Friday, 3 June 2011
Heart in the right space
There is arguably only one band in the world that has, throughout more than five decades, touched on the entire musical history of jazz, from ragtime to swing, to hard bop and free jazz and beyond - way beyond, in fact, to outer space. That band is the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra, formed and led by the late Sun Ra and continued today under the direction of original member Marshall Allen, some 53 years after he first joined.
In one of the highlights of this year's Melbourne International Jazz Festival, the Sun Ra Arkestra will play in Australia for the first time.
HA! MI6 attacks al-Qaeda in 'Operation Cupcake'
The cyber-warfare operation was launched by MI6 and GCHQ in an attempt to disrupt efforts by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular to recruit “lone-wolf” terrorists with a new English-language magazine, the Daily Telegraph understands.
When followers tried to download the 67-page colour magazine, instead of instructions about how to “Make a bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom” by “The AQ Chef” they were greeted with garbled computer code.
The code, which had been inserted into the original magazine by the British intelligence hackers, was actually a web page of recipes for “The Best Cupcakes in America” published by the Ellen DeGeneres chat show.
Written by Dulcy Israel and produced by Main Street Cupcakes in Hudson, Ohio, it said “the little cupcake is big again” adding: “Self-contained and satisfying, it summons memories of childhood even as it's updated for today’s sweet-toothed hipsters.”
It included a recipe for the Mojito Cupcake – “made of white rum cake and draped in vanilla buttercream”- and the Rocky Road Cupcake – “warning: sugar rush ahead!”
By contrast, the original magazine featured a recipe showing how to make a lethal pipe bomb using sugar, match heads and a miniature lightbulb, attached to a timer.
The cyber attack also removed articles by Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and a piece called “What to expect in Jihad.”
British and US intelligence planned separate attacks after learning that the magazine was about to be issued in June last year.
They have both developed a variety of cyber-weapons such as computer viruses, to use against both enemy states and terrorists.
A Pentagon operation, backed by Gen Keith Alexander, the head of US Cyber Command, was blocked by the CIA which argued that it would expose sources and methods and disrupt an important source of intelligence, according to a report in America.
However the Daily Telegraph understands an operation was launched from Britain instead.
Al-Qaeda was able to reissue the magazine two weeks later and has gone on to produce four further editions but one source said British intelligence was continuing to target online outlets publishing the magazine because it is viewed as such a powerful propaganda tool.
The magazine is produced by the radical preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, one of the leaders of AQAP who has lived in Britain and the US, and his associate Samir Khan from North Carolina.
Both men who are thought to be in Yemen, have associated with radicals connected to Rajib Karim, a British resident jailed for 30 years in March for plotting to smuggle a bomb onto a trans-Atlantic aircraft.
At the time Inspire was launched, US government officials said “the packaging of this magazine may be slick, but the contents are as vile as the authors.”
Bruce Reidel, a former CIA analyst said it was “clearly intended for the aspiring jihadist in the US or UK who may be the next Fort Hood murderer or Times Square bomber.”
In recent days AQAP fighters have capitalised on chaos in Yemen, as the country teeters on the brink of civil war.
Tribal forces marching towards the capital, Sana'a, clashed with troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh for a third day running yesterday.
Duncan Gardham @'The Telegraph'
The cyber attack also removed articles by Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and a piece called “What to expect in Jihad.”
British and US intelligence planned separate attacks after learning that the magazine was about to be issued in June last year.
They have both developed a variety of cyber-weapons such as computer viruses, to use against both enemy states and terrorists.
A Pentagon operation, backed by Gen Keith Alexander, the head of US Cyber Command, was blocked by the CIA which argued that it would expose sources and methods and disrupt an important source of intelligence, according to a report in America.
However the Daily Telegraph understands an operation was launched from Britain instead.
Al-Qaeda was able to reissue the magazine two weeks later and has gone on to produce four further editions but one source said British intelligence was continuing to target online outlets publishing the magazine because it is viewed as such a powerful propaganda tool.
The magazine is produced by the radical preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, one of the leaders of AQAP who has lived in Britain and the US, and his associate Samir Khan from North Carolina.
