Hmmmm!
Saw this the other day...
Saw this the other day...
Sunday, 10 January 2010
What Bill Clinton allegedly said about Obama
One of the enduring mysteries of the 2008 campaign was what got Ted Kennedy so mad at Bill Clinton. The former president's entreaties, at some point, backfired, and the explanation has never quite emerged.
I've finally gotten my hands on a copy of Game Change, in which John Heliemann and Mark Halperin report:
I've finally gotten my hands on a copy of Game Change, in which John Heliemann and Mark Halperin report:
[A]s Hillary bungled Caroline, Bill’s handling of Ted was even worse. The day after Iowa, he phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.
And yet another perspective...
This video clearly shows what happened the last moments before the Shonan Maru rammed the Ady Gil causing it to sink. Note how at the start of the clip, Pete asks the person at the helm to stop the ship, and how the Shonan Maru is far behind them.
Bloody hell!
A police sub inspector who died after being attacked by a gang in Tirunelveli district on Thursday allegedly failed to get help from Media (cameraman stood, recording the event ) & two ministers who were passing by in their cavalcade.
Police said R Vetrivel, 44, was a victim of mistaken identity and the assailants were after another police officer. The gang threw crude bombs at Vetrivel, severely injuring his right leg. Vetrivel was then attacked with sickles, suffering deep injuries on his neck and head.
Full story
HERE
Full story
HERE
Whatever happened to that Asian punk band?
Alien Kulture in 1980, clockwise from top: Azhar Rana (drums), Huw Jones (guitar), Pervez Bilgrami (vocals) and Ausaf Abbas (bass).
It is 1979. In a cafe in Wimbledon, south London, three young Asian men are deep in conversation. The Conservative victory of a few months earlier has left them dejected; the anti-Nazi demonstrations, the involvement with Rock Against Racism, the rallies against the National Front – none of it prevented the Tories from getting in. This is not a good time to be Asian, and things are, the men fear, about to get much worse. Margaret Thatcher, the new prime minister, has already voiced concerns, in a television interview the previous year, that "people are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture".
The men are frustrated and impatient; protest has not worked, so what is left? Punk, that's what. The friends decide to form a band, an Asian punk band that will talk about their lives and fears as second-generation sons of immigrants. The longer they talk the more exciting the prospect seems; the lyrics and music will come later but right now they need a name. It seems obvious: if Thatcher thinks they are an alien culture, then Alien Kulture is what they will be.
An Asian punk band? Even today the idea seems rather absurd, so how much more strange must it have seemed 30 years ago when Ausaf Abbas, Azhar Rana, Pervez Bilgrami and "token white" Huw Jones decided to form Alien Kulture. Abbas and Rana had been friends since they were both six, living in south London, children of middle-class Pakistani immigrants. By the late 70s, they had wound up studying the same course at the London School of Economics. "I was always political," recalls Abbas. "I was going on demonstrations as a teenager and the arrival of Margaret Thatcher just electrified everything – it gave us even more to rant and rave about."
The Pakistani community in Balham was tightly knit so it was perhaps inevitable that Abbas and Rana would run into Bilgrami, another young Asian who shared their twin loves of politics and punk. "I remember the first time I saw the Sex Pistols on So it Goes," Bilgrami says. "It was 'Anarchy in the UK' and I was half-asleep; hearing the song was like an awakening. I didn't have a place in this society and it suddenly hit me that this was music that I could play, something I could be part of."
This was a time when Asians were largely invisible in popular culture. It was the emergence of punk, with its ethos that anyone could be in a band, that inspired the young Asians to believe they could emulate their musical heroes. "The band was formed in response to punk," confirms Abbas. "It meshed so well with the politics of the time and I remember watching as the white kids of punk began jamming with the black guys doing reggae and thinking we brown kids don't have anything."
Rock Against Racism, set up with the explicit aim of countering the electoral threat of the National Front, largely consisted of well-meaning white bands alongside some black musicians; out on the streets, it was Asians who were being stabbed and killed. "Our story of being second-generation Asians was not being heard," says Bilgrami. "There was no one else saying what we wanted to say."...
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Lee Perry - I Am The Upsetter
Scratch updates his '60s rock steady hit "I am the Upsetter" at Joe Gibbs recording studio in 1982. Footage includes shots in the control room with the late great Errol Thompson at the controls, assisting Scratch as he annoints the studio with ganja during playback,
Lee Perry - Pum Pum
Not the greatest song from not the greatest album that Scratch has made.
