Ninja McDonnell

John McDonnell: what a hero.

Hoon: what a dick.

Aer OBAMA

Wow. This is the zeitgeist.

Daft Punk vs. Adam Freeland:



Imagine the Cameroon (or Miliband) version ... cough ... (crickets) ...

Rory Bremner, look and learn

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

The Bush Years: Jon's Dubya Impression

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Jon Stewart's Dubya impersonations.

Music: Gwen Guthrie

This is a (then) typically over-mixed 'Kiss mastermix' version of the great Gwen Guthrie's 'Padlock' — it's what's available on YouTube. Was, originally, sufficiently remixed by Sly & Robbie, aka the dub masters. No mix needed, because no value. really added, methinks.

Guthrie - who died at 48 - is best known for 'Ain't nothing going on but the rent', but her Sly & Robbie productions are the best. I also recommend the Larry Levan Mix of 'Seventh Heaven', which is - fabuleux! - on YouTube in its original, un-Kiss FMed glory! Levan being a pioneer who deserves worship, n'all ...

This takes me straight back to Sydney, circa 1988, around 5am at a Black Party ...

Here it is:

Rachel Maddow and Bill Cosby kick Justin Webbe in the head

This is how our of touch he was.

"I am terrorised"

A journalist in Gaza for Al-Jazeera English speaks:



Paramedics risking their lives amid war in Gaza...



White phosphorus is being used in Gaza. It is a chemical weapon which destroys flesh to the skin.

Dispersal looks like this.



And does this.



A voice from British Jewry:

"She wondered if she could resign from being Jewish. Her despair is not new but it is spreading."

Sderot stands on the site of an ethnically cleansed Palestinian village — former Sderot.

"Entropa", l'installation d'art moderne au Conseil de l'UE

Fabuleux.

The UK - criticised by some for being one of the EU's most Eurosceptic members - is absent from Europe altogether

But is it art?

Mais oui.

Artist's website.

Holy taco!

More

Fun! Fun! Fun! > Bush-a-go-go

From the past > Counting down ...

Whilst you're waiting [for the end], you can while away the hours playing with this game <<

Postscript: Hamas hits the web

I said yesterday that

You cannot look at endless (18 minutes) pictures of dead children and not be affected - and not be politically affected. I'm sure - I know - there are some diehards out there but I sincerely doubt they're actually seeing these pictures.

And here are those diehards:



January 11 rally in front of the Israeli consulate in midtown New York.

"Wipe them all out".

The people of Gaza are a "cancer".

Etc.

Israel Uses Gazans as Human Shields

Hamas hits the web

Of course Hamas is already on the web, but, as with B'tselem's videos of the reality of occupation, this communication - a parade of dead children- is on another level to mere online words on their own version of YouTube.



Point being that you cannot look at endless (18 minutes) pictures of dead children and not be affected - and not be politically affected. I'm sure - I know - there are some diehards out there but I sincerely doubt they're actually seeing these pictures.

See the actual dead children then formulate a reason for killing them.

I have zero time for Hamas. As a gay man how can I? But more than that they are a dead end as a resistance. I'm Ghandiist on that score.

But I also have zero time for a hypocrisy which carries on extending its occupation of another's land.

Dead children does not = 'victory over evil terrorists'. Never. Watch the video and - I hope - weep.

LabourList

Iain Dale makes an extremely good point in, of all places, The Guardian today about Labour's latest web effort:

ConservativeHome isn't a success because it can get leading Tories to write for it. It succeeds because it is a genuine grassroots site, which thrives in publishing articles from complete unknowns. Indeed, several stars have emerged – the likes of Graeme Archer, Andrew Lilico, Simon Chapman and Alex Deane. They have a following on the site far wider than its more well-known contributors

This is exactly why the US liberal blog HuffPost has succeeded - not because of the numerous stars its well-connected founder has attracted but the sorts of contributors Iain cites. These people were responsible for a number of major breaking stories during the US primaries and election campaign.

My first reaction to LabourList? Looks boring. Far too much text, not visual enough. And it's a sign of the undeveloped nature of the UK left online that the videos quietly (text, right column) linked to (rather than front and centre) comprise of plain childish digs at the Tories - with associated tiny view numbers.

This isn't because the UK online video debate isn't thriving, just that LabourList isn't yet connected to it.

As Dale also says, three days a week to manage it plain ain't going to work:

It's his [Derek Draper's] baby and it is his efforts that will make it succeed or fail. He's got to be the inspirational driving force behind it. It needs to be updated many times a day. Just posting the odd new article will not be enough.

It really says something, as well, that Dale could end by saying:

I wish them well and genuinely hope they make it. It would be good for the rightwing blogosphere to have some real competition for a change.

Indeed it would.

Referring back to HuffPost, there are a whole host of American models ( see TPM for example) which social democrats could adopt. LabourList appears at first blush to be rejecting them all.

Corporate socialism

Remember that $700 billion corporate bailout? Seems that, A/ no one's accounting for it - no one - and B/ it's being spent to do stuff like boost market position. And the auto industry bailout? The fine print forbids strikes.

This - Bush's legacy - is entirely the source for the global economic crisis and begs a lot of questions about how the UK bailout is being spent.

Rachel Maddow interviewing David Cay Johnston,

"Ninety percent of American's incomes today are smaller than they were in 1973."

"Nothing is being done today, with the initial bailout money, to affect foreclosures. That's what congress said should be done with the money, but that has not been done. The foreclosure crisis is affecting everyone's home value and is at the center of this economic crisis."