Both men who are thought to be in Yemen, have associated with radicals connected to Rajib Karim, a British resident jailed for 30 years in March for plotting to smuggle a bomb onto a trans-Atlantic aircraft.
At the time Inspire was launched, US government officials said “the packaging of this magazine may be slick, but the contents are as vile as the authors.”
Bruce Reidel, a former CIA analyst said it was “clearly intended for the aspiring jihadist in the US or UK who may be the next Fort Hood murderer or Times Square bomber.”
In recent days AQAP fighters have capitalised on chaos in Yemen, as the country teeters on the brink of civil war.
Tribal forces marching towards the capital, Sana'a, clashed with troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh for a third day running yesterday.
Duncan Gardham @'The Telegraph'
Forest Swords
BUY DL : http://nopaininpop.greedbag.com/buy/fjree-feather-0/
BUY 12": http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=339530
The ‘Fjree Feather' EP consists of remastered early demo material released on limited edition white vinyl 12" via London label No Pain In Pop. It was previously only available on a self released CDR prior to the release of 2010's universally acclaimed 'Dagger Paths' EP.
Forest Swords is the work of the Wirral Penisula’s Matthew Barnes. Mixing dubby grooves with Ennio Morricone style guitar lines and chasmic percussion the project is something truly organic, managing to sound like a mix of Mogwai's more gauzy soundscapes and Burial's sample strewn claustrophobia.
All money raised from the release will be donated to the Red Cross's tsunami recovery efforts in Japan. The Red Cross is currently helping over 280,000 people in the country move from shelters into temporary pre-fabricated housing, providing them with domestic items and the means to return to a normal life following March's disaster.
BUY 12": http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=339530
The ‘Fjree Feather' EP consists of remastered early demo material released on limited edition white vinyl 12" via London label No Pain In Pop. It was previously only available on a self released CDR prior to the release of 2010's universally acclaimed 'Dagger Paths' EP.
Forest Swords is the work of the Wirral Penisula’s Matthew Barnes. Mixing dubby grooves with Ennio Morricone style guitar lines and chasmic percussion the project is something truly organic, managing to sound like a mix of Mogwai's more gauzy soundscapes and Burial's sample strewn claustrophobia.
All money raised from the release will be donated to the Red Cross's tsunami recovery efforts in Japan. The Red Cross is currently helping over 280,000 people in the country move from shelters into temporary pre-fabricated housing, providing them with domestic items and the means to return to a normal life following March's disaster.
Three arrested, accused of illegally feeding homeless in Florida
Jessica Cross, 24, Benjamin Markeson, 49, and Jonathan "Keith" McHenry, 54, were arrested at 6:10 p.m. on a charge of violating the ordinance restricting group feedings in public parks. McHenry is a co-founder of the national Food Not Bombs movement, which began in the early 1980s.
The group lost a court battle in April, clearing the way for the city to enforce the ordinance. It requires groups to obtain a permit and limits each group to two permits per year for each park within a 2-mile radius of City Hall.
Arrest papers state that Cross, Markeson and McHenry helped feed 40 people Wednesday night. The ordinance applies to feedings of more than 25 people...
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Susan Jacobson @'Orlando Sentinel'
Just like it was 1979 again...
Chris Carter @'Flickr'
This takes me back...
The Normal - Warm Leatherette
Quincy Jones produces Arabic charity record
Quincy Jones has joined some of the biggest names in Arab music to produce a charity single aimed at helping a new generation of artists and musicians.
Jones, the veteran music producer who has worked with Michael Jackson, Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra, worked on the single called "Bokra" -- an Arabic version of his song "Tomorrow (A Better You, A Better Me)" -- with Badr Jafar, an Emirati social entrepreneur.
The artists involved include Lebanese star Majida El Roumi, who wrote the lyrics; Moroccan-born Grammy-winning producer RedOne, who co-produced the track with Jones; Kadim Al Sahir, from Iraq; Saber El Rebai from Tunisia; Amr Diab, from Egypt and Asma Lmnawar, from Morocco.
It is 26 years since Jones produced the iconic record "We Are The World," which sold tens of millions of copies to raise money for victims of famine in Africa. A contemporary version of the song was also released last year to aid the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
Jones, who first toured the Middle East and North Africa in 1953 with the jazz musician Lionel Hampton, said: "I have long been a vocal proponent of music and the arts being a great asset in building bridges between people and cultures."
