Checkered Lounge Pants

Organisers plan "march of millions" on Tuesday to force President Mubarak to quit and the army vows not to use force. Protest organisers have announced an indefinite general strike and called for a "march of a million" in the Egyptian capital on Tuesday, the eighth day of an uprising that has claimed at least 125 lives in clashes between demonstrators and police. Another million-strong march was planned in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, as national train services were cancelled in an apparent bid to stymie protests. The new protests will come as the hated police have returned to the street. But while the police's posture to be adopted in the face of the strike and marches remains unknown, the Egyptian army stated clearly on Monday that it would not stop them. Faced with the prospect of massive numbers trying to converge on the capital, Egyptian authorities stopped all train traffic with immediate effect on Monday afternoon. And state-owned national c...

By Canadian Boat to Gaza As they move closer to their goal of sending a ship to break the siege, Canadian Boat to Gaza (CBG) campaigners find the Israeli report on the murders of international activists aboard the Mavi Marmara on May 31, 2010 completely unconvincing and unworthy of the widespread coverage it has received. "This is like criminals investigating their own crime and the world treating their investigation as if it were credible," said Ehab Lotayef, spokesperson for the Canadian Boat to Gaza. "I find it disturbing how much attention is given to this Israeli investigation in Canada, compared to the previous investigations on the subject by the U.N. Human Rights Council, Turkey and International Bureau of Humanitarian NGOs (IBH) & Friends of Charities Association (FOCA), all of which placed blame on Israel," said Sandra Ruch of the CBG Steering Committee. "If any of the Mavi's passengers were even inclined to violence, how come there were no f...

(copied from my daily ritual of THE RUDE PUNDIT) So the other day hillbilly hero Glenn Beck got on his microphone o' doom to announce that he had seen a preview of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, a musical on Broadway, don't ya know, and he declared it the most amazingly splendiferous thing since the Resurrection. It just so happens that the Rude Pundit was given a ticket to Spider-Man, and he saw it last night. He can report that, when it comes to theatre (as with most things), Glenn Beck's head is still so fully up his ass that he tickles his lungs when he blinks. Watching the appalling spectacle unfold in front of him, surrounded by an audience that wasn't sure if it should be entertained but probably thinking, "Fuck me, I spent $150 on this seat; I'm gonna like it whether I like it or not," the Rude Pundit wondered how, other than his incipient madness, could Beck (or anyone) have thought Spider-Man was even remotely good. And then this morning, in a vo...

by Meteor Blades Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 09:06:05 PM PST In mourning for those who lost their lives in the Tucson massacre Saturday: To the survivors, including Congresswoman Giffords, go our wishes that their recoveries be swift and complete. President Obama has asked for a memorial moment of silence Monday at 11 a.m. Eastern time. • • • • • At Talk to Action, the veteran watcher of white supremacist and anti-semitic groups Chip Berlet writes, The Becking of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. An excerpt: From a moral viewpoint Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is the victim of demagogues such as Glenn Beck and his allies at Fox News and in the Tea Party Movement. This is not about legal liability but about moral culpability. This is about a nation that has lost its moral compass. Some of us progressive writers have been warning about this dangerous trend for several years. This includes my colleagues Fred Clarkson, David Neiwert, Sara Robinson, John Amato, Adele Stan, and others. We blame right-wing demago...

Credit: Crooks and Liars The Tournament of Roses has always been a huge corporate event. Even back when boomers worked on those floats it was the province of big corporations with a smattering of ingenuity from schools like Cal Poly. Though it was corporate, it was also local. Flowers came from local growers. Float decorators worked for local charities and youth groups. It was very much a California event. Today, not so much. In a LA Times report about Honda being the first to use a hybrid motor to power their float, they note that today's Tournament of Roses is neither green nor local. Leading Saturday's 122nd Tournament of Roses will be a 35-foot fairy tale castle called "A World of Dreams," the first float to be powered by fuel-efficient hybrid technology. And the pace car will be the fuel-sipping Honda CR-Z. But behind the World of Dreams will be a whirl of planet-warming emissions: 46 floats powered by V-8 engines, some supplemented with gasoline-powered motors f...