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THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE: 
FRIDAY TIME-WASTER: A version of Super Breakout that even allows you the option of making your own custom levels.  THE NEXT MAGNET magazine will feature some bands near and dear to many Pate fans.
FREE DOWNLOADING OF BOOTLEGS IS KILLING MUSIC: For example, The Rolling Stones, Live in Sidney, 1973. Or some Russian offering loads of Tom Waits, both live and unreleased studio stuff. That is just so wrong. JAY FARRAR talks to Pitch about his new album and new-model Son Volt. SUFJAN STEVENS expands his Illinois tour to include, among other places, Illinois. LESLIE FEIST talks to SF Weekly about how Patsy Cline and Peggy Lee encouraged her eclecticism. BONO was horrified during a visit to Ethiopia, when he saw local Muslim women pelting a breast-feeding aid worker with stones.  FOO FIGHTERS' In Your Honor gets a 6.8 on the Pitchfork, with the reviewer preferring the acoustic disc to the electric one.
THE ART OF THE MIXTAPE: As you know, the making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. In the Village Voice, Brandon Stosuy (who normally writes for Pitchfork) waxes nolstalgic as he makes his girlfriend a 100-song mix for her iPod. Along the way, he mentions Thurston Moore's new book Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture; NPR recently interviewed Moore about it. The New York Times notes the efforts of record labels to crack down on commercial mix discs. TOM VERLAINE has signed with Thrill Jockey and expects to have an album out early in 2006. Meanwhile, Television is touring Europe. PITCHFORK PERFECT TENS: The inimitable Uncle Grambo complies a list of 30 albums that sit at the very tip of the Pitchfork. THE WILLIE AND ANNIE NELSON Professorship in Stem Cell Research is being established at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.  TOM-KAT UPDATE: Defamer reports "rumors spreading around the War of the Worlds publicity tour... that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes... (got) engaged in Rome last night. The rumor holds that an announcement may come in Paris as early as tomorrow."
BRITNEY SPEARS wants to to make hubby K-Fed a movie star, so naturally she's asking Madonna's hubby Guy Ritchie to cast Federline in his next film. She ought to tell Guy what a great impression K-Fed made when she brought those Disney execs to her hotel room, only to find him watching porn... which he did not even rush to switch off. A classy guy, the stuff from which stars are born. FORBES magazine's Celebrity 100 list is out and can be viewed by categories, too. The musicians' list is depressing. IRAQ: A deal was reached for Sunni Arabs to participate in a panel to draft the new constitution, ending weeks of political wrangling and raising hopes that the insurgency might be undermined as a result. Also, in a a major defeat for Al-Qaeda's terrorist organisation, U.S. and Iraqi forces have captured Mohammed Khalaf Shakar, Zarqawi's most trusted operations agent in all of Iraq, in Mosul. He is accused of masterminding some of the deadliest attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city and a major front for the insurgency since November. Austin Bay blogs from trips to the Al Anbar province, Tal Afar and Kirkuk, reporting a mixed performance of Iraqi troops in Tal Afar. And the members of the MP squad under callsign Raven 42, which includes two women, are awarded for their heroism in combat on March 20th, 2005. TORNADO WATCH: A new study of Oklahoma's legendary May 3, 1999 tornado stirs controversy in suggesting that running like a sissy was as safe or safer than hunkering down in homes. The study reconfirmed that people caught in mobile homes face the worst odds.  YOUR MOMENT OF SITH: Princess Leia was born in Episode III, but Princess Leah was just born in Norway. Defective Yeti provides a guide to fast-forwarding through The Phantom Menace. Dan Weaver blogs conversations with his wife about the series. And to promote the Revenge of the Sith videogame, LucasArts has released a series of limited-edition airsickness bags available on Virgin Atlantic flights. The punchlines generally write themselves, so I'll just say, "Barf Vader?"
CATS AND DOGS are being replaced by PlayStations and iPods in the UK. However, Brits who do own pets are spending more money than ever on their care. PETA EMPLOYEES ARRESTED on ANIMAL CRUELTY CHARGES: Andrew Benjamin Cook and Adria Joy Hinkle, were busted for allegedly dumping dead dogs and cats in a dumpster at a shopping center in Ahoskie, N.C. Both suspects were charged with 31 counts of animal cruelty and eight counts of illegal disposal of animals. Officials say the animals were alive when they left the shelters, but have not said how they died. North Carolina officials say they have been investigating reports of dead animals at the shopping center for over a month. A PETA spokesperson told WAVY News 10 that the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has a long-standing relationship with shelters to euthanize pets that the shelters feel are no longer adoptable. That's an understatement; PETA put to death over 85 percent of the animals it took in during 2003 alone. IRAN: There have been 12 bombings in the five days before Iran's presidential election today, leaving more than 10 people dead and dozens wounded. The mullahs blame U.S. mercenaries; reformers blame religious extremists. Polls show that the mullahs' candidates are not expected to do well and may not make it into a runoff election, if one is required. Supporters of the main reform candidate say the violence escalated as he surged into second place. CELEBRITY KABBALAH: Radar magazine begins a series describing "how a renegade rabbi and his striver wife ended up atop a multi-million-dollar empire built on bracelets, bottled water, and Madonna." But even Kabbalah wants nothing to do with Jacko...  JACKO JUSTICE: The verdict may be in, but you can still enjoy Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's visit with some of Jacko's supporters. He may have hardcore fans, but record companies aren't lining up to do business with the sad freak, as he hasn't sold albums in years.
