[E.O.M.S.]

Students from Franklin Avenue Elementary School in Westfield, MA completed a gigantic Obama mural they created out of 2,420 dominoes! With the help of students from nearby Westfield State College and mathematician Robert Bosch from Oberlin College, students ranging from Kindergarden to Fifth Grade completed this four foot tall and six and a half foot wide Obama portrait in only a couple of months.
(@ 'Obama Art Report')

It's Australian!
(Click to enlarge)
Then compare with this!
@ 'Politjab'

"As an ex-Brit, I’m well aware of the authorities’ love of surveillance and snooping, but even I, a pessimistic cynic, am amazed by the governments latest plan: to install Orwell’s telescreens in 20,000 homes.
£400 million ($668 million) will be spend on installing and monitoring CCTV cameras in the homes of private citizens. Why? To make sure the kids are doing their homework, going to bed early and eating their vegetables. The scheme has, astonishingly, already been running in 2,000 family homes. The government’s “children’s secretary” Ed Balls is behind the plan, which is aimed at problem, antisocial families. The idea is that, if a child has a more stable home life, he or she will be less likely to stray into crime and drugs.It gets worse. The government is also maintaining a private army, incredibly not called “Thought Police”, which will “be sent round to carry out home checks,” according to the Sunday Express. And in a scheme which firmly cements the nation’s reputation as a “nanny state”, the kids and their families will be forced to sign “behavior contracts” which will “set out parents’ duties to ensure children behave and do their homework.”
And remember, this is the left-wing government. The Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling, batting for the conservatives, thinks these plans are “too little, and too late,” implying that even more obtrusive work needs to be done. Rumors that a new detention center, named Room 101, is being constructed inside the Ministry of Love are unconfirmed."

@ 'Wired'

An Australian radio show has been pulled off air after a lie detector stunt saw a 14-year-old girl say she had been raped.
The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Sydney's 2Day FM was put "into recess" pending a review over the incident last week. The move follows public outrage over the segment, which saw the girl quizzed about whether she was sexually active. Host Kyle Sandilands has also been sacked from his role as a judge on Australian Idol over the row. The radio show saw the girl strapped to a polygraph machine as her mother - who had volunteered to be on air - quizzed her despite apparently knowing she had been assaulted when she was 12 years old. Sandilands was accused of further insensitivity when after the revelation he asked: "Right, and is that the only sexual experience you've had?" Co-host Jackie O'Neil put an end to any further discussions when she realised the conversation had crossed a line.
Controversy
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd led the criticism against the radio show, saying: "This is a young girl and I am, as I think most Australians are, really distressed at the way in which the young person has been treated." Child welfare officers and police have now been ordered to investigate the teenager's claims. The Ten Network, which produces Australian Idol, said Sandilands had been axed as it was concerned about the conflict between his TV and radio persona. "It has become increasingly clear that as Idol has remained a family focused show, his radio persona has taken on a more controversial position," it said in a statement. "The recent controversy surrounding Kyle's radio programme has highlighted more than ever the conflicting attitude of the two careers." The Kyle and Jackie O Show is the highest-rating breakfast radio programme in Sydney. A statement from 2Day FM said Sandilands was "unable to perform his on-air duties at this time", while the station is also reviewing its audience interaction policy.
@ 'BBC'

(Thanx 'WinSmith'!)

"To extend the music out from the indigenous ghettos, IR has created a new model of
partnership between indigenous people and western artists. This runs counter to the
"ROCK STAR MODE" (i.e., Sting, Paul Simon) of portraying exotic indigenous people
who are in need of rock stars to accomplish anything of importance and are
incapable of independent self-directed actions but excellent for photo ops standing
besides the liberal-leaning pop idols.
IR runs counter to trend of trying to this exotification of the indigenous in our
collaborations. IR works with indigenous people who live and fight in the jungles for their freedom, we also acknowledge and work with the thousands of indigenous
people who live in the favelas (poor areas) of Brazil's major cities like Sao
Paulo. These include indigenous computer wizards...Hackers. The image of
indigenous people being proficient with computer programming is counter to the
current exotic image of indigenous people."
IR also stands for indigenous reality, creating works that show the world of the
indigenous as they really are, not the manufactured photo ops published in the
mainstream press."