He added: "I believe that given a choice, people want to live in a world of peace and prosperity, and it is my hope that this song will serve as a clarion call for the people of the Middle East and North Africa who share that desire for peace, hope, unity and a better tomorrow to come together to achieve that dream."
The money raised will help finance educational arts and culture scholarships and projects for children in the Middle East and North Africa.
Jafar said in a press release: "This song comes at such an important time for the Middle East and brings together the region's leading talent to produce a song of inspiration and hope for all.
"There is no better time in the region's history than now for us to be producing a song of this magnitude, and we have the very best people in the industry behind it."
The Arabic lyrics, written by Roumi, are aimed to provide a beacon of solidarity and hope for the region, the organizers said.
RedOne, the co-producer who has worked with artists such as Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, and Enrique Iglesias, told CNN: "It's such an honor to have been chosen by Quincy Jones to join the team and recreate this legendary song.
"We will be trying this new thing, inspire young people, the new generation thinking about peace, thinking about a better tomorrow."
The song was recorded in Rabat, Morocco, during the 10th edition of the Mawazine Festival Rhythms of the World.
Kadim Al Sahir, an Iraqi singer and composer who fled the violence in his own country, said the project was an opportunity to bridge divisions across the Middle East.
Al Sahir said it's not the first time he's worked with Jones, adding "he called me personally to ask for my help in doing the song in Arabic with an Eastern melody. I was happy then because I enjoy songs composed for humanity."
The team is also creating a music video for the song, as well as a behind-the-scenes documentary that will trace the "Tomorrow/Bokra" project, incorporating footage from various countries in the region where artists involved will be performing.
"Bokra" is expected to be released after Ramadan, which will run throughout August.
Rima Maktabi @'CNN'
TED Talk - Malcolm McLaren: Authentic creativity vs. karaoke culture
How does one find authentic creativity? In his last talk before passing away, Malcolm McLaren tells remarkable stories from his own life, from failing school to managing the Sex Pistols. He argues that we're living in a karaoke culture, with false promises of instant success, and that messiness and failure are the key to true learning.
Via
Via
France presents plan to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe presented a peace plan to the Palestinian Authority Thursday during a visit to Ramallah, meant to revive stalled talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The peace plan, Juppe said, is largely based on U.S. President Barack Obama's speech last month, which called for a resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations based on 1967 borders with agreed land swaps.
However, while Obama focused on guaranteeing Israel's security, the French initiative is concerned with "security for the two states (Israel and Palestine)," Juppe told a news conference with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the central West Bank city.
The plan had already been shown to President Mahmoud Abbas in Rome Wednesday.
The French initiative sets a one-year deadline for resolving the issues of Jerusalem and refugees, which Obama referred to without time-lines.
Juppe said he did not expect the Palestinians to respond to his proposal immediately, adding that he was scheduled to meet later Thursday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to present the French plan to the prime minister as well.
"The situation here cannot continue," he said. "We are convinced that if nothing happens between now and September, the situation will be difficult for everyone," he said.
Juppe was referring to Palestinian plans to address the United Nations in September, asking for full membership in the UN as a state with recognized borders.
He did not specify whether France would support the proposed UN resolution, reiterating the French position, as stated by President Nicolas Sarkozy, that "if nothing happens between now and September, France would act according to its responsibilities, adding "all options are open."
Juppe said he hopes the French plan, which he claims has European Union and U.S. backing, will receive further credibility during a proposed international peace conference France wants to host in late June or early July.
The conference would be an expansion of a planned economic conference, also referred to as Paris II. France wants to host the economic conference in June in order to enlist aid for the Palestinian Authority for the next three years, according to Fayyad.
The Paris II conference "is primarily a Palestinian interest," said Fayyad in response to a question if the PA would accept an invitation to the proposed international peace conference.
"We also want it to have very clear political dimensions that would lead to the one thing we all want, and that is an end to the Israeli occupation and the establishment of the independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders," the Palestinian prime minister said.
Juppe said he expected Palestinians and Israelis to take time to discuss the French peace plan before responding to it.
