Just when it seems all hope is lost, just when you think the voice of reason has been silenced by money-infected media and just when you think there are no choices, along comes a guy like Mike Gravel. Who on earth is Mike Gravel I hear you ask? It's a reasonable question since this man hasn't been seen in political circles in the US in 30 years and now he's standing for the office of president in the US for the Democrats.

The primaries don't happen until early 2008, but a riveting live TV debate between the Democrat hopefuls should be enough to make the Republicans sit up and consider that they've got a fight on their hands. While Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton smiled and said they thought the war in Iraq was downright awful, it was also revealed that they voted to continue funding it. The war issue aside, Obama's performance was truly wooden. One commenter in the press astutely pointed out that while he is capable, Barack Obama was no Martin Luther King. Clinton herself projects a hard-ass image and emitted just about as much testosterone as the other seven candidates on the stage. One can only question her u-turn on the Iraq issue. Is she another flip-flop?

Remember John Edwards? He just missed out last time to Kerry. He gave a convincing trial-lawyer performance the other night even if he did have a hard time explaining why he twice spent $400 from campaign contributions to be nicely coiffured. Edwards is real dark horse material and could cause an upset.

But the real star of the show was one Mike Gravel who has been the talk of the blogosphere in the past few days. Senator of Alaska for two terms, Gravel is more famously known for his opposition to the second Vietnam War draft and for stopping nuclear warhead tests in the 1970s.

Gravel received very little time to talk in the MSNBC debate but when he did speak, he spoke with more conviction and focus than all of the other candidates. One his policies was that he would attempt to criminalise the war in Iraq, something which drew cries of derision from his opponents and the television media.

He may end up with a paltry share of vote, but Gravel will do his best to make the others feel uncomfortable enough to reveal their weaknesses. We got a glimpse of this when Gravel asked Obama who the US were going to nuke. Obama's response was that he wasn't going to use nuclear weapons in the near future. Hopefully, Gravel was not being prescient that we are all safe just for a while.





tags:mikegravel

Published by Colm.  

Boys On Wheels are the latest pop sensation to come out of the wonderfully weird and wild musical garden that is Scandanavia. The rest you'll have to see for yourself.

Published by Paul.  

Let's hope so!

tags: soccer

Published by Paul.  

Tomorrow, Thursday 26th April, Jewish-American academic and activist Joel Kovel will speak in Dublin. Kovel is Alger Hiss Professor of Social Studies at Bard College in New York. His early background is in psychiatry and psychoanalysis and he is a prominent member of the US Green Party.

He has recently published a book titled Overcoming Zionism: Towards a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine.

In this book Kovel argues that Israel is an incorrigible human rights offender because, by discriminating against Arabs, it is guilty of 'state-sponsored racism'. Like arpartheid South Africa, the best hope for peace in Israel is to return to the idea of a one-state solution, where Jews and Palestinians can co-exist in a secular democracy. Kovel is a well-known writer on the Middle East conflict. This book draws on his detailed knowledge to show that Zionism and democracy are essentially imcompatible. He offers a thoughtful account of the emotional and psychological aspects of Zionism that helps us understand the relationship between ideology, culture and political processes. Ultimately, Kovel argues, a two-state solution is essentially hopeless as it concedes too much to the regressive forces of nationalism, wherein lie the roots of continued conflict.

The public talk takes place at the Teacher's Club, 36 Parnell Square West, Dublin at 7p.m. tomorrow, Thursday 26th April.

location



tags: Palestine, Israel

Published by Paul.  

Bill must have inhaled that time. Rest in peace Boris.







tags:yeltsin

Published by Colm.  

Taken from the now-retired BifSniff cartoons. Go visit their blog here.

Cahony wrote some time ago about the phenomenon of bullshit bingo in CorporateLand. He emailed me another one last week that induced a great belly laugh that went something like ... "I want to fry an idea in your think wok". (I'm aware of my sometimes louder-than-what-is-acceptable laugh and furious thigh slapping)
From here on in, it should be everyone's mission in life to spread this wonderful shitspeak to relations, friends and colleagues.

