Toxic leak threat to Chinese city

Major pollution of a river has forced the suspension of water supplies to the northern Chinese city of Harbin, home to 3.4m people, authorities have said. "Benzene levels were 108 times above national safety levels," said China's Environment Protection Administration.

The contamination after an accident at a chemical plant is expected to pass through Harbin on the Songhua river for the next two days, officials said. Some schools and businesses have closed and flights out of Harbin are sold out. "Everyone wants to leave Harbin and it is very difficult to buy tickets," a factory manager told Reuters.

Benzene is a highly poisonous toxin that is also carcinogenic.

Chinese press critical
Fifteen hospitals have been placed on stand-by to cope with possible poisoning victims.
Officials are also on alert in Russian towns further down the river. More than 16,000 tons of drinking water is being brought into Harbin by road, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua said - though this is less than Harbin's residents normally use in a day.

Mistrustful
The government initially said the stoppage would last four days, but a water company official has told the BBC there is no set timetable for the resumption of supplies. BBC Beijing correspondent Louisa Lim says residents of Harbin distrust government statements, having originally been told the stoppage was for routine maintenance.

The initial announcement of water stoppages led to panic buying of water and food, exhausting supermarket supplies and sending prices soaring. "The city was full of ridiculously large queues. People were buying water in massive quantities," English teacher Craig Hutchinson told the BBC News website. Other residents told the BBC they felt more inconvenienced than worried.
"I can say that we feel safe and fine. Even though people... may not be able to shower, at least they can drink and cook with good [bottled] water," hostel manager Yang Yan said.

Dangers of benzene:
*Colourless, highly flammable liquid distilled from petroleum
*Used as a cleaning agent, solvent, in dyes and paints
*Lethal to humans exposed to it in high levels
*Chronic exposure leads to progressive degeneration of bone marrow and leukaemia

The order to cut off the water comes after a 13 November explosion at a petrochemical plant in Jilin city, about 380km (230 miles) up the Songhua river from Harbin. Five people were reported to have been killed in the blast, and more than 60 injured. The explosion forced the temporary evacuation of some 10,000 residents, but people have since been allowed to return home.

The Beijing News showed pictures of dead fish washed up on the banks of the Songhua river near Jilin city, but the authorities said there was no sign that chemicals in the river had contaminated the water supply. The high levels of benzene were found upstream of Harbin, but the contaminated river water was expected to reach the city on Thursday morning and take two days to pass through. Officials insisted enough water would be brought in to meet the needs of residents.

Environmental officials in Russia said they were also monitoring the Amur river, which is fed by the Songhua and is the main water source for the city of Khabarovsk. Harbin is in China's north-east Heilongjiang province, and is one of the country's coldest cities, with overnight temperatures this week falling to -12C.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Are you in the area? Have you or anyone you know been affected by the decision to cut off the water supplies?

My son is an exchange student in Harbin. They have been told not to use the water for 10 days including showers, etc. Water from local wells are OK. All water is sold out, but fortunately, the locals haven't discovered Gatorade. Any confirmed details would be appreciated.
Charlie Goodrich, Lexington, MA, USA

At first glance, the Harbin city authorities look not candid enough towards the residents. However, compared with all the other cities along the Songhua river between Jilin and Harbin, all of which should have already been affected by the polluted river water and yet have been quiet on this, the Harbin city authorities are still doing a better job.
theo (Chinese national currently living in Singapore)

I am just waiting for any news on this. My sister is in Harbin teaching and sent me a flurry of disturbing emails- the most perturbing is that there is brown oily water that smells of urine coming out of her pipes. Also some officials have left the city where she is. She has yet to respond to my seven emails and I am eagerly awaiting any news. She also said that she believes that they have known about this water situation days before announcing it.
Kem Kramer , Toronto

I have my oldest brother who is currently working in Harbin, China. We contact him every couple of days and he has let us know of the devastation that is occurring due to there been no water. He has been told the shower he had the day before yesterday is the last one until the end of the week at the earliest. He lives with four other English boys, as they are all teachers working to teach Chinese children English. They had been told that there was no water but not given enough time to save clean water for them to live from. There seems to be a lot of anguish across the country but at least we know he is well so far. we just hope that the showers they all had when the chemicals went into the system will not harm them in any way.
Victoria Hutchinson, Redcar, England

Updates

Figured I'd post updates, just in case anyone wondered what I've been up to lately:

1) I've been working on CDs by Arsov and Split Attitude for release in the online store;
2) I just updated my page on myspace (finally, after much persuading!);
3) I just got a new job at a sales office for a messenger company in the Loop;
4) I have also been considering taking a part-time job in the evenings either at the book store or the record store I used to work at;
5) I have been invited to attend a wedding in Vietnam in February, and want to use the opportunity to research some ESL schools in Hong Kong while I'm in the neighborhood;
6) and just had a couple of really excellent homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Comments? Want a Gmail account? Lemme know.

-Rick

P.S.
7) Oh yeah, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe opens December 9th! Groovy!

New Hennessy ad

As China Plans Moon Landing, Millions Still Struggle to Survive

BEIJING -- As China basked in the successful launch of its second manned space flight, a ''sacred and glorious'' mission beamed live to hundreds of millions of television viewers Wednesday, Li Jing wasn't watching.

"The space program is fine, but they should take care of us farmers first,'' said Li, 42, gazing into the sky above the Beijing vegetable market where she cycles every day with her husband and two children to sell leeks and other produce. "Life is really tough for us.''

China's Shenzhou-6 launch highlights the contradictions in a nation that is gaining economic, diplomatic and scientific clout while 200 million people of its people still live on less than $1 a day, according to World Bank 2004 estimates. It comes as the communist government also struggles to deal with a growing number of violent protests by its poorest citizens.

"China's space program represents its aspirations to become a superpower,'' said Laurence Brahm, a Beijing-based author and adviser to the Chinese government. "It's a symbol of nationalism, in a country that's facing a huge challenge to make the transition to a capitalist state.''

China in October 2003 became the third country after the U.S. and Russia to send a man into space, when astronaut Yang Liwei completed a 21-hour orbit. Shenzhou-6, which blasted off from the remote northwestern province of Gansu with two men aboard, is scheduled to spend five days aloft and will lay the ground for missions including a space laboratory and a moon landing.

'Step Forward'

China's government-controlled media yesterday gave saturation coverage to the launch. The English-language China Daily covered most of its front page with a photograph of astronauts Fei Junlong, 41, and Nie Haisheng, 40, walking to the launch pad, under the heading "A big step forward.''

Inside sections featured international reaction, biographies of the astronauts with pictures of their families, and primers on how they will eat, wash and work in space. The official Xinhua news agency even sent a report titled: "Deadly flatulence: how to excrete without risk in space?''

The space mission showcased China's technological prowess as finance ministers and from the U.S., Japan, Europe and elsewhere arrived for the Group of 20 nations meeting in Beijing this weekend. U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow and other leaders are expected to press China to let its currency gain and boost domestic consumption to help reduce trade imbalances, a measure of China's increasing importance to the global economy.

Two decades of economic growth averaging 9.5 percent a year have made the Asian nation the world's biggest consumer of commodities such as steel, cement and grain and the second- largest user of oil. China, the world's seventh-largest economy, has become its biggest producer of computers, mobile phones, televisions and other manufactured goods.

Wealth Gap

Those achievements have come at the cost of environmental degradation, corruption and a widening gap between cities and the countryside, where about 800 million of the nation's 1.3 billion population live. Average urban disposable incomes were 3.2 times those in rural areas last year, a gap that's widened from 1.9 times in 1978, according to Xinhua.

The number of mass protests in China increased to more than 74,000 last year from 10,000 in 1994, Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang said last month. Many disputes have been sparked by the seizure of peasants' land for urban development by corrupt local officials.

China is "confronted with increasingly acute potential social unrest caused by disparity in development and distribution, inequality, injustice, and corruption despite rapid economic progress,'' Xinhua said on Oct. 6, in an unusually frank assessment of the problems facing the country.

Eliminating social inequality will be a key priority for the Communist Party in the next five years, China's President Hu Jintao said at the annual meeting of Party leaders which ended on Tuesday, a day before the space launch.

Rural Clashes

"The government is under pressure to increase the quality of its growth,'' said Huang Yiping, China economist at Citigroup Inc. in Hong Kong. The government wants "growth that will be more environmentally friendly, and more fair in how wealth is distributed.''

Typical of this year's protests was a clash at Dingzhou village outside Beijing in July that left six farmers dead and 48 injured. The central government intervened, arresting more than 100 people, including local Communist Party Secretary He Fang and the Party Secretary of nearby Kaiyuan township Yang Jinkai.

"In China today, farmland can be seized any time by corrupt local Party officials for redevelopment,'' said Li Ping, Beijing chief representative for the Seattle-based Rural Development Institute, a non-government organization that advocates legal rights for the rural poor. "The key to resolving this crisis is to give land ownership rights back to farmers.''

