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Wednesday, 13 February 2013

The Strokes Ditch The Synths, Get Dirty On 'All The Time'

First single off the band's Comedown Machine album finds them exploring their lo-fi past.
By James Montgomery

The Strokes' Julian Casablancas
Photo: Mauricio Santana/ Getty Image

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1701969/strokes-new-song-all-the-time.jhtml

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Syria's Kurds and the Struggle for Oil

Last month, fierce clashes broke out between armed Kurdish groups and Arab militias affiliated with the government of Syria?s embattled president Bashar al-Assad on the outskirts of Rumeilan, an oil-rich town in the far northeastern part of the country. The fighting signaled an outbreak of a dispute for control of the sprawling oil fields in the predominantly Kurdish region.

The Kurdish homeland lies on an ocean of oil and other natural resources. Thus, for the Kurds across the Middle East, oil has always been a factor in their ethnic plight. Many Kurds regard it as a curse rather than a blessing. Oil represents a wealth that has never fully belonged to them. Successive governments that ruled Iraq, for example, had always maintained a strong grip over oil fields in the Kurdish north.

But in Syria, as the civil war evolves and the violence turns bloodier, it becomes clearer that oil is going to be a profound dilemma in the future, regardless of Assad?s demise. Compared to its neighbors, Syria does not look like an oil giant. The country, however, has significant amounts of undiscovered oil reserves?as much 3.15 billion barrels?as well as 6.9 billion barrels of discovered reserves, according to a 2009 study by Damascus University. These reserves would meet domestic consumption demands for eighteen years. The majority of these oil fields are located in the northeast, where almost 65 percent of Syria?s Kurds reside.

The first attempts to drill oil in northern Syria date back to 1936, when the French-controlled government decided to look for the black gold. Those endeavors, however, were derailed in 1941 by the start of World War II. But the formal discovery of commercial oil was declared in 1957. The major oil fields were located in areas along the borders with Turkey such as Rumeilan, Qarachook and Swediyeh (approximately 600 miles from Damascus). Smaller fields were discovered later further south in Jebessa and Shadadi, where Arabs form a significant share of a mixed population.

In 1969 the Syrian government finally decided to establish a two-year college in Rumeilan. Since then, approximately fifty-nine students graduate from the relatively small school per year?mostly children of Syrian Oil Company employees. Although Rumeilan?s fields are the richest in Syria, its school has never specialized in refining, and there is the glaring lack of a refinery in the area. Local experts reaffirm that the Baathist regime has deliberately resorted to this particular policy for two reasons: first, to deprive the Kurds of any potential investment and economic development in their region; second, to keep the locals from acquiring sophisticated knowledge of all oil-industry techniques in order to dispel any dream nationalist Kurds might harbor that oil could become their main source of revenue if a Kurdish state were created.

Last July, Syrian forces tactically withdrew from many Kurdish cities and towns in order to focus on fighting rebels in Aleppo, the Damascus suburbs and other contested areas. Some security forces, however, remained deployed at strategic points in the Kurdish northeast. Oil fields in Rumeilan, for instance, have been controlled by regime forces. Shortly after that, the government announced its need to hire locals to take charge of security affairs around these fields. Nidal Ahmed, an engineer, who has worked in Rumeilan field for fifteen years, confirmed in a phone interview that members of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is close to Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK), have seized the opportunity and applied for those available positions. As the months ensued and the government?s grip in the entire region loosened, these armed Kurdish groups managed to gain absolute control of the fields and other related manufacturing systems, according to the same account. The presence of the few Syrian forces?which are still there? cannot apparently change the de-facto situation. Technically, the majority of oil fields in northern Syria are in Kurdish hands.