The whole thinking outside of the box is a skill I once tried to teach myself at college while researching a theory developed by Edward de Bono that involved the much more appropriately phrased concept of lateral thinking. This endeavour predictably fell flat, but the onus was nevertheless on me to present to the class my learnings on the subject. The details of a demonstration of lateral thinking during the presentation escape me now, but it went something along the lines of asking a random volunteer in the class to proffer a common everyday problem and for me to solve it using lateral thinking in the process. My plant had acted out the part as random volunteer quite exquisitely. However, her acting skills were somewhat better than mine. I went on to give the most amazing answer in the most unconvincing fashion possible, much to the amusement of the back row boys who refused to conceal their mirth.

The Guardian has an interview with de Bono in today's edition. He truly does think in mysterious ways. See what I did there?

tags:lateral thinking

Published by Colm.  

Following on from the John Martyn video last week, it's worthwhile noting that Neil Young has released a recording of his 1971 gig at Massey Hall in Toronto. It's a 17-song collection where everything is stripped down to showcase the flawless voice of Young. It really doesn't get any better than this. Powerful lyrics, very unique melodies and a singing voice that sends neckhair shoot up makes this a must-have CD/DVD.

Any time I listen to Harvest or indeed Tom Waits's Closing Time, it reminds me of my final year in uni.



tags:neil young

Published by Colm.  

While most sane London people will be in bed on Sunday morning, probably nursing a hangover from Samuel Adam's brew or an IPA, 30,000 hopefuls with black toenails will set off on one of man's most hideous journeys, the marathon. In unseasonal heat of 22/23C for this time of the year, London's streets will fill up with hairy men in Oxfam dresses and very slim Africans who get their kicks from running this gruelling distance in just over two hours.

If someone could spare an eon to explain why all of this happens, please do oblige. Exercise is great for helping you make it into your ninth decade and curse the day you didn't decide to drink more and take recreational drugs. But seriously, moderate exercise can do wonders for keeping the black dog at bay. Just ask Ronnie O'Sullivan.

In a recent conversation, one acquaintance of mine recounted a sweet story about attending one of the recent London marathons as a spectator. She noticed that one of the lady athletes was covered in what seemed to be dirt.

"Aw, bless." said this acquaintance to herself. "She must have slipped on the muddy ground". After considering the fact that the London marathon is indeed a road race, she promptly arrived at the correct opinion that this woman had suffered a symptom of fright syndrome that involves the opening of the bowel.

Some of you might ask why she was still running? Did she feel no shame at having last night's spag bol run down her legs in an altogether different consistency and texture? Was she not concerned that half a million people would hold their noses to prevent the inhalation of odour from her faeces? Would she not squirm at the thought of the BBC broadcasting this puce-inducing embarrassment to the nation? No, she did not. She kept on running.

This, ladies and gentlemen, gives us a good indicator as to the state of mind of your average marathon runner.

tags:marathon

Published by Colm.  

Tom isn't the only one comparing Messi's goal last night to Maradonna's legendary effort.

Comparativa gol de Messi y Maradona
Uploaded by cariacolov

tags: soccer

Published by Paul.  

This is quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever heard in all my years of intertr0n browsing, and I couldn't be more serious.

I implore you to listen.



Or, right click and save as a 9MB mp3 here.

tags: prank call

Published by Paul.  

From Dave Gorman's Flickr account

Dave Gorman is quite an avid photographer and Flickr user. I'm quite the fan of his Genuis radio show where guests are invited to suggest ideas that could change the way we live. Forever.

25C in London on the 15th of April. As Paul might say ... w00t!

Australia annihilate Ireland in the cricket. I think people have lost interest now.

Olive, the oldest blogger in the Universe. She was born in 1899.

The legendary John Martyn playing "May You Never" on the Old Grey Whistle Test in '73. This song was a track on Solid Air, an album that appears in every top ten must-have folk list.



tags:pipeage

Published by Colm.  

Tomorrow sees the annual running of the most controversial of horse races in the National Hunt season. The John Smith's Grand National Handicap Chase at the Liverpool racecourse Aintree puts its participants through a gruelling and life threatening experience. And its continued running is much to the annoyance of many animal rights groups.

Run over a distance of 4.5 miles, its length is testing enough. Add in 30 fences and you're asking both horse and jockey many questions. Some of the fences have acquired legendary status for their severity, particularly Beachers Brook, a fence of 6 ft 9" with a deceptive 2 ft drop on landing from the take off height. Also feared is The Chair, the tallest and broadest fence on the course. Luckily this and the water jump have to be negotiated just once - the 14 other fences are tackled twice.

The race has a history like no other, from a non-running because of a bomb scare (1997), a void race due to some jockeys failing to come back after a false start(1993), a three-time winner in Redrum, (1973, 74, 77) and a delayed race due to a Royal wedding (2005).