Connections

Income disparities were further highlighted this week with the release of an annual list of China's richest people that showed the top 100 increased their wealth by more than 50 percent last year.

"Let's face it, a lot of rich people in China aren't there because of ability,'' said Howard Snyder, president of Beijing- based Great Leap Capital, a firm that advises foreign companies on buying distressed assets in China. "They got there because of connections. For instance, in real estate, many people got rich because they knew someone in the land bureau and got land cheap.''

Many of China's poor farmers may see their escape in moving to the nation's booming cities. The Li family rises at 5 a.m. every morning to cycle five miles into Beijing, not returning until 9 p.m. They make about 1,000 yuan ($123) a month.

"I want to go to Shenzhen or somewhere down south to work as a waitress or in a factory,'' said Li Na, 16, as she helped her mother sort lettuces. ``I don't want to do what my mom does. Life's too tough as a Chinese farmer.''

-Bloomberg

Highly reccomended Dylan titles, for any fan

I put the Amazon links here as a general reference, but you're free to shop around and find a better price.

Bob Dylan- No Direction Home (A Martin Scorsese film) DVD

The Bob Dylan Scrapbook, 1956-1966

The Bob Dylan Chronicles, Vol. 1

Bob Dylan - Limited Edition Catalog Box Set
(includes the following full titles: Another Side of Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde, Love & Theft, Blood on the Tracks, Nashville Skyline, Bringing it All Back Home, Oh Mercy, Desire, Planet Waves, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Slow Train Coming, Highway 61 Revisited, Street Legal, Infidels)

China Launches Second Manned Space Mission

China has launched its second manned space mission in what analysts see as a bid by the Communist government to boost its prestige.

Following a countdown, the Shenzhou 6 spacecraft lifted off from a desert in northwestern China's Gansu province on a mission that officials say may go for five days.

With President Hu Jintao watching from Beijing, astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng started a journey that will have them orbiting 80 times around the world in their spacecraft, which is based largely on the design of the older Russian Soyuz models.

The launch reaffirms the Asian giant's place in space exploration. Only three nations have launched their own manned spacecraft. Chinese scientists conducted their first manned mission on October 23, 2003, when Colonel Yang Liwei circled the earth a few times - more than four decades after astronauts from the United States and the former Soviet Union had done so for the first time.

Observers see this as yet another effort by China's communist leaders to build their government's prestige. Independent space consultant James Oberg, a retired U.S. space engineer, says this and other launches will have a profound commercial and political value for the Chinese leadership.

"It enhances the value of every item of high technology that the Chinese intend to sell overseas," he explained. " It enhances the psychological value of every weapons system that China possesses or intends to sell overseas. And, it enhances every statement or promise and - I'm afraid to say - every threat that Chinese diplomats make overseas."

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, speaking at the launch site Wednesday, said his country intends to use its space program for peaceful purposes - a bid to ease international concerns that have arisen over China's rapid military buildup.

"China's space flight scientific experiments stem completely from the objective of peace, and are also a contribution to mankind's scientific study and the cause of peace," he said.

Analysts say the Chinese leadership hopes the space program will enhance the government's image at home, where the Communist party is struggling to remain relevant at a time when China is becoming more of a free market economy and less of a socialist society.

The launch of the Shenzhou 6 and its two astronauts came the morning after Communist Party leaders wrapped up a meeting in which they laid out a five-year plan for the development of China's economy.

-VOA

The 11 commandments of the Internet in China

"You shall not spread rumours", "You shall not damage state security”, “You shall not destroy the country’s reputation”. There are just three of the 11 commandments ordered by Beijing, on 25 September, aimed at bloggers and websites managers.

Reporters Without Borders expressed concern at this latest turn of the screw in an ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression.

"The Chinese authorities never seem to let up on their desire to regulate the Web and their determination to control information available on it ever more tightly,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said.

“These new rules, announced with a fanfare by the official media, are certainly more intended to frighten Internet-users than to codify the use of the Net,” it said. “In fact there is nothing really new in these 11 commandments, which simply repeat that the party has the monopoly of the dissemination of information and that the media’s task is not to be objective but to relay state propaganda.

“These moves to filter the Internet are nevertheless a sign that the Internet frightens those in power, in particular during a period of ever greater social unrest. It’s noticeable that the only new elements in the text relate to banning the calling of strikes or gatherings though the Net,” it said.

The new rules, ordered by the state council information bureau and ministry of industry and information, are aimed at bringing into line all previous such edicts. According to the Chinese daily Beijing news (thebeijingnews.com), it contains 11 subjects forbidden to online editors.

They are banned from putting out news that :
violates the basic principles of the Chinese constitution :
endangers national security, leaks national secrets, seeks to overthrow the government, endangers the unification of the country ;
destroys the country’s reputation and benefits ;
arouses national feelings of hatred, racism, and endangers racial unification ;
violates national policies on religion, promotes the propaganda of sects and superstition ; [Reporters Without Borders note : More than 30 members of the spiritual Falungong movement are currently behind bars for posting news on the Internet]
diffuses rumours, endangers public order and creates social uncertainty ;
diffuses information that is pornographic, violent, terrorist or linked to gambling ;
libels or harms people’s reputation, violates people’s legal rights ;
includes illegal information bounded by law and administrative rules.

Two completely new bans have been added to the nine rules above :
It is forbidden to encourage illegal gatherings, strikes, etc to create public disorder ;
It is forbidden to organise activities under illegal social associations or organisations.

Websites that break these new rules will be shut down and those running them will have to pay a fine that could reach 30,000 yuans (3,000 euros).

Reporters Without Borders points out that 62 people are currently imprisoned in China for having posted articles on the Internet that the authorities deemed to be “subversive”.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15141

Two foreign reporters beaten for trying to probe village corruption cover-up

Reporters Without Borders today deplored a physical attack on two foreign journalists by militiamen and thugs in a village in southern China and the news blackout which local leaders have imposed on corruption and mafia-style activities there.

The attack on Malaysian journalist Leu Siew Ying of the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post and French journalist Abel Segretin of Radio France Internationale (RFI) took place on 7 October in the village of Tai shi in Pan yu district, in the southern province of Guang dong.

They went to Tai shi to investigate reports of corruption involving village leaders but were attacked outside the village by some 20 individuals who appeared to be thugs hired by the local authorities. Repeatedly punched and beaten on the back of their heads, they refused to comply with demands to surrender their identity papers until the police came.

“These mercenaries were furious when they discovered we were journalists,” Segretin told Reporters Without Borders. “Even the police feared these apparent gangsters and quickly drove us away, locking the doors of the car.” They were taken to a police station and were released soon afterwards. Both were very shaken by the experience.

The day before the incident, the Guang dong authorities had officially arrested Yang Maodong, a lawyer better known as Guo Fleixiong, who had been in custody for three weeks for “disturbing the peace” at a 13 September demonstration in Tai shi at which he called for the resignation of village leader Chen Jinshen for alleged embezzlement.

Among other things, Guo accused Chen of selling village land to construction companies without the permission of residents. Hundreds of armed police raided Tai shi the day after the demonstration and arrested dozens of villagers.

Reporters Without Borders called for the immediate release of Guo, who had posted many messages on websites such as the Chinese human rights site Peacehall and the online forum Yannan defending the rights of villagers who have been stripped of their land.

Among the Tai shi affair’s many repercussions on press freedom has been the closure of the Yannan online forum on 30 September.

Tai shi is now under a virtual state of siege, with residents being closely watched and banned from talking to journalists. Chinese journalists who tried to investigate found that their newspapers were told to reprint an article from a local newspaper that supposedly provides all “necessary information” and dismisses the allegations against Chen.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15231

“You may be Third World, if …”

