedailywhat:

Accurate Pie Chart of the Day: “The right half of the brain controls the left half of the body. This means that only left handed people are in their right mind.”

Southpaw 4 lyfe!

[graphjam.]

Taste Test: Baked vs. Fried Buffalo Wings | Serious Eats

Depeche Mode, “Lie to Me”.