Each year the race captures the public attention. Many who never set foot inside a bookies, or should I say logged onto Betfair, will have a wager on tomorrow's race. Millions watch the race, and much more is bet on it, including some of my eurozonedollars.

I'll be backing the following,

Point Barrow - Here's my win bet. A former Irish National winner, proven stamina and a horse who should enjoy the good ground tomorrow.

Jack High - a faller last year, hopefully he'll get round and a nice each-way bet.

Bother Na - a good jumper who will also like the good ground. Another each-way bet.

If you're having a flutter, good luck and let's hope all horses and jockeys come back safe and sound.

tags: Grand National

Published by Francie.  

Lazy Fat People are a musical duo on the rise, made up of Swiss DJ/Producers Ripperton and Mirko Loko. Now, you may be thinking Switzerland has more of a name for making top-quality time pieces than pushing back the boundaries of dance music, however things are swinging around a little in recent times.

Swiss/Chilean DJ and Producer Luciano has hit the big time as a poster boy of Minimal Techno along with Ricardo Villalobos and Richie Hawtin (possibly with more substance?). His effort for the Sci-Fi-Hi-Fi mix CD series endeared many listeners to his style in 2006, gained wide critical acclaim and cemented his A-List status in the electronic music world among the masses.

Lazy Fat People are coming up fast on their compatriot's heels however. Despite the duo's name they had a positively hectic 2006 with much celebrated single and EP releases on various big name labels (See this post on Ronan's Blog last February). They have also been under a heavy touring schedule showcasing their talented live performance and tag-team DJ antics around Europe's top techno clubs.

You know how it is on a long lazy summery weekend like we have in store. You don't want the bother of constantly reaching to change tracks however you decide to lounge your way through the weekend.

So, for your delectation here is a 3:15 (yes that's 3 hours and 15 minutes) mp3 of a recent show(Jan 6th) Lazy Fat People did on their home turf of Lusanne's Loft Club, incorporating live performance and DJing.

It's a top notch set of atmospheric electronic bumps and beats ranging from lush deep house hooks to more fortifying straight techno instanity. What makes the mix stand out for me is there are lots of quirky sounding elements woven here and there throughout the mix, kaleidoscope like, that really catch your attention. Now, if you'll just hand me that cocktail...

Have a good weekend!

tags: music

Published by Paul.  

Just when you thought that there were things in life that were untouchable by bureaucrats and regulations, along come Tim O'Reilly (Web guru) and Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia founder) to stick their oar in. No! This medium is not for the free spirited, and most definitely not a blank canvass where you can use colour.

Their ill-conceived Blogger Code of Conduct is a knee-jerk response to the recent threatening comments that were written on Tim's friend's blog. Not bored yet? Read on.

If you adhere to their set of rules, you get to wear a badge that only grown-up blog owners can have. You could even go one step further and give stars to commenters you particularly like.

This proposed code is essentially a controlling mechanism. Nice people only allowed on the Internet please. One could be forgiven that this is all being sponsored by the Chinese government's Dept of Censorship. Any blog worth its salt does some sort of moderation anyway. Tony Blair once said that he particularly dislikes the nasty stuff that protesters shout through the gates at 10 Downing Street. But he said in the next breath that he was happy they had the freedom to do so.

One of main aims of all of this is to destroy the whole notion of anonymity on the Web, whether that be on the part of bloggers or commenters. Take this away and you lose a huge part of what's liberating about reading and writing in these spaces.

* Seems that journos at the Sindo may not be too fantastic at adhering to their own codes according to Twenty Benson ...

"Sunday Indo 'journalist' plagiarises Irish blogger"

tags:code of conduct

Published by Colm.  

I only managed to catch two games in full involving English teams over the past week or so. On Easter Monday I watched Roy Keane's Sunderland come from 1-0 behind to beat Southampton 2-1 courtesy of two very sweet second half goals. This victory snatched from a losing position propped Sunderland atop the Championship, a league which they had been bottom of having lost four from four when Keane took over.

I was struck by the tenacity, purpose and intense focus with which the Sunderland team achieved their result on Monday. There were bucketloads of qualities on display which one rarely sees in premiership games these days. The heavy challenges were flying, yet nobody dared sit on the turf clutching a phantom knock. Every player looked like he knew exactly what he was supposed to be doing and went about his job with gusto. Not a shrug of the shoulders or a look of disbelief anywhere in sight.