1. If either “Tuborg” or “Carlsberg” (or both) are Number One selling beers in your country
2. If there is a two-tier pricing system in your country, i.e. things cost differently for locals and foreigners
3. If men in your country wear Capri pants
4. If you have a Michael Schumacher poster in your house
5. If on your vehicle, you voluntarily display stickers advertising Coca Cola/Adidas/Nike, etc. without being compensated
6. If your watch is the most expensive thing you own
7. If you love going abroad because of the Duty Free shops
8. If Nescafe means “coffee” in your country
9. If the majority of women in your country use henna or are unnaturally blonde after the age of 35
10. If almost everyone in your country smokes
11. If taxis in your country do not have set fares and your fare depends on your negotiation skills
12. If you know of such bands and performers as Ottawan, Boney M, Chenghis Khan, Susie Quattro, Chris Norman, Army of Lovers and Bacarra
13. When you watch DVDs bought in your country, sometimes you notice people getting up to get popcorn on your TV screen
14. If the number of knockoffs in your country is almost equal to the number of legitimate brands
15. If shops in your town feature portraits of young Tom Cruise
16. If Gillette shaving cream costs as much as a full meal in your country
17. If you are an adult person but still get excited about downloading melodic ring-tones of popular tunes into your phone
18. If you spend your whole month’s salary on a cell phone
19. If you don’t use deodorant but know the latest fashionable smell
20. If people in your country hate the USA but immensely enjoy McDonalds, Starbucks, Hard Rock Café, and Levi’s
21. If Latin American soap operas are popular in your country
22. If you walk to the gas station
23. If you call the gas station the “petrol” station
24. If all the canned goods in your pantry are from Bulgaria
25. If you still have a public place for executions
26. If you have to specify “Café Americano” to order a coffee that’s NOT freeze-dried in a jar
27. If you’ve had more than three sick days this month due to malaria
28. If ice in your drink is an unthinkable luxury
29. If the filtered cigarette was only recently introduced to your smoking populace
30. If you’ve run out of burial plots in your land-strapped country
31. If all your national heroes never existed
32. If you get your daily vitamin allowance from mineral water
33. If you have more endangered species than schools
34. If your claims to being “European” are based on only the most liberal interpretations of geographic reality
35. If no doctors in your country speak the national tongue
36. If you can still pay cash for a Lada straight from the dealer’s showroom
37. If you have a relative that died of diphtheria
38. If your village has an AOL account
39. If the most exotic animal in your nation’s circus is a dog and two trained cats
40. If Egypt and Cyprus are premiere vacation spots for your country’s residents
41. If the national beverages are buttermilk and/or Efes
42. If you were formerly a colony owned by the losing side in WWII
43. If your favorite pizza toppings include canned peas and corn niblets
44. If your country is a major vacation destination for Russians
45. If your hometown has a Luna-park
46. If the words “executive” and “super” are overused by your countrymen
47. If restaurant menus in your country have more than two spelling mistakes
48. If the people in your country are described in guide-books as “easy-going” which really means they are irresponsible, lazy, and slow
49. If you wear “seasonal” colognes and buy things from a “fall collection” of no-brand name companies
50. If you think that Budweiser is cool

-Vadim and Boris

Seeing as I live in Shenyang, a city in northern China that is only a stone's throw from the North Korean border, I got this evening about as close as I'll ever realistically get to North Korea this evening - without needing a visa, that is.

I was invited by a couple of Chinese friends for dinner at a place on Nanjing Road calling itself "Korean Barbecue". Yes, that's the name of the restaurant, in 10-foot high neon letters (oddly enough there's a restaurant on Lawrence Avenue in Chicago with the same name, only written on a peice of paper taped inside the front window).

Greeting us at the front door of the Najing Road establishment were two young Chinese men in fairly authentic North Korean military dress uniforms. Kinda freaked me out at first. Ya know? The only thing missing was a portrait of Kim Il Sung on the wall (a picture of Kim Jr. would have put me off my meal).

Even the guy who came to take away the coals was dressed in fatigues and had dyed blond hair and looked a little like Rick Yune in Die Another Day, where 007 sneaks into North Korea by high-tech surf boards.

The staff were quite good at explaining the menu in English and Chinese and even Korean, but one thing they failed to mention was that the soup I ordered, normally made with pork, this time contained dog. Yes, that's right, dog. Uh huh. Lassie. Bowser. Man's best friend. Etc. Mind you, this was only casually mentioned by one of my dining companions, "oh, by the way, that's dog you just took a bite of."

Needless to say, I stuck with the beef (bulgogi) BBQ.Afterwards (and sometimes during the meal) the staff brought us dessert, which consisted of sliced watermelon, melon ice cream, and some little fried bits of dough liberally coated in sugar. Midway through the meal they brought us damp towels, which I think you actually use before the eating starts (or after, I think).On the way out the door the immaculately attired North Korean soldier turned waiter gave us some fake Wrigley's "peppermint" chewing gum.

I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone who loves Korean food (including the occasional canine - the sign outside should be a poster for that John Cusack movie, which by the way is already on DVD at Walmart here), or has a good command of Chinese, and dosen't mind attentive staff to the point of being slightly overbearing. I had a good experience, if nothing else for the atmosphere and some good bibimbap.

i always wanted to be a robot

Greetings from land of the fake watch

Howdy,

I'm in Kowloon,Hong Kong. Seems you can get a fake anything here, ifyou believe the swarms ofIndian men who approach you on the street outside Chunking Mansions. Youknow, theres's a REASON companies like Rolex, Burberry, etc. have the NAME that they do - it's not just a name, it's a standard of quality. Hence, to sell a fake version seems a bit of an oxymoron, like military intelligence, friendly fire, Hong Kong weather, or American food.

Been seeing ads in Chinese for "The Brothers Grimm" on the subway.

I don't know whostarted the idea of putting condensed milk in tea and coffee here, but they should be shot.

Enough ranting for now, I leave for China first thing tomorrow.

Leaving tomorrow

I leave tomorrow for ong Kong, where I'll pick up my visa and continue on to Shenyang by train. I will post updates to this website and probably some pictures as well.

Stay tuned.

Richard Vaughn
c/o Green Island School
No.42, Jinqiansong Road,
Sujiatun District, Shenyang
Liaoning Province 11000
PR China

rickvaughn @ gmail.com

So They Caught George W. Bush

The complete unedited address of Elit Davros, UN Coalition Forces commander, speaking at a press conference from the UN mountain headquarters near Colorado Springs:

Good afternoon. Today, January 28th, 2006 at around 7:00 a.m. Mountain Time, United Nations military forces captured George W. Bush alive. He was found near a farmhouse outside the city of Crawford, Texas in a swift raid conducted without casualties. And now the former dictator of America will face the justice he denied to millions.

The capture of this man was crucial to the rise of a free America. It marks the end of the road for him, and for all who bullied and killed in his name. For the Republican holdouts largely responsible for the current violence, there will be no return to the corrupt power and privilege they once held. For the vast majority of American citizens who wish to live as free men and women, this event brings further assurance that the torture chambers and the secret police are gone forever.

And this afternoon, I have a message for the American people: You will not have to fear the rule of George Bush ever again. All Americans who take the side of freedom have taken the winning side. The goals of our coalition are the same as your goals -- sovereignty for your country, dignity for your great culture, and for every American citizen, the opportunity for a better life.

In the history of the United States, a dark and painful era is over. A hopeful day has arrived. All Americans can now come together and reject violence and build a new America.

The success of yesterday's mission is a tribute to our men and women now serving in America. The operation was based on the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country. The operation was carried out with skill and precision by a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many dangers in the hunt for members of the fallen regime, and in their effort to bring hope and freedom to the American people. Their work continues, and so do the risks. Today, on behalf of the world, I thank the members of our International Armed Forces and I congratulate them.

I also have a message for all Americans: The capture of George W. Bush does not mean the end of violence in America. We still face terrorists who would rather go on killing the innocent than accept the rise of liberty in the Western Hemisphere. Such men are a direct threat to the peace-loving people of the world, and they will be defeated.

We've come to this moment through patience and resolve and focused action. And that is our strategy moving forward. The war on terror is a different kind of war, waged capture by capture, cell by cell, and victory by victory. Our security is assured by our perseverance
and by our sure belief in the success of liberty. And the United Nations will not relent until this war is won.

May God bless the people of America, and may God bless the International UN Coalition. Thank you.

Sad, but true...

China issues human rights record of the US
China slams US human rights report

BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhuanet) -- China issued the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2004 Thursday in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004 issued by the U.S. on Feb. 28.

Released by the Information Office of China's State Council, the Chinese report listed a multitude of cases to show that serious violations of human rights exist on the homeland of the United States.

"In 2004 the atrocity of US troops abusing Iraqi POWs exposed the dark side of human rights performance of the United States. The scandal shocked the humanity and was condemned by the international community. It is quite ironic that on Feb. 28 of this year, the State Department of the United States once again posed as the 'the world human rights police' and released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004. As in previous years, the reports pointed fingers at human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions (including China) but kept silent on the US misdeeds in this field. Therefore, the world people have to probe the human rights record behind the Statue of Liberty in the United States," said the report.

The report reviewed the human rights record of the United States in 2004 from six perspectives: Life, liberty and Security of Person; Political Rights and Freedom; Economic, social and Cultural Rights; Racial Discrimination; Rights of Women and Children; and Infringement of Human Rights of Foreign Nationals.

This is the sixth consecutive year that the Information Office of the State Council has issued human rights record of the United States to answer the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices issued annually by the State Department of the United States.

American citizens are threatened by rampant violent crimes and severe infringement of civil rights by law enforcement departments. "Violent crimes pose a serious threat to people's lives," said therecord.

The record quoted the Department of Justice of the United States on Nov. 29, 2004 as saying that in 2003 residents aged 12 and above in the United States came across about 24 million cases of crimes, including 1.38 million violent crimes like murders and robberies, averaging 475 cases per 100,000 people.

"Police violence and infringement of human rights by law enforcement agencies also constitute a serious problem," the record said.

