blakehounshell Blake Hounshell
Strauss-Kahn to plead not guilty to attempted rape charges ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4…
UPDATE
Déjà vu
Strauss-Kahn to plead not guilty to attempted rape charges ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4…
UPDATE
Déjà vu
Sunday, 15 May 2011
The People vs. Goldman Sachs
Thanks to an extraordinary investigative effort by a Senate subcommittee that unilaterally decided to take up the burden the criminal justice system has repeatedly refused to shoulder, we now know exactly what Goldman Sachs executives like Lloyd Blankfein and Daniel Sparks lied about. We know exactly how they and other top Goldman executives, including David Viniar and Thomas Montag, defrauded their clients. America has been waiting for a case to bring against Wall Street. Here it is, and the evidence has been gift-wrapped and left at the doorstep of federal prosecutors, evidence that doesn't leave much doubt: Goldman Sachs should stand trial.
The great and powerful Oz of Wall Street was not the only target of Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse, the 650-page report just released by the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan, alongside Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Their unusually scathing bipartisan report also includes case studies of Washington Mutual and Deutsche Bank, providing a panoramic portrait of a bubble era that produced the most destructive crime spree in our history — "a million fraud cases a year" is how one former regulator puts it. But the mountain of evidence collected against Goldman by Levin's small, 15-desk office of investigators — details of gross, baldfaced fraud delivered up in such quantities as to almost serve as a kind of sarcastic challenge to the curiously impassive Justice Department — stands as the most important symbol of Wall Street's aristocratic impunity and prosecutorial immunity produced since the crash of 2008.
To date, there has been only one successful prosecution of a financial big fish from the mortgage bubble, and that was Lee Farkas, a Florida lender who was just convicted on a smorgasbord of fraud charges and now faces life in prison. But Farkas, sadly, is just an exception proving the rule: Like Bernie Madoff, his comically excessive crime spree (which involved such lunacies as kiting checks to his own bank and selling loans that didn't exist) was almost completely unconnected to the systematic corruption that led to the crisis. What's more, many of the earlier criminals in the chain of corruption — from subprime lenders like Countrywide, who herded old ladies and ghetto families into bad loans, to rapacious banks like Washington Mutual, who pawned off fraudulent mortgages on investors — wound up going belly up, sunk by their own greed...
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Matt Taibbi @'Rolling Stone'
Censors told to ignore artistic merit of child pictures
Photograph: Bill Henson
One of Australia's most prominent child protection advocate, Bravehearts, has weighed into the art censorship debate, calling for the Classification Board to be overhauled and for matters of ''artistic merit'' and expert evidence to be scrapped when deciding if art is pornography.Bravehearts's submission to a Senate inquiry into the film and literature classification scheme was one of several submissions highly critical of the board for allegedly sanctioning the exhibition of photographs of children that would otherwise be illegal, and for failing to halt the proliferation of images that demean women and pressure young girls to act in sexual ways.
Other community and Christian groups wanted the board's power increased so it could censor outdoor advertising, which is at present self-regulated by an industry body, the Advertising Standards Bureau.
The executive director of Bravehearts, Hetty Johnston, an outspoken critic of the work of the photographer Bill Henson, called for NSW employment laws that ban taking photographs of naked and semi-naked children to be replicated across Australia and said such photos should be refused classification by the board.
''How is it that it was illegal to take the photos but not illegal to exhibit them?'' she said, referring to photographs Henson took of a naked 12-year-old girl that were exhibited at a Sydney art gallery in 2008, sparking a ferocious debate about pornography and art.
Ms Johnston said the Classification Board should not be able to render such images ''inoffensive to reasonable persons'' and therefore legal just because it had rated them G or PG.
''Deferring such critical decisions to a panel of selected individuals in a separate process is, in our view, not only unfair and unwise, it is dangerous. The Henson debate proved that.''
The group Collective Shout criticised the board for not censoring sexualised images in films, TV and the internet, and demeaning depictions of women in music recordings. It said self-regulation in advertising was ''lazy, irresponsible government'' that ''effectively [demanded] lone citizens enter into an exhausting and often futile battle with the government classification board which appears to defend corporations''.
Kids Free 2B Kids was angry children were bombarded with adult sexualised imagery on billboards, including images that if displayed in the workplace would be considered sexual harassment. It said it seemed the only criteria for an ad to be pulled was if a female's nipples or genitalia were exposed.
No matter how many complaints were received by the Standards Bureau, advertisements such as one for Wranglers jeans showing part of a woman's buttocks, topless women in GASP Jeans ads, and outdoor ads for brothels would continue to be permitted in the public domain, it said.
