Insults ::: The Art of Insults

art > swearing
The perfect insult resource, this handy website allows you among other things to swear in 133 languages, from Afrikaans to Zulu.
Includes a Study of Swearing in Modern English and an automatic insult generator. The sites offers a downloadable Shakespearean insult generator for free.
Oh, and as people regularly tell me: Futue te ipsum et caballum tuum...
(but its greek pages - and i assure you i am an authority on the matter - while generally correct and rich, contain some rather uncommon exotica and some downright ungrammatical entries.)

Parmalat's Fall

business > family
Kavaljit Singh details the fall of mighty Parmalat:

"...Although the detailed investigations into the operations of Parmalat are still going on, the initial reports suggest that the collapse was triggered by murky financial dealings by its top management. The collapse was not an outcome of a typically cash-flow problem, as faced by many companies. Rather the top management deliberately used a variety of methods to misappropriate funds including use of complex financial instruments (particularly derivatives) and siphoning funds through its subsidiaries, Bonlat and Epicurum, located in Cayman Islands. The global structure of company came in handy for the top management to conceal certain losses..."

So I wonder, is this just Berlusconistan or does it demonstrate the deep roots of corruption in European businesses in general?

Straight outta Tikrit

rap > gangsta > political
From a rap song set to the tune of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” broadcast in April 2003 in Iraq by Radio Tikrit, a station believed to be backed by the CIA. A Saddam Hussein impersonator performs most of the song in English with occasional Arabic interludes. Originally from Harper's Magazine, June 2003.
Reminds me of the exile's "Straight outta Grozny" by "Chechenz with attitudes". But from a, ummm, slightly different angle.

Back to the present: the Baghdad proclamation

Iraq > colonial > history
From Iraqi agora, an Iraqi group blog, a reminder that the current occupation is far from the first attempt to colonize Iraq - and far from the first use of liberatory rhetoric to justify imperialism. Originally found in Harper's, the first part (one could see it as chapter zero) of a detailed timeline related to the recent attack on Iraq.

Red Scare (1918-1921)

history > US
An amazing collection of photos, cartoons and other visual material from post WWI USA.
From the introduction:

RED SCARE is an image database about the period in the history of the United States immediately following World War I. The dates are approximately from the Armistice in November of 1918 to the collapse of hyper-inflation in mid-1920. Within these two dates the country witnessed--not so much in rapid succession as concurrently--a deadly flu epidemic, a strike wave of unparalled proportions, harsh suppression in some cases of those strikes, race riots, hyper-inflation, mass round-ups and deportations of foreign born citizens, expulsion of duely-elected officials from various offices in government, an incapacitated president, espionage laws, sedition laws and, of course, the advent of Prohibition and women's suffrage.

It was a time then of great upheaval, of right-thinking men--in the words of Walter Lippmann--"scared out of their wits". It is this fear that Red Scare seeks to document, not only as it related to what variously were called "Reds", "Anarchists", "Outside Foreign-Born Radical Agitators" and the like (though of course they play an important role here), but rather the whole breadth of experiences from this period of which the anti-red hysteria was one symptom. Indeed, it is because the anti-red hysteria was so emblematic of the time, that we use it in the context of this database as a short-hand way of expressing the whole period.

For history buffs world wide, a great example of how visual material from an era can bring it to life.

I can't help but point out this image which, with a slight relabelling could be used today, a different use of the word "Soviet" (as in sovietism - and are some of these folks Drew Barrymore's Grand Parents?), a political cartoon which evades my poor historical knowledge of the time (Belgium? Why?), some rather obvious propaganda efforts, an era of increased labour power and viewpoints not yet called fascist.

Excellent.

Colombian rebels beat path to Peru

politics > revolutionary > America Latina
A brief recap from South America, where FARC members are seeping over to neighbouring countries and recruiting people and the whole continent is in turmoil. I'm not complaining.

"The political situation in South America could not be better for the Marxist rebels of the 20,000-strong FARC.
Left wing governments and instability abound.
In Bolivia, the US-backed president was overthrown, and one of the fastest rising new politicians is vehemently anti-American and wants to legalise drug production.
Venezuela's president has been accused of supporting Colombia's guerrillas and is allied to America's old enemy, Fidel Castro of Cuba.
The presidents of Peru and Ecuador - both US allies - are facing low levels of support and street protests.
'Our time is coming,' said El Flaco, his eyes burning with fervour.
'The revolution will sweep through Latin America, and the gringos will be sent back home.' "

Norwegian Death Metal Shocks Poland

Marilyn Manson > is a wimp
"Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth staged a special concert that made Janet Jackson's breast-baring look like nursery school antics and left Catholic Poland outraged. A police investigation has begun after a show that included dozens of sheep heads on stakes, a literal blood bath and a naked, crucified woman, newspaper VG reports...
...This kind of thing should not happen on state TV and especially not in Krakow, which is the Pope's city," Jeziorek said. Jeziorek wanted to halt the concert but feared a riot from enthusiastic, bloodied fans who had paid for tickets."

This is the kind of enormously entertaining news that's fit to print... and some scary looking dudes. To understand what Norwegian Black Metal means take a look at this Mark Ames review of Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground, by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind. BTW This must be one of the most inspired book reviews in recent memory. Suffice to say that it combines the black metal review with that of the new Perle & Frum book.

I wonder if Gorgoroth plan to visit Greece after their stint in jail? After this, I wouldn't miss them for the world. Anyway our local Black Metal world icons are nowhere as daring in their shows, despite having the - heads over heals - most blasphemous name in existence.

Update [Feb 5]: too late! they were here a few weeks ago!

Talabani Accuses Turkish Intelligence of Massacre

conspiracy > theories > for real?
Yes I know it's from Debka, a source I don't particularly trust, they do however have some serious sources in interesting places. The fact that the PUK has strongly rejected these claims, should be taken into account (they actually call on Debka to withdraw their claims), yet is not conclusive by itself... I wonder how the Kurds in Northern Iraq will react to US and Turkish forces. Via the eyeranian which has similar worries about the Kurdish-Turkish standoff that's brewing in the area and some other scary possibilities.

Iraqis Want Saddam's Old U.S. Friends on Trial

iraq > justice > for all
Let's have a trial, say Iraqis, and let's try Saddam and all his accomplices, regardless of their nationality... I mean who can argue with that!

...'Saddam was a top graduate of the American school of politics,' said Assad al-Saadi, standing with friends in the slum of Sadr city, formerly called Saddam City, a Shi'ite Muslim area oppressed by Saddam's security agents.
'My brother was an army officer who was executed. Saddam is a criminal and the Americans were his friends. We need justice so that we can forget the past.'...

Swans Commentary: "RESISTANCE: In The Eye Of The US Hegemon." Special Issue on Iraq

iraq > occupation > a recap
Excellent online edition of Swans dedicated to Iraq. Of immediate note (the first article I finished reading) Edward Herman's "United States: "Liberation" From the Philippines to Iraq".