Chinese citizen Zhao Yan was handcuffed and severely beaten onJul. 21, 2004 while she was in the United States on a normal business trip. She suffered injuries in many parts of her body and serious mental harm, according to the record.

Boasted as "a paragon of democracy," the United States' democracy is actually manipulated by the rich and malpractice, said the record.

Referring the elections in the United States are in fact a contest of money, the record said, the presidential and Congressional elections last year cost nearly four billion US dollars, some one billion US dollars or one third more than that spent in the 2000 elections.

According to the U.S.' official website www.opensecrets.org, the 2004 presidential election has been listed as the most expensive campaign in the country's history, with the cost jumpingto 1.7 billion US dollars from 1 billion US dollars in 2000.

Poverty, hunger and homelessness have been haunting the United States, the world richest country, according to the record.

The report stressed the United States refuses to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights and took negative attitude to the economic, social and cultural rights of the laborers.

According to the statistics released by the US Census Bureau in2004, the number of Americans in poverty has been climbing for three years. It rose by 1.3 million year-on-year in 2003 to 35.9 million, the report said.

Racial discrimination has been deeply rooted in the United States, permeating into every aspects of society, said the record

The record said that the colored people are generally poor, with living condition much worse than the white. According to a report of The Guardian of Britain on Oct. 9, 2004, the average netassets of a white family is 88,000 US dollars in 2002, 11 times of a family of Latin American ancestry, or nearly 15 times of a family of African ancestry.

Racial prejudice is ubiquitous in judicial fields, the record said. The proportion for persons of colored races being sentenced or being imprisoned is notably higher than whites.

In accordance with a report published in Nov. 2004 by the US Department of Justice, colored races accounted for over 70 percent of inmates in the United States.

The situation of American women and children was disturbing. The rates of women and children physically or sexually victimized were high, said the report.

According to FBI Crime Statistics, in 2003 the United States witnessed 93,233 cases of raping. Virtually 63.2 in every 100,000 women fell victims. Statistics released by the US Labor Departmentin Jan. 2004 showed a woman who worked full time had the median earning of 81.1 percent of that for a man, according to the report.

In addition, according to the report, child poverty was a serious problem. A story released from AP Washington on Oct. 12, 2004 said that about 20 million children lived in "low-income working families" -- with barely enough money to cover basic needs.

Children were also victims of sex crimes. Every year about 400,000 children in the US were forced to engage in prostitution or other sexual dealings on the streets.

The atrocity of US troops abusing Iraqi POWs exposed the infringement of human rights of foreign nationals by the United States, said the record.

According to US media like the Newsweek and the Washington Post,as early as several years ago, in US forces' prisons in Afghanistan, interrogators used various kinds of torture tools foracquiring confession, causing many deaths.

The International Committee of the Red Cross believed that abuse of detained Iraqis in the notorious Abu Ghraib Prison was not a single case and it was a systematic behavior, the report said.

The report pointed out that the United States frequently commits wanton slaughters during external invasions and military attacks. A survey on Iraqi civilian deaths, based on the natural death rate before the war, estimates that the US-led invasion might have led to 100,000 more deaths in the country, with most victims being women and children.

Jointly designed and conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and the Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, the survey also finds that the majority of the additional, unnatural deaths since the invasion were caused by violence, while air strikes from the coalition forces were the main factor to blame for the violence-caused deaths.

Despite tons of problems in its own human rights, the United States continues to stick to its belligerent stance, wantonly trample on the sovereignty of other countries, and constantly stage tragedies of human rights infringement in the world, said the report.

At last, the report said that the United States should reflect on its erroneous behavior on human rights and take its own human rights problems seriously instead of indulging itself in publishing the "human rights country report" to censure other countries unreasonably.

Flights of the imagination

Flew Saipan-Guam-Honolulu-Houston-Chicago recently. Not as uneventful as it sounds. After passing through Homeland Security checkpoints in Saipan, Guam and Honolulu, they were almost non-existent in Houston and Chicago.

I was supposed to travel via Newark, but was on standby and got bumped from that flight. Since I was on a "buddy pass", the airline was not required to provide accomodation so my friend and I got on the phone to nearly every cheap hotel and hostel in Honolulu, only to find out there was nothing available. We rented a car and drove around Honolulu for a few hours, and I had the experience of sleeping on a bench in a park on the east side of Oahu. The only things I had to eat were a few tacos from Taco Bell and a burger from Jack In The Box that highly disagreed with me. I had been hoping we would drop by Chinatown and find something decent there, but as I was not the one driving that didn't happen.

The in-flight movie from Guam to Honolulu was some crap called XXX:State of the Union, so I mostly tuned it out and tried to sleep. The Honolulu-Houston flight actually had the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but I was too tired to stay up for much of it.

Even though I was sent through Houston, my bags went to Newark so I had to wait an extra day for them to be sent over to Chicago. I've been jet-lagged the last couple of days, especially after the park bench in Hawaii. Bench lagged? Hmm.

There's a mouse in my house

Or at least there was... until she trapped him in the bathroom and buried him at sea. I was trying originally to just shoo him outside with a coconut broom, but he kept hiding. Currently listening to: Larry Norman's remake (1977) of "I Think He's Hiding" by Randy Newman. LOL.

Just spent a few hours yesterday re-tooling my CD, "Don't Look Now" - I was never happy with the way it turned out. It was mostly demos recorded (literally) in my closet in Chinatown, Chicago between 1999-2000. The good thing is, I loaded Audacity on my computer and was able to edit and trim various tracks, as well as cut a couple I wasn't happy with at all. Like the title track, for instance. That's gone. The disc is now titled "Salvation Army Blues", which is also the title of the second track. Now it's a nice, tight 12 songs instead of 16. It includes a jam session with guitar wizard Harry Gore & ska band Pop's Body Shop, recorded at C'stone sometime in the late '90s.
I may post some mp3s shortly.

I'm finishing up the reissue of "Jiving Around", which should include the original 4 songs, a couple alternate versions, and some other early-to-mid '80s stuff. If I ever sign with, you know, Interscope or something, my back catalog will be ready to roll out, right? Sure. Have to buy some more blank CDs, I'm going through these like crazy! I just bought a spindle of 50, and have to buy more already!

The other night, r., l., myself and a couple others had a small going-away get-together for Dan aka Billy the Kid, as he's off to LA & NY for a couple months. He's hoping to get in on a Broadway show. Should be interesting.

TTFN.

anagrams

since r. seems to be so captivate by dumplings of the night, as she calls them, here's a clever anagram for Northern Mariana Islands: Mandarin as harlot sinner.

Dumpling of the night becomes Do the thumping fling.

And so it goes...

Cinderfella

I was hoping to go see the new Russell Crowe film, "Cinderella Man", but have decided to boycott this and all future Crowe films after his choildish outburst and attack of a hotel clerk with a telephone.

Crowe should have to do some serious thinking behind bars. I think the judge should make an example of him, and not be lenient or reduce his sentence simply because he's a "star". Considering he's a foriegn national, I'd consider him a flight risk and demand he turn over his passport.

Only when Crowe makes a truly heartfelt apology to the clerk- HOW ABOUT IN PERSON (and possibly do some community service) then he can get back to 30 Odd Foot Of Grunt or whatever.

Remember, I'm still boycotting Dave Matthews after the Chicago River incident. Did he ever apologize?

Bop Bush!

Get your official George W. Bush punching bag here at http://www.bopbush.com/

Excellent!

As seen in the Saipan Tribune, a "Do Not Enter" sign on a street in Garapan. How many months ago did DPW (Dept. of Public Works) let us know about the installment of these signs? Like, never. And do they legally have the right to reroute traffic and disrupt the normal flow of business? According to the accompanying article, it seems DPW believes they have the right to ticket motorists who fail to comply.

Big news here: Japan Airlines is threatening to pull out! Whoa nelly! Say it ain't so! What'll happen to all the hordes of Japanese tourists coming down here to get sunburned, buy stuff they can get cheaper in Tokyo, get food poisoning, and have their rental cars and hotel rooms broken into and their valuables stolen? These are the same tourists who are supposed to go to back to Japan and tell their friends and family what a paradise these islands are. Well, if they're clubbed over the head while at the ATM and their body tossed in a field and their bank account cleaned out, they can't exactly give a glowing report, can they?

CUC (Commonwealth Utilities Corp.) is pulling an Enron by hitting all their customers with a couple hundred dollar "fuel surcharge". Yeah right. We're the ones having to pay our bills every month on time for fear of getting shut off (which will happen if the surcharge, which was NOT VOTED ON, is not paid) meanwhile the government still owes CUC hundreds of millions of dollars! The governor, while declaring things to be in a "state of emergency" still says the economy looks pretty darn good (his exact words). Why not look into William Stewart's suggestion of alternate power generating options? Or Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan's comment about cheaper sources of fuel?

