Jedae Tag

Big Zis - Jedae Tag
while not as exotic as Iraqi rap maybe, I do not know that much Swiss German rap either I have to admit (nor are there that many female rappers sadly enough)

• "We need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months," Mr. Levin said [...] [he] added, "The point of this is to signal to the Iraqis that the open-ended commitment is over and that they are going to have to solve their own problems."
  
  Mr. Levin will be the new Armed Services Committee chairman, replacing Mr. Warner, I should add. This I believe is just wrong, their problems are after all due to an American invasion. If they withdraw now, that means they will discredit American Foreign Policy over the next decade at least.
  
  I have to agree with Senator McCain on this one who "reiterated his stance that there were not enough American troops there." Even if the only thing these troops will achieve might be a stabilization through a de facto or actual splitting up of the country in three ethnic homogeneous parts.
  NYTimes



• "Religious rap songs play just as loudly on the streets of Sadr City, the sprawling Shiite slum in eastern Baghdad that is the heart of his [Moktada al-Sadr] support."
  
  Is there anything quite as impressive or complete as the global domination of rap?
  



• The audacity of professional sports teams to ask for funding of their arenas just confounds me. Whether in Germany (Bayern Munich's new arena) or in the USA, why should the general taxpayer help finance these teams? There is no sensible reason, none. So props to Seattle for turning the request by the Sonics down.
  NYTimes