Frank Zappa interviewed on the problems with democracy

While going through the plethora of interesting materials on the late musician Frank Zappa (1940-1993) online, I found this very interesting interview segment in which FZ spoke out on the problematics of so-called democracy in US government. Particularly prescient as a recent and widely circulated academic study has concluded that the US is an oligarchy now. Zappa's opinions on things artistic, cultural, and political were all over the map but he was a staunch advocate for free speech and of course against censorship. More FZ links to come soon!

Tony Blair: In no way shocking but still disturbing

I just read Andy Beckett's feature in the Guardian entitled Tony Blair: from New Labour to Political Embarrassment which is a lively dissection of the former British Prime Minister's continuing descent into ideological contradiction, corporate consultation, and downright weirdness for a figure that once had at least a small amount of credibility (albeit very long ago). As I wrote above, he's been on this trajectory forever it seems now and the Iraq War "coalition" really sealed it for me, so there are really no shocking or surprising revelations, but it's still creepy and disturbing nonetheless. Interesting reading.