The director of the Classification Board, Donald McDonald, defended the board's work to the Senate inquiry but said that while the Classification Act was ''perfectly in tune'' for some things it was outdated for others. He said also that it would not be unreasonable for outdoor advertising to fall under its auspices.
''[The act] works perfectly for films and DVDs. It works quite well for publications. What it does not work for are things that are published on the internet,'' Mr McDonald said.
Wendy Frew @'SMH'
'I make the pussy purr with the stroke of my hand'
Lizardoid Charles Johnson
Cognitive dissonance alert! 'Cat Scratch Fever' is now the anthem for the Huckabee religious right?
mcmoynihan Michael C Moynihan
Holy shit. IMF head Dominque Strauss-Kahn (and Sarko nemesis) arrested on rape charge in NY. http://nyp.st/kJjHGO
US charges six with aiding Pakistani Taliban
Authorities in the US have charged six people with providing financial support to the Pakistani Taliban.
Three are US citizens, including two imams at Florida mosques, while three are at large in Pakistan.The news comes amid heightened tension in relations between Pakistan and the US following the US raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
The Pakistani Taliban said it was behind a revenge attack on Friday that killed 80 in north-western Pakistan.
Pakistani MPs on Saturday passed a resolution condemning the US special forces raid in the town of Abbottabad and demanding a review of the bilateral relationship.
US Senator John Kerry, who is about to visit Pakistan, insisted the US wanted to "build, not break" ties with Pakistan but said there were "serious questions that need to be answered" in the relationship.
Florida imams The four-count indictment against the six people was announced by the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida and local FBI agents.
The three Florida citizens were named as Hafiz Khan, 76, and his sons Irfan Khan, 37, and Izhar Khan, 24. The latter was reportedly arrested in Los Angeles.
Hafiz Khan is the imam at the Flagler Mosque in Miami, while Izhar Khan is the imam at the Jamaat al-Mumineen Mosque in nearby Margate.
Ali Rehman, Alam Zeb and Amina Khan, who live in Pakistan, were also charged.
Amina Khan is the daughter of Hafiz Khan. Alam Zeb is her son.
The six are accused of conspiring to provide material support to a conspiracy to murder, injure and kidnap people abroad and conspiring to provide support to a terrorist organisation, the Pakistani Taliban.
Each of the four counts carries a possible 15-year jail term.
Miami FBI special agent John Gillies said: "Today terrorists have lost another funding source to use against innocent people and US interests. We will not allow this country to be used as a base for funding and recruiting terrorists."
@'BBC'
Taliban join the Twitter revolution
iankatz1000 ian katz
Taliban on Twitter (@alemarahweb) is following US adviser to Afghan army (@Afghantim) and charity supporting UK troops (@AfghanHeroesUK)
Another in the missing post series...
empireofthekop Empire of the Kop
Congrats to Man City on winning the FA Cup now u & United can all celebrate together like 1 big happy family #NOT
First Listen: Kate Bush, 'Director's Cut'
Bush is best known for her canonized 1985 album Hounds of Love. It's tempting to call that record a turning point in pop: It's as weird as it is catchy, as intelligent as it is danceable. And it's only gotten better with age.
Four years after Hounds of Love, Bush released The Sensual World, on which the uncompromising singer did something out of character: She compromised. The album's title track was conceived as a distilled version of Molly Bloom's soliloquy from James Joyce's Ulysses. (If you're like me and just couldn't make it to the end of Ulysses, you may remember the passage from Sally Kellerman's impassioned reading in the Rodney Dangerfield movie Back to School.) When Bush approached the Joyce estate about using actual passages from the book, the estate declined, leaving Bush to paraphrase the text as best she could. (So Dangerfield got the thumbs up, and Bush didn't? Who says the man didn't get any respect?)
In the eyes of fans, The Sensual World hardly suffered from the limitation, but "good enough" never sat right with Bush. So, more than 20 years later, she asked again — and this time got the answer she was looking for.
The opportunity to remake the song motivated Bush to tinker with other entries in her discography. The result is Director's Cut, a collection of 11 revamped songs that made their first appearances on The Sensual World and 1993's The Red Shoes. With new words and vocals, "The Sensual World" has been re-christened "Flower of the Mountain." Bush re-recorded all of her vocals and the drums, but left most of the other instrumentation untouched, including Eric Clapton's guitar in "And So Is Love." (Okay, so she's made a few mistakes here and there.)
For those familiar only with Hounds of Love, Director's Cut is bound to open eyes. It's less energetic, hardly danceable, and it at times resembles the work of Bush's duet partner Peter Gabriel. But give the songs time. Let Bush's songwriting sink in. Just like her, you'll find yourself wanting to return to them.
Otis Hart @'npr
Hear 'Director's Cut' In Its Entirety
Another of the missing blog posts...