Official Palestinian sources told the German Press-Agency DPA that Abbas told Juppe after the Rome meeting he will convene with the Palestinian leadership to discuss the plan before he gives his final answer.
@'Haaretz'
The peace plan, Juppe said, is largely based on U.S. President Barack Obama's speech last month, which called for a resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations based on 1967 borders with agreed land swaps.
However, while Obama focused on guaranteeing Israel's security, the French initiative is concerned with "security for the two states (Israel and Palestine)," Juppe told a news conference with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the central West Bank city.
The plan had already been shown to President Mahmoud Abbas in Rome Wednesday.
The French initiative sets a one-year deadline for resolving the issues of Jerusalem and refugees, which Obama referred to without time-lines.
Juppe said he did not expect the Palestinians to respond to his proposal immediately, adding that he was scheduled to meet later Thursday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to present the French plan to the prime minister as well.
"The situation here cannot continue," he said. "We are convinced that if nothing happens between now and September, the situation will be difficult for everyone," he said.
Juppe was referring to Palestinian plans to address the United Nations in September, asking for full membership in the UN as a state with recognized borders.
He did not specify whether France would support the proposed UN resolution, reiterating the French position, as stated by President Nicolas Sarkozy, that "if nothing happens between now and September, France would act according to its responsibilities, adding "all options are open."
Juppe said he hopes the French plan, which he claims has European Union and U.S. backing, will receive further credibility during a proposed international peace conference France wants to host in late June or early July.
The conference would be an expansion of a planned economic conference, also referred to as Paris II. France wants to host the economic conference in June in order to enlist aid for the Palestinian Authority for the next three years, according to Fayyad.
The Paris II conference "is primarily a Palestinian interest," said Fayyad in response to a question if the PA would accept an invitation to the proposed international peace conference.
"We also want it to have very clear political dimensions that would lead to the one thing we all want, and that is an end to the Israeli occupation and the establishment of the independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders," the Palestinian prime minister said.
Juppe said he expected Palestinians and Israelis to take time to discuss the French peace plan before responding to it.
Official Palestinian sources told the German Press-Agency DPA that Abbas told Juppe after the Rome meeting he will convene with the Palestinian leadership to discuss the plan before he gives his final answer.
@'Haaretz'
The Spanish Revolution
Tracklisting:
1. They shall not pass
2. El tren blindado
3. Ay Carmela
4. People again
Luc - bass, guitar, backing-vocals
Katrin - drums, hand-clapping, backing-vocals
Terrie - guitars, hand-clapping, backing-vocals
G.W. Sok - voice
John - voice, hand-clapping, backing-vocals
plus:
Dolf - guitar, hand-clapping
Cobie - hand-clapping, backing-vocals
Released in June 1986
Recorded at Emma's Koeienverhuurbedrijf in Amsterdam, NL
Produced by Dolf Planteydt
Originally released as a 144 page photobook + double 7" on Ex Records.
I bought this just as I left Amsterdam to move to Australia. I remember going in to a record shop with about 500 albums that I just couldn't bring out here and could not resist this wonderful package. My favourite photo in the book is members of the CNT assassinating a statue of christ!
UPDATE:2011
Thursday, 2 June 2011
How Dean Acheson could come back to haunt Barack Obama
If there isn't a diplomatic breakthrough, Palestinians and their supporters will seek a resolution supporting recognition of a Palestinian state this fall at the United Nations. President Obama has already said that "symbolic" resolutions won't produce a Palestinian state, a statement which all but promises an American veto. The script appears to be already written. States supportive of Palestine will introduce a resolution. Washington will veto it, and everyone else will yell and scream as they always do when America uses its veto to back Israel at the UN.
But that should be the end of the story, right? After all, the United Nations Charter makes clear that both the Security Council and the General Assembly must be involved in the admission of new members to the organization. Article 4, paragraph 2 is explicit: "The admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council." And in the Security Council, past precedent makes clear that the veto can be used on admission decisions. In fact, both the United States and the Soviet Union used the veto frequently for this purpose in the 1950s and 1960s.