What did you expect? The album was produced by Andrew W.K. and even has Dave 'David' Tibet 'Michael' on it!
Saving grace on this track is that there are vocals contributed by Sasha Grey *sigh*!
Game Change
Excerpt from Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.
Togo government tells team to quit Cup of Nations
Togo's footballers are being recalled from the Africa Cup of Nations by their government following a deadly attack on the team's bus in Angola.
An assistant coach, press officer and driver were killed. Two players were shot and injured in Friday's attack. The Angolan government and tournament officials had been pressing Togo to stay for their group games in Cabinda.
Togo government minister Pascal Bodjona said the team was coming home because the players were in a state of shock.
He added: "We cannot in such a dramatic circumstance continue in the Africa Cup of Nations."
Togo were due to play Ghana in their opening match on Monday. Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso are the other teams in Group B.
Angola's prime minister Paulo Kassoma met with African football officials in Luanda to offer reassurances on the safety of the players on the eve of the tournament.
"The prime minister considers the incident in Cabinda as an isolated act and repeated that the security of Togo's team and the other squads is guaranteed," his office said in a statement.
But his efforts appear to have been in vain, with the Togolese government telling its team to leave Angola.
Earlier, Togo coach Hubert Velud told French radio station RMC that he thought consideration should be given to cancelling the entire tournament.
"We can at least pose that question," he said. "It's an act of barbarism while we are here to celebrate African football."
In an interview with a French radio station, Togo's first-choice goalkeeper, Kossi Agassa, said none of his team wanted to remain in the tournament.
"None of the team is ready to play, we're all devastated, everyone wants to go and see their family," he said.
"We came here to take part in a festival of African football, but it's as if we've gone to war."
Aston Villa's Togolese midfielder Moustapha Salifou was thankful for the presence of the security team after he emerged unscathed from the incident, which happened after the team had entered Angola from neighbouring Congo, but he said he felt lucky to be alive.
He told Villa's website: "Our security people saved us. They were in two cars, about 10 of them in total, and they returned fire.
"The shooting lasted for half an hour and and I could hear the bullets whistling past me. It was like a movie.
"It was only 15 minutes after we crossed the border into Angola that we came under heavy fire. The driver was shot almost immediately and died instantly so we were just stopped on the road with nowhere to go.
"I know I am really lucky. I was in the back of the coach with Emmanuel Adebayor and one of the goalkeepers. A defender sat in front of me took two shots in the back.
"The goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale Dodo, one of my best friends, was shot in the stomach and was flown to South Africa to undergo an operation to save his life.
"It was horrific. Everybody was crying. I don't know how anyone can do this.
"I am back at our camp in Cabinda with my team-mates but we all want to go home to Togo. We have made our decision. We can't play in these circumstances and want to leave for home.
"We don't want to compete in the tournament because our assistant manager and the press officer have been killed. As a team we have made this decision."
 The Ivory Coast's team bus had a heavy police guard on Saturday |
On Friday he said many of his team-mates wanted to go home.
He told BBC Afrique: "It's a football game, it's one of the biggest tournaments in Africa and a lot of people would love to be in our position but I don't think anybody would be prepared to give their life.
"If I am alive I can still play football tomorrow and in one year maybe even another Cup of Nations but I am not ready to pass away now."
Defender Serge Akakpo, who plays for Romanian club Vaslui, was hit by two bullets and lost a lot of blood in the attack in Angola's oil-rich territory of Cabinda, which is due to host seven matches.
Adebayor said the players were unsure whether Akakpo would survive at the time, but his club reported that his condition was stabilised and he underwent successful surgery.
Reserve keeper Obilale, who plays for French club GSI Pontivy, was also wounded, while several other players required hospital treatment and were later seen with bandages on legs, hands and faces.
"You cannot sleep after what we have seen - one of your team-mates with bullets in his body in front of you, crying and losing consciousness. It is very difficult."
Souleymane Habuba, spokesman for organisers the Confederation of African Football (CAF), said the tournament would proceed despite the attack.
"Our great concern is for the players, but the championship goes ahead," said Habuba, who questioned why Togo had elected to travel by road rather than flying.
"CAF's regulations are clear: teams are required to fly rather than travel by bus," he added.
Football's world governing body Fifa has expressed its concern about the attack.
"Fifa and its president, Sepp Blatter, are deeply moved by today's incidents which affected Togo's national team, to whom they express their utmost sympathy," said a statement.
"Fifa is in touch with the African Football Confederation (CAF) and its president, Issa Hayatou, from which it expects a full report on the situation."
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