And Iceland gives us...the World's First Lesbian Prime Minister

Only through a series of resignations, of course...but it looks like this will happen pretty soon:

The current Minister for Social Affairs, Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir of the Social Democrats, said she is prepared to assume the position of prime minister as long as she senses that her position is backed by sufficient trust.

Foreign Minister and chairwoman of the Social Democrats Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir proposed that Sigurdardóttir replace Geir H. Haarde, chairman of the Independence Party, as prime minister yesterday, Fréttabladid reports.

Sigurdardóttir said the idea had only been discussed with her yesterday morning.

Her first choice of a coalition is a minority government with the Left-Greens and backing from the Progressive Party. “Another option is a minority government with the Social Democrats and passivity of the Left-Greens and Progressive Party.”

On whether she had discussed the matter with the Left-Greens, Sigurdardóttir replied, “I’m always talking with the Left-Greens.”

According to an opinion poll undertaken by Capacent Gallup in December 2008, Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir is the most popular minister—73 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with her work. Sigurdardóttir is also the only minister whose popularity had increased compared to a similar poll undertaken in December 2007.

If Sigurdardóttir does become prime minister, she will be the first woman to serve as prime minister in the country’s history and also the first openly gay prime minister in the world.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZ!

I LOVE YOU!
WE ALL DO!

Black Iraqis

make their political debut in provincial polls
Inspired by Obama, persecuted minority hopes for breakthrough in elections
# Martin Chulov in Basra
# guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 January 2009 16.47 GMT

In Iraq's deep south another American-led revolution is stirring. But this time it is being sparked by popular voice, not bombs.

The country's 1m-plus black citizens have tapped into Obama-mania like few other groups across the Arab world. For them Obama's inauguration was the dawn of a civil rights movement that they never had the impetus to strive for.

Black Iraqis will this week stand for the first time as an electoral bloc in provincial polls that will help shape Iraq in its slow transition to full sovereignty and possibly help shake off the stereotype that places them near the top of the heap in a nation of persecuted minorities.

Like the marsh Arabs to the north of their relative stronghold in Basra, black Iraqis are an underclass who find it near impossible to rise above their time-worn status of hard-labourers and peasants. Up to 50% of black Iraqis migrated to the Arabian Peninsula after the birth of Islam 1,500 years ago.

The rest have come steadily in the centuries since, some trafficked as slaves and others lured by broken promises of riches. All have been typecast, "just as the blacks of America were", said Jalal Dhiyab, number two on the electoral list of the Secretary of the Free Movement of Iraqis.

"We joined this election because we felt we could break the wall surrounding Iraqi society and the climate of fear we have felt for generations," he said.

"Black people have been treated very poorly throughout Iraqi history. The oppression has stopped us from joining many levels of society. It has restricted our education. We have become a social underclass. We are taking part in the new elections to give black Iraqis a new purpose in Iraq."

Obama's victory was a milestone in the history of democracy throughout the world, said Dhiyab.

"It is a victory for freedom. He has experienced suffering and seen serious challenges in his life. And yet he has reached the White House where decisions are made that affect all the people in the world. We hope that Obama's policy in Iraq differs from Bush's policy here. The Bush regime destroyed lives and infrastructure and fractured the whole of Iraqi society."

The Free Movement of Iraqis is putting forward eight candidates in the provincial poll, in which 1,272 candidates are standing for 35 seats in the Basra province. Around 30% of the nominated candidates are women.

The polls will be held on 31 January, ahead of national elections later in the year.

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY DAY START IT GOING NOW

Obama halts all regulations pending review

WASHINGTON (AP) -- One of President Barack Obama's first acts is to order federal agencies to halt all pending regulations until his administration can review them.

The order went out Tuesday afternoon, shortly after Obama was inaugurated president, in a memorandum signed by new White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. The notice of the action was contained in the first press release sent out by Obama's White House, and it came from deputy press secretary Bill Burton.

The waning days of former President Bush's administration featured much debate over what rules and regulations he would seek to enact before he left office.