There is a wrinkle however. Palestinian diplomats are now suggesting that they'll use a tactic called "Uniting for Peace" to bypass the expected American veto in the Security Council and have the General Assembly decide the matter of Palestine's admission:
At the time, the Americans wanted some way for the United Nations to express its continued support for the UN intervention in defense of South Korea (that intervention was authorized by the Security Council while the Soviet ambassador was boycotting the body). The Americans hit upon the idea using the General Assembly and they argued that the assembly--which was, at the time, quite pro-Western--could take up matters under consideration by the Security Council when the Council was paralyzed by the veto.
It was a terrible reading of the UN Charter--and the Soviets howled--but it served the immediate purpose. The General Assembly passed a clutch of resolutions supporting the UN's efforts in Korea. Some American allies at the time, including the British, quietly warned that the tactic might come back to bite the West. But Washington wasn't listening. As U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson wrote, "present difficulties outweighed possible future ones."
Those future difficulties came soon enough. By the 1960s, the composition of the General Assembly had changed dramatically as decolonization proceeded. What had once been a friendly forum for the United States became quite unfriendly. And so the United States quietly let the Uniting for Peace tactic drop. It's been picked up from time to time by other states --and it was last used in 1997, also on Israel-Palestine issues--but there's never been a definitive ruling on its legality or precisely how it can be used. No permanent member of the Security Council will lend support to an idea that challenges their power, and most other states have decided it's not worth challenging the Council's powers--and its powerful members-- so directly.
Some states might not mind forcing the issue now. The great majority of states resent the use of the veto power in any case, and that specific frustration could now meld with a broader discontent about the continued failure of attempts to reform the Security Council. The precedent of U.S. support for Uniting for Peace will be a useful arrow in their quiver. All the passionate American quotes about unreasonable blockages of the Security Council and the true purposes of the UN Charter will be thrown in the face of American diplomats. President Obama may soon be wishing that Acheson and the State Department's lawyers had kept their bright ideas to themselves.
But there is a small consolation for the United States: if the Palestinian statehood resolution does become a broader fight about the powers and prerogatives of the Security Council, at least Washington won't be alone.
David Bosco @'FP'
(Thanx Son#1!)
But that should be the end of the story, right? After all, the United Nations Charter makes clear that both the Security Council and the General Assembly must be involved in the admission of new members to the organization. Article 4, paragraph 2 is explicit: "The admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council." And in the Security Council, past precedent makes clear that the veto can be used on admission decisions. In fact, both the United States and the Soviet Union used the veto frequently for this purpose in the 1950s and 1960s.
There is a wrinkle however. Palestinian diplomats are now suggesting that they'll use a tactic called "Uniting for Peace" to bypass the expected American veto in the Security Council and have the General Assembly decide the matter of Palestine's admission:
The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Wednesday that the Palestinians will seek an emergency session of the General Assembly known as "Uniting for Peace" to override any veto.Ridiculous, right? You can't rewrite the UN Charter simply by passing a resolution in the General Assembly. It is ridiculous. Unfortunately for Washington, it was the United States that thought up the Uniting for Peace resolution. It was the brainchild of U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson and his State Department lawyers, who were searching for a way around the Soviet Union's Security Council veto during the Korean War.
At the time, the Americans wanted some way for the United Nations to express its continued support for the UN intervention in defense of South Korea (that intervention was authorized by the Security Council while the Soviet ambassador was boycotting the body). The Americans hit upon the idea using the General Assembly and they argued that the assembly--which was, at the time, quite pro-Western--could take up matters under consideration by the Security Council when the Council was paralyzed by the veto.
It was a terrible reading of the UN Charter--and the Soviets howled--but it served the immediate purpose. The General Assembly passed a clutch of resolutions supporting the UN's efforts in Korea. Some American allies at the time, including the British, quietly warned that the tactic might come back to bite the West. But Washington wasn't listening. As U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson wrote, "present difficulties outweighed possible future ones."
Those future difficulties came soon enough. By the 1960s, the composition of the General Assembly had changed dramatically as decolonization proceeded. What had once been a friendly forum for the United States became quite unfriendly. And so the United States quietly let the Uniting for Peace tactic drop. It's been picked up from time to time by other states --and it was last used in 1997, also on Israel-Palestine issues--but there's never been a definitive ruling on its legality or precisely how it can be used. No permanent member of the Security Council will lend support to an idea that challenges their power, and most other states have decided it's not worth challenging the Council's powers--and its powerful members-- so directly.