Indigenous Resistance
Lots of links to music (collaborators include: Dr Das (ADF), Adrian Sherwood. Underground Resistance, Sly and Robbie etc.) podcasts, words and visuals to download too.
The Fire This Time

California attorney Orly Taitz, who has filed a number of lawsuits demanding proof of Barack Obama's eligibility to serve as president, has released a copy of what purports to be a Kenyan certification of birth and has filed a new motion in U.S. District Court for its authentication.
@ 'World News Daily'

So issued on the 17th February 1964 in The Republic of Kenya.
Just one problem. Kenya was not made a Republic until December 12th 1964!
O well, back to the drawing board!
(thanx 'Daily Kos')

Update"
More debunking of the latest 'proof' here and here.

(@ 'The Houndblog' via 'Mogadonia')

Aah! 'Beat Girl', such a classic!

Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Understanding the way torture works.
Get it here.

10/10/08
BRILLIANT!
Featuring Woodnote on sax 18/04/09
Dub Fx
Go here to download free track 'Rudeboy'

I have been involved in an online discussion about various US 'shock-jocks' and mentioned that the only real equivalent here in Australia I felt was the man above.
The picture says it all. I have nothing more to add!

Shirin Neshat

'Allegiance'

Photograph by Shirin Neshat

Ruth Ellis
This photo was on a Tearjerkers T shirt, that lasted a good 25 years!

Q27. Why did you never shave your head?

RR. Jesus!! I've got ears like jug handles, you cheeky monkey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Haven't we all Roddy!!!)

by Joe Bageant
@ 'The Beast'

(via 'Constant Siege')

Dora Maar

(For that well known 'perve' 'oop north'!!! (LOL!)
(From this with thanx to JG)

Yesterday, the newly formed Western Caucus convened for a bicameral hearing on proposed cap-and-trade climate legislation.
The witnesses attending included representatives of a variety of polluters, right wing think tanks, and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX).
DICK ARMEY: What I’m suggesting is we have a sort of an eco-evangelical hysteria going on and it leads me to almost wonder if we are becoming a nation of environmental hypochondriacs that are willing to use the power of the state to impose enormous restrictions on the rights and the comforts of, and incomes of individuals who serve essentially a paranoia, a phobia, that has very little fact evidence in fact. Now these are observations that are popular to make because right now its almost taken as an article of faith that this crisis is real. Let me say I take it as an article of faith if the lord God almighty made the heavens and the Earth, and he made them to his satisfaction and it is quite pretentious of we little weaklings here on earth to think that, that we are going to destroy God’s creation. [...]

SEN. ORRIN HATCH: Mr. Armey it’s great to have you here. Great to see you again and we appreciate all you’ve done throughout the years and your work on Capitol Hill. Great job.
@ 'Daily Kos'

"Laughs-A-Go-Go"
Go here.

Village residents from the Rostov region of Russia caught a weird creature two weeks ago after a strong storm in the Sea of Azov. The shark-looking creature was producing strange squeaky sounds. The fishermen originally believed that they had caught an alien and decided to film the monster with the help of a cell phone camera. The footage clearly shows the creatures’ head, body and long tail. The bizarre catch was weighing almost 100 kilograms, the Komsomolskaya Pravda reports.

@ 'Pravda' here.
Video here.
(thanx to 'Daily Dish')

The "cabinets of curiosity" of the 16th and 17th centuries housed the extraordinary souvenirs that European missionaries and other travellers brought back from the New World and the East. Stuffed birds with brilliantly coloured plumage sat alongside seashells larger than the human body and mummies plucked from Africa's desert sands. But, as French surgeon Pierre Dionis discovered, sometimes the marvels in your own backyard are the strangest of all. When Dionis stumbled across a leathery fetus-like object in a priest's collection, he resolved to learn the truth about it. Could it really be that this misshapen object was the product of a 23-year-long pregnancy?
Full story @ 'New Scientist'

Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi is Pere Ubu's adaptation of the proto-Absurdist stage play that gave the band its name, Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi (King Ubu). Its premiere in Paris in 1896 provoked riots in the theatre and a national scandal. A vicious and satiric re-telling of Shakespeare's Macbeth, Jarry's work lambastes do-gooder monsters and the Survival of the Unfit.
Jarry's play, infamously, opened with the exclamation Merdre! - a euphemism for the French word for excrement. The closest English translation is shtrrrr. It became known as The Word.
Members of the band Pere Ubu perform all cast roles. Sarah Jane Morris is Mère Ubu. This series is a podcast of the first half of Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi. An album of songs called Long Live Père Ubu! will be released on September 14.

Podcasts available here.