Ron Asheton 1948-2009

"Asheton is the architect of the cathedral
that shatters granite and pinewood"- Rich Millett, "For Lester Bangs"- 2000

First time I ever heard the Stooges---Xmas 1995. Sure, I had heard tons of covers "I Wanna Be Your Dog", "Not Right", "No Fun", and so forth, but never the real thing. That Xmas I got Funhouse (Tim had already been listening to Raw Power and telling me how great they were), and a bunch of Bob Dylan records. I snuck away from the family and guests and down to the basement to listen. Since I had a whole stack of Dylan to absorb, I figured I might play Funhouse first, kind of as an appetizer, and also knowing that if I jumped into Bob, I might not come out for a while. One and a half seconds. That's all it took for me to be converted forever to the Stooges. If you've ever heard "Down On The Street", Funhouse's perfect opening, you know exactly what I mean. That furious burst of the E-string leading straight into the relentess riff and crashing first downbeat. Hell, I never needed to listen to the rest of the song, let alone the album to be convinced of Ron's superhuman talents. I used to hit the back button on my CD player twenty times in a row playing that one and a half seconds over and over before finally throwing the remote across the room and reveling in all the Funhouse glory. Have you figured out by now it took me months to play those Bob Dylan albums?

"Funhouse" is my favorite LP"- no fuckin kidding...
Ron Asheton died a few days ago of a heart attack. Iggy referred to him today as "my best friend". Wasn't he everyone's best friend? None of us are Iggy, none of us can even hope to be (or as some might point out, want to be)...no it was RON, the heart the soul the SOUND, that's who I aspired to be, that's who made me lose sleep playing "1970" over and over and over again. Ron we could maybe push ourselves into becoming, forever grinding it out in the engine room of God's spazz factory.

I have not come to mourn Ron Asheton, but to praise him and give him the fucking RESPECT he deserves.

Driving home from work, I had three of his riffs from Destroy All Monsters going on simultaneously in my head. This isn't cuz he died. Ron's guitar playing is my metronome. When ISN'T a riff of his in my head? Or yours? Fact- over the course of two albums our fuckin man wrote as many indelible unforgettable note perfect riffs as Keith Richards or Pete Townshend had in their entire careers. Do the math- I am not wrong. And neither was Ron.

Ron's favorite TV show was Beavis & Butthead. Why? "Cuz they talk shit".

Christ I could quote every line he has in Please Kill Me, that perfect craggy deadpan sense of wry nail it on the head humour. Also, let's face it a man of great grace...he else would have moved over to bass in the band they formed? Would Keith have done that? Not only did Ron move over to play bass, but he played with such heart and passion on Raw Power only to be mixed down and out. And it still didn't make him cynical- listen to the Open Up & Bleed box, and hear Ron totally full on going for it, every concert, every take after take in the recording studio.

Look, rock music is supposedly the home of the driven maniacal artist, but most of these folks are driven by ego or drug hunger, etc. Ron was and forever shall be the real thing, what every motherfucker at the Empty Bottle wishes they were. The list of people who played it as real as Ron is very very short.

There was always something in Ron's eyes...so much honesty and vulnerability. Tremendous sincerity. I remember Iggy saying he could tell Ron was a remarkable musician before he even heard him play just by looking at his hands. He could see the sensitivity. Then there was something in his sartorial choices...simply the man looked amazing in jackboots and Afrika Corps finery.

Ron had a voracious musical appetite, he took in everything from the Byrds to Ravi Shankar. You can hear his intelligence without him ever having to impress you. What's the word? Elemental. Elemental isn't a style or a technique. It's a force. And fuck off with primitive, I've been listening to garage bands my whole life and most of em would be stumped to write and perform all the brilliant things that Ron did. How many bands ape the Stooges? How many bands fail at aping the Stooges? How many hours of my life have been wasted listening to bands hoping they'd have learned a thing or two from the man, only to try and out primitive each other? This guy invented an entirely new sound, just as much as Chuck Berry or Jimi Hendrix did...you don't do that by being a dummy. Elemental...hey stand in the sun naked for a week, and tell me about primitive. Get lost in an ocean and tell me about primitive.

I had the privilege of seeing The Stooges in 2007 in Chicago. No, I'm not going to say how incredible it was. That would be patronizing. Let's say this...I have NEVER EVER EVER seen a band move mountains the way they did that night. Simply put, we were all in the presence of greatness, and we damn well knew it. Here's a snippet of what we saw that night...