The question that remains unclear to many, including Kurds, is whether Syrian Kurds can run these rich fields by themselves. Salih Muslim, leader of the PYD, is certain that his party, along with other Kurdish parties of the Kurdish National Council (KNC), is able to manage oil drilling and even exports. For him, it?s only a matter of time before the Supreme Kurdish Commission, an umbrella coalition for the PYD and KNC, develop a foreign-policy platform. In fact, the aforementioned commission has already formed a minigovernment in Kurdish-controlled areas in which security, financial affairs and even border controls with the Iraqi Kurdistan region are run quasi-independently. Another engineer from the Rumeilan asserted in an interview that ?Kurds are capable of running the fields, if circumstances permit.? According to him, most of the workers, engineers, and other various technicians working in the fields?before operations were ceased by the government two months ago?were Kurds. People in charge of sensitive posts were often appointed by security headquarters in Damascus. But these, according to two other local oil engineers, were busy amassing wealth and drowning in corruption. Thus, local Kurdish employees were the ones who in fact ran the entire show.

Source: http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/syrias-kurds-the-struggle-oil-8090

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First lady will host 102-year-old determined voter

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A determined Florida centenarian who had to make two trips and wait several hours to vote for President Barack Obama last fall was invited to sit with first lady Michelle Obama during Tuesday's State of the Union. Her resolve became a symbol of early voting obstacles in the presidential election.

Desiline Victor, 102, of Miami, endured a weather-delayed flight to Washington on Monday in order to get to town for Obama's address. She will be among the guests seated with Mrs. Obama, an opportunity she called "a beautiful thing."

Also expected to sit with Mrs. Obama are:

?Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton and Nathaniel A. Pendleton Sr. of Chicago, the parents of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot to death just days after performing in Washington during Obama's inauguration.

?Haile Thomas, 12, of Tucson, Ariz., who helped start the HAPPY Organization, a group that produces online healthy cooking videos aimed at children.

?Alan Aleman, a Mexican immigrant who is one of the first people in Nevada allowed to remain in the country under an Obama administration initiative for immigrant children whose parents lack legal permission to be in the U.S. Aleman is pursuing a biology degree and hopes to be a doctor.

?Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers, the first Latina mayor of Avondale, Ariz. She was elected in 2006 after serving 14 years on the city council. Growing up, she picked cotton with her parents on farmland that is now the site of City Hall.

?Sgt. Carlos Evans, a U.S. Marine from Fayetteville, N.C., who lost both legs and his left hand during service that included three deployments to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. The president signed Evans' prosthetic arm when Evans previously visited the White House.

In October, Victor went to the polls on the first Sunday of early voting in Florida. That day, she had to make two visits to her voting precinct, and waited three hours on the first attempt, in order to cast her vote for Obama.

Her determination, despite the physical strain, inspired others to remain and endure up to six-hour waits.

"She just wants everyone to know she wants everyone to vote," said Victor's nephew, Mathieu Pierre-Louis, who translated her words from Creole. Her vote, she said through her nephew, is special. She said she loves Obama and will tell him so if she gets the chance.

A farmworker from Haiti, Victor was born in 1910. She arrived in the U.S. in 1989 and was naturalized in 2005. She first voted in the 2008 presidential election and cast her ballot for Obama.

A slew of states, including Victor's home state of Florida, implemented new voting restrictions in the two years after Obama's historic first election, in which black and Hispanic turnout reached record highs. The laws reduced early voting days, instituted rules requiring voters to show accepted forms of photo identification and curtailed some voter registration activities.

Obama again enjoyed overwhelming support from minority voters in his victory over GOP rival Mitt Romney last year.

Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project, a group that advocates for civil rights, said Victor's story underscores the need to fix the voting system to ensure, among other things, that it accommodates elderly voters.