Some states might not mind forcing the issue now. The great majority of states resent the use of the veto power in any case, and that specific frustration could now meld with a broader discontent about the continued failure of attempts to reform the Security Council. The precedent of U.S. support for Uniting for Peace will be a useful arrow in their quiver. All the passionate American quotes about unreasonable blockages of the Security Council and the true purposes of the UN Charter will be thrown in the face of American diplomats. President Obama may soon be wishing that Acheson and the State Department's lawyers had kept their bright ideas to themselves.
But there is a small consolation for the United States: if the Palestinian statehood resolution does become a broader fight about the powers and prerogatives of the Security Council, at least Washington won't be alone.
David Bosco @'FP'
(Thanx Son#1!)
Simon Reynolds: Total recall - why retromania is all the rage
Has pop finally eaten itself?
There's no single thing that made me suddenly think, Hey, there's a book to be written about pop culture's chronic addiction to its own past. As the last decade unfolded, noughties pop culture became steadily more submerged in retro. Both inside music (reunion tours, revivalism, deluxe reissues, performances of classic albums in their entirety) and outside (the emergence of YouTube as a gigantic collective archive, endless movie remakes, the strange and melancholy world of retro porn), there was mounting evidence to indicate an unhealthy fixation on the bygone.But if I could point to just one release that tipped me over the edge into bemused fascination with retromania, it would be 2006's Love, the Beatles remix project. Executed by George Martin and his son Giles to accompany the Cirque du Soleil spectacular in Las Vegas, the album's 26 songs incorporated elements from 130 individual recordings, both releases and demos, by the Fab Four. Hyped as a radical reworking, Love was way more interesting to think about than to listen to (the album mostly just sounds off, similar to the way restored paintings look too bright and sharp). Love raised all kinds of questions about our compulsion to relive and reconsume pop history, about the ways we use digital technology to rearrange the past and create effects of novelty. And like Scorsese's Dylan documentary No Direction Home, Love was yet more proof of the long shadow cast by the 60s, that decade where everything seemed brand-new and ever-changing. We're unable to escape the era's reproaches (why aren't things moving as fast as they did back then?) even as the music's adventurousness and innocence make it so tempting to revisit and replicate...
Continue reading
Henry Kissinger agrees to help FIFA
Newly re-elected FIFA President Sepp Blatter is turning to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to help investigate problems within world soccer's governing body.Blatter says the 88-year-old Kissinger has agreed to be on a "committee of wise persons" to advise FIFA's new corporate governance and compliance body.
Kissinger's spokeswoman, Jessee LaPorin, confirmed that Kissinger agreed to participate. She said Kissinger has not yet received a formal request, but did receive an exploratory letter from Blatter.
Kissinger, who was secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 under presidents Nixon and Ford, is an ardent soccer fan and worked on the failed U.S. bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
Blatter also says Wednesday that he wants to appoint Dutch great Johan Cruyff to the committee, which will have the power to investigate and suggest solutions to problems as FIFA recovers from a bribery scandal.
@'ESPN'
Ungfugnlaublich/Infugncroyable!!!
The secret bombing of the FA HQ starts when?
Kissinger's spokeswoman, Jessee LaPorin, confirmed that Kissinger agreed to participate. She said Kissinger has not yet received a formal request, but did receive an exploratory letter from Blatter.
Kissinger, who was secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 under presidents Nixon and Ford, is an ardent soccer fan and worked on the failed U.S. bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
Blatter also says Wednesday that he wants to appoint Dutch great Johan Cruyff to the committee, which will have the power to investigate and suggest solutions to problems as FIFA recovers from a bribery scandal.
@'ESPN'
Ungfugnlaublich/Infugncroyable!!!
The secret bombing of the FA HQ starts when?
Baillieu finds crime pays
Illustration: John Spooner
Perhaps crime does pay. At least, that's what the Baillieu government seems to think. The Premier's lieutenants might be reluctant to discuss big issues such as infrastructure, public transport and the environment, but ask a minister about crime or anti-social behaviour and they almost jump out of their skin with excitement. So much so that an outsider might be forgiven for thinking Melbourne has been overrun by gangs of louts screaming abuse.Is it just me, or is this law-and-order stuff getting out of hand? Take a decision this week to make permanent laws giving police extraordinary powers to issue $240 on-the-spot fines for swearing and offensive behaviour.
