Just one day after pushing opposition TV station RCTV off the air, the Chavez government is now calling for an investigation in Globovision for allegedly inciting its viewers to off the charismatic Venezuelan leader.

Apparently, Globovision aired footage of the attempted assasintation of Pope John Paul II accompanied by Panamanian singer-now-government-minister Ruben Blades’ rendition of ‘This Does Not Stop Here’. Now, there may be some Venezuelan symbolism I’m not aware of here, but this does not make me want to assasinate Chavez. Maybe groove to the latin rythms of Ruben ‘Best Name Ever’ Blades or take a potshot at the Pope, but not kill Chavez. But that’s just me.

Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists has published a list of recommendations for the Chavez government. You know when CPJ gets on the case, something has gone off the rails.

Boing Boing has a great round-up of this story, including pics of protests over the closure of RCTV.

Anti-war protestor and grieving mom Cindy Sheehan has announced she is ending her campaign to stop the war in Iraq.

And like anyone who lost a child in an unjust war, was abused by the right, and manipulated by the left, she is angry and heartbroken: 

The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.

That’s a pretty succinct summary of a country in deep, deep crisis, and a bleak realization that nothing will change until the citizens of the USA make it happen. Said Sheehan:

Good-bye America …you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

Interesting this has received so little media coverage in the States. I’m guessing it’s because she’s going after everyone- the media, the Republicans and the Democrats (or, as I like to call them, the Republicrats and Democrans), and may now be justifiably viewed as a hot potato. I’m not sure how history will judge Sheehan’s legacy, but it is hard not to be affected by the power of her anger and sense of betrayal.

This is just weird.

A new TV program, “The Big Donor Show” is set to premiere in The Netherlands. The premise? Contestants compete to win a terminally ill woman’s kidneys.

Not surprisingly, the show has been roundly condemned by doctors. Not surprisingly, this new foray into the entertaining aspects of human misery is brought to you by the chief purveyor of global crap- Endemol, the company that brings us Big Brother. Their name also sounds like a laxative.

You know, I want to like Hugo Chavez, I really do. He’s a populist, he appears to fight for his people, he’s a snappy dresser. He makes fun of George Bush, and provokes televangelists into calling for his assasination. Generally, Chavez is the go-to guy for entertaining latin american politics.

And then he does something like this. I know opposition media can be irritating, but when you shut them down, it just gives fodder to your enemies.

Hence my general unease with leftist populist dictators. Castro has done much for Cuba, including the creation of a health care and education system envied by many. And its not easy to stick to the army fatigue look, especially when it’s so hot out. But then he goes and puts journalists in jail. I can understand where he’s coming from. Mossadegh refused to censor the press in Iran, and look what happened to him.

Democracy isn’t easy, and it’s easily manipulated by your enemies. But to remain democratic in the face of external and internal threats- as Castro failed to do- is the greatest victory a nation can achieve. So c’mon Chavez…let RTV have its license back. State TV is boring anyway.

The United States is now the confirmed skipper of the sled-ride into climate change oblivion.

And, they can’t keep track of their personal possessions.

An American copy of the draft German proposal was discovered on Friday, covered in post-it notes and red ink, saying things like “runs counter to our overall position and crosses multiple ‘red lines’ in terms of what we simply cannot agree to” and “I’m a big dummy” and “Hey baby, what’s your number?”

European diplomats are now so angry, the upcoming G8 conference should be a super badass battle royale.

And this is the fight music (thanks to RS for this).

It was the dark days of World War II. Hitler’s armies were at the apex of their power. The allies were losing thousands of tonnes of shipping to German U-Boats, threatening to strangle the war effort.

They needed a secret weapon. They found Project Habakkuk. A 2,000 foot long, 300 foot wide aircraft carrier built of ice. Well, a mixture of wood pulp and ice, anyway. A plane-launching, U-Boat thumping motorized iceberg.

The ship was never built, but a small prototype was built in Alberta. The cost of the project was estimated at $70 million in 1942 dollars. That proved too rich for the British, especially for a ship made out of, well, ice.

Benefits: great for cocktail and/or skating parties. Drawbacks: its made of ice.

Thanks to MN for passing this along

Yes, the flight from fact and reason takes another giant leap forward on May 28, when the Creation Museum opens in Petersburg, Kentucky.

The museum, created by the Answers in Genesis Ministry features Adam and Eve cavorting with dinosaurs, and a special ‘deluge simulator’ theatre. Basically, the museum mashes the selective invocation of scientific principles with the Bible’s creation story.

Were it not for the trapezoidal intellectual exercise of holding two contradictory ideas in mind required by the Creation Museum, it sounds like a pretty fun place. I mean, I’ve always wondered if dinosaurs were on the Ark. And, despite the fact that giant carnivorous thunder lizards would seriously complicate a 40 day voyage, it turns out they were! The builders of modern super-tankers and aircraft carriers could take a page out of Noah’s book. He somehow managed to build a ship- out of wood- that could accomodate all 1.5 million named species, plus the 700 dinos we’ve managed to discover. That’s 3 million animals in one boat, many of which actively considering eating the others. Throw dinosaurs into the mix, and that’s a spicy meatball. Have you seen Jurassic Park? Man, stay away from the velociraptor deck.

Thanks to Ms. Barlow for passing this along.