Here's the thing...I have not come to mourn Ron Asheton, because the man spent the last years of his life playing to sold out audiences the world over. He was LOVED. We all sent him LOVE constantly, and he knew it and felt it...
"It's great playing to an appreciative audience," Asheton said in 2007. "We feel like old bluesman, because we had to wait 30-some years to get accepted by everybody. It took some time for the world to catch up to us. But it was worth the wait, because this is the most fun I've had playing onstage all my life."

When I saw Ron, I was shocked, not cuz he met what I knew he could play, but cuz he went way passed, I've spent my life worshiping the Stooges albums, but all of a sudden they seemed inadequate, Ron played some things I didn't even know were on his map. It's like, those records were so perfect and captured so much, yet there was still more? It didn't get EVERYTHING down on tape? This guy has all these other facilities at his disposal? FUCK!

It's very important to have love in your life. Ron knew how much he was loved. Pardon such a dreadful cliche, but the man went out on TOP. The man sold more records in the last ten years of his career than he did in the first. Even his lifelong hero Pete Townshend told him how awesome he was.
And of course of course he will be missed, but goddammit, he will never be forgotten in myhouse or in millions of other houses across the world. And loved, and cherished, and celebrated. That's why I have not come to mourn the man...his music his life was a celebration, a vindication of the elements.

I am sad for his brother, Scott, his sister Kathy, and the rest of the Asheton family. I'm sad for Iggy and Watt and Steve Mackay. They lost a brother and friend. They knew him personally. They have loss. What I have and what we all have is down on tape and video forever. It's impossible to lose what we've been given. It's irreversible in the best way.



and now for some music...take a ride on the pretty music...










COME ON RON, TELL EM HOW I FEEL

CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION

http://www.pmateusa.com

Welcome to She Pee

She Pee (P-Mate) is a product that allows women to wee standing up without giving anything away

* Do you desperately need the toilet but you can’t find one?
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* Are there times when squatting just doesn’t seem appropriate?
* Do you think sitting on a public toilet compromises your personal hygiene?
* Do you get uncomfortable trying to hold in your pee while hunting for a clean toilet?

Top She Pee Moments

* Festivals – when portaloos are too awful to consider sitting on
* Camping – when you don’t want to bare your bum in the bush
* Queues – you’re caught in line but there’s nowhere to pee without losing your place and your mystique
* Pubs, clubs and concerts – when queuing for hours and hovering over the loo may be the only option because the toilet is so gross
* Public toilets – when you don’t want to perch your bum where thousands of germs have gone before
* On the road – when you can’t wait for the next rest step
* Trains, planes and automobiles – when facilities can be too vile to sit on
* Travelling – third world toilets can be best avoided
* Skiing – don’t get caught short on the piste
* Boating – when your choice may be a bucket or a hole
* Pregnancy – weak bladders doesn’t have to be a nightmare

Once you have used it, you can't do without it.The P-Mate gives you more freedom, safety and hygiene. It is developed in connection with the experiences of thousands of women who have tested the P-Mate at grand events, both nationally and internationally.

FAQ!
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Because of the material used to make the p-mate it is not possible to flush the p-mate down a toilet. The p-mate should be thrown into a bin at your nearest convenience.

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Yes. As you only need to move your underwear to one side to use the p-mate it can be used with trousers on, and you only have to partially undress. Naturally this depends on the position and size of the zip. There just needs to be enough space to allow the p-mate to be in the correct position.

Is it necessary to use toilet-paper after I've peed with the P-Mate?
It depends entirely on yourself and your situation. You can remove any drops that are left behind by slowly moving the p-mate to the front and catching them with the back of the p-mate.

Sometimes I go somewhere and I only want to take 1 or 2 P-Mates. How do I have to do that?
The p-mate has a fold line down the middle to allow you to take it in a smaller bag. After folding it can actually fit into an average pocket.

Is there a P-Mate available which is re-usable?
At this time there is not a reusable p-mate available. We have found that the demand for this is very low. It has also been said that most women would consider this to be unhygienic.
http://www.pmateusa.com


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