Quote of the day

A centaur has a man-stomach and a horse-stomach. And of course both want breakfast. So first of all he has porridge and pavenders and kidneys and bacon and omelette and cold ham and toast and marmalade and coffee and beer. And after that he tends to the horse part of himself by grazing for an hour or so and finishing up with a hot mash, some oats, and a bag of sugar. That's why it's such a serious thing to ask a Centaur to stay for the weekend.

-from "The Silver Chair", by C.S. Lewis

new album in the works

Now that I have the ability and software to record on my computer, I am planning a new CD, tenatively available by mid-summer. I already have about 15 or so songs or fragments thereof sitting on my hard drive that I'm planning to include. Most are instrumental numbers and will serve as interludes between other tracks. Some go as far back as 1985! I've been playing around alot with sampling, looping and layering - a drum track from here, a guitar or keyboard track from there, a vocal over the top, etc. Hopefully this will all take some sort of shape in the near future.
I'll be meeting with a few friends as well to hash out some ideas - a tin and wood shack, some cold drinks, buzzing amplifiers, a few mikes and a 4-track machine. Pete will play drums, Virgil on bass, me on guitar, Kaleko on ukulele, Manny on additional guitar, then back to my apartment to load the tapes to my hard drive & overdub (minimal). Hopefully Virgil's parakeets will add to the music. Other participants may include (nothing's definite at this point): John Torres, Felix Sasamoto, Glen Sablan, Rex Borja, Sebastian Camacho, Jerry Alcantara, A.J., Floyd Lim, Mark Lim, Lovely, Suzette, etc. We'll see what happens.

land issues

In a recent Saipan Tribune story, local people are said to prefer land ownership to be held only by persons of Northern Marianas descent, meaning people who are "full blooded Chamorro and/or Carolinian". How do they determine this? Blood tests? See how much SPAM content it has? Or by your Spanish/German/Japanese/Filipino family name(s)? According to cultural anthropologists, the Chamorro race no longer exists, due to centuries of racial mixing. Anyhow, I'm quite sure determining land ownership on the basis of race and/or national origin is illegal in this country.

Another story mentioned a BBQ cookoff. I'd attend, if only they didn't turn the beef into shoe leather and chicken wasn't still pink on the inside.

Some senators recently went on a fact-finding mission to Manila. Any facts they couldn't otherwise establish at the Nagoya Star nightclub in Garapan?

Yaaaaaawwwwwnnnnnnn........hm. 'Xcuse me.

Went to see the Hitchhiker's Guide the other day. Lot better than I expected. Thought it was gonna like, suck. But suck it did not.

I did however worry about the other people in the theater who probably never heard of it and were probably wondering why this was supposed to be amusing. I wonder if Chamorros get British humor? The Vogon ships made everyone ooh and aah, at least, as did the "Heart Of Gold" (the main characters' ship).

I liked actually that there were parts of the movie that Douglas (Adams) wrote specifically for it, and that it was not strictly a by-the-book exercise. John Malkovich was guite interesting. And the guy that played Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox had some good lines, especially the "freedom and democracy and all that stuff" and "there are parts of my brain that just aren't presidential material". Good W. impression.

Updates again...

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy opens tomorrow. There's a 10:30 am showing, something which our one theater here has not done in years. Must be expecting a big turnout.

Got my computers back yesterday and have been trying to get thenm back up and running. So far my collection includes the Pegasus PC with the 80gb hd, 128 mb ram, and windows 2000; as well as the Samsung notebook w/ windows 98, open office, and some other neat little programs. I'm relly taken with the tiny notebooks made back in the '90s, before people decided they needed 20' monitors for dvds, gaming etc. A friend told me today HP is going back to making small laptops. Me, I always thought HP was a steak sauce.

A funny moment at the computer shop the other day: I kinda freaked cuz the Samsung didn't have Solitaire installed. No fancy hardware, software or applications for me, eh? Just a deck of cards. Got it. Sweet!

Later.

news of the criminally insane

This just in:

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says: "I think we're definitely winning. I think we've been winning for some time."

Sure about that? You wouldn't want us to get our hopes up now, would you? Or would you?

More updates

Just found out from a friend/business associate that a trip in June to India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam (business, mostly) is a definite possibility and we should know for sure pretty soon. Also, another business trip, this one to the Philippines, is on around the same time period. Maybe I'll get to drop in on Nic in Hong Kong, on the way... Sweet!



I have to go back to the computer place tomorrow and get some work done. I believe my sound card is toast. Windows2K was not properly installed, so there's little files (clipboard, sound mapping - wait, those are important!!!) that keep giving up the ghost on me, usually in the middle of something important. I installed SoundForge and Audacity but cannot use either one as I keep getting told by Microsoft's digital gnomes in my cpu that the sound mapping file is in use by another aplication. According to task manager, there IS NO OTHER APPLICATION RUNNING!!!

I keep jumping back and forth btw Mozilla Firefox and IE 6.0. I like some features on one and some on the other. I only use Thunderbird for e-mail. I've been using MS Word, Excel and Access for various things but they were not properly installed and even Windows Installer was not properly installed. I found a free open source program called Open Office - all the same functions (word processing, spreadsheets, html coding, database access) and the ability to save as .doc or.xls files. One day I'll be completely free of the Redmond gnomes, just you wait and see (insert Dr. Evil laugh here.....)

Apart from that, I need to get more RAM installed (only have 128 mb). Have an 81 gb hd, and a brand spanking new LG 52X32X52 CD-rw drive (thanks to Mr. Lee at Tic Toc Internet). Just got a really nice pair of comp speakers, too - small, but nice (some Korean brand, made in China... ?!).

Look for some new CD projects, coming your way soon at www.aaughrecords.com (as soon as I get things sorted out - soon, hopefully!)

-Rick

About freakin time for an update...

I know it makes no difference but I selected Arial as the font for this because Times New Roman drives me absolutely up the wall. We're talking gecko time here.

Anyhoo, China did not happen. I was all set to go, plane ticket, hotel reservations and then she talked me into staying. For us. now that I'm actually staying, she's talking crazy, splitting up and all that garbage.

I'm like whatever. As Napoleon would say, "Gosh! IDIOTS!" and stalk out of the room.

Last night hung out at Hamilton's (again) and watched some bizarre (of course) documentary on ESPN about Bobby Fischer. Then r. dropped by and we discussed Fischer, Beatles, Allen, strip clubs and etc. just like usual.

Then an odd thing happened. The gov walked in, sat at the bar, and ordered mexican food, as if he's a regular. He acted really surprised to see an old business card on the bulletin board, from when he was dc rep. That's when i noticed the ag's old business card was missing.

Signed up for the postal exam. Have to see how that goes. A lot of hiring here on island is by racial preference or just plain idiocy or favoritism (or maybe just plain autism). Hopefully since it's a federal job and the p.o. mgr is from guam, it may be more even (he was, after all, the one who told me about the opening).

later.,

Goodbye Saipan, hello Suzhou

I leave for China on April 11th, 2005, Continental Airlines, 6:30 p.m. I travel first to Hong Kong, pick up my visa there, then cross the border into China and continue by train to Shanghai.

Suzhou is only a short distance away from Shanghai, 45 minutes by train. I kind of had the impression that Suzhou was a sleepy, quaint little backwater. Turns out there's a major industrial park there, thanks to the people of Jordan and Singapore. They make computer hardware, Air Jordans and the like. Suzhou also has, not one or two, but THREE Starbucks locations. And McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. Not sure if that's good or bad. Shanghai has an IKEA....

Movies, etc.

SEEN RECENTLY ON DVD:

• Tae Guk Gi - very emotional, dramatic rendering of the Korean War, filmed in Korea by Koreans! Quite powerful but violent too, kinda like Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List.
• Zhou Yu's Train - comeback role of sorts for Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern); a story about a woman raised by a train-conductor father whose sole purpose in life, besides painting intricate designs on porcelain bowls and vases, is riding trains, mostly to visit a lover in a far-off province in China, but mostly, just for the sheer heck of it.
• Napoleon Dynamite - Hilarious. Brilliant, really. "What are you gonna do today, Napoleon?" "Whatever I want to. GOSH!!!!"
• IHuckabees - BORING. Really wanted to like it but this was one of those like the Royal Tennenbaums I had an extremely hard time sitting through and had to turn it off midways.
• Beijing Bicycle - Really good story about bike messenger in China & his bike. Liked the side story about the "rich woman" in the window. Also the bath house.

LOOKING FORWARD TO:

• Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (May)
• Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (also May?)
• Chronicles Of Narnia - Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (December)
• new Doctor Who series from BBC Wales - if we ever get it stateside or islandside.... the assistant's a TOTAL babe.

First post on new blog

For older posts, go to (2003-2005) or (2001-2003). More to come soon!

New book and CD in the works, due out this spring (I think).

Possible titles: Back Porch Blues (book), Tropical Depression (cd).