CHILD SACRIFICES IN LONDON: They are brought into the capital to be offered up in rituals by fundamentalist Christian sects, according to a shocking report by Scotland Yard. The report, leaked ahead of its publication next month, also cites examples of African children being tortured and killed after being identified as "witches" by church pastors. JOURNO TARGETED FOR MURDER... by a Chechen rebel leader. Funny how journo bigwigs like Linda Foley and Eason Jordan claim without evidence that the U.S. military does this, while ignoring those who actually do it. TROTSKY'S ICEPICK -- the implement of his death -- appears to have been found, 65 years after it was apparently stolen from the Mexican police. It's also a good name for a band. SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL) went to the Senate floor Thursday evening to repeat a controversial statement about the interrogation of detainees at Camp X-Ray in Cuba and insist he said nothing objectionable. Dick explained that he was not comparing U.S. soldiers at Camp X-Ray to Pol Pot, Nazis or Soviet guards, but was "attributing this form of interrogation to repressive regimes such as those that I note." Right; Dick accuses our troops of doing things war criminals did, but was not comparing our troops to those troops. Other Democrats, such as Sen. Jay Rockefeller, are not backing his statement. Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita invited more members of Congress "to go down to Guantanamo and see what's going on, because what's going on down there is not the way it's being described by certain members of Congress." Eleven Senators, 77 members of the House, and 99 or a hundred congressional staff members have visited Guantanamo; Dick is not one of them. Durbin's statement also came under sharp attack by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which has 2.4 million members, including tens of thousands in Illinois. MICHAEL BAY, director of Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor, is defended by Bryan Curtis at Slate.  BRADGELINA UPDATE: Vanity Fair denies that Jennifer Aniston has told the mag that infidelity caused her split with Brad Pitt; Page Six stands by its story. So how is Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie's ex, taking things? "Sex doesn't have to be with a model to be good," Thornton says in July's Esquire. "Sometimes with the model, the actress or the 'sexiest person in the world,' it may literally be like f-ing the couch." Jolie was Esquire's "Sexiest Person in the World" last year, so I'm guessing he has issues. Jolie joined Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and others to promote World Refugee Day. Jolie then appeared on CNN to talk about World Refugee Day, but the interview ended up revealing more about CNN than Jolie. The National Enquirer claims Pitt and Jolie recently joined the mile-high club en route to the Mexican premiere of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
AFRICAN-AMERICAN OREO BARBIE: Auction expires today on eBay. ELIZABETHTOWN: Production stills from the forthcoming Cameron Crowe movie heve been posted at Coming Soon. COLIN FARRELL dating secrets revealed! THE URANUIM FOR "LITTLE BOY," the bomb dropped by the B-29 Enola Gay over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, was enriched in part by a 19 year-old who had no clue what she was doing.  A BLUE CRAB with a feminine side. Literally. The confused crustacean may have mated with itself, but otherwise shows strange mating behavior.
STUNTPEOPLE planned to petition the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in a bid to get a long-desired Oscar category for stunt coordinators. They planned to draw attention by staging a stunt display on AMPAS's doorstep. Cunning! THE DISABLED can be integrated into society and accomplish what some might might never expect. For example, wrestling alligators. Okay, so maybe not gator rasslin', but the main point is still right. TROUSER SNAKES: No, really. THE COMMIE CATWALK: Chinese authorities will require that models be tested annually on their runway skills and have proof of a high school education. AN ORPHAN SEA OTTER taken in by Chicago's Shedd Aquarium is receiving round-the-clock care and is being taught life survival skills. Sorry, no cute photos; the 8-pound pup won't be on public display for perhaps months. For now, Kiana lives alone, spending much of her time sleeping in a playpen lined with SpongeBob SquarePants sheets.
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Comments
Let's roll the tape, shall we? Here are Durbin's comments.
"When you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here -- I almost hesitate to put them in the record, and yet they have to be added to this debate. Let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. And I quote from his report:
"On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold....On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.
"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.
"It is not too late. I hope we will learn from history. I hope we will change course."
