Friday, February 25, 2005

thanks for lunch rupert

Singer Islam gets libel damages

The singer was barred entry to the US last September
Yusuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, has won substantial damages from two UK newspapers which falsely claimed he supported terrorism.

The Sun and Sunday Times also published apologies after they made the false allegations in two articles in October.

The papers had suggested US authorities had been right to refuse his entry into the country in September.

Mr Islam said the settlement cleared his good name, and the damages would help victims of the Asian tsunami.

He said that both newspapers have now acknowledged that he is not, and never has been, involved in or supported terrorism, and that he abhors all such activities.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

don't rest in peace ... raise hell

Richard Nixon looks like a flaming liberal today, compared to a golem like George Bush. Indeed. Where is Richard Nixon now that we finally need him?

"If Nixon were running for president today, he would be seen as a "liberal" candidate, and he would probably win. He was a crook and a bungler, but what the hell? Nixon was a barrel of laughs compared to this gang of thugs from the Halliburton petroleum organization who are running the White House today — and who will be running it this time next year, if we (the once-proud, once-loved and widely respected "American people") don’t rise up like wounded warriors and whack those lying petroleum pimps out of the White House on November 2nd.

Nixon hated running for president during football season, but he did it anyway. Nixon was a professional politician, and I despised everything he stood for — but if he were running for president this year against the evil Bush-Cheney gang, I would happily vote for him.

You bet. Richard Nixon would be my Man. He was a crook and a creep and a gin-sot, but on some nights, when he would get hammered and wander around in the streets, he was fun to hang out with. He would wear a silk sweat suit and pull a stocking down over his face so nobody could recognize him. Then we would get in a cab and cruise down to the Watergate Hotel, just for laughs.

~Hunter S. Thompson