"It's clear Ms. Victor's story is a story that shows the tenacity of a voter to overcome barriers," Dianis said. "Unfortunately there were dozens who didn't get to vote because of problems."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-12-US-State-of-Union-Voter/id-c7214b2efc1749c5b53c73adbe443080

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Pelosi urges no President's Day recess (Washington Bureau)

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Tuesday, 12 February 2013

Kate Upton Swimsuit Issue Covers: Which is Hotter?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/kate-upton-swimsuit-issue-covers-which-is-hotter/

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Sunday, 10 February 2013

Mardi Gras 2013 Spirit Poster

The familiar signs of Mardi Gras are popping up all around New Orleans. Your King Cakes, your domino masks, your pounds upon pounds of plastic beads. But there is a new addition to the Mardi Gras dcor this year in the form of the beautiful, creepy "Spirit Portrait" Mardi Gras poster by Amzie Adams.

Amzie is a Faubourg-Marigny resident and internationally famous artist. This creator of music, photographs, films and paintings has made his home in New Orleans for nearly fifty years. Since 1982, Amzie has created a new painting or poster specifically for Carnival each and every year. His posters have depicted masked revelers, spirit dancers, and various musicians from all walks of life including street performers, Doctor John, Little Freddie King and even KISS.

Amzie's work, which he says falls into the realm of "post-impressionisitic spacialism" is sometimes surreal, sometimes lifelike, and always intriguing. His work radiates a spirit of New Orleans so many visitors come to the Crescent City to experience. It incorporates the French and Spanish architecture of the city in addition to the various religious cultures of New Orleans, especially the Haitian influx of the 1800s, which brought the city its' distinct Creole Cottage and Voodoo. Amzie paints images that are at the crossroads of bohemia and historic New Orleans culture, and always with a hint of the psychedelic. His latest poster "Spirit Portrait" is no different.

The poster image began as a photograph of a woman that Amzie was to use as the basis for a painting; but when he began his work something interesting happened. A kaleidoscope of symbols surfaced in the woman's picture. Within the image one can find Vincent Van Gogh, a Peace Dove, a white rabbit, a purple clown blowing fire, a Unicorn with a gas mask, and a slew of other symbols for the keen eyed observer to find.

So Amzie's task became not to capture her bodily image but rather to paint what he saw as her spirit and aura. The painting itself is a blend of life and death, the main image being reminiscent of the Mexican Day of the Dead sugar skull. The skull has flowers sprouting from the crown, symbolizing the rebirth and resurrection that has been part of Amzie's work in the years since Hurricane Katrina.

While the poster does resemble a Mardi Gras mask, a Mardi Gras mask is supposed to hide your identity, while the Spirit Portrait reveals it.

Anthony Faia was born in New Orleans and grew up in Kansas City, Mo and The Woodlands, Tx. He studied film and literature at Louisiana State University and received an MFA in screen writing from the University of Texas. His short fiction "Down at the Crossroads" won the LSU John Ed Bradley Award, and his script "The Curse of William Legg" was featured in the University of Texas Hollywood Showcase. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2546823/bio

Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/mardi-gras-2013-spirit-poster-316074

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Iowa governor pardons pig before bacon festival

Bonnie, a Berkshire breed pig about 2 1/2 months old, waits for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad to pardon her outside the governor's mansion Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 in Des Moines, Iowa. The pardon is a first for the governor and a celebration of the annual Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival that begins this weekend at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. (AP Photo/Barbara Rodriguez)

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, left, pardons a Berkshire pig named Bonnie, held by her owner Randy Hilleman, at the governor?s mansion on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 in Des Moines, Iowa. The pardon is a first for the governor and a celebration of the annual Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival that begins this weekend at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. (AP Photo/Barbara Rodriguez)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? A young pig has won a reprieve from the frying pan just as Iowa's popular bacon festival is about to begin.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad pardoned the 30-pound, 2 ?-month-old Berkshire pig named Bonnie on Friday morning.

The pardon took place outside the governor's mansion in Des Moines in a ceremony ahead of the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival held Saturday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

More than 8,000 people are expected to eat more than 10,000 pounds of bacon at the festival. Tickets for this year's event sold out in just over three minutes.

Branstad says he's pardoned turkeys before, but never a pig. Bonnie was selected at random from a State Center farm affiliated with Eden Farms. An Eden Farms spokesman says Bonnie will become a farm pet.