JPBarlow John Perry Barlow
I expect a new anti-porn campaign based on it's being shown to lead to terrorism. http://is.gd/TGcZUr
William Burroughs & Brion Gysin - Destroy All Rational Thought
Documenting "The Here to Go Show" , a commemoration of the lives of Burroughs and Gysin, which took place in Ireland in 1992. Featuring one of the last interviews William Burroughs gave as well as previously unseen footage of Burroughs during the 50s and 60s. The Master Musicians of Joujouka, lifelong favorites of Burroughs and inspiration to many, provide a soundtrack.
(Thanx Dave!)
Here is another post that blogger lost t'other day...
William S. Burroughs’ Wild Ride with Scientology
WSB/Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology
(For very regular Exile visitor Frank-R in Paris!)
Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - Gorilla Rose (2011- Albumstream)
Gun Club co-founder, gunslinger for The Cramps and six-string stylist for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the legendary Kid Congo Powers named his new album Gorilla Rose after the artist/performer. As a teenage boy, Powers met Gorilla Rose in the emerging LA punk scene of the ’70s through seminal weirdo band The Screamers. While editing his fan club newsletters at a haunted Hollywood house, a teenage Powers was also exposed to the sounds of Neu, Nico, Billie Holiday and Goblin’s soundtrack to the film Susperia, and along with Gorilla Rose, these past influences found their way into the Kid’s new full-length.
To record the album, Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds grabbed producer Jason Ward and hightailed it back to the magik gymnasium at The Harveyville Project, a high school in Kansas and also the scene of the crime of their much acclaimed 2009 release Dracula Boots. Kiki “El Coyote” Solis on bass and Ron “The Cap’n” Miller on drums, along with new Pink Monkey Bird Jesse “The Candyman” Roberts (The Ruby Doe) on guitar, keys and vocals, firms up Kid Congo’s squawking flock.
Brandishing thirteen all-original, glam-tastic compositions, Gorilla Rose blasts off with the ’60s Chicano rock influences of explosive dance anthem “Bo Bo Boogaloo.” That’s just the start of a wild ride through funky but chic decadence, slip sliding rockabilly, teenage punkdom, mystic krautrock, baby-making sleaze, the best bad peyote trip you ever took and even a velvety call from the beyond. Finding inspiration in the past is what Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds do best. On this 2011 sonic trip, the Kid brings his past into the present and names it after someone flamboyant and inspired: Gorilla Rose.
(soundstagedirect)
Bo Bo Boogaloo
Goldin Browne
Bunker Mentality
At The Ruin Of Others
Bubble Trouble
Catsuit Fruit
Our Other World
Hills Of Pills
Flypaper
Injun War Crimes
Lord Bloodbathington
Lullaby In Paradise
Gorilla Rose
ALBUMSTREAM
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Scots mausoleum with longest echo hosts Kronos Quartet
A US classical quartet are to stage a concert in a Scottish mausoleum which has one of longest lasting echoes of any man-made structure in the world.The Kronos Quartet will perform to a handful of fans at Hamilton Mausoleum in South Lanarkshire.
The show will also be broadcast to a larger audience at Glasgow's Royal Concert and streamed online.
It is part of a wider music festival being curated by the world-renowned string group.
The Kronos Quartet, who has worked with Tom Waits and David Bowie, has been performing a unique mixture of rock and classical music for almost 40 years.
The San Francisco-based musicians were drawn to the Hamilton mausoleum venue, the last resting place for the Dukes of Hamilton, when they heard about its famous long lasting echo.
Violinist David Harrington said: "When you have 15 seconds of overlaying sounds it is much different from any other concert hall you would ever play in."
"We have never played in a mausoleum before and we have certainly never played in an acoustical environment like this."
Longer reverberation
Hamilton mausoleum has hosted concerts and musicians before. Jazz musician Tommy Smith recorded an album there.
The Kronos Quartet show is just one part of the wider music festival taking place over the weekend which will showcase a range of musicians and musical styles.
Sven Brown, director of music for Glasgow Life which runs the city's musical venues said: "The thing about the Hamilton event is that it was never meant to happen and is purely down to the fact that David got off the plane in Glasgow and immediately asked about the mausoleum.
"People had talked about it. It is mind-blowing to think there is not another room on the planet that has a longer reverberation time than this one."
He added: "You really want to hear either the plucked string of the voice float in the air and when you started translating that to floating in the air for 12 seconds you suddenly realise that there is an opportunity for them, the Kronos Quartet, to do something extraordinary."
Earlier this month the Kronos Quartet was awarded the 2011 Polar Music Prize, Sweden's highest music honour.
@'BBC'
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