Then, last night I watched Manchester United demolish a limp Roma side with devestating aplomb in the Champions League. Having seen highlights of United 2-1 loss to Portsmouth over the weekend I was left wondering how such a fragile and tentative team could find themselves on top of the premiership at this stage of the season.

Last night's vintage United performance fairly erased that feeling anyways, but it ushered in a new wonder.

Manchester United: Are you Sunderland In Disguise?

EDIT: Colm being the good sport he is reminded me to link to his earlier musings on Keane/Sunderland - here.

tags: soccer, keane

Published by Paul.  

You can't make this shit up. Jay's alive! He's managed to pull off his greatest magic trick - faking his own death. Turns out that he bribed the Arbour Hill guards and told them to use Liam O'Maonlai instead who was doing time for crimes against music. Jay felt a little bit bad about doing this, so he gave Liam one of those jokey spike-coming-from-your-stomach yokes for pretending you've just been executed on a very tall spire.

We only discovered all of this when Jay rang me on my mobile. He told me how he had jumped onto the back of a lorry and hitched a ride to Rathkeale where he's now planning to keep a low profile while pretending to be a traveller.

So, it all worked out in the end. We celebrated the national religion of Great Edible Chocolate Bunny yesterday by stuffing our faces.

tags:happiness

Published by Colm.  

After Friday's harrowing events, Saturday passed without too much happening. Had to call around to his Mum and offer my condolences. But she was inconsolable and overcome with grief. Jay, her only son, had been taken from her by a corrupt regime intent on holding on to power for as long as possible. I couldn't help notice the upcoming election posters across the road from Jay's house. It had a picture of one of Governor Ahern's cabinet ministers offering to shed 20 stone if she got re-elected.

Jay's mother showed me around the house. The entire gaff was littered with magician kits. It reminded me of the time we went to a wedding and Jay pretended to turn four barrels of Budweiser into pisswater. Not much magic used there then.

I found out that Jay's remains had been taken away to a tomb that Dick Roche built in the event of a nuclear attack on the country. Some of the guys said that he has probably gone to visit the righteous dead in the spirit world. He'll most likely bump into Jim Morrison, Elvis and Liam Lawlor there.

It's a dreary day and there's a lot of hanging around eating ham sandwiches and talking shit to his relatives. "Oh, he was too good for this world". "He's gone to a better place". "It's times like this that you have to rely on your religion". Tossers.

tags:holysaturday

Published by Colm.  

Jay's dead. He was executed by impalement on a really expensive spike they erected a few years ago.

They got him on the charge of being an illegal alien. Turns out that Jude snitched and told the cops that Jay's mother had flown in to the country just before she was due to give birth, 35 years ago.

But we all know the real reason why he was taken in. Jay has been a peace activist for years and was arrested some time ago for handcuffing himself to a US soldier who had strayed from Shannon during a stopover. Since then, Governor Ahern's corrupt police force have kept a close eye on Jay's every movement.

That didn't stop Governor Ahern from crying on national TV on the steps of the GPO, wailing at how hard a decision it was for him to condemn Jay to death. Of course the Governor had asked the people from those hallowed steps what their decision was. "What has he done?" said the governor. "He's taken our jobs and is sending home any money he earns", the crowd bayed. The Governor was delighted with this response. At this point, he promised to release the convicted murderers of a police officer.

At this point, Jay was given an orange boiler suit to wear and had to drag an overweight minister in her fat mobile up O'Connell Street so that she could witness the event. He struggled with the weight and fell three times by tripping on some rubble that was left strewn on the street.

Moments later, Jay was impaled. Two enemies of the state were also put on spikes, one on either side of him. They were called "The Catholic Church" and the other was called "The Celtic Tiger". Just before he breathed his last, Jay cried out "The people of this land, why have you abandoned all reason and goodwill?".

Me and the guys went to a lock-in at Ron's to drown our sorrows.

tags:goodfriday

Published by Colm.  

So. Went out for some grub last night with 12 of my mates who are sound blokes. Nothing special. Just something we do now and again. It's good to hang out and talk about things over food rather than our usual wine sessions. The new sandals I bought at Urban Outfitters were pinching me but fuck it, I think they look smart and everyone's wearing them at the moment.

