A group of Shaolin monks from SongShan, China, recently made their first visit to the USA. They met with Former California Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson (at left), who kicked one of the monks in the crotch. (TPCQ: "Milhouse, stop that!")

Hurray! New Blog!

Noam Chomsky has a blog: Turning the Tide. Huzzah! Sound the trumpets!

"Corporate terrorists" vs. "Evil" Col. Sanders

PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] is at it again; they've launched a new campaign against KFC, to push for more humane treatment of chickens. Celebrities from Paul McCartney to Pamela Anderson to Cornel West have offered their support.

The campaign includes blood buckets filled with info-props, which PETA will be "handing out . . . to kids at KFC locations nationwide." Also, activists in Germany recently doused the CEO of Yum! Brands (which owns KFC) in blood.

KFC, for their part, is borrowing a Paige* from the US Secretary of Education: "We don't comment on the corporate terrorist activities of PETA," said KFC spokeswoman Bonnie Warschauer. "They are corporate terrorists and just like the United States government, we will not negotiate with corporate terrorists."

I've been a vegetarian for over ten years, and while I'm often frustrated by PETA's sexist projects, I'm not sure what to think about this one. There's no question that chickens are treated cruelly on their way to our dinner plates. Is this the way to capture America's Attention Deficit?

* Sorry, I couldn't resist.

HalliBush Wars, Inc.

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide: The Green Zone is becoming less safe.

A recent spate of attacks -- including a previously undisclosed mortar strike that killed a Bechtel Corp. subcontractor last Thursday -- has pierced the sense of security inside the U.S.-led coalition's well-protected Green Zone.

Hey, I didn't realize it before, but some of these Iraqis are angry! To make things worse, the danger isn't limited to mortar attacks and suicide bombers.

Adding to the anxiety, military officials have warned Green Zone dwellers in recent days about a wild dog and a rabid monkey -- which presumably escaped from the nearby zoo -- that have bitten several people, one area resident said.

Jeez, I thought Bush said the rabid monkeys would greet us as liberators! Well, I'm still Proud to Be an American, a sentiment well-expressed in the essay "Very Proud and Worried" by David G. Bancroft: "Since America and its allies are engaged in the liberation of Iraq . . . I am not going to second guess . . . Who is right or wrong?" Yeah, that's what being an American is all about -- dropping questions about who lied through their teeth in order to convince people to send their kids to die for oil! The most bizarre line, however, comes at the end: "I hope God's guiding hand will minimize loss of life on both sides, and that a resolute end to this liberation comes quickly."

Uh.

There is No Spoon?


The best essay I've ever read about online existence is A Rape in Cyberspace by Julian Dibbell. He does an amazing job of confronting vital questions about what it means to virtually be somewhere, to exist in two places at once (one real, one simulated).

Months later, the woman in Seattle would confide to me that as she wrote those words posttraumatic tears were streaming down her face -- a real-life fact that should suffice to prove that the words' emotional content was no mere fiction. The precise tenor of that content, however, its mingling of murderous rage and eyeball-rolling annoyance, was a curious amalgam that neither the RL nor the VR facts alone can quite account for.

It's long, but you really ought to read the whole thing. Best cyber essay EVER. Dibbell also wrote a piece on digital media called Unpacking My Record Collection (after Walter Benjamin). It's okay, but I wasn't blown away the way I was by ARIC. I'm sure JB will like it.

Random

Thanks to Josh for linking us to Richard Simmons "b****-slap"ping a man in an airport.

TimeWaster™

I know I've posted this cool drum Flash before, but it's just so freakin' good!

Today I'm listening to: A conference call! (Shh, don't tell anyone on the EC.)