As Attorney-General Robert Clark put it: ''Victorians ought to be able to go out at night, to be able to go out with their families and not be opposed and offended and have their trip made miserable by the obnoxious and offensive behaviour of louts.''
I'm not sure where Clark spends his evenings, but last time I went out I had a very pleasant night. Not a lout in sight. Exactly what constitutes the misery-making behaviour referred to by Clark will be up to the discretion of individual police.
The government this week also announced plans for an online survey to measure public opinion about appropriate sentences for criminals. According to Clark, the survey - which is apparently being conducted in tandem with the Herald Sun - will underpin a tough new sentencing regime for criminals to ''meet community expectations''.
This sort of nonsense may represent clever politics, but it's a shocking way to conduct public policy. You can almost guarantee the results will not accurately reflect public opinion because of the survey's ''self-selecting'' approach. Anyone who feels strongly enough is invited to go online and offer their opinions, rather than relying on a random selection. Ask any pollster, and they'll tell you the results are very likely to be heavily skewed towards the extreme.
Another interpretation, of course, is this is nothing more than a cynical political exercise. If that is the case, the results will either be ignored (as they were with a similar exercise conducted by the Kennett government), or they will be used to justify the government's tougher sentencing agenda.
The government also confirmed plans to impose mandatory minimum two-year jail sentences on 16 and 17-year-olds who commit acts of gross violence. Such a move, according to legal experts, is likely to breach the United Nations declaration on the rights of the child, while doing little to rehabilitate young offenders.
It seems Premier Ted Baillieu has put a large number of eggs in the law-and-order basket. There may be a genuine problem with violence and anti-social behaviour in Melbourne's CBD late at night. This could relate to a range of factors, including a binge drinking culture that has been allowed to fester, boredom, and perhaps bad parenting.
But the government's main motivation seems to be that many law-and-order policies are relatively cheap, but produce big results politically. Although boosting police numbers and installing protective services officers at every train station are costly, running a survey with the local tabloid on sentencing, or beefing up laws to tackle swearing, or locking up 16 and 17-year-olds, cost very little. Yet such policies can produce big political gains, particularly if elements of the media are complicit.
Such policies are all the more attractive in an age when the media continues to make loud demands for regular big-ticket announcements from our politicians, who have very little money left for new spending.
There are consequences. First, Victoria is fast trundling down the ''nanny state'' path, with a rising tide of rules and regulations inundating daily life, including permission to swear in public.
Such thinking is known as ''nudge theory''. The idea espoused by nudge theorists, led by US President Barack Obama's regulatory commission head Cass Sunstein, is that people need to be ''nudged'' into making the right decision because of a herd-like tendency to copy others' decisions. There may be some truth to this, but surely the justification needs to be weighed against costs. In this case, the costs include an increasing infringement of individual liberty.
Second, there is a danger that the government's law-and-order obsession comes to represent a cheap substitute for genuine action to tackle problems facing Victoria, including improving public transport, health and education, and tackling booming population growth.
Third, the Baillieu government's law-and-order agenda is itself in danger of spiralling out of control as it struggles to manage public expectations. Plans are now under way for a radical shake-up of the Office of Public Prosecutions, in addition to a review of the police force command structure. It has a massive task on its hands in recruiting thousands of additional police and protective services officers, not to mention the additional guards it will need to keep an eye on all those extra prisoners set to flood Victoria's jails.
This is not to say law-and-order is unimportant, or that there aren't problems with violence and anti-social behaviour that need to be addressed, or that the government didn't map out its law-and-order agenda during last year's election campaign.
But the cash-strapped Baillieu government has now gone too far, and it's time for a reality check. When Liberal Party founder Robert Menzies said, ''We took the name 'Liberal' because we were determined to be a progressive party, willing to make experiments, in no sense reactionary, but believing in the individual, his rights and his enterprise,'' surely he had something different from this in mind.
♪♫ Dry & Heavy w/ Deeder Zaman - New Way, New Life
BONUS:
Original Asian Dub Foundation version after the jump
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