Lately, one of the guys is really starting to wind me up. Everyone kind of looks up to him. Constantly making out that he can predict the future and shit. Says that Liverpool are going to win the Champions League this year. He also claims that he predicted that Steve Staunton was going to be the Ireland manager. I asked him why he didn't do something to prevent it from happening. He could easily have gotten some heavies to knock sense into that Delaney fucker.

Anyway, that's Jay for you. Too nice a guy to ever do anything that nasty. One of those guys who always says the right thing at the right time. The lads keep telling him to cut his scraggly hair, and that it's seriously hampering his chance of getting his hole with this bird Mary that keeps sniffing about. Last night she even came into the restaurant and just had to stick her head in one of the photos. Really hope Jessops tell me that that one didn't develop properly.

Someone had suggested this good Italian place in town. Reasonable prices can usually be had there on the Chianti. As the night wore on, I think Jay had a bit too much to drink. He kept blabbering about how he had to leave and be with his father. We were like, "Jay, your old man's the local handyman who lives in town for fock's sake!". But he wasn't having it. Maybe his old man was a hippie living in a commune because that would explain a lot.

Another rant he had was that one of us had been given a wad of cash to rat him out to some local thugs. All sorts of allegations were being levelled now. Jay was convinced that something was going down tomorrow and that these thugs were going to waste him! At this stage, Jude was puffing his way through his second pack of Gauloises and his hands were shaking. Next thing he gets up and fucks off without paying for his share of the bill! Cheap bastard.

I think we were all in agreement that Jay had had to much to drink and we let him off with it. Me, Pete, Johnny and Jay went for a walk to clear the heads and took a pitstop in this park when Jay said he needed a slash. He told us to wait outside and to stay alert in case those thugs were nearby. We agreed to play along with this charade, if only until he sobered up. Five minutes later and we were conked on some benches.

Just as I was settling into a nice doze I heard some raised voices. We ran into the park to find the Old Bill with Jude in tow. Nothing was making sense now. Things took an even weirder turn for the worst when Jude walks up to Jay and plants one smack on the lips! Pete seriously doesn't like this, calls Jude a faggot and breaks his jaw with a roundhouse. Jay, obviously still pissed, tells Pete that he shouldn't have done it, puts his hand on Jude's cheek and starts rubbing it.

Things just got too weird for us, so we did a legger. One of the craziest nights of my life ever. Fact. Just have no idea what's going to happen today ...

tags:thursday

Published by Colm.  

tags:chrisrock

Published by Colm.  

You kids old enough, or should I saw young enough, to remember the Street Fighter series on the old SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) will know of the devastating effect of being caught by a Tiger Uppercut from Ryu or Ken. This weekend in Augusta many of golf’s elite will feel similar pain as Tiger Woods goes in search of his 5th Masters Title and 13th Major in total.

Woods captured his first Green Jacket in 1997 in record fashion. He shot an 18 under par total and blitzed Augusta with his awesome golfing skills. Woods has been in a cocky mood of late, especially in some pre-tournament interviews. When asked by one hack if;

"maybe a few guys younger than you can possibly push you and Phil (Mickelson) and Vijay (Singh) on this course now."

Woods' bullish reply was;

"Who?"

To many this may seem arrogant and disrespectful to his fellow professionals, but Woods is at the stage of his career now where he knows that he’s playing some of his best golf and it will take something out of the ordinary on his part or by a rival to snatch a fifth green jacket from his clutches. Having won here on four previous occasions, Woods has the game along with the mental strength to close or grind out a win come the back nine on Sunday.

So as I can’t see anyone overturning Woods this weekend, he’s priced at 11/8 to win, and even shorter with some bookies.
I’m going to give the following each way chances for the weekend ...

Olazabal 80/1 - Olly has won here twice before and always seems to do well at Augusta. Course suits his game.

Rose 80/1 - I think this young English man might come good this weekend. Expecting a big show from him.

Love 125/1 - Another player who can tame Augusta on his day. Just worried about his mentality on the final 2 days when he seems to drift off the pace.

tags: US Masters, Golf, Betting

Published by Francie.  

Not quite the six-figure deal we were hoping for, but nonetheless it is with excitement that we announce a blogging deal with an Irish biscuit manufacturer. We have also been given remit to suggest a biscuit name and packaging ideas. This new blog will tell the new biscuit's story and also act as a way of engaging with biscuit lovers and get them to share some of their thoughts.

Leave your ideas for this new biscuit in the comments.

tags:biscuits

Published by Colm.