Stay tuna for more updates...

Feeling a little detatched from the Iraqi conflict this holiday? Put a human face on the stories here:



A Baghdad girl's diary



Thanks to habibi for the link.

Hail To The Thief, indeed....

Radiohead Frontman Protests Bush Visit To London

(LAUNCH, 11/20/2003 5:00:00PM)







Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke is at the forefront of protests surrounding President George Bush's visit to London this week, with Yorke calling Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair "liars," according to NME.com. The singer emailed NME after learning that London police were planning to create a three-mile "exclusion zone" to keep protesters away from Bush, because of concerns over alleged threats of terror attacks against the American leader.



When asked why he chose to speak out, Yorke said, "To make Blair squirm over his decision to take us into a illegitimate war (in Iraq) and follow this religious lunatic (Bush) toward a dangerous future for the whole planet...both of these men are liars. We have the right to call them such, they are putting our children's future in jeopardy. They are not controlling the terrorist threat, they are escalating it.."



Yorke said he was enraged that authorities were using "the threat of terrorism to suppress whatever they choose, intimidate and arrest whoever they wish."

Yorke concluded by suggesting that members of the British Royal Family protest Bush's visit as well, saying that "now is a good time to remind Blair that he's on very very very very very very very very thin ice."



Members of other British bands, such as Blur and Travis, have also spoken out against the President's visit to London and both leaders' stance on the occupation of Iraq. A protest march is scheduled for today (November 20) in London.

Wife takes razor to man's genitals

Posted Thu, 06 Nov 2003



A Cambodian woman who suspected her husband was having affairs attempted to cut off his genitals with a razor blade in a jealous rage, a newspaper report said on Thursday.



The couple from downtown Phnom Penh — Mar Len (29) and her husband Kan Bunhou (26) — began arguing on Tuesday evening but neighbours stepped in to cool the dispute, the Kampuchea Thmei (New Cambodia) daily said.



Kan Bunthou told police that the pair then went to bed but he awoke when his wife began attacking him with a razor blade.



He managed to fend her off before she completed the job and fled, he said, adding that family members took him to hospital where he had received 12 stitches to repair the damage.



The newspaper said police were searching for Mar Len, who would be charged with attempted murder.



During the row she had accused Kan Bunthou, a cameraman who filmed karaoke DVDs, of infidelity with the actresses and singers he worked with, it said.

Word on the street has it the Sex Pistols are planning a concert in the middle of bombed-out Baghdad...

"The Sex Pistols suck, we’re more punk than they ever were."

Billy Joe Armstrong, Green Day

"I created Punk for this day and age. Do you see Britney walking around wearing ties and singing punk? Hell no. That's what I do. I'm like a Sid Vicious for a new generation."

Avril Lavigne (Seventeen Magazine, 2002)

"People are like, 'Well, she doesn't know the Sex Pistols.' Why would I know that stuff? Look how young I am. That stuff's old, right?"

Avril Lavigne (Entertainment Weekly, 2002)

‘Britney Spears is as punk as that silly Lavigne bird. I never, ever cared for Green Day, with their ice cream van and huge video productions. As far as I’m concerned, anything that’s MTV-led I worry about. MTV is like a headless chicken.’

Johnny Rotten (MSNBC, 2003)

More quotes from Mr. Rotten:

Courtney Love — Now there’s a peice of work--trying to be Nancy Spungen, except

she should have taken a note from her since she’s dead.

Britney Spears — Her parents should be whipped. What’s going to happen when she

grows up?

Kurt Cobain — Is he still alive? That shows you how much thought I put into

that!

Arnold Schwarzenegger — He is excercising the

wrong muscle.

Madonna — A very nice lady.

Sadaam Hussein — He’s probably hiding with his “weapons of mass destruction.”

Joe Strummer — Very sad. It seems to be that when the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame

nominates people it creates death. It’s to our benefit that they’ve ignored us.

Joey Ramone — Sad. These are nice people. It’s not true “the good die young”

‘cause I’m the living proof that that’s not the case.

Favorite Onion headline:

"God grants John Ritter's wish to meet Johnny Cash."

Johnny Cash: 1932-2003



Favorite songs-

Ring Of Fire

Cocaine Blues

Folsom Prison Blues

I Walk The Line

The Wanderer (from "Zooropa" by U2, 1993)

I Walk The Line Revisited (Rodney Crowell w/ Johnny Cash, 2000 (?))

Girl From The North Country (duet w/ Bob Dylan from "Nashville Skyline", 1969)

Tennessee Stud ("Jackie Brown" movie soundtrack, 1997)



Favorite albums:

Cash (American Recordings I, 1994)

Live At Folsom Prison

Live At San Quentin



Favorite Cash moments:

watching his TV special on video at Museum Of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, esp. episodes with guest Bob Dylan

Johnny Cash's liner notes for Dylan's "Nashville Skyline"



he will be missed

Here's something that's been bothering me for awhile: for years, the American public has been told by the media that if you go to McDonald's/BK/etc. and get a cheeseburger or whatever signature sandwich they offer and complement that with greasy fried potatoes and a sugar-laden soft drink, that constitutes a well-balanced meal. Never mind that the burger/whatever is mostly bread (empty calories) anyways, plus the oil in the meat, cheese and fries; plus all that sugar. Supposedly if you get it biggie/super-size etc. that's a really great deal, right? Wrong. Only in America can people be so well-fed, yet malnourished at the same time. Kinda reminds me of the novel, Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Also reminds me of the song, "American Fast Food" by Randy Stonehill.....



AMERICAN FAST FOOD



Words and Music by

Randy Stonehill



American fast food, what a stupid way to die

American fast food, order me the jumbo fries

Oh, oh, it's easy

It's so easy and it's trouble free

It's quick and disposable, just like me

If I don't stop eating this greasy American fast food



Well, we're undernourished, but we're overfed

And we're munching on the burger with the white bread

And we're sucking up the sugar in a milkshake

Till we slip into depression with a big headache

And our arteries are crying out, "give us a break"



American fast food, what a stupid way to die

American fast food, you kiss your old age goodbye

Oh, oh, it's easy

It's so easy and it's trouble free

It's quick and disposable, just like me

If I don't stop eating this greasy American fast food



You won't have to embalm me when my life is through

There are so many preservatives in what I eat

The job's being done right now for you



"Can I take you order, please?"

"A cheeseburger, fries, and a big chocolate malted"



It's prefab junk at an exorbitant price

And it's bound to make you nauseous if you look at it twice

But they're selling you by telling you it's food that's fun

When it tastes like cardboard It chews like sponge

'cause it's really only garbage on a sesame bun



American fast food, what a stupid way to die

American fast food, order me the chili-size

Oh, oh, it's easy

It's so easy and it's trouble free

It's quick and disposable, just like me

If I don't stop eating this greasy American

I don't stop eating this greasy American fast food



© Copyright 1983 by Stonehillian Music & Word Music (a division of Word, Inc.) (ASCAP)

Ok, the other night the wife and I went to Pizza Hut and wound up finishing an entire medium pan-crust black olive & mushroom pizza between us. I think I may have committed the unforgiveable sin, though, of actually (horror of horrors) re-filling my own soft drink... the server for my section kept giving me this look the whole time, you know? Ironically, I discovered while ordering that if you buy a large pizza, you get a free DVD! The choices were, Honeymoon In Vegas, Mr. Mom, All Dogs Go To Heaven, and Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey. The ironic part is, the next morning I stopped by Meitetsu grocery store to buy some orange juice and ran into (not literally) Dan Shor, who was "Billy The Kid" in the FIRST Bill & Ted movie. I told him about the DVD thing and his jaw literally dropped, then I explained it was the second one, to which he replied, "You mean the evil one"? just joking of course!



In other news, my wife and I enjoyed looking at Mars from the balcony last night.

I know, it's been over a month since I posted anything here. Oh well, people get busy, plus peer pressure forced me to start a livejournal. I really prefer blogger tho...



NEWS:

ftp'd some new mp3s to my website today, plus changed the content of some of the pages on my site and uploaded those as well.



that's all for now....

Went to a bar the other night where myself and the other patrons were treated to a free impromptu performance by the actor who plays Elvis over at the Hard Rock Cafe. Between sets by the band, he had met with the guitarist and worked out a medley of songs, including "Heartbreak Hotel", "All Shook Up", "Hound Dog", etc. Good fun. He bears a striking resembelance to Elvis, he's just a little shorter perhaps. Too bad his Elvis shades broke during the second song when he placed them on the conga drums and they fell off. >>>I might have to conduct an interview with him for the Red Elvises fanzine, of which I am assistant editor.... look for details, coming soon!



In other news, Bill over at 1980 records has finished mixing the Ice Cream Factory project. We're expecting to release it sometime in early August.

