Looks like someone present at Saddam’s execution had a cameraphone on hand, and he recorded the whole thing. (It’s not all that graphic, surprisingly.) I uploaded the video to Youtube, though I’d bet they pull it soon. The fact that this video took about a day to hit the Internet, and that it comes from some piddly little cameraphone, i interesting in and of itself. As far as I know, it’s a first.
After making life difficult for three different presidents, Saddam Hussein is no more. But to me, the hanging of Iraq’s strongman seems almost anti-climactic, like a show that finally gets cancelled year after it’s started going downhill. I’m not sure how much of an influence he was on the insurgency, but if the Americans think now that Saddam is dead things will cool down, they’re mistaken. Saddam was the only thing keeping a lid on ethnic tensions between the Sunnis and Shiites, and while they’re all probably happy to see him gone, his passing won’t really affect the important business of slaughtering each other wholesale. I’d like to be proven wrong, but I don’t think I will be.
The drought is over, with not only a new episode of Torchwood but the long-awaited Dr. Who Christmas special gracing the screens of Britain and the computer monitors of the Internet. We also discuss upcoming shows like the Torchwood finale and the premiere of the Sarah Jane Adventures (in a few short days!), speculate on the preview of the upcoming season shown at the end of the Runaway Bride, and veer off into completely off-topic nonsense, as per usual. (feed, web, direct download)
Given the recent pipeline explosion in Nigeria that took over 200 lives, maybe it’s time to take a look at just what’s going on in Africa vis a vis your gas tank. It turns out the recent explosion was due to “tapping”, a practice where Nigerians siphon off oil from a pipeline that they wouldn’t have access to otherwise. In fact, most of Africa suffers from a system where the elite get rich off oil revenues (while we send the stuff back home to fuel our industry, homes and vehicles) and the poor live in what amounts to Stone Age squalor. For a really interesting analysis of the situation, check out “The Curse of Oil,” an essay by John Ghazvinian.
The Americans should worry far less about whether or not Iran eventually gets the bomb, and far more about the slowly creeping influence of Tehran on both Iraq, where some Iranians were recently arrested stirring up trouble, and Afghanistan, where roads, fiber optic cables and other modern innovations are arriving courtesy of the world’s most powerful theocracy.
Canadian bad ideas, at any rate, courtesy of Macleans.
Ever wonder what Wall Street’s current crop of moneyed champions are blowing their obscenely large bonuses? Well, yeah, me neither, but here’s a sampling of the Ferrari and multi-million dollar condo purchases of this generation’s Gordon Geckos, courtesy of the NYT.
President Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower was, up until recently, regarded as a sort of proto-Reagan, a conservative leader who spent a lot of time during a prosperous decade golfing and keeping things running smoothly. But with the rise of the neocons, and their subsequent tumble after invading Iraq, Ike is being held up as an example of how far off American conservatism has drifted away from its core values and into lunacy. The Christian Science Monitor pleads the case.
And to raise your respect for Eisenhower further, check out “Why We Fight,” a documentary that uses Ike’s farewell address about the military-industrial complex to examine the American war machine.
The Wall Street Journal lays down some smack on the ailing, sucky, and generally broken media. Yum.
Ok, time for some trailer-y goodness to keep you all entertained at the airport while you fly back home to wherever for the holidays. First up, the new trailer for 300, a movie about a handful of Spartans (300 of them, not a real shock given the title) who hold back a good portion of the Persian Empire. The film is based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel, and like Sin City, uses human actors and not much else that isn’t digital to create a world reflective of Miller’s art.
Other trailer ephemera….a teaser for Ocean’s 13, which actually looks pretty funny, and a trailer for Grindhouse, the Rodriguez/Tarantino tribute to ’70′s cheeseball cinema. I like the trailer, but these two have been pretty lukewarm in my books for their last few films, so…meh. Still, Kurt Russell and Jeff Fahey being badasses….I’m up for that.
Also, I don’t much care about it, but apparently there’s a Transformers trailer out.