Let me ask a very simple question: If I had read the bit from the FBI report to you in the year 2000*, and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, wouldn't you have figured it was done by some mad regime that had no concern for human beings? Perhaps some regime not even mentioned above--maybe Saddam's Iraq, or even Saudi Arabia (our allies, yes, but pretty damn near a mad regime)?
The answer, of course, is no. There was no rap music in the gulags. But otherwise? Truthfully, now--how many US citizens would believe we'd do something like this?
With all due respect to the ADL and various veteran groups, they're missing the point, which is that the country that's holding itself up as a beacon of freedom to the world, and that seems to be intent on shipping democracy wherever it can, needs to do a hell of a lot better than this to be taken credibly.
Point well taken that the Nazis et al didn't have the FBI investigating, but I would reply that they also didn't have senators shedding light on nasty topics that plenty of Americans might not necessarily want to hear about but need to. I disagree that Durbin's hyperbole distracts from the issues; on the contrary, I think it was a powerful message we needed to get people who might otherwise not be paying much attention to take notice.
(*If I ask you the same question now, in 2005, nobody who's paying any attention would even think twice. "Oh, sure, that could be us. Maybe at Gitmo, maybe at some secret stinkhole camp in Pakistan where we torture prisoners.")
I think I address Mike's points in the "Read more" portion of a later main post, but what I think he is missing is that people were gassed with Zyklon B in Nazi death camps. The Nazis also performed horrific medical experiments on human subjects. In the gulags, people were starved to death and had their skulls crushed. Millions of people. Millions whose only offense was being born of a particular race or ethnicity, or opposing totalitarianism.
Compare this to people seized on a battlefield and found to be enemy combatants by a review panel being shackled in the fetal position, forced to hear loud rap music and feel uncomfortable temperatures in interrogation rooms. This treatment isn't even as bad as some got at the Bagram prison in Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of that operation.
And the incidents Durbin describes are nowhere near Saddam's tactics. We are not operating rape rooms or throwing people into heavy machinery designed to shred plastic, or cutting out peoples' tongues. Indeed, I would suggest that 65 percent of Iraqis would not be saying their country is headed in the right direction if they believed the U.S. was anything like Saddam's regime.
As for Durbin's comments bringing attention to the issue, I would note that after all of the attention given to Gitmo the past few weeks, the latest Gallup poll finds a majority believe we are treating prisoners properly there and about 60 percent oppose closing it down. Meanwhile, all sorts of demographics that Mike deems misguided will remember what Durbin had to say and how his allies refused to criticize him for a week. I certainly hope Mike was not suggesting that it's okay to grossly exaggerate to get people to pay attention to an issue, as I suspect he probably thinks that's the Bush Administration's method of operation.
It took Sen. Durbin a week to figure out that an overwhelming number of people, including his constituents and political patrons, believe Durbin's comments were not merely wrong, but disgraceful (as Mayor Daley said Tuesday) and apologize. Maybe Mike will figure it out also.
As for whether Americans would think that we would do what is described in the e-mail, I've noted elsewhere that similar stuff has gone on in Durbin's backyard -- in Chicago police stations and in the Cook County jail. So I know of plenty of people who would tell Durbin that's what it sounds like. I could easily provide other examples of American prisoners being shackled for long stretches in states like Maryland as well. That doesn't make any of it right, but it does suggest that Durbin is as uninformed about how prisoners are treated here as he apparently was about how people were treated by the Nazis, the Soviets and the Khmer Rouge.
Now that Durbin has apologized, I would think we could all "move on," as some like to say.
If a vast majority of Americans would answer as I suspect (B or C, if we left out the rap music part), then Durbin was right (and there's no "gross exaggeration"). I guess we'll never know. If you take what he said at face value--leaving out gassings, or starvation, or medical experiments, and I'm apparently in the minority in being able to do so--Durbin's comments were right on the mark.
I suspect Karl would disagree with me about the results of such an imaginary poll, based on his post. I'm aware of what goes on at Cook County, even still today, and it's disgraceful. (If Daley wanted to talk about disgraceful, that would have been a better place for him to start.) But the vast majority of Americans don't know about that. I do; Karl does; and I'm sure Durbin does, contrary to Karl's suggestions. But most don't.
In this case, as usual, the rhetoric and the ensuing controversy cast a huge shadow over what the real issue is. I guess, like Jon Stewart said the other night, you have to leave the nazis out of it if you want to make your point.
Mike and I, however, are in near-total agreement about Jon Stewart on this point.
We disagree to the extent that there can be more than one "real" issue in a given controversy. The alleged abuses at Gitmo are a "real" issue, but so is one of the country's highest ranking elected officials handing terrorists a video clip to put on their recruitment tapes. If you want to say that Gitmo is giving the U.S. a black eye, I doubt the solution is to compare it to Nazi death camps.
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