Bill Tucker of 1980 Records in Chicago will be releasing Ice Cream Factory's 1998 self-titled project on CD sometime in early August, as soon as we trade CD-Rs by mail and hunt down some missing tracks on ADAT. It will be a joint Aaugh!/1980 issue and I've already lined up tenative distro in the Netherlands and the Philippines. I'm also looking at distro possibilities in France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and Mexico.



ICE CREAM FACTORY

Bill Tucker- guitar, vocals

Rick Williams- bass, drums, vocals

just posted a "links" page at the main site.



i've been listening to some tracks i downloaded from go home productions. they did an interesting re-mix where they put snoop dogg and dr. dre over a crowded house song... give it a listen!



download "return of the weather episode"



i burned this and have been trying it out in my car. interesting stuff.

I'm sitting here at work (on a Sunday) listening to Bob Dylan- Live 1966 at The Manchester Free Trade Hall (the "Royal Albert Hall" concert). I'm supposed to be studying UniCode so I can start publishing web pages in Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Came in and there were a couple of thick reference manuals on the desk... Last night I watched "Punch-Drunk Love" on video for the first time. Blockbuster let me have it for a whole week, so I'll probably view it a couple more times. Tonight I plan to watch Woody Allen's "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask)" which I havent seen in probably 6 years or so.



The other night some of my Chinese friends introduced me to Sichuan hot pot. For the uninitiated, it's a huge pot of broth with beans, chilis, garlic, ginger, etc. (Chili ingredients in Texas); you place seafood, sausages, assorted vegetables inside the boiling broth and let them cook for a few seconds. Sichuan food being quite spicy, the results are quite literally breath-taking but absolutely delicious. Need a lot of rice and a cold beverage!



Check out Nic Tse's updated site (with lots of cool photos from around the world) at: www.nostalgic.org

A couple of releases I've been pleasantly surprised by over the last few months:



Riki Michele, Surround Me (rikimichele.com music)

This new disc by the former Adam Again vocalist is one of the most original releases I've heard in a long time.

It sounds nothing at all like AA or her past projects, Big Big Town or One Moment Please.

There's something very refreshing about the vocals and production; the producer is none other than Julian Kindred, who engineered most of The Choir's Grammy Award-nominated Flap Your Wings. More use is made of Riki's considerable vocal talent. This is the most forward I've ever heard her voice in the mix. The very fact that she released this herself (with a little help from her friends) is commendable. It has a big label sound on a home studio budget.



Derri Daugherty, A Few Unfinished Songs (Lo-Fidelity Records)

This disc by the Choir frontman is very understated, mostly song ideas he had been kicking around for a while. It bears very little resembelance to a Choir record; actually it sounds more like George Harrison at times (the Choir themselves covered Harrison's "Behind That Locked Door" a few years back). Very minimal production values (not overbearing, in other words) and only 5 songs in length, it gets full marks from me... still I hope to hear a full length solo release from him.

vous aiment des frites de liberté avec cela?

look for new cd releases soon.



we hope to have books in the online store by August.

i'm still working on the website, thanks for your patience...



Rick

I might be putting a new band together soon, mostly local guys... not "traditional" Chammorro music, if there is such a thing (most of the stuff you hear here is MIDI-oriented). It would be cool if we could get some new material together and come out with a CD by next year, maybe even play some dates in the US, Europe and Japan (I'm working on details as we speak)... I'm looking for musicians who are into U2, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins- most of the guys here are into Linkin Park, POD, that stuff. Maybe it'll be a sort of compromise...



visit www.aaughrecords.com to find out all the latest news and info...



Rick

here's an interesting article on the bush admin's fabrication of evidence against iraq... (thanks to www.michaelmoore.com)

well, i went to see terminator 3 last night; between that, popcorn, m&ms and pepsi twist i was not having the greatest dreams... i dreamt that i was being chased by cyborgs or something... woke up at 3 a.m. with an anxiety attack and chased it away by browsing the internet for a couple of hours (i drank some cold water, too).....



my job still won't have an office until probably august. until then i'll keep trying to get things accomplished from home, not an easy task. it's all i can do to update this blog once in awhile, let alone work. especially in this heat.

I went to the movies with my nephew this weekend. We were supposed to see "Finding Nemo" but it was already gone from the theater... The remaining choices were "Hulk", "Bruce Almighty", and "Rugrats Gone Wild"..."Finding Nemo" had been replaced by some stupid "American Idol" movie (!). So my 6 year old nephew opted for "Rugrats...". I enjoyed some of the animation, esp. since it was done by the people who used to do the Simpsons (Klasky Csupo, I think); voices included Bruce Willis, Chrissie Hynde, Nancy Cartwright (Simpsons), and Tress MacNellie (also Simpsons). Currently waiting to see: "Charlie's Angels II (soon)", "Kill Bill" (Tarantino, Oct.), and "Anything Else" (Woody Allen, Sept.) The local Blockbuster seemingly has no word on "Punch-Drunk Love" or "Bowling For Columbine", neither of which I saw in the theater.



"There's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids upon the death of their loved one. Others hug but having committed the troops, I've got an additional responsibility to hug and that's me and I know what it's like."—President George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2002

from www.moby.com:



during the clinton administration there was an investigation into his involvement in a failed real-estate deal called 'whitewater'. the republicans spent something like $50 million dollars to find out that clinton was blameless in his 'whitewater' involvement.

and now those same republicans have blocked efforts to look into:

the bush administrations use of falsified intelligence documents to justify the war in iraq.

the role of energy companies such as enron in determining u.s energy policy.

corporate fraud perpetrated by dick cheney at halliburton.

etc.

etc.

what a shameful excuse for government we americans are currently suffering under.

moby



06/12/2003

Just ordered some copies of my latest CD project, to see how it turned out mostly, also for giving out to ma homies...

also working on a possible distro deal with a label in the Netherlands... more on that later!



current mood: optimistic

current music: ten songs by adam again

FTP Log



created: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 11:15:47 GMT

220 batcave5 NcFTPd Server (licensed copy) ready.

USER FTPUser2

331 User FTPUser2 okay, need password.

PASS xxxxxx

230-You are user #1 of 250 simultaneous users allowed. 230- 230 Logged in.

SYST

215 UNIX Type: L8

PWD

257 "/home/FTPUser" is cwd.

REST 1

350 Will attempt to restart at position 1.

REST 0

350 Will attempt to restart at position 0.

Restartable feature is enabled.

TYPE A

200 Type okay.

TYPE I

200 Type okay.

PORT 192,168,10,109,151,34

200 PORT command successful.

STOR archives/aaughnews_archive.html

150 Opening BINARY mode data connection.



226 Transfer completed.

TYPE I

200 Type okay.

PORT 192,168,10,109,151,37

200 PORT command successful.

STOR homes/aaughnews.html

150 Opening BINARY mode data connection.

.

226 Transfer completed.

QUIT

221 Goodbye.

I swear when KFC or Subway get a cam we'll be all up in that mug.



8-)

Yet another view of McDonald's- this is their other branch on Saipan.







Fun, ain't it?

The Cds are available finally, click on the titles on the main page. Soon enough I'll have CD-Rs available for half the price of the regular CDs, for those of you that want to try the Aaugh! experience first..... There's a whole bunch of T-shirt designs and etc. also available form our merchandise center (Aaugh! Records - Rick Williams - Brownpeace - Basket Cases), let me know what you think of the d'zines... books are on the way!



"You say you’re depressed but you’re not

You just like to stay in bed"

-Paul Simon, "Darling Lorraine" (You're The One, 2000)

A peek behind the scenes at one of McDonald's fine quick-service dining establishments:







..that's their main store here on Saipan. It's one of the few Mickey D's in the world that serves Spam!

Just thought I'd share a couple of my favorite lines from "Austin Powers In Goldmember", which I happened to see part of again today at Blockbuster:



Goldmember (Mike Myers): "Would you like a shmoke and a pancake? Waffle and a shigar? Crepe and a pipe? Bong and a blintz? No? There's just no pleasing you, is there?"



Nigel Powers (Michael Caine): [to Goldmember] "There are two things I can't stand in this world. Intolerance of other peoples' culture, and the Dutch."

Well, the last few days I was out with a wicked cold that had me in bed most of the weekend. Didn't get much rest and woke up Sunday feeling like my head was the inside of a volcano. Took a bunch of cold medicine, drank tons of water and hit the sack again. It's Monday evening and I'm starting to feel somewhat normal again (still have a bad cough though, and am sniffling like crazy). Hope to get some actual work done this week!

You're a Non-box.



