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Back in June I wrote a commentary for MSNBC on the ramifications of Pearl Jam leaving Epic Records (archived here for some reason): Bands come and go from record labels in a revolving door of euphoria and dejection, so when the news came out that Pearl Jam had fulfilled its …

How quickly they forget the good old days: Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz has started calling his youngest son – named Saddam after Iraq’s ousted leader – by the name Zuhair instead, according to letters obtained by the London-based Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat. “My regards to everybody, how …

“Go to the mirror boy” – Ralph Peters: Bashir Assad, Kim Jong-Il, Robert Mugabe, the old mullahs in Teheran, the Saudi royal family, the already cowering Moammar Khadafy – and that would-be caliph of all Muslims, Osama bin Laden . . . all of the dictators, authoritarian rulers and terrorists-who-would-be-king …

Lame Xmas covers considered. . .

The most anticipated film of the year is finally here. The King, He’s Back The Return of the King has been out for five days now, so the hard-core fans have mostly seen it already. Those who haven’t seen it are advised to skip the following, as it will be …

We report on the foolishness and foibles of entertainers all the time, so it’s important we also recognize some of the great things they do: Growing up, Richard Smith’s father was gone and his mother struggled to keep above the poverty line while raising two kids on her own. Today …

News, commentary, opinion, reflections on the capture of Saddam Hussein, what it means, what’s next: Timing is Everything. Remember not to far back, I was rambling on about Saddam Hussein being captured. A lot of you happened to note that this occurred right after the revelations about Haliburton overcharging the …

Many are the perspectives flying on the capture of Saddam Hussein, what it means, what lies ahead. Here are some of them: Spencer Ackerman thinks the Bush administration has the significance of Saddam’s capture reversed: President Bush told the American people bluntly that “the capture of Saddam Hussein does not …

Billboard reports on the return of pop music to Iraq: Iraqi pop stars, tainted by association with Saddam Hussein’s rule, are slowly making a comeback, but, as in politics, it’s the exiles who are hogging the limelight. Iraq once had dozens of young pop singers, but during the 1990s they …

Is any group of humans more consistently wrong about their decisions and opinions than the vaunted “Arab Street”? Is there a more perverse, self-defeating bunch of misguided, just plain stupid, death-worshiping fools on the planet? God, I hope not: Arabs greeted the capture of Saddam Hussein with divided emotions Sunday, …