All of this has happened before...
Afghan history is circular
Nearly thirty years ago, “a Soviet general told us of the imminent victory over the “terrorists” in the mountains, imperialist “remnants” who were being supported by America and Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Fast forward to 2001 – just seven years ago – and an American general told us of the imminent victory over the “terrorists” in the mountains, the all but conquered Taliban who were being supported by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The Russian was pontificating at the big Soviet airbase at Bagram. The American general was pontificating at the big US airbase at Bagram. And it gets worse…Spitzer’s downfall, revisited
I’ve previously discussed the suspicious circumstances under which Eliot Spitzer’s career as a white-collar crime fighting political hero came to an end. Now, the US House of Representatives wants to discuss it, too…This job is murder
Working for a bad boss for four years increases your likelihood of a heart attack by sixty-four percent…Marlon’s ghosts
“If there was a ‘Rosebud’ in Marlon Brando’s life, it was the mental illness that had dogged him for decades, probably from early childhood…”Re-branding the bailouts
“America hated the first ‘bailout,’ according to pollsters. So Barack Obama’s multi-billion dollar economy-saving expenditure plans were soon referred to as “stimulus packages” … But now that isn’t good enough for whiny Americans either! So please enjoy your economic recovery program, everyone!”Broke Britannia
Household debt at 165 percent of GDP, a budget deficit at eight percent of GDP and counting, and a potential two-trillion-dollar national debt; is Britain going bankrupt? More…Best just to plug it in
Can you use an onion to charge your iPod? Theoretically, yes, but in practice…Surprise, surprise
The murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya may have been ordered by a Russian politician, who remains nameless…Lost and found
In 1949, sci-fi writer Stanislaw Lem put together a satire featuring a supremely wise Josef Stalin; he then promptly misplaced the work, and never found it again. It has now turned up, hidden in the pages of an unfinished novel entitled Botched Crime Story…Money well spent?
The ceiling of the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room at the UN has been turned into a swirling maelstrom of color by Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo, at a cost of some twenty-three million dollars. Some of that money was supposed to be aid for poor countries, but hey, “it’s a small price to pay for a dope-ass ceiling…”A kinder, gentler urban guerrilla
Put down the spray paint can, and pick up a needle and thread. Urban knitting is the new graffiti…Home values: Still too high
For the young generation shut out of booming housing markets over the past decade, the decline in house prices is cause for celebration. Only problem is, it’s still not enough. Where a typical house cost six times earnings in 1977, it costs twenty-two times earnings today…In our nature
Climatologists simply can’t understand why the public hasn’t responded more robustly to the threat of global warming. But to the average person, danger is not a statistic, it’s a feeling. Until global warming bites us directly in the ass, we simply won’t care…The age of ’stealth wealth’
Forbes has made it official: The economic crisis has made excessive displays of wealth and consumerism tacky and passe. Put away that laptop while you drink your Starbucks cuppa…Ontario will just hate this
If the iPhone’s ride-sharing app attracts the twenty million users that Apple hopes it will, it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 73.6 million tons…Proof that GM is run by an idiot
Rick Wagoner, the CEO of General Motors, was recently asked in an interview if he regretted anything he had done as head of what was until recently the largest car company in the world. He said killing the electric car and not paying attention to fuel efficiency were at the top of the list. No shit, Sherlock…Beijing buys Wall Street (and maybe Detroit, too)
China now holds $600 billion in US debt, outpacing Japan as the US’s largest creditor… ALSO: The Big Three could end up in the hands of Chinese owners…Progress, Iraq-style
An Iraqi investigator recently testified before Congress that “thirteen billion dollars in reconstruction funds from the United States had been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials.” The reaction from Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, was swift. He started firing oversight officials…The word-master’s inner torment
Ludwig Wittgenstein’s family was “a seething cauldron of psychosomatic disorders,” a ceaseless circus of repression, pain, and suicide. If Ludwig “was sometimes plunged into spiritual despair, it was because he was unable to strip himself of himself. Wittgenstein struggled to live on what he called the rough ground of everyday life…”South Korea’s divorces are the worst
South Korean actress Ok So-ri is facing eighteen months in jail for cheating on her husband. That’s right, adultery is illegal in South Korea…
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Newsburger. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.