What box do you get put in?
brought to you by Quizilla

AOL/Netscape chat

You have just entered room "Diet and Nutrition Chat."




aaughrecords: Hi there, what do you want to talk about?

tbsagt: hi

aaughrecords: Hello

tbsagt: i like chocolate

aaughrecords: Tell me about yourself

tbsagt: why?

aaughrecords: I live on a small island in the Pacific, kinda boring.

tbsagt: i live on small planet in the solar system

aaughrecords: what's your favorite food?

tbsagt: chocolate

aaughrecords: thought so.

tbsagt: i´m just making fish for lunch

aaughrecords: funny, I just had fish for lunch today!

tbsagt: no wonder when you live in the pacific

tbsagt: it´s fried fish with noodles

aaughrecords: heard of tilapia?

tbsagt: no

aaughrecords: very tasty, medium sized fish- large bones, easy to remove. Good fried or grilled.

tbsagt: oh i thought it´s the island hehe

aaughrecords: the island is Saipan, like the movie "Windtalkers"

tbsagt: i must go and check my fish

aaughrecords: OK

tbsagt: not that it burns

aaughrecords: yeah!

aaughrecords: I'm assuming you're in the UK, must be noon there...

tbsagt: not too far away

aaughrecords: whereabouts?

tbsagt: germany, anyway i´m gonna eat now

aaughrecords: Guten appetit!

tbsagt: danke! hehe

tbsagt has left the room.

on the cd player: The Beatles, "The White Album"

"The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill" could really be about W., if you think about it.....

No word from the manufacturing plant yet, I'm just working on the inside CD booklets, making sure they look ok. My wife just came back from a teacher's conference in Rota this weekend; I made some fresh guacamole tonight and we ate it w/Doritos (couldn't find any regular unflavored tortilla chips like Tostitos....).

This week I'm starting work with a company that publishes web pages for various gov't agencies. My job will be training employees in the offices to update their own web content...

can someone send me Zwan's Cd, burned or otherwise?

Just posted recently online: a review of my 2001 e.p. "Shinkansen" in the webzine "The Cutting Edge". This e.p. is no longer available on it's own but was incorporated into the 2001 release "Don't Look Now", available on CD-R from the Aaugh! Records store.

Shipped the master CDs off to the plant in California today via Priority Mail...now all that's left to do is wait for them to recieve them and start putting together the finished product.

Thanks to those of you who already asked about "Siamese Connection"; seems the Phantom Tollbooth review, while coming off a little negative (probably the reviewer should stick to major label reviews, not indies or diy projects, he dosen't seem to "get it") seems to have done more good than harm (you read that right).

Website's under construction.... visit soon! It looks really cool......

finished the Cds this weekend, they're all ready to ship off to the plant.


I did the artwork on my computer (Corel Presentations formatted for Cd booklets,


etc.) and mixed some new tracks as well. Now i just have to entrust them to


Newman and his colleagues at USPS.....

check back soon at www.aaughrecords.com for more details!

For some reason the Hostdepartment server is down so I transferred the aaughrecords.com domain over here until they get it back up again...

planning to finish the CDs this weekend, look out for a CD by local Saipan band "Split Attitude", coming soon...

here's all the links you need for the site:

store


e-mail


my site on Tripod (w/ discography + links)

Later!


Rick

New status regarding the Cds:

The CDs in Cafeshops.com are down temporarily until I get the rest of the music uploaded; sorry for the delay!

If you want to, just e-mail me w/ the title you're looking for....

Later!

In case ya didn't know-tice this page has a new look.... whaddya think???

New to the aaugh! site:

Guest Map (you can put a little virtual thumbtack on a map in a

pop-up window so we can all play "Where's Waldo?"!)

New CDs coming soon; the PayPal shopping cart is only temporary. I might still maintain it for selling

special items like limited edition CD-Rs, newsletter subs, etc. but my main focus will be through the CafePress.com

sites (Aaugh! Records, Rick Williams, Brownpeace, Basket Cases, etc.). I just put a lot of time and effort into re-designing the Cd covers, especially The Basket Cases' Symphony For A Lost Generation... it really looks great!

BTW, I got pretty sunburned volunteering at the Tagaman Triathlon doing (guess what?) the same ol' job of directing cyclists down a road (a proper road this time, not a footpath through the jungle).

Janet and I watched the movie "Kandahar" last night, an Iranian film about a young woman trying to get to her sister still in Afghanistan. We liked it very much. If you haven't seen it yet, run, don't walk to your nearest Blockbuster etc. and rent it today!

Ciao!


(I think that's Italian for "food" or something...)

Just saw a Chevy El Camino today for the first time since, probably, the 1970s.



Did you know that McDonald's in India serves burgers made from mutton or chicken only? And in Israel they operate both Kosher and non-Kosher restaurants (the Kosher ones are not open on the Sabbath). One of the strangest items to me was the Bulgogi Burger in Korea (and I love Korean food!). Or probably the Teriyaki Burger in Japan...



new additions to the website, check it out..... I relocated the site to a free server w/out any banner or pop-up ads! 8-)

i have been here for awhile: watching, thinking. it seems that the world is becoming increasingly more complex. we earn more money, but the money becomes worth less. we discover new medicines but new diseases spring up. we locate new food sources, yet millions of people starve while food lays rotting in storage houses.



perhaps there was a time when life was easier and there was less to think about, when there was less non-essential information to contend with. now some people talk in terms of light years. men have landed on the moon but has a man ever landed on earth? once, but we crucified him.



once we lived in houses we built with our own hands, ate the food we grew in the fields, and walked whenever we wanted to travel - but people wanted a better life. so now we are a "civilized world" with technological conviences like automobiles (to breathe) industries (to drink) and insecticides (to eat) - science presumes to replace God = with technology our bishop, chemistry our high priest, and the atom bomb our pope. scientists say that soon they will be able to create life in laboratories. i sometimes stop to wonder, did man evolve from the animals? or did man become an animal all by himself?



-Larry Norman, So Long Ago The Garden

(linear notes, 1976)

From today's Marianas Variety,

Letters section:



"This is regarding the Washington Merry-Go-Round column that runs in your paper, written by Jack Anderson and Douglas Cohn.

In the most recent column, they state, “President Nixon launched the war on drugs in the 1970s, with Elvis Presley as his poster boy. Presley died addicted to drugs, and drug use has remained constant despite the government’s best efforts.”

A common misconception is that Presley was on LSD, cocaine, marijuana, acid, whatever, you name it, while ironically being named Nixon’s top DEA enforcer. In actuality, Presley was being PRESCRIBED pain killers and the like by several different doctors, none of which he should have been taking together for the period of time that he did.



In another recent column, the authors claim that “Tokyo Rose” was Filipino. According to my research, there never was a person broadcasting anti-American propaganda for the Japanese under the name “Tokyo Rose.” “Tokyo Rose” is more of an urban legend if you will, a product of the imaginations of several thousand lonely U.S. soldiers in the Pacific. It was they who gave that name to a combination of women who were hired by the Japanese military to demoralize U.S. troops but wound up having the reverse effect.

A journalist landing in Japan after the war promised a reward of $2,500 to “Tokyo Rose” if she would come forward and tell her (exclusive) story. The woman who stepped forward was Iva Toguri D’Aquino, an American citizen of Japanese descent (married to Felipe D’Aquino, a Portuguese national) who had gone to Japan to visit relatives shortly before the war broke out. She found herself stranded without her passport and no money to return to her family and subsequently confessed to being “Tokyo Rose” if only to collect the money and return home. She was tried for treason and eventually pardoned by President Gerald Ford after spending a number of years in prison. She now owns a small store on the north side of Chicago.

Hope you’ll do more research in the future, gentlemen!"



RICK VAUGHN

San Roque, Saipan

Good Friday today; all the local businesses are closed 'cause they feel like tormenting all of their customers who aren't Catholic like them.



Bush League

(Lost Dogs, from the album "Scenic Routes")

written by Gene Eugene and Terry Taylor



1,2,3,4

I don't know what I think about it

But I know what I think of you

Well I know I can live without it

And I know what I want to do



I'll pack you a lunch, clear your desk

It's going to be hell to clean your mess

All I know is that you gotta go



I don't know what I think about it

But your bush league days are through

Will you give me a job I doubt it

Here's a bird in the hand for you



Next time you start a storm

You better get you a mess kit, canteen and uniform

Cause we feel like livin' so you've got to go



Your points of light are almost gone

So here's your yellow ribbon-burning song



For Millie and Danny and Saddam and nanny

Babs and Ronnie and Clyde and Bonnie

Clarence and Ollie and the Beave and Wally

And Maggie and Gorby and the new world ordey

First update in a month!



Nothing new really; just found out that the Cutting Edge as a 'zine has been discontinued (www.geocities.com/baptistboy_46), so I guess that means no Siamese Connection review. :-(

Volunteered at the Saipan Xterra Triathlon this past weekend directing cyclists off the road, down a muddy slope and into some bushes (honestly, that's where they were supposed to go!) for 2 1/2 hours...

My wife and I came up with another idea to raise some funds part-time: convert our car into a taxi (let's see if it works).

The aaugh! records site has been updated finally: go to www.aaughrecords.com and click on the graphic in the middle of the screen. also check out the Phantom Tollbooth's CD review of Siamese Connection at www.tollbooth.org/2003/reviews/rwilliams.html.