It’s not just about explaining how/when the President does not have to honor seatbelt laws. Now it’s about data retention violations too:
“Given the heavy reliance by White House officials on RNC e-mail accounts, the high rank of the White House officials involved, and the large quantity of missing e-mails,” the report said, “the potential violation of the Presidential Records Act may be extensive.”
Republicans said there is no evidence that the law was violated or that the missing e-mails were of a government rather than political nature.
The records act requires presidents to assure that “the activities, deliberations, decisions, and policies that reflect the performance” of their duties are “adequately documented … and maintained,” the report said.
Of course there is no evidence. That was destroyed too, along with the definition of government.
I’ve been thinking about the news from Variety for a few days:
China Film initially said it had made no cuts, then declined to comment on a Beijing News report that it had cut scenes involving too much violence and horror.
[…]
It also cuts his reading of a poem by Tang dynasty poet Li Bai (701-762) called “Guan Shan Yue” (The Moon Shining Over the Mountain on the Border).
First of all, I am a bit unimpressed with that translation of the title. The poem is about separation and longing due to conflict — costs incurred by a point of control, from a security viewpoint. This makes me think of something like “The Moon Shines on the Mountain Border” or “The Moon Shines Over the Wall on the Mountain”, or maybe even “Moon on the Mountain Pass”.
Second, how does this have anything to do with the Beijing News mention of violence and horror? Variety mentions a censored poem and then stops. Perhaps they didn’t feel it necessary to research the rationale and the history of the poem’s importance, or just didn’t care to elaborate?
Here is a closer look at the issue. 300 Tang poems has a page called Tangshi II. 1. (38), where you can see the text of Li Bai’s poem as well as English and French interpretations. Note the title of the poem:
Here’s their version in English:
The bright moon lifts from the Mountain of Heaven
In an infinite haze of cloud and sea,
And the wind, that has come a thousand miles,
Beats at the Jade Pass battlements….
China marches its men down Baideng Road
While Tartar troops peer across blue waters of the bay….
And since not one battle famous in history
Sent all its fighters back again,
The soldiers turn round, looking toward the border,
And think of home, with wistful eyes,
And of those tonight in the upper chambers
Who toss and sigh and cannot rest.
And, since 300 Tang site conveniently explains all the characters, here’s mine:
Moonlight shines upon the mountain
bringing clarity through a deep blue sea of fog.
The constant winds from almost ten thousand miles
blow against the Jade pass garrisons.
China’s men climb upon an empty path,
as Tartar soldiers gaze across a blue-green sea.
Because great battles in history
never return all men to their beds,
many look back upon the garrison
with eyes of pain, and think of home.
Those who this night lay upstairs
toss and turn, they cannot rest.
Valiant Enterprises were told their model soldier of an IRA volunteer from 1921 had been removed from the eBay site because the figure “violated its hateful or discriminatory policy”.
The eBay policy states: “Sellers may not list items that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial or religious intolerance, or items that promote organisations with such views.”
The article makes the obvious comparison to other icons who fought the British empire, such as the American “revolutionaries”. And then it transitions to discussing the issue with modern Irish leaders.
Sinn Fein’s Alex Maskey said the decision to ban the item was unjustified.
He said: “To ban important historical facts like the Irish War of Independence is just bizarre. Especially when that time is history has been recognised and commemorated by the Irish government”.
Perhaps it would help if the figurine wasn’t holding a gun and ammo belts, but instead carrying a flag or in a striking pose that indicated national pride. It would be one thing if eBay tried to ban symbols of the IRA, such as the flags or name, but something about the militant garb makes it a more troubling and questionable icon. Likewise, I have no real issue with the Union Jack as it represents so much more than the militancy of the UK, but I don’t think I’d feel great about sales of a figurine of the British army with a Rapparee’s head dangling from his pike…then again, I bet there is no ban on British army figurines at all.
MySpace is best when it’s showing off talent. Not just any talent, and definitely not the sort marked by a giant “approved by WalMart” advertisement, but the sort of talent that jumps forth and exceeds expectations. The value of the record industry is turned on its head when you pare back the layers of smarmy marketing, like eschewing the circus in favor of a troubadour act at the local cafe or pub.
Straight, no chaser, in drink terms, Maya Yianni is one of those to watch. I can’t get over the clarity of her voice.
Interesting that she includes videos of her idols on her page, perhaps for comparison. First is Ella Fitzgerald:
She also has Billie Holliday’s rendition of Strange Fruit, a poem by Abel Meeropol (1903 – 1986) written under the pseudonym Lewis Allan:
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
The hidden irony of this particular song is that while Strange Fruit was popular after Holiday first sang it in a New York club in 1938, the major recording companies refused to produce it. Too controversial for her label, Columbia Records, a small record company (Commodore Records) finally published Holiday’s rendition. Today it is considered her signature song. A recent documentary tells the full story.
Another little bit of trivia is that a record company under the name Strange Fruit was formed in the UK the same year that the poet, schoolteacher and union